ME-EM
Alumni NewsBrief
October
2006
ME-EM NewsBrief Vol. 2, No 3
Greetings from William (Bill) W. Predebon, Chair, Department
of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics. For
the latest news and information about our faculty, students,
staff, and alumni please visit our web site at http://www.me.mtu.edu/.
*Upcoming Events, all alumni are welcome to
participate. *
Michigan Tech is again preparing to host the Michigan
Youth Engineering
and Science (YES!) Expo set for Nov.
2 at Detroit's Ford Field. This event attracts
thousands of middle- and high-school students. Dozens
of colleges, universities, corporations and agencies
will be on hand to inspire students to consider careers
in engineering, science and other technology-related
fields. Last fall, YES! Expo attracted more than 40
companies, 25 colleges and universities and about two
dozen organizations ranging from NASA to the Ann Arbor
Hands-on Museum, along with more than 12,500 secondary
school students. This year more the 22,000 secondary
students are expected to attend. Dr. William Predebon,
Chair of MEEM will attend the Expo.
MEEM Department Reception, Monday November
6, 2006 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the
Astoria Room of the Chicago Hilton,
720 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL. MEEM alumni
and their guest are cordially invited to attend. Appetizers
and beverages will be served and I will be giving a
short presentation. RSVP to Kathy @ kagoulet@mtu.edu
is appreciated but not required.
Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Day, December
7, 2006, at Michigan Tech. The results of the
year-long industry-supported senior design projects
will be on display together with the students who completed
them standing by to answer questions. Alumni and friends
are always welcome.
7th Annual ME-EM Alumni Winter Carnival Hockey
Social on Saturday, February 10th,
MTU versus Denver (Winter Carnival), 5:07 PM
start time in the MacInnes Room of the Student Development
Complex (SDC). RSVPs are requested to Kathy at kagoulet@mtu.edu
or 906-487-2911. Space is very limited, please RSVP
early.
The MEEM Department along with the Keweenaw Research
Center will again be hosting the SAE Clean Snowmobile
Challenge March 19-24, 2007. Last year's MTU
team results included Best Design - 1st , Objective
Handling/Drivability - 2nd , Acceleration - 3rd , Emissions
- 4th , and overall - 6th .
See last years 2006 photos and movies.
For more information on sponsorship of this event, please
contact the department at 906-487-2551 or email me at
wwpredeb@mtu.edu.
Michigan Tech will host the 2007 U.S. Cross-Country
Ski Championships Jan. 3rd -7th , 2007 and
again in 2008. The event should bring in over 400 skiers
from 30 colleges.
* *
*Past Events*
Alumni Reunion was held on August 3-5th, 2006. MEEM
hosted a MEEM Alumni Boat Cruise
down the Portage Canal on Thursday, August
3^rd . This was an extremely popular event with the
boat almost filled to capacity.
*Dr. Predebon will be traveling to the following cities
this coming summer and fall:
*When on travel for the Department, Dr. Predebon visits
with alumni to get their feedback on our programs and
their career and to give an update on the department
and university. Please let the Department know if you
would be available for a visit when he is in your area.
(906) 487-2911.
Week of 11/1/06 - Detroit for the YES Expo.
Week of 11/6/06 - Chicago, IL for the ASME conference
*Alumni Accomplishments/Awards
*Korey Kiepert (BSME '97 and MSME '99) a design engineer
with The Gravity Group was featured in the article "Engineers
Do What?!" by Vicki Salemi on MSN Encarta. The
Gravity Group specializes in the creation of roller
coasters. See
more details and pictures
* *
Tony R. Laituri (BSME '86 and MSME
'88) received the 2006 SAE Excellence in Oral Presentation
Award rot his presentation entitled "Lower-Body
Injury Rates in Full-Engagement Frontal Impacts: Field
Data and Logistic Models" which was delivered at
the 2006 SAE World Congress for SAE Paper No. 2006-01-1666.
Co-authors of the paper were Scott Henry, Kaye Sullivan
and Priya Prasad. Tony is a Technical Specialist at
Ford Motor Co.
Adil Shafi (BSEE, BSCE '86 and MSCE
'91) was inducted in the Academy of the College of Sciences
and Arts on September 22. Adil is also a member of the
MEEM External Advisory Board (formerly the Industrial
Advisory Board).
Timothy Thomas (BSME '81) is General
Manager of PARTsolutions, LLC. According to a news release
by Penton Media, Inc., "Penton Media's Design Engineering
group, anchored by Machine Design magazine has entered
into a strategic partnership with PARTsolutions, LLC,
a leading provider of publishing solutions for 2D/3D
digital parts catalogs, to launch the Machine Design
CAD Library, a powerful, new resource for design engineers.
Located at www.machinedesign.com/cadlibrary <http://www.machinedesign.com/cadlibrary>and
free to design engineers, the Machine Design CAD Library
includes millions of configurable 2D and 3D CAD models
of components and assemblies downloadable for easy use
in new and existing designs." The release can be
read at http://www.penton.com/cgi-bin/news/display_news.pl?id=714.
