Educate, Engage, Inspire, Innovate / Fall 2017

Building Momentum

In June, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval stopped by UNLV to sign multiple bills positively affecting higher education in the state, including Senate Bill 553 which provides $1.75 million in planning funds for the College’s new Advanced Engineering Studies Building.

Currently, the College of Engineering’s 172,000 square feet of space is insufficient to meet the needs of undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and research efforts. The College’s undergraduate population has grown 30% in the last three years, and data shows that trend will continue. In addition, research grants increased more than 60% over 2016.

Over the next decade, the College will need to accommodate 3,000 undergraduates, 400 graduates and 100 faculty—along with laboratory and research space for externally-funded research.

College Secures $1.75M Planning Funds for Advanced Engineering Studies BuildingPL ANNING MOVES FORWARD ON NEW 50,000 SQUARE FOOT SPACE

The Advanced Engineering Studies Building will lift up the quality of education and enable the economy of tomorrow for Nevada. It will foster cutting edge research in biomedical, big data and cyber security through integrated research facilities, increase research revenue and productivity, and inspire a generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.

PREVIOUS PAGE: AERIAL VIEW

TOP LEFT: VIEW OF PROPOSED NEW ENGINEERING BUILDING COMPLEXES WITH EXISTING THOMAS T. BEAM BUILDING (LEFT) AND ADVANCED ENGINEERING STUDIES BUILDING (FAR RIGHT).

TOP RIGHT: NEVADA GOV. BRIAN SANDOVAL STOPPED BY UNLV TO SIGN NEVADA SENATE BILL 553 WHICH PROVIDES $1.75M IN PLANNING FUNDING FOR THE ADVANCED ENGINEERING STUDIES BUILDING.

BOTTOM LEFT: ENGINEERING STUDENT SHADDEN ABDALLA SPOKE ABOUT HOW FUNDING FOR THE NEW BUILDING WILL ELEVATE THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING’S PROGRAMS.

BOTTOM RIGHT: FIRST FLOOR LAYOUT, INCLUDING A UNIVERSITY-WIDE MAKERSPACE AND FLEXITORIUM.

The design for the building focuses on flexible, adaptable, modular spaces that inspire innovation, collaboration and creativity. A college-wide MakerSpace will be included, encouraging collaboration among engineering students and those from other disciplines.

HELP EDUCATE, ENGAGE AND INSPIRE THE ENGINEERS OF TOMORROW

If you or your company is interested in supporting the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering’s new building project, please contact Jack Aylor at jack.aylor@unlv.edu or 702 895-2913, or make a secure online donation at https://netcommunity.unlv.edu/givetoengineering.

Current renderings courtesy of PGAL and SMITHGROUP JJR

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Suresh Vishnubhatla – Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering 2017 Alumnus of the Year

Suresh was a risktaker from the beginning. Growing up in India, he was the first in his family to pursue higher education in another country. He never anticipated that he would stay in the United States, he just thought it would be a great opportunity to study abroad, and when UNLV offered him a research assistantship, he definitely wasn’t going to turn it down.

His next move, following graduation, was to the east coast to work at Emerson Electric Corporation in Pennsylvania (previously Westinghouse Process Control Systems). Consistently ranked in the top 100-150 on Forbes list of America’s largest corporations, this is where Suresh learned not only how to manage people and processes, but how to innovate.

The late 1990s and early 2000s ushered in the dot com craze and start-up culture extant today in regions like Silicon Valley. But at some of the largest companies in the country, such as Emerson, incredible advancements were also taking place thanks to the same cutting-edge technologies. At Emerson, Suresh and his team had

Each year the UNLV Alumni Association recognizes the accomplishments of past graduates. In spring 2017 the College of Engineering’s Outstanding Alumnus of the Year was Suresh Vishnubhatla, ’92 MSE Electrical Engineering.

While he no longer considers himself a serial entrepreneur, that mindset, and being able to create and work in an environment that fosters it, has been instrumental throughout his career. The College had the opportunity to sit down with Suresh when he was in town for the awards ceremony and discuss his career path, successes, challenges, and cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit.

