DEPARTMENTAL NEWSLETTER FALL 2019
Notes on the cover: A member of student organization SAE Iowa BAJA is welding the metal frame of a car.
Follow us on social media! @uiowame Contact us at ME-dept@uiowa.edu
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Table of Contents
DEO Message Naval Science & Technology Certificate Udaykumar’s MURI Team ME Professors Awarded CRISP Funds FastPaks, LLC Design Sponsorship Industrial Advisory Board Member, Ken Sigman Graduate Student Highlights Faculty Announcements Student Organization Updates Student Awards & Accomplishments Katie Sailer—New ME Office Assistant Katie began working for ME mid-July of this year. This is the first newsletter issue she has contributed to! She previously worked at the UIHC for the Radiology Department, and served as Creative Director for UI Dance Marathon’s 25th Executive Team. Now, she is the lead design editor for Fool’s Magazine, and is working on her capstone BFA showcase. Katie is a Drawing BFA major, and is pursuing minors in communications studies and biology. While she originally intended to attend a graduate program for biomedical illustration, she recently decided to pursue a career in the graphic design and marketing field. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, running and working on personal illustration and animation projects.
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DEO Message In our first year 2018-2019 of the new department of Mechanical Engineering (ME), we launched a new curriculum with an elective focus area on Robotics and Autonomous Systems. The student feedback has been very positive. The final project showcase for the Modern Robotics and Automation was impressive and included prototypes of a Facial Recognition Security System, Bluetooth Smart Lock, and an Autonomous Car with Path Planning & Obstacle Avoidance among others. Encouragingly, our first-year undergraduate students accepted for the fall semester 2019 increased by 67% as compared with that of last year. Following the suggestion of our industrial advisory board, we have been conducting a design internship pilot program since this summer, which is designed to provide opportunities to students who wish to earn senior design credit for work completed during an internship or co-op experience. As for our graduate program, we launched a new Master of Science in Engineering and Information Technology (MSEIT) degree program in collaboration with the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The program is designed to target company employees in the Quad Cities area. We will keep you posted on the status of the design internship and MSEIT. Last year was a year of student success! Four of our graduate students received a total of 6 awards. Additionally, our undergraduate students were awarded and recognized in 8 of 13 categories at
the College of Engineering (CoE) Professional Development Spring Banquet 2019 in May. We are extremely proud of our students and share their accomplishments with you in the coming pages. We also highlight the stories of three professors and an alumnus. Professor and Interim Associate Dean Udaykumar co-won a Mmultidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Department of Defense award. This 5-year project will study energetic material design with machine learning. Associate Professor Buchholz renewed a ONR-STEM project that will significantly redesign a current certificate program, creating a brand new one that includes core courses in control and autonomous systems. Associate Professor Ratner was named an American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow. Mr. Sigman shares his experience as an alumnus and an industrial advisory board member. We hope that you enjoy the achievements and excitement from this past year. We look forward to all the possibilities ahead moving into this current year.
Ching-Long Lin, DEO Edward M. Mielnik and Samuel R. Harding Professor
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Naval Science & Technology Ce When one thinks of the University of Iowa, Naval Hydrodynamics may not be one of the first things that comes to mind. But ME Associate Professor and IIHR Associate Faculty Researcher James Buchholz is hoping to change that with the recent award of a 3-year ONR project grant. Buchholz and fellow faculty are overhauling the Naval Hydrodynamics certificate program by increasing its scope via new courses and improved hands-on and experimental learning strategies. Introducing the new and improved Naval Science and Technology (NS&T) Certificate. For students interested in joining the workforce in support of the Navy, this certificate is an important distinction that can be very helpful in getting their career started. Benefits include the technical knowledge gained, understanding of career paths and opportunities, and professional connections made through the program. Students whose careers are not 4
ultimately supporting the Navy will receive a highquality education that is very transferrable to other fields related to big data or autonomous systems. The project has three clear objectives: expansion of curriculum to include control & autonomy, strengthening of existing efforts, and outreach to a broader community. As many of the goals are tied to the curriculum, project milestone will be coordinated with course offerings. When Co-PI ME Assistant Professor Venanzio Cichella was asked what he is bringing to the courses with control & autonomy, he explained that we are “moving from understanding how objects behaved, to being able to control & manipulate their behavior in cooperative ways.� Students will learn the fundamentals of what is needed to make an object intelligent so that it may manipulate the environment itself. This incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning into the curriculum, which makes it designed to sit at
ertificate’s Maiden Voyage the top of the curve for state-of-the-art science & technology understanding. Another new contribution to the certificate will be development of online content to be accessible by students in the Iowa Marine Autonomous Racing Club (IMARC) and those working in the Fluids Workshop. This will further provide a knowledge base to facilitate a community of trained computational fluid dynamics users in the College. The development and launch of this certificate will take place over the next three years.
