Steel Bridge Team Honored

Michigan Engineering’s Steel Bridge Team received awards in four different categories and finished second overall in the 2004 National Student Steel Bridge Competition. The team faced competition from more than 180 other teams. This performance follows a first-place finish in 2003 and a fourth-place finish in 2002 -- a series of performances that Professor Nik Katopodes, CEE chair, said bespeaks “a U-M Steel Bridge Dynasty.”

Student Updates

Joseph Jewell, an AERO graduate student, was one of 32 United States students awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 2004. In addition to being an honors student who scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT, the 23-year-old is an accomplished musician and student government leader. At Oxford, he will pursue a research master’s in engineering, but also play timpani in the symphony.

Wei Gu, aÊChE undergraduate student, took the top prize in the undergraduate division of the 2004 Collegiate Inventors Competition. Wei created a simple but robust microfluidic device that, in essence, acts as a miniature plumbing system, complete with microscopic pumps, valves, pipes and mixing chambers. The device provides microscopic control of liquid flows, a breakthrough that has multiple applications -- in medical diagnostic procedures and complex chemical analyses, to name just two.

A U-M student team is competing against 16 other university teams in Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility, a three-year competition (2004-2007) in which engineering students are attempting to re-engineer a crossover vehicle to achieve better fuel economy and lower emissions. (A crossover vehicle is one that combines the features of a car with those of a minivan or sport utility vehicle.) The U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors Corporation are sponsoring the event.

A CoE student team working on a project in environmental sustainability collected 10,700 gallons of waste grease from 10 campus dining halls and turned it into a biodiesel fuel. The group tested the fuel on a small U-M tractor. It proved to a technical and economic success. As part of its commitment to green energy consumption, the University had purchased 60,000 gallons of soybean-based biodiesel fuel to blend with regular petroleum-based diesel fuel to make up the 300,000 gallons of combined fuel it uses annually. A report showed that by replacing 10,700 gallons of the 60,000 gallons of soybean-based biodiesel with the students’ product, the University could save an estimated $28,000 annually.

Evan Quasney, an ME undergraduate student, had a theory about why Leonardo da Vinci’s famed “Mona Lisa” continues to deteriorate, despite rigid temperature and humidity controls in its chamber. During a summer internship at the Smithsonian Center, he used computer modeling to test his theory and develop new processes for the Smithsonian to use in storing and preserving its priceless collection of paintings. Quasney’s work led to an interview in The New York Times.

Students in Mechanical Engineering and ProCEED (Program for Community Engagement in Engineering Design) received a 2003 da Vinci Award in the category of Assistive Technology -- Research. It was the only 2003 da Vinci Award that recognized student achievements. The award, sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, honors those whose engineering, construction and design innovations have benefited people with disabilities.

A NAME student project team won the 2003 International Student Offshore Design Competition. Armin Troesch, chair, NAME, said that the team’s first-place finish is “another demonstration of the many ways undergraduate students in the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering excel in applying their knowledge of design, manufacture and the management of marine vehicles, structures and systems.”

Underrepresented minority engineering students whose academic achievements have been exemplary received excellence awards during a ceremony at the Fourth Annual ScholarPOWER Academic Awards Banquet. Overall, 200 students qualified for recognition.

Ping-Cheng Yeh, graduate student instructor, EECS, received the U-M Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award for 2003. Recipients of this award have demonstrated “exceptional ability, creativity and continuous growth as teachers.” The award also recognizes outstanding service as a mentor and advisor to students, colleagues and others in need of help.