coen newsletter winter '11- '12
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COEN Alumni NewsletterTRANSCRIPT
College of EngineeringEngineering and Technology Building1910 University DriveBoise, Idaho 83725-2100126A100001
Non-Profit Organ.U.S. POSTAGE
PAIDBoise, IdahoPermit No. 1
College of EngineeringInterim Dean: AMY MOLL
(208) 426-1153
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: JANET CALLAHAN(208) 426-1153
Assistant Dean for Research & Infrastructure: REX OXFORD(208) 426-5744
Civil EngineeringChair: ROBERT HAMILTON
(208) [email protected]
Computer ScienceChair: MURALI MEDIDI
(208) [email protected]
Construction ManagementChair: TONY SONGER(208) 426-3716
Electrical & Computer EngineeringChair: SIN MING LOO(208) 426-2283
Instructional &Performance Technology
Chair: DON STEPICH(208) 426-1312
Materials Science & EngineeringChair: DARRYL BUTT(208) 426-5640
Mechanical & Biomedical EngineeringInterim Chair: MICHELLE SABICK
(208) [email protected]
College of Engineering
New Ph.D. inMaterials Scienceand EngineeringStarts This Fall
Plans are moving fast toimplement the new doctoral degree inmaterials science and engineering.The program will prepare graduatesto be technical leaders and high-levelengineers in various fields ofmaterials production and research.The degree was approved by theIdaho State Board of Education inDecember and will be the secondPh.D. program in engineering –following the 2009 approval of thePh.D. in electrical and computerengineering.
“We are accepting applicationsright now for the Ph.D. track, and allstudents who are accepted willreceive funding,” said Darryl Butt,chair of the Department of MaterialsScience & Engineering at Boise State University. “We will be hiring nine newtenure track faculty members over the next three years.”
Students will be taught cooperatively by more than 20 faculty membersfrom departments in the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and
NewsletterNewsletter
Sciences. The new Ph.D. is research-focused and candidates will work withfaculty on funded projects in areas such as semiconductor device reliability,nanoscale fabrication, microelectronic packaging, shape memory alloys,
Continued on Page 3
Continued on Page 3
If Will Hughes, assistant professor of materials scienceand engineering, gets his way, his team will pioneer asimple and inexpensive blood test that will be able todetect a variety of diseases. Currently in year one of a threeyear, $1 million grant from the prestigious W. M. KeckFoundation, Hughes leads an interdisciplinary team ofprofessors in chemistry, biology and engineering as well ascollaborators at the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center,St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor and Medical ResearchInstitute, Idaho IDeA Network of Biomedical ResearchExcellence, and the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.
“Our vision is to fundamentally change early-stagedisease diagnosis and treatment on a global scale,” Hughessaid. “By using engineered biochemical tools, disease-specific markers could be identified through a portableDNA-based device that is analogous to a disposablepregnancy test. We believe the system could potentially
Winter 2011-2012
Trying to Diagnose Cancer With a Simple Blood TestBy Margaret Scott
Boise State Engineering Magazine GoesPaperless
Alumni and friends of the college can now sign up to receive an electronic version ofthe College of Engineering Newsletter instead of a printed copy.
The College is offering this paperless option as a convenience to readers and toreduce its impact on the environment. To see this issue electronically, go to:http://coen.boisestate.edu/news/alumni-newsletter/.
If you would like to receive an email notification when we publish a new issue online,contact Leandra Aburusa at [email protected]. We will still mail one printed issueeach winter.
Still Ranked Among the BestBoise State’s College of Engineering was again ranked
among the best undergraduate engineering programs in thenation by U.S. News and World Report in its 2012 “America’sBest Colleges” issue, released on Sept. 13.
Boise State shares the No. 15 ranking among publicundergraduate progams and is tied for No. 37 ranking amongall undergraduate engineering programs with the University ofMassachusetts-Dartmouth. The rankings are based solely on asurvey of engineering deans and senior faculty at all accredited
programs, conducted during the spring of 2011.
Boise State improved on its 2011 rankings when it was tied for 16th among publicschools and tied for 42nd overall. The peer assessment went up from 2.9 to 3.1 on a 5.0scale.
The College of Engineering offers programs in civil engineering, computer science,materials science and engineering, construction management, electrical and computerengineering, mechanical and biomedical engineering, and instructional and performancetechnology.
7College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012
From the Dean’s Desk
Happy New Year andWelcome to 2012. The newyear and a new semester is agood time to reflect on whatwas accomplished in the Fallsemester and our goals andexpectations for the rest ofthe academic year. InDecember, the State Board ofEducation approved the Ph.D.
in Materials Science and Engineering . We are verythankful to Micron Technology for their generous giftof $13 million to initiate this program. In the fewyears since the department’s inception in 2004, ithas grown to be a mid-size department on a nationalscale with more than 100 undergraduates andapproximately 35 master’s students. Thedepartment leads the university in researchexpenditures and partners with a variety ofresearchers across campus and throughout theregion. Over the next year we will be recruiting newfaculty members and graduate students to launchthis program.
Our faculty members continue to excel and areconsistently recognized for their work with numerousawards. Some recent highlights include R. JakeBaker, professor of Electrical and ComputerEngineering, who received the Education Awardfrom the IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society.Thad Welch, professor of Electrical and ComputerEngineering, was named the first SPEN (SignalProcessing Education Network) fellow. JohnChiasson, associate professor in Electrical andComputer Engineering was named an IEEE Fellow,"for contributions to control of electric machines andpower converters". In recognition of his lifelongachievements as a scientist and for his contributionsto Boise State, Bernard Yurke was recently namedDistinguished Research Fellow. Dr. Yurke is the firstresearcher at Boise State to receive this distinction.
