K-State achievements--2005 Engineering

Kansas State University achievements

2005 Engineering

* A mechanical engineering student at K-State has been selected to participate in the annual Society of Automotive Engineers Leadership Development Program. Senior Adam Ewing, Manhattan, is one of only 25 students nationwide selected for this program. The Society of Automotive Engineers Leadership Development Program is a new offering for younger members of the society and is a part of the society's Power Track, a pathway designed to help accelerate participants' careers. Ewing was nominated by David Pacey, professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering and adviser to the K-State chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers. Pacey said he recommended Ewing due to his leadership skills exhibited through involvement in K-State's chapter. Ewing serves as both chapter vice president and as the team leader for K-State's Formula SAE race team. The focus of the leadership program is to further develop important skills as a leader in the society and the mobility industries, and foster relationships between professional and student chapters of the society. December 2005

* Research with biometrics and robotics by a K-State associate professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering could help fight terrorism. Akira Tokuhiro is working to develop robotic arms with biometric capabilities, such as identifying facial expressions. The arm could be used to inspect a suspicious object, such as a suitcase, while the biometric capabilities could monitor the suspect's facial reactions and other factors which could indicate whether they are being cooperative. November 2005

* For the 11th consecutive year, the K-State student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers is a recipient of the national Outstanding Student Chapter Award for the 2004-05 academic year. The award is presented annually to the student chapters that show an exceptional level of participation, enthusiasm, program quality, professionalism and involvement in the university and community. Multiple chapters receive the award annually, but K-State's 11 straight years is the longest current streak. October 2005.

* A team of K-State architectural engineering students earned second place in the 2005 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Student Design Project Competition. K-State's involvement in the competition was the basis of an elective class, ARE 720, taught by Julia Keen and Thomas Logan, both assistant professors of architectural engineering and construction science. August 2005

* An internship turned into a $5,000 Pella Corporation Grant Award scholarship for K-State mechanical engineering student Greg Huschka. He who was one of six interns selected by Pella to receive the scholarship. Selection is based on on accomplishments during their period of employment, demonstrated leadership and personal interviews. August 2005

* Students from K-State's biological and agricultural engineering department earned five top-three awards in student competitions at the International American Society of Agricultural Engineers meeting July 17-20 in Tampa, Fla. K-State students received both the first- and second-place awards in the K.K. Barnes Student Paper Competition. Twelve papers were submitted nationally for the competition, which encourages undergraduate students in the preparation of better technical papers on subjects in the agricultural, food or biological engineering field. The K-State Fountain Wars team placed second in a field of five teams in its competition. Fountain Wars is a hands-on, real-time design competition where students design and model their entry beforehand but build and test the actual entry during the competition. Once completed, each fountain was tested for its ability to efficiently launch a tennis ball the greatest horizontal distance and complete an obstacle course that required three different uses of a jet of water to extinguish a torch, move a full 2-liter soda bottle, and knock over an empty soda can. K-State also had one of three finalists for the Gunlogson Student Environment Design Competition, which encourages undergraduate students to participate in the design of a relevant engineering project and to provide an arena of professional competition for environmentally and biologically related design projects. One K-State graduate student received second place in the Graduate Student Research Award, which recognizes excellence in the conduct and presentation of research to build the knowledge base needed by engineers who design equipment. The K-State Agricultural Technology Management Club received third-pace honors in the Outstanding Agricultural Mechanization Club Competition. The clubs were judged based upon the most outstanding record of activities and accomplishments in the previous year in areas including membership, committees, meetings, attendance, programs, special member activities, inspection trips and publications. July 2005

* Pat Murphy, interim assistant director, extension agricultural and natural resources and professor of biological and agricultural engineering at K-State, was awarded the 2005 American Society of Agricultural Engineers Henry Giese Structures and Environment Award, at the organization's annual meeting, July 20 in Tampa, Fla. The award recognizes Murphy for "distinguished service in advancing the knowledge and science of agricultural structures and environment" and for his many years of outstanding leadership and contributions in the areas of livestock structures and environment design and technology transfer. July 2005

* Mark Schrock, K-State professor of biological and agricultural engineering, was inducted as a fellow at the American Society of Agricultural Engineers Annual Meeting July 19 in Tampa, Fla. The award recognizes Schrock as "an engineer of unusual professional distinction with outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience in the field of agricultural and biological engineering, including being a member of the ASAE for at least 20 years." No more than 0.125 percent of the membership of the organization may be inducted as a fellow in any year. Schrock has advised or co-advised five first-place student teams in the agco national student design competition, and four one-quarter scale student tractor design competition first-place teams. The Kansas State team placed second in the 2005 quarter-scale competition. In addition to teaching and research, Schrock has led a farming operation consisting of more than 2400 acres, which has provided a practical and invaluable learning tool for his classroom. He has authored or co-authored more than 75 journal articles and technical papers concerning agricultural energy, harvesting systems and fertilizer application. He holds a patent for an apparatus that measures mass flow of grain in a harvesting machine. Other awards include K-State College of Engineering Adviser of the Year, K-State Myers-Alford Teaching Award, Kansas Section Member of the Year, American Society of Agricultural Engineers paper award and the Massey-Ferguson educational award. July 2005