SURESH VISHNUBHATLA, ’92 MSE ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING (RIGHT) RECEIVES THE HOWARD R. HUGHES COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR AWARD FROM PATRICK SMITH, UNLV ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD PRESIDENT, AT THE SPRING 2017 UNLV ANNUAL ALUMNI AWARDS BANQUET.

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say that BodyMedia invented the entire wearable technology space, something that seems ubiquitous to us today. The team knew that they were ahead of the curve by a few years, but had no idea how far ahead. In retrospect, they were leading the market by 15 years!

“We wanted to model data that comes out of your body. Your body is emanating signals constantly. If we could tell you what those signals are, and we could model them, we’d be able to tell you interesting information about yourself.”

Since, at the time, Bluetooth technology didn’t yet exist, Suresh and his team also had to build their own wireless protocols.

The risk, time and investment paid off. After building the company up from the initial $2 − 3 million raised, they sold it to JawBone for over $100 million, giving that company an important edge in the wearable health tracking market.

Suresh was ready for the next adventure even before the sale of BodyMedia. He found it nearly by accident. A search firm was looking for a personnel recommendation at another start-up in the Pittsburgh area—Millennium Pharmacy Systems, Inc. The position was intriguing, and the location so close, Suresh thought it might actually be a good opportunity for him.

With no prior knowledge of the pharmaceutical market or the existence of institutional pharmacies, Suresh joined the team. Leading the development of the innovative medication management system, electronic medical records and pharmacy solutions, Suresh helped the company secure one of the largest rounds of funding in the country that quarter – $40 million – and grow revenues from $18 million to $300 million in less than four years.

Millennium was later acquired by PharMerica in 2011. Currently the nation’s second largest senior care pharmacy services provider, Suresh serves as Executive Vice President – Long Term Care.

access to some of the first industrial and large scale applications, computer operating systems and programming languages like Java, before they were released to the general public.

The innovative spirit embraced and advanced at Emerson, combined with the securing of his first patent, gave Suresh the entrepreneurial bug. Leaving Emerson was one of the hardest things he ever did, but Suresh wanted to strike out and build something completely from scratch, out from under the big corporate Fortune 50 umbrella.

That “something” was a company, founded with friends, called BodyMedia. It is not too bold to

SURESH AND SUBANSIRI VISHNUBHATLA ARRIVE AT THE 2017 UNLV ANNUAL ALUMNI AWARDS BANQUET.

It is not too bold to say that BodyMedia, Suresh's first start-up company, invented the entire wearable technology space.

Educate, Engage, Inspire, Innovate

"Being an entrepreneur, in my mind, means successfully pursuing an idea even if it does not adhere to popular thinking...the size of the company shouldn’t matter."

SURESH VISHNUBHATLA

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING (COE): What does being an entrepreneur mean?

SURESH: Being an entrepreneur in my mind means successfully pursuing an idea even if it does not adhere to popular thinking and can be risky. It doesn’t mean you always have to strike out on your own, always eat macaroni and cheese, and not make any money. You can be an entrepreneur in a big company. The size of the company shouldn’t matter, you can still run things in an entrepreneurial, fast, and agile fashion.

COE: You’ve stated that companies and individuals should have a more nuanced view of entrepreneurship. What do you mean by that?

SURESH: The key to keeping an entrepreneurial mindset in a large organization, is to focus on answering the following fundamental

questions: why are people paying you? What service or product are you offering, and what are they going to be happy with and feel like they’re getting value from? What else can you offer the customers that enhances the value of the company to them?

Don’t get bogged down in your own specific role, in bureaucracy or pure processes. Don’t get stagnant or internally focused. You need to be laser focused externally on your customer, and this focus needs to come from management. It isn’t just a front-line, customer service task, but a mindset that comes from the top.

We had ideas that we tried, that in concept seemed like a home run. But nothing came of them. Why? Because we missed that it wasn’t something the customer wanted, or found value in.

COE: What is your concept of innovation?

SURESH: Pursuing new ideas. Doing things differently to drive improvements. If something doesn’t work, you need to fail fast and move on. I hesitate even saying “failed” because as long as you learned something, it isn’t failure. But if you have a lack of success, what you can’t do is decide you’re not going to try anything else new. Innovation doesn’t mean you have to build the next great thing since sliced bread.

