Summer Bridge into Engineering Design

Students in the BOLD Center's Summer Bridge program worked on designing solar cookers and mechanical arms and during July. Above, students use plexiglass to create the fingers for a mechanical arm. Students demonstrated their projects July 24 at a design expo in the Engineering Lobby.

Six College Faculty Win CAREER Awards in FY09

CU engineering faculty have set a new record with six successful National Science Foundation CAREER Award proposals in the last funding cycle.  One faculty member in each department received the CAREER Award in the FY09 competition:

·         Eric Frew, Aerospace Engineering Sciences

·         Stephanie Bryant, Chemical and Biological Engineering

·         Siva Mettupalayam, Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering

·         Katie Siek, Computer Science

·         Jeremy Siek, Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering

·         Ronggui Yang, Mechanical Engineering

NSF CAREER awards provide early career development funding to support integrated research and education in a proposed project area for a period of five years.

Success Institute Focuses on Biomedical Devices

Forty-four high school juniors and seniors put their talents into designing mechanical hearts as part of this year’s Success Institute at the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory.

The students—about half of whom came from the college’s partner high schools, Skyline, Centaurus, and DSST—were on campus July 27-31 for the week-long residential program. The students learned more about the college and campus, while being challenged to design and build a mechanical heart that could actually pump fluid.

DEAA Nominations Due Sept. 20

The deadline for nominating college alumni for the 2010 Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award is  approaching.  Nomination materials, including supporting letters, are due Sept. 20. Anyone wanting to make a nomination can find more information on the nomination process and selection criteria here.

Nominations should be sent via email to Carrie.Goldin@Colorado.edu (preferred) or via mail to the University of Colorado, 422 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309.  Recipients of the 2010 DEAA will be celebrated at a banquet and award ceremony on April 23.

Honors & Awards

Congratulations to the following individuals on their outstanding achievements:

Faculty

Katie Siek of computer science has been selected to receive an NSF CAREER Award for her proposal, “Health Bridge: Motivating Personal Health Record Adoption by Low-Income Communities.”

Kurt Smith of engineering management received a grant for the Engineering Entrepreneurship Program (E-ship) from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) to plan entrepreneurship projects with select senior design teams.

George Born and Penny Axelrad of aerospace engineering sciences wrote a successful proposal for Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) fellowships in aerospace systems. The funding from the U.S. Department of Education begins with a grant of $174,000 for the first year, which is anticipated to continue for an additional two years.

Bill Emery of aerospace engineering sciences was recognized for his outstanding contributions to geosciences at the 2009 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society conference.

Alan Weimer of chemical and biological engineering was selected to receive the 2009 Thomas Baron Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Particle Technology Forum in November.

Robert McLeod of electrical, computer, and energy engineering has been selected for a Provost Faculty Achievement Award.

Michael Brandemuehl of civil, environmental, and architectural engineering was named a Fellow of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and was elected to a three-year term on the ASHRAE Board of Directors.

Students

Jason Roadman and David Wiese, doctoral candidates in aerospace engineering sciences, each received the Orville and Wilbur Wright Graduate Award from the AIAA Foundation. Their advisors are Kamran Mohseni and Steven Nerem, respectively.

Chad Corbin, a graduate student in civil engineering, and Professor Michael Brandemuehl received a Best Paper award at the ASME Energy Sustainability 2009 conference for their paper on "Modeling, Testing, and Evaluation of a Building-Integrated Photovoltaic-Thermal Collector."

Seven engineering students were awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships for fall 2009: Alana Bereck Portaro and Troy Gould, chemical engineering; Nathan Calvert and Laura Stiles, aerospace engineering sciences; Sara MacAlpine, civil engineering; and Rachel Paietta and Thomas Yersak, mechanical engineering.

Ben Walker, Kyle Simmons, Nick Barr, Dan Fargano, Mike Killian, Nick Mans, Bob Pomeroy, and Marshall Worth of electrical, computer, and energy engineering collaborated with students at the University of Tokushima, Japan, to develop an energy-efficient integrated starter/alternator system for the 2009 IEEE International Future Energy Challenge Competition in Chicago. The team, advised by Frank Barnes with assistance from other ECEE faculty, brought home the Outstanding Teamwork Award, as well as the Outstanding Educational Impact Award recognizing the great learning experience it gave students over the last year.

Chihoko Yamashita, a doctoral candidate in aerospace engineering sciences advised by Xinzhao Chu, won second-place in the student poster competition (mesosphere and lower thermosphere region) at the 24th Coupling, Energetics and Dynamics in Atmospheric Region (CEDAR) workshop hosted by the National Science Foundation in Santa Fe.

John Smith and Christine Hartzell, doctoral candidates in aerospace engineering sciences, have been awarded NASA Earth and Space Sciences fellowships.

Jonathan Fentzke, who received his PhD in aerospace engineering sciences in May was awarded a National Science Foundation CEDAR postdoctoral fellowship.

Luis Hakim, who earned his PhD in chemical engineering in 2006 working with Al Weimer, will receive the Best PhD in Particle Technology Award at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ meeting in November.

New Faculty & Staff

Welcome to the following new faculty and staff joining the college:

Tanya Ennis, Coordinator, GoldShirt Program, BOLD Center
LaRuth McAfee, Director of Student Engagement, BOLD Center
Zoltan Sternovsky, Asst. Professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences
James Voss, Scholar in Residence, Aerospace Engineering Sciences
Nikolaus Correll, Asst. Professor, Computer Science
Sriram Sankaranarayanan, Asst. Professor, Computer Science
Shannon Hughes, Asst. Professor, Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering
Juliet Gopinath, Asst. Professor, Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering
Todd Murray, Assoc. Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Tim Brower, Sr. Instructor, Mechanical Engineering

Other announcements:

Anthea Johnson Rooen is leaving the BOLD Center for a new position with ATLAS as director of outreach programs. She will continue to work on CU-Boulder’s diversity mission by developing new connections between the university and historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, and predominantly Hispanic-serving colleges and universities.

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