WVU Statler College Fall 2018 EngineeringWV magazine

BENJAMIN M. STATLER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

VOLUME 14 ISSUE 2

Around the world ...

FALL 2018

Mountaineer style

In the Spotlight

Landmark Year After four grueling years of competition, the team from West Virginia University proved it was indeed the “Team to Watch” when it vaulted over perennial favorites

Calling it a “landmark year,” Andrew Nix, team advisor and associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, praised team members both past and

a little sanity but gained so much more knowledge. I can’t wait to see where my experience in EcoCAR 3 will take me in my future career.”

“Their performance in such a high-visibility competition not only elevates the visibility of WVU but also proves, yet again, that our students can successfully compete against the best in the country.”

—Gene Cilento, Glen H. Hiner Dean, Statler College University of Alabama, Virginia Tech, University of Tennessee and Georgia Tech to finish second overall in the EcoCAR 3 competition. The competition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors, challenged teams from across the nation to redesign a Chevrolet Camaro to reduce its environmental impact while maintaining the muscle and performance expected from this iconic American car.

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present (see listing, right) for their efforts as well as four-time Statler College alum and GM senior manager Bill Cawthorne, who was the team’s mentor.

“This project was the most challenging thing I have ever had to do,” said Morgantown native Nick Connelly, who co-led the control team. “After three years in this program, I have lost

WVU also took top honors in the AVL Drive Quality Event, which measures the balance between fuel economy and drive quality, the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems presentation and second place in both the Final Technical Report and National Science Foundation Innovation Award.

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Pictured (top row from left) are team members Stephanie Stewart, Jignesh Solanki, Shane Haught, Nick Connelly, Priyashraba Misra, Andrew Nix, Matt Bergman and Scott Wayne; kneeling from the left: Sebastian Reger, Kelsey Plute and Derek George.

BETHANY AKERMAN

JORDAN FEIGHT

IAN JANOS

CORTNEY MERCER

LUCAS RIDER

MORGAN SZAFRANSKI

OGANYA AKUMA-UKPO JOHN BOWLING

CHRISTOPHER BORST

JESSIE FELDE

AJAY KAVURI

CODY MERRITT

SHANE ROBINSON

ERIC SZYMANSKI

MAHA ALHADDAD

JONAS BREDU

MARIA FRANCIS

HADI KAZEMI

JAMES MEYER

DANIEL RODRIGUEZ

JOSH THIBAULT

ABDULLAH ALNAIBARI

JUSTIN BRUMLEY

TANNER GANTZER

SOPHIE KEELE

WALTER MILETTE

BRANDON ROSSI

DILLON THOMAS

SAUD ALRAMZI

HOWARD BUGG

DEREK GEORGE

JACK KERWIN

HADIMAN MIOR

HASNAT RUBAIYAT

PAUL THOMAS

TURKI ALSAIF

NICK BURT

MATTHEW GEORGE

BEHNAM KHAKI

PRIYASHRABA MISRA

MASON RUSSELL

WYATT TROSTLE

STEVE ANDERS

DILLON CARDEN

KIEL GERLACH

TROY KINDER

JARRETT MYERS

RACHEL TYRAS

DANIEL ANDREWS

GARRETT CARDEN

ANDREW GERMAN

FRED KIRCHNER

MICHAEL MYERS

JEAN MARC RWAMAKUBA

BRIAN ARMOUR

SHANE CATLETT

DAVID GHAPHERY

WYATT KITZMILLER

CHRIS NESTOR

IGOR ARTEMOWICZ

TEDDY CHARLETTA

HANNAH GILBERT

ZACH KOTCH

CATHERINE O’HEARN

MOHAMMAD AZADANI

HANNAH CHENOWETH

WILLIAM GONGOLA

KURT KOWALSKI

NICHOLAS PALMER

MICHAEL AZZARO

CHRIS CLINE

LOGAN GRIFFITH

WILLIAM (BEN) KRYGER

GABRIELA PANIAGUA

MOUAD BAADDI

CHRISTIAN CONKLE

MATTHEW GROSSMAN

ZACK LAYHEW

KEVIN PEAKE

ANDREW BAKER

NICK CONNELLY

NATE GUIO

RICHARD LICATA

JUSTIN PEIDLE

JUSTIN BAKER

COLTON COPLEY

GUS GUSBERTI

BRANDON LICHTY

MARCOS PEREZ

COREY BARLET

ADAM CRAIG

JOSEPH HAINES

BRANDON LINN

DAVID PETRELLE

JARED BARTRUG

SEAN DEEM

ROGER HALL

JESSICA LIU

SREEJIT PILLAI

MATTHEW BARTRUG

ZACHARY DENDLER

JACOB HANNI

JORDAN LOCKETT

KELSEY PLUTE

ANTHONY BASIL

RYAN DENNIS

JEREMY HARDY

JOSH LOWNDES

KYLE POWERS

DAVID BEAHR

MICHAEL DEVILBISS

THOMAS HARRIS

DREW MACK

WADE PRITTS

LYLIA BENHACINE

ANTHONY DIEHLMANN

JESSI HARTSELL

JOSHUA MAROSI

ZACH PURDY

RYAN BENNETT

ERIC DOCZKAT

SHANE HAUGHT

CORY MARTIN

CONOR PYLES

KALEB BERDER

MITCHELL DOEPKER

SAMUEL HEAVNER

JAKOB MARTIN

VIVEK RAJ

MATTHEW BERGMAN

MARISA DORRETT

LUDWIG HEUBISCH

THOMAS MARTIN

JACOB RANDOLPH

DANIEL BETHANCOURT

RYAN DUDLEY

JACOB HIKES

EDUARDO MARTINEZ

WALEED RASHEED

CHELSEA BETTS

KIMBERLY DUTCHER

MARK HILEMAN

SPENCER MASON

JACOB RASTALL

COREY BIERER

ALEX ENTREKIN

JACOB HILL

RYAN MAURER

SEBASTIAN REGER

DAVID BILLUPS

SAM EVANS

COLTON HOLMES

NICK MCGETTIGAN

KRISTINA REILLEY

JOSHUA BOEHNER

PHILIP FANELLI

IAN INCHAUSTI

DEREK MCMILLEN

ANDREW RHODES

NATHAN BOLE

BRENDEN FARNSWORTH KAYLA INGERMAN

BRENNAN MCMINN

KENDRA RHODES

GARRISON BOONE

JOE FEENEY

DANIEL MCPHERSON

SABRINA RIDENOUR

DEREK JACOBS

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ZACHARY SANTER GUSTAVO SANTOS CHRIS SCHAD ROBERT SCHATZEL DAVID SCHOTT JUSTIN SCHROUT MARCUS SCHUETZ ALLEN SHANK NATHAN SINE CASEY SITES BENJAMIN SMITH BRITTANY SMITH CHANDLER SMITH LOGAN SMITH SAM SPANOVICH CHASE SPENCER CURTIS STAPLETON KYLE STEED THATCHER STEVENS STEPHANIE STEWART JAMES STODART DAKOTA STOWERS ANDREW STRAND RYAN STUCKEY

CHRIS ULISHNEY BENJAMIN UNDERWOOD LUIS URIBE CAN UYSAL SAMUEL VALENZUELA MICHAEL VUCICH KYLE WALL MEAGAN WARNER MELISSA WARNER MICHAEL WARNER ANDREW WEERS ROBERT WHITE NATHAN WHITEHAIR MEGAN WILBUR CARL WILLIAMS ZACH WINIESDORFFER ALEXANDRA WOLFE CALVIN WOLFES BRADY WOOD CAITLIN WORRELL LIYING YE DYLAN YOUNT NEAL ZABIEGALSKI PENG ZHAO

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DEAN Eugene V. Cilento gene.cilento@mail.wvu.edu / 304.293.4157 DIRECTOR Marketing and Communications Mary C. Dillon mary.dillon@mail.wvu.edu DESIGN COORDINATOR Marketing and Communications J. Paige Nesbit CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Brittany Furbee / Patrick Gregg / William Nevin PHOTOGRAPHY M.G. Ellis / J. Paige Nesbit / Brian Persinger / Jenny Shephard Cover Story PHOTOGRAPHY Australia Matthew Keaton Germany Jessica Hammersla / Emma Dorsey Nicaragua Shani Waris /Nicholas Tabidze Bahrain Miriam Demasi Mexico Graham McConnell / Pedro Martins-Filho ADDRESS West Virginia University / Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources / PO Box 6070 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6070 statler.wvu.edu CHANGE OF ADDRESS WVU Foundation / PO Box 1650 Morgantown, WV 26504-1650 Fax: 304.284.4001 / e-mail: info@wvuf.org mountaineerconnection.com MISSION STATEMENT

The Statler College mission is to prepare students for success in their professional careers; to contribute to the advancement of society through learning, discovery, extension and service; and to stimulate economic well-being in West Virginia and the world through technical innovation, knowledge creation and educational excellence.

“Engineering West Virginia” is published twice each year, in spring and fall, for the alumni, friends and other supporters of the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

Copyright ©2018 by the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. Brief excerpts of articles in this publication may be reprinted without a request for permission if Engineering West Virginia is acknowledged in print as the source. Contact the director for permission to reprint entire articles.

The WVU Board of Governors is the governing body of WVU. The Higher Education Policy Commission in West Virginia is responsible for developing, establishing and overseeing the implementation of a public policy agenda for the state’s four-year colleges and universities.

WVU is an EEO/Affirmative Action employer — Minority/ Female/Disability/Veteran.

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On the cover: Shani Waris spent spring break working as part of WVU’s Global Medical and Dental Brigades in Nicaragua.

CONTENTS COVER STORY

DEPARTMENTS

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6

Dean’s Message

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Research and Development

Let’s Go ...

Around the World, Mountaineer Style

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Engineering 360˚

58

In Support

70

In Memoriam

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Dean’s Message

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According to the U.S. Department of State, more than 325,000 students in 2015-2016 studied abroad for academic credit. Twenty-five percent of those students were pursuing degrees in a STEM field.

In this issue of “Engineering West Virginia,” you’ll hear how recent study abroad experiences affected the lives of five of our students. Whether it’s spending an entire semester in Australia, working with WVU Global and Medical Brigades in Nicaragua or visiting our newest campus in Bahrain, each student came back to Morgantown with memories of adventures that will last a lifetime.

CILENTO

In addition to programs offered at the University level, the Statler College hosts its own engineering-based programs. The longest running of these is our summer industrial internship program in Mexico. For more than 20 years, Victor Mucino, professor and associate chair for education in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has led teams to Querétaro, Mexico, for eight weeks to earn nine credits toward an engineering degree. Students team up with Mexican students of similar disciplines and level, and gain industrial experience working full time on meaningful engineering projects with multinational companies. More than 500 students have gone through the program, working on close to 200 projects. After a recent visit, Luis Corral, Edison and Learning Leader with General Electric’s Infrastructure Queretaro, noted the program “lays the foundations of technical and soft skills that are very much relevant in early identified talent at GE, with a particular focus in our Technical Leadership Programs.”

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Earning a degree in engineering and studying abroad are not mutually exclusive. In fact, since fall of 2011, the Statler College has offered our students the opportunity to earn a Certificate in Global Competency. Requiring 16 credit hours, components of the certificate include coursework associated with language and culture, a social service component and engineering or computer science coursework.

JUTLA

Others making an impact on the international stage include Antar Jutla, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. Using NASA satellite data, Dr. Jutla and colleagues from the University of Maryland have developed a model to predict outbreaks of pathogenic cholera bacteria. Aid experts in the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development used his model in tandem with one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers to predict when and where cholera will spread.

In March, DFID began using the data to work with UNICEF to prevent the spread of the disease ahead of the rainy season in Yemen, delivering hygiene kits, clean water, cholera treatment kits and medical equipment to areas predicted to be at risk. Earlier this year, Dr. Jutla won a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for his research in this area.

While we are proud of the many accomplishments of our students and faculty, we are committed to doing more to increase the educational and research opportunities of our students, to diversifying our educational environment at all levels, to promoting programs that support the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges and the American Society of Engineering Education’s pledge and to economic development.

Eugene V. Cilento Glen H. Hiner Dean and Professor

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Research and Development

Liu named

Statler Endowed Chair of Engineering WRITTEN BY MARY C. DILLON

Xingbo Liu, professor and associate chair for research in mechanical and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University, was named the Statler Endowed Faculty Chair in Engineering, effective July 1, 2018.

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Liu leads the Electrochemical Systems Research Center at WVU and has done extensive research in solving various energy problems through electrochemical applications including fuel cells, sensors and batteries. He envisions expanding ESRC’s efforts in the area of natural gas utilization, focusing on its conversion to electricity, chemicals and fuels.

“Our lab has experience with electrochemical conversion of natural gas via solid oxide fuel cells, as well as combustion systems for electricity generation and jet propulsion focusing on corrosion and metal fatigue, which complements current natural gas research programs in the College,” said Liu. “The goal of our collective approaches is to develop advanced technologies to take full advantage of the region’s abundant shale reserves.”

Liu noted that work currently being done in ESRC is done in collaboration with privatesector partners, U.S. national laboratories and university-based researchers from around the world.

“This extensive network of collaborators and leaders in the field ensures that our research is on course for meeting real-world needs,” said Liu. “The network also provides opportunities for WVU graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to meet leaders in the field and transition to careers in places where they will have the power to change the world.

“It is truly an honor to be named to this endowed position, which carries Mr. (Benjamin) Statler’s name,” Liu added.

“I hope that a clear vision combined with research expertise, the ability to develop successful collaborations and the ability to identify funding opportunities will allow the shale gas utilization efforts at WVU to flourish.”

A Fellow of ASM International, Liu has received numerous awards, such as the R&D 100 Award (2011); the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society Early Career Faculty Fellow Award (2010); and the Statler College’s Researcher of the Year (2015, 2012), Outstanding Researcher awards (2015, 2011, 2009, 2008) and New Researcher of the Year

LIU

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(2015). He joined the faculty at WVU as a postdoctoral fellow in 2000, after earning his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in materials science from the University of Science and Technology in Beijing, China.

After a national search, Gene Cilento, Glen H. Hiner Dean of the Statler College said Liu was identified as the ideal candidate for this endowed chair in an effort to expand the University’s expertise in the area of natural gas utilization “Besides use of natural gas for heating homes and electricity production, this valuable source can be used for making chemical feedstocks for transportation systems,” Cilento said. “It is the expectation that Dr. Liu will develop collaborations with researchers across campus in this important endeavor.”

The professorship was made possible by the $45 million gift made to WVU in 2012

by Ben and Jo Statler. A third-generation coal miner, Ben Statler received his bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from WVU in 1973. While attending WVU, he began his career at CONSOL Energy, working as a laborer. For 30 years, he held various positions at CONSOL Energy before starting his own mining company, PinnOak Resources LLC. Statler served as president and CEO of PinnOak until he sold the company in 2007.

Currently, Statler is co-founder and CEO of Gulf Coast Capital Partners.

Jo Statler, who worked for WVU’s School of Dentistry, has been a strong supporter of her community and WVU. She helped launch Bonnie’s Bus, which provides digital mammography services to women in remote areas of West Virginia. The bus is named in memory of her mother, Bonnie Wells Wilson, who died of breast cancer.

Over the years, the Statlers have supported many WVU initiatives, including programs at WVU’s Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center; the Erickson Alumni Center; the Basketball Practice Facility and other Athletic-related capital improvements. The direct impact of their lifetime of support to WVU is nearly $60 million.

BENJAMIN M. STATLER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

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Research and Development

Wang reveals

new cell type in the human brain;

plays crucial role in visual search WRITTEN BY MARY C. DILLON

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Every day, people are asked to find something – a familiar face in a crowd, a child in the park, a particular house on a street. While researchers have long-since known that the ability to effectively search and detect goal-relevant targets is controlled by top-down signals from the brain’s frontal area, a researcher from West Virginia University has found evidence that the human medial temporal lobe – or MTL – also plays an essential role in this process.

WANG

In a report published in “Current Biology,” Shuo Wang, assistant professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, has found that the MTL contains a strikingly functional type of cell never described before in humans: target cells.

Wang and his collaborators – Ueli Rutishauser and Adam Mamelak from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Ralph Adolphs from California Institute of Technology – took the very rare opportunity to record single neurons from epilepsy patients, who were undergoing seizure monitoring at Cedars-Sinai. They performed concurrent recordings of eye movements and single neurons in the MTL and medial frontal cortex – or MFC – in human neurosurgical patients performing a memory-guided visual search task.

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“During goal-directed visual search, these target cells signal whether the currently fixated item is the target of the current search,” Wang said. “This target signal was behaviorally relevant because it predicted whether a subject detected or missed a fixated target, i.e., failed to abort the search.”

Wang was surprised to find that these target cells were not visually tuned; they didn’t care about the content of the target but only whether an item is a target or not. Interestingly, their response to identical items could be different, depending on whether an item was the target of the search or not.

“This type of response is fundamentally different from that observed in upstream areas to the MTL, i.e., the inferior temporal cortex, where cells are visually

tuned and are only modulated by target presence or absence on top of this visual tuning,” Wang said. “The discovery of this novel type of cell in the MTL, in humans, shows direct evidence for a specific top-down goal-relevance signal in the MTL.” The study also found that target cells in the MFC respond significantly earlier relative to target cells in the MTL. “This latency difference was derived from simultaneously recorded target cells in both areas, which is a rare opportunity to directly investigate the flow of information of top-down signals,” Wang said. “This finding suggests that the MFC may be one specific source of top-down signals that specify stimulus meaning in the MTL.”

Wang and his collaborators are conducting further experiments and analysis on how different brain areas coordinate with each other to give rise to target detection.

“This is particularly important for people with autism, because they show impaired visual search, especially when they search for people and faces,” Wang said. “One possibility is that there is pathology within neurons of the MTL itself. Another is that there is abnormal connectivity between the MTL and other brain areas. Our single-neuron recording experiment permits a temporal resolution that will help distinguish these possibilities.”

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and The Dana Foundation.

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Research and Development

Researchers receive funding from the Alpha Foundation to

study mine safety and health WRITTEN BY MARY C. DILLON

JOHNSON

CLARK

LUO

SINDELAR

TULU

MISHRA

A pair of research teams from WVU received close to $500,000 in funding from the Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mine Safety and Health.

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The first team, led by Derek Johnson, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, will look at costeffective ways to measure methane in longwall coal mining operations in hopes of preventing the most feared hazards in underground coal mines: methane and dust explosions. Joining Johnson on the team are Nigel Clark, George B. Berry Chair of Engineering and emeritus professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Yi Luo, Charles E. Lawall Chair for Energy and the Environment and Mark Sindelar, research assistant professor of mining engineering.

Their proposed methane watchdog system will deploy a low-cost, multi-nodal methane measurement network that will monitor methane concentrations and velocity continuously along the full length of the longwall face.

The system will measure, record and report on discrete methane concentrations in nearly real time, along the front and rear ends of the canopy of the supports or shields.