Timothy Thomas (BSME '81), General
Manager of PARTsolutions, LLC. has made software donations
to MEEM through his company PARTsolutions.
Richard VandeVusse (BSME '77), owner
of Ag Solutions, was featured in the article "Ag
Solutions cuts ribbon at new plant" in the September
2006 issue of Upper Peninsula Business Today. Ag Solutions
opened a new plant in Gladstone which will be the first
company in the State of Michigan to produce alternative
fuel. Ag Solution produces biodiesel, a renewable, biodegradable
fuel that can be used in place of petroleum diesel or
heating oil. They plan on producing 5 million gallons
the first year and 15 million next year. Governor Granholm
attended the ribbon cutting ceremony along with Agricultural
Director Mitch Irwin, Congressman Bart Stupak, and Representative
Tom Casperson.
*University News/Awards*
Chris Anderson, special assistant
to the president for diversity and executive director
of educational opportunity, has been elected to the
Detroit Area Precollege Engineering Program Board of
Directors by the DAPCEP Executive Board. She has served
on the DAPCEP Advisory Board for the past two years.
Michigan Tech was featured Aug. 26 in "Piled Higher
and Deeper," aka "PhD," a cartoon strip
for graduate students published in The Stanford Daily.
Read all about it at http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?n=752
After setting three Guinness World Records
in February during Winter Carnival, Michigan Tech has
had another first. The world's biggest snowball and
the world's biggest snowball fight were featured on
the Aug. 24 "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"
in the "Cold America" segment.
The average student attending Michigan Tech graduates
with one of the lowest amounts of debt in the
nation, according to U.S. News & World
Report's Best Colleges 2007. Of the 248 schools
considered national universities by U.S. News,
Michigan Tech was the only university in Michigan
to make the "Least Debt" category,
ranking 17th. A total of 47 percent of Michigan Tech
graduates have no debt upon graduation, and the average
debt is $13,587.
Dedication ceremonies for a new subterranean research
facility were held on Wednesday, Aug. 23, at 2 p.m.
at the USDA Forest Service Laboratory on MacInnes Drive.
The facility, known as a rhizotron, allows scientists
unprecedented access to the unseen half of the forest
that lies beneath our feet. It stretches into the hillside
behind the lab, a 75-foot tunnel paneled with glass
windows. Through the panes, Forest Service and Michigan
Tech researchers can examine the roots, fungi, insects
and multitudinous crawly creatures without disturbing
the soil.
Michigan Tech is recognized by the 2007 Edition of
the Princeton Review as a best value
for undergraduate education and provides numerous
opportunities for students to conduct research.
Michigan Tech has received funding from the NSF to
develop a new program in Service
Systems Engineering to try to solve problems
such as the inefficiencies in government services and
insurance companies, travel delays or lost luggage.
Working on the project are Sherryl Sorby (Engineering),
Leonard Bohmann (Electrical and Computer Engineering),
Dana Johnson (SBE), Kris Mattila (CEE) and John Sutherland
(MEEM).
Michigan Tech has entered into an agreement with the
Altarum Institute of Ann Arbor to purchase its Environmental
and Emerging Technologies Division. The purchase
is funded by a gift from the House Family Foundation,
established by retired president of Nortel Networks
and former Intel executive Dave House, a Michigan Tech
alumnus. The complete article can be read at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/news/media_relations/516/.
*Department Accomplishments/News*
National Science Foundation ranked the ME-EM
Department 26th in Research Expenditures in
FY2004 with $7.517 Million among all Mechanical Engineering
Departments in the U.S. The same ratings listed
Michigan Tech as the fastest-growing research program
among the state's four research universities
with overall research funding at the university increased
17.9 percent from 2002-03 to 2003-04, when research
dollars shot up from $30.3 million to $35.7 million.
Michigan Tech is ranked 179th in total research dollars
among the approximately 600 universities in the U.S.
tallied by NSF and 129th among all public universities.
*New Staff*
Margaret Perander, Administrative
Aide, from Mathematical Sciences. Primary area of responsibility
is the Graduate Program.
*Faculty Appointments*
Dr. Oner Arici, Professor (MEEM),
who retired in May of 2005 and was appointed to the
rank of Professor Emeritus in June of 2005. View
web page.
Dr. Harold A. Evensen, Professor (MEEM),
who retired in June 2006 and has been appointed to the
rank of Professor Emeritus. View
web page.
*Faculty/Staff Accomplishments/Awards*
Dr. Carl Anderson, Professor (MEEM)
has been appointed Associate Chair and Director of Graduate
Studies of the Department.
Dr. Bernhard Bettig, currently at
UWV Tech and formerly an Assistant Professor at MEEM,
was quoted in the September issue of Mechanical Engineering
Magazine article "Pros and Cons of CAD". It
can be viewed at http://www.memagazine.org/sept06/features/proscons/proscons.html.