We have also remodeled several facilities in theEngineering buildings to provide better support forstudent success. The classroom used for ENGR 120Introduction to Engineering was remodeled and is abeautiful space designed to encourage creativity,teamwork and innovation. The new advising centeralso opened and we have added several staffmembers including an advising coordinator, arecruiting coordinator and four peer advisors. Donutsand coffee during finals brought in a wide variety ofstudents and we hope they continue to visit thecenter throughout the year. A computer classroomwas also remodeled to accommodate more studentsand create an environment that is more conducive tolearning. If you are in the area, stop in, we wouldlove to give you a tour of the new facilities.
As we look forward, we are continuallychallenged by the difficult economic times and thereduction in state funding. We remain committed tooffering the highest quality education to ourstudents both in the classroom and in outsideopportunities.
Amy Moll
Interim Dean and ProfessorCollege of Engineering
College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012
Diana Garza, Academic Advising Coordinator
Diana joined the College of Engineering inSeptember of 2011. She joins COEN with a ten year historyat Boise State with a particular interest in helpingstudents find co-curricular opportunities to enhance theirclassroom learning. She has worked in several departmentsincluding Student Activities, the Cultural Center, CollegeAssistance Migrant Program and McNair Scholars. Diana isa Boise State Alum with a M.S. in Educational Technologyand a BA in Communication/Journalism.
Lynn Olson, Recruitment Coordinator
Originally from Butte, Montana, Lynn received herBachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering fromGonzaga University in 1995. Following some graduatestudy at the University of Notre Dame, she began herengineering consulting career with T-O Engineers (formerlyToothman-Orton Engineering) in Boise in 1997 beginningwith the design of the Hidden Springs Planned Communitywhere she remained as a design engineer until 2010. Shecontinues to work for T-O part time with her work focusingon floodplain and bridge hydraulic studies. She has beenactively involved with the Idaho Society of Professional
Engineers since 2003 serving as Southwest Chapter and State President and currentlythe State Secretary/Treasurer. She has volunteered since 2004 on the Idaho NationalEngineers Week Future City Steering Committee promoting engineering to 6th-8thgrade students, serving the last 3 years as the Idaho Regional Coordinator. Along withvolunteering, her free time is spent reading, traveling and cheering on the Gonzagabasketball and Boise State football teams.
Meet COEN’s Peer Advisors
Meet COEN’s Academic Advising Coordinators
Engineering Student Success
Ashley Bradley, mechanical engineering
Ashley Alexander, civil engineering
Nilab Mohammad Mousa, computer science
Taylor Coleman, civil engineering
Engineering Grad Prepared NASA Spacecraft for Blast Off to Mars By Matt Pene
NASA launched its mostadvanced mobile roboticlaboratory to search for lifeon Mars in November and arecent Boise State Universitygraduate played an integralrole in making sureeverything went according to plan.
Dan Isla, a 2009electrical engineering graduate, joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratoryas an electrical systems engineer shortly after graduation. He works on atest and launch operations team for the Mars Science Laboratory missionthat will carry Curiosity, a one-ton rover with more scientific capabilitythan any other sent to another planet.
Scheduled for a nearly two-year mission to Mars, Curiosity launchedatop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
For the past two years, Isla helped assemble the rover andperformed the functional testing of the entire flight system to confirmthe health and safety of the spacecraft. His specific role on the team wasto send commands to the rover during testing and launch operations andto verify that the data being sent back is accurate. He also created a“spacecraft baseline test,” which was used to ensure every copperconnection throughout the system was working properly. Notably, it was
the final functional test run on the spacecraft while atop the rocket,certifying it is ready for the journey to Mars.
On the day of launch, Isla worked in the control room andconducted the final configuration of the spacecraft, as well astransitioning it to internal power on the rover batteries just prior tolift-off.
“One thing that I think is cool is that I got to work with the realhardware going to Mars and watched parts on a table become a fullyfunctional rover ready to explore another planet,” Isla said. “When I wasa child growing up in Boise I wanted to be an astronaut, and spacecraftengineering has really fulfilled that dream for me. I remember beinginspired when I was younger, hearing about the early Mars missions andseeing the first images from another planet surface on the Internet.Today, it really is a dream come true to be an integral part of NASA’sMars exploration program.”
At Boise State, Isla took research to new heights as the studentleader of an engineering project conducted in NASA’s MicrogravityUniversity program. The project, which dealt with lunar surface tractionconcepts, helped NASA engineers anticipate challenges in designingbetter rovers for future manned missions to the moon. Isla was active inengineering student clubs and honor societies and was named theCollege of Engineering’s Outstanding Graduating Student in theElectrical and Computer Engineering Department.
Research Highlights
In recognition of his lifelong achievements as a scientist andfor his contributions to Boise State, Bernard Yurke was recentlynamed Distinguished Research Fellow. Dr. Yurke is the firstresearcher at Boise State to receive this distinction.
Maria Mitkova, Electrical & Computer Engineering, is part of ateam that received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department ofDefense to improve the performance of technology where radiation ispresent.
Mitkova will work with Arizona State University engineeringprofessors Hugh Barnaby and Michael Kozicki to study a specializedmaterial called chalcogenide glasses, which is a glass containing one ormore chalcogenide elements such as sulfur and selenium. They arecurrently found in rewritable DVDs, infrared detectors and lenses,among others. The compounds are useful because they can changephysical and electrical properties when photons or radiation with shorterwavelengths redistribute metal atoms within their interiors. Mitkova, anexpert in chalcogenide glass systems, will provide studies of radiation-induced changes in the properties of the material and related devices. Toread more go to:http://news.boisestate.edu/update/2012/01/09/boise-state-engineer-to-help-develop-hostile-environment-control-technology/
6 3College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012 College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012
Tory Garcia CM ’02is working as a project manager forProbst Electric, a transmission anddistribution contractor in Heber,Utah. Her current project is a 200plus mile transmission line runningfrom Montana to Canada.
Matthew Leslie ECE ‘03is entering his fifth year withMarvell Semiconductor in Boise. AsSenior Engineer, his primaryresponsibility is signal integrityanalysis. He is pictured with firstchild, Elizabeth Grace Leslie, born onMay 12, 2011.