They have really great research here—amazing facilities that are really not common. I’d never seen a tow-tank before I came here. I’d never seen a wave basin before I came here. With Iowa’s state-of-the-art tow-tank and wave basin, Isaac Di Napoli, PhD Candidate, has access to some of the best technology in the field of naval ship hydrodynamics.
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Udaykumar Co-Leads Team for Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI)
Rockets and other high-speed flying machines require energetic materials to escape Earth’s gravity or to fly at very high altitudes. Hypersonic vehicles, aircraft that fly at five to 10 times the speed of sound (i.e. at more than a mile per second) demand fuels that release energy at very fast rates. Leadership by the United States in the hypersonic flight regime requires deep scientific understanding of advanced next generation energetic materials, but predicting the behavior of such materials is no easy task. In an effort to increase the capability of scientists to make such predictions, the U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a five year, multi-million grant for research on the subject. ME Professor and IIHR Research Engineer Udaykumar is the team’s Co-PI leading the efforts from UI faculty, which include Asst. Prof. Stephen Baek of the ISE Department. The project’s principle investigator is Prof. Tommy Sewell, Department of Chemistry, University of MissouriColumbia. “This collaborative project brings together experts in 6
chemistry, materials science, engineering mechanics, and machine learning to tackle the complex problem of designing fuels for very high speed applications,” says Udaykumar. “Flights at high speeds also present other design challenges. Safety is a huge concern due to extreme pressure, temperature, and stress. So to design safe operating systems under those conditions, we must understand the science and be able to reliably model their performance. We need experts from chemistry, materials science, physics, and engineering to work together with their specialist knowledge and cutting-edge toolboxes.” Udaykumar will use his computer simulation capabilities to study the physics of energetic materials under extreme conditions, while Baek will employ machine learning tools to understand the behavior of the materials from data generated by laboratory and computer experiments. Their combined efforts will produce a predictive burn model founded in fundamental physical chemistry, material science, and continuum mechanics, with
The project helps place Iowa on the map as a key contributor to the science of materials under extreme conditions. This has important national security and safety implications. vital integration realized using machine learning. The grant is part of the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards program, which awarded grants to 24 teams across the nation in 2019. The team also includes researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia University, Purdue University, and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. “The project helps place Iowa on the map as a key contributor to the science of materials under extreme conditions. This has important national security and safety implications. Materials can experience extreme conditions in hypersonic environments, including hypervelocity impacts in space and on earth, in rocket motors. or in the next generation of hypersonic propulsion devices. Therefore, the science and technology to be developed in this project can be useful in a wide range of futuristic applications,” says Udaykumar. We are extremely pleased to win this prestigious award. This is a culmination of last few years of relentless work of everyone in the group and we all are cherishing the fact that our team won against some of the other competitive teams in the pool. MURI will provide us the necessary platform to work with some of the best minds in the field of energetic materials and we are excited to be a part of it. - Nirmal Rai, Assistant Research Scientist
Josiah Gilbert Holland once remarked that “There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast withers rapidly; that which grows slowly endures.” I have worked with Uday for several years now and oh boy, I can say for sure that nothing describes our group’s road to the MURI better than the above quotation. This is a culmination of decades of Uday’s hard work, his meticulous nature, and his relentless, uncompromising attitude towards ensuring high-quality scientific work. In the bigger scheme of things, the MURI presents our group with the opportunity to make significant strides towards advancing the state-of-the-art in modeling and simulations and to prepare nextgeneration researchers for pushing the horizon in science and technology. Publications and more extensive future collaborations are, of course, humbling (albeit exciting) by-products! - Oishik Sen, Assistant Research Scientist
Kan, Xiao, and Ding Awarded Research Funding from CRISP
Inaugurating the University of Iowa Technology Institute (formerly CCAD) Research Initiative Seed Program (CRISP), eight faculty in the College of Engineering have been awarded a total of approximately $200K for FY2020. Established early in 2019, CRISP’s primary goal is to empower faculty and staff researchers in developing ideas and promoting efforts to secure external research funding for the University of Iowa. A significant portion of the seed fund awards will be used to support graduates students and postdoctoral researchers in working with faculty to conduct preliminary research and/or preparation activities necessary for and leading to the development and submission of competitive proposals for moderate to large-scale externally-sponsored research programs. Mechanical Engineering faculty Zhen Kan, Shaoping Xiao, and Hongtao Ding were among the eight recipients of the total $200K awarded.