“The measured methane concentration distribution can be used as an algorithm input to decide whether the shearer should be de-energized before advancing into potentially explosive methaneair pockets,” Johnson said. “The methane concentration distribution along the rear end of the shield canopy will enable the development of an improved bleeder ventilation plan.

“This strategy,” Johnson added, “will ensure the front edge of the explosive methane zone in the gob area, especially near the face/tailgate corner, will remain sufficiently far from longwall face while reducing

the likelihood of over-ventilating the gob to prevent spontaneous combustion.” The gob is the void from which all the coal in a seam has been extracted and where the roof is allowed to collapse in a controlled manner.

The team will then combine the methane measurements with shearer location and ventilation flow rates along the wall face to estimate the methane liberation rates from the coal seam ahead of the shearer and from longwall gob.

“The ability to accurately collect, record and analyze methane concentrations at multiple locations will immediately improve mine safety and will ultimately lead to better models and design methods to prevent methane and dust explosions,” Johnson said.

The second team, led by Ihsan Berk Tulu, assistant professor of mining engineering, will look at ways to reduce ground controlrelated injuries and fatalities in the mining industry by developing a practical, mechanics-based approach to pillar design.

The research team, which includes Brijes Mishra, Syd and Felicia Peng Professor of Mining Engineering, and graduate research assistant Deniz Tuncay, will work to develop a geology-based laminated overburden model.

“The recent Analysis of Retreat Mining Pillar Stability LaModel program – or ARMPS-LAM – which was developed at WVU, was an initial step toward incorporating mechanistic overburden behavior into pillar design,” said Tulu. “We will build upon previous WVU research and incorporate the specific geology and structural competence of the overburden and the in-situ horizontal stresses

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into the mechanical response of the overburden.”

Tulu noted that this new mechanistic mode will be an important step toward reducing the risk factors for the underground mine workers by further understanding the role of the overburden mechanics in pillar design, thereby improving mine stability.

Ground control-related incidents are still one of the leading injury and fatality causes in underground coal mines. According to statistics from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, there were 35,228 underground coal mine workers in 2015 working either in a longwall or retreat-room-and-pillar mine.

Between 2011 and 2015, there were 1,037 nonfatal lost-time ground control-related injuries and from 2014 to 2017, 20 percent of all fatalities were ground control related.

The Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mine Safety and Health is a private foundation with the mission to improve mine safety and health through funding research and development projects at qualified academic institutions and other not-for-profit organizations.

BENJAMIN M. STATLER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

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Research and Development

Jutla part of international effort to

predict where cholera will strike next NESBIT

WRITTEN BY MARY C. DILLON

Antar Jutla, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at West Virginia University, is part of a British-led humanitarian team that is working to predict and prevent a major outbreak of cholera in war-torn Yemen.

Cholera is a waterborne disease that can cause severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and even death if untreated. It is caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholera. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that more than 2.9 million cases of cholera occur worldwide on an annual basis and is responsible for about 95,000 deaths each year.

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Working with NASA satellite data, Jutla, along with researchers from the University of Maryland, have developed a model to predict the distribution of pathogenic cholera bacteria. The model looks at the interactions between cholera bacteria and things like temperature, precipitation, organic matter and salinity in water through the lens of civil infrastructure.

Jutla’s research is funded by NASA’s Applied Sciences Program/Health and Air Quality Applications program.

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In 2017, in proof of performance testing, the model was proven to have a high accuracy rate at a district level in areas identified as high risk of a cholera outbreak in Yemen.

In an effort designed to turn theory to reality, aid experts at the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development are using Jutla’s model in tandem with one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers at The Met Office, the UK’s national weather service, to predict where and when cholera will spread.

Last year, Yemen suffered the worst cholera outbreak in its history with more than 1 million suspected cases. Starting in March 2018, DFID began using this data to work with UNICEF to prevent the spread of the disease ahead of the rainy season. This allowed for the targeted delivery of such items as hygiene kits, clean water, cholera treatment kits and medical equipment to areas predicted to be at greatest risk.

The effort is working.

During the last week of June, there were 2,597 suspected cases and three deaths, down from 50,825 suspected cases and 179 deaths at the same time last year. Despite the predicted risk of cholera in Ibb – a governorate on the frontline of the conflict – being just as high this year as last year, there were only 672 suspected cases of cholera in July 2018 compared to 13,659 in July 2017.

“There aren’t a lot of us doing this type of work yet,” Jutla said. “But we have an opportunity to understand how these different factors create conditions favorable for the proliferation of water-related diseases like cholera and what their impact will be on society.

“If we can ensure safe drinking water and sanitation facilities, we can control this disease.”

Jutla has earned a prestigious CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for his research.

While officials note there are a number of other factors that could have contributed to a lower number of suspected cholera cases this year, i.e., a later rainy season, greater immunity against cholera and a change in national guidance for the recording of suspected cholera cases, it is clear that the new actions taken as a result of the predictions are saving lives and reducing suffering.

“The conflict in Yemen is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, with millions of people at risk of deadly but preventable diseases such as cholera,” said DFID Chief Scientist Charlotte Watts. “DFID has brought together experts from around the world to predict where the risk of cholera is highest so that aid workers can act before it’s too late. By joining up international expertise with those working on the ground, we have, for the very first time, used these sophisticated predictions to help save lives and prevent needless suffering for thousands of Yemenis.”

JUTLA

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Research and Development

‘Smart Manufacturing’ focus of WVU study

WRITTEN BY PATRICK GREGG AND MARY C. DILLON

A West Virginia University study has found that the Mountain State will see a brighter picture for its manufacturing industry in the near future, but that many manufacturers in West Virginia need to adapt to Smart Manufacturing to help make industry more efficient and profitable.

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The study, titled “Overview of Smart Manufacturing in West Virginia,” is a collaborative effort by the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the College of Business and Economics at WVU. Smart Manufacturing, also commonly referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0, is a dataintensive application of information and operational technology at the shop floor level and beyond to enable intelligent, efficient and responsive manufacturing and supply chain operations. Based on the principles of connectivity, virtualization and data utilization, it marries technology, data and human ingenuity.

“Our study shows that while as many as 60 percent of participating manufacturers in the state have heard of Smart Manufacturing, just one-fifth are actively working on it,” said Thorsten Wuest, J. Wayne and Kathy Richards Faculty Fellow in Engineering and assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering. “While larger manufacturers such as Toyota, Hino Motors and Procter & Gamble have most likely started their Smart Manufacturing journey, many small- and medium-sized manufacturers are struggling to overcome the initial barriers.

“Before coming to WVU, Patrick Schmid, a graduate student in industrial engineering who worked on the study, was involved in a similar survey of Industry 4.0 adoption in Germany’s automotive industry,” Wuest continued. “While we did expect some of the outcomes we saw in our survey, the one result that surprised us in a positive way was the companies’ encouraging attitudes toward Smart Manufacturing. While most struggle to identify specific value-adding Smart Manufacturing applications within their operation, they were very interested in learning more and applying that newly gained knowledge to create sustainable solutions for their business.”

Access to available resources – both financial and technical – can also cause companies to struggle with the adoption of new technologies.

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“Our recommendations for addressing this gap are to provide information/ training for industrial partners and to develop Smart Manufacturing curricula for professionals and engineering students,” Wuest continued. “We need to communicate successes broadly and form mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships in addition to developing small-scale ‘lighthouse’ projects together with better leveraging state and federal funding for these collaborative project opportunities.”

Brian Lego, research assistant professor at the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said the manufacturing industry has seen a significant downturn in recent history, but that upturns in sectors such as automobile, auto parts, aerospace, chemicals and natural gas have resulted in a much-improved environment.

“The next several years will be a period of improvement. It’s no secret that the manufacturing sector has seen significant losses,” Lego said. “Going forward, due in part to the outgrowth of the natural gas industry, manufacturing will have firmer footing in terms of growth and output.”

He said West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle region would likely see increased competition for natural gas jobs and increased usage levels as the result of a natural gas cracker facility being built in Pennsylvania. Substantial additions of jobs and capacity at Toyota and Hino are also positive signs, he said, as is a recent announcement by Proctor & Gamble that its Eastern Panhandle facility would be considerably expanded beyond its original plans.

“The employment capacity will be higher than what was originally announced, which will have a much larger impact for P&G,” said Lego. “And that is certainly good for West Virginia.”

Looking five years down the road and beyond, Lego said he anticipated seeing a far more positive industry.

“Manufacturing is going to be in a better position than it has been in the recent past. Some portions of this industry will continue to struggle,” he said, “but we have several examples of potential manufacturing growth.”

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Research and Development

Turton, Lima win inaugural R&D grant from AVEVA

West Virginia University is one of only two universities worldwide selected to receive a research and development program award from AVEVA, a leader in engineering and industrial software. The first-of-its-kind award will be used to focus on the research and development of next-generation engineering design and simulation software.

WRITTEN BY MARY C. DILLON

The WVU team, led by Richard Turton, WVU Bolton Professor and Chair of the Department TURTON of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, and Fernando Lima, assistant professor of chemical LIMA and biomedical engineering, will use AVEVA’s Unified Simulation Platform or SimCentral platform, a process simulation tool for designing and operating power plants.

“SimCentral is a new generation simulation platform that piggybacks on some of the work we have been doing at the AVESTAR Center,” Turton said. “This new platform allows for the simultaneous development of steady state, dynamic and fluid flow models, a feature that is currently lacking in other platforms. The platform is quite transparent and allows users to develop a wide variety of customized models within a simulation platform.”

The research team will focus on developing membrane separation models that can be applied to a

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variety of chemical processes, such as oxygen separation from air, alternative natural gas utilization and carbon capture from coal-fired power plants. These models will eventually be disseminated to both academic and nonacademic users of the software. They will also develop complete operator training simulators for teaching purposes in the academic community.

AVEVA chose SimCentral as the targeted product for its first university R&D program because it provides an ideal environment for academic institutions to develop additional functionality that can be demonstrated in the context of a practical simulator without the need to develop user interfaces, provide thermodynamic properties, or in some cases, without having to write computer code. This work will complement the operator training platform in the National Research Center for Coal and Energy’s AVESTAR Center, a state-of-theart training simulator that provides realistic, hands-on experience for operating clean energy systems in the smart grid era.

“Deepening our relationships with the academic community enables research and development

collaboration in key areas of our business, including machine learning, analytics, product speed and statistical confidence, among other attributes,” said Ravi Gopinath, chief operating office at AVEVA. “As AVEVA continues to advance how industrial and infrastructure organizations embrace a digital twin strategy to model and optimize engineering processes, we are increasingly building partnerships with the academic community to invest in tomorrow’s problems today.”

WVU and the Technical University in Dortmand, Germany, were selected from an international pool of 20 submissions that were reviewed by a panel of experts.

Other finalists included UCLA; University of California, Berkley; National University of Singapore; and University of Texas at Austin.

Selection was based on a number of factors, including how the research and development grant might drive future innovation across industrial operations, how it could be completed through the use of existing resources and how the output could be incorporated into future software offerings.

R&D IN BRIEF

NESBIT

ADDING TO THE ADDITIVE EXPERIENCE Students at West Virginia University will have the opportunity to experience a full additive manufacturing experience, thanks to a gift from GE Additive.

In the first quarter of 2019, the Statler College will take delivery on a Concept Laser Mlab 200R machine, valued at more than $250,000. The direct metal laser melting – or DMLM – machine use lasers to melt layers of fine metal powder and create complex geometries with incredible precision directly from a digital CAD file.

GE’s Additive Education Program received more than 500 proposals from around the world in the University and College category. WVU was one of only five universities selected in a competitive process.

The Concept Laser Mlab 200R, which will be housed in the College’s Innovation Hub prototyping shop, will allow the College – most notably our industrial, mechanical and aerospace engineering programs – to deeply incorporate the sophisticated metal additive manufacturing system into our curriculum.

BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION HONORS A cost-effective bridge construction system developed by researchers at West Virginia University has won an award for technological advancement from the National Steel Bridge Alliance.

Karl Barth, Samples Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and his former doctoral student, Greg Michaelson, now an assistant professor in the Weisberg Division of Engineering at Marshall University, were recognized for their work on a folded steel gate girder bridge in Muskingum County, Ohio. The researchers created a new type of tub girder that requires less fabrication and installation time than conventional bridge systems. The pair worked in conjunction with the Short Span Steel Bridge Alliance.

The solution, which SSSBA estimates can account for as much as a 50 percent reduction in fabrication costs compared to other traditional plate girder systems, saved the community from a lengthy closure. The technique has been deployed on two bridges since 2016. Barth noted that two additional projects are currently under way in West Virginia with others planned in several states.

HOUSE COMMITTEE TESTIMONY Composite materials are not only cost-effective alternatives to traditional building materials but they have the potential to build upon the country’s strength in manufacturing and enhance labor productivity.

In testimony delivered in April to the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Hota GangaRao, the Maurice and Jo Ann Wadsworth Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at WVU, discussed the importance of investing in advanced materials to continue to lead the world in composite research, development and implementation.

“FRP composites have become dominant in select infrastructure applications where light-weight, durability and non-corrosiveness is required, such as wind energy, underground gasoline tanks and cooling towers,” GangaRao said. “Based on previous successful demonstration projects, composites are poised to expand into additional infrastructure applications including reinforcing bars for concrete, bridge decks, utility poles, repair of structures and refurbishment of sewer/storm water pipes.”

PERSINGER

GangaRao, who directs the Constructed Facility Center and the NSF-funded Center for the Integration of Composites into Infrastructure, noted composites are moving into these areas due to their biggest advantage over traditional materials: durability.

GANGARAO

“Composites won’t corrode or rot like conventional materials, resulting in a longer service life,” GangaRao said. “Infrastructure is commonly built with timber, steel or steel reinforced concrete, all of which degrade over time due to natural or man-made conditions.”

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EDITED BY BRITTANY FURBEE PHOTOGRAPHY BY AUSTRALIA MATTHEW KEATON GERMANY JESSICA HAMMERSLA / EMMA DORSEY NICARAGUA SHANI WARIS / NICHOLAS TABIDZE BAHRAIN MIRIAM DEMASI MEXICO GRAHAM MCCONNELL / PEDRO MARTINS-FILHO

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WVU has worked hard to accommodate our diverse student population by providing a plethora of international opportunities.

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At WVU, offering unique, educational and rewarding international opportunities to students is a top priority. Many students believe that studying abroad can help them gain a competitive edge when searching for a job after graduation. With this in mind, WVU has worked hard to accommodate our diverse student population by providing a plethora of international opportunities.

The University boasts programs in more than 50 countries, all of which vary in length, means of transportation, destination and subject of study. Popular options include traveling on short faculty-led programs, or independently for up to a year through the WVU Exchange program. There are also many other opportunities for students to participate in undergraduate research abroad, immersive language learning summer schools or international internships.

Each semester the University hosts multiple study abroad information sessions that are designed to give students an overview of the international opportunities available to them. Education abroad regional coordinators are also available to guide students through the study abroad process. As study abroad continues to grow in popularity and practicality, the University has shown that it is committed to making it easier than ever for students to find programs that suit their education goals.

The Statler College also hosts a number of its own programs, featuring engineering-related opportunities in locations such as Mexico, Germany and Bahrain.

Students participating in these programs can earn credit toward the College’s Certificate of Global Competency, which is given to students who have demonstrated the ability to work effectively across cultural and linguistic barriers while focusing on engineering and computer science issues that transcend their own culture.

On the pages that follow, five students share their recent study abroad experiences in their own words.

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Developing a new mindset

“W Matthew Keaton Computer Engineering and Computer Science

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hen I left WVU and my home in Morgantown to travel 24-plus hours by plane to Melbourne, Australia, I started to really think about what spending a semester at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and this new continent were going to mean to me. I have always been interested in traveling and seeing as much of the world as possible, and I was excited to immerse myself in a culture that was somewhat foreign to my own. I knew that being an outsider in a new place would allow me to gain some world experience and learn a lot of new things, and still my expectations for the trip ended up being completely exceeded.

My experience in Australia grew into much more than I ever imagined, and I’m certain that it will have a lasting impact on my life.

Through my university, or ‘uni’ as Australians call it, I was able to meet people from all backgrounds, as almost half of RMIT’s student base is comprised of international students. When classes started, I probably learned more about other cultures than I did Australia’s, something I hadn’t expected but certainly welcomed. I also met a lot of people by joining several clubs. Australians tend to be much more outdoorsy than Americans and RMIT’s outdoors club had a huge following so I decided to join. I was able

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to experience driving on the left-hand side of the road to several different nearby towns, national parks and beaches where I enjoyed hiking, rock climbing, swimming in icy water, petting kangaroos and wombats and enjoying stunning views. I even went to an Australian football game. Go Magpies!

There was always something new to explore, but the courses at RMIT were equally interesting. One of my favorite classes was Introduction to Australian Society, which focused on the complexity of Australian culture, from food, to sports and lifestyle, to the country’s diversity and the indigenous Australian population. The course helped me to learn and understand more about their culture than I ever could have learned on my own. As a bonus, most of the courses I took were also a continuation of my computer engineering and computer science majors at WVU, which meant I wasn’t falling behind while studying abroad.

Through all of these different experiences, I was able to obtain a well-defined picture of Australia and its culture. I had heaps of fun during my stay in the land down under but the real takeaways are far beyond the good times. I came home with a new mindset that allows me to appreciate the small differences in other cultures and have a better understanding of the similarities that make us all human.

”

My experience in Australia grew into much more than I ever imagined and I'm certain that it will have a lasting impact on my life.

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Newfound perspectives

While some students

travel home or take vacations during spring break, others see this time as an opportunity to serve people in underprivileged communities. The latter is the case for members of the WVU Global Medical and Dental Brigades. The cross-disciplinary program brings together students from various backgrounds and majors to provide free healthcare, medical access and education for under served populations and indigenous communities in Latin America.

In the past eight years, more than 300 students from WVU have traveled to Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua to improve the quality of life for individuals living in rural communities by providing medical supplies and basic dental and medical care to community members, who sometimes walk for more than two hours to attend the clinics.

Engineering students work with community members and volunteers to improve the infrastructure within citizens’ homes by constructing eco-stoves, latrines, water storage units, showers and concrete floors. The projects and services offered by the students are essential to preventing common illnesses that often plague their communities.

During spring break 2018, 49 WVU students and four faculty members worked in Nicaragua for nine days, serving more than 2,600 patients. The group set a Global Brigades record for the highest number of participants from a single university on an individual brigade.

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Nicaragua SPRING BREAK 2018

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In my three years serving in Brigades, we have provided free medical and dental care to more than 5,650 patients.

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Shani Waris

Biomedical Engineering and Economics

The first day the group arrived in the Brigade’s compound in Matagalpa, we organized more than $110,000 in medical and dental supplies that we had fundraised for throughout the year and brought along with us for the clinics. The group worked with 14 local medical professionals to provide healthcare clinics throughout the region. Students engaged with patients in various stations including triage, consultation, dental and pharmacy.

