Student Updates
Tau Beta Pi to Celebrate 100 Years at U-M
On April 7, 2006, Tau Beta Pi's Michigan-Gamma chapter will begin celebrating its 100-year U-M history as a society of Michigan Engineering students who have exhibited distinguished scholarship and character, and alumni whose achievements in engineering have received special recognition. The hallmark of TBP student members is the pursuit of scholastic achievement, community service and distinguished character.
Each semester TBP members take part in about 30 different service projects to help the community and the University - building houses with Habitat for Humanity, cleaning up Ann Arbor's parks with Adopt-a-Highway, assisting at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, sewing mittens for the needy, preparing and serving soup at soup kitchens and stimulating children's interests in engineering by guiding them through Ann Arbor's Hands-on-Museum, to name just a handful of the many projects that have the TBP mark on them. Members also make good use of their academic proficiency, tutoring freshmen and sophomores in 100- and 200-level courses in physics, chemistry and math. During the fall, TBP and the Society of Women Engineers co-host the Engineering Career Fair, which brings together about 250 companies representing all engineering majors for what is the largest recruiting event in the College of Engineering. Throughout the winter semester, TBP hosts luncheons and discussions exploring the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King as part of Michigan Engineering's MLK celebrations.
Google Co-founder Gives Spring Graduation Address
Larry Page (BSE CompE '95), czofounder and president, Products, for Google, the world's leading Internet search engine, gave the keynote address at Michigan Engineering's spring graduation exercises, April 30, in Crisler Arena. Page, a much-anticipated speaker, ranged far and wide, covering disparate topics such as Google's initial mission ("to organize the world's information") and Muhammad Yunus, an entrepreneur who built a successful business in Bangladesh by helping poor entrepreneurs with microloans. Page emphasized that "it's easier to succeed when you dream big," and he encouraged parents to give their children "the freedom and support" to follow their own dreams and take their own risks. He delved into the merits of business schools, innovation in the workplace, Bono and the future of space travel - he was, according to student blogs, one of the most interesting and well-received graduation speakers in memory.
PHOTO BY MARTIN VLOET
Michigan Engineering Wins 2005 North American Solar Challenge
Momentum crosses the finish
line at the head of the pack to win
the North American Solar Challenge.
PHOTO BY STEFANO PALTERA
The University of Michigan solar car "Momentum" crossed the finish line at the head of the pack to win the North American Solar Challenge, July 27, at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. The Michigan team covered 2,500 miles - the world's longest solar car race - averaging a record 46.2 mph and finishing in just 53 hours, 59 minutes and 43 seconds. About 20 other university teams participated in this year's race. This was the fourth national championship for U-M - the most for any university since the competition began in 1990.
The students spent two years designing, fine-tuning and promoting Momentum - the eighth-generation solar car - in preparation for the 10-day event, which began July 17 in Austin, Texas. The challenge was to build a car that would run on a mere 1,000 watts - about what powers a hair dryer - and carry a driver at highway speeds for the entire race.
Maggie Hayes (BSE ME '05), Momentum's operations director, knows the value of working on the solar car team. "Participation has been incredibly valuable to my college education," she said. "Acting as a mechanical technician for two years allowed me to apply concepts I learned in the classroom to a real, hands-on engineering project. I kept working with the team in a different capacity, responsible for race logistics, public relations and other support tasks. This new role gave me an opportunity to work on business and managerial skills. I'm discovering my true capability and learning how to apply what I've learned to a variety of possible careers."First-Place Finish for Interdisciplinary Team at EPA P3 Competition
IMAGE BY JOHN PARISEAU IMAGE BY ROSS MORROW
AWARE@home monitors energy consumption in real time to help homeowners conserve energy.
An interdisciplinary team composed of students from the College of Engineering and the Ross School of Business took first place in the Environmental Protection Agency's National Student Design Competition for Sustainability. The May event focused on people, prosperity and the planet (P3). Of the 65 finalists, the judges selected seven winners, including the U-M team. Steve Skerlos, an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering department, said that "there was a buzz about the contest," suggesting that the U-M team's project "epitomized the spirit of the P3 competition."