Anything that solves a meaningful problem in a meaningful way, is innovation.

Risk and innovation have always been a part of Suresh’s career. While it is easy to see those attributes and values in small start-ups, they aren’t always the first words someone thinks of in relation to America’s largest companies.

The College of Engineering wanted to know if one can really be an entrepreneur in a large company, and what kind of mindset that takes. So we asked Suresh.

One burning question we always have for incredibly successful individuals is, if you weren’t in the career you are today, what would you want to be doing? For Suresh, he always wanted to be a sports show talk host. His story isn’t over yet, and we wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to turn on the radio one day and hear him announcing the latest Raiders player stats!

UNLV Wins NASA Fiscal Year 2016 Small Business Industry AwardTELEDYNE BROWN AND UNLV RECOGNIZED FOR COMBINED EFFORT AT MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

Earlier this year NASA announced the winners of its Fiscal Year 2016 Small Business Industry Awards at its Washington headquarters, naming UNLV and Teledyne Brown Engineering as the winner of the Mentor-Protégé Agreement of the Year award for their partnership.

UNLV placed students in the NASA mentor-protégé program following a signed agreement in 2015 with Teledyne Brown Engineering, a U.S. government space and defense contractor. The 12-month workplace experience was the first between a Marshall Space Flight Center prime contractor and a minority-serving institution (UNLV). Through this agreement, students from the College of Engineering, College of Education and College of Fine Arts participated in developing multi-media training for International Space Station (ISS) Payload Ground Support Personnel and Payload Developers.

Although the program originally called for only computer science students, UNLV created a unique, interdisciplinary model to ensure the success of the team and project. This included incorporating a graphic design student and an education postdoctoral student, who is overseeing the project and efficacy of the training modules, onto the team. The postdoc is based on-site allowing for constant face-to-face interaction with the client while the other students are able to work remotely, enabling them to continue their studies and reducing project cost.

The partnership with Teledyne Brown has allowed UNLV to gain valuable past performance, and opened up opportunities for support on other NASA contracts. It also provided UNLV underlying knowledge that will assist with writing proposals that are needed to sponsor experiments onboard the ISS. As a result of this successful collaboration, one UNLV student joined the Mission Operations and Integration team full-time, and a sub-contract was extended to UNLV to continue the productive partnership.

For more information visit: Fiscal Year 2016 Small Business Industry Awards at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/fiscal-year-2016-small-business-industry-award-winners

View a video at: http://tinyurl.com/UNLVNASA.

The 12-month workplace experience was the first between a Marshall Space Flight Center prime contractor and a minority-serving institution.

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New Technology Set to Revolutionize Casino Table GamesUNLV ENGINEERING STUDENTS DESIGN PROTOT YPE FOR LOCAL GAMING TECH COMPANY, SHARK TR AP GAMING & SECURIT Y SYSTEMS

If you’re coming to Vegas, you’d probably like to have some luck at the tables and leave with a few more dollars in your pocket than you came with. Some players don’t leave it up to luck. They attempt to “game” the system, and each year they find more inventive ways to do so.

For the casinos, staying one step ahead is no easy challenge. Luckily, technology works both ways, and as the potential cheating methods become more sophisticated, so do the technologies that can identify them.

One method of cheating is known as “card marking.” Card marking is the process of altering playing cards in a method only apparent to the marker. It can run the gamut from depositing luminous ink on cards that can only be seen with

special lenses or glasses, to recognizing minor abnormalities on the backs of cards that happen during the card printing and manufacturing process.

Enter the Shark TrapTM System (www.sharktrap.com). The platform features a network of super shufflers with the capability to detect marked cards, asymmetries, normal wear and tear, and much more, all in real time. The technology works to detect everything from the tiniest of discrepancies to blatant scams with scientific precision, all without human intervention or the need to disrupt the games.

Shark Trap Gaming & Security Systems collaborated with the mechanical engineering department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to design and build the early prototypes.

THE UNLV TEAM IN THE MACHINE SHOP WHERE THEY DESIGNED AND BUILT THE SHARK TRAP PROTOTYPE.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT CHAIR, BRENDAN O’TOOLE; UNLV MECHANICAL ENGINEERING GRADUATE STUDENTS, WESTLEY DAVID AND ZACHARY COOK; ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING STUDENT, JOSEPH RIESEN; AND UNLV EXPERT MACHINIST/DESIGNER, TERRANCE KELL.