Students educated patients on hygiene and wholesome health habits through unique games using a tooth model and even employed a Spanish song on how to properly brush one’s teeth. We recorded patients’ vital signs and personal medical and family history, and shadowed doctors, pharmacists and dentists to learn about the unique healthcare problems facing developing regions of the world and to dispense medications to the patients. In just four short days, we were able to serve nearly 2,700 patients.

For the next three days, we worked in the public health and water sectors to tackle the root cause of healthcare issues, rather than solely treating the symptoms. We constructed sanitation units for six different families. We also dug more than 200 yards of trenches as part of a clean water project aimed at providing hundreds of families access to this basic necessity.

Global Brigades has provided me with the most rewarding, incredible and humbling experiences. The experiences we have abroad are not solely defined by what we learn academically. By far, the most beneficial moments of my most recent trip came through interactions with the locals from our beloved translators, bus drivers, medical professionals and coordinators to families, who opened their homes to us, and the incredible friends we made while exploring on our last day in Managua. Talking to the locals is where I believe we can truly learn the most about the country and its problems. They have provided me with newfound perspectives on what it truly means to be privileged, on how fortunate we are here to have the opportunities we have. My experiences have opened my mind to always assume the best in people, because you really don’t know what someone is going through.

Though physically and emotionally taxing, our trip to Nicaragua wasn’t all work. Every evening we engaged in deep talks over nightly group reflections. We played soccer on an incredible field overlooking the city of Matagalpa.

We visited El Chocoyero, a nature reserve with monkeys, birds and waterfalls. We also explored a beautiful boardwalk along Lake Managua, where we made friends with some amazing natives of the city.

Being part of Global Brigades has brought out the best in me and allowed me to grow so much as a person. In my three years serving in Brigades, we have provided free medical and dental care to more than 5,650 patients and clean water access for more than 400 families.

“I

was born in New York and lived there for a majority of my life before moving to Charleston. Having spent most of my early developmental years in the robust and diverse environment of New York, I was exposed to people from all walks of life, which taught me a lot about culture, acceptance and understanding. I also frequently visited Pakistan to see my extended family, which allowed me to become fluent in three additional languages.

My background inspired me to become involved with Global Brigades, an organization that aims to eliminate international health and economic disparities by empowering communities to end the cycle of poverty. The first time I traveled with WVU Global Medical and Dental Brigades to Nicaragua was in spring of 2016. I became enamored with the vision of the organization, the work they did, the people we met and the loving culture of the picturesque nation. As soon as my first trip ended, I knew I had to go back and stay involved. During spring break 2018, I traveled back to Nicaragua for a third time with more than 50 other WVU students and faculty members.

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Bahrain SPRING BREAK 2018

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In November 2016, West Virginia University launched its

first global portal in Bahrain

, partnering with the Royal University for Women to offer the University’s first degree program offered overseas.

WVU’s partnership with RUW dates back to 2009, shortly after it was founded by four WVU alumni with the goal of increasing women’s access to high-quality education in the Middle East. The founders, four brothers who graduated in the 1970s and 80s, looked toward their alma mater for a partnership focused on creating opportunity, developing cultural understanding and advancing access to quality education.

WVU enrolled the inaugural class for its civil engineering program taught at RUW in fall 2017. Students are taught in newly constructed facilities and classrooms with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment; they also benefit from courses and labs instructed by WVU-affiliated faculty. The program is co-educational, and all students admitted to the program enroll in a preparatory foundation semester in English and mathematics. Career support services are available to assist with job placement upon graduation. Graduates will earn an ABET-accredited degree from WVU. Since its inception, more than 50 WVU students have studied abroad in Bahrain, with dozens from RUW coming to WVU. Components of the program include an annual student debate on women’s issues; a series of workshops focusing on such topics as forensic accounting, cybersecurity, family business and occupational medicine; the collaboration of an annual conference on women’s issues; courses taught in leadership studies; and visiting lecturers and scholars in residence from a variety of disciplines.

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I have grown so much as a person since this one-week trip and I feel much more culturally aware after gaining such a deep appreciation for the Arabic culture.

Bahrain

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Miriam Demasi

Mechanical Engineering

“G

trip because I wanted to experience a culture completely different from my own. After careful consideration I decided that the program was the right choice for me and began packing my bags.

Upon our arrival in Bahrain, we were fully integrated into the lives of the students at RUW. We stayed in their dorms, sat in on their classes and participated in a variety of activities that allowed us to experience the authentic beauty of the country. We were able to go swimming in the Persian Gulf, visit a 1,400-year-old Soukis fort and ride camels in the desert, which has officially made me obsessed with these amazing animals.

Getting to go on so many adventures with the students from RUW allowed me to get to know them on a personal level, which was the best part of the whole experience. The women at RUW are just like any other women; they love to go out with friends, enjoy watching American TV shows and have dreams of becoming successful lawyers, artists and engineers. Experiencing the cultural differences and similarities between us allowed me to gain a mutual respect and understanding for other cultures, which was further solidified after I was able to sit in on a women across cultures class at RUW. During the class we heard from a woman named Michele, who talked about feminism and women’s rights. It was shocking to hear that women in Saudi Arabia can go to college and become doctors and lawyers, but they aren’t free to choose basic things like their own haircut. She explained that she left the country following her father’s death so that she could finally be free to live her life the way she wanted.

It was heartbreaking at times to listen to her story but also empowering to see how she became such a fierce and independent woman after overcoming so many obstacles.

The words ‘life changing’ are used too often, but this was truly a life-changing experience for me. Learning about the struggles of women in the Middle East helped me realize that I often take for granted the freedoms I have simply as a result of being born in the United States.

I have grown so much as a person since this one-week trip, and I feel much more culturally aware after gaining such a deep appreciation for the Arabic culture. I was so moved and inspired that I am now considering minoring in international and comparative politics at WVU because I want to be an engineer who has the ability to make a tangible difference in the world, like the women I met in Bahrain.

I am so grateful to RUW and WVU for giving me this opportunity to grow as a student and to experience the most influential week of my life. I once thought that study abroad trips were out of reach for me but WVU has shown me that it can be surprisingly affordable and that there are so many resources available to help you every step of the way.

rowing up in Wheeling meant that I didn’t have many opportunities to experience other cultures. My father had lived in Mexico for eight years before I was born and always encouraged me to seize any and all opportunities to experience other parts of the world. I always enjoyed listening to his stories about his travels and hoped that I would one day get to see the world. That dream didn’t seem like a reality until I received the Foundation Scholarship at WVU. The Scholarship gave me the freedom to seek out study abroad opportunities, which led me to discover the WVU-led engineering program through the Royal University for Women in Bahrain. The program has a civil engineering focus and allows students to earn college credit toward their degrees. Although I am a mechanical engineering major and had never even heard of Bahrain, I was interested in the

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When Todd Hamrick became a faculty member in the

Fundamentals of Engineering

Germany SPRING BREAK 2018

program in 2011, he saw a need for an engineering-focused study abroad program that was tailored to accommodate new or inexperienced travelers. To fill the void, he decided to launch a weeklong immersive spring break experience in Germany that would expose students to engineering as a global profession while easing them into international travel.

The program gives students the opportunity to see firsthand how manufacturing and research facilities operate. Rare behind-the-scenes visits to some of Germany’s largest companies, including BMW Automotive, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and Erdinger Brewery, give students a glimpse into what their future professions could entail. Students also experience some of Germany’s most significant historical and cultural sites through excursions to such sites as the Karwedelbahn cable car, Dachau concentration camp and the Deutsches Science Museum.

To date, more than 50 engineering students have experienced the cultural and industrial wonders of Germany, and participation numbers are steadily increasing each year. To meet the demand and rising popularity of study abroad programs at WVU, Hamrick decided to pilot an extended two-week program to the United Kingdom this past year.

The trip similarly blended both industry and cultural experiences, as students were able to learn about the mechanics of the London Eye, witness cars being made in one of the largest Mini Cooper factories and tour the studio where the Harry Potter movies were filmed.

Due to the success and popularity of both programs, Hamrick plans to offer a two-week summer trip that combines stops in both countries next year. The extended trip will allow students to explore destinations beyond the main tourist attractions, which will allow them to gain a greater appreciation for the cultural differences between the United States, Germany and UK, and the engineering practices that make up each countries industrial economy.

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Much more than subjectmatter knowledge Emma Dorsey

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

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Germ any

“I

recently completed my freshman year at the Statler College and by far the most memorable part was participating in the study abroad program in Germany. I grew up in Forth Ashby and had never traveled outside of the country so I was eager to participate in a study abroad program. I was drawn to the weeklong trip in Munich, Germany, because it specifically had an engineering focus and the opportunity to earn three credit hours that could be applied toward my major, which was a huge bonus. Knowing that I would return home after a week helped to ease any concerns or hesitations I may have had about traveling to another country for the first time.

The week was packed with terrific experiences, including factory tours, museum visits, sightseeing and a complete immersion into German culture. We kicked off the trip with a factory tour at Rehau, a company that specializes in garden hoses, train rail, furniture components and car bumpers. We were able to watch injection molding and robotic assembly in real time. I was spellbound by how quickly and efficiently the machines worked and gained a strong appreciation for how evolved manufacturing processes have come since the days of human toil. We also toured a BMW factory, which was similar to Rehau’s robotics, but on a much larger scale. The robots moved with such precision that it looked like art.

The tours were great learning experiences but this trip was not all about business. We were able to experience many other opportunities as well, such as visiting Mittenwald, where we learned about the mechanics behind the Karwendel cable car, which transports passengers 7,362 feet up into the Alps of Germany and Austria. Before hopping into a car, our tour guide taught us about the engineering that goes on behind the scenes. From the bottom, the cable cars appeared to be precariously climbing up an enormously daunting slope, which made me slightly nervous about the ride. However, our guide explained that the cable itself was larger than a human arm and that 44 tons of block made up the weight that secured the cable to the ground. The guide also explained that each cable car had multiple backup systems in place for emergencies, as well as the ability to generate its own electricity.

The study abroad experience as a whole teaches you so much more than what can be learned in the classroom.

When we reached the top, the view was amazing; all of Mittenwald could be seen below.

The Alps reached into the horizon with their peaks covered in snow and the valleys contrasting strongly against the high altitude of the mountain, making it one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever witnessed. I made sure to take pictures of everyone enjoying the view while holding the ‘Let’s Go!’ WVU flag because I knew this was a moment everyone would want to remember.

We were also able to visit the Max Planck Institute for Physics, where we were given a presentation on the science of nuclear fusion. Institute scientists are attempting to recreate the energy of the sun for unlimited power. The demonstration included a donut-shaped container that was heated to millions of degrees, allowing atoms to build up speed and eventually collide and become fused. This process produces energy that can be converted to electrical power. We toured the facility labs and viewed the huge equipment used to conduct various tests. It was a fascinating learning experience.

This trip was one of the greatest adventures of my life. I gained much more than subjectmatter knowledge and was able to experience firsthand some of the ways I could use my engineering degree in the future. The study abroad experience as a whole teaches you so much more than what can be learned in the classroom, however. We communicated with German people in our hotel, restaurants and various places of business. We traveled by plane, train and automobile. We were completely immersed in German cuisine and had the opportunity to see towns that were centuries old. When you study abroad, you learn from your surroundings every second of every day.

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Mexico SUMMER 2018

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The Statler College’s

Industrial Outreach Program

in Mexico is not your average study abroad experience. Victor Mucino, professor and associate chair for education in mechanical and aerospace engineering, launched the program 22 years ago out of a desire to provide students with a study abroad opportunity that blended both cultural and professional experiences.

IOPM allows WVU students to spend eight weeks in the summer working full time in Querétaro, alongside students from Mexican universities. Under the guidance and supervision of industrial engineers and faculty members, students from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds are paired together to develop professional projects at engineering companies in the region. The goal is for students to learn how to work with people from different cultures, obtain a better understanding of their strengths and discover the role they can play in a professional environment.

To ensure that students are fully immersed in Mexican culture, they are placed in home stays with local families, who help them learn Spanish and become accustomed to the country’s unique traditions.

Weekend field trips and sightseeing excursions also give students the chance to experience many significant landmarks across the country. Since the program’s inception, Mucino has provided more than 500 students with professional work placements in Mexico at more than 20 top companies and research facilities. The program’s extended success was recently recognized by the Council of Science and Technology of the State of Querétaro, an organization dedicated to promoting science, technology and innovation in order to generate long-term sustainable development. CONCyTEQ and WVU recently reached a five-year agreement that will provide support and financial resources to students enrolled in IOPM, as well as Mexican students interested in studying abroad at WVU. The objective of the agreement is to promote international academic interactions and the exchange of knowledge and educational opportunities for both researchers and students.

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Up for the challenge

Mexico

“I

I was enticed by the College's summer study abroad program in Mexico because it offered a blend of cultural and industry experience.

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grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, among a family of avid sightseers and hikers. We ventured all across the United States, visiting dozens of national parks, museums and historical sights, so the lure of traveling was instilled in me from a young age.

Despite my many travels, it wasn’t until I went to school at WVU that I had the chance to venture outside of the country.

I was enticed by the College’s summer study abroad program in Mexico because it offered a blend of cultural and industry experience. This program was unique in the fact that it was designed to expose you to the real culture of Mexico while working alongside native citizens to solve real engineering problems. It also allowed me to earn nine transferable credits upon completion, three of which count as a capstone class, which was immensely helpful for dual majors like myself who need two capstones to graduate.

From the moment our group landed in Mexico City, I noticed several shocking differences. The

Graham McConnell Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

streets were crowded with a combination of trucks and cars all quickly dodging in and out of lanes and driving erratically. There were several small favela or shanty townstyle neighborhoods dotting the sides of the road, and street performers were walking up to cars stopped at red lights. There was also a noticeable language barrier that I knew would be challenging to overcome, especially once I discovered that my host family only spoke Spanish.

Shortly after arriving, I received my full-time work placement at an aerospace engineering company called Safran Group. I was paired with a Mexican engineering student, and we were assigned to work on a top-secret project related to landing gear systems for commercial airlines. In the engineering world, projects can last for months or even years, but we were given only eight weeks to develop a prototype that would increase airline safety procedures. Although we knew it would be difficult working on a strict deadline to complete a project that neither of us had experience in, we were up for the challenge and got to work.

While we worked full time during the week, our weekends were spent traveling to historic Mexican towns and archeological sites. My personal favorites were hiking a mountain trail at Pena de Bernal, a small town at the base of an enormous rock face with a lot of interesting markets and foods to try, and the pyramids of Teotihuacan, an ancient city that dates back to the time before the Aztecs. One weekend we even got to take a cooking class where we learned how to make corn tortillas and Pan de Reyes, a bread used in the ceremony of the Dia de Muertos. Most of my other free time was spent watching Mexico compete in the World Cup. There were several days I remember sitting in a restaurant watching Mexico face South Korea or Germany. The energy of the crowd cheering each time Mexico scored and celebrating after a win is something that is hard to forget.

Within a matter of weeks my Spanish greatly improved and I was able to discuss my day with my host family and hold conversations with my new friends. I met many wonderful people from all over the world including Brazil, Oman, Rwanda, Mexico and the United Kingdom. It was great being able to share our different perspectives over dinner every night using a common language that we all worked hard to learn.

By the end of the trip I was also able to communicate with my work partner using his native tongue, which helped us meet our project deadline. We managed to successfully design a prototype that would help detect foreign objects in airplane landing gear and were able to present it to our bosses at the company. They praised us for our hard work and innovative designs, which filled me with a huge sense of accomplishment.

Working in a real professional environment helped me learn important lessons about prioritization, trust, leadership and teamwork. I found myself actively planning out each day and setting goals for the team, as well as prioritizing tasks that were the most important to the project and leaving the others alone.

This program was designed to highlight your strengths, so I learned to trust my teammate and the strengths and knowledge he possessed, and let him control those areas, while I focused on the tasks where my talents were best used. This is something I believe every engineering student needs to experience firsthand in order to understand how to succeed in a professional environment.

Although the program was challenging, studying abroad in Mexico was one of the best decisions I could have ever made.

I gained a great understanding as to why persistence is such a beneficial trait to have as a professional and learned the value of immersing yourself in new cultures. I am confident that the lessons I learned will guide me during my career and that the memories I made will stick with me forever.

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Dimitra Pyrialakou, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been named the inaugural Maurice Wadsworth Faculty Fellow in the Statler College.

“Dr. Pyrialakou started working at WVU in August 2016 and she has been trying to secure external research funding and to develop an independent research program in the area of transportation engineering,” said Hema Siriwardane, chair of civil and environmental engineering. “The Wadsworth Faculty Fellowship provides her with opportunities to secure external funding for her research.”

Pyrialakou has initiated research on a project that assesses the efficiency and effectiveness of West Virginia’s rural transit systems through evaluations of peer transit agencies in the state in hopes of identifying opportunities for improvement. She was also involved with a multidisciplinary research team whose goal was to provide research recommendations that can be used to enhance rural transportation options and improve quality of life for the rural elderly and other socially and transportation disadvantaged populations.

“I believe in the necessity of approaching problems from an interdisciplinary-systems view,” said Pyrialakou. “Apart from engineering methods, I focus on exploring methods more commonly used in urban studies, geography and regional sciences, consumer science and social psychology.

Essential aspects of my research practices

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include collaborating with other faculty within and outside the Department on research projects and publications, actively fostering intellectual interaction across interdisciplinary research areas and undergraduate and graduate student mentoring.”

The three-year appointment will provide Pyrialakou with seed funding to leverage when seeking external funding opportunities, as well as funds for technological enhancements and travel.

“I am also planning on using part of the funds to continue to provide undergraduate research opportunities,” said Pyrialakou. “My goal is to expose more students to research practices and applications in the field and to recruit ambitious students into civil and environmental engineering. These types of opportunities provide students with relevant extracurricular experience and allow them to see themselves furthering their education in academia at the graduate level.

“Mr. Wadsworth has been incredibly supportive of the College and the University and I am deeply honored to have been selected,” Pyrialakou said.

A Clarksburg native, Maurice Wadsworth earned a degree in civil engineering from WVU in 1951. After a two-year stint in the Air Force, he spent

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his entire career at Gannett Fleming, Inc., in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Wadsworth served as a bridge design engineer, chief computer engineer for the transportation division, senior vice president for administration and president and chairman of the board.

At the time of his retirement in 1996, the firm employed approximately 1,500 employees in 25 offices. Wadsworth was a professional engineer in 23 states and authored numerous papers. He was inducted into the West Virginia Academy of Civil Engineers in 2008.

“The College is grateful to Maurice Wadsworth and his wife, Jo Ann, for the establishment of this faculty fellowship in civil and environmental engineering,” said Gene Cilento, Glen H. Hiner Dean of the College. “Gifts of this nature allow us to recognize and retain bright young faculty like Dr. Pyrialakou, and further their research and scholarship in their respective areas of interest.”

