arizona engineer spring 2007

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Urban Challenge Team includes UA Engineering faculty

Visit our web pages at http://uanews.org/engineering Spring 2007Vol. 30 No. 1

Continued on Page 16

Team Scorpions Urban Challenge vehicle is designed to drive itself through 60 miles of city traf c.

R o b er t H.T ur e s ,R

a y t h e on

University o Arizona engineersare part o a team selected by a Department o De ense agency tobuild a smart vehicle that can driveitsel through 60 miles o city tra c.

Te team, named eam Scorpion, isled by Raytheon Co. and includes Pre-

erred Chassis Fabrication, o ucson;

ucson Embedded Systems; andiRobot, o Burlington, Mass. Te UA engineers are being led by Pro essorLarry Head, o Systems and IndustrialEngineering (SIE), and Pro essor Jerzy Rozenblit, o Electrical and ComputerEngineering (ECE).

eam Scorpion is one o ten teamsto have received $1 million researchgrants rom DARPA (De ense Advanced Research Projects Agency)

to build a vehicle or the Urban Chal-lenge. More than 60 teams competed

or the grants.Te Urban Challenge race will take

place at an undisclosed location inthe western United States on Nov. 3,2007. Te vehicles will be tested onsimulated military supply missions o

60 miles through a mock urban area.Raytheon will provide sensor

technology and Pre erred Chassis willcontribute its rock-crawling Scorpionvehicle, which includes a suite o electronic and digital controls. ucsonEmbedded Systems will build thecomputing plat orm, and iRobot willprovide the perceptual environmentto sense where the vehicle is, whereobstacles are located and where the

other vehicles are.Our piece o the project is smaller,

but very important, said Head,department head in SIE. Researchersin our department will do the tra cbehaviors, and ECE will provide theintelligent systems capability that willintegrate our tra c analysis and all the

sensor in ormation to make the deci-sions on how the vehicle will negotiatethe environment.

When the vehicle drives through acity, it will have to ollow tra c lawsand know how the other vehicles willbehave, Head said. So were going toprovide some mission control logicthat provides the driving knowledge

or controlling the vehicle as it goes

U


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Their future depends on education and our future depends on them

We can all make a difference for students

Using More info

2

Deans Viewpoint: By Tom Peterson

Arizona Engineer is published twiceyearly or alumni and riends o TeUniversity o Arizona College o Engineering.

Editor/Writer: Ed Stiles

Te University o Arizona is anequal opportunity, a rmative actioninstitution. Te University prohibitsdiscrimination in its programs andactivities on the basis o race, color,religion, sex, national origin, age,disability, veteran status, sexualorientation, or gender identity and is committed to maintainingan environment ree rom sexualharassment and retaliation.

Arizona Engineer, Te University o Arizona, College o Engineering, P.O.Box 210072, ucson, AZ 85721-0072E-mail: [email protected]: 520-621-6594

All contents 2007 Arizona Board o Regents. All rights reserved.

ARIZONA

Engineer

Spring 2007 Vol 30 No. 1

U A / R o b e r

t W a l

k e r

At the end o several stories in Arizona Engineer , youll nd a wordor phrase under More in o. You canuse this phrase to search or a longerversion o that story at http://uanews.org/engineering. ype the word orphrase into the Engineering ArticleFinder box at the top le t o the webpage and click on search.

Pro essors in UAs College o Engi-neering, like pro essors across ourcampus, o ten live vicariously throughthe successes o their students.

Tis issue o Arizona Engineer eatures many outstanding engineering

students and alumni whose accom-plishments make us very proud.

Were impressed by their drive andmotivation and their success a tergraduation. And, ortunately or us,they remain both colleagues and li e-

long riends.Outstanding alums

Alums Gary Cropper and Mary Boice Moreton were recognized at the8th annual echnology and Manage-ment Awards Luncheon or theirsubstantial, li elong accomplishments(Page 10).

Students and alums rom theChemical Engineering program also

eature prominently in this issue. Alum Don Pettit, a NASA astro-

naut, recently returned rom searchingor meteorites in Antarctica (Page 20.) Alum Wayne Seames and colleagues

at the University o North Dakota aregrowing jet uel (page 19).

And, undergraduate Devin . Wiley (Page 8) was recently named a Laure-ate by the au Beta Pi engineeringhonor society.

Other UA Engineering students arepursuing a wide variety o activities,including design o ornithopters (Page8), water-related research (Page 7)

and even running rim-to-rim-to-rimthrough Grand Canyon (Page 15).Friends o UA Engineering are

providing generous nancial supportthat unds invaluable programs in thecollege. Many students bene t romscholarships, acilities improvements,mentorship and support provided by these donors.

In the last issue, I mentioned ourund-raising campaign or a new

Materials Research Building. Friends

o the College also are helping us makethat building a reality. I hope every one o you will join us in helping tocomplete this important project.

Our industry friendsIntel and exas Instruments are

among the many companies thatare providing enhanced educationalopportunities or our students.

I recently announced its AnalogDesign Contest, which will award a$2,000 prize on Engineering DesignDay (Page 6), and Intel donated 25new computers or an important lab(Page 5).

IBM, Raytheon, Honeywell and Iprovide vital support to the college inmany ways, and we were delighted tosee alums rom those companies turnout in record numbers or the 2006Engineers Break ast during Home-coming (Page 4).

Nearly every research project inour college involves students. So theproject unding and collaborationprovided by industry not only leadsto important discoveries, but also

urthers our educational mission.

Professors leave a legacyO ten, when our most success-

ul students return to campus, they recount how certain pro essorspro oundly in uenced their lives, andcontributed to their success.

We recently lost two pro essorsemeriti, Don White and Don Dudley, who mentored a great many studentsduring their long careers (Page 18).

White ounded our Chemical Engi-neering Department and Dudley was

an internationally respected expert inthe eld o electromagnetics.

While their passing saddened us all,their legacy will live on through theirstudents and the accomplishments o those students.

Education was something that Pro-essors White and Dudley believed in

and devoted their lives to. Teir work continues to be carried on by thosethey taught and inspired.

While not all o us can help estab-

lish a new department or become world-class researchers, we all canmake a diference in the lives o UAsengineering students.

Its important work and I wouldencourage all our alumni to beinvolved in continuing the legacy le tto us by these aculty members.

Its a privilege to make a real difer-ence in the lives o students and, inturn, the uture o our country.


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Chandra Desai

Desai wins ASCEsKarl Terzaghi Award

M.C. Gill fundsscholarships

College and foundation celebrate Tom Brown Scholarships

3

News Briefs

E d S t i l e s

Board members of the Thomas R. Brown Family Foundation (front row) met with students (back row, with Engineering Dean Tom Peterson) at a luncheon to celebrate the foundations support of students in the College of Engineering and the Eller College of Management.

E d S t i l e s

M.C. Gill has funded scholarships in compositematerials to provide educational opportunitiesfor the best and brightest yet to come.

E d S t i l e s

Students who have received TomasR. Brown Distinguished Scholar-ships met with members o the BrownFamily Foundation or a luncheonat the Arizona Inn to celebrate the

oundations support o students in theCollege o Engineering and Eller Col-lege o Management.

In 2005, the Tomas R. BrownFamily Foundation established a $1million endowment in Engineeringand another $1 million endowmentin the Eller College to und scholar-ships or National Merit Scholars inengineering and or MBA students inthe Eller College.

Te scholarships help both colleges

attract the best and brightest studentsto their programs.Te Brown Scholarships were rst

unded in 2002 and were establishedin perpetuity in 2005 to support omBrowns vision o combining technol-

ogy and business in higher education.

One o om Browns daughters,Sarah Smallhouse, spoke or the oun-dation. In addition, Civil Engineer-ing senior Kara Monson spoke orthe engineering students and PatriciaEwanski spoke or the Eller students.

om Brown was ucsons most suc-

cess ul high-tech entrepreneur. Brownand his riend, Paige Burr, oundedBurr-Brown Research Corp. in 1956.

om Brown died in June 2002.

More info: Tom Brown

Chandra S. Desai, RegentsPro essor in Civil Engineering

and Engineering Mechanics, hasreceived the 2007Karl erzaghi Award romthe AmericanSociety o CivilEngineers Geo-Institute Board o Governors.

