Utah State Engineer | 2023

News
& Events
USU Baja SAE Returns Successful in
Oregon Tournament
Renowned Professor Eli
Yablonovitch Visits USU
Hongjie Wang Wins Prestigious NSF
CAREER Award
Assistant Professor Hongjie Wang received the prestigious
CAREER award from the National Science Foundation for
his work on large-scale electrified transportation. The
$500,000 CAREER grant will allow Wang to continue to
advance the world of DC power distribution for accessible
electrification and increase diversity, equity, and inclusion
in engineering.
Utah State University’s Baja SAE chapter returned to Cache
Valley having achieved their best result in recent history at
this year’s Baja SAE Oregon competition. Their scores put
them in 18th position overall out of 86 teams. Baja SAE,
hosted by the Society of Automotive Engineers, consists of
competitions that simulate real-world engineering design
projects and their related challenges.
Lithium Battery Research
Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering Haoran Wang was granted $246,549 by
the National Science Foundation for his research on
harnessing mechanics for the design of lithium batteries.
Wang intends to use mechanics as a new method for
stabilizing the electrochemical process in batteries and
achieving a long cycling life.
Dr. Eli Yablonovitch, a professor emeritus at the University
of California, Berkeley, and father of the photonic bandgap,
presented his research in physics and carbon negative
technology at USU in April. He co-founded several
companies and has received many awards.
New USU Club Welcomes Queer
STEM Students
In 2022, the student organization oSTEM, which stands for
“Out in STEM,” opened its doors following the COVID-19
pandemic. The club provides services and support for
LGBTQIA+ students in science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics.
Students Receive Grant Funding
From Utah NASA Space Grant
Consortium
Three Utah State University engineering students were
awarded $6,200 in funding on behalf of the Utah Space
Grant Consortium for internships this past summer.
Adam Weaver and Payton Taylor spent their summer at
Northrop Grumman working in propulsion systems while
Bryan Gricius assisted in the development of a space
telescope at the Space Dynamics Lab.
ASCE Wins Big at Intermountain
Symposium
The Utah State University Chapter of the American Society
of Civil Engineers won awards in all event categories they
entered after a successful trip to Reno to compete in the
Intermountain Southwest Student Symposium. Students
competed in several events including a concrete canoe
race, a steel bridge competition, construction of a timber
building, and environmental, surveying, and writing
competitions. USU will host the ISWS conference in Spring
2024.
Doctoral Candidate Creates
Technique to Improve AI Energy
Efficiency
Ph.D. candidate Noel Daniel Gundi was the lead
collaborator on research addressing reliability and faults
in artificial intelligence. It focuses on the computer chip
used for artificial intelligence software, such as Google’s
search engines. He had his research published by the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and
the Association for Computing Machinery, a prestigious
publication venue in the electrical and computer
engineering field with a 23 percent selection rate.
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