Maria Tracy Meeks , CE ’04, tookthe College of Engineeringinternational in October when sheset up a COEN booth at a collegenight at Ramstein Air Base inGermany where she works as anSRM Programmer in the AssetManagement program. The eventintroduced military familydependents, mainly graduatingstudents from Kaiserslautern HighSchool, who are looking atuniversities in the United States.
T.J. Bird, CE , ‘06is working as a Site Manager forBlattner Energy. Since graduatingfrom the Boise State CivilEngineering Program, he worked hisway up from a Field Engineer to SiteManager which is Blattner’s term fora Project Superintendent. As a SiteManager, he has overseen theconstruction of two wind projects innortheast Arizona and is currentlyoverseeing the construction of a189MW Wind Project 13 miles westof Rosamond, CA. He received theCarpe Ventum award from theDepartment of Energy WindPowering America in 2009 for the
Dry Lake Wind project, which wasthe first commercial project for thestate of Arizona. The Dry Lake Iproject was 63MW and the secondphase, Dry Lake II, was 65.1MW.Both projects were Suzlon S882.1MW Wind Turbines. Overall, hehas been involved in theEngineering, Permitting andConstruction of over 1,200MW ofWind Energy in the western US. Sofar, Blattner has employed him inWashington, Oregon, Montana,Minnesota, Arizona and California.
Christian Gellert, ME ‘06 passedhis Professional Engineers Exam inMechanical Engineering. He isemployed at DC Engineering inMeridian, Idaho.
Chris Raymes, EE ’07,is working as a Senior SystemsEngineer with Apex ManufacturingSolutions in Boise. He lives in Eaglewith wife Rachel, daughter Lily(3yr), and son Ethan (2yr).
Shannon Shaffer (Penrod) CM ’07started working for ACHD inNovember as a contract technician.
She got married in April 2010 andwent from Shannon Penrod toShannon Shaffer, and had hersecond son in Nov 2010.
Rebecca Ahern, ME ‘ 09,marriedBrent Ludwig, July 9th, 2011, aboardthe Royal Argosy in Seattle, WA .
John Katzenberger, ME ’09 hasbeen working at Rain For Rent inDickinson, North Dakota for the pastyear as a project manager. His workinvolves special projects forpumping water for oilfieldhydrofracturing processes, floodremediation in the Minot, ND, area,and creating heating solutions forwater transfer in freezing conditions.He is pictured on a recent familyouting at Crazyhorse NationalMonument near Mt. Rushmore inSouth Dakota.
Mo Nguyen, ME ’10, is working as a Mechanical Engineerfor Wylie Labs at the Johnson SpaceCenter. Mo had previously served asan intern for NASA in Langley, VAduring summer 2009.
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Microgravity U 2011
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Alumni NotesWe want to stay in touch.Please send your updates toLeandra Aburusa-Lete [email protected]
Alumni News become the gold standard in diagnosing diseases,especially where medical equipment andresources are rare.”
The detection of lung cancer will be theinitial research focus. Now in the early stages ofresearch, the team is operating syntheticmolecular machines in human blood and serum.The motivation is to learn how to stabilize DNA-based chemical reaction networks in bodily fluids.
“The great thing about the W.M. KeckFoundation is that their risk appetite encouragesbig science Hughes said. “So far we are workingtowards creating the first synthetic molecularmachines designed to perform mechanical andchemical work inside human blood and serum.”
In addition to the interdisciplinary facultyteam conducting the research, there are also twofulltime graduate students and twoundergraduate students providing support.Hughes said he is currently looking for additionalgraduate students.
DNA machinery, materials for energy applications, biomaterials, materials characterization andmaterials modeling. The doctoral program will begin in August 2012 and initially enrollapproximately six students, growing to about 50 students in six years.
Boise State’s materials science and engineering department has grown rapidly since itscreation in 2004 into one of the largest MSE departments in the region, with more than 110students. University officials say the establishment of an MSE doctoral program will support thegrowing need of local industries such as Micron Technology Inc., as well as regionalorganizations such as the Idaho National Laboratory, by creating more opportunities for hands-on participation in advanced and applied research.
Recognizing the need for a stronger foundation in materials science in the area, the MicronTechnology Foundation has generously donated $13 million, the largest gift in Boise Statehistory, to help start the new MSE doctoral program.
Trying to Diagnose Cancer Continued From Page 1New Ph.D. Continued From Page 1
Cheryl Jorcyk, Bernard Yurke, Will Hughes,Elton Graugnard and Jeunghoon Lee.
COEN Faculty in Action
Darryl Butt, chair of the Department of Materials Scienceand Engineering, was featured in a front-page Idaho Statesmanphoto and story about Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to fund techresearch in order to create Idaho jobs. Called IGEM (Idaho GlobalEntrepreneurial Mission), the program also was featured in aKTVB Channel 7 story that featured Butt and Amy Moll, interimdean of the College of Engineering.
Amy Moll, Interim Dean of the College of Engineering, was featured inthe Beyond the Blue Podcast: Living in a Materials World. In this podcast, Dr.Moll explains how everyday objects are made of materials designed to havespecific properties and performance.
Michelle Sabick, Interim Chair and Associate professorin the Department of Mechanical and BiomedicalEngineering was featured in the Beyone the Blue Podast:Human Engineering: The Basics of Joint Replacement. In this podcast, Dr.Sabick outlines how engineers overcome those challenges to make jointreplacement an increasingly common and usually successful procedure thatimproves the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people every year.
A journal paper written by Gang-Ryung Uh, professor of computerscience, was published in the IEEE Computer Architecture Letters.
Mandar Khanal, associate professor in the Departmentof Civil Engineering, presented a paper titled “SustainableTransport Development for Kathmandu Valley” at theInternational Conference on Sustainable Development ofTransport System held in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 19-22.
John Chiasson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been named a 2012 IEEE Fellow,one of the association’s most prestigious honors. Chiasson’s research is in areas related to systems and controls.