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Pyrialakou inaugural Wadsworth Faculty Fellow

MEP helps local business diversify, achieve ISO certification WRITTEN BY MARY C. DILLON

WVMEP conducted multiple on-site technical assessments with assistance from the Progressive Industries and Precision Tool staff, which included interviews of key staff, participation in facility observations and training and guidance for employees regarding the concepts discussed.

“A lean process assessment was completed to provide the company with recommendations to improve their processes and efficiency in 14 categories,” Biser said. “A safety assessment gave them a detailed list of potential safety concerns PHOTOGRAPH SUBMITTED

When a Morgantown-area business needed assistance growing its customer base, they turned to an organization that could position the company for a more stable future: the West Virginia Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

Progressive Industries, a family-owned underground mining equipment repair and rebuild shop in Westover, had seen its workforce dip from 45 to less than 10 due to downturns in the state’s mining industry. Its sister company, Precision Tool, was looking to diversify its machining services as well.

Representatives from WVMEP, housed in the Statler College, rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

“We initially met with Progressive Industries and Precision Tool because they were looking for ideas for improvement and opportunities to diversify and grow their business,” said Jerry Biser, director, WVMEP. “Like most of our clients, they are small manufacturers that do not have the internal personnel resources necessary to tackle these types of projects.”

with recommendations for corrective measures and an energy assessment so recommendations to reduce energy consumption could be made.”

Following completion of the technical assessments, WVMEP led the companies in a value stream mapping event for one of their regular rebuild products.

“This multi-day project provided training on the concepts of value stream mapping, creation of a current state map, list of potential areas of non-value added activities and potential reasons for causes for these issues,” said Biser. “Following the event, we provided Progressive Industries with a current state map along with recommendations and an action plan to move forward.”

The final step in the process involved a complete redesign of the companies’

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website, in an effort to ensure consistency among all their marketing efforts.

When it was all said and done, WVMEP had recommended five energy-related projects and 60 process improvement recommendations, had identified multiple safety concerns and a number of measures to drastically improve process efficiency. The work also results in ISO 9001 certification for Precision Tool, considered to be the gold standard for demonstrating a manufacturer’s commitment to maintaining the highest quality production and management processes.

Looking at the full body of work that WVMEP did for both companies, Heather Cyphert, owner of Progressive Industries and Precision Tool, said none of it would have been possible without the WVMEP. “Without the WVMEP, I would have not been able to have the help I needed to get projects done,” Cyphert said. “They helped me with safety, value stream mapping and, most of all, the ISO certification. Without WVMEP, I would have never been able to become ISO certified. They took us to a whole new level of quality.”

“Our staff was able to provide assistance for these companies to grow and thrive by providing safety assistance, improving manufacturing processes, recommending energy efficiency upgrades and implementing a complete redesign of their websites,” Biser said.

“These improvements now place them in a position to pursue new clients outside their traditional client base and build a more diverse and stable business.”

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SKY’S THE LIMIT After participating in a stringent four-month interview process, Keith Heisler, an industrial engineering student from Oxford, Pennsylvania, was selected for one of only two open positions as an Innovation Intern at Southwest Airlines, which received more than 42,000 applications for their 2018 summer internship program.

As a member of the airline’s innovation department, Heisler worked in an incubator-type environment with business, engineering and design professionals to create and test new innovations in airport and airplane technology. He also worked across all sectors of the business to participate in the full innovation process, which included product development, industry analysis and vendor and supplier management.

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WVU’s student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers captured third place in the Concrete Canoe Competition at the 2018 Virginia’s Conference, hosted by the Catholic University of America.

Preparations for the event began during the fall semester, when the 16-member team tested more than 32 designs before settling on their winning model, an 18-foot-long concrete canoe that weighed more than 400 pounds. To ensure that the canoe would float, the team had to make sure that their concrete mix had a dry unit weight less than 62.4 pounds per cubic foot, which is the unit weight of water. The final version of their canoe weighed in at 55 pounds per cubic foot.

“Making a concrete canoe is not the easiest task in the world, and it takes a lot of patience and determination,” said team captain Allison Givens, a civil engineering major and Honors College student from Nettie. “Last year our canoe ended up cracking, so being able to place in the top three was a great accomplishment. This year we had a lot of new members join our team, and we’re really proud of how they stepped up to tackle any task that came their way. The dedication of our members is truly what led to our success.”

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BARNWOOD BUILDERS Safety management alumnus Mark Bowe will be the first to tell you he is passionate about heritage and history, something he and his team strive to preserve as they travel the country honoring pioneer-era craftsmanship on the popular DIY network show, “Barnwood Builders.” He also will tell you that he is equally passionate about his alma mater and that he relishes in the opportunity to give back to the place that provided him with the drive and skills to succeed.

When approached about using those skills and that passion to enhance cultural opportunities for visitors at WVU Jackson’s Mill, Bowe jumped at the opportunity.

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Engineering 360˚

His team constructed a timber frame structure, made of 350-year-old wood, offsite at the company’s “Boneyard” and transported the building in pieces to the site at WVU Jackson’s Mill. A team from Jackson’s Mill coordinated the site prep work, and Bowe and his crew instructed the WVU team – using tools and techniques from pioneer days – on completing the necessary construction, raising the structure and putting on the finishing touches.

The group worked for three days to build the 16-by-20-foot structure, which will be used as a craft education center where visitors will learn about Appalachian heritage. The building also will serve as a home for Appalachian artisans who want to showcase their work and teach others about their craft.

POSTERS ON THE HILL Morgan Menke, an electrical engineering major from Ridgeley, was one of 60 students selected nationally – and the only one from West Virginia – by the Council on Undergraduate Research to showcase their work on Capitol Hill during the annual Posters on the Hill session.

The competitive event gives students the opportunity to showcase their research to congressional members, meet with their representatives and learn about advocacy for undergraduate research.

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Menke met with various congressional staff members and federal government officials during the poster symposium, in which she discussed her research that focuses on creating algorithms for real-time analysis of isolated astrophysical pulses. The pulses have been detected by many radio telescopes, including the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia.

Menke was also able to visit the offices of senators Joe Manchin and Shelly Moore Capito and congressmen Evan Jenkins and David McKinley to discuss the overall importance of undergraduate research.

DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORSHIPS Three professors – Kashy Aminian, Brijes Mishra and Yi Luo – were named to distinguished professorships, effective July 1.

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Aminian was named the Charles T. Holland Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering. The award was created in honor of the former dean of WVU’s School of Mines, who served from 1961-1970.

Mishra was named the Syd and Felicia Peng Professor of Mining Engineering. For more than 40 years, the Pengs have been important contributors to the educational futures of countless mining engineering students at WVU. The award, created in 2014, is available to specialists in the areas of ground control and mineral processing.

Luo was named the Charles E. Lawall Chair for Energy and the Environment. The award, which was created through a gift by Consolidation Coal Company and Glenna R. Pack, honors the former Department chair, who went on to become president of WVU, serving until 1945.

WINNERS Not only did representatives from WVU’s student chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers perform extremely well at the Region 2 Student Activities Conference, they earned the right to host it in 2019.

The 2018 Region 2 event, which was held April 6-7 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, attracted more than 300 engineering students from universities in southern New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, northern Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C. Students from WVU took top honors in the Women in Engineering outreach and the T-shirt design competitions and finished third in the ethics competition.

“Our chapter is one of the largest student chapters in IEEE,” said Will Howard, an electrical engineering major and WVU Honors College student from Morgantown who also serves as Pittsburgh Section Student Representative.

“Our members are actively involved in events hosted by the Statler College as well as in volunteer activities in the community. We were one of several schools to submit a proposal to host the event, and I believe our experience in planning and hosting outreach events like this gave us an advantage over the other schools.”

The 2019 event is planned for April 5-7.

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EVALUATING MERCER COUNTY WATER Just as finals were wrapping up, a team from WVU’s Engineers Without Borders Chapter headed to the Mercer County town of McComas to conduct an assessment on an abandoned water system. The students spent two days reconditioning the community’s water tank and clearing brush and debris that had collected around the water system to make the area more accessible by vehicle. They also spent time interviewing residents and taking water samples for further analysis.

Before heading home, members performed outreach initiatives at Princeton and Liberty high schools, engaging with students through presentations and interactive engineering activities and demonstrations.

WVUEWB plans to identify additional communities in West Virginia that are facing water accessibility issues so that they can continue to advocate for additional technical, political, social and financial assistance in the future.

STUDENT ORG OF THE YEAR In recognition of their tremendous outreach and community service efforts, the WVU Section of the Society of Women Engineers was named the 2017-2018 Student Organization of the Year. As part of the selection process, SWE had to submit an application and undergo an interview process with the University’s Student Government Association. Their superb commitment to the community, extensive outreach on the WVU campus and vast number of service hours were among the many reasons the organization received the top honor.

In addition to participating in at least one service project per month at local organizations, SWE’s primary focus is providing K-12 STEM outreach programs for the Statler College. While the organization hosts dozens of events per year such as their Murder Mystery Lunch and Code Name: SWE, their largest event is Girl Scout Day, a one-day immersive and educational STEM experience that brings more than 250 local Girl Scouts to campus.

“The WVU Section is dedicated to hosting meaningful STEM outreach events for kids in the Morgantown area,” said Alex Anderson, who graduated in May with a degree in biomedical engineering. “The opportunity to be a mentor as a female in STEM is invaluable for showing young girls that they can pursue a STEM career, too.”

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WVU team finishes second in NASA’s Mars Ice Challenge WRITTEN BY MARY C. DILLON

Not a leaking drain plug nor a blown water line could keep the MIDAS II team from West Virginia University from placing in NASA’s Mars Ice Challenge.

Led by Powsiri Klinkhachorn, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, the Mountaineer Ice Drilling Automated System team picked up second place and top honors for extracting the clearest water during the three-day event, besting the likes of MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Virginia Tech.

Held at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the Mars Ice Challenge tasks teams to create innovative designs for drilling and water extraction systems on Earth that could be modified for use on Mars. Teams tested their drilling systems on simulated Martian subsurface ice stations — solid blocks of ice covered with regolith, a mixture of clay and gravel, approximately one meter deep.

Teams competed to extract the most water from the ice station. The competition was won by first-time competitor Northeastern University.

While WVU won the competition in 2017, it wasn’t satisfied just sitting on its laurels. The team took the technology used to create MIDAS I a step further when creating MIDAS II. “MIDAS I had two systems to complete its operation: one to plunge into the regolith and ice sample and another to heat and melt the water,” said Klinkhachorn.

“MIDAS II combined both systems into one singular probe to go about its operations. The all-in-one bit included heaters, a pipe for water to go through and a copper tip.”

The all-in-one bit plunged into the regolith sample with a hammer drill and industrial-grade compact linear rail system. Once the predetermined depth was reached, heating cycles began to form a cavity, known as a Rodriguez well, within the sample.

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“The Rod well’s shape keeps dirt out of the water sample and allows for the formation of plentiful water,” said Bert Wieliczko, an electrical and computer engineering graduate student from Holderness, New Hampshire. “We designed this system with all intentions set on Martian operations. The Rod well is the centerpiece of the operation.”

Additional changes included a better pump and blower, which allowed for clearer water samples, and MIDAS II was foldable, proving the process created by the team could easily be made portable, thus suitable for transport to Mars.

While day two of the competition started off well with all systems operating flawlessly, the team soon ran into problems.

“All systems were functioning like they did during testing prior to the competition.

However, we did not accumulate as much water as we thought we would,” said aerospace engineering major Kermit Sah (Honors College; Lexington, South Carolina).

“We assumed we got too excited with our first hole and pumped all the water out during the primary part of the heating sample.”

After running MIDAS II through multiple tests to ensure everything was operating properly, the team noticed water escaping from the bottom of the NASA-supplied ice box via a defective drain plug. Once the defect was corrected, the team went back to drilling, collecting 755.5 milliliters, nearly twice what they extracted in 2017.

Day three, which challenges the teams to operate the robotic system autonomously, saw muddy water clogging and ultimately blowing the system’s water line. After some minor repairs, the team unofficially collected more than three liters of water.

Over the course of two days, the team collected 859.5 milliliters of water.

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Members of Team MIDAS II include (from left) Nathan Owen, Derek Roesch, Bert Wieliczko, Kermit Sah and Powsiri Klinkhachorn.

“We collected the cleanest water and were able to show consistency during all operations,” said Klinkhachorn. “We are proud of the system we have built because it not only worked well during competition but it showed a unique and innovative way to allow for the extraction of liquid water on a Martian environment.”

Joining Wieliczko and Sah on the team were Dylan Johnson (Heaters), Eric Loy (Keyser), Nathan Owen (Fairfax, Virginia), Derek Roesch (Nazareth, Pennsylvania), Amanda Stevens (Inwood), Daniel Torti (Long Beach, New York), Nicholas Wallace (Roxboro, North Carolina), Andrew Wallace (Crownsville, Maryland) and Joseph Yeager (Summersville).

Co-advising the team was Ilkin Bilgesu, associate professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering.

WVU’s second team, IS-ICE, the In-Situ Ice Chip Extractor, was led by Sean Lantto, an aerospace engineering major from Manassas, Virginia, and advised by Thomas Evans, research associate professor in the Department Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and director of the West Virginia

Robotic Technology Center. Joining Lantto on the team were Kyle Dailyda (Egg Harbor City, New Jersey) and Jacob Winokur (Chesapeake, Virginia). WVU was the only university to have two teams in the competition.

During remote operations, IS-ICE was able to reverse its rig’s drill bit without touching the robot.

“We reversed the drill to clear a blockage in the auger,” said Evans. “The cutting bit got stuck and unscrewed itself. We then were able to position over the stuck bit and rethread it onto the auger by running the drill slowly.”

The team successfully extracted a slurry mixture but was unable to separate the water from the sample.

The teams were sponsored by the Statler College, the West Virginia NASA Space Grant Consortium, the Lane Department, the Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering and the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center. The teams also receive a stipend from the National Institute of Aerospace, which co-sponsors the competition.

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In response to the surging, global demand for cybersecurity professionals, the Statler College now offers an undergraduate degree in cybersecurity. The program provide students with skills in areas such as business, criminal justice and cryptography to prepare them for careers in industry, law enforcement and defense.

“Cybersecurity draws heavily from computer science,” said Brian Woerner, chair of the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. “The program will provide students with the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing society. By producing work-force ready cybersecurity experts, we hope to increase the prospects of enhanced economic development for West Virginia.”

In April, the BOG approved graduate offerings in biomedical engineering.

Offered at both the master’s and doctoral levels, the programs are designed to prepare students to be skilled in learning and discovering processes that aim to integrate engineering and life sciences for the advancement of human health and medical technologies.

Cerasela Zoica Dinu, associate chair of biomedical engineering, sees opportunities for the program to foster a collaborative research culture with partners across the campus as well as spurring economic development in the region.

“The Statler College’s close proximity to the WVU Health Sciences Center campus and its growing collaborations with the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute will help cultivate a network-based community between biomedical engineering students and clinical partners for the production and application of new knowledge in areas that impact the health and well-being of West Virginia’s citizens,” said Dinu. “We also expect to enhance the attractiveness of WVU and West Virginia to outside medical companies considering relocating here, and to stimulate a more robust local infrastructure in the discipline.”

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During the spring semester, the WVU Board of Governors announced two additions to the Statler College’s slate of academic programs, both of which began offering courses in the fall.

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NEW PROGRAMS ANNOUNCED

Michael Flowers, a civil engineering graduate, was one of five alumni inducted into WVU’s Distinguished Alumni Academy.

Flowers, the former president and chief executive officer of American Bridge Company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, FLOWERS began his career in 1975 while conducting repairs and maintenance on the steel making facilities for American Bridge’s parent company, United States Steel Corporation. Working from the ground up, he was later assigned to a business unit responsible for major commercial construction projects in the United States including high-rise buildings and bridges.

His résumé of projects stems from the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, to One Mellon Bank Center, PPG Place and the Fifth Avenue Place in Pittsburgh, among others. In 1986, Flowers joined the Mellon Stuart Company in their commercial building division as vice president, working on the major bridge and heavy and highway projects centered primarily in Pennsylvania and Illinois. In 1994, he returned to American Bridge as senior vice president of operations. His projects moved internationally as he oversaw major bridge construction in Portugal, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

He assumed the role of CEO with the company in 2011.

APPOINTED

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Vladislav Kecojevic has been named the Robert E. Murray Chair of the Department of Mining Engineering.

Kecojevic, who had been serving as interim chair since August 2017, has been on the faculty in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources since 2010. He has conducted research in the areas of surface mining, surface mine safety, information technology and environmental issues in surface mining. Kecojevic has been recognized internationally for his contributions to the mining industry. He was awarded the Erskine Ramsay Medal from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers in 2017 for his contributions to the research, education and service in surface coal mining and for his international recognition as a researcher, teacher and academic leader.

Associate Dean for Research Pradeep Fulay and James Dean, director of mining and industrial extension, were reappointed to their positions. According to Gene Cilento, Glen H. Hiner Dean of the Statler College, Fulay has “been especially effective in helping new Statler College faculty hires to develop active research programs and to achieve major external funding, including awards such as National Science Foundation CAREER Awards.”

He also noted that Dean was praised for working diligently to represent his Department to the professional communities it serves.

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Richard Turton, WVU Bolton Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, was named chair of the Department. A member of the faculty since 1986, Turton has conducted extensive research in the area of process simulation of power plants and power technology. He serves as the director of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy’s AVESTAR® Center, a state-of-the-art training simulator that provides realistic, hands-on experience for operating clean energy systems in the smart grid era. He was a member of a research team that won an R&D 100 Award – a national award known as the “Oscar of innovation” – for the development of a virtual reality-based software that provides the energy industry with an unprecedented high-tech look inside the operation of power plants.

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Several faculty members were appointed to senior administrative positions, effective July 1.

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CERTIFIED Lauren MacDowell, an industrial hygiene graduate student from Satellite Beach, Florida, and Brice Dang Nsongue, a safety management graduate student from Douala, Cameroon, were recipients of the 2017 Graduate Safety Practitioner Scholarship. The scholarship is given to students interested in becoming Certified Safety Professionals, an accredited certification offered by the BCSP, and comes with an award of $5,000 and a free application to take the GSP exam upon graduation. The GSP designation is awarded to qualified individuals to mark their completion of an accredited academic program as well as establish their intention to obtain CSP certification, one of the highest credentials professionals in the safety field can achieve.

Department chairs are reviewed every five years by the College. Evaluations include input from faculty members, staff, students and other constituents.

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Students earn University Fellowships

prevent their migration to the lungs. Hunter’s proposed project has the potential to greatly impact breast cancer patient care and save lives.”

“I was elated to learn that I had received the prestigious Provost Fellowship,” said Snoderly. “WVU afforded me many opportunities throughout my undergraduate career and the opportunity to work with Dr. Bennewitz adds to the ever-growing list of such occasions for which I am profoundly grateful.”

Gupta, from Rajasthan, India, received his bachelor’s and WRITTEN BY BRITTANY FURBEE master’s degree in mining engineering from the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad, India, before relocating to WVU as a doctoral student in mining engineering.