The project, entitled AWARE@home, is a simple, inexpensive tool that individual households can use to monitor their own energy consumption - in real time and on-demand - and quantify the impact of a home's energy conservation on cost and the environment.
Whereas related technologies exist for industrial use, there's very little technology that allows individual homes to monitor and manage their own consumption of energy and utilities. The U-M interdisciplinary team set out to develop a system that - with no more than the click of an icon on a computer screen - could help households reduce their energy and utility expenditures by 10 percent, a seemingly modest objective that, if accomplished, would vastly improve efficiency. This efficiency, in turn, would result in massive cost savings and a significant reduction in pollution.
In designing the AWARE@home system, the interdisciplinary team worked within a number of self-imposed guidelines. The system had to be simple to use, robust, durable and compact, wireless and FCC compliant, able to store data without a computer, inexpensive (less than $50 to manufacture) and energy-efficient.
Student Team First in CanSat Competition
(above) Graduate student advisor Tom Liu and the Loc/Precision Caliber ISP rocket. (above, left) Team member Aaron Pigeon. (left) CanSat 1.
PHOTO COURTESY OF S3FL
The Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory (S3FL) sent a team of students to the first annual CanSat (can satellite) Competition - a design-build-launch competition for space-related topics - and brought home first-place honors.
According to the CanSat Competition guide, a payload had to be able to fit inside a standard 12- ounce (355 ml) soda can with a diameter of 66.04 mm. The S3FL team's entry, CanSat 1, met that size requirement and was still able to carry a payload consisting of a telemetry system and pressure and temperature sensors, all of which determined the craft's maximum altitude, distance from take-off to landing, direction of travel and atmospheric temperature to plus or minus 1 degree Centigrade, once every 10 seconds during flight.
Faculty advisors, Professor Brian Gilchrist (EECS and AOSS) and Associate Professor Pete Washabaugh (AERO) guided the team of freshmen and sophomores - the youngest team at the June 3 undergraduate competition in Plaster City, California. The event gave students end-to-end experience in a complex engineering project that took them through the steps of concept and design, integration and testing, and the final operation of the system.
Preflight tests consisted of parachute drops (in the FXB atrium and the Dennison Building), vibration testing (in the GG Brown vibrations laboratory), shock testing (on the stairs of the Space Research Building), drop testing and range testing (both outside of the Space Research Building).
The CanSat Competition provided the rocket, which flew on a 54-mm solid motor. Upper-level students helped out with the more complicated telemetry and electronics in CanSat 1. The San Diego Rocketry Club was on-hand to help prepare each team's rocket motor and to demonstrate launches. The team's funding came through the S3FL.
Ritter Takes U-M Softball to Championship and White House
Jennie Ritter, U-M softball pitcher and an undergraduate junior in Industrial and Operations Engineering, capped her record-setting season by leading the No. 1-ranked U-M softball team past two-time defending champion UCLA 4-1 in 10 innings. The team claimed its first-ever national championship on June 8 in front of a national television audience on ESPN. On July 12, the 2005 champs - the first team east of the Mississippi River to win an NCAA softball championship - traveled to the White House to accept congratulations from President George W. Bush. Ritter received the 2005 Suzy Favor Female Athlete of the Year Award, the Big Ten's highest individual honor.
Mars Rover Team Takes Second at 2005 RASC-AL Forum
The Michigan Mars Rover Team's project, "Universal Chassis for Modular Ground Vehicles," took second place in the undergraduate category at the May 22-25 RASC-AL Forum in Cocoa Beach, Florida. RASC-AL (Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts - Academic Linkage) is an initiative of NASA and the Universities Space Research Association to give student teams an opportunity to present revolutionary design projects to peers and to representatives from NASA and industry. In addition to the student-team presentations, the RASC-AL Forum included technical presentations from NASA, industry and university professionals, a poster session and a variety of activities to motivate team interaction.
2005 Michigan Inspire Fair Makes Beautiful Music
(l-r) Tony Fadell (BSE CompE '91,
creator of the iPod), Keith Pennington,
Elissa Karstu. (Johnathan Dobbie,
Toby Mitchell,
Amit Sachdev, not pictured.)