Elisa Barney Smith, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was the keynote speaker atHewlett Packard’s corporate-wide conference on image processing. She discussed techniques and current practices to“clean up” digital images and pictures.
Amit Jain, associate professor of computer science, was quoted in a KTVB story about the demand for computersoftware engineering graduates. Jain said that in order to meet the need, Idaho’s universities need resources to grow.
Arvin Farid, professor of civil engineering, presented at the ninth International Environmental GeotechnicsSymposium at Kyoto University and was part of a group of 12 professors who traveled to Japan to meet with theJapanese counterparts in the second U.S. Japan Geoenvironmental Engineering Workshop.
4 5College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012 College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012
Students in Action
Boise State President Bob Kustra presented the university’sTrailblazer award to members of Greenspeed, the student club that lastfall built and raced the world’s fastest vehicle that runs on vegetable oil.
In November, Greenspeed shattered the existing 109-mph record forvegetable oil-fueled vehicles with a run of 139 mph in their modified1998 Chevrolet S-10. The next day, they broke their own record with arun of 155 mph. The project was designed to demonstrate the potentialof vegetable oil as an alternative fuel to traditional petroleum products.
“We talk often about how Boise State research goes ‘beyond theblue’ and this is a perfect example of that,” Kustra said during thepresentation at his annual spring address to faculty and staff.“Greenspeed’s spectacular success is a shining example of the capabilitiesand ingenuity of our students. Their dedication tobuilding this truck from scratch and then showingthe world its capabilities is a testament toperseverance, fine engineering skills and good oldBronco spirit.”
The Greenspeed team was invited to theWashington Auto Show Jan. 26-Feb. 5. The event isthe largest public show in Washington, D.C., andalso the premier place for showcasing the latestinnovations in sustainable technologies anddrawing the most influential leaders in the autoindustry. The team, its truck and its
accomplishment will be highlighted as part of the show’s overarchingtheme of “Safety and Sustainability in Motion.”
The club, made up of undergraduates from the College ofEngineering, includes Jenny Kniss; Ken Fukumoto of Portland, Ore.; AdrianRothenbuhler of Bern, Switzerland; Patrick Johnston of Boise; SethFueurborn of Pocatello; Mike Van Kirk of Boise; and Dave Schenker ofKetchum. Schenker is the leader and founder of the club and the driver ofthe truck during its record-breaking runs.
Later this year, the team hopes to set even more records byovertaking the existing 215-mph record for petroleum-fueled trucks intheir division. Their first attempt will come next summer at theBonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
For more information about Greenspeed, visithttp://greenspeed.me
Boise State Universitystudents and faculty are gearingup for a research project that is outof this world.
For the fourth straight year, aBoise State research team hasbeen accepted into NASA’scompetitive MicrogravityUniversity program.
Alsoknown as theReduced Gravity
Education Flight Program, Microgravity University2012 challenges undergraduate students to design,fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced gravityexperiment that ultimately contributes to NASA’smission to advance human exploration, use anddevelopment of space. Boise State joins 13 otherstudent teams, including those from MIT, Yale andPurdue.
The students will conduct their experiment June8-16 during Flight Week at the Johnson Space Centerin Houston, Texas. The experience during Flight Weekincludes hands-on experimental research andinteraction with some of the world’s top technical minds at NASA. Thestudents also will experience weightlessness when they test theirexperiment onboard the “Weightless Wonder.” The aircraft flies extremeparabolic maneuvers over the Gulf of Mexico, simulating hypergravityand microgravity from two times the force on Earth to what someonewould feel walking on the moon and floating in space.
With nearly all new members, Boise State’s team will build upon lastyear’s study that looked at cellular mechanisms associated with bonedensity loss suffered by astronauts who endure long periods ofweightlessness. That study found a direct correlation between changes ingravity and changes in calcium concentrations in a certain type of bonecells. This year’s team will validate and quantify those results byincreasing the sample size from five to 96. They are designing andbuilding a new apparatus with a lens and charge-coupled device-basedsystem that will monitor the entire sample set simultaneously, ratherthan one by one. This year’s team also will expand the research byincluding an additional type of bone cells in their experiment.
“Our students continue to shine for Boise State as this programhelps the university evolve as a metropolitan research university ofdistinction,” said Barbara Morgan, distinguished educator in residenceand former NASA astronaut. “If we can understand what is happening inmicrogravity to cause bone loss, maybe we can help people all over theworld. These are undergraduates doing graduate-level research.”
The research team represents several departments in the College ofArts and Sciences and the College of Engineering, and for the first timeincludes a student pursuing a degree in secondary education. The teamwill visit local school districts to engage K-12 students in a series oflessons on life sciences, engineering and the excitement of getting toexperience weightlessness.
“Last year, we couldn’t do as much as we had hoped. So this year wedecided to expand the experiment and validate what we saw was reallyhappening. It’s very exciting,” said David Connolly, junior mechanical
engiineering magor and team leader.
Working with faculty advisersElisa Barney Smith, Alark Joshi, JuliaOxford, Robert Hay, Sarah Haightand Morgan along with researchassistant Benjamin Davis, the teamwill work through the winter andspring to design, build and test theirexperiment in preparation for FlightWeek in June. The students also will bewriting grant proposals to help withequipment and travel costs.
Participating students include:Jason Archer, Matthew Dolan andMarie Tharp (electrical & computer
engineering); Eugene Castro and David Connolly (mechanicalengineering); Lindsey Catlin (biology); Reilly Clark (appliedmathematics/biology); and Audra Phelps (biology/secondaryeducation).
For more information, visit:http://boisestatemicrogravity2012.blogspot.com and NASA’sMicrogravity University at http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov
Boise State Research Team Accepted Into NASA’S Microgravity University 2012
President Kustra Presents TrailblazerAward to Greenspeed for World’sFastest Vehicle By Matt Pene
photo credit:Luke Salewski
“This project is truly interdisciplinaryand addresses a real world problem.