Working with Brijes Mishra, Syd and Felicia Peng Professor of Mining Engineering, Gupta has been investigating the fundamental causes of roof collapses in underground coal mines in hopes of improving overall mine safety.

“Neel is investigating the time-dependent behavior of rocks at the microscopic level,” said Mishra. “His research will help us GUPTA SNODERLY understand the formation and development of cracks and fractures that propagate over time and cause failure in rocks. We have a Two Statler College students have received thorough understanding at the macroscopic prestigious University Fellowships. level, however understanding the microscopic level will aid us in improving our roof support capability.”

Morgantown native and doctoral student Hunter Snoderly Identifying the cause of roof failures at the microscopic level was awarded a one-year University Provost Fellowship, while will allow Gupta to develop indicators that can be installed in Neel Gupta was awarded WVU’s Outstanding Merit Fellowship underground mine entries to detect potential collapses, which for Continuing Doctoral Students. The fellowships provide a will prevent mine fatalities and loss of coal mines production.

University tuition waiver, College tuition scholarship, stipend “I was overwhelmed with happiness and couldn’t believe and health insurance. that I have been selected for this prestigious fellowship,” said Snoderly is among the inaugural class of students enrolled in Gupta.

“I feel honored that my research is getting recognized the College’s new graduate program in biomedical engineering among my peers in college.” that launched this fall. He will be conducting research with “I am extremely lucky to have outstanding graduate students Margaret Bennewitz, assistant professor of chemical and like Gupta,” said Mishra. “He works tirelessly to improve his biomedical engineering, to examine breast cancer metastasis to research, collaborates with fellow graduate students and is not the lungs. The pair will be collaborating with investigators at shy of either taking comments or suggesting ideas to fellow WVU’s Health Sciences Center to analyze spontaneous mouse researchers.

This award will further motivate him to pursue and models that mimic human disease to visualize each step of publish his work, visit mines and overall improve mine safety breast cancer metastasis. through fundamental research.”

“Hunter will have the opportunity to use cutting-edge Gupta was also the recipient of the 2017-2018 Syd S. and imaging modalities to study how the tumor microenvironment Felicia F. Peng Ground Control in Mining Scholarship and promotes breast cancer metastasis to the lungs,” said Bennewitz.

Mining Engineering Faculty Graduate Award.

“Based on our findings, we will design targeted nanoparticle drug delivery vehicles to kill the primary breast cancer cells and

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WVU finishes second in intercollegiate rocket engineering competition WRITTEN BY BRITTANY FURBEE

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WVU’s Experimental Rocketry team overcame near catastrophic setbacks to capture second place in the 10,000 footlaunch category at the second annual Spaceport America Cup. The event, which was held on June 19-23, near Las Cruces, New Mexico, hosts student rocketry teams from all over the world to launch solid, liquid, and hybrid rockets to target altitudes of 10,000 and 30,000 feet while carrying a minimum of 8.8 pounds of payload.

After finishing in first place in the 10,000-foot category during the 2017 competition, the WVU team was excited to defend its title and also to compete in both event categories for the first time.

The students kicked off the competition by first launching their 12-foot long fiberglass rocket in the 30,000-foot category. The 121-pound rocket included carbon fiber reinforced fins and nosecone, an aluminum nose tip, as well as a powerful motor capable of producing 1,200 pounds of thrust.

Despite executing a successful test launch in March, the rocket structurally failed shortly after takeoff, making the launch ineligible for judging during the competition.

“Watching our rocket being torn into a million little pieces was disappointing to say the least,” said WVUER President Casey Wilson, a recent mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate from Wheeling. “However, our focus quickly shifted to the next category. When the rocket broke apart we lost both GPS units that were attached to it. We only brought two units with us to New Mexico and without these we knew there

was little chance we could fly the 10,000foot rocket.”

One of the main judging components of the competition requires teams to track and retrieve data from their rocket following each launch, an impossible task without GPS units.

“After extensive searching we arrived for the final day of the competition empty handed and unsure if we would even fly the 2017 winning rocket,” said Wilson. “To our surprise one of our competitors from Egypt discovered the remnants of our destroyed rocket’s avionics bay and brought it back to the launch site for us. We were able to then scramble to fix the non-functional GPS unit and prepare the rocket for launch.”

The team’s unwillingness to give up paid off. Their rocket and recently redesigned motor, capable of producing 450 pounds of force, successfully launched and reached an altitude of 10,258 feet.

Coming so close to the target altitude during the launch earned the team high scores with the judges. The team was also scored on a poster presentation that explained the rocket’s specifications as well as various technical papers and progress reports that were submitted

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throughout the year. They received strong scores across the board, resulting in their second place victory.

“Preparation for this year’s competition began quite literally the day after we won last year,” said Wilson. “As we began preparing for this competition our strategy didn’t change a great deal.

For us, the real strategy comes from the many months of planning, design, fabrication and testing that goes into the project. We have worked extremely hard and clearly it paid off.”

“This is a very exciting time in the team’s history,” said Dan Bennett, an aerospace engineering major and WVU Honors College student from Newburyport, Massachusetts. Placing in the competition for the second year, especially after so many setbacks, will provide us with the momentum and confidence we need to take on even bigger challenges in the future.”

Team members joining Wilson and Bennett in New Mexico were mechanical and aerospace engineering majors Matt Hines (Buffalo, WVU Honors College), Tucker Johnson (Richmond, Virginia), Zach Maddams (Claymont, Delaware, Honors College) and industrial engineering major Abadi Albeladi (Saudi Arabia).

The team was sponsored by the Statler College, the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation Facility, the WVU Student Government Association and Aurora Flight Sciences.

BENJAMIN M. STATLER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

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Engineering 360˚

TAKING HOME THE HARDWARE From the beginning of the semester until the end, faculty and students in the Statler College took home the hardware, winning accolades for teaching, advising and scholarship.

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ADVISORS OF THE YEAR NESBIT

OUTSTANDING SAFETY EDUCATOR MORRIS

WINN

POLAND

Michelle Poland, academic success program coordinator and academic advisor for Fundamentals of Engineering, was named the College’s Advisor of the Year.

NESBIT

HEEBINK AWARD

MEANS

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Gary Winn, professor and coordinator of occupational safety and health, received the 2018 William Tarrants Outstanding Safety Educator Award from the American Society of Safety Engineers. The award recognizes educators who show the highest level of achievement in occupational safety and health teaching, scholarship and professional service as part of ASSE. Winn has been a member of the organization for 25 years.

Kenneth Means, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was named the recipient of the 2018 Heebink Award for Distinguished Service to West Virginia. The Heebink Award is given to a faculty or staff member who has “used the unique resources of the University” and their own professional expertise to provide an educational or public service activity to the citizens of the state. Since 2001, Means, a member of the Governor’s Energy Task Force, has worked on the Projects With Industry program, leading teams of WVU mechanical engineering students tasked with evaluating state industries, schools and other entities to assess and improve efficiency and productivity.

Student participants provide a free service and gain practical experience in engineering design.

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Melissa Morris, teaching associate professor and academic advisor for Fundamentals of Engineering, was named a recipient of the North Central Section Outstanding Teaching Award from the American Society of Engineering Education. The award recognizes teachers of engineering students who exhibit outstanding classroom performance and serves as an incentive for educators to make further significant contributions to their profession. She was also named the Statler College’s Advisor of the Year.

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GALL

Peter Gall, teaching assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was named the College’s Teacher of the Year.

LIMA

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NICHOLAS EVANS AWARD

ZONDLO

FELLOW OF AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS

NIX

Andrew Nix, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. A member of ASME for 24 years, Nix was selected for his contributions to the organization’s International Gas Turbine Institute. As an executive member of IGTI’s Aircraft Engine Committee for more nearly 10 years, Nix has held various leadership positions including point contact, vice chair, chairman, intermediate past chair and most recently director. He is also a member of IGTI’s Heat Transfer Committee, where he currently serves as chairman of the honors and awards subcommittee and previously held the position of vanguard chair for Heat Transfer Tutorials for three years. ASME is a global engineering society comprised of more than 130,000 members in more than 151 countries. Less than 4,000 members have achieved ASME Fellow status.

RESEARCHERS OF THE YEAR Antar Jutla, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, was named the College’s Researcher of the Year/Senior.

Stefanos Papanikolaou, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, was named the College’s Researcher of the Year/Junior.

PAPANIKOLAOU

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NESBIT

John Zondlo, professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, was awarded the Nicholas Evans Award for Excellence in Advising.

Zondlo advises nearly 100 students while serving as a faculty advisor for multiple department and College organizations. The annual award, established by the Office of the Provost, is given in honor of Nicholas Evans, a lifelong proponent of the importance of undergraduate advising at WVU. Recipients receive $1,250 in professional development support.

Edward Sabolsky, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Fernando Lima, assistant professor of chemical engineering, were awarded the 2018 Faculty Award for Distinction in Mentoring Undergraduates in Research.

Sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Honors College, the award recognize, rewards and encourages faculty members who mentor undergraduate students in research and creative endeavors. The award applies rigorous criteria in identifying faculty who specifically mentor undergraduates in making an original intellectual or creative contribution to their discipline. Lima and Sabolsky each received a monetary award to be used toward their continued support of undergraduate research.

NESBIT

SABOLSKY

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DISTINCTION IN MENTORING

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TEACHER OF THE YEAR

JUTLA

BENJAMIN M. STATLER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

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Engineering 360˚

TAKING HOME THE HARDWARE

Neil S. Bucklew Scholars

EBY

MOORE

SOLTESZ

COTTRILL

LATTA

ARNOLD

HISE

WEAVER

MCKNIGHT

PATEL

HIGGINS

Future engineers Ashley Eby, Jenna Soltesz, Jackie Arnold, Hunter Moore, Louis “Jay” Latta, Ethan Weaver, Heath Cottrill, Jacob Hise, Ian McKnight, Shamil Patel, Jamie Higgins and Murad Hamirani were among the 20 students selected for the Neil S. Bucklew Scholarship. Named after WVU’s 20th president, the scholarship is valued at $40,000 and provides recipients with more than $10,000 per year over four years to be used toward educational costs. All Bucklew Scholars qualified for the Honors College at WVU, and the scholarship can be used in addition to the state’s PROMISE Scholarship.

Eby, Cottrill and Patel were also named WVU Foundation Scholars, the highest academic scholarship the University awards. To qualify, students must meet a rigorous set of criteria, including possessing a minimum GPA of 3.8, achieving a minimum composite score of 30 on the ACT or the equivalent SAT score and being residents of West Virginia. More than 230 high school students initially applied for the scholarship, and of those, 20 were invited to campus for interviews. The value of the Foundation Scholarship, when paired with the PROMISE Scholarship, is more than $90,000 over four years.

First SAMPE Contest Winners NESBIT

MELVIN

GUTHRIE

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HAMIRANI

WINOKUR

A trio of engineering students swept the Student Additive Manufacturing Contest that was held during the 2018 Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering Conference and Exhibition. The grand prize of $500 was awarded to Logan Melvin, a mechanical engineering major from Weirton, whose structure supported 105 pounds before failing.

Aerospace engineering majors Jacob Winokur (Chesapeake, Virginia) and Brenden Guthrie (Charleston), were awarded $300 and $200 for second and third place, respectively. Their dominating performance marked the first appearance of WVU students in the SAMPE contest.

ELLIS

ORDER OF AUGUSTA Tanner Filben and Anna Gilpin were awarded Order of Augusta, WVU’s most prestigious student honor.

SHEPHARD

FILBEN

FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR

Filben, from Glen Dale, graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering and a minor in computer science. He was the assistant executive director of the Mountaineer Maniacs, a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society and a former intern to the director for athletics of the Student Government Association. Also a biomedical engineer, Gilpin, from Martinsburg, was the vice president of the Biomedical Engineering Society, a member of the Society of Women Engineers, associate editor for the Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review and former executive director for recruitment and retention for the Student Government Association. Megan Barthelmess, Cassidy Bland, Alyssa Diehl, Lindsay Elliot, Yacine Feliachi, Ahmed Haque, Nicole Hegele, Jason Horvath and Morgan King were among 41 students named Outstanding Seniors.

KING

GILPIN

SHEPHARD

NSF SUMMER RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP HOWARD

PERSINGER

Will Howard and Nicholas Strogen were selected to participate in National Science Foundation-funded summer research fellowships with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Howard, of Morgantown, conducted research on adapting the current LTE standard for emergency use — making sure that when we most need them, our cellular communications systems work at NIST facilities in Colorado. Strogen, a Bridgeport native, headed to Maryland, where he conducted impact testing research for football players, investigating topics such as concussion protocol. Home to three Nobel Prize winners, NIST is one of the leading research organizations in the world.

PERSINGER

Morgan King, who graduated in May with a degree in civil engineering, was selected to receive a Fulbright Scholarship. The Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program, enables students to study, teach or conduct research while increasing mutual understanding between Americans and people of other countries. She will pursue an independent project outside of her English teaching assignment in Madrid, Spain, that will promote the intersection of science and policy. She was also part of a team that won the European External Action Service’s 2018 Schuman Challenge, the second edition of a foreign policy contest for undergraduate students held in Washington, D.C. King and her partner, Garrett Burgess, were tasked with formulating, presenting and defending concrete initiatives and measures for transatlantic cooperation to ensure a sustainable reduction in tensions in the Korean Peninsula.

Gilpin was also named a Graduate Research Fellow by the National Science Foundation. Gilpin is pursuing a PhD in biomedical engineering at Duke University, intending to work in the research and development of biomaterials for regenerative medicine applications.

STROGEN

ELLIS

ORDER OF VANDALIA

BENNETT

Industrial engineering alumnus George Bennett joined the likes of Sen. Jay Rockefeller, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Hazel Ruby McQuain, Sen. Jennings Randolph, John Chambers, James “Buck” Harless and Jack Fleming when he was inducted in to the Order of Vandalia, the highest honor for service to the University. Bennett is a successful entrepreneur who has shared his expertise with the federal government and supported organizations such as the National Youth Science Foundation and Urban Improv to give children a brighter future. He is a member of the Alumni Association’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni and the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame. Bennett was recognized by the WVU Foundation with its Outstanding Philanthropist Award in 2015. He currently serves as the chairman and CEO of Good Measures, LLC, which provides personalized health and nutritional recommendations as well as diabetes prevention and management support programs to its clients.

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Engineering 360˚

TRANSITIONS RETIREES The following people have officially retired from the Statler College, effective June 30, 2018. We thank them for their years of service.

Industrial and Management Systems Engineering

AHLUWALIA

NIGEL CLARK

PERSINGER

RASHPAL AHLUWALIA

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

CLARK

ISMAIL CELIK

BEVERLY MATHENY

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

CELIK

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

MATHENY

NEW FACULTY PIYUSH MEHTA

GUILHERME AUGUSTO SILVA PEREIRA

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering MEHTA

PEREIRA

Education: PhD, University of Kansas, ’13 BS, University of Kansas, ’09 Teaching interests: propulsion systems, aerospace design, aerodynamics Research interests: space sciences, atmospheric drag in orbit, spacecraft dynamics

Education: PhD, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, ’03 MS, Federal University of Minas Gerais, ’00 BS, Federal University of Minas Gerais, ’98 Teaching interests: robotics, autonomous aerial vehicles, controls Research interests: robotics, autonomous aerial vehicles

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RICHARDS, SCHULLER DELIVER 2018 COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

ELLIS

Two distinguished graduates of West Virginia University – J. Wayne Richards and George Schuller, Jr. – were awarded honorary degrees at the Statler College’s 2018 Commencement.

Richards shared how a series of tragic losses as a teenager – both his father and his uncle died before turning 40 – became motivating factors for his time at WVU. “Adversity is a funny thing; you can embrace it to make you stronger as a person, or you can bury your head in the sand and keep feeling sorry for yourself,” Richards said. “I chose the former and used it as a motivation in my engineering studies at WVU, graduating in four years with a degree in mining engineering.”

Richards went on to a 38-year career that has included stints as a senior executive for the largest oilfield services company in the world, to entrepreneur and co-founder of two startup companies.

“There is no way I could have predicted how it would RICHARDS all play out,” Richards said.

“As you all move forward to the next stage in your lives, please remember that anything is possible if you work hard, ELLIS stay focused and continue to learn and add value in anything you happen to do, personally or professionally.”

Also a mining engineering alum, Schuller spent the first 15 years of his career at Peabody Energy, working his way up through the operation to the position of president of the company’s Australian operations.

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Crediting “fantastic mentors” that include Calvin Kidd, a member of WVU’s Distinguished Engineer of Mines, Schuller told graduates, “As each of you will learn as you go through your career, mentors are a huge part of your success. When you combine their advice with a clear sense of purpose and a good set of values, you are truly on your way to becoming an outstanding representative of ELLIS West Virginia University.

“No matter where I traveled around the world, I’d meet many WVU graduates excelling in their chosen professions,” Schuller continued.

“Without fail, every one of them has the same pride and passion for this distinguished university and the foundation it established. I believe WVU graduates have a special character that shines through in the business world, and I am very pleased to have brought many of these individuals to the resource sector.”

In conferring the degree, WVU President E. Gordon Gee told graduates that their lives will be what they make them.

“Whether you are preparing to continue your education or start your career, you can launch a journey that leads you to the heights – and, if you are as fortunate as me, that calls you home to these beautiful mountains,” Gee said.

“Along the way, wave your old gold-and-blue flag with the ardor of a go-go dancer. Become active in the Alumni Association, which has chapters throughout the world. It is worth it just for the pig roasts and crab feasts alone. West Virginia University is growing and advancing, so keep in touch with us online and visit campus often.”

BENJAMIN M. STATLER COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND MINERAL RESOURCES

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SCHULLER

GIFT TO HELP SUPPORT EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

In Support

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WRITTEN BY MARY C. DILLON

HERB AND BOBBIE DRIPPS

An alumnus who credits much of his success to the “real-world” experience he received as an undergraduate at WVU has made a gift to help ensure future generations of students receive the same opportunity.

Herb Dripps, a 1965 civil engineering graduate, donated $500,000 to create the Herbert P. Dripps Student Experiential Learning Fund. The funds will be used to support senior design projects; capstone experiences; student organizations; technology, laboratory and equipment enhancements; and travel for projects and competitions.

“I received my undergraduate degree in civil engineering from WVU and my master’s from an Ivy League university,” Dripps said. “The Ivy League university taught me theory, as did WVU, but WVU taught me a lot more by including – and stressing – the practical application of such. In other words my instructors at West Virginia would often say ‘Here is the theory – learn it well – but now we are going to show you how to apply it in the real world.’ I suggest that future undergrads considering graduate school remain in Morgantown for their advanced degrees.”

In 1974, Dripps founded Glen Arm Building Company, a Maryland-based design-build commercial contracting firm that specializes in the construction of retail centers, office complexes, “flex” warehouses and institutional buildings. He

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recently took a tour of College facilities, which allowed him to meet with current students and faculty.