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“The Shark Trap team approached us with a list of specifications for a next generation shuffling device that could fill many needs in the market,” said Brendan O’Toole, chair of the mechanical engineering department. “Our team was tasked with designing a prototype that was small in size, fast, quiet, reliable, easily maintained, and can incorporate the latest technologies to detect cheating.”

The UNLV engineering team included O’Toole, Terrance Kell, an expert machinist/designer, and three students. Mechanical engineering graduate students Zachary Cook and Westley Davis, tapped to carry out the bulk of the design and fabrication work, were later joined by undergraduate electrical engineering student Joseph Riesen to assist with the electronics design, component selection, and programming.

For the students, working with Shark Trap has been a unique learning experience. While sharing some similarities to their Senior Design project, they admit that working with a real customer who is trying to get a product to market has its own challenges.

“This isn’t an assignment that you can choose not to finish and accept the grade given, then move on

For more information please visit: www.sharktrap.com and https://www.unlv.edu/engineering/senior-design

"UNLV has done an exceptional job getting us to the point where our one- and two-deck shufflers are ready for manufacturing."

LOU DEGREGORIO – SHARK TRAP GAMING & SECURITY SYSTEMS PRESIDENT

to the next assignment,” explained Riesen. “If a solution isn’t working, if you didn’t get it to a point you wanted it to be, there’s no moving on, it will be there waiting for you the next day.”

“The expectations were a little daunting at first,” shared Davis. “Everything the shuffler needed to be able to do as far as the technology was concerned, combined with the physical requirements of the design.”

Davis echoes the entire UNLV team’s sentiments when he says that in the end, “we’re really proud of what we were able to accomplish.” They feel like they’ve come up with an elegant design that not only recognizes potential cheating, but meets the client’s other needs, including being small in size, quiet, and easy to maintain due to its low part count.

According to DeGregorio, the initial response from casinos and cardrooms to the Shark TrapTM System has been overwhelming, with the expectation to be filling shuffler orders as soon as mid-2018.

UNLV MECHANICAL ENGINEERING GRADUATE STUDENTS WESTLEY DAVIS AND ZACHARY COOK DISCUSS CREATING THE FIRST SHARK TRAP PROTOTYPE.

Educate, Engage, Inspire, Innovate

Rebels Will Be Wearing the White HatNEW CYBERSECURIT Y COURSES PAVING THE WAY FOR A NEW BACHELOR'S IN THE FIELD, MAKING UNLV ONE OF JUST A FEW UNIVERSITIES IN THE NATION TO OFFER SUCH A PROGR AM

WannaCry ransomware. The email hacks of the Democratic National Committee leaders. Yet another retail giant’s security vulnerability making headlines. If getting a new debit card in the mail every few months should teach you anything, it’s that the threats posed by cybersecurity lapses are legit, and far too common.

With growing demand for cybersecurity professionals—from the biggest corporations in the world to small businesses plagued by ransomware— UNLV is becoming one of the few universities in the country to offer a bachelor of science in cybersecurity. UNLV is working to offer a minor in cybersecurity soon followed by a full bachelor’s program in about two years. Computer science professor Yoohwan Kim is spearheading efforts to develop the major.

“All these companies are coming (to us) and they're willing to provide all the support because they need cybersecurity people,” Kim said. “Right now there's a big need, but there's nobody to work for them.”

Computer science senior Kevin Roh already has found the fast growing field can pay quick dividends for the security-conscious.

Roh was looking to make a little extra cash when he signed up to drive for Uber. But as he was registering on its website, he found a vulnerability that revealed driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, and more for nearly 900 drivers. He reported it to Uber’s security team, and they rewarded him with a “bug bounty.”

Bug hunting is a lot more fun than shuttling tourists to Circus Circus. Roh was hooked, and began bug-hunting for several other companies, discovering along the way that he had found his career path.

"I found a vulnerability, but I don't want a bad hacker to find the same vulnerability which discloses credit card information or personal information. So I go out there, find them and report it. If I do, I'm making the internet a safer place for everybody else."

