Engineering Kudos
AE team places in NCEES Engineering Education Award competition
A team from Nebraska's architectural engineering program earned a $10,000 prize at the 2021 NCEES Engineering Education Award competition.
The team is a collaboration that connects students in the AE program's capstone course – AREN 8030-4040 Interdisciplinary Team Design Project "Team Design" – with industry professionals. Nebraska's Team Design has placed in five of the past six competitions, achieving the grand prize twice (2016, 2019) and secondary prizes in 2015, 2018 and 2021.
The Nebraska AE program is housed in the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction.
- Read more about NCEES Education
Nebraska team takes second at International Quarter-Scale Tractor competition
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln placed second overall in the Quarter-Scale Team competition and won the X-Team competition at the ASABE International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition, held May 28-30 in Peoria, Illinois.
The Quarter-Scale team also won the Safety Award and placed second in the design report and in the team presentation.
The X-Team also placed first in the design presentation and the written report and won one of the pulling events.
On Facebook, Roger Hoy, professor of biological systems engineering and director of the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory, said the performance in the pulling events was, "no small feat as the team had to extract the transmission, rebuild it completely and reinstall it while pulling was going on after suffering a catastrophic gear failure during practice pulls – 18 of 21 teeth were sheared from one gear."
Fifteen engineering faculty promoted or granted tenure
Fifteen faculty from the College of Engineering were among the 109 University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty on the 2021 Promotion and Tenure List. The Nebraska Engineering faculty receiving the honors at 2021 Promotion and Tenure were:
Biological Systems Engineering
Troy Gilmore, promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure (academic home is IANR)
Sibel Irmak, promotion to Full Research Professor (academic home is IANR)
Daran Rudnick, promotion to Associate Research Professor (academic home is IANR)
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Vitaly Alexandrov, promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
Wei Niu, Associate Professor Granted Tenure
Computer Science and Engineering
Justin Bradley, promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
Stephen Cooper, promotion to Full Professor
Brittany Duncan, promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure (academic home is Arts & Sciences)
Suzette Person, promotion to Full Professor of Practice (academic home is Arts & Sciences)
Witiwas Srisa-an, promotion to Full Professor (academic home is Arts & Sciences
The Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction
Michelle Eble-Hankins , promotion to Associate Professor of Practice
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Christos Argyropoulos, promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
Master of Engineering Management program
Jena Asgarpoor, promotion to Full Professor of Practice
Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Michael Sealy, promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure
Jung Yul Lim, promotion to Full Professor
Thirteen engineers among May Honors Program graduates
Thirteen graduating seniors completed the requirements of the University Honors Program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and were honored at commencement in May.
To graduate from the Honors Program, students must maintain at least a 3.5 grade-point average, complete a culminating senior project or research thesis, and fulfill other curricular requirements. This is the largest number of honors graduates in a single term in the program’s 34-year history.
These are the 13 College of Engineering May Honors Program graduates, listed by department:
Biological Systems Engineering: Abigail Haworth, Kai Meacham, Angel Olivera-Torres
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Andrew Mason
Civil and Environmental Engineering: Gabrielle Boucher, Cameron Hastings
Computer Science and Engineering: Anthony Benes, Ethan Bütt, Adam Gray, Maria Maxon, Jacob Sullivan
Electrical and Computer Engineering: Jacob Atkins, Andrew Phares
Thirteen engineers among May Honors Program graduates
Thirteen graduating seniors completed the requirements of the University Honors Program at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and were honored at commencement in May.
To graduate from the Honors Program, students must maintain at least a 3.5 grade-point average, complete a culminating senior project or research thesis, and fulfill other curricular requirements. This is the largest number of honors graduates in a single term in the program’s 34-year history.
These are the 13 College of Engineering May Honors Program graduates, listed by department:
Biological Systems Engineering: Abigail Haworth, Kai Meacham, Angel Olivera-Torres
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Andrew Mason
Civil and Environmental Engineering: Gabrielle Boucher, Cameron Hastings
Computer Science and Engineering: Anthony Benes, Ethan Bütt, Adam Gray, Maria Maxon, Jacob Sullivan
Electrical and Computer Engineering: Jacob Atkins, Andrew Phares
Suat Irmak elected as ASCE-EWRI Fellow
Riggan new associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
Five engineering faculty, staff honored at Laurels reception
Five College of Engineering faculty and staff were honored with 2021 awards coordinated by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor. Award recipients have advanced the missions of the university in teaching, research and service, and will be recognized at The Laurels award reception.
College Distinguished Teaching Awards, which recognize faculty with excellence in teaching. Distribution of the awards rotates among the colleges each year.
- Khalid Sayood, professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Jena Shafai Asgarpoor, associate professor of practice, Engineering
Dr. Charles Riedesel Outstanding Academic Advising Award, given to an exceptional faculty or staff member for advising services beyond basic job duties and responsibilities to provide support, empowerment, coaching, counseling, and guidance to help undergraduate students succeed academically and in life. The award is named for Dr. Charles Riedesel, former advisor in Computer Science and Engineering, who devoted much of his time to recruiting and advising computer science and engineering majors.
- Ann Koopmann, academic adviser, Computer Science and Engineering
Exceptional Excellence Award, which recognizes a staff member who has exceeded in their job expectations and significantly contributed to the success of a faculty member’s teaching and/or research.
- Kayla Person, director of engineering graduate programs
- Ashley West, administrative associate for engineering graduate programs
Four engineering students chosen as Chancellor's Scholars
The engineering students recognized (with major, hometown and parents' names):
Hunter William Dorhout, computer engineering, Sanborn, Iowa (Mark and Nicole Dorhout).
Taylor James Drahota, civil engineering, Lincoln, Nebraska (Troy Drahota and Kathi Drahota).
Maggie Harder, software engineering, Grand Island, Nebraska (Brian and Michelle Harder).
David L. Wacker Jr., mechanical engineering, Hastings, Nebraska (David Wacker Sr. and Polly Wacker).
Nine student researchers earn awards at UNL Research Days
Undergraduate
- Andrea Goertzen, junior, Chemical Engineering – " Metabolic modeling elucidates the distinctive landscape of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells"
- Becca Francis, senior, Biological Systems Engineering – "Development of Nitric Oxide Testing Methodology to Investigate the Impact of Reactive Species on Breast Cancer Cells"
- Aaron Haake, senior, Mechanical Engineering – "Tunable 3D Printing of Liquid-Metal-Embedded Elastomer Composite"
- Stephanie Perez, senior, Civil Engineering – "Microplastic Soil/Sediment Extraction Efficiency for Different MP Polymers and Different Soil Types"
Graduate
- Courtney Keiser, Ph.D. in Engineering, specializing in Materials Engineering – "Mechanically Optimized Vascular Bypass Grafts for Treating Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease" (Top Honors)
- Amir Monemianesfahani, Ph.D. in Engineering, specializing in Biomedical Engineering – "Characterization of the Strain Rate-Dependent Mechanical Response of Single Cell-Cell Junctions" (Top Honors)
- Samuel Flint, Ph.D. in Computer Science – "Escaping the Time Pit: Pitfalls and Guidelines for Using Time-Based Git Data"
- Brandi Brown, Ph.D. in Biological Engineering – "Rhodopseudomonas palustris CGA009 Lignin Catabolism and Bioplastic Production"
- Thivani Senathiraja, Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering – "The role of monovalent and multivalent cations within SiO2-TiO2-PBC nanocomposite membranes: Preparation and Characterization"