It’s a biology project, it’s aneducation project and it’s an
engineering project. No one personcan do this project without the help
of other team members.” – David Connolly,junior mechanical engineering major
4 5College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012 College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012
Students in Action
Boise State President Bob Kustra presented the university’sTrailblazer award to members of Greenspeed, the student club that lastfall built and raced the world’s fastest vehicle that runs on vegetable oil.
In November, Greenspeed shattered the existing 109-mph record forvegetable oil-fueled vehicles with a run of 139 mph in their modified1998 Chevrolet S-10. The next day, they broke their own record with arun of 155 mph. The project was designed to demonstrate the potentialof vegetable oil as an alternative fuel to traditional petroleum products.
“We talk often about how Boise State research goes ‘beyond theblue’ and this is a perfect example of that,” Kustra said during thepresentation at his annual spring address to faculty and staff.“Greenspeed’s spectacular success is a shining example of the capabilitiesand ingenuity of our students. Their dedication tobuilding this truck from scratch and then showingthe world its capabilities is a testament toperseverance, fine engineering skills and good oldBronco spirit.”
The Greenspeed team was invited to theWashington Auto Show Jan. 26-Feb. 5. The event isthe largest public show in Washington, D.C., andalso the premier place for showcasing the latestinnovations in sustainable technologies anddrawing the most influential leaders in the autoindustry. The team, its truck and its
accomplishment will be highlighted as part of the show’s overarchingtheme of “Safety and Sustainability in Motion.”
The club, made up of undergraduates from the College ofEngineering, includes Jenny Kniss; Ken Fukumoto of Portland, Ore.; AdrianRothenbuhler of Bern, Switzerland; Patrick Johnston of Boise; SethFueurborn of Pocatello; Mike Van Kirk of Boise; and Dave Schenker ofKetchum. Schenker is the leader and founder of the club and the driver ofthe truck during its record-breaking runs.
Later this year, the team hopes to set even more records byovertaking the existing 215-mph record for petroleum-fueled trucks intheir division. Their first attempt will come next summer at theBonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
For more information about Greenspeed, visithttp://greenspeed.me
Boise State Universitystudents and faculty are gearingup for a research project that is outof this world.
For the fourth straight year, aBoise State research team hasbeen accepted into NASA’scompetitive MicrogravityUniversity program.
Alsoknown as theReduced Gravity
Education Flight Program, Microgravity University2012 challenges undergraduate students to design,fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced gravityexperiment that ultimately contributes to NASA’smission to advance human exploration, use anddevelopment of space. Boise State joins 13 otherstudent teams, including those from MIT, Yale andPurdue.
The students will conduct their experiment June8-16 during Flight Week at the Johnson Space Centerin Houston, Texas. The experience during Flight Weekincludes hands-on experimental research andinteraction with some of the world’s top technical minds at NASA. Thestudents also will experience weightlessness when they test theirexperiment onboard the “Weightless Wonder.” The aircraft flies extremeparabolic maneuvers over the Gulf of Mexico, simulating hypergravityand microgravity from two times the force on Earth to what someonewould feel walking on the moon and floating in space.
With nearly all new members, Boise State’s team will build upon lastyear’s study that looked at cellular mechanisms associated with bonedensity loss suffered by astronauts who endure long periods ofweightlessness. That study found a direct correlation between changes ingravity and changes in calcium concentrations in a certain type of bonecells. This year’s team will validate and quantify those results byincreasing the sample size from five to 96. They are designing andbuilding a new apparatus with a lens and charge-coupled device-basedsystem that will monitor the entire sample set simultaneously, ratherthan one by one. This year’s team also will expand the research byincluding an additional type of bone cells in their experiment.
“Our students continue to shine for Boise State as this programhelps the university evolve as a metropolitan research university ofdistinction,” said Barbara Morgan, distinguished educator in residenceand former NASA astronaut. “If we can understand what is happening inmicrogravity to cause bone loss, maybe we can help people all over theworld. These are undergraduates doing graduate-level research.”
The research team represents several departments in the College ofArts and Sciences and the College of Engineering, and for the first timeincludes a student pursuing a degree in secondary education. The teamwill visit local school districts to engage K-12 students in a series oflessons on life sciences, engineering and the excitement of getting toexperience weightlessness.
“Last year, we couldn’t do as much as we had hoped. So this year wedecided to expand the experiment and validate what we saw was reallyhappening. It’s very exciting,” said David Connolly, junior mechanical
engiineering magor and team leader.
Working with faculty advisersElisa Barney Smith, Alark Joshi, JuliaOxford, Robert Hay, Sarah Haightand Morgan along with researchassistant Benjamin Davis, the teamwill work through the winter andspring to design, build and test theirexperiment in preparation for FlightWeek in June. The students also will bewriting grant proposals to help withequipment and travel costs.
Participating students include:Jason Archer, Matthew Dolan andMarie Tharp (electrical & computer
engineering); Eugene Castro and David Connolly (mechanicalengineering); Lindsey Catlin (biology); Reilly Clark (appliedmathematics/biology); and Audra Phelps (biology/secondaryeducation).
For more information, visit:http://boisestatemicrogravity2012.blogspot.com and NASA’sMicrogravity University at http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov
Boise State Research Team Accepted Into NASA’S Microgravity University 2012
President Kustra Presents TrailblazerAward to Greenspeed for World’sFastest Vehicle By Matt Pene
photo credit:Luke Salewski
“This project is truly interdisciplinaryand addresses a real world problem.
It’s a biology project, it’s aneducation project and it’s an
engineering project. No one personcan do this project without the help
of other team members.” – David Connolly,junior mechanical engineering major
6 3College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012 College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012
Tory Garcia CM ’02is working as a project manager forProbst Electric, a transmission anddistribution contractor in Heber,Utah. Her current project is a 200plus mile transmission line runningfrom Montana to Canada.
Matthew Leslie ECE ‘03is entering his fifth year withMarvell Semiconductor in Boise. AsSenior Engineer, his primaryresponsibility is signal integrityanalysis. He is pictured with firstchild, Elizabeth Grace Leslie, born onMay 12, 2011.