Dr. Jason R. Blough, Assistant Professor
(MEEM), coauthored the article "Qualifying a sense
of vibration" along with Justin D. Keske, and Brandon
J. Dilworth that was published in the September 2006
issue of SAE Off Highway Engineering.
* *
Dr. Jaime Camelio, Assistant Professor
(MEEM), has been selected by the Society of Manufacturing
Engineers to receive its SME Kuo K. Wang Outstanding
Young Manufacturing Engineer Award in 2007. The award
is conferred in recognition of significant achievements
and leadership in the field of manufacturing engineering
as a young engineer.
* *
Dr. Peck Cho, Professor (MEEM) is
on a leave of absence at the Seoul National University
of Technology, Seoul, Korea.
Dr. John K. Gershenson, Associate
Professor (MEEM), is on sabbatical leave at the University
of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez
Dr. Mahesh Gupta, Associate Professor
(MEEM) has been appointed to the Board of Directors
of the Extrusion Division of the Society of Plastics
Engineers (SPE).
Dr. L Brad King, Associate Professor
(MEEM) - invention disclosure "Self-regenerating
nanotips for indestructible low-power EP cathodes"
Dr. Donna Michalek, Associate Professor
(MEEM) was appointed Associate Chair and Director of
Undergraduate Studies of the Department.
Dr. Jeffrey Naber, Associate Professor
(MEEM) was interviewed for a Wisconsin Public Radio
story on maximizing your car's gas mileage that aired
July 28, 2006.
Dr. Jeffrey Naber - invention disclosure
- "Combustion knock detection and control through
statistical characterization of knock intensities".
Dr. Amitabh Narain has been elected
a Fellow of ASME. The Fellow grade of membership recognizes
exceptional engineering achievements and contributions
to the engineering profession.
Dr. Gordon Parker, Professor (MEEM)
has been appointed as MEEM Department Director of Research
* *
Dr. Gordon Parker, Professor (MEEM)
- invention disclosure "Rider block tag-line system
addition to inverse kinematic roll cancellation method".
Dr. Mohan D. Rao, Associate Professor
(MEEM) has been named Fellow of ASME, which recognizes
exceptional engineering achievements and contributions
to the engineering profession, and Fellow of SAE which
recognizes significant impact on the society's mobility
technology through research, innovation or creative
leadership.
Dr. Henry A. Sodano, Assistant Professor
(MEEM) along with Daniel J. Inman and Gyuhae Park coauthored
had two articles, Comparison of Piezoelectric Energy
Harvesting Devices for Recharging Batteries and Generation
and Storage of Electricity from Power Harvesting Devices
that were named in the 50 Most Frequently Read Articles
in the Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures
during July 2006.
Dr. John Sutherland, Professor (MEEM)
has been named a Fellow of ASME which recognizes exceptional
engineering achievements and contributions to the engineering
profession.
* *
*Student Competitions and Team Awards*
Heath Nunnemacher and Chris
Coughlin, two mechanical engineering students
at Michigan Tech, were the first-ever all-MTU student
team competing in the 2006 Lake Superior Performance
Rally held Oct. 20-21.
* *
*Student Accomplishments/Awards *
Sam Barros, MEEM undergrad, has been
featured in the TV show "What Is Good for You,"
roughly the Australian equivalent of the American show
"Mythbusters." Read more about that at http://www.admin.mtu.edu/urel/ttoday/previous.php?issue=20060417&id=1572&nav=1#1
Nearly 50 posters were presented by graduate and undergraduate
students at the 2006
Fall Student Research Poster Session at MTU.
Thirteen awards were presented including Visual--first
place, Shreehari Elangovan (MEEM) and
Presentation--first place, Vishesh Kumar
(MEEM). The Student Research Poster Session is a forum
for students, faculty and administrators to learn about
the exciting research happening within different disciplines
at Michigan Tech. The research presented often stimulates
discussion and the generation of new ideas.
Akshay Patil has been awarded The
(TMS) Minerals, Metals & Materials Society/MS&T'
06 MPMD (Materials Processing and Manufacturing Division)
Travel Grant to attend the MS&T 06 Materials Science
& Technology Conference and Exhibition, Cincinnati,
OH, Oct. 15-19, 2006. His advisor is Dr. Ibrahim
Miskioglu
Pavan Valavala, Ph.D. graduate student
in MEEM received three awards. 1) NSF Fellowship - $2000
towards registration fee to attend NSF Summer, Institute
on Nano-mechanics and Materials held at Northwestern
University from July 31 - August 4, 2006. 2) 2006 AIAA
Graduate Award - Open Topic category ($5000) - Award
administered by American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics (AIAA) Foundation and 3) ASCS 2006 - Travel
Grant (approx. $ 1500) - Towards registration, travel,
accommodation etc. to attend the CRYSTAL workshop held
in Spokane, WA from September 17 - 22, 2006. He has
also published an article in the International Journal
of Solids and Structures. Pavan's advisor is Dr. Gregory
M. Odegard.
William W. Predebon, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
Phone No.: 906-487-2551
Fax No.: 906-487-2822
E-mail: wwpredeb@mtu.edu
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