On April 14, multi-disciplinary teams of students from engineering, art, architecture and music displayed a collection of ingenious projects at Michigan Inspire, a one-day event that attracted hundreds of onlookers - including curious corporate representatives - to the Duderstadt Center's Video Studio and Central Collaboration Area.
The variety and ingenuity of the work demonstrated the power of collaboration and cross-disciplinary thinking - a thread that runs throughout a Michigan Engineering education. The first-place selection, "Aeolian Dance Music," was clear evidence of the inventiveness that multiple minds can bring to a project. The Aeolian team fastened pressure sensors to a leotard, then connected the sensors to a sound generator. As the team member wearing the leotard moved, the pressure on each sensor changed, generating a sound. A series of choreographed movements transformed the leotard into an instrument that produced a "music" of sorts - nothing that would end up on a top-ten hits list, but music nonetheless.
Elliot Soloway, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, hosted the awards ceremony, which featured an inspirational talk by Tony Fadell (BSE CompE '91), the creator of the iPod. Fadell is vice president of engineering in Apple Computer's iPod Division.
The teams that competed in the Michigan Inspire Fair had to complete their projects during the 2005 academic semester. Full-time students received academic credit according to arrangements made with Michigan Inspire, which evolved during the summer of 2004 when Dr. James Duderstadt, U-M President Emeritus and University Professor of Science and Engineering, called for ideas to bring innovation and collaboration to North Campus and the Duderstadt Center.
M Racing Team Finishes Strong
In a four-day competition in May at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, the M Racing team went head-to-head with 139 Formula SAE teams that conceived, designed and fabricated small formula-style racing cars which deliver high performance in acceleration, braking and handling, yet are low-cost, easy to maintain, reliable, aesthetically pleasing, comfortable and make use of common parts. In a series of contests, the M Racing team, which consists of students from Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, took an impressive third place in the category of suspension system design and development. The team finished fifth in acceleration, skidpad and autocross.
M Racing team- more proof
that cross-disciplinary
groups produce great results.
Steel Bridge Team Finishes Strong
The Steel Bridge Team placed first in the Lightness category and seventh overall in the 14th Annual National Student Steel Bridge Competition, held at the University of Central Florida, May 27-28. Forty-four teams put their skills to the test in steel design, steel fabrication and teamwork. To qualify for the national event, undergraduates from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering competed against a field of 180 teams, including entries from Canada, Mexico and Japan.
Speed of construction, just one facet of steel-bridge
competitions, turned the Michigan
Engineering team into a blur of activity.
WISE GISE Camp Introduces Seventh- and Eighth-Grade Girls to Engineering
The Girls in Science and Engineering (GISE) week-long camp in July was an eye-opening experience for 94 seventh- and eighth-grade girls who knew little or nothing about engineering. But by week's end, they had immersed themselves in a variety of science and engineering projects and met women who work in these areas. The highlight of the week's many hands-on activities was the Cardboard Canoe Competition, in which girls designed and built cardboard canoes, then raced them in the Class of '47E Reflecting Pool.
GISE is sponsored by the U-M Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program in cooperation with the College of Engineering; the Medical School; the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; and the Office of the Vice President for Research.
PHOTO BY JAMIE SAVILLE
Walk-on Ready for the Tough Courses
Cassard
PHOTO BY MARTIN VLOET
Michigan golfer Rose Cassard, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, made the U-M Women's Golf Team as a walk-on in her freshman year. Then she was promptly redshirted - a disappointment worse than blowing a tap-in. But after waiting patiently for a year, Cassard had a breakthrough season, making it to the match-play semifinals of this year's Michigan Women's Amateur Championship. She lost to the eventual champion, but the strong finish indicated that her game had come of age.
"Being the engineer she is, she analyzes everything too much," Head Coach Kathy Teichert said. "That's where experience comes in. The more you do it the better you become…She has a lot of talent, and it's just a matter of putting that together and trusting her swing."
Cassard has shown she's ready for the tough courses, be they the 18-hole variety or those that make the College of Engineering curriculum such a challenge.
IMPACT Wins 2005 University of Michigan Program of the Year Award
IMPACT, a program established in 2000 by the Rackham Graduate School and the graduate component of the Society of Multicultural Engineering Students, received a U-M Program of the Year Award during the 26th annual Michigan Leadership Awards.