Te award rec-ognizes Desai or his outstanding,seminal and sustained contribu-tions in Geotechnical Engineering

and Geomechanics or the develop-ment o constitutive models, testingdevices and computer methods,and their use or solutions o a widerange o practical problems. Tecommittee noted his pioneeringcontributions to the application o numerical methods and constitu-tive modeling to geomechanics.

More info: Desai

Merwyn C. Gill has established theM.C. Gill Scholarship Program to

support graduate students studying inthe area o composite materials.Gill, who is 96, is the chairman o

the board o M.C. Gill Corp. and theonly living pioneer o the compositesindustry.

According to in ormation provided with the scholarships, Mr. Gills com-mitment to the composites industry is stead ast and, with this gi t to theuniversity, he hopes to provide educa-tional opportunities or the best andbrightest yet to come.

Te M.C. Gill Corp. is now the worlds largest manu acturer o composite cargo liners or passengerand reight aircra t. Te company alsomakes aircra t passenger compartment

oor panels.M.C. Gill was a student at the Uni-

versity o Minnesota and graduatedrom USC in 1937 with a bachelors

degree in chemical engineering.om Peterson, dean o the UA

College o Engineering, praised Gill

and his wi e, Hester, or their sel esscommitment to graduate engineering

education.M.C. has ocused his entire li e onactivities, both inside and outside hiscompany, that acilitate ul llment o the American Dream, Peterson said.He is an ardent supporter o the Boy Scouts o America; his alma mater,USC; and, now, to our great bene t,the College o Engineering at UA.It is truly an honor to know both o them and to be the recipients o theirincredible generosity.


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Ernest T. Smerdon

Nearly 700 attend 43rd annual Engineers Breakfast

A bout 680 Engineering alums, aculty and graduatingseniors attended the 43rd annual Engineers Break astduring Homecoming on Nov. 10.

Alums rom the Class o 1956 held their 50th reunionand alums rom other classes attended, dating back to theClass o 1943, which was represented by Civil Engineeringalum Genevieve Morrill.

Raytheon, IBM, exas Instruments and Honeywellbrought more than 300 alumni as they competed or brag-ging rights to the Industry Award, which is given to thecompany that brings the most alums to the event. IBM won the competition this year with 98 in attendance.

UA President Robert Shelton was among those who welcomed alums to the event.

Leigh Cliford, chie executive o cer o the Rio intogroup gave the keynote address. Rio into is a world-widemining company that is composed o 30 businesses. Rio

into is now determining the easibility o developing alarge ore body 1.5 miles underground in Superior, Ariz.

More info: Breakfast

K G UN- 9

OnY o ur

S i d e

Smerdon winsVector de Oro Award

Simulation gives students hands-onexperience in mine rescue techniques

UA students, state mine inspec-tors and re rescue workers staged amine-rescue simulation in October at

UAs San Xavier Underground MiningLaboratory, which is about 30 milessouth o ucson.

Te exercise simulated an accidentthat le t a miner injured in the lowerlevels o an underground mine. Testudents were rom UAs Mine Healthand Sa ety class, which is taught by theMining and Geological EngineeringDepartment.

Students played roles in the exercisesuch as the injured miner, working

partner o the miner, shi t supervisor,sa ety director and mine manager.

Te students prepared the injured

miner or transport out o the mineand moved him to the mine entrance.Once outside, the miner was picked

up by members o the Helmet Peak Fire Rescue squad and transportedto a helicopter pad, where a Li elinehelicopter landed, and the victim was then own to a hospital.

A ter the rescue, members o the Arizona State Mine Inspectors O ceconducted a simulated accident inves-tigation.

News Briefs

E d S t i l e s

Civil Engineering alum Genevieve Morrill (left) represented the oldest class, 1943, at the Engineers Breakfast. Civil Engineering Department Head Juan Valds (right) was among those sitting with Morrill.

C o ur t e s y of E r n e s t T . S m

er d on

Pro essor Emeritus Ernest .Smerdon, ormer dean o UA Engineering, has been named oneo three Vector De Oro (Golden

Vector) award winners.Te award is

presented by theUnion o Pan American Engi-neering Societies(UPADI) and rec-ognizes engineers

or teaching and research that leadsto improvements in engineeringeducation.

Smerdon is an internationally recognized expert on engineeringeducation. He is past president o the American Society o Engineer-ing Education (ASEE), served aspresident o the deans o engineer-ing or ASEE, and headed theNational Academy o Engineeringcommittee on Li elong Learning

or Engineers.

More info: Smerdon

The mine rescue exercise was covered by KGUN-TV. This still photo was taken from that report.


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E d S t i l e s

Engineering DeanTom Peterson(left) and Assistant Engineering Dean for Industrial Relations Ray Umashankar (right)received a commemo-rative plaque from Intel representatives TomLeahy (second fromleft) and Carlos Con-treras. The plaque will hang in the UA Virtual Development Center computer lab to honor Intels contributions tothe lab.

E d S t i l e s

L e oE nf

el d

Mary Poultonhonored by UA BPW

Students bene t from Intel support of computer lab

Tharp is Lockheed Martin Corporate Professor

News Briefs

R epresentatives rom Intel Corp. were on campus in Decemberto present a plaque commemoratingthe companys donation o 25 DellOptiPlex computers and a Dell Lati-tude laptop computer to a key collegecomputer laboratory.

Our Virtual Development Centercomputer lab is very busy, said Ray Umashankar, assistant dean or indus-trial relations and director o UAsMulticultural Engineering Program.Tis donation by Intel is critical toproviding up-to-date equipment or

our students.Te lab also is used or outreach

programs, such as the SummerEngineering Academy (SEA), whichbrings about 150 middle school andhigh school students to campus eachsummer or an engineering camp.TeSEA program also is supported by theIntel Foundation.

We gladly support programs suchas SEA that are critical in creating anengineering pipeline and have demon-strated success in attracting students toengineering, said om Leahy, opera-

tions manager or Intels Assembly est Development Factory.Te lab also will be used in

summer 2007 or the Jump Start pro-gram, which provides math instruc-tion or incoming reshman whoneed additional work in that areabe ore beginning reshman calculus.

Leahy and Carlos Contreras,Intels Arizona education manager,presented the plaque to Umashankarand Engineering Dean om Peterson.

More info: Intel

Mary Poulton, department headin Mining and Geological Engi-neering, has received the Womano Distinction Award rom TeUA Business& Pro essional Women.

Te annualaward is presentedto those who havemade outstanding contributions totheir pro ession.

Te award includes a plaque andrecognition in BPW newslettersstatewide.

UA BPW was ormed about 40years ago to promote an equitable work environment.

More info: Poulton

Mary PoultonHal Tharp

Hal Tarp, assoc. department headin Electrical and Computer Engineer-ing, has been named to the LockheedMartin Corporate Pro essorship.

Tis pro essorship recognizes those who are doingoutstanding work inthe undergraduateprogram, particularly in areas important toLockheed Martin.

Tarp was recog-

nized or his contri-butions to the design component o the curriculum, particularly throughhis work with the ECE design require-ments or Engineering Design Day.

Te appointment is or three years,beginning with the 2006-2007 aca-demic year. Tarp will receive $20,000annually or use in advancing under-graduate education.

Te pro essorship is designed tosupport dedicated aculty advisors who

work closely with industry representa-tives to mentor undergraduates and toteach the design process.

Tese aculty members ensure thatstudents are learning about groundedexamples o design in action, andthat they are building a shared lan-guage or doing design.

Tis kind o pro essorship is par-ticularly important or recruiting andretaining excellent aculty members.

Tose who are named to the pro es-

sorship will be selected rom programsthat are key recruitment areas o interest to Lockheed Martin: OpticalSciences in Engineering, ElectricalEngineering, Systems Engineering,and Aerospace and Mechanical Engi-neering.

Possible uses o the unds includepurchasing equipment or materials

or student design projects, coveringcurriculum development expenses, andsupporting teaching activities.


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Dongsheng Ma

T ex a s I n s t r um

en t s

Dan Albrecht(center) with Ernest Smerdon, professor emeritus and former dean of UA Engineer-ing, and his wife,Joanne Smerdon, at the special showing of Inuit Art in October.

All three are membersof the UA Collegegiving society, the daVinci Circle.

TI Design ContestOffers $2,000 prize to win-ning senior design team

News Briefs

C o ur t e s y of D on s h en gM

a

Ma wins outstanding junior faculty award

Inuit art featured at da Vinci Circle event

Assistant Pro essor Dongsheng(Brian) Ma, o Electrical and Com-puter Engineering, has won the2006 Outstand-ing Junior Faculty award rom UAs Asian AmericanFaculty, Staf, and Alumni Assoc.

