Fall 2011 - College of Engineering - The University of Tennessee ...

ASCE Student Chapter Wins First Place at Southeast Student Conference
Dr. Dayakar Penumadu (fifth from right) and Dr. John Ma (third from left) celebrate with ASCE students from UT and Tongji University.
The University of Tennessee took home 1st place at the 2011 American
Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Southeast Student Conference
hosted by Tennessee Tech University on March 25-26. Approximately 50
undergraduate students from UT’s Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering (CEE) took part in 15 competitions and prepared for these
events most of the academic year. These competitions are designed to
explore student creative thinking in extending academic knowledge to
solving practical civil and environmental engineering problems.
“This is a significant accomplishment for our department and the College of
Engineering (COE),” said Dr. Dayakar Penumadu, CEE department head.
“We competed successfully and won against 26 participating universities
such as Florida, Vanderbilt, Auburn, etc. Many of our faculty and staff
were involved in helping the student groups on related competitions. They
provide an excellent opportunity to integrate classroom knowledge to
practical aspects of our profession.”
The event takes place every year, and the last time UT brought home
the first place overall trophy was in 2005. The UT conference chair was
Marianne Hutson, and the faculty advisor was Dr. John Ma.
Each year, UT invites Tongji University (Shanghai, China) to compete in
the competition. The university’s students flew into Knoxville and traveled
to Cookeville with UT students. Tongji University took home 3rd place at
the overall event. Drs. Baoshan Huang, Lee Han, Greg Reed and Ma were
instrumental in developing this international partnership with Tongji over
the past five years.
Following is a list of individual UT awards with the respective captains:
• Concrete Cubes – 1st: Patrick O’Leary
• Mystery Competition – 1st: Caleb Williams
IIE Shares Summer Program with Tecnológico de Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico
The Department
of Industrial
and Information
Engineering (IIE) at
the University of Tennessee has helped companies
within the renovation process by applying the
right tools for the right processes and helping
them to develop a sustainable culture. Based
on that experience, IIE developed a program
created specifically for students from Tecnológico
de Monterrey, that focuses on the development
of comprehensive experience in the Lean
methodology and its applications. The concept
of Lean has emerged as a feasible solution to
transform organizations, gaining competitiveness
by the wise use of available resources.
Along with the coursework, students in the
program, which began May 30th with 20 students
on the UT campus from June 4th through July
• Environmental Competition – 1st: Melissa MeKenzie and Reese DeBlois
• Surveying Competition – 2nd: Logan Johnson
• T-shirt Design – 2nd: Amanda Cruzen
• Transportation Competition – 2nd: Wesley Stokes
UT’s steel bridge team, led by Chris Haynes and Matt Hart, won 3rd place
overall, which qualified them to participate in the 2011 ASCE/AISC
National Student Steel Bridge Competition hosted by Texas A&M on May
20-21. The primary sponsor and co-sponsor of the event were the American
Institute of Steel Construction and ASCE, respectively.
The opportunity for as many team members as possible to make the trip in
order to represent the COE at a national competition was important to Ma.
With roughly a month between competitions, he began seeking sponsors
for the trip. The Knoxville branch of ASCE has been very supportive of
the student chapter over the years and decided to step in and help, which
resulted in lead sponsorship. Representatives from this branch agreed it was
a “natural response” to support its future members. In addition to ASCE
Knoxville, other co-sponsors included Professional Engineers, Inc., ASCE’s
Tennessee Section, the Middle Tennessee Section of the American Society
of Highway Engineers (ASHE), Britton Bridge, The Blalock Companies,
Chris Rhodes (BS/CE ’95, MS/CE ‘01) and Stephen Steele (BS/CE
’79). Their support collectively garnered $6,200 in necessary funding.
A total of seven students, as well as Larry Roberts (CEE design technician)
and Ma, were able to make the trip. UT placed 20th out of 48 schools,
placing higher than teams from many strong civil engineering programs
including Texas A&M, University of California, Berkeley, University of
Texas, Virginia Tech, University of Wisconsin and Penn State.
1st, were able to apply the concepts in a real-life
situation, working on a project with the help of
the faculty and research staff at the department.
The experience offered an excellent instruction,
a hands-on practice project to ensure the learning
process, and a cultural-recreational experience
to let them have a taste of the American college
life for the participants. IIE hopes to expand
the program to other international academic
institutions in the future.
COE Sponsors 2011 Smoky Mountains Regional FIRST Robotics Competition
The University
of Tennessee
(UT) College of
Engineering (COE),
along with several
other companies,
sponsored the 2011
Smoky Mountains
Regional: FIRST
Robotics Competition
at the Knoxville
Convention Center
March 31 through
April 2, 2011. Forty-six robotic teams from 14 states were in attendance.
The FIRST Robotics Competition is a long-standing challenge to inspire
curiosity and create interest in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics among high school students. Each year, the teams receive a kit
of parts and have six weeks to design and build a robot based on the team’s
interpretation of the game scenario provided by FIRST. Besides dimension
and weight restrictions, the look and function of the robots are up to each
individual team.