KEVIN ROH

“All these products we're using every single day?” Roh said. “I found a vulnerability, but I don't want a bad hacker to find the same vulnerability which discloses credit card information or personal information. So I go out there, find them and report it. If I do, I'm making the internet a safer place for everybody else.”

Both the minor and major will be interdisciplinary undertakings between the College of Engineering and the schools of Public Policy, Business, and Law. “We want a comprehensive program,” Kim said. “Traditional cybersecurity was more computer oriented. We'll add the law school stuff and the management stuff, policy regulation risk analysis. We need them. Without support, is not going to work.”

In February, the College of Engineering formed a task force to assess areas of need that would make future cybersecurity professionals valuable to local businesses. The task force included representatives from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, NV Energy, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Southwest

Gas, Switch and the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration among others.

Community involvement in shaping UNLV’s program has been crucial, Kim said, and he’s working with various companies to line up internship opportunities, guest speakers, and perhaps part-time instructors. Companies also are stepping up to provide funding to students. Sands has contributed $6,000 to future efforts for students seeking crucial certifications that are necessary to get jobs in cybersecurity.

Certifications are a big part of the plan for the program, and this year, students can access a Computer Science Advisory Board scholarship that awards $250 toward the Certified Ethical Hacker certificate, a test that costs $700 to take.

“UNLV became the test center, so we can give students the test on site,” Kim said. “Eventually, through the B.S. program, students will acquire several certifications by the time they graduate. So with an internship and certifications, they will be a hot commodity.”

Right now, the College of Southern Nevada offers an associate’s in cybersecurity. The clever hack hidden inside that, though, is that the course requirements parallel those UNLV is developing for its freshmen and sophomore cybersecurity students. So, the

associate’s students at CSN will be right on track to slide into the UNLV's bachelor’s program as soon as it’s put into place—and, as a sister institution, all CSN associate’s graduates are guaranteed acceptance into UNLV’s program.

UNLV will also pick up an assist from private IT and cybersecurity training institute The Learning Center, to help teach five to 10 courses in the curriculum, with a focus on the kinds of certifications that make graduates more attractive to potential employers.

Because cybersecurity is such a technology-driven field, staying on top of current trends is a must. Kim waves a hand at a stack of books in his office, lamenting that the two-year old texts are already out of date. As an academic discipline, the rapidly evolving nature of the field poses the biggest challenge.

“Every year I have to look up new websites, new malware. Even so, it will be out of date when they get out,” Kim said. But, while the specific threats are always changing, “we teach the fundamentals. The fundamental technologies are still the same. The payload, the shell code. Just a tiny bit has changed, but the framework is just the same.”

The fundamentals might be the same, but the degree won’t be.

Original article written by Jason Scavone and appeared on the UNLV News Center

View 8NewsNow’s “Sparking Interest in Cyber Security Jobs” story at http://tinyurl.com/cyberunlv

Under Computer Science associate professor, Yoohwan Kim, UNLV is becoming one of the few universities in the country to offer degrees in cybersecurity.

UNLV students who took the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) exam in spring 2017—the very first group from

the college—had a 93% pass rate.

(Photo courtesy of R. Marsh Starks/UNLV Creative Services)

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UNLV’s Rebel Racing Team Takes 13th Place Overall in 2017 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Baja CompetitionTEAM SURPASSES UNLV’S PRIOR “BEST” R ANKINGS IN SEVER AL CATEGORIES DURING THREE SEPAR ATE COMPETITIONS

Engineering students in UNLV’s SAE student chapter spent the beginning of their summer traversing the United States with their baja vehicle and competing in three major competitions during a 20-plus day stint.

The Rebel Racing team exceeded many of the University’s best ever rankings, placing in the top 5, 10 and 15 in multiple competition categories out of a field that included 230 national and international teams. Judged events included categories such as suspension and traction, endurance, and sales presentation.

At the end of the competition, the team ranked 13th in the final championship standings. That was even after they could not participate and collect scores in all of the Kansas categories following a severe storm that damaged the dynamic competition track. Students, including the Rebel Racing team, had to take shelter in the university’s Technology Center and wait out the tornado warning before once again competing.