Te award isgiven or exem-plary teach-ing, research, scholarship, and/ormeritorious contributions to theuniversity and the community.

Ma holds the prestigious AnalogDevices Corporate Pro essorship inECE and is actively collaboratingon research with Analog Devices,exas Instruments, Ridgetop Group

and other electronics companies.Mas current research involves

analog and mixed-signal integratedcircuit (IC) design, on-chip powermanagement or VLSI systems,microsystem designs or biomedi-cal applications and nano devicesand hop bi urcations and chaoscircuits.

More info: Brian Ma

U A engineering students havea chance to turn their senior

design project ideas into cash duringthe new Analog Design Contest spon-sored by exas Instruments.

Just or entering, student teams getelectronic parts, evaluation boards, apolo shirt, a multimeter and a chanceto win $2,000.

And their senior design projectdoesnt have to be sponsored by I. Allthats needed is a senior project thatuses at least three diferent I analogmicrochips. Te chips can come

rom multiple categories, includingampli ers, clocks, timers, switches,and temperature sensors and are key components o systems that do wire-less communications, data conversion,power management, and other tasks.

Even mostly digital circuits o tenhave a link to the outside world, soits not di cult or most teams to ndsome analog aspect to their project.

Te winning team will be selected atthe Engineering Design Day Com-

petition in May. Te new I award islikely to get lots o attention rom stu-dents because its twice as large as thelargest single prize awarded last year, when total cash awards were $6,500.Te prize money will be split amongthe members o the winning team.

More info: Texas Instruments

B e t

h W e a v e r

Members o the da Vinci Circle, theEngineering College giving society, were treated to a special showing o Inuit prints, drawings and sculpturecollected by alum Daniel Albrecht(Ph.D. Met 64) and his wi e, Martha.

Te exhibit was presented in Octo-ber at the Heard Museum in Phoenix.

Te Albrechts, who co-curated theexhibit, are trustees o the museum.

Te exhibit, entitled Li e in a ColdPlace: Arctic Art rom the AlbrechtCollection, examines the ways artistsportray li e and survival in an Arcticenvironment, including themes o

amily, housing, traditional ways o li e, land and animal li e.

Te event was co-sponsored by theUA College o Fine Arts giving society,the Medici Circle.


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E d S t i l e s

UA President Robert N. Shelton addresses the audience at UA Water Forum 2006.

SustainabilityUA well equipped to lead inwater sustainability efforts

E d S t i l e s

Engineering students win top three poster awards at water forum

7

Water Forum

Creating sustainable water sup-plies doesnt mean living of thegrid, huddled in the cold and dark,UA President Robert N. Shelton toldthose attending the UA Water Forumin November.

We can seek sustainability in waysthat maintain and even enhance ourown quality o li e, that allow oureconomy to prosper and our culture to

ourish, he said.Not only is this the necessary thing

to do, its the right thing to do, Shel-ton said. He called it inter-genera-tional social justice.

We simply have no right to squan-der resources in a way that impover-ishes our children and grandchildren,he added.

Sheltons talk concluded the waterorum, which brought together UA aculty and students to share the

results o their water-related research.UA is uniquely equipped to lead

eforts toward creating sustainable water supplies, Shelton said.

No other university in the country,perhaps the world, is as well endowedto take on this leadership role, hesaid.

UA has: 28 degree programs and concen-

trations in water-related elds 9 water-related centers and

institutes

10 eld sites, labs and otherresearch acilities

300 pro essionals involved in water research, education, andoutreach.

He noted that perhaps the mostimportant contribution UA makes tosustainability is in educating the nextgeneration o water pro essionals.

More info: Water Sustainability

UA President Robert Shelton with the winnersof the Water Sustain-ability Program Student

Poster Competition. Atotal of 22 student post-ers were displayed at the water forum, whichfocused on Tools for Water Sustainability and featured presenta-tions by faculty fromseveral departmentsas well as a keynoteaddress by UA Presi-dent Robert Sheltonon UAs role in creating sustainable water supplies.

Four Engineering College mastersstudents won all three awards in the Water Sustainability Program StudentPoster Competition at UAs WaterForum 2006.

Te orum ocused on ools andechnology or Water Sustainability.

UA President Robert Shelton pre-sented the awards to the winners.

A total or 22 student posters weredisplayed at the water orum.

Te award winners are: 1st Prize $200 Jacqueline Shaw Sahar FathordoobadiChemical and Environmental

Engineering Department 2nd Prize $100

Deirdre BrosnihanHydrology and Water Resources

Department 3rd place $50Monserrat Chairez-LlamasChemical and Environmental Engi-

neering Department.

More info: Water Forum


8/20

This radio-controlledornithopter , about thesize of a hummingbird,can stay aloft for threeminutes. It took rst

place at the 10th Inter-national MAV Competi-tion in Provo, Utah.

UAs Micro Air Vehi-cle Team also demon-strated the worlds most compact MAV during the competition. It foldsdown into a matchbox-sized container that isless than half an inchtall and two inches ona side.

Worlds tiniest ornithopter a big winner

E d S t i l e s

M a t

t B r a

i l e y

Wiley named TauBeta Pi Laureate

Students

U As Micro Air Vehicle (MAV)eam placed second overall inthe 10th International MAV Competi-tion in Provo, Utah. Te team alsotook rst place in the ornithopter por-tion o the competition or the thirdyear in a row.

Ornithopters are mechanical birdsthat use apping wings or li t andpropulsion. UAs winning design,

which has a wingspan o less than sixinches, can stay alo t or more than

three minutes in calm weather. It isthe worlds smallest radio-controlledornithopter.

Te UA team also demonstrated the worlds most compact MAV, which

olds down into a matchbox-sizedcontainer that is less than hal an inchtall and two inches on a side.

MAVs are tiny, radio-controlledairplanes that are o ten equipped with

video cameras. Teyre designed orreconnaissance and can be used in

search-and-rescue, law en orcement,military surveillance, or any situationtoo dangerous or time consuming ora human observer.

Aerospace Engineering graduatestudent Bill Silin, who heads the orni-thopter team, said UA students did alot o wind tunnel testing to deter-mine the best design parameters.

Another thing that helped withminiaturizing is that there has been alot o progress in microelectronics,Silin said.

Te sub-six-inch ornithopter usescarbon- ber struts and Mylar-covered wings. It has a three-channel radiosystem and control-sur ace actuatorsthat employ tiny electromagnetic coilsto move the sur aces instead o push-

rods and servos.Te ornithopter is powered by a miniature pager motor that wasdesigned to create the vibrating alertsystem in pagers.

We are now working very hardtoward this next competition, where we plan to demonstrate some interest-ing, new technology, said Aerospaceand Mechanical Engineering pro essorSergey Shkarayev, who directs MAV research at UA and is the MAV teamsadvisor.

More info: Ornithopter

Chemical Engineering senior Devin. Wiley, has been named a Laureate

by the au Beta Pi engineering honorsociety.

He joins 58 other members o the

honor society who have been namedLaureates since 1982. Wiley was theonly person selected to receive theaward in 2006.

Te au Beta Pi Laureate Programrecognizes up to ve au Beta Pi stu-dent members annually who also excelin areas outside their technical majorsand comes with a $2,500 cash awardand a commemorative plaque.

In addition to his outstanding scho-lastic record, Wiley is being recognized

or his accomplishments as a pianist,as well as his achievements in athleticsand service to the community.

He won the ucson Symphony Young Artists Competition in 2006.

He also has organized and per-ormed in our bene t concerts and

been involved in numerous other

public service projects.He also competes in triathlons,

quali ed or nationals in intercolle-giate intramural table tennis and plansto earn both a Ph.D. in engineeringand an M.D. degree.

More info: Wiley

Devin T. Wiley audi-tioned to qualify for a piano performanceminor when he cameto UA. After hearing his audition, the faculty were so impressed that they placed him onthe piano performancemajor track. Their judg-ment proved correct.That fall, he competed against upperclassmenand doctoral studentsand won the grand

prize in the University of Arizona PresidentsCompetition.


9/20

Bringing High De nitionRadio to the masses

This Texas Instruments microchip includes the complete circuitry needed to tune in and separate digital and analog radio signals. It is theheart of many of the current generation of high de nition radio receivers.