*K-State's solar car racing team is competing in the North American Solar Challenge July 17-26. The name of the team's solar car is Paragon. The race stretches from Austing, Texas, to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. July 2005

* Faculty in economics and civil engineering have earned K-State a ninth place ranking in the world in transportation research productivity, according to an article in the Spring 2005 issue of Transportation Journal.

The article, "Affiliation of Authors in Transportation and Logistics Academic Journals: A Reassessment," examined which university's faculty are most productive based on the number of articles published in academic journals which specialize in transportation, logistics, and supply chain management. The authors examined authors' affiliations during the 1999-2004 period of the eight internationally most respected journals in these fields.The authors ranked K-State ninth in the world in transportation research productivity, the first time K-State transportation faculty have achieved a top 10 ranking since the rankings began in the late 1960s. K-State was ranked higher than several highly respected transportation programs including University of California at Berkeley, University of British Columbia, National University of Singapore and Texas A&M University.

Faculty specializing in transportation in the departments of economics and civil engineering contributed equally to K-State receiving the top 10 world ranking. K-State faculty had more articles published in the Journal of the Transportation Research Forum than any other university in the world. July 2005

* K-State and two partners -- the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Yinnel Tech, Inc., of South Bend, Ind. -- have won a 2005 R&D 100 Award for developing a highly efficient, low-cost radiation detector. The detector can be used for homeland security applications, nuclear medical imaging, environmental monitoring and cleanup, galactic events studies, and nuclear-weapons safeguards.

K-State nuclear engineer Douglas McGregor designed the radiation detector, and Brookhaven Lab researchers built the prototype using the semiconductor alloy, a polymer, and metal rings. The small, portable detector, which measures about one-half inch long by one-quarter inch wide, detects both X-rays and gamma rays with high resolution, and it can identify the specific source of radiation. Unlike most detectors of its type, which have to be chilled, this novel detector can be used at room temperature. Also, its performance is highly reliable with minimal maintenance.

R&D Magazine gives R&D 100 Awards annually to the top 100 technological achievements of the year. Typically, these are innovations that transform basic science into useful products. The awards will be presented in Chicago Oct. 20. July 2005

* Two K-State industrial engineering graduate students were selected to participate in the NASA Graduate Student Research Program at the Kennedy Space Center in summer 2005. Nyla Polli, Leavenworth, and Brandon Evans, Rose Hill, will each receive $24,000 as part of the one-year program, with an opportunity for renewal. The students were chosen based on their project proposals, which dealt with expendable launch vehicles operations — rockets, for example. David Ben-Arieh, K-State professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, helped with the project proposals. Polli and Evans worked at the Kennedy Space Center last summer on a project with Ben-Arieh. The program supports approximately 300 graduate students nationwide annually; this year only eight were chosen to work at Kennedy Space Center. NASA's discipline scientists and technologists evaluate applications based on academic transcripts, research proposal, faculty research adviser's recommendation and the proposed utilization of the NASA Center or university research facilities. June 2005

* The K-State Powercat Tractors Team continued its outstanding record by finishing second in the eighth annual American Society of Agricultural Engineers International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition, June 2-5 in Moline, Ill. The K-State team, made up of undergraduates in biological and agricultural engineering and agricultural technology management, is the only team to place in the top three, including four firsts, continuously since 1999. The competition began in 1998. Entries were judged in four areas -- overall quality of design, oral report presentation, written report, and maneuverability and pulling performance. Up against 26 teams from around the country and world, the 14-member K-State team took first in two of the four pulling competitions, second in the written report, third in design ergonomics and sixth in the oral presentation. June 2005

* Chris Weber, Claflin, May 2005 graduate in electrical and computer engineering at K-State, was named one of five finalists for the Alton B. Zerby and Carl T. Koerner Outstanding Electrical or Computer Engineering Student Award issued by Eta Kappa Nu, a national honor society for electrical and computer engineering students. Weber's selection identifies him as one of the five most outstanding electrical engineering students in the nation. Each year, K-State's chapter of Eta Kappa Nu nominates one senior for the award. This marks the second straight year a nominee from K-State has been selected as a national finalist. Weber, president of K-State's Eta Kappa Nu chapter, plans to attend the formal banquet ceremony that will recognize the winner of the award in Los Angeles in fall 2005. Started in 1965, the award recognizes outstanding scholastic excellence and high moral character, coupled with demonstrated exemplary service to classmates, university, community and country. The program is administered by the Los Angeles Area Alumni Chapter. May 2005