Assistant Professor Zhen Kan
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Maintaining Satellite Coverage in Uncertain Operational Environments via Algebraic Topological Approaches, PI: Zhen Kan. The objective of this project is to provide a basic mathematical framework and solution techniques to enhance tactical satellite network operations. In particular, the project will focus on advancing Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of satellite networks by identifying and overcoming shortcomings in sensor coverage. Neural-Network-Enhanced Multiscale Modeling of Composites, PI: Shaoping Xiao. This project will develop a neural-network-enhanced multi-scale modeling and simulation method supporting the design of next-generation composite materials with advanced mechanical and thermal properties. Dynamically Tunable Metamaterial for Terahertz Spectroscopy, PIs: Hongtao Ding and Fatima Toor (Electrical & Computer Engineering). This research project will develop a new terahertz (THz) metamaterial with frequency-domain modulating functionality for THz spectroscopy, resulting in a new technical approach for dynamically tuning bandpass filter characteristics in real-time spectroscopic measurement applications.
Associate Professor Shaoping Xiao
Associate Professor Hongtao Ding
FastPaks, LLC Provides Students with Valuable Design Experience FastPaks, LLC was formed in February of 2018, and has been involved in the University of Iowa Engineering capstone design program since the company’s establishment. The MEDP (Mechanical Engineering Design Project) is a semester-long design course that provides students the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned to a real design project experience. The projects provided by FastPaks are unique in that they are all related to one another. This provides students with the realistic experience of taking a previous group’s findings and then building upon them. Each year, a new group of students can analyze potential configuration changes and aid in new design. “We were attracted to the capstone design program as we felt the students would bring new and fresh ideas to help us finalize the design, which is invaluable to a small company starting out. We continue to utilize those capabilities as the products evolve.” FastPaks, LLC has contributed 4 projects since the Spring semester of 2017. Their first submitted project was for a portable, modular and sustainable greenhouse; a phase 1 project they called an Agripak. Two teams worked to assess the merits of the design and provided coordinated recommendations. In the Fall 2017 semester they sought out a team to “improve manufacturability, remote assembly, integration of alternate power source connections, and potential for water reclamation capabilities” for the Agripak. In Fall 2018, after finalizing the Agripak design, a senior design team conducted a finite element analysis to assess sturdiness and stability in various environmental situations. Most recently, in Spring 2019, FastPaks asked a senior design team to provide construction ideas of their phase 2 product: ConstructionPak (aka ConPak). ConPak was developed to cater to growing market interest in hard side panels (as opposed to polycarbonate
panels). The student team provided possible solutions on how to best construct and attach these panels, as well as the possible addition of solar panels. “All of the senior design teams were, smart personable, and dedicated,” a FastPaks representative stated. “All of them provided us with new and fresh views of things, many of which we had not considered. Of particular note was the enthusiasm shown by the students. All of the teams seemed genuinely interested and excited to be working on our projects.” FastPaks is continuing their involvement with MEDP this Fall 2019 semester, in search of a team to assess solutions for their phase 3 project: GovernmentPak.
Fastpaks, LLC staff and student groups at the Spring 2019 senior design night, where students present their capstone project to faculty, staff, sponsors, and peers. Photo courtesy of FastPaks, LLC.
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Views from the Pentacrest: a student walks past the Seamans Center, home to the College of Engineering, on central campus. Photo by Tim Schoon.