UNLV’S REBEL RACING TEAM IN FRONT OF THEIR BAJA RACER ON THE CAMPUS OF UNLV. (PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSH HAWKINS/UNLV CREATIVE SERVICES)

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For more information visit: http://www.sae.org/

UNLV Society of Automotive Engineers https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQkN0jb-qHyYNOtr-hrvSpQ

unlvrebelracinghttps://www.facebook.com/UNLVRebelRacing/

unlvrebelracinghttps://www.instagram.com/unlvrebelracing

TOP LEFT: THE TEAM, WHO WAS ON THE ROAD FOR JUST OVER 20 DAYS, HAD TO BE PREPARED TO MAINTAIN AND REPAIR THEIR VEHICLE ON THE FLY. ABOVE, A TEAM MEMBER FIXES A PART IN ORDER TO PASS THE TECH PORTION OF THE COMPETITION BEFORE THEY CAN RACE.

TOP RIGHT: THE TEAM’S JOURNEY BEGAN IN GORMAN, CALIFORNIA, WHERE THEY PARTICIPATED IN THE FIRST OF THREE EVENTS IN THREE DIFFERENT STATES. THE TWO OTHER EVENTS TOOK THEM TO PEORIA, ILLINOIS, AND PITTSBURG, KANSAS.

LEFT: REBEL RACING DRIVER, CODY MAO, GETS A LITTLE DIRTY DURING THE COMPETITION IN KANSAS.

BOTTOM LEFT: AS PART OF THEIR TRIP, THE TEAM HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TOUR THE WORLD FAMOUS INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, SITE OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500.

BOTTOM RIGHT: TEAM MEMBER SOPHIA LEON GIVES THE “THUMBS UP” TO THE TEAM PRIOR TO COMPETITION.

(PHOTOS COURTESY OF VALENTINA ALAYON, REBEL RACING TEAM MEMBER)

Educate, Engage, Inspire, Innovate

UNLV Ph.D. Student Recognized for Prestigious Amelia Earhart FellowshipONLY 35 RECIPIENTS WORLDWIDE AWARDED ZONTA INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP ANNUALLY

In May, the College of Engineering welcomed to campus Sharon Langenbeck, Vice President for Zonta International, to recognize mechanical engineering Ph.D. student, Maria Ramos Gonzalez. Ramos Gonzalez had been awarded the Amelia Earhart Fellowship earlier in the academic year.

Recognizing the low percentage of women active in the aerospace industry, the Amelia Earhart Fellowship was established to assist women pursuing doctoral degrees in aerospace-related sciences and engineering. In addition to the $10,000 award, recipients also have the benefit of entering into a community of professionals, other like-minded fellows pursuing their work across the globe.

Whenever possible, Zonta International representatives personally meet their awardees, a great first step in establishing a professional network.

Langenbeck presented Ramos Gonzalez with her Amelia Earhart Fellowship certificate and wings. A two-time Amelia Earhart Fellowship recipient herself, Langenbeck has been active in Zonta leadership roles since 1988. She retired in 2008 from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where she managed over 200 engineers designing and developing space flight hardware.

Ramos Gonzalez was humbled to have been chosen as a fellowship recipient, but those who know her weren’t surprised. The first in her family to attend college and earn a degree, Ramos Gonzalez has been driven and a leader in university life since entering UNLV. During her undergraduate studies, she was part of UNLV’s Honors College,

and graduated as the Mechanical Engineering department’s Outstanding Graduating Senior of the Year. She was involved with various student organizations, including serving as President of the UNLV chapter of Tau Beta Pi, Vice President of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and was an officer in the Society of Women Engineers.

As a graduate student, Ramos Gonzalez continues to be involved in multiple multicultural and STEM programs, including delivering STEM workshops and lectures to K – 12 students on and off campus.

She was also a member of UNLV’s 2015 DARPA Robotics Competition team which took 8th place in the world with their robot, Metal Rebel.

Just this year, she collaborated with other students to compete in the “Smart Cities Hackathon” held in conjunction with the City of Las Vegas at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

"One of my biggest pleasures as an engineer is exposing kids to everything that is possible within engineering and letting them know they can achieve the same path I have.”