IMPACT recruits talented students from underrepresented populations for graduate-level studies. The organization hosts an annual visitation weekend that, over several days, provides multiple opportunities for students to tour departments, interact with faculty, meet current graduate students and talk with their peers from across the country. The 2005 program had a particularly profound effect, with 83 percent of attendees saying that they're more likely to attend U-M after having
attended the IMPACT weekend, which began on March 10.
Mini Baja Team Rolls On
The Mini Baja Team competes with teams from all over the nation in grueling events that test the designs of the different cars and the students who put them together.
The SAE Mini Baja Team had a stellar year, finishing third overall and first among American teams in a total field of 130 registered contestants at the SAE Mini Baja Midwest, June 16-19, in Troy, Ohio. The team had finished third in an international field of 73 teams at the May SAE Mini Baja East and fifth out of 130 registered teams at the June 1-4 SAE Mini Baja 100. The team's overall 2005 season was its best in 10 years, good enough for second place in the run for the Mike Schmidt Memorial Iron Car Award, which is based on the cumulative results from all three of the American races.
Short Shots
Hugh Lim, graduate student, BME, received first prize for an oral presentation by a young investigator at the 2005 Conference on Implantable Auditory Prostheses.
Annie Barkowitz and Tom Withrow, graduate students, BME, turned in notable performances at the 20th Congress of the International Society of Biomechanics. Barkowitz was second runnerup; Withrow was one of the five finalists.
Jamie Ho, graduate student, CEE, received the ASCE Daniel Mead Award for her essay "Computers, Civil Engineering, and Ethics: The Role of the Responsible Engineer."
Andres Clarens and Tanya Gallegos, graduate students, CEE, finished first and second in the Technical Paper Competition at the 2005 National Technical & Career Conference.
Jeffrey Cox and Thomas Bartold, graduate students, and Ed Durfee, professor, EECS, received the Best Paper Award at the Fourth International Conference on Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems.
Kevin Buell, graduate student, EECS, received first prize in the Best Paper Awards presentation at the 2005 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium.
Alireza Tabatabaeenejad and Amy Buerkle, graduate students, EECS, received Young Scientist Awards from the International Union of Radio Science.
Nicholas Chang, graduate student, EECS, received the prestigious MIT Lincoln Laboratory Graduate Fellowship for the 2005-2006 academic year.
Casey Diekman and Thomas Ferris, graduate students, IOE, received National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Awards.
Marc Berman and Emily Gray, graduate students, IOE, received honorable mentions in the presentation of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Awards.
Kamaldev Raghavan , graduate student, NAME, received the 2005-2006 Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship from the Link Foundation.
GEISINGER GIFT - $6.7 MILLION
| As the Progress & Promise: 150th Anniversary Campaign continues to move towards its goal of $300 million, the College is pleased to announce a $6.7 million scholarship gift from the estate of Joseph Geisinger (BSE ME '36). It's the largest scholarship gift ever made to Michigan Engineering and third largest in the University's history. |
A G r e a t B u s i n e s s P a r t n e r
Each year, hundreds of companies work with Michigan Engineering to tackle challenges and provide students with hands-on experience:
RESEARCH
Sponsoring research projects or participating in federal- or state-funded research centers brings corporate and faculty researchers together to evaluate and understand engineering challenges.
CONSULTING
Faculty expertise provides focused advice for your company and fresh ideas for our classrooms.
PROJECTS
Harnessing student creativity to help with product development, IT or manufacturing projects creates a "win/win" situation. You gain new concepts and insights while students gain knowledge.
RECRUITING
Hiring Michigan Engineers develops a pipeline of talent for your organization. Each year, more than 2,000 bachelor's, master's and PhD students graduate, and thousands of others seek summer internship and co-op opportunities.
To learn more about connecting your company with the College of Engineering, contact:
DARYL WEINERT, Director, Corporate Relations
143 Chrysler Center
2121 Bonisteel Boulevard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2092
Phone: (734) 647-7057 Fax: (734) 647-7075
weinert@umich.edu
www.engin.umich.edu/relations/corporate