* Two seniors in K-State's biological and agricultural engineering program have received national awards from the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. Trisha Culbertson, senior in biological and agricultural engineering, New Strawn, has been awarded the American Society of Agricultural Engineers Student of the Year Award for 2005. This $1,000 honor is given to the outstanding engineering undergraduate student in the United States and Canada. Criteria for the award includes scholarship excellence, outstanding character, personal development, student membership in the American Society of Agricultural Engineers and leadership qualities. She is the fourth K-State winner of the honor in the past seven years. Amy Good, senior in biological and agricultural engineering, Oakley, has been awarded the American Society of Agricultural Engineers Merriam scholarship. This $1,000 award is presented to a student in biological or agricultural engineering with an emphasis in soil and water. She is the third K-State winner in the award's five-year history. Over the past seven years, K-State students have won more than one-third of the national American Society of Agricultural Engineers scholarships. May 2005

* A team of mechanical engineering students from K-State placed third in the 2005 Society of Automotive Engineers' Aero Design West competition. Armed with their new airplane, LoadStar, the team competed against an international field of more than 30 engineering, aviation and technology schools April 22-24 in Fort Worth, Texas. The radio-controlled airplane made of foam, carbon fiber and balsa was required to weigh in at less than 10 pounds. During the flight portion of the competition, LoadStar lifted 21.7 pounds of payload off the ground, made a 360-degree flight pattern and landed. Two other parts of the contest involved a design report book, and an oral presentation. Participating in the event for the fifth time, this year's finish matched a previous best third-place finish in 2003 at Aero Design East. This was the first time the team had competed in Open Class. May 2005

* One current and one recently graduated engineering student from Kansas State University have received National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. The fellowship awards a $30,000 stipend and a $10,500 cost-of-education allowance per year for three years of education, totaling about $120,000 over three years for students pursuing research-based master's or doctoral degrees in an engineering or science discipline. April 2005

* K-State's Steel Bridge Team placed second out of 11 teams at the Mid-Continent Regional Conference of the American Society of Civil Engineers March 31-April 2, in Edwardsville, Ill. By placing second, the team also earned a spot in the national competition for the first time since 2000. Between 40 and 50 steel bridge teams from across the country will compete in the national competition May 27-28, in Orlando, Fla. The K-State Steel Bridge Team's bridge was judged in three categories: weight, construction time and deflection. Deflection measures how much the bridge moves when it is supporting weight. April 2005

* Dustin Schafer, instructor of architectural engineering and construction science at K-State, passed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accreditation Exam, qualifying him as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional through the U.S. Green Building Council. Schafer is the second K-State instructor to receive the accreditation. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professionals are experienced building industry practitioners who, in passing this exam, have demonstrated knowledge of integrated design and the capacity to facilitate green building practices and principles. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards are currently available or under development for new commercial construction and major renovation projects, existing building operations, commercial interior projects, core and shell projects and homes. March 2005

* The Society of Automotive Engineers International has named Dale Schinstock, assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering at K-State, a recipient of the 2005 Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award. He will be officially recognized during the Society of Automotive Engineers AeroTech Congress and Exhibition in Dallas, Texas, Oct. 3- 6. The award annually identifies outstanding engineering educators, offering them an opportunity to become acquainted with professional activities of the automotive and aerospace industries. The program accomplishes this by underwriting the cost of bringing award winners to a Society of Automotive Engineers meeting to participate in industry tours and one-on-one meetings with industry professionals. The award is named after former society president Ralph Teetor, who believed engineering educators were the most effective link between engineering students and their future careers. Schinstock was designated in the aerospace category of the award. February 2005

* Mohammad H. Hosni, professor and department head of mechanical and nuclear engineering at K-State, has been named a Fellow in the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air- Conditioning Engineers. He received the honor Feb. 5 at the organization's 2005 Winter Meeting in Orlando, Fla. He was honored for attaining distinction in the arts relating to the sciences of heating, refrigeration, air conditioning or ventilation. His area of expertise is thermal and fluid sciences, and he has extensive experience in both experimental and computational evaluation of indoor air distribution. Hosni is co-founder and co-director of the Program for Complex Fluid Flows, and co-founder and co-director of the Program for Environmental Air Quality, both at K-State. January 2005

K-State College of Engineering