Advisory Board Member Ken Sigman Talks Iowa, Industry, and More Looking back on his undergrad years, Ken Sigman notes how different it was to be a mechanical engineering student in the 90’s versus today. “At the time I attended Iowa, it was quite a privilege to have access to the very expensive computer systems in the engineering computer labs,” he remembered. “I recall waiting my turn, sometimes 30 to 60 minutes, to get onto an Apollo workstation to code an ‘e-mail’ in Unix and ‘live-chat’ with a friend studying engineering at The University of Illinois.” Yet, while the chalkboards have been replaced with digital, collaborative workspaces, new technologies are available for students every year, and wifi has long-since replaced dial-up, some things remain the exact same: the UI Mechanical Engineering staff and faculty’s devotion to setting their students up for success. When asked how UI prepared him for his future career, Sigman remarks: “Iowa taught me how to think and solve complex problems, how to work as part of a team and how to collaborate with other teams on projects. No matter which school or which degree, the learning never ends.” And for Sigman, the desire to continue learning truly hasn’t ended. Before graduating with his BSME in 1997, he began his career at Centro Inc. with an internship that led to a project engineer position, where he worked his way into the design side of the rotational molding business. 12
Iowa taught me how to think and solve complex problems, how to work as part of a team and how to collaborate with other teams on projects. No matter which school or which degree, the learning never ends.
By 2001 he had completed his MBA from the Tippie College of Business evening program, and was eager to further advance his career. “One day I learned Alpla was building a plant in Iowa City,” he recalls, “so I threw my hat in the ring—without any experience in packaging at the time.” Not only was the packaging industry new for Sigman, but the line of work was, too. “I never really saw myself in sales,” he said, “Alpla had a unique approach. Their sales team were not what most traditionally consider sales. They hired technicallyminded individuals who could not only maintain and build customer relationships, but who also could engage with customer engineers on designs, create their own pricing and even create business plans for expansions and new plants.” This approach is what led to the extraordinary expansion Sigman saw during his time in the company, something he got to share with several fellow Hawkeyes: “As a Hawkeye, I was always especially proud as they made a positive impact and advanced their careers.”
The UI Engineering Library was moved while the building underwent rennovations in 1997. Students seen here setting up and testing the computers after the move. Pictures are courtesty of the UI Litchenberger Engineering Library.
My career path is not a traditional engineering career path and I believe many of Iowa’s Engineering students may be a bit like me. Now, as Chief Commercial Officer at C&D Technologies and serving over 10 years on the Mechanical Engineering Advisory Board, Ken Sigman has watched the industry evolve and change at a rapid pace. “…I’ve always been in the manufacturing space. Technology never ceases to amaze me. It’s really been quite a revolution,” he states. Sigman’s combined years in the field and diverse experiences have given him a unique perspective to bring to the advisory board. “I was humbled when first asked to join the advisory board 10 years ago and am still humbled to be a part of it,” he says, “My career path is not a traditional engineering career path and I believe many of Iowa’s engineering students may be a bit like me. I try to bring different perspectives into our discussions from the roles I have served as well as the industries I have participated. It’s been exciting watching the engineering program change with technology and the world around us.” In a time of major (and exciting!) change within the ME curriculum, we are lucky to have forward-thinking staff, faculty, and advisory board to passionately guide our students toward success.
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Graduate Student Highlights
Baike She, PhD Candidate
During the summer months Baike She, PhD candidate, continued to expand his research network and experience while interning in Florida with the UF-Research & Engineering Education Facility. At his internship, many of Baike’s projects were for the US Air Force. Looking back on time there, he recalls his favorite event being the final presentation meeting at the end of the summer. Organized by the research faculty, Baike and other researchers shared findings at the 7th Annual Meeting of the AFRL Mathematical Modeling and Optimization Institute. Additionally, Baike fondly recalls working with a small group of researchers equally passionate about control, who came from different fields. “It was always inspiring to discuss with people in different topics in control theory and engineering,” he recounts. Baike’s research focuses on the control of network systems. Currently he is analyzing the performance of a network control system while under cyber-attack. This requires researches to look at systems which contain both cooperative and competitive interactions and learn how a cooperative interaction may be modified to be competitive. 14
Junchao Li, who is pursuing his master’s degree, decided to focus on Robotics and Automation in his graduate studies when research helped him connect with fellow students and faculty. “Their expertise and rigorous academic attitude [have] impressed me a lot,” he said of his colleagues. What initially drew Li to the field was the impact robotics and automation has on the manufacturing process, and the future of the industry is what has inspired him to continue his studies in higher education. Currently, Li conducts research on Linear Temporal Logic-based task and motion planning with Professor Zhen Kan in the CAR (Control, Automation, and Robotics) Lab. Not only does he spend time working with team members setting up and operating the KUKA IIWA robot arm and KMR Omnimove platform, he does theoretical research focused on higher-level task and motion planning on control and automation. Junchao Li, Masters Student
Dr. Kamran Samani has been promoted to Associate Professor of Instruction. As a result of his 5 years of teaching at the University of Iowa, Dr. Samani’s passion for student learning has left an impact not only on his pupils, but his colleagues as well. “He is an outstanding instructor explaining WHY not just how,” says one of Dr. Samani’s peers. He makes sure that his students feel engaged, supported, and inspired in each class he teaches. A student said of Dr. Samani: “He has an unrelenting passion for the material and he clearly demonstrates his desire to see all of his students succeed, as well as the ability to understand the pressures and stresses students face and accommodate their needs when necessary.”