This year’s game was “LOGO MOTION.” Two alliances of three teams
competed on a 27-by-54-foot field with poles while attempting to earn points
by hanging as many triangle, circle and square logo pieces as possible. Bonus
points were earned for each robot that could hang and assemble logo pieces
to form the FIRST logo. Robots also deployed mini-bots that climbed vertical
poles for a chance to earn additional points.
These student teams competed for honors and
recognition in design excellence, competitive
play, sportsmanship and outreach toward
schools, area businesses and communities.
This year, the Hawks of Hardin Valley
Academy took the Rookie All Star Award
and the Highest Rookie Seed Award and Participants at the FIRST Robitics event
advanced to the championship held in St.
Louis, Mo. The Robowolves from Cordova High School in Memphis took the
Judges Award, and the Webb School of Knoxville student, Ishi Keenum, was
awarded as a FIRST Dean’s List finalist. The Seymour High School team took
home the Rookie Inspiration Award.
LJ Robinson, the Tennessee FIRST Regional Director, was recently appointed
to this position to develop the supportive committees and infrastructure of
Tennessee’s annual Smoky Mountains Regional event, as well as to procure the
financial support for its fruition. Robinson handles team recruitment, mentor
training, networking sponsorship for team support and coordination of FIRST’s
programs.
FIRST was founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen to inspire participation in
science and technology among young people. COE alumnus Bryan Haynes (BS/
AE ’85, MS/AE ’87, PhD/ME ’91), senior manager for research and engineering
at Kimberly-Clark Corporation, and his wife, Connie, the FIRST regional
director in Georgia, were instrumental in bringing the program to Knoxville.
Connie Haynes believes FIRST has an incredible impact on students.
“The FIRST program does two things for these students,” she said. “It reinforces
what they want to be, and it changes their minds on what they can be.”
COE Hosts the High School Introduction to Engineering Systems Program (HITES)
Director of Engineering Diversity Programs Travis Griffin (far left)
and Senior Vice President of Bechtel John Howanitz (far right) with
HITES participants.
The College of Engineering (COE) hosted its
annual High School Introduction to Engineering
Systems (HITES) program on July 24-29, 2011,
at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The program, which was sponsored by Bechtel
Corporation, provides hands-on learning
experiences designed to motivate students who
have the interest and aptitude to consider careers
in engineering.
The rising 11th and 12th graders participated in
an introduction of engineering fundamentals,
application of math and science classes,
engineering departmental visits and were able to
collaborate on team projects. The program allows
students to learn about careers in engineering,
explore the UTK campus, tour engineering labs
and facilities, compete in engineering challenges
and have the opportunity to jumpstart their
academic careers.
(Left to right) Walt Haverstein, COE Associate Dean for Academic and
Student Affairs Masood Parang, COE Dean Wayne Davis and Dean
Kamen at the FIRST Robotics Competition.
Travis Griffin, Director of Engineering Diversity
Programs, is excited about the outcome of this
year’s Bechtel HITES program.
“I am so pleased with this year’s Bechtel HITES
2011 class,” Griffin said. “The students were very
engaged, displayed great interest in the engineering
program at UTK and performed outstanding within
their engineering group projects. Because of the
generous support from Bechtel Corporation, we
were able to expand our staff by two counselors,
hire a math faculty member and expand our
invitation from 24 participants to 32 participants.”
The week of engineering activities concluded with
the Bechtel HITES Awards Reception, which
was moderated by Alexandria Butler, a senior in
biomedical engineering. Bechtel’s Senior Vice
President, John Howanitz, welcomed attendees and
shared that Bechtel is very proud to be associated
with UT. Dr. Wayne Davis, dean of the COE, gave
the opening remarks, which was followed by an
overview of the program from Griffin. A highlight
video from the week’s events was then shown to
attendees.
Butler then announced the Marshmallow Catapult
Competition award recipients as well as participant
award recipients. Griffin followed up with
presentation of counselor and program staff awards.
Participants from the program then expressed
their interest in the week’s programs to the event
attendees.
6 THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE KNOXVILLE, COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING • www.engr.utk.edu TENNESSEE engineer • Fall 2011 • www.engr.utk.edu
7
“This week
really made
me like
math,” a
student from
Farragut
said. “I really
felt close to
everyone
here, and
it made me
focus on
what I want
to do in
college.”
Another
student from
HITES participants build the Marshmallow Catapult.
HITES participants collaborate on building musical
instruments.
Soddy-Daisy said, “I learned about all the different
types of engineering. I had a blast! Thanks to
Bechtel and UT for allowing us to come out here.”
Dr. Richard Bennett, Director of the Engineering
Fundamentals Division, then presented the
Engineering Project Awards, which was followed by
a project presentation from the winning group.
Most Outstanding Engineering Project
Brandon Hambrick, Amber Nixon and Torre Ford
Dr. Masood Parang, Associate Dean for Academic
and Student Affairs, concluded the event.