T ex a s I n s t r um

en t s i l l u s t r a t i on

Poirier Wins Bruce Chalmers Award from TMS

9

Research

David Poirier

C o ur t e s y of D av i d P

oi r i er

wo UA researchers are working with exas Instrumentsto make High De nition Radio portable and low cost.

Many AM and FM stations already are broadcasting inHD radio, which will pack 2 or 3 channels into the spacenow occupied by a single radio station and will bring FMquality to AM and near CD quality to FM.

Current HD radio receivers are expensive desktop modelsor ound in high-end luxury automobiles.

Te UA researchers and I hope to bring HD signals toiPods and other portable devices at low cost and in a bat-tery- riendly package.

HD radio will revolutionize radio broadcasting, says Assistant Pro essor Dongsheng (Brian) Ma, o UAs Electri-cal and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department. Itsnot like conventional radio, he said. Its a whole enter-

tainment package. Youll be able to listen to the radio pro-gram, download a biography o the artist, hear an interview with them and have access to other eatures.

HD Radio on a ChipMa and ECE Ph.D. student Inshad Chowdhury are

working with I to develop the worlds rst HD radio ona single microchip, one thats small enough to slip into aniPod and uses little battery power while maintaining thelow-noise, high quality signals o HD radio.

Te UA team is working on whats called the radios ront end. Tats everything rom the antenna connectionup to the digital signal processor (DSP), which is ollowedby an audio ampli er.

Tis is very pioneering, very challenging work, Masaid. Our design has to be low-power, low-cost, low-noiseand with enhanced sound quality.

System Integration is the Big Challenge

Te big challenge is large-system integration because we have to address the noise problem, Chowdhury added.By its very nature, DSP is very noisy, but analog is very sensitive to noise. So we have to combine the DSP and theanalog signal processing on the same chip without the DSPnoise compromising the analog per ormance.

Currently Ma and Chowdhury are designing a low-noiseampli er to increase the strength o radio signals receivedby the antenna and an automatic gain control (AGC) thatprevents power ul signals rom overloading the receiver

ront end.Te payof could be big, both or consumers and I.

Current receivers are desk-top-size units in the $300 to$500 range or similarly costly automobile receivers. I theresearchers and I can produce an inexpensive receiver on achip, it will open up a huge market or HD radio.

Materials Science and EngineeringPro essor David Poirier has won the2007 Bruce Chalmers Award rom theMinerals, Metals & Materials Society ( MS).

Te award is presented to individu-

als who have made outstanding contri-butions to solidi cation science, whichinvolves the physics and technology surrounding the transition o matter

rom liquid to solid. Freezing water tomake ice cubes is an everyday exampleo solidi cation. Care ully controllinghow this change occurs can dra-matically in uence the properties and,hence, per ormance o the solidi edsubstance.

Poirier was honored or his contri-

butions both to the technology andundamental science o solidi cation,

including his scholarly writings andhis seminal textbook, which has set thestandard or others in the eld.

Poirier has been involved in research

pertaining to solidi cation processingo alloys or more than 30 years.He has written more than 120

research papers and is the author o two textbooks, ransport Phenomenain Metallurgy (1974) and ransport Phenomena in Materials Processing (1994), and o a primer or castingengineers,Fundamentals for Metal Casting (1994).

His current research is ocused ondeveloping predictors or simulations

that are used by the casting industry;enhancing microstructure and atigueproperties o lightweight casting alloys;and determining the efects o thermaland convective conditions on den-dritic solidi cation o alloys in ingotsand castings.

More info: Poirier


10/20

E d

S t i l e s

TMAL factsThe annual Technology &

Management Awards

Luncheon (TMAL) honors

individuals who have made

signifcant contributions to

the economic development of

Arizona and the nation.

TMAL also highlights the

partnership between

business and engineering at

The University of Arizona.

Close collaboration between

the disciplines is important at

both the university and

corporate levels for the United

States to remain competitive in

todays global marketplace.

10

TMAL

Eighth annual TMAL celebratesengineering, business collaboration

The award winners and representatives from The University of Arizona at TMAL included (from left) Tom Peterson , dean of the College of Engineering;James F. Muzzy managing director and head of U.S. marketing for PIMCO; Donald L. Paul chief technology of cer for Chevron Corp.; Mary Moreton senior vice president and corporate manager of human resources at Bechtel Corp.; UA President Robert Shelton ; Paul Portney , dean of the Eller Col-lege of Management; Gary Cropper owner and operator of Cropper Auto Group; and David J. Gemelli is president and CEO of Gem Gravure

As 8th annual echnology &Management Awards Luncheon

( MAL) honored ve people who

have made signi cant contributions tothe economic well-being o the nation.Tey received the MAL awards

and spoke to an audience o businessmen and women, aculty, studentsand administrators in October at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa inPhoenix.

We operate in an increasingly global environment today, an envi-ronment in which to compete andsucceed corporations and universi-ties simply have to work together to

accelerate the rate o innovation, PaulPortney, dean o the Eller College,told the audience during his openingremarks.

Its our responsibility to prepareour students with a broader set o skills to meet these challenges. Wehave to give engineers the businessskills to commercialize technology and we have to give business studentsthe analytical skills to understand andapply that technology, as well. Its in

this context that the great partnership was ormed between our two colleges,Portney said.

Te colleges collaborate on severalprograms including: Te Center or echnology, Public

Policy and Markets, which is sup-ported by the Salt River Project.

Te McGuire Center or Entrepre-neurship

Te Tomas R. Brown Distin-guished Scholarships program, whichsupports undergraduate engineeringstudents and Eller MBA students who show an interest in studying atthe intersection o engineering and

business. Te endowment program undedby Arizona Public Service to advancecollaborative educational eforts by thetwo colleges.

om Peterson, Dean o Engineer-ing, noted that since its beginning in1999, MAL has honored alums andexecutives who have made substantialcontributions to managing technology in a wide range o industries, includ-ing aerospace, automotive, micro-


11/20

E d S t i l e s

TMAL History

11

TMAL

Part of the crowd at the 8th annual Technology & Management Awards Luncheon.

Past winners of the Technol-ogy & Management Executiveof the Year Award include:

1999 Craig BarrettPresident and CEO Intel

Corp.2000 Michael R.

Bonsignore Chairman andCEO Honeywell International

2001 Tom Brown Founder & Chairman Emeritus Burr-Brown Corp.

2002 Louise FrancesconiPresident Raytheon MissileSystems, Vice PresidentRaytheon Co.

2003 Nicholas M. Donofrio

Senior Vice PresidentTechnology & ManufacturingIBM Corp.

2004 Vance D. CoffmanCEO & chairman of theboard Lockheed MartinCorp.

2005 J. Steven Whisler CEO & chairman of PhelpsDodge Corp.

electronics, engineering construction,investment banking, de ense, andmining.

Te 2006 award winners are: Technology Executive of the

Year Donald L. Paul As Chevron Corp.s chie technol-

ogy o cer, Donald L. Paul is respon-sible or Chevrons three technology companies, Chevron Energy echnol-ogy, Chevron In ormation echnology and Chevron echnology Ventures.

Paul leads the companys eforts toinvest R&D dollars in clean energy technologies, such as hydrogen uelcell processing and storage, uel cellsand advanced batteries. He also isinvolved in Chevrons energy e ciency eforts.

Lifetime Achievement Award,Engineering Gary Cropper Gary Cropper is the owner and

operator o Cropper Auto Group, which has dealerships in Casa Grandeand Nogales, Ariz. He graduated witha degree in mechanical engineeringand was co-captain o the UA ootballteam in 1960.

A ter Cropper graduated rom UA,he worked or a number o engineer-ing companies until 1971 when hisclassmate, ellow mechanical engineer

and SAE raternity brother, CraigBerge, convinced Cropper to joinBerge Ford in Mesa. In 1982 he

ormed Cropper Automotive Group.

Lifetime Achievement Award,Eller College James F. Muzzy

James F. Muzzy is the managingdirector and head o U.S. marketing

or PIMCO, a global bond manage-ment rm.

PIMCO has been in the ore ronto its industry as a xed-income undand now has $645 million undermanagement.