Dr. H.S. Udaykumar has been appointed the Interim Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Research within the College of Engineering beginning this past July. When asked what he plans for his interim role, Uday responded “My focus is on bringing together the unique aspects and strengths of the College of Engineering to strengthen the research standing of the college. We are a small college, with very high-quality students and faculty who do very interesting, wide-ranging and important research. I would like to foster interdisciplinary research amongst faculty across the college and wider campus, support the research efforts of junior faculty and improve the visibility of research projects and personnel in the college.” Prof. Udaykumar will serve in this position for 2 years.
Dr. Albert Ratner was recently awarded an ASME Fellowship thanks to excellent leadership and his dedication to development. Dr. Ratner is not only the co-organizer of the annual Combustion Mini-Symposium, but also serves as a Track Chair for ASME’s International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in 2018 and 2019. He is an active member of the executive committee of the Central States Section of the Combustion Institute and conducts valuable research in the areas of combustion instability, turbulent, swirling combustion biomass gasification, multiphase droplet combustion and behavior, and complex biomedical flows.
Faculty Announcements 15
Updates from our Student Orgs In May, our AIAA University of Iowa Student Branch held a successful rocket launch. The rocket was a design challenge for our team working to design and recover a dual-deploy rocket. Integrated in the rocket was a full electronics bay including in-flight data tracking and an on-board camera. In October, we will hold a model rocket launch for all new members to launch low-powered rocketry which we will design over the first month of the semester. Following this we will be working to compete in the Space Grant Midwest High-Powered Rocket Competition. This competition takes place May 2020 in Minnesota. For the competition, our organization will design a high-powered rocket capable of reaching two set altitudes on different launches and have a camera system integrated to take panorama photos and visuals of the rocket during separation and landing.
UI American Society of Mechanical Engineers UIowa ASME is ever pursing to enhance its duties as a professional development organization. This year, UIowa ASME will travel to national ASME conferences and E-Festivals, host social events, and pursue volunteer opportunities. A club design team will also take a 3D-printed racing drone to Michigan State for the IAM3D Challenge in April of 2020. Hosted company visits are scheduled for the fall semester to give students a chance to learn more about potential future employers. UIowa ASME is also increasing connections between its members through a new mentorship program to allow younger students to network and socialize with older engineers. Other social events are hosted as a way for students to apply their skills in a friendly environment. Last April was the cardboard boat challenge, where 6 teams raced against one another in a hand-crafted cardboard boats at the Field House. 16
UI American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The AIAA Executive Board, May 2019.
Iowa Marine Autonomous Racing Club IMARC has a lot of projects we hope to accomplish. Building upon previous years’ progress, we are continuing to learn from our mistakes while refining parts of our design that has been proven. Our software, hardware, and hull and propulsion teams are ready to hit the ground running this semester. The software team will continue to work and improve our current code. We are currently using Java but are slowly trying to make our transition into utilizing Robotic Operating System (ROS). There is a steep learning curve for ROS but we are eager to learn. Our hardware team will be busy updating and checking over all of the components of the boat to make sure they are operational and work well with the new configuration. Last but not least, our hull and propulsion team will be busy with manufacturing our new hull in the coming weeks. We will use the same design from previous years but instead, we will make our hull out of fiberglass for the first time. We are hoping to have a complete boat by the start of next semester, and are excited for this upccoming year for IMARC.