“The tour demonstrated to me the value of the programs both to the students, faculty and the University,” Dripps said.

“Dean Cilento also opened my eyes as to the importance of research for the prestige of the Statler College, the retention of valued faculty and the attraction of top graduate students.”

“Herb credits much of his success to the practical, handson learning and the value of the professors – many of his had industry experience prior to working in the classroom – at WVU,” said Gene Cilento, the Glen H. Hiner Dean of the Statler College. “This new agreement will create a fund in support of these learning opportunities.”

This is the second gift Dripps has made to the Statler College. In 2014, he pledged $500,000 to the College’s new Advanced Engineering Research Building.

The gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the nonprofit corporation that generates, receives and administers private gifts for the benefit of WVU.

GIFT FROM WVU ALUMNI TO BENEFIT FORMULA SAE TEAM WRITTEN BY WILLIAM NEVIN ELLIS

MARK ZIEGLER AND JUSTIN MOSER WITH TODD AND MICHELLE BROWN

The latest gift from longtime West Virginia University supporters Dan and Betsy Brown will help fund activities related to the WVU Formula SAE racing team in the Statler College.

PHOTOGRAPH SUBMITTED

The significant donation will be used by the WVU Formula SAE team in preparation for 2019 competition.

The team partnered with Rooster Hall Racing of Louisa, Virginia, owned by the Brown’s son and daughter-in-law, Todd and Michelle Brown. RHR provided two internships to WVU students this year as it competed in the Pirelli World Challenge Series.

The RHR team and driver Johan Schwartz, who set the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous car drift in a BMW, rely on student interns to acquire performance data during each race from their WVU-branded BMW M235i touring car.

Between races, the students analyzed and compared the collected data with driver feedback to make adjustments to increase the vehicle’s performance throughout the season.

“We are thankful for the support of Dan and Betsy Brown and excited about our partnership with Rooster Hall Racing,” said Justin Kachel, Mountaineer Racing Formula SAE project manager. “The internship for students Mark Ziegler and Justin Moser and the technical expertise that team owners Todd and Michelle Brown, driver Johan Schwartz, team manager Kevin Tuuri and crew chief Eric Meyer will share with the WVU students during the coming year is a tremendous learning opportunity for our team.

We look forward to meeting Dan and Betsy Brown and keeping them posted about our team’s activities and progress throughout the year.”

The student interns are seasoned team members of WVU Formula SAE, a student race car design competition that encompasses all aspects of the automotive industry including research, design, manufacturing, testing, developing, marketing, management and finance.

Throughout the internship, students will be working to promote the WVU Formula SAE team on a national level in hopes of increasing sponsorship and fundraising opportunities for the team. RHR will provide the students with WVU-branded display tents during each race so that they can conduct interviews and publicity events to highlight their experience.

Scott Wayne, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and WVU Formula SAE advisor, said the students also plan to devote some of the donated funds toward building an engine dynamometer testing facility that will allow the team to test and tune their race engines. Funds will also allow students to attend the Optimum G Advanced Vehicle Dynamics and Data Driven Performance Engineering seminars, where they will learn how to design and analyze their race car’s suspension.

“The team also hopes to compete in all three North American Formula SAE events in 2019, which would not be possible without support from generous sponsors like the Brown family,” Wayne said.

Dan Brown graduated from WVU in 1959 with a degree in business administration. He is retired from The Capital Group Companies, DAN AND BETSY BROWN Inc. Betsy Brown also is a 1959 graduate of the University, earning her degree in agriculture and forestry. The Browns have been longtime philanthropic supporters of WVU, providing gifts over the years to numerous areas of the University. In 2009, the Browns were recognized as Outstanding Philanthropists by the WVU Foundation.

Todd and Michelle Brown have owned Rooster Hall Racing since 2014. Their daughter, Erin, played soccer at WVU and graduated in 2016.

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In Support

ENROLLMENT UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

2017-2018

Yearin

Numbers

342 AEROSPACE 90 BIOMEDICAL 47 BIOMETRIC SYSTEMS 198 CHEMICAL 287 CIVIL 106 COMPUTER ENGINEERING 200 COMPUTER SCIENCE 117 ELECTRICAL 322 INDUSTRIAL 405 MECHANICAL 64 MINING 1,629 NON-DECLARED MAJORS 305 PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS

TOTAL 4,112 GRADUATE STUDENTS

29 AEROSPACE 51 CHEMICAL 68 CIVIL 8 COMPUTER ENGINEERING 74 COMPUTER SCIENCE 63 ELECTRICAL 5 ENERGY SYSTEMS 4 ENGINEERING 41 INDUSTRIAL 18 INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE 18 MATERIAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 90 MECHANICAL 15 MINING 11 OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH 29 PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS 85 SAFETY MANAGEMENT 41 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

TOTAL 650

COLLEGE TOTAL 4,762 60

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RESEARCH EXPENDITURES STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA:

$316,339.04

Expenditures by Source

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND PRIVATE DONORS:

OTHER: $297,398.43

$2,122,702.76

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT:

$19,894,232.65

BY SOURCE

BY DEPARTMENT

Federal Government

Non-Governmental Organizations and Private Donors

State of West Virginia

Other:

$2,610,231.39

CHEMICAL AND BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

$2,963,980.23

CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

$3,727,685.84

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

$213,957.63 $1,943,407.36 $10,110,993.88

FUNDAMENTAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM INDUSTRIAL AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ENGINEERING MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

$563,463.94

MINING AND INDUSTRIAL EXTENSION

$362,872.75

MINING ENGINEERING

$134,079.86

PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS ENGINEERING

$22,630,672.88 TOTAL WVU

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In Support

Honor Roll of Donors

We would like to thank our benefactors who have generously contributed to the College. We are grateful for your support; we could not accomplish what we do without your help. Listed below are individuals and organizations who contributed to a program or department in our College from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018.

Individuals $100,000 & Up Mr. John W. Campbell Mr. & Mrs. Herbert P. Dripps Mr. & Mrs. Robert O. Orders, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Verl O. Purdy Col. & Mrs. R. Michael Ruppert Mr. & Mrs. Maurice A. Wadsworth Mr. & Mrs. Royce J. Watts $25,000 to $99,999 Dr. & Mrs. James P. Anderson Mr. & Mrs. Daniel C. Brown Mrs. Patricia W. Caffrey Mr. Mark Campbell Mr. Forrest D. L. Coontz Mr. & Mrs. Ronald F. Davoli Dr. & Mrs. W. Samuel Easterling Ms. Margaret J. Epperly Mr. & Mrs. James G. Faller Mr. Donald J. Gay Mr. & Mrs. James B. Haines CDR & Mrs. Joseph A. R. Larry PE John & Harriet Loth Dr. & Mrs. Paul G. Migliore Mr. Larry D. Taylor & Dr. Lydotta M. Taylor Mr. H. Wood Thrasher Mr. Paul R. Westfall PE $10,000 to $24,999 Dr. David W. Baker Mr. & Mrs. James N. Butch Mr. & Mrs. Donald R. Culp Mrs. Lise DeSimone Mr. & Mrs. Edward J. DiPaolo Mr. & Mrs. G. Thomas Harrick Mr. Jon K. Hammock Mr. Mark V. Leidecker Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Messmore Dr. Lara S. Schmidt Mrs. Rebecca M. Vest

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$5,000 to $9,999 Mr. & Mrs. Bart A. Aitken Mr. & Mrs. Chester L. Allen Mr. & Mrs. Robert J. Alvarez Dr. Christopher J. Bise Mr. & Mrs. Thomas C. Burlas Dr. Eugene V. Cilento Mrs. Sara B. Correll Ms. Carolyn A. Gerrits Mrs. Karen L. Goodman Mr. Javid Jaraiedi Mrs. Trudy A. Jones Ms. Kerri L. Knotts & Mr. Darin M. Wilson Mr. & Mrs. Floyd E. Leaseburg II Mrs. Millicent N. Mason Ms. Mary E. McGivern & Mr. Bill Jones Mr. H. Leo Mehl Ms. Rhonda L. Radcliff & Mr. Robert Mullenger Mr. & Mrs. Shalin M. Shah Mr. John P. Smith Dr. & Mrs. John E. Sneckenberger Col. (Ret) & Mrs. James E. Taylor James & Virginia Taylor Mr. & Mrs. Steven E. Trail Dr. Matthew C. Valenti & Ms. Kristin G. Steinhardt Mrs. Hilda R. Warner Ms. Karen Wiese Mr. Jeffrey A. Wilson $1,000 to $4,999 Dr. & Mrs. M. Dayne Aldridge Mrs. Rose C. Argiro Mr. & Mrs. C. Ben Arney Dr. Murali D. Atluru PE Dr. Steven R. Auvil & Mrs. Jane Auvil Mr. & Mrs. Tracy A. Baker PE Lt. Col. (Ret) & Mrs. Robert C. Basinger, Jr.

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Mr. Kevin T. Beachy Mr. James L. Bero Mr. & Mrs. W. Douglas Blackburn, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Dennis M. Bone Mr. James W. Boyd Mr. & Mrs. Raymond A. Bradbury Mr. Christopher H. Braden Mr. & Mrs. Francis S. Brezny Mr. Kenneth E. Brown Mr. Paul D. Browning & Ms. Kathleen Johnson Mr. Joseph A. Bush, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Frank Cerminara Ms. Anesa T. Chaibi Lenore McComas Coberly Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Corsi, Jr. Cindy H. Currey Dr. Kenneth R. Currie Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Dado Mr. Victor W. Dean Mr. & Mrs. Thomas J. DeWitt Dr. & Mrs. J. Reginald Dietz Mr. & Mrs. Robert C. Doeffinger, Jr. Mr. Patrick A. Jackson & Mrs. Dayna L. Doricich Mr. & Mrs. Dean D. Dubbe Mr. & Mrs. Joseph F. Dunn Mr. Derek R. Fairman & Mrs. Lindsay V. Fairman Mr. Barton R. Field Mrs. Sharon O. Flanery Mr. & Mrs. Michael D. Flowers Rev. James E. Galford & Mrs. Sheila L. Galford Dr. Peter D. Gall Mr. & Mrs. Alexander H. Ghiz, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. David J. Gingerich Mrs. Emer O. Gunter Mr. & Mrs. Walter R. Haddad Mr. & Mrs. James L. Hall Mr. & Mrs. James R. Haney

Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin A. Hardesty Mr. Daniel L. Harman & Mrs. Diane M. Harman Dr. William M. Hart Mr. & Mrs. Dean W. Harvey Dr. & Mrs. Masood Hassan Mr. Michael A. Havrilla Mr. & Mrs. Richard D. Haynes Mr. Rodney D. Holbert Mr. Ryan S. Hunter Dr. Majid Jaridi & Mr. Nooshazar Jaraiedi Dr. & Mrs. Edwin C. Jones, Jr. Mrs. D. Joan Jones Mr. & Mrs. Jimmie L. Justice Mr. Richard J. Kacik Bob & Joyce Keith Dr. & Mrs. William F. Kellermeyer, Jr. Mr. Calvin R. Kidd Mr. Matthew T. Lee Mr. & Mrs. Kristopher C. Lilly Mr. Michael E. Lukey Mr. & Mrs. James W. Lunden Mr. & Mrs. Porter A. Lyon Dr. & Mrs. Peter S. Maa Mr. Arthur E. Mann Mr. & Mrs. William D. McClung, Jr. Mr. Edgar R. McHenry Mr. & Mrs. Walter G. McKinney Ms. Annamaria Medvid Mr. & Mrs. George E. Mendenhall Mr. Thomas L. Moore II Mr. & Mrs. Alan P. Moran Mr. Andrew J. Murray II Mr. & Dr. Allen S. Pack, Jr. Mr. David C. Pack Mr. & Mrs. Charles B. Palmer Mr. & Mrs. Marion Parsons, Jr. Drs. Peter L. & Cheryl L. Perrotta Mr. & Mrs. Edward L. Perry

Mr. & Mrs. William R. Powell Mr. & Mrs. Alan S. Pyle Mr. & Mrs. J. Wayne Richards Mr. & Mrs. Joseph S. Robertson Mr. Richard C. Rockenstein Dr. & Mrs. Ziad A. Sabra Mr. & Mrs. Walter J. Scheller III Mr. W. David Shinn Mr. R. Patrick Simms Mr. Paul J. Smith & Ms. Alexia Kniska Mr. & Mrs. Richard N. Smith Dr. & Mrs. James M. Snider Mr. Peter L. Spence Dr. Alan D. Stemple Mr. & Mrs. Walter M. Stender, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Brian M. Stolarik Mr. & Mrs. Vincent J. Stricker Mrs. & Mr. Dede R. Talbott Mr. & Mrs. L. Newton Thomas, Jr. Dr. & Mrs. Curtis J. Tompkins Mr. Nicholas G. Underwood Mr. & Mrs. David R. Vaughn Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Walter Dr. Karen E. Warden Mr. & Mrs. Chester L. Whitehair Mr. & Mrs. Richard M. Whiting Mr. & Mrs. D. Alan Wise Prof. & Mrs. Brian D. Woerner Dr. Wei-Pin Wu Ms. Jane Yohe Cooley Mr. & Mrs. Eugene M. Zvolensky, Sr. $500 to $999 Mr. George C. Alex Mr. & Mrs. Joseph A. Alvarez Ms. Mary C. Dillon Mr. Jeffrey L. Andrews Mr. & Mrs. Mark K. Angelelli PE Mr. Narayan Balachandran Mr. & Mrs. Cameron Bell Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey W. Bell

Mr. John H. Bell Mr. Christopher A. Bias Mr. & Mrs. Dennis E. Bibbee Mr. & Mrs. Kevin J. Booe Mr. & Mrs. George E. Booth, Sr. Mr. Joseph M. Brown Mr. & Mrs. Ross D. Brown, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Gary D. Burkett Mr. & Mrs. Dennis C. Chambers Mr. & Mrs. Bernard C. Corker Mr. Kurt Cover Mr. & Mrs. Aaron D. Cropp Mr. & Mrs. Steven K. Darnell Dr. Yadin David Mr. Kellen A. Davis Mrs. Belle G. Barrett Mr. & Mrs. Michael L. Dever Mr. & Mrs. Dale W. Dodrill Mr. & Mrs. James J. Dotson Mr. & Mrs. Wayne R. Doverspike Dr. Karen M. Fanucci Mr. Harold G. Fisher Mr. Christopher A. Flanagan Mr. Richard E. Fletcher Ashley & Timothy Gerken Mr. David R. Glass Mr. & Mrs. Scott A. Hair Mr. & Mrs. John S. Hill Dr. & Mrs. Nicholas Hollingshad Mr. & Mrs. David A. Horvath Mr. & Mrs. Charles G. Howard Mr. James J. Hurley Dr. Enamiden U. Ibok Mr. & Mrs. Munther T. Jabbur Mr. Christopher K. Jackson Mr. Shawn P. Jackson Mr. Marcus A. Jordan Mr. & Mrs. Earl W. Kennedy Dr. Naveed U. Haque Mr. Alexander High Mrs. Andrea R. Holladay Mr. John N. Kimberling Mr. & Mrs. Oren E. Kitts Ms. Philomena Krosmico Mr. & Mrs. Junior H. Landes II Mr. & Mrs. Joseph P. Lester Mr. Paul E. Martin Mr. & Mrs. William H. McCartney, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. S. Fenton McDonald Mr. & Mrs. William S. Mease Mr. & Mrs. James C. Miller Mr. Nicholas J. Mireles Dr. & Mrs. James E. Mitchell Mr. & Mrs. Robert Moffett, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Mack T. Moore Dr. Harapanhalli S. Muralidhara & Dr. Ponnamma K. Kurian Mr. Terence J. Nypaver

Mr. George S. Paul Dr. Jacky C. Prucz Dr. & Mrs. J. Mark Pullen Mr. James B. Reese Ms. Ruth A. Sands Dr. Simsek Sarikelle Mr. & Mrs. Frank W. Schneider Mr. & Mrs. Morris M. Shor Mr. & Mrs. David J. Smith Dr. Jason R. Smith Mr. Phillip L. Stalnaker Dr. James B. Stenger Mr. & Mrs. John A. Strohmeyer LTC Kevin D. Swisher & Dr. Anne K. Swisher Dr. Robert E. Taylor Mr. Jay J. Turner PE Mr. Michael D. Walters Mr. & Mrs. Edward A. Ward Mr. & Mrs. Thomas H. White Mr. & Mrs. Paul J. Wielgus Mrs. Patricia Z. Wilhelm Mr. Suyoun Won Dr. Bin Zhao Mr. Linzhong Zhuo Dr. Ann S. Zirkle Dr. John W. Zondlo & Ms. Rena L. Bouchal $250 to $499 Mr. Shane D. Anderson Mr. & Mrs. Tony A. Angelelli Mr. Samuel D. Ashley Dr. & Mrs. Frank T. Baker Mr. & Mrs. John C. Benner Dr. & Mrs. Navinchandra B. Bhatt Mr. & Mrs. Mark S. Boggs Mr. William E. Bowling Mr. & Mrs. John L. Broschard III Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Brown Mr. Barry H. Cain & Mrs. Wendy A. Cain Mr. Stewart W. Caldwell Mr. & Mrs. Donald F. Campbell Mrs. Erinn J. Casazza Mr. Dashan Chang Dr. Laura S. Christy Mr. Salvatore J. Cilento Mr. & Mrs. Richard E. Cline Mr. & Mrs. James W. Coffman Capt & Mrs. H. Ward Conaway Mr. & Mrs. Richard E. Crandall Mr. James W. Crews IV Mr. & Mrs. Dale T. Deem Dr. & Mrs. John P. Dever Mr. Gilbert W. DeVine Mrs. Kathleen M. Devlin Dr. Matthew D. Doerr Dr. Dianne Dorland PhD

Ms. Beth A. Drylie Mr. Steven E. Easley Michelle & Kristopher Evanto Mrs. Catharine E. Everitt Mr. Richard P. Filiaggi Mr. George B. Flegal, Jr. Mrs. Laura E. Gergen Mr. & Mrs. Timothy M. Gessner Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth W. Goff Mr. & Mrs. John M. Goldie Mr. & Mrs. Lewis G. Grimm PE Mr. Richard M. Hackett Maj. Gerhard B. Hartig Mr. & Mrs. James W. Hess Mr. & Mrs. Keith D. Horton Mr. & Mrs. Brian D. Inman Ms. Sandra L. Jones Mr. Garry R. Kilmer Dr. Lesley Ann Klishis & Dr. Michael J. Klishis Mr. & Mrs. Gregory A. Kozera Mr. & Mrs. James A. Kutsch, Jr. Dr. & Mrs. John W. LaCount Mr. & Mrs. Michael Lambert Mr. Brian D. Lauttamus Mr. Paul J. Lewis PE Mr. & Mrs. Stephen C. Lewis Mr. & Mrs. Joseph S. Luchini Mr. & Mrs. Bryce L. Maddox Ms. Sara S. Mahood Mr. & Mrs. Joseph A. Marcinek, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Peter M. Martin Mr. & Mrs. Charles B. Marushi Mrs. Christine S. Mayernik Mr. Jacob D. McCarty Mr. & Mrs. Arthur M. McClain CDR J. Larry Miles, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Joseph R. Mitchell Mr. Stephen R. Montagna Mr. & Mrs. Roderic E. Moore Dr. & Mrs. James J. Morgan Mr. & Mrs. Gregory S. Nailler Mr. Thomas H. Parsons Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth R. Phares Paul & Kathy Phillips Mr. Peter A. Popovich Mr. David A. Price Dr. Leroy C. Reid, Jr. Ms. Melisa L. Ridenour Mrs. Annetta R. Riekel Mr. & Mrs. James J. Rusenko Mr. & Mrs. Gary J. Schweitzer Mr. & Mrs. David G. Sherrard Mrs. Susan K. Siebken Mr. Kenneth K. Sitar Joshua & Polly Smith Dr. & Mrs. James E. Spearman Mrs. Marcella P. Steerman