Distinguished Service Award,Engineering Mary Moreton

Mary Moreton is senior vice presi-dent and corporate manager o humanresources at Bechtel Corp. Moreton, athird generation Arizonan rom Globe, Ariz., graduated rom UA with a bach-elors degree in systems engineeringin 1974. She has more than 30 yearso technical and leadership experience

around the globe in Bechtels engineer-ing and construction business sectors,including nuclear and ossil power,mining, and oil and gas.

She also serves on the UA Collegeo Engineering Industry Advisory Council.

Distinguished Service Award,Eller College David J. Gemelli

David J. Gemelli is president andCEO o Gem Gravure, a leader in the wire and cable manu acturing, pro-cessing, and ber optics industries.

Gemelli graduated rom the EllerCollege in 1972 with an MBA degreeand worked or Polaroid Corp. Healso served as a captain in the U.S.

Army eld artillery be ore joiningGem Gravure in 1976.

Gem Gravure has received numer-ous awards or its ink jet printingtechnologies and received a specialaward rom Lucent echnologies ordeveloping a patented water-based ink that is environmentally benign.

TMAL SponsorsMAL was sponsored by Salter

Labs; APS; Fluor Corp.; Gem Gra-vure; Mattel, Inc.; Phelps Dodge;Raytheon Co.; Rodel Foundation; andVestar Development.

More info: TMAL


12/20

Microchip manu acturers haveinvested millions in high-per or-mance modeling and simulationso tware and they need the mostaccurate data they can get on mate-rials when they are designing thenext generation o microchips.

Tis makes the work being donein UAs Center or Electronic Pack-aging Research vitally important tomany microelectronics companies.

As a result, much o the centers work is unded by the Semiconduc-

tor Research Corp., which managesa program o university research orits member companies.

Te SRC companies want theability to develop their own pack-aging materials or to work withspecial vendors to develop custommaterials or their applications,Melde said. Te techniques weredeveloping to characterize thesematerials will help them do that.

This Automatic RF (radio frequency) Match Control (AMC) was used witha test antenna designed for 5 gigahertz by Associate Professor KathleenMelde and Masters student Richard B. Whatley. The antenna, equipped with this AMC, could be tuned to transmit ef ciently between 1 and 10 gigahertz, with minimal loss in signal strength.

System always nds goodmatch for radios, antennas

Lab develops basicdata on microchips SRC funds

packaging lab

12

Research

K a t h l e enM

el d e

Kathleen Melde, an associate pro es-

sor in Electrical and Computer Engi-neering, is characterizing the materialsused or packaging electronic circuits,trying to nd the most accurate valuesto plug into simulation so tware.

She and her students are study-ing state-o -the-art, microwave-gradematerials in UAs Center or ElectronicPackaging Research.

Tese new materials will run wherealmost no electronics has gone be ore in the rare ed region where clock speeds scream above 5 gigahertz.

Engineers need to know the charac-teristics o these materials because elec-tronic materials can induce harmonicsdue to the physical layout o the chip, which will disrupt its operation.

At these extremely high requen-cies, the way samples are made andmeasurements are taken can in uencethe results.

So we have to care ully go throughthe procedures to be sure weve ruledout any possible physical efects that

could show up in the data rom aabrication mistake or a measurement

mistake, Melde said. Tis is urthercomplicated because there are ew other measurements or comparison.Most o the material characterization work we are aware o stops at about 20gigahertz, she explained.

More info: CEPR

State-of-the-art microchip packaging materialsare tested on this on-wafer probe station in UAsCenter for Electronic Packaging Research.

K a t h l e enM

el d e

So tware-De ned Radio (SDR) hasproduced new levels o per or-mance and exibility in cell phones,satellite radio, and law-en orcementand military communications.

By replacing or modi ying theradios so tware, manu acturers canimmediately take advantage o thelatest technologies without retoolingor replacing hardware.

Tis results in huge cost savings andradically shortens the time to market.

Now a University o Arizona pro es-sor and her graduate students havetaken this communications revolution

one step arther with a device thatallows SDR rigs to e ciently coveran extremely wide range o operating

requencies.Electrical and Computer Engineer-

ing Associate Pro essor Kathleen L.Melde and masters student Richard

B. Whatley (whohas since gradu-ated) have applied

or a patent onan Automatic RF(radio requency)Match Control(AMC) that makesantennas e cientover a wide rangeo requencies.

In lab tests soar, a test antenna

designed or 5gigahertz and

equipped with an AMC can be tunedto transmit e ciently between 1 and10 gigahertz, with minimal loss insignal strength.

Te AMC actually senses the mis-match between the radio and antennaand automatically compensates or it,

using a system o varactor diodes andtuning stubs.Tis project could really revolu-

tionize RF ront ends in cell phonesand other radios, Melde said.

More info: Antenna


13/20

Building con dence,changing lives

Combining the best of industryand academia in classroom and lab

13

Faculty

Undergrads and K-12 teachersthrive on research trips to Thailand

It gives them con dence, saidPro . Supapan Seraphin, re erringto the summer students who study in Tailand. When they comeback to America, they have a new perspective on their lives here.

Among other things, the stu-dents discover whether they enjoy research work. Te program is abig actor in helping them decideon the next step in their career.

Seraphin also hopes the interna-tional experience will help studentsbalance their careers. I hope they dont go a ter just the big salary, thebig house, and lose all the relation-ships and spiritual aspects o li e.

Involvement in the REU andRE programs helps Seraphinachieve that balance in her own li e.Rather than con ning her work to research, teaching and gradu-ate students, Seraphin has takenon the NSF outreach work so shecan share her expertise with thoseoutside the traditional boundarieso academic research.

UAs REU/RET students and teachers posed for a group photo when they arrived in Thailand.

Each summer Pro essor Supapan

Seraphin takes students and K-12teachers to Tailand to study at KingMongkuts University o echnology.

Te trips are unded by part o a $1million National Science FoundationREU/RE grant that Seraphin andResearch Specialist Gary Chandler won ve years ago. Both are rom UAsMaterials Science and Engineering(MSE) Department.

Te NSF grant allowed them toextend the eforts theyve been making

or the past 15 years to bring under-

graduates and K-12 teachers intoMSEs research labs.Tey believe that exciting teachers

about science will in orm their teach-ing and, in turn, excite their students.

Seraphin and Chandler also haveemployed undergraduates in MSE labsand on research projects to encouragethem to become the next generation o graduate students.

More info: Seraphin

P h o t o

C o ur t e s y of S u p a p an S er a ph i n

2 0 0 i S

t o c k I n t er n a t i on al I n c .A l l r i gh t s r e s er v e d

Intelligent tra c systems are interac-tive. Tey collect real-time data onvehicle tra c ow and use that data

to time signal lights to move vehiclesmore e ciently and sa ely.Larry Head, interim department

head o UAs Systems and IndustrialEngineering Department, workedon tra c systems research as an SIE

aculty member until he le t the uni-versity in 1994 to become a partnerin and Senior Vice President o R&Dat Gardner ransportation Systems, which was eventually acquired by Siemens I S o Germany.

Head spent an additional three years

with Siemens I S be ore returning toUA.

Hes now applying much o whathe learned in industry, which issigni cantly in uencing his approach

to research and toteaching.

I try to relay

my experiences tothe students withpractical examplesand rational oun-dations or why some o the ideasare so important,he said.

Head says his industry experi-ence also helps in understanding thebig diference between ideal systemsdesigned in a university and whatcan be implemented on the street in

terms o complexity and cost. Having worked with those limitations rst-hand helps him nd solutions that willimplement most o the desired unc-tions at a raction o the cost.

While he continues his work ontra c systems, Head also is movinginto new areas that concentrate onintegrating vehicles and tra c controlsystems.

One o these is a smart car that

could drive itsel through city tra c. Another, which is related, is directly integrating cars with the tra c system.

More info: Smart Traf c


14/20

Digital CinemaUA prof plays key role informing Hollywood standard

E d S t i l e s

E d S t i l e s

How JPEG 2000 works

Prof. Barry Ganapol named 2006 da Vinci Fellow

1

Research Te single most important

concept in JPEG 2000 is that itsdesigned to give you only whatyou can use in the shortest possibletime.

I you go to a web site, orinstance, and want to look at a stillphoto, JPEG 2000 will nd out i the image is larger than your com-puter screen. I it is, it wont sendyou the huge le. Instead, it willsend you a smaller version that just

ts on your screen. Tis will reducedownload time while maintainingthe image quality that your com-puter is capable o displaying.

