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Student Updates

Student Notes

CoE Chapter of National Society of Black Engineers Honored

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has recognized Michigan Engineering as the "chapter of the year." NSBE officials cited the chapter's improvement in member retention; the implementation of new programs, such as the creation of a junior executive board to expose students to leadership roles; a chapter grade-point average that ranks third among the more than 270 NSBE chapters nationwide; and two mentorship programs (one in which members mentor high-school students; a second that pairs CoE first years with seniors by major). This is the second time in six years that the chapter has won the award. The entire story appeared in NSBE magazine.

Chemical Engineering Students Stellar at iGEM

Chemical Engineering students Alyssa Delke and Chris Bauman, faculty director Peter Woolf (associate professor, Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering) and faculty advisor Xiaoxia (Nina) Lin (professor, Chemical Engineering) teamed with more than a dozen students and faculty from units across the University - the Stephen M. Ross School of Business; the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; and the Program in Biomedical Sciences, Bioinformatics - to participate in the 4th Annual iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) Jamboree, November 4-5, at the Massachussets Institute of Technology. Of the 37 teams from across the globe, the U-M team took third place in the category "Best Real World Application." iGEM exists to show that simple biological systems can be built from standard, interchangeable parts and operated in living cells.

CoE Students Capture Best Student Paper Awards

Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) PhD candidate Jing Zhong received the Best Student Paper Award at the 2006 INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Annual meeting in Pittsburgh, in November. Zhong coauthored "Design of DOE-based Automatic Process Controller with Consideration of Model Uncertainties" with professors Jianjun Shi (IOE, ME) and Jeff C.F. Wu (IOE).

Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) PhD candidate Jing Li, Associate Professor Judy Jin (IOE) and Professor Jan Shi (IOE, Mechanical Engineering) have received the award for Best Paper at the 2006 Engineering Research Conference in Orlando, Florida. Their paper was titled "Causation-based T2 Decomposition for Multivariate Process Monitoring and Diagnosis."

CoE Paper Chosen as Best PIC 1

More than 18 papers were presented on behalf of U-M at the 2006 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition in Chicago. Of those, five were nominated to receive a best paper award from the Professional Interest Council (PIC). And one of the five received the Best PIC 1 Paper award for a work written by:

  • Thomas Liu, graduate student research assistant, AERO
  • Christopher Deline, graduate student research assistant, EECS
  • Rafael Ramos, graduate student research assistant, AOSS
  • Steven Sandoval, graduate student research assistant, AERO
  • Ashley Smetana, graduate student research assistant, AOSS
  • Brian Gilchrist, professor and interim chair, EECS; professor, AOSS
  • Peter Washabaugh, associate professor, AERO
  • Nilton Renno, associate professor, AOSS

Kim Mueller Grabs NSF Traineeship

Environmental and Water Resources Engineering PhD student Kim Mueller has received a two-year National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship with the Biosphere-Atmosphere Research and Training Program. The award was based on Mueller's proposal, "Evaluation of Process-Based Carbon Flux Drivers through Regional Geostatistical Methods." As part of the fellowship, Kim will spend two summers at the U-M Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan.

S3FL Team Makes History


MClimber team getting ready for the climb. Above left: MClimber on its way up, becoming the first ever to reach the top of the ribbon successfully and descend by itself.

Ten CoE students from the Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory (S3FL) made history at the 2006 Space Elevator Games, October 20-21, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, when the MClimber Team became the first team ever to successfully reach the top of the 200-foot space elevator ribbon (and descend by itself). The MClimber made its record ascent on the first day of the event, despite wind conditions that whipped the 200-ft ribbon wildly and led all other teams to opt out of that day's competition. This was the second year of the NASA-sponsored five-year competition to develop technologies capable of building a space elevator.

S3FL is an organization dedicated to providing students with practical space systems design and fabrication experience not readily available through the academic curriculum. Read more about the MClimber and S3FL at http://data.engin.umich.edu/s3fl/mclimber.

Triangle Receives Charter


Members of the Michigan Chapter of Triangle Fraternity gathered around their charter during a January 27 ceremony.

The Michigan Chapter of Triangle has received its charter from the national social and academic fraternity of engineers, architects and scientists. Its mission is to develop well-rounded students in engineering, architecture and science by providing an environment that fosters personal growth and professional success.

Triangle was originally established at the University of Michigan in 1925, but a low membership during the '90s led to its dissolution. In 2004, several engineers decided to re-establish the chapter. Today it has 35 active brothers and pledges. For more information about Triangle, navigate to www.umtriangle.com.

SHPE Outstanding at HENAAC

The U-M chapter of SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) made an outstanding showing at the 18th Annual Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC) Conference, October 5-7, in Anaheim, California. Of the 24 students who made the trip, five came home with awards:

  • Monica Madrid - First Place $500
  • Paul Niezguski - Second Place $300
  • Tyler King
  • Tamara Montiel
  • Patricia Pacheco

MSAE Is #1

The CoE student chapter of Society of Automotive Engineers International was named the Outstanding Collegiate Chapter among 400 peer chapters. SAE International is the premier society dedicated to advancing mobility engineering worldwide.