From the Dean
Congratulations, you’ve survived the first day of the Fall 2017 semester!
I always love this week of the year as a new crop of undergraduate and graduate students find their way to our campuses and begin the process of learning what it means to be a Coug. This year, I’m sharing many of their experiences as I learn what my way around the five campuses that house Voiland College teachings. Thanks to all who have helped me in this process.
If you happen upon any lost young scholars, please do what you can to make them feel welcomed and direct them to where they want to go. I’ve felt completely welcomed by Voiland College’s Coug embrace and I know our new students will as well.
Go Cougs!
Mary Rezac, Dean
Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
mary.rezac@wsu.edu
Milestones
WSU Everett Ribbon Cutting
Last week, WSU Everett cut the ribbon on their new building! Check out the photos and a video.
WSU – OC Bremerton Celebration
Yesterday, WSU and Olympic College celebrated the opening of its newest engineering teaching facility on Olympic College’s Bremerton campus. The Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture offers students in Bremerton and vicinity two engineering degrees at Olympic College.
The partnership produced the first Bremerton-based mechanical engineering majors in 2012. Electrical engineering launched in 2015, with the first group of students set to graduate in May.
Congratulations
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering grad students received the following awards in Center for Environmentally Sustainable Transportation in Cold Climates’ Student Poster Competition: 1st: Justin Lim; 2nd: Soo-Min Ham; 3rd (tie): Harry Rodin III and Mehdi Honarvar Nazari
Alyssa Norris, an Honors College senior majoring in civil engineering, will serve as the student member of the Washington State University Board of Regents for the 2017-18 academic year.
Preetam Mohapatra, a Ph.D. ME student, recently won the 20017 SAMPE International Student Leadership Award, which is awarded to just 16 students globally.
Mehdi Hamid Vishkasougheh, a Ph.D. MSE student, was awarded a Minerals, Metals & Materials Society student travel grant to attend the Materials Science & Technology forum in October 2017 in Pittsburgh, PA.
Kjell Westra, a senior in ME, finished his summer internship at NASA-Glenn with a presentation on Cryogenic hydrogen permeation.
Carl Bunge, a 1st year graduate student in ME, finished his summer internship at NREL with a presentation on 3D computational fluid dynamic modeling of the Heisenberg Vortex tube.
Kellen Traxel, a new Ph.D. ME student, has been spending the summer at Aerojet Rocketdyne in the thermal analysis division using thermal software analysis tools to evaluate the temperatures within some of their rocket engines. As a result of winning a NSF travel grant, he also participated in an Additive Manufacturing conference in Las Vegas to showcase some of the research he has been doing in the lab in regard to advanced coating and material development.
A research team led by Shuiwang Ji, associate professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has for the first time developed a computer algorithm that is nearly as accurate as people are at mapping brain neural networks — a breakthrough that could speed up the image analysis that researchers use to understand brain circuitry. A report on the WSU team’s work is in the journal, Bioinformatics.
Computer science doctoral candidate Chris Cain last week helped teach young campers at a free computer programming camp for middle-schoolers.
New Requests for Proposals
| Title | Sponsor | Award | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering for Natural Hazards | NSF | Unspecified | 09/15/2017 |
| Global Faculty Research Awards | Up to $150,000 | 09/30/2017 | |
| Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program | NSF | $500,000 | 07/19/2018 |
Approaching Deadlines
| Title | Sponsor | Award | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| WSU I-Corps Fall Cohort | NSF | N/A | 08/25/2017 |
| Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers | NSF | Up to $2m | 09/05/2018 |
| NSF Scholarships in S-STEM | NSF | Varies by Program | 09/12/2017 |
Upcoming Seminars and Events
| Date | Event | Time | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24 | Voiland College Ice Cream Social | 3 PM | ETRL Courtyard |
| Aug 24 | Turn Your Passion Into Impact with WSU I-Corps (Can’t miss the Ice Cream Social? RSVP and receive a Ferdinand’s Grabber!) | 3 PM | PACCAR 202 |
| Aug 24 | MME Symposium Series Speaker: Professor Hussein Zbib | 11 AM | ETRL 119 |
| Aug 25 | VCEA Safety Training | 3 PM | ETRL 101 |
| Aug 29 | EECS Undergraduate Student Club Night | 4:10 PM | Sloan 146 |
Share Your Event
Add your upcoming events to the WSU event calendar and we’ll share them here each week!
Voiland College in the News
- The Herald: Boeing scholarship endowment for WSU in Everett honors mayor
- The Seattle Times: WSU’s new building: ‘the biggest thing Everett has ever done in terms of its future’
- Spokane Public Radio: New Streetlight Sensors Measure Air Quality
- Lewiston Tribune: UI-led team lands $3.4 million grant to help wheat farmers adapt to shifting conditions
- WSU News: WSU researchers receive $2.3M to improve U.S. power grid design
- WSU News: Colombian internship immerses students in academics, culture
- Engineering: Computers are Now Almost as Good as Humans at Mapping the Brain
Safety Tip of the Week
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2013, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), such as carpal tunnel syndrome or tendinitis, accounted for 33% of all worker injury and illness cases.
Work-related MSDs can be prevented. Ergonomics — fitting a job to a person — helps lessen muscle fatigue, increases productivity and reduces the number and severity of work-related MSDs.
Environmental Health and Safety offers guidelines and ergonomic evaluations to help employees enhance their comfort and prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
Send Us Your News
Include your kudos, opportunities, events, and more in the Voiland College This Week newsletter for employees.
DEADLINE: Submit items by 12 pm Thursday for inclusion in the following Tuesday newsletter.