I you decide you want to zoomin on part o the image, JPEG 2000 will give you that enlarged area insharp detail, but only that area. Again, you dont have to downloadthe entire image.

It works similarly with yourprinter, sensing whether its coloror black-and-white and what imagequality it can produce. Ten itsends only the data suitable oryour system.

JPEG2000 works just as well or

movies.

JPEG2000, a just enoughmethod or compressing and display-ing digital images, will revolutionizethe quality and distribution o majormotion pictures.

Pro essor Michael Marcellin and hisstudents in UAs Electrical and Com-puter Engineering (ECE) Departmentdid a lot o the development work on JPEG2000. One o the biggest con-tributors was Ali Bilgin, a ormer gradstudent o Marcellins, who is now aresearch assistant pro essor in ECE.

Tey worked closely with David

aubman rom the University o New South Wales, who probably is the number one contributor o ideas to what eventually becamethe JPEG2000 standard. aubmanand Marcellin have co-authored JPEG2000: Image Compression Funda-mentals, Standards, and Practice , whichhas become the de nitive re erencebook on the subject.

In addition, Marcellin has workedas a consultant with Digital CinemaInitiatives (DCI), a consortium o

seven major motion picture studios, todevelop the new standards or digitalcinema.

Digital movies provide theatergoers with movies that are betterthan theyve ever seen be ore. Digital

movies will be sharper, with greaterdynamic range and more vibrantcolors than those on lm.

Also, you can play back the movie700 times and on the 700th time it will look every bit as good as the rsttime, Marcellin said.

Finally, piracy will become moredi cult. With reels o lm, it takes along time to make copies and dis-tribute them. So movies typically arerolled out in phases. With digital, themovie can be distributed everywhereat the same time, Marcellin said. Tis will drastically reduce the value o low-quality pirated versions.

5,000 theaters are expected to havedigital projection capability in 2008and all the major chains will be com-

pletely converted by 2009, Marcellinsaid.

More info: Digital Cinema

Barry Ganapol

Pro . Barry Ganapol, o Aerospaceand Mechanical Engineering, has beennamed the 2006 da Vinci Fellow.

Te ellowship is sponsored by theEngineering College giving society, theda Vinci Circle. Fellows are selected

or their distinguished and sustainedrecords in teaching, research andservice, and special emphasis is placedon substantial and continued contri-butions.

A new ellow is named each yearand each ellowship runs or two years.Te ellows receive $10,000 over thetwo-year span o their ellowship.

Ganapol hasdeveloped a math-ematical theory that

provides straight-orward solutionsin one dimensionto the difusionequation simulatingneutron motion in aheterogeneous critical nuclear reactorcore. Tis solution can serve as thebasis or solutions in multiple dimen-sional geometry hereto ore unknownand has value as a design tool and inteaching nuclear engineering, math-

ematics and numerical simulation.o expand his theory and present it

to colleagues, Ganapol will be using

some o his da Vinci Fellowship tound travel to nuclear engineeringdepartments and national laboratoriesaround the world. He will be deliver-ing lectures and short courses on thisnew concept to both colleagues andstudents.

Te ellowships are only one part o the da Vinci Circle program, whichbene ts engineering aculty and stu-dents while engaging patrons directly in the discovery process.


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42 miles, 20K feet, 14 hours

Canyon Men Pete Littlehat (middle),Dave Byrnes (right)and Ben Yates stopfor a snack and a

photo above Roaring Springs on their way to the North Rim of Grand Canyon. Littlehat already is planning thenext rim-to-rim-to-rimrun. He gures he canshave off another 2 hours and complete thedistance in 12 hoursnext time around.

Profs MEMS research covers big area in tiny world

1

Research

This micro-machined pixel for a tactile display was created as part of Eniko Enikovs research on virtual 3-D displays.

A ssoc. Pro . Eniko . Enikov,o Aerospace and MechanicalEngineering, is one o the leaders inMEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical

Systems) research at UA.Since coming to UA in 2000, hehas initiated several research efortsin MEMS and nano-devices, whichare two or three magnitudes smallerthan MEMS devices. MEMS devicesinclude components that are about 10to 20 microns in size.

MEMS research is inherently mul-tidisciplinary and Enikov is working with researchers in many areas, such as Agricultural and Biosystems Engi-neering, the Department o Surgery,

Civil Engineering, Materials Scienceand Engineering, Biochemistry, the Arizona Cancer Center, and ChemicalEngineering.

His research projects include: Micro-Assembly echniques

Enikov has been working withelectrostatic manipulators that dependon static electricity to hold pieces inplace. Enikov also has looked at thesemethods or assembling molecules.Te parts are moved with a guidancesystem based on a microscope andvideo camera linked to a computer.

Low- empera-ture Bonding andMetal/OrganicNano Glues

Once MEMscomponents arepositioned, they need to be heldin place. Enikov is exploring twomethods or solidly

astening themdown.

Cell Detec-tion Tisinvolves growinge-coli bacteria

on microchips,measuring theirelectrical propertiesand using observed changes in thoseproperties to detect the presence o viruses.

Termal Micro-Actuators Tisproject aims to develop low-costmetal actuators on both traditionalsilicon substrates and non-traditional

ex-PCB substrates. Te actuatorscan be used in micro-relays, miniaturemedical instrumentation, and tunableimpedance RF networks.

Virtual 3-D Displays Tis tech-nology would allow visually impairedpeople to browse a web site and touchobjects that dont exist in solid orm. Where others can see a geometricshape or the structure o a DNA mol-ecule on their screen, or instance, avisually impaired person could use thistechnology to touch the objects.

More info: MEMS

P h o t o

C o ur t e s y of E ni k oT .E ni k ov

in UAs Civil Engineering Building.He said care ul planning is vital to

avoiding training injuries and to beingprepared or running in temperaturesthat can vary by 50 degrees and atelevations ranging rom about 3,000to 9,000 eet.

More info: Runners

tioned and accustomed to runninglong distances in extreme terrain. Evena day hike to the river and back romthe south rim is beyond the ability o all but the strongest hikers.

Te trio began seriously training orthe run three months earlier. Littlehatdevised a scienti c day-by-day trainingschedule that is taped above his desk

On October 28, two UA Engineer-ing graduate students and a riend ran

rom the south rim o Grand Canyonto the north rim and then turnedaround and ran back to the south rim.

Tats about 42 miles and 20,000

eet o elevation change. Te eleva-tion gure counts descents as wellas ascents because negotiating thecanyons steep descents is taxing.

Environmental Engineering gradu-ate students Dave Byrnes and PeteLittlehat and their riend, Ben Yates,did it in 14 hours, shaving 2 hours of the their rst efort on April 8, 2006.

Tis isnt something you decide todo on a whim. It can be dangerous

or anyone who isnt superbly condi-

C o u r t e s y o f

P e t e

L i t t l e h a t


16/20

Scorpion

1

Research

through the city.

Te challenge is to build anunmanned, robotic vehicle that candrive itsel sa ely in an urban environ-ment. Researchers are not allowed tosend signals to the vehicle or to in any way in uence its progress once its onthe road.

Te driverless vehicle will have tomerge into moving tra c, navigatetra c circles, negotiate busy intersec-tions, and avoid a variety o obstacles,including other moving vehicles in a

Continued from Page 1

mock urban setting. Te city will bedesigned to include the types o city streets on which military supply mis-sions are conducted.

Just 24 hours be ore the UrbanChallenge race, teams will receive adescription o the citys street network.Ten ve minutes be ore the race, theteams will be given a set o waypointsthat the vehicle must visit. eams willhave six hours to drive 60 miles.

Tey may block roads, and theyregoing to have all kinds o obstacles setup, Head noted.

Te top three teams that completethe 60-mile course in less than six

hours will receive trophies. op prize will go to the team that drives thecourse in the astest time.

Congress and the Department o

De ense are sponsoring the competi-tion to stimulate research on autono-mous vehicles that can be sent intosituations that present a high risk tosoldiers or security personnel. Tesevehicles could be used in military andhomeland security applications, as well as in a variety o industrial andcommercial environments, such ashigh-risk construction and demolition.

More info: Scorpion

This schematic diagram shows the basic setup for Chemical Mechanical Planarization technology.

he demand or more capableelectronic devices requires ever-

smaller, more-complex microchips also known as (ICs).