Maria Tracy Meeks , CE ’04, tookthe College of Engineeringinternational in October when sheset up a COEN booth at a collegenight at Ramstein Air Base inGermany where she works as anSRM Programmer in the AssetManagement program. The eventintroduced military familydependents, mainly graduatingstudents from Kaiserslautern HighSchool, who are looking atuniversities in the United States.
T.J. Bird, CE , ‘06is working as a Site Manager forBlattner Energy. Since graduatingfrom the Boise State CivilEngineering Program, he worked hisway up from a Field Engineer to SiteManager which is Blattner’s term fora Project Superintendent. As a SiteManager, he has overseen theconstruction of two wind projects innortheast Arizona and is currentlyoverseeing the construction of a189MW Wind Project 13 miles westof Rosamond, CA. He received theCarpe Ventum award from theDepartment of Energy WindPowering America in 2009 for the
Dry Lake Wind project, which wasthe first commercial project for thestate of Arizona. The Dry Lake Iproject was 63MW and the secondphase, Dry Lake II, was 65.1MW.Both projects were Suzlon S882.1MW Wind Turbines. Overall, hehas been involved in theEngineering, Permitting andConstruction of over 1,200MW ofWind Energy in the western US. Sofar, Blattner has employed him inWashington, Oregon, Montana,Minnesota, Arizona and California.
Christian Gellert, ME ‘06 passedhis Professional Engineers Exam inMechanical Engineering. He isemployed at DC Engineering inMeridian, Idaho.
Chris Raymes, EE ’07,is working as a Senior SystemsEngineer with Apex ManufacturingSolutions in Boise. He lives in Eaglewith wife Rachel, daughter Lily(3yr), and son Ethan (2yr).
Shannon Shaffer (Penrod) CM ’07started working for ACHD inNovember as a contract technician.
She got married in April 2010 andwent from Shannon Penrod toShannon Shaffer, and had hersecond son in Nov 2010.
Rebecca Ahern, ME ‘ 09,marriedBrent Ludwig, July 9th, 2011, aboardthe Royal Argosy in Seattle, WA .
John Katzenberger, ME ’09 hasbeen working at Rain For Rent inDickinson, North Dakota for the pastyear as a project manager. His workinvolves special projects forpumping water for oilfieldhydrofracturing processes, floodremediation in the Minot, ND, area,and creating heating solutions forwater transfer in freezing conditions.He is pictured on a recent familyouting at Crazyhorse NationalMonument near Mt. Rushmore inSouth Dakota.
Mo Nguyen, ME ’10, is working as a Mechanical Engineerfor Wylie Labs at the Johnson SpaceCenter. Mo had previously served asan intern for NASA in Langley, VAduring summer 2009.
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Alumni News become the gold standard in diagnosing diseases,especially where medical equipment andresources are rare.”
The detection of lung cancer will be theinitial research focus. Now in the early stages ofresearch, the team is operating syntheticmolecular machines in human blood and serum.The motivation is to learn how to stabilize DNA-based chemical reaction networks in bodily fluids.
“The great thing about the W.M. KeckFoundation is that their risk appetite encouragesbig science Hughes said. “So far we are workingtowards creating the first synthetic molecularmachines designed to perform mechanical andchemical work inside human blood and serum.”
In addition to the interdisciplinary facultyteam conducting the research, there are also twofulltime graduate students and twoundergraduate students providing support.Hughes said he is currently looking for additionalgraduate students.
DNA machinery, materials for energy applications, biomaterials, materials characterization andmaterials modeling. The doctoral program will begin in August 2012 and initially enrollapproximately six students, growing to about 50 students in six years.
Boise State’s materials science and engineering department has grown rapidly since itscreation in 2004 into one of the largest MSE departments in the region, with more than 110students. University officials say the establishment of an MSE doctoral program will support thegrowing need of local industries such as Micron Technology Inc., as well as regionalorganizations such as the Idaho National Laboratory, by creating more opportunities for hands-on participation in advanced and applied research.
Recognizing the need for a stronger foundation in materials science in the area, the MicronTechnology Foundation has generously donated $13 million, the largest gift in Boise Statehistory, to help start the new MSE doctoral program.
Trying to Diagnose Cancer Continued From Page 1New Ph.D. Continued From Page 1
Cheryl Jorcyk, Bernard Yurke, Will Hughes,Elton Graugnard and Jeunghoon Lee.
COEN Faculty in Action
Darryl Butt, chair of the Department of Materials Scienceand Engineering, was featured in a front-page Idaho Statesmanphoto and story about Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to fund techresearch in order to create Idaho jobs. Called IGEM (Idaho GlobalEntrepreneurial Mission), the program also was featured in aKTVB Channel 7 story that featured Butt and Amy Moll, interimdean of the College of Engineering.
Amy Moll, Interim Dean of the College of Engineering, was featured inthe Beyond the Blue Podcast: Living in a Materials World. In this podcast, Dr.Moll explains how everyday objects are made of materials designed to havespecific properties and performance.
Michelle Sabick, Interim Chair and Associate professorin the Department of Mechanical and BiomedicalEngineering was featured in the Beyone the Blue Podast:Human Engineering: The Basics of Joint Replacement. In this podcast, Dr.Sabick outlines how engineers overcome those challenges to make jointreplacement an increasingly common and usually successful procedure thatimproves the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people every year.
A journal paper written by Gang-Ryung Uh, professor of computerscience, was published in the IEEE Computer Architecture Letters.
Mandar Khanal, associate professor in the Departmentof Civil Engineering, presented a paper titled “SustainableTransport Development for Kathmandu Valley” at theInternational Conference on Sustainable Development ofTransport System held in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 19-22.
John Chiasson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been named a 2012 IEEE Fellow,one of the association’s most prestigious honors. Chiasson’s research is in areas related to systems and controls.