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Mr. Daniel L. Stickler Mr. John M. Stickler Mr. & Mrs. William H. Stroup Mr. Samuel C. Talbott Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Tallman PE Mr. & Mrs. Caleb A. Tarleton Mr. & Mrs. Robert K. Tinney Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Tupes Mr. Kelles L. Veneri Mr. George A. Waters Mr. Thomas F. Weaver III Mr. & Mrs. William R. Werner Mr. & Mrs. William H. West Mr. Duane E. Westfall Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Wheeler Mr. & Mrs. Robert C. Whiteman Mr. Charles L. Wilkinson Mr. J. Eldon Williams Ms. Ruth Williams Dr. & Mrs. James D. Wilson Dr. & Mrs. John S. Wilson Dr. Chaojin Xu & Ms. Aimin L. Wang Mr. Richard Yungwirth Mr. Hao Zhang $100 to $249 Mr. & Mrs. Masood Akhtar Ms. Nancy Aldridge Miss Erika A. Allen Mr. Jay J. Allen & Dr. Anna M. Allen Mr. Randy L. Allison Mr. & Mrs. Richard G. Almes Mr. Joseph P. Amyot Mr. & Mrs. Edward C. Anderson Mr. & Mrs. Larry J. Andrews Ms. Lisa A. Baker Esq Mr. Edward R. Ball, Jr. Mr. James W. Ballard Mr. & Mrs. Richard B. Ballengee Mr. & Mrs. David A. Banes Dr. & Mrs. Jerry R. Barber Mr. Brett S. Barthelmess & Mrs. Angela L. Barthelmess Mr. Charles R. Bartlett Mr. & Mrs. John L. Batton Mr. & Mrs. Jerry L. Bays Lt. Col. (Ret) & Mrs. Paul G. Bellia Mrs. Terry L. Benson Mr. & Mrs. Duane T. Bernard Mr. David A. Bernemann Ms. Kathleen Beville Mr. Mofazzal H. Bhuiyan Mr. & Mrs. Stephen M. Billcheck, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. David P. Billings

Dr. & Mrs. G. Lansing Blackshaw Mr. & Mrs. John L. Blair, Jr. Mr. Jerry D. Blue Mrs. Irene F. Bohuslavsky Mr. & Mrs. Dean W. Boley Mr. & Mrs. John W. Botts Mr. Arthur M. Bree Mr. Michael E. Brennan Mr. & Mrs. Jason L. Brown Mr. & Mrs. Keith Browning Mr. Kurt A. Brungard PE Mr. John A. Bucy Mr. David R. Bungard Mr. & Mrs. Robert Buoniconti Mr. Donald Burch & Mrs. Kendra L. Burch Mr. John M. Burdette Mr. & Mrs. Don L. Burton II Mr. & Mrs. Edward S. Burton Mr. & Mrs. Howard J. Bussey, Jr. Mr. Joseph G. Capasso Mr. Overton H. Caperton Dr. & Mrs. Joseph C. Capito Mr. Thomas A. Caserta Mr. Keith A. Castilow Mr. Anthony J. Castronovo Dr. William R. Cawthorne & Mrs. Jennifer L. Cawthorne Mr. Anthony J. Cenedella Ms. Katie F. Chaddock Mr. Ik K. Chang Mr. Edward J. Chehovin Dr. Hsi F. Chou Mrs. Brenda K. B. Ciez Mr. Joseph P. Cinalli, Jr. Mr. Kenneth J. Claudio Mr. August D. Coby Mr. & Mrs. Robert J. Cochenour Mrs. Teresa A. Cole Mr. Alfred Collins Mr. Patrick M. Collins Mr. James E. Connell Mrs. Margaret L. Corder Mr. James A. Costrell Mr. Bruce A. Cox Mrs. Jennifer E. Crawford & Mr. Jared A. Crawford Mr. & Mrs. William Crise Mr. Gaylord Cumberledge Mr. Andrew W. Cummings Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Dalton Dr. & Mrs. Earl Z. Damewood Ms. Dianne C. Davidson Dr. Paul C. Davis Mr. & Mrs. Richard M. Davis Dr. Cerasela Z. Dinu Mr. & Mrs. Randall K. Drazba Mrs. Cherryll M. Ellis

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In Support Mr. Cruz A. Escoto, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Clifford W. Essig Dr. John R. Etherton Mr. Stephen K. Evans Mr. Ross D. Fagerli Mrs. Melinda F. Fagundus Mr. & Mrs. William G. Fields Mr. & Mrs. Earl M. Fisher Mr. & Mrs. John A. Fleek Mr. & Mrs. Charles J. Fleischer Mr. & Mrs. Arthur J. Fleming Mr. David W. Foley Mr. Larry D. Garner Mr. Brian P. Gaudet Mr. & Mrs. John P. Gay Mr. & Mrs. Harry G. Gibson Ms. Sheree L. Gibson Mr. Andrew A. Gillette Mr. & Mrs. Joseph M. Giordano Mr. & Mrs. Matthew G. Goff Mr. & Mrs. Dennis L. Goins Mr. & Mrs. F. Gail Gray Mr. & Mrs. William R. Gray, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. John H. Graybill Mr. & Mrs. Garret W. Green Mr. Christopher S. Guinn Mr. & Mrs. Ryan D. Gum Mr. & Mrs. Edward L. Hakala Dr. & Mrs. George A. Hall Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Halstead Mr. David C. Hardesty & Mrs. Susan H. Hardesty Mr. James E. Hardy & Mrs. Mary A. Hardy Mr. & Mrs. Samuel R. Harman Mr. & Mrs. Gregory S. Harness Mr. & Mrs. James E. Harris Mr. Robert G. Harris Mrs. Deborah L. Hart Mr. Richard F. Hashinger Mr. Matthew J. Hatami Mr. Lucas R. Head Mr. William D. Hegener Mr. & Mrs. Roy A. Heidelbach Drs. Richard B. & Judy H. Helm Mr. & Mrs. Gregory L. Herrick Mr. & Mrs. Gary B. Herrington Mr. & Mrs. Thomas A. Hill Mr. Mark S. Hoffman Mr. Ryan M. Hoffman Mr. & Mrs. John A. Holmes Mr. J. Bradley Homan Mr. & Mrs. G. Michael Horner Mr. Hugh B. Humbert, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Wayne K. Hunter Mr. Mark C. Jacobs Mr. Kiran K. Jain MBA

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Mr. John B. James Dr. & Mrs. Donald W. Jarrell Mr. Renato M. Javier Mr. Brian E. Johnson Mr. & Mrs. William E. Johnson Dr. Michael S. Johnston Mr. Peter J. Joseph, Jr. Ms. Deborah S. Joyce Mr. & Mrs. Joseph B. Julian Mr. Steve T. Kimble II Mrs. Staci R. King Dr. Ronald L. Klein Mr. & Mrs. Sudhir V. R. Koka Dr. Ellen M. Kraft Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey M. Kukura Mrs. Vicki R. Kurrle Ms. Terri C. Lambert Mr. & Mrs. Randy L. Lancaster Mr. Leonard Landau Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Lange II Mr. Loren L. Lazear Mr. Gregory T. Lee Dr. Kwangsoon Lee Mr. Ross C. Levelle Mr. Edward G. Lewis Mr. James E. Leyh Ms. Ling Liu Mr. & Mrs. Douglas A. Long Mr. Qiu L. Luo Mr. & Mrs. Ronald A. Mallare Mrs. Rose Ann Maloy Mr. & Mrs. Jeb M. Mandeville Mr. & Mrs. Dennis J. Mantlick Jamin & Erin Maradei Mr. Daniel J. Marinacci Ms. Nancy H. Marsh Dr. Diana L. Martinelli & Dr. David R. Martinelli Mr. Kevin S. Massie Mr. Richard E. McAllister Mr. Stephen P. McBride Mr. Andrew B. McCallister Mrs. Margaret McCartney Mrs. Sallie F. McClaugherty Ms. Ramona McCoy Mr. Joseph K. McFadden Mr. Scott J. McGrail Mr. James G. McGraw Mr. William S. McIntyre, Jr. Mr. Thomas McLaren Mr. Ryan R. Merriam Ms. Elizabeth Merricks Mr. & Mrs. Carl W. Miller II Mr. Eric S. Miller Mr. Jonathan L. Miller Mr. & Mrs. Robert D. Mills Ms. Anita Mitchell

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Ms. Gwendolyn E. Moffett Dr. Chinnarao Mokkapati Mr. & Mrs. William D. Monaghan Mr. & Mrs. Guy E. Mongold, Jr. Mr. Raymond A. Montgomery, Jr. Mr. Robert F. Montgomery Dr. & Mrs. Ian R. Moore Mr. Derrick R. Morgan Mr. Philip C. Morgan Col. (Ret) & Mrs. Philip S. Morris Mr. Cleveland G. Mosby, Jr. Ms. Jennifer E. Mosser Mr. & Mrs. Randy L. Moulton Mr. Thomas A. Musser Mrs. Patricia A. Napier Morrison Mr. & Mrs. Richard S. Napier Mr. Ralph D. Nelson, Jr. Mr. Leonard S. Nicholson Mr. & Mrs. Randy A. Nicholson Mr. Paul F. Nocida Dr. & Mrs. Roy S. Nutter, Jr. Mrs. Margarette E. Offutt Ms. Jane Ohi Mr. Larry E. Oliver Mr. Jason S. Owens Dr. Michael R. Panger & Mrs. Joan J. Panger Mr. Ronald B. Parrish Mr. & Mrs. Terrence L. Parsons Mr. & Mrs. Vijendrakumar C. Patel Mr. William F. Patient Mr. & Mrs. Harold R. Payne Mr. John D. Pellegrin Drs. Ronald J. & Bethany H. Pellegrino Mr. & Mrs. Andrew D. Pickens, Jr. CDR & Mrs. William P. Pierson Mr. & Mrs. Timothy J. Pizatella CDR Michael A. Pollack Mr. Harold D. Poplawski, Jr. Rick & Elizabeth Porter Mr. Martin Potts Mr. Timothy J. Poulin Mr. Bopaiah P. Puliyanda Mr. & Mrs. Paul M. Puskar Mr. & Mrs. Kevin T. Quinn Mr. & Mrs. Roger D. Rader Dr. Anne M. Raich Mr. Walter J. Ramsey Mr. Herbert S. Rawlings Dr. & Mrs. Mark F. Reeder Mr. & Mrs. Joseph E. Reger

Mr. & Mrs. John F. Rentschler, Jr. Mr. Boyd W. Rhodes Mr. Herbert L. Ridder Dr. & Mrs. Billy M. Riggleman Mr. Terry D. Rings & Dr. Patricia M. Rings Mr. & Mrs. Carl T. Ripberger III Mike & Margaret Roberts Mr. & Mrs. James P. Robison Mr. & Mrs. Louis D. Rocchini Mr. Anthony D. Rossetti Mr. & Mrs. Michael A. Rupar Mr. Terrence R. Ryan Mr. Steven C. Saab & Miss Madison R. Bowles Mr. & Mrs. Hani S. Saad Mr. Phillip M. Sabree Mr. & Mrs. W. Thomas Sanderlin Ms. Sadaf A. Sarwari Stephen & Kristin Satterfield Mr. Jeremy Schlussel Ms. Cynthia Schostak Mr. Arthur K. Schuler Mr. & Mrs. James W. Schumacher Mr. & Mrs. Joseph P. Scott R. Lennie & Diana Scott Mr. Jeffery M. See Mr. & Mrs. John E. Seknicka Mrs. Loretta M. Shaw Ms. Jennifer J. Sheriff Mr. & Mrs. Michael T. Shook Mr. William F. Simmons Mr. Mark F. Sindelar Mr. Aditya K. Singh Dr. Hema J. Siriwardane Mr. & Mrs. Thomas W. Sirk, Jr. Mrs. Jennifer L. Sivak Mr. Robert D. Skelton Dr. & Mrs. Ojars Skujins Mr. & Mrs. John M. Spears Mr. & Mrs. Stephen M. Stavar Mr. Harry L. Stemple Dr. Larry E. Stewart Dr. Richard J. Stock Mr. & Mrs. Clarence R. Stone Mr. & Mrs. Mark A. Storage Mr. Charles E. Stricklin Mr. & Mrs. John R. Suitlas PE Mr. Suresh R. Sunderesan Mr. John M. Svedman Mr. & Mrs. David L. Swearingen Mr. L.G. Tackett Mr. Adam M. Tarovisky Mr. Adrian M. Tenney

Dr. Douglas L. Timmons Mr. & Mrs. Stephen W. Tippett Mrs. Betty J. Toler Mr. & Mrs. Brian Tompkins Mr. & Mrs. Joseph A. Tompkins Mr. & Mrs. Brian A. Truman Mr. & Mrs. Harold Turner Mr. & Mrs. Roy M. Turner Mr. & Mrs. Vaughn E. Turner Mr. & Mrs. Todd J. Urness Mr. Thomas E. Urquhart Mr. & Mrs. James J. Vasoti Mrs. Patricia W. Vetter Mr. & Mrs. D. Stephen Walker Mr. Doc Walker & Mrs. Kari A. Walker Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Wallace II Dr. & Mrs. Torin P. Walters Mr. Douglas L. Walton Mr. & Mrs. Karl E. Waltzer Mr. & Mrs. Gary W. Wamsley Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth M. Ware Mr. Thomas E. Watson & Mrs. Audrey A. Watson Mr. Zackary D. Watson & Dr. Rachel M. Watson Weakland Trust Mr. Paul F. Weakland Mr. & Mrs. Ross Weiner Mrs. Amy H. Wen Mr. Chad E. Wesson Ms. Janie M. West & Mr. David A. Rose Mrs. Wilma Jean Westbrook Mr. & Mrs. Harry L. Westerman Mr. & Mrs. Brian P. Westfall Mr. Robert W. Whipp & Mrs. Beverly K. Whipp Mr. Norman W. L. White Mr. Ryan Whitehair Mrs. Betty M. Williams Mr. Michael S. Wilmoth & Ms. Amy L. Tarleton Mr. & Mrs. Steven F. Wilson Mr. Thomas E. Winans Mr. & Mrs. Howard V. Withrow II Ms. Carla Witt Ford Mr. & Mrs. Jeffrey T. Woods Mr. & Mrs. William H. Wray, Jr. Mrs. Carol Wright Mr. Laird A. Wright Dr. Herng-Tay Wu Mr. Brandon D. Yaussy Mr. & Mrs. David A. Young, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Dennis A. Zalar Mr. Seiar A. Zia

Corporations, Associations and Foundations $100,000 and Up Alcyon Tech Services Joint Venture Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation EQT Corporation Halliburton Energy Advancement, Inc. R2 Foundation Siemens Corporation Siemens PLM Software The Charles A. Dana Foundation West Virginia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

International Lead Zinc Research Organization, Inc. Martin Marietta Aggregates Millicent Mason Charitable Fund Parkersburg Area Community Foundation & Regional Affiliates Shell Oil Company Shell Oil Company Foundation The Williams Companies, Inc. The Williams Foundation Toyota4Good Toyota Motor Manufacturing of WV (TMMWV)

$25,000 to $99,999 Assurant Foundation Chevron Denso North America Foundation EQT Foundation ExxonMobil Foundation ExxonMobil Foundation Matching Gift Program Halliburton Foundation, Inc. Leidos Remember The Miners, LLC The Thrasher Group

$1,000 to $4,999 American Electric Power - Matching Gift Fund Anderson Energy Enterprises Inc. Leela & Murali Atluru Family Foundation, Inc. Ben and Gayle Arney Charitable Fund Board of Certified Safety Professionals BOEING Boeing Company Matching Gift Program Denise and Dennis Bone Charitable Gift Fund Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland CNX Gas Company LLC CONSOL Energy, Inc. CRJ Physician Services LLC Dominion Energy Duquesne Light Company Federal Resources Supply Company Festo Didactic Inc. FirstEnergy Corporation FirstEnergy Foundation FM Global Foundation Jean M. and Benjamin A. Hardesty Fund Komatsu Mining Corp.

Lucas-Nuelle, Inc. Peter and Carol Maa Charitable Gift Fund Mon Valley Integration LLC MPLX MVB Bank, Inc.

$10,000 to $24,999 Chevron Products Company DLMC Foundation Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation Dominion Resources Services E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company - Dr. Charles M. Vest Eagle Research Corporation DiPaolo Family Charitable Gift Fund General Electric Company General Electric Foundation IEEE Power & Energy Society Keylogic Systems, Inc. OHD, LLP $5,000 to $9,999 American Electric Power Appalachian Power Company Chevron Eaton Corporation

Nationwide Insurance Foundation Matching Gift Program Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company NC3, LLC Northeast Natural Energy Northrop Grumman Corporation Opal-RT Technologies Orbital ATK Peabody Energy Pearson Education Peter’s Creek Coal Association Pfizer Foundation Matching Gifts Program Pfizer, Inc. Pratt & Whitney Canada Inc. Securus Safety LLC Siemens US - Matching Contributions Program for Employees Society of Explosives Engineers Education Foundation Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc. Vaughn Family Charitable Gift Fund WVU Foundation, Inc. $100 to $999 American Endowment Foundation Bourne Family Amgen Foundation Amgen, Inc. Apple Matching Gift Program Frank T. & Mary P. Baker Fund Bechtel Matching Gift Program Bridgestone Americas Corporate Headquarters Bridgestone Americas Trust Fund Brown Development Company Buckingham Coal Company Chevron Corporation Matching Grants Program Hsi Chou Charitable Gift Fund Coley, Eubank & Company, P.C. Eaton Corporation Matching Gift Program Edibon USA, LLC Gannon International Genesis Exploration and Production CO LLC

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Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council Grace Foundation Inc Hampton - Mahood Charitable Fund Harris Foundation IBM Corporation IBM International Foundation Matching Gift Program J. M. Huber Corporation Johnson Controls Foundation Johnson Controls, Inc. Kirkland & Ellis Foundation Brian D. Lauttamus Charitable Gift Fund Elizabeth Merricks Charitable Gift Fund Microsoft Microsoft Corporation Matching Gift Program Mills Group National Inventors Hall of Fame Olashuk Environmental, Inc. Qualcomm Raytheon Raytheon Company Sasol North America Sauls Seismic Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. Philip Scott Morris Charitable Fund Sigma Phi Delta Southwestern Energy Southwestern Energy Corporation Gloria & Clarence Stone Charitable Fund The Duke Energy Foundation The T. Rowe Price Program - Duane E. Westfall Fund Verizon Foundation Verizon West Virginia, Inc. Wells Fargo Educational Matching Gift Program Wells Fargo Insurance

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In Support

Irvin Stewart Society:

Making a Difference for Years to Come To the right, you will find a list of the members of the Irvin Stewart Society. These generous alumni and friends have included the Statler College in their estate plans.