ICs are becoming tiny skyscrapers,explained Ara Philipossian, a pro es-sor o Chemical and EnvironmentalEngineering who holds the KoshiyamaPro essorship in Planarization at UA.As we shrink the ootprint to makesmaller chips, while demanding more

unctionality, there is only one way togo, and thats up.

odays skyscraper ICs have eight ormore layers o circuitry piled on top o one another, he noted. Tis is expectedto grow by three or more layers withinthe next ve years.

A ter each layer is abricated, itssur ace must be polished per ectly atso the next layer can be built on top o it. Engineers call this planarizing. Itmakes todays ICs possible, and it canbe achieved only through ChemicalMechanical Planarization (CMP).

In CMP, a silicon wa er that con-tains the circuitry or hundreds o ICsis pressed against a rotating polishingpad. A slurry o abrasives and oxidiz-ing chemicals is introduced betweenthe pad and wa er to aid in removingmaterial and attening the sur ace.

In addition to the pad and slurry,

Wafer polishingConserving resourcesand improving productionin microchip fabs

CMP also employs a rotating diamonddisc to resur ace the polishing pad.

Many interdependent actors in u-ence the planarization rate and wearon the polishing components.

Philipossian is studying the compo-sition o the sur aces, the chemical andmechanical interactions o the sur acesand the slurry, sur ace temperaturesand pressures, and how to combinethese actors to make the process ase cient as possible. Te goal is toreduce wear, machinery downtime andthe use o expensive and di cult-to-produce polishing materials that aresometimes di cult to dispose o .

o extend the li e o parts and tominimize shutdowns, were tryingto understand the actors that cause

wear, Philipossian said. We can thenunderstand what materials to use andnot to use, what pressures to avoid,and what sliding velocities and slurry-

ow rates to promote to make surethat parts are worn at a low rate, whilenot compromising wa er quality.

Its also vital to determine theinstant when the wa er sur ace is at.In most cases, over-polishing gainsyou nothing, but you lose a lot o consumables you could have saved,Philipossian said. Sometimes toomuch over-polishing actually is coun-terproductive because so ter materialsmay be gouged out, leading to a non-planar sur ace.

More info: CMP

C o ur t e s y of A r aP h i l i p o s s i an


17/20

UA alums Lindy Cot and om Owen have establishedthe Lindy Scholarship in UAs Electrical and ComputerEngineering Department.

Cot earned a bachelors degree in EE in 2001 and Owenreceived a BA in economics in 74, a bachelors in EE in 78,and an MBA in 82.

Scholarship receipients must be ull-time students in their junior or senior year pursing a degree in electrical engineer-ing. Recipients must have and maintain a 3.0 GPA. Te$2,000 scholarship is renewable or a maximum o twoyears. Pre erence will be given to U.S. citizens and to those with nancial need.

ASCE scholarship

The Lindy Scholarship

Maricopa Alumni Breakfast

he Arizona Society o Civil Engi-neers (AZSCE) has established an

undergraduate scholarship to com-memorate the 100th anniversary o UAs Civil Engineering Department.

Te scholarship will be awarded toundergraduate students in the CivilEngineering and Engineering Mechan-ics (CEEM) Department who areactively participating in the UA stu-dent chapter o the American Society o Civil Engineers (SCE).

Te number and amount o thescholarships will vary. But the inten-tion is to award a total o $2,500 inscholarship support each academic year.

Recipients will be selected by AZSCE, the CEEM department headand at least one practitioner advisorto SCE.

17

Philanthropy

Juan Valds (left), department head in UA Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics of cially accepted the Arizona Society of Civil Engineers Scholarship from AZSCE members at a scholar-ship luncheon. Those representing AZSCE are (from left) Richard L. Martinez, P.E., of Arcadis-US,Inc. and president of AZSCE; Daniel K. Yu, E.I.T., of RS Engineering, and secretary of AZSCE; and Sheila M. Bowen, P.E., of Castro Engineering Corp., and vice president of AZSCE.

Tom Owen (left) and Lindy Cot with Prof. Robin Stickland (right), whoaccepted the Lindy Scholarship for UAs Electrical and Computer Engi-neering Department at a luncheon to commemorate the scholarship.

Among those attending the Maricopa County Engineering Council break-fast were (from left) Mark Strickling, regional director of the UA Alumni

Associations Phoenix of ce; UA Athletic Director Jim Livengood; and Joe Gervasio, CE 57, of Gervasio and Associates, Inc.

Te UA Alumni Assoc., the Maricopa County Engi-neering Council and the College o Engineering hostedthe Maricopa Annual Fall Break ast in October at theUniversity Club in Phoenix.

UA Athletic Director Jim Livengood was the eaturedspeaker. Livengood became UAs 8th director o athleticsin 1994.

Te break asts are designed to keep Maricopa County alums in close contact with the college and updated onthe latest activities both within engineering and at UA.

Te council sponsors an endowed scholarship that goesto an outstanding engineering student each year.

Te Maricopa Council hosts a break ast or alumnitwice each year, including the 22nd Annual St. PatricksDay Break ast, which took place on March 15 at theUniversity Club o Phoenix.

B e t h W

e av er

B e t h W

e av er

E d S t i l e s


18/20

1

In Memoriam

Donald G. Dudley , pro es-sor emeritus o Electrical andComputer Engineering (ECE),died on Jan. 2. He was 75.

Dudley earned his bachelorsdegree rom Virginia Poly-technic Institute and StateUniversity, and his masters andPh.D. degrees rom UCLA.

He began his research andteaching career at UA in 1968and retired in 1994.

His research ocused on themathematical oundationso electromagnetics, integralequations and inverse theory.

A ter retirement, he contin-ued to consult and conduct

research in electromagnetics.Dudley wrote more than 70papers and 200 abstracts and

wrote Mathematical Founda-tions for Electromagnetic Teory .He also was editor or theIEEE (the Institute o Electri-cal and Electronics Engineers)Press Series on Electromagnetic

Wave Teory, which includes21 books.

He was a ounding membero UAs applied math programand ounder o ECEs Electro-magnetics Laboratory, whichhe directed or eight years.

He was twice named theOutstanding Pro essor o the Year by students in the UA College o Engineering.

Dudley served as a membero the administrative commit-tee o the IEEE Antennas andPropagation Society (APS), asan associate editor o the IEEE

ransactions on Antennas and Propagation, and as a membero the IEEE/APS EducationCommittee.

In 1997, Dudley received

the Schelkunof Prize or bestpaper o the year in the IEEEransactions on Antennas and

Propagationjournal.In 2000, he received the

IEEE Tird MillenniumMedal. Te IEEE MillenniumMedals recognized 3,000business leaders and scientists

whose work signi cantly in u-ences the electronics industry in the new millennium.

In 2002, he received theChen- o ai Distinguished

Educator Award. Te award isgiven by the IEEE.In addition to his academic

work, Dudley worked as pro-essional musician, playing key-

boards in jazz bands since hisdays as a student at UCLA. Healso was one o the ounders o

ucsons Big Band Express.

Donald H. White , pro es-sor emeritus o Chemical andEnvironmental Engineering(ChEE), died Sept. 21, 2006.

He was 88.He earned his bachelorsdegree rom Ohio StateUniversity and his masters andPh.D. degrees rom Iowa StateUniversity, graduating with hisPh.D. in 1949.

Be ore that, he had workedon atomic energy relatedresearch during World WarII. Following the war, he

was a researcher or PhillipsPetroleum.

In 1958, he came to UA,

where President Harvill askedhim to establish a chemicalengineering department. In1959, he was named head o that department.

He retired rom UA in 1984,but continued his researchactivities until recently.

White was a Fellow o the

American Institute o Chemi-cal Engineers and a Fellow o the Society o PlasticsEngineers.

He conducted pioneer-ing research on methods orcreating clean liquid uels by

lique action o biomass wastes.Tis research led to a patentor an e cient conversion

technology and his company, Waste echnology rans er, wasestablished to commercializethe process.

White also was interested increating polymer composites

rom recycled plastics.During a memorial service

or White, ormer ChEEdepartment head Jost Wendtsaid he always marveled at

how White was able to start adepartment rom the groundup. It was remarkable that he

was able to do that, Wendtsaid. Don always thought big.He never let little details likelack o money or things likethat get in his way.

Wendt also noted that Whitenever promoted himsel but healways was boosting the other

aculty in his department. Whites daughter, Teresa

White, agreed. My Dad lived

and breathed his academicsand he loved every one o hiscolleagues and his students,she said.