Elisa Barney Smith, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was the keynote speaker atHewlett Packard’s corporate-wide conference on image processing. She discussed techniques and current practices to“clean up” digital images and pictures.
Amit Jain, associate professor of computer science, was quoted in a KTVB story about the demand for computersoftware engineering graduates. Jain said that in order to meet the need, Idaho’s universities need resources to grow.
Arvin Farid, professor of civil engineering, presented at the ninth International Environmental GeotechnicsSymposium at Kyoto University and was part of a group of 12 professors who traveled to Japan to meet with theJapanese counterparts in the second U.S. Japan Geoenvironmental Engineering Workshop.
7College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012
From the Dean’s Desk
Happy New Year andWelcome to 2012. The newyear and a new semester is agood time to reflect on whatwas accomplished in the Fallsemester and our goals andexpectations for the rest ofthe academic year. InDecember, the State Board ofEducation approved the Ph.D.
in Materials Science and Engineering . We are verythankful to Micron Technology for their generous giftof $13 million to initiate this program. In the fewyears since the department’s inception in 2004, ithas grown to be a mid-size department on a nationalscale with more than 100 undergraduates andapproximately 35 master’s students. Thedepartment leads the university in researchexpenditures and partners with a variety ofresearchers across campus and throughout theregion. Over the next year we will be recruiting newfaculty members and graduate students to launchthis program.
Our faculty members continue to excel and areconsistently recognized for their work with numerousawards. Some recent highlights include R. JakeBaker, professor of Electrical and ComputerEngineering, who received the Education Awardfrom the IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society.Thad Welch, professor of Electrical and ComputerEngineering, was named the first SPEN (SignalProcessing Education Network) fellow. JohnChiasson, associate professor in Electrical andComputer Engineering was named an IEEE Fellow,"for contributions to control of electric machines andpower converters". In recognition of his lifelongachievements as a scientist and for his contributionsto Boise State, Bernard Yurke was recently namedDistinguished Research Fellow. Dr. Yurke is the firstresearcher at Boise State to receive this distinction.
We have also remodeled several facilities in theEngineering buildings to provide better support forstudent success. The classroom used for ENGR 120Introduction to Engineering was remodeled and is abeautiful space designed to encourage creativity,teamwork and innovation. The new advising centeralso opened and we have added several staffmembers including an advising coordinator, arecruiting coordinator and four peer advisors. Donutsand coffee during finals brought in a wide variety ofstudents and we hope they continue to visit thecenter throughout the year. A computer classroomwas also remodeled to accommodate more studentsand create an environment that is more conducive tolearning. If you are in the area, stop in, we wouldlove to give you a tour of the new facilities.
As we look forward, we are continuallychallenged by the difficult economic times and thereduction in state funding. We remain committed tooffering the highest quality education to ourstudents both in the classroom and in outsideopportunities.
Amy Moll
Interim Dean and ProfessorCollege of Engineering
College of Engineering Newsletter | Winter 2011-2012
Diana Garza, Academic Advising Coordinator
Diana joined the College of Engineering inSeptember of 2011. She joins COEN with a ten year historyat Boise State with a particular interest in helpingstudents find co-curricular opportunities to enhance theirclassroom learning. She has worked in several departmentsincluding Student Activities, the Cultural Center, CollegeAssistance Migrant Program and McNair Scholars. Diana isa Boise State Alum with a M.S. in Educational Technologyand a BA in Communication/Journalism.
Lynn Olson, Recruitment Coordinator
Originally from Butte, Montana, Lynn received herBachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering fromGonzaga University in 1995. Following some graduatestudy at the University of Notre Dame, she began herengineering consulting career with T-O Engineers (formerlyToothman-Orton Engineering) in Boise in 1997 beginningwith the design of the Hidden Springs Planned Communitywhere she remained as a design engineer until 2010. Shecontinues to work for T-O part time with her work focusingon floodplain and bridge hydraulic studies. She has beenactively involved with the Idaho Society of Professional
Engineers since 2003 serving as Southwest Chapter and State President and currentlythe State Secretary/Treasurer. She has volunteered since 2004 on the Idaho NationalEngineers Week Future City Steering Committee promoting engineering to 6th-8thgrade students, serving the last 3 years as the Idaho Regional Coordinator. Along withvolunteering, her free time is spent reading, traveling and cheering on the Gonzagabasketball and Boise State football teams.
Meet COEN’s Peer Advisors
Meet COEN’s Academic Advising Coordinators
Engineering Student Success
Ashley Bradley, mechanical engineering
Ashley Alexander, civil engineering
Nilab Mohammad Mousa, computer science
Taylor Coleman, civil engineering
Engineering Grad Prepared NASA Spacecraft for Blast Off to Mars By Matt Pene
NASA launched its mostadvanced mobile roboticlaboratory to search for lifeon Mars in November and arecent Boise State Universitygraduate played an integralrole in making sureeverything went according to plan.
Dan Isla, a 2009electrical engineering graduate, joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratoryas an electrical systems engineer shortly after graduation. He works on atest and launch operations team for the Mars Science Laboratory missionthat will carry Curiosity, a one-ton rover with more scientific capabilitythan any other sent to another planet.
Scheduled for a nearly two-year mission to Mars, Curiosity launchedatop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
For the past two years, Isla helped assemble the rover andperformed the functional testing of the entire flight system to confirmthe health and safety of the spacecraft. His specific role on the team wasto send commands to the rover during testing and launch operations andto verify that the data being sent back is accurate. He also created a“spacecraft baseline test,” which was used to ensure every copperconnection throughout the system was working properly. Notably, it was
the final functional test run on the spacecraft while atop the rocket,certifying it is ready for the journey to Mars.
On the day of launch, Isla worked in the control room andconducted the final configuration of the spacecraft, as well astransitioning it to internal power on the rover batteries just prior tolift-off.