They are helping students of the future through gift provisions in their wills, life insurance or gifts of real estate with a retained life state. We are forever grateful to them.

Please consider joining the Irvin Stewart Society by including our College in your estate plans. For more information please contact Shams Khan at 304-293-4036 or shams.khan@mail.wvu.edu.

Robert D. Bewick, Jr. ’52 Garnet B. Browning Stanley C. Browning ’57, ’59 Roy H. Bucklew, Jr. ’53 Eleanor D. Campbell John W. Campbell ’64 Mark Campbell ’57 Frank Cerminara ’70 Susan Klatskin Cerminara ’69 Vudara Chuop ’80 Jane Yohe Cooley Wils L. Cooley III, PhD Rena Cyphert Irene V. Desmond Robert M. Desmond, PhD Irma McGinnis Dotson ’49, ’54 James M. Dotson ’48, ’49, ’54 Kathleen J. DuBois ’85 Alfred F. Galli ’44, ’47 Beatrice Galli Donald J. Gay ’57 Anita Haddad Walter Haddad ’58 Margaret M. Hall ’74, ’76, ’81 Walter J. Hansen ’70

John R. Hardesty, Jr. ’65 Mary Anne Hardesty Lawrence C. Hays ’41 Gregory L. Herrick ’70 Sheila G. Herrick ’74 Glen H. Hiner, PhD ’57, ’90 Betty J. Hurst* ’53 Elmo J. Hurst* ’53 Robert S. Jacobson, JD ’47, ’55 Emil Johnson ’63, ’72 Penny Christie Johnson ’64 Joan Kelvington Lee Kelvington ’56 Genevieve Koepfinger Joseph L. Koepfinger Anthony E. Licata, PE ’70 M. Dale Martin ’52 Alice Parsons May ’38 Allan S. May ’39 Mildred L. McFarland* ’39 James R. McQuay, Jr., ’77 Betty L. Miller ’47, ’57 Toni R. Morris ’82, ’89, ’99 Betty Ann Morton Earl F. Morton ’51

Margarette E. Offutt Jean H. Orders ’52 Robert O. Orders, Sr. ’51 Alice S. Poindexter William N. Poundstone* ’49 Robert E. Pyle, PhD ’50, ’51, ’53 James B. Reese ’70, ’77 Lora Virginia Richards James A. Romano* ’35 Lana C. Rossy R. Jeff Rossy ’80 Mary Ann Ruppert R. Michael Ruppert ’57 Jacqulyn L. Sample Paul E. Sample, PhD ’55, ’57 J. Ted Samsell, MD ’67, ’71 Melody Samsell Charles M. Schaeffer ’59 Shirley Crane Schaeffer ’57 Barrett L. Shrout ’61, ’62 Nancy S. Shrout Kathryn Ann Simms Patrick Simms ’66 William A. Simms ’64 James Milton Smith ’36

John E. Sneckenberger ’64, ’66, ’70 Mary (Scottie) Sneckenberger ’67 James R. Stockner ’50 Tommy L. Stuchell, JD ’87 John M. Summerfield ’49 Charles E. Swing ’38 Larry D. Taylor ’81 Lydotta M. Taylor, EdD ’81, ’84, ’11 W. David Teter ’59, ’64 Charles M. Vest, PhD ’63 Jo Ann Wadsworth ’51 Maurice Wadsworth ’51 Gary W. Wamsley ’65 Betty S. Watkins ’61 W. Richard Watkins ’64, ’65 Caroline Baker Watts ’54, ’65 Royce J. Watts ’54, ’61 Ronald A. Weaver ’78 Frank T. Wheby ’56 Erna F. Wilkin F. David Wilkin EdD, ’67, ’69 Donald W. Worlledge ’55 Mary E. Worlledge Eugene M. Zvolensky ’70 *Charter Members

Supporting opportunities into the future “Larry’s degree in engineering prepared him for a great 35-plus year career in the energy industry and my involvement on the College’s advisory committee led us to think of the College as we began our estate planning. We wanted to help the next generation of engineering students have resources to gain an outstanding education. We strongly believe in the power of education and appreciate the good work of the College.”

—Lydotta Taylor To learn more about how bequest, life-income and other gifts can help you achieve your goals, contact the development office 304-293-4432 or Statler-DevOffice@mail.wvu.edu.

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Alumni Academies ACADEMY OF AEROSPACE ENGINEERING Warren Boord

CURRENT POSITION: principal assistance program manager and director for threat and modeling and simulation engineering, Naval Sea Systems Command, Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems EDUCATION: BS, aerospace engineering, WVU; MS, mechanical engineering, Johns Hopkins University BOORD PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: has more than 37 years of professional experience in the scientific and technical defense acquisition and intelligence communities; served as head of the missiles division at the Office of Naval Intelligence from 2006-2015; spent six years as a United States Air Force officer and then 20 years in private industry; co-author of the book, “Air and Missile Defense Systems Engineering,” and the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, Journal of Guidance Control and Dynamics, titled “New Approach to Guidance Law Design.”

Robert Kimble

CURRENT POSITION: deputy program executive officer for unmanned aviation, Naval Air Systems Command EDUCATION: BS, aerospace engineering, WVU; MS, management, University of Maryland PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: has held senior leadership positions in the Department of the Navy in areas related to program management, KIMBLE systems engineering, process improvement and resources and requirements; stints include serving on the staff of the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy and as principal deputy program manager for presidential helicopters; was appointed deputy program executive officer for strike weapons, program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons in 2013 and deputy program executive officer for unmanned aviation in 2016; recipient, Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

ACADEMY OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS James Faller

CURRENT POSITION: senior engineer and team leader, modeling and simulation (ret.), U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center EDUCATION: BS, chemical engineering, WVU; MS, chemical engineering, PhD, applied science, University of Delaware PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: named FALLER Pennsylvania Industrial Scientist of the Year with working as senior materials engineer at Boeing Vertol during the Vietnam War; was an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy; worked for the Army Ballistics Research Lab, the Naval R&D Center and the ATC, conducting self-directed research ranging from pulsed laser target interaction to dynamic modeling of material systems; was an advisor to a member of the House Armed Services Committee on submarine materials and new construction; served as a technical agent for composites and chairman of the pressure measurements committee by the Test and Evaluation Command at ATC; co-founded a materials consulting company and co-developed an oil additive product for sale overseas.

Shalin Shah

CURRENT POSITION: co-founder and chief financial officer, Flat Rock Development EDUCATION: BS, chemical engineering, WVU; MBA, Vanderbilt University PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: gained valuable experience in sales, operations, regulatory affairs, risk management and finance working SHAH for Reliant Energy, a division of NRG Energy, and Direct Energy, a division of Centrica PLC; previous positions include serving as a process engineer with OSI Specialties and leading business development activities for a coal company; serves on the board of directors for Southwest Schools, a charter school in southwest Houston that serves an economically disadvantaged K-12 student population.

Katherine S. Ziemer

CURRENT POSITION: vice provost and chief of staff for Undergraduate Education and Experiential Learning, professor of chemical engineering, Northeastern University EDUCATION: BS, chemical engineering, Virginia Tech; PhD, chemical engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: works to ZIEMER advance the research and practice of experiential learning in all aspects of the student experience at Northeastern; her engineering research group studies fundamental mechanisms of the growth and processing of thin films and nanostructures, at the atomic scale, with the aim to create next-generation electronic devices based on multifunctional materials to address the challenges of renewable and sustainable energy, medical diagnostics and treatments and environmental monitoring and protection; worked as a chemical engineer at DuPont; past member, board of directors, American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

ACADEMY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS Roger Adams

CURRENT POSITION: acting director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Waterways Engineering and Wetlands EDUCATION: BS, civil engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: spent 32 years with the state of Pennsylvania’s dam ADAMS safety program, overseeing the operation and maintenance of 3,400 dams statewide and serving as chief of the Division of Dam Safety from 2010-2017; presented to several agencies, organizations and educational institutions on the subject of dam safety; serves as president-elect for the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, which supports the state dam safety programs and provides training, advocacy and awareness on dam safety matters for the state and federal dam safety programs as well as consulting engineers, dam owners and contractors in the wider dam safety community.

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Alumni Academies Kevin Beachy

CURRENT POSITION: owner, KTB Professional Engineering, LLC EDUCATION: BS, MS, civil engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: was employed by the Allegany County, Maryland, Department of Public works for 31 years as public works engineer in planning, design construction BEACHY inspection and project management; past honors include Maryland County Engineer of the Year, Allegany County Commissioners Citation for Exemplary Services, Allegany County Bridge No. A-66 “Beachy Bridge,” Phi Kappa, Tau Beta Pi and Chi Epsilon.

Dean Dubbe’

CURRENT POSITION: owner, Site Consulting Services, LLC EDUCATION: BS, MS, civil engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: within two years of graduating from WVU, he opened Independent Testing Laboratories, Inc. in Rockville, Maryland, which performed engineering design, testing and inspection DUBBE services in the Baltimore-Washington area; sold ITL to nationally based Professional Service Industries, Inc.; served as senior vice president of land development for Michael T. Rose Companies; registered professional engineer in Maryland and Virginia.

James Herndon

CURRENT POSITION: senior vice president (ret.), Clark Construction Group EDUCATION: BS, civil engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: worked for the Ohio Department of Highways and later the Bridge Group of Mosser Construction; held a number of positions with Centex Construction Group in Dallas, Texas, including serving as executive vice president; HERNDON was involved with the construction of nine Veterans Administration hospitals across the country, including the one in Martinsburg; served as liaison between the WVU Alumni Association and March-Westin on the construction of the Erickson Alumni Center; named WVU Alumni of the Year in 2008; registered professional engineer in West Virginia.

Kevin Kokal

CURRENT POSITION: founder and owner, Alliance Engineering EDUCATION: BS, civil engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: along with two partners, guided Alliance from a start-up to more than 90 employees in three locations; serves as acting COO, responsible for the firm’s engineering, KOKAL construction management and human resource functions; Alliance was recognized four times as one of the 25 fastest growing companies in Richmond, Virginia, and one of the “Fast 50” companies in Virginia; selected to attend the Birthing of Giants program at MIT; former president, Virginia chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies.

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Randy Moulton

CURRENT POSITION: principal engineer and corporate secretary, Triad Engineering EDUCATION: BS, MS, civil engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: joined Morgantown-based Triad in 1978, advancing to senior engineer in 1987; became branch manager of Triad’s Winchester, Virginia, office in 1989; served as MOULTON president and CEO of Triad from 2005-2011; member, Construction Materials Engineering and Testing Committee with the Geoprofessional Business Association; member, WVU Civil and Environmental Engineering Visiting Committee.

LANE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING ALUMNI ACADEMY William Cawthorne

CURRENT POSITION: senior manager for global transmission and electrification advanced engineering, General Motors Global Propulsion Systems EDUCATION: BS, computer engineering, WVU; BS, MS, PhD, electrical engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: worked for the Allison Transmission Division of General Motors, CAWTHORNE where he designed, developed and tested control systems for heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles, including transit and coach buses and trucks; transferred to southeast Michigan to work on electrified passenger vehicles for GM, where he has been involved with nearly every electrified product GM has put into production including the two-mode Chevy Tahoe, the Chevy Volt and the Chevy Bolt; two-time winner of the Boss Kettering award, GM’s highest award for recognizing technical inventions and innovations; earned a Chairman’s Honors award as a member of the full-size truck two-mode hybrid team; worked with WVU’s EcoCAR3 project and served as the team mentor; granted more than 65 U.S. patents.

Dean Harvey

CURRENT POSITION: partner, Technology Transfers and Property Group, co-chair, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Robotics Group, Perkins Coie, LLP EDUCATION: BS, computer science, WVU; JD, University of Texas PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: focuses on HARVEY technology-related commercial transactions, product counseling and data privacy and security in a law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers in 19 offices in the U.S. and Asia; counseled clients on artificial intelligence and machine learning, product compliance, privacy and security, large software development projects, strategic alliances, the creation and operation of cloud platforms and data and technology licensing transactions; advised artificial intelligence vendors in projects involving fraud detection, disease risk prediction, disease condition prediction and image recognition and identification; assisted buyers in obtaining AI solutions in areas such as pricing optimization, claims editing, robotic process automation and e-commerce site optimization; previous employers include Vinson Elkins LLP, Electronic Data Systems, Inc. and CalComp Technologies; ranked since 2003 as one of the leading technology and outsourcing lawyers in Texas by Chambers and Partners USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers, and since 2006 as a leading practitioner of technology law by Best Lawyers in America; recently appointed to the Statler College’s Advisory Committee.

ACADEMY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING David Nussear

CURRENT POSITION: president and chief executive officer, Bluffton Motor Works EDUCATION: BS, MS, mechanical engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: began his career with the Lincoln Electric Company as a technical sales representative; went on to NUSSEAR work for the Regal Beloit Corporation in several roles including vice president, general manager of Lincoln Motors and global account manager for Regal Beloit’s largest customer; Bluffton Motor Works currently employees more than 400 people in three locations, with its largest facility located in Bluffton, Indiana; Six Sigma Black Belt; regional finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Jessica Sosenko Lamp

CURRENT POSITION: manager, technology transfer program, U.S. Department of Energy National Technology Laboratory EDUCATION: BS, mechanical engineering, WVU; MBA, WVU; JD, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: negotiates licensing agreements and manages all LAMP aspects of the invention disclosure and technology promotion programs for NETL; previously worked at the Electronic Data Systems Corporation; participated in patent infringement cases and prepared patent applications with several private law firms.

PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS ENGINEERING ACADEMY Sharon Flanery

CURRENT POSITION: chair, Energy and Natural Resources Department, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC EDUCATION: BS, petroleum and natural gas engineering, WVU; JD, Duquesne University PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: brings real-world engineering experience to her practice after stints at Columbia Gas Transmission, Aramco FLANERY and CNG Development; experience includes acquisitions and divestitures, mineral leases, joint ventures, contract mining agreements, joint operating agreements and sales and marketing agreements, as well as gathering, transportation and processing agreements; has substantial experience in land and legal due diligence associated with mineral transactions, as well as in the legislative and regulatory arenas; general property background includes leases, rights of way, deeds, land use and damage issues; member, Statler College’s Advisory Committee and the advisory board of WVU’s College of Law’s Center for Energy and Sustainable Development.

Richard Smith

CURRENT POSITION: director of northeast sales, C&J Energy Services EDUCATION: BS, MS, petroleum and natural gas engineering, WVU PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS: spent 26 years with Halliburton, which took him overseas to Brunei, the Philippines and Malaysia; worked for SMITH Weatherford Fracturing Technologies, overseeing business development, operations and financial performance for two northeastern locations; in 2011, he was named regional sales manager for Nabors Completion and Production Services, which was later sold to C&J Energy Services; member, West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association board of directors; chair, WVU Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering’s Industry Advisory Committee.

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In Memoriam

NESBIT

BRANDO

Marlon Brando, the Statler College’s first therapy dog, passed away unexpectedly on July 20, at the age of 9.

An Australian Labradoodle, Brando joined the College in 2014 and was donated by Hearts of Gold, a nonprofit service dog training center located in Morgantown. He spent most of his time in the College’s Cilento Learning Center, helping first-year students reduce stress related to homework and exams. He was also a fixture at many College events, like Welcome Week, Honors Day and Engineers Week. He is survived by his owner and handler, Michelle Poland, and her family.

Roy Harrison Bucklew Jr., 89, died on March 4, in Morgantown. Born in Terra Alta, Bucklew served in the U.S. Army before graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering from WVU in 1953. He started his career with Sandia Labs and joined Westinghouse at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in 1955. He later became the manager of the Nuclear Refueling Group at the Plant Apparatus Division. He is survived by his wife, Rena, five children and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Anthony Fumich, 97, passed away on July 22 in Morgantown. A native of Pursglove, Fumich earned a degree in mining engineering from WVU after serving as a pilot in World War II. He spent the remainder of his career as a mine inspector for the Federal Bureau of Mines, retiring as a health and safety supervisor.

He is survived by three daughters, a son and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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Isaac Gibson, 38, of Weston, passed away Friday, August 3. A native of Somerset, Pennsylvania, Gibson earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at WVU in computer science and fisheries management, respectively. He worked for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources in the wildlife diversity program. He is survived by his parents, William and Catherine; his wife, Genevieve; a son, River; and five siblings.

John Mark Hobday, 82, of Morgantown, passed away on March 27. A native of Berkeley Springs, he was a 1959 graduate of electrical engineering at WVU, making him the first in his family to earn a college degree. A lifelong electrical engineer, he also volunteered as a scout master with the Boy Scouts, coached several sports and volunteered many hours in the public school system. Hobday is survived by his wife, Barbara, two children, Joyce and Jeff, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Kenneth Plum, 73, of West Monroe, Louisiana, passed away on December 28, 2017. A 1967 graduate of WVU with a degree in electrical engineering, Plum worked at Summers Supply as a systems specialist. He enjoyed traveling, visiting all 50 states as well as locations around the world. His favorite destination was deep-sea finishing in Cabo San Lucas. He is survived by his wife and travel partner, Diane, a daughter and two grandsons.

Paul R. Westfall passed away Saturday, March 17, in Parkersburg. A native of Good Hope, Westfall served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and later graduated from WVU with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1950. He began his career at Pittsburgh Coke & Chemical, then moved to Parkersburg to work at Marbon, later Borg-Warner Chemicals. He held various positions ranging from process and plant design to site surveys and construction coordination. He served as manager of maintenance and engineering at the WoodMar plant and retired as manager of projects in central engineering. He is survived by his three sons.

CORRECTION: The obituary for Theodore Betoney Jr., which appeared in the spring 2018 issue of “Engineering West Virginia,” failed to include his son, Patrick Betoney, as a survivor. Patrick is a 2007 mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate of the Statler College.

We regret the omission.

Senior Will Howard atop Pike’s Peak in Colorado. Howard spent the summer conducting research with the National Institute of Standards and Technology through a National Science Foundation summer research fellowship.

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Non-Profit Organization US Postage PAID Morgantown, WV Permit No. 34

ENGINEERING W E S T

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