UI American Wind Energy Association The American Wind Energy Association is currently in the process of designing our wind turbine! This year, we are hoping to build a few different functioning models and explore some different designs. We have been doing a lot of research into potential designs and are narrowing down some ideas to get the most efficient use out of the turbine as we can! We consider this year to be the second year of our “reboot.” Last year, we began constructing turbines and making sure club activity became more consistent. We collected all new supplies, reacquainted ourselves with our workspace, and recruited every member we
have today. As of current, we are fully functional with plenty of members, motivation, and direction to grow toward further success! Last year, our goal was to build a turbine that was able to power a phone. This year, we want to push our limits and create a turbine that is worthy of entering into competition. We have done some scouting of competitions, and are considering some we would like to participate in next year. We are very proud of the progress we have made and are looking forward to continued growth this year!
Iowa Formula Society of Automotive Engineers
(Above) Members pose with car frame. (Below) The team in Ontario, Canada for competition.
Last January, Formula SAE began the manufacturing of our first car. It was on all 4 wheels by the end of March, which proved to be a major milestone for our team. In late May, we attended the Formula SAE North Competition in Ontario, Canada. It was extremely exciting for our team and car. For some students, it was their first time being out of the country. Our team competed in the presentation, cost, and design events. Overall, we placed 11th out of 13 teams in the electric class. Although our goal wasn’t to place high in these events, our performance showed a great foundation that could be further improved. We greatly benefited from attending the competition. With help from SAE, we were given insightful feedback on how to better our car designs, overall preparation and team structure to succeed in competition. Our team learned about engineering, design, management and much more. We succeeded in developing the organization and laying the foundation for future successes. Since the competition, we’ve made several changes to our teams’ structure to help spread the workload and engage more students. We’ve also started making designs for our next car. We plan to continue competing in the electric category for its learning potential and relevance to industry. The experience all students are gaining are making us better engineers, leaders, and people. 17
Ballard & Seashore Dissertation Fellowship: Gurjap Singh & Qinghua Wang This nomination-based fellowship program provides an opportunity for Ph.D. students to benefit from a final semester of protected and supported time to focus on completing their scholarly research activities and the writing of their dissertations. Gurjap Singh
Qinghua Wang
Department of Defense Science, Mathematics & Research Transformation (SMART) Scholarship: Isaac DiNapoli Winners of this scholarship receive both a full scholarship to finish school and a full-time job with the Department of Defense once they complete school. Isaac DiNapoli
Student Innovator Award: Qinghua Wang This award is to honor an undergraduate or graduate student conducting research/scholarly innovation or new technology development that is recognized as highly original work that has led to intellectual property. The nomination process is conducted annually in partnership with the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR), Research Council, University of Iowa Research Foundation, and the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (JPEC). 18
Qinghua Wang
Student Awards & Accomplishments Outstanding Student Teaching Assistant Award: Avik Samanta This award is given by the Council of Teaching via a nomination process. Awardees receive a monetary award as well as a certificate presented at the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards Reception held in May of each year.
ME Earns 8 of 13 Awards Given at the College of Engineering Professional Development Awards 2019 Outstanding Student Organization Iowa Baja Engineer & Something More Martell Bell Outstanding Leader David Movitz, Iowa Formula Unsung Hero Paulina Kroczak, Iowa BAJA
Avik Samanta
Post-Comprehensive Research Fellowship: Avik Samanta This nomination-based fellowship program provides an opportunity for advanced Ph.D. students to benefit from protected and supported time to pursue their scholarly research activities. The fellowship is intended to recognize students with distinguished academic achievement during their early graduate training. These achievements should be evident from a combination of outstanding academic performance in coursework, as well as early scholarly research activities.
Outstanding Student Researcher Camilla Tabasso Outstanding Student Organization Advisor James Buccholz, IMARC Outstanding CoE Student Employee Maria Chusin Outstanding Student Teacher Stephen Pitts
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Mechanical Engineering The University of Iowa 103 South Capitol Street 3131 Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences Iowa City, IA 52242
Iowa Baja gets a new driver! Engineering student organizations met and mingled with first year students at the People in Engineering Living Learning Community event this fall. Photo by Justin Torner.