“One thing that I think is cool is that I got to work with the realhardware going to Mars and watched parts on a table become a fullyfunctional rover ready to explore another planet,” Isla said. “When I wasa child growing up in Boise I wanted to be an astronaut, and spacecraftengineering has really fulfilled that dream for me. I remember beinginspired when I was younger, hearing about the early Mars missions andseeing the first images from another planet surface on the Internet.Today, it really is a dream come true to be an integral part of NASA’sMars exploration program.”
At Boise State, Isla took research to new heights as the studentleader of an engineering project conducted in NASA’s MicrogravityUniversity program. The project, which dealt with lunar surface tractionconcepts, helped NASA engineers anticipate challenges in designingbetter rovers for future manned missions to the moon. Isla was active inengineering student clubs and honor societies and was named theCollege of Engineering’s Outstanding Graduating Student in theElectrical and Computer Engineering Department.
Research Highlights
In recognition of his lifelong achievements as a scientist andfor his contributions to Boise State, Bernard Yurke was recentlynamed Distinguished Research Fellow. Dr. Yurke is the firstresearcher at Boise State to receive this distinction.
Maria Mitkova, Electrical & Computer Engineering, is part of ateam that received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department ofDefense to improve the performance of technology where radiation ispresent.
Mitkova will work with Arizona State University engineeringprofessors Hugh Barnaby and Michael Kozicki to study a specializedmaterial called chalcogenide glasses, which is a glass containing one ormore chalcogenide elements such as sulfur and selenium. They arecurrently found in rewritable DVDs, infrared detectors and lenses,among others. The compounds are useful because they can changephysical and electrical properties when photons or radiation with shorterwavelengths redistribute metal atoms within their interiors. Mitkova, anexpert in chalcogenide glass systems, will provide studies of radiation-induced changes in the properties of the material and related devices. Toread more go to:http://news.boisestate.edu/update/2012/01/09/boise-state-engineer-to-help-develop-hostile-environment-control-technology/
College of EngineeringEngineering and Technology Building1910 University DriveBoise, Idaho 83725-2100126A100001
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PAIDBoise, IdahoPermit No. 1
College of EngineeringInterim Dean: AMY MOLL
(208) 426-1153
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: JANET CALLAHAN(208) 426-1153
Assistant Dean for Research & Infrastructure: REX OXFORD(208) 426-5744
Civil EngineeringChair: ROBERT HAMILTON
(208) [email protected]
Computer ScienceChair: MURALI MEDIDI
(208) [email protected]
Construction ManagementChair: TONY SONGER(208) 426-3716
Electrical & Computer EngineeringChair: SIN MING LOO(208) 426-2283
Instructional &Performance Technology
Chair: DON STEPICH(208) 426-1312
Materials Science & EngineeringChair: DARRYL BUTT(208) 426-5640
Mechanical & Biomedical EngineeringInterim Chair: MICHELLE SABICK
(208) [email protected]
College of Engineering
New Ph.D. inMaterials Scienceand EngineeringStarts This Fall
Plans are moving fast toimplement the new doctoral degree inmaterials science and engineering.The program will prepare graduatesto be technical leaders and high-levelengineers in various fields ofmaterials production and research.The degree was approved by theIdaho State Board of Education inDecember and will be the secondPh.D. program in engineering –following the 2009 approval of thePh.D. in electrical and computerengineering.
“We are accepting applicationsright now for the Ph.D. track, and allstudents who are accepted willreceive funding,” said Darryl Butt,chair of the Department of MaterialsScience & Engineering at Boise State University. “We will be hiring nine newtenure track faculty members over the next three years.”
Students will be taught cooperatively by more than 20 faculty membersfrom departments in the College of Engineering and the College of Arts and
NewsletterNewsletter
Sciences. The new Ph.D. is research-focused and candidates will work withfaculty on funded projects in areas such as semiconductor device reliability,nanoscale fabrication, microelectronic packaging, shape memory alloys,
Continued on Page 3
Continued on Page 3
If Will Hughes, assistant professor of materials scienceand engineering, gets his way, his team will pioneer asimple and inexpensive blood test that will be able todetect a variety of diseases. Currently in year one of a threeyear, $1 million grant from the prestigious W. M. KeckFoundation, Hughes leads an interdisciplinary team ofprofessors in chemistry, biology and engineering as well ascollaborators at the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center,St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor and Medical ResearchInstitute, Idaho IDeA Network of Biomedical ResearchExcellence, and the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia.
“Our vision is to fundamentally change early-stagedisease diagnosis and treatment on a global scale,” Hughessaid. “By using engineered biochemical tools, disease-specific markers could be identified through a portableDNA-based device that is analogous to a disposablepregnancy test. We believe the system could potentially
Winter 2011-2012
Trying to Diagnose Cancer With a Simple Blood TestBy Margaret Scott
Boise State Engineering Magazine GoesPaperless
Alumni and friends of the college can now sign up to receive an electronic version ofthe College of Engineering Newsletter instead of a printed copy.
The College is offering this paperless option as a convenience to readers and toreduce its impact on the environment. To see this issue electronically, go to:http://coen.boisestate.edu/news/alumni-newsletter/.
If you would like to receive an email notification when we publish a new issue online,contact Leandra Aburusa at [email protected]. We will still mail one printed issueeach winter.
Still Ranked Among the BestBoise State’s College of Engineering was again ranked
among the best undergraduate engineering programs in thenation by U.S. News and World Report in its 2012 “America’sBest Colleges” issue, released on Sept. 13.
Boise State shares the No. 15 ranking among publicundergraduate progams and is tied for No. 37 ranking amongall undergraduate engineering programs with the University ofMassachusetts-Dartmouth. The rankings are based solely on asurvey of engineering deans and senior faculty at all accredited
programs, conducted during the spring of 2011.
Boise State improved on its 2011 rankings when it was tied for 16th among publicschools and tied for 42nd overall. The peer assessment went up from 2.9 to 3.1 on a 5.0scale.
The College of Engineering offers programs in civil engineering, computer science,materials science and engineering, construction management, electrical and computerengineering, mechanical and biomedical engineering, and instructional and performancetechnology.