He wanted to see everyonereach their ullest potential.

Whatever he could do to helpthem reach that goal, he wasthere or them.

70sRich Rovang , MS ChE 78,recently retired a ter 27 years

with Rockwell and Boeing.He says the Energy

Option he took at UA servedhim well during his career,

which included working on a wide variety o terrestrial andspace-related energy programs.

During his career he workedon the Space Nuclear Power

Program or SDI plat orms,nuclear propulsion or Marsexploration, the electricalsystem in the InternationalSpace Station, and several otherprojects.

Rovang has moved romCali ornia and now lives in

Aberdeen, South Dakota.

80sGene Maslana , ME 80, is

now with PerkinElmer Li eand Analytical Sciences, whichis located in Downers Grove,Ill. He is working as a seniormechanical engineer.

He works in the LiquidHandling Research andDevelopment Group develop-ing automated liquid handlinginstruments.

Tese instruments are usedin biotech and pharmaceuti-cal labs or such applications

as research drug compoundanalysis and activity screening.

90sGeneva (Woo) Chan , ChE93, is the polypropylenesupply chain planner or North

America at Dow Chemical.She and her husband

celebrated the birth o theirsecond child, Meredith Avery,on June 16, 2006.

E d S t i l e s

A r i z on aE n gi n e er A r c h i v e s

Alumni Echoes


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Alums chemical process turns soybeans into jet fuel

Wayne Seames (center), ChE 79 and Ph.D. 00, examines biofuel samples in a laboratory ventilation hood at theUniversity of North Dakota, where he is an associate professor of chemical engineering. Autumn Dockter (left)and Swapnilkumar Gandi are both working toward masters degrees in chemical engineering.

19

A UA engineering alum anda colleague at the Uni-versity o North Dakota havesubmitted a provisional patent

or a process to generate biojet

uel made rom crops, such assoybeans, or rom animal atsand wastes.

Te process was developedby Waynes Seames (ChE 79and Ph.D. ChE 00), and ed

Aulich, Research Managerat UNDs Energy & Envi-ronmental Research Center.Seames is a UND associatepro essor o chemicalengineering.

His research team testedseveral mixtures o jet and

biodiesel uels in a helicopterturbine engine.Seames and Aulcih believe

they have a uel that meetsmost o the FAA and military speci cations or aviationturbine uels.

Another goal of mine wasto try to generate a fuel that

would not require a changeto the fuel transportationand storage infrastructure pipelines, storage tanks,distribution pumps, etc.,Seames said.

Te problem now is scalingup to commercial production.Given our current resources,

we cant even make enougho it ast enough or all theturbine testing we need toper orm, Seames said.

Cost is another limiting

actor. Te new biojet uel

technology is competitve withcurrent biodiesel production,but both currently are moreexpensive than traditional gaso-line and jet uel.

But there are ways to bringthose costs down, Seamessaid. Current technology, orinstance, is designed to pro-

duce ood-grade cooking oil.Since jet uel doesnt have to beedible, Seames said the extrac-tion costs can be cut.

Seames and his team also areinvestigating chemical byprod-ucts o their process, such asreplacements or polymers,speci cally acrylics.

Send us e-mail!Where has life taken you

since graduation? Wed like toknow and so would your former classmates.

Please send us an e-mailincluding the following:

Name Major Degree (BS, MS, Ph.D.) Year you graduated Rundown on your activities(Please limit your submissionto 200 words or less.)

While youre at it, get out thatdigital camera or scan a printand send us a digital photo of your family, latest project atwork, or that boat or hot rod you

just fnished building in your garage. Vacation photos aregreat, too.

Well publish your commentsand photos in the next ArizonaEngineer.

Please send your e-mail [email protected].

Ray Haynes wins AISES award

Ray Haynes received the AISES Professional of the Year Award inNovember at the AISES National Conference in Detroit, Mich.

Ray Haynes, AE 67 andMBA 70, received the 2006Pro essional o the Year Award

rom the American Indian Sci-ence and Engineering Society (AISES).

Haynes, who belongs to theCherokee Nation, is corporatedirector or technical alliancesin the o ce o the chie engi-neer at Northrop GrummanSpace echnology.

He was born in Hemet,Cali . and grew up in Nogales,

Ariz.He also earned a Ph.D.

in operations research rom ASU in 1987 and then spent17 years in academia and 25years working in the aerospaceindustry.

He is a pro essor emeritusat Cali ornia Polytechnic State

University.Haynes is a member o the

AISES Corporate Advisory Council. AISES works tosubstantially increase therepresentation o AmericanIndian and Alaskan Natives inengineering, science and otherrelated disciplines.

Haynes said, I am very hon-ored and humbled (to win thisaward) and hope that my story might inspire others to pursuescience, technology, engineer-ing and math (S EM) educa-tion and careers, and have anopportunity to give back.

o learn more about Haynesand the award, visit theWinds o Change maga-zine web site at: http://www.

wocmag.org/2006/ all/ ea-ture1.html

Uni v er s i t y

of N or t h D

ak o t a

C o ur t e s y of R a y H

a y n e s

Alumni Echoes


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This view of meteorite hunters camp in Antarctica shows the groups four-sided Scott tents. These tents are similar to those used on the 1910-1913Robert Scott Expedition. You can read more about what its like to liveinside these tents in one of Don Pettits Chronicles on Ice at http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/pettit_chron_14.html

Hunting meteorites in Antarctica

The University of Arizona

College of Engineering Newsletter Tucson, AZ 721-0072

Nonproft org.U.S. Postage

PaidTucson, ArizonaPermit No. 190

Arizona Engineer

Alumni Echoes his rock looked difer-ent than just a rock,it had a special character thatsaid it was not o Earth, DonPettit, Ph.D. ChE 87, wrote inone o hisChronicles on Ice .

Glazed with black patina,there were crazed marks as i ithad been red in a kiln at the

wrong temperature. It had anodd shape; one sculpted by a

ery entry into Earths atmo-sphere and naturally shapedinto something similar to whatrocket engineers design or theheat shields on spacecra t.

Yes, this bit o rock wasde nitely not o Earth.

Pettit wrote his chroniclesduring a six-week-long trip to

Antarctica in December and January, where he learned thatminus 20 degrees Fahrenheitcould eel warm compared toother bone-chilling times outon the ice.

Petit was part o a team o scientists who were searching

or meteorites in Antarctica.In 2003, Pettit spent ve

months living in the tight con-nes o the International Space

Station (ISS), and the tripto Antarctica was not unlikeliving in space.

Pettit was working in an iso-

lated and extreme environment where the meteorite hunt-ers shared 2-person tents orseveral weeks during the SouthPolar summer just the

kind o place that would appealto Pettits sense o adventure.The Token Astronaut

I was ortunate enoughto be asked to tag along asthe token astronaut, Pettit

joked in a story on a NASA web page. Why me? It wasmainly dumb luck. One o the

ANSME (Antarctic Searchor Meteorites) scientists

dropped out at the last minuteor medical reasons. Because

the principal investigator had

dealt with astronauts be ore,he knew they would not havetrouble passing the medicalexam and could be called upon short notice. When my bossasked me i I wanted to go, Ithought about it or perhaps ananosecond and said, Yes!

ANSME , which is undedby NSF and led by princi-pal investigators rom Case

Western University, has beenmaking annual trips to Antarc-tica since the mid-1970s, andresearchers rom UA have beenon several o the expeditions.

During that time, ANSMEhas ound more than 10,000meteorites, including the

amous Allan Hills meteorite

rom Mars.Science Experiments

Tose who ollowed Pettitsride aboard the ISS andthose who worked with him

when he was a grad student atUA know he has an insa-tiable curiosity and views eventhe most mundane activitiesas opportunities or scienti cexperiment.

He wrote a Saturday Morning Science column while aboard the ISS aboutsuch of-hours experimentsas assembling giant blobs o

oating water that he spun,in ated with air and vibratedin microgravity ways. Physicistsare still puzzling over some o his ndings.

He continued the seriesin Antarctica by writing theChronicles on Ice . (For a link to the chronicles, go to UAsEngineering news page and usethe More In o keyword below.)

Although meteorites dontall on Antarctica any more

o ten than on other parts o the globe, its the per ect placeto look or them because rocksstand out on the vast, ice-bluelandscape.

More info: Pettit

D onP

e t t i t

arizona engineer spring 2007

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