MARIA RAMOS GONZALEZ

Their team, Team Wingin’ It, took the $10,000 grand prize for their software that could quickly and easily analyze streetlight outages and identify possible problems in real time for more than 52,000 lights. That led to a job as a Senior Professional with the Innovation Team in the City of Las Vegas’ Information Technologies department.

Her goal is to find a research position within a smart prosthetics/bio-robotics company.

Of her legacy, Ramos Gonzalez states, “I want to be remembered as a super engineer: an engineer talented in multiple disciplines with the ability to think through a project from the inception of its development to its design, model, and manufacture. I want to create great solutions to the problems of our communities. I would like people to know that the engineer just happened to be a woman, just happened to be Hispanic, but that is not all that defines me. Any woman can combat negative remarks about women in engineering. Any human being can achieve greatness.”

"I would like people to know that the engineer just happened to be a woman, just happened to be Hispanic, but that is not all that defines me ... any human being can achieve greatness.”

MARIA RAMOS GONZALEZ

Sharon Langenbeck, Vice President, Zonta International (left) with Amelia Earhart Fellowship recipient and UNLV mechanical engineering Ph.D. student, Maria Ramos Gonzalez.

For more information please visit: https://www.zonta.org/global-impact/education/amelia-earhart-fellowship, Tau Beta Pi at https://www.tbp.org/home.cfm, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at SHPE http://www.shpe.org/, Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/, UNLV’s 2015 DARPA Robotics Competition at https://www.darpa.mil/program/darpa-robotics-challenge, and the “Smart Cities Hackathon” at https://www.hackster.io/hackathons/smart-cities/readwrite-ces/pages/overview

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College Completes First Year of Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program in Big DataPROFESSORS COLL ABOR ATE TO SECURE $600,000, THREE-YEAR NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF ) (www.nsf.gov) GR ANT FOR RET SITE

As professors at one of the largest minority-serving institutions in the country, last year computer science professor Justin Zhan and chair of the Computer Science department, Laxmi Gewali, set out to secure the prestigious Army Education Outreach Program (AEOP) UNITE grant. AEOP grants help provide pre-collegiate summer experiences for talented high school students from groups historically underrepresented and underserved in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).

The program was so popular that a second class had to be added, doubling the number of students able to participate. The students learned programming languages, how to conduct big data research, and even presented their research at the conclusion of the program.

Recognizing the importance of not just educating students, but educators themselves, this year Zhan worked with mechanical engineering professor Paul Oh to develop a RET site in big data proposal. Brookings Mountain West, a partnership between UNLV and the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, identified big data as a promising economic engine for Nevada that leverages the region’s data-rich industries,

SUMMER 2017 RET TEACHER PARTICIPANTS, BRITTANY COZZENS AND ROBIN HILL.

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including gaming, transportation, and water/energy utilities. While opportunities in STEM careers continue to grow, currently there is a lack of workforce training in big data. The idea for the RET site in big data at UNLV is to provide middle and high school teachers with first-hand knowledge in conducting big data research, give them additional teaching skills and methods in active learning, and access to university-level research facilities.

The goal is that participants walk away with the tools and resources necessary to re-enter the classroom with a greater sense of confidence in their knowledge of big data and emerging technologies, and ideas for developing lesson plans for implementation in their classrooms.

The two professors succeeded in securing $600,000 from NSF which provides funding to develop curriculum, pay for graduate student assistant support, and compensates participating teachers with a weekly stipend.

The course requires a great deal of commitment on behalf of teachers—six weeks of full-day instruction and research.

Both Robin Hill, science teacher at Hyde Park Middle School, and Brittany Cozzens, middle and high school elective teacher at Somerset Academy Losee, agree that the benefits of the program are varied and extensive.

“I spent two years trying to learn Java on my own,” said Cozzens. “I’ve just learned it in four weeks here.”

The ability to be in a classroom environment where they aren’t the instructor is very beneficial, too. For Hill, he has the opportunity to ask questions on aspects of a new technology he doesn’t understand and get immediate answers. For Cozzens, she was intrigued to see how other teachers deal with challenging students.

A really interesting aspect of the RET program is that the teachers are learning side-by-side with students. They’re even working in research groups

“Our ultimate goal is to impact the largest number of students and increase the number of students entering the STEM pipeline.”

