Engineering Kudos
Seven from college attend ASEE Midwest Section Conference
Seven representatives of Nebraska Engineering attended the 2022 ASEE Midwest Section Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and brought home the Faculty Mile Award, which will stay in the College until the 2023 conference that will be held in Lincoln. The traveling trophy is given each year to the university whose members travelled the longest distance to get to the conference.
The College had two papers presented at the conference:
- “Early Alert & Intervention System in Early Math Courses for Engineering Students,” by Sohrab Asgarpoor, Amanda Bergeron-Bauer, and Eric Einspahr
- “The World Needs More Complete Engineers: Developing Students’ Non-Technical Skills,” by Markeya S. Peteranetz, Tareq A. Daher, David Jones, Lance C. Pérez, and Daniel G. Linzell
Conference attendee Allen Oberwhere joined two undergraduate construction management students - Nyawa Allieu and Eybrany Ocampo Alvarado (participating virtually) – and three students from other universities on a six-person Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) panel to share their perspectives and experiences.
The College of Engineering will host the ASEE Midwest Section Conference in 2023 to be co-chaired by Jena Asgarpoor and Sohrab Asgarpoor. Information about the conference and call for papers will be disseminated in the next couple of months as conference planning gets underway. As host institution, we hope many papers, posters, panels, and special sessions are submitted by our faculty, students, and staff and encourage everyone to start planning for their submissions.
Research by nine Nebraska Engineering faculty supported by 2022-23 Layman Seed Program awards
July 12, 2022 - Nine faculty from the College of Engineering are leading research projects that are among the 24 being supported by the. University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Office of Research and Economic Development in 2022-23 through its Layman Awards program, which funds work that enhances a researcher's ability to obtain external funding to support prominent scholarship.
The program offers two tracks — the Layman Seed Program, which funds new projects by early-career faculty who are nontenured at the time of submission; and the New Directions Program, which funds tenured faculty who are branching into new research directions or need funding to support pilot