ELLIOTT PLOUTZ – UNLV GRADUATE ASSISTANT AND PROGRAM MANAGER

together, with two teachers being paired in each research group with the AEOP middle and high-schoolers.

“It’s really interesting to be able to see it from the student’s perspective, to see concepts they easily understand, and those they don’t,” said Cozzens. “It will help me as I take it back to the classroom to know how to explain it to them.”

The program also includes writing classes through the UNLV Writing Center. While simply learning C++, Java, and Python is challenging enough in the timeframe given, it is just as important that participants also learn how to conduct research and how to write about their findings.

“The technology of writing papers has really changed,” noted Hill. “Especially when those writing projects are done by a group.”

Learning how to work in groups is another important aspect of the program, for teachers and students alike. Students have the advantage of being mentored by the experienced teachers in their research groups, while the teachers have the opportunity to see what tools their students prefer to use, and how to take back what they experience to make group projects more effective in their own classrooms.

Educate, Engage, Inspire, Innovate

Prior to joining the program, Cozzens was unfamiliar with what “deep learning” was, at least as it applied to big data and analytics. (Deep learning involves feeding a computer system a lot of data, which it can use to make decisions or predictions about other data.) After four weeks in RET, she has a much better grasp as her research group tackled that broad topic. They narrowed it down, and are currently working on a program that can identify forged signatures. At the end of the six-weeks, the teams will have publishable research papers eligible for submission to research conferences.

Select teachers will even receive travel funds to attend the National Science Teacher Association Conference where they will present their research papers.

LEFT: ELEVEN LOCAL MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS ARE PARTICIPATING IN UNLV’S INAUGURAL RET PROGRAM THIS SUMMER.

RIGHT: BRITTANY COZZENS RECEIVES SOME ASSISTANCE AND FEEDBACK FROM INSTRUCTOR AND UNLV PH.D. CANDIDATE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, CARTER CHIU.

For more information please visit: https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=505170, www.nsf.gov, and Army Education Outreach Program (AEOP) UNITE at http://www.usaeop.com/programs/stem-enrichment-activities/unite/

The RET experience doesn’t end with the summer program. UNLV is committed to providing resources to participating teachers throughout the academic year.

“In addition to funds for classroom materials and supplies, UNLV faculty will visit the teachers during the year to assist with lesson implementation and gauge the program’s effectiveness,” said Elliott Ploutz, UNLV graduate assistant and program manager.

“Our ultimate goal is to impact the largest number of students and increase the number of students entering the STEM pipeline.”

UNLV Welcomes Nobel Laureate, Professor Wolfgang Ketterle, for Guest LectureTHIRD NOBEL L AUREATE TO PRESENT AT ENGINEERING SCIENCES SEMINAR SERIES HOSTED BY THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND NATIONAL SECURIT Y TECHNOLOGIES (NSTEC)

A crowd of more than 100 students, faculty and community members came out to hear Nobel laureate and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Wolfgang Ketterle discuss his award-winning research titled, “When Freezing Cold Is Not Enough: New Forms of Matter Near Absolute Zero Temperature.”

In 1995, Dr. Ketterle’s research helped confirm the existence of a new form of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensate, previously predicted by Einstein. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman “for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates.”

Ketterle is the third Nobel laureate to present through the College of Engineering’s Engineering Sciences Seminar series, organized collaboratively by UNLV Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor, Ke-Xun (Kevin) Sun, and NSTec.

Prior Nobel laureates include: John (Jan) Lewis Hall, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005, along with Theodor W. Hansch, “for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique;” and Shuji Nakamura, jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014 with Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, “for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources.”

This year marks five years of the lecture series bringing some of the top researchers and scientists across the world to UNLV.

NOBEL LAUREATE AND MIT PROFESSOR WOLFGANG KETTERLE (LEFT) WITH UNLV PROFESSOR KE-XUN (KEVIN) SUN.

For more information please visit: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2001/

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Save the DateFRED AND HARRIET COX FALL 2017 SENIOR DESIGN COMPETITIONThursday, December 7, 2017Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall

Join us for this semester’s Senior Design Competition. A capstone to every engineering student’s educational career, the competition focuses students on increasing the quality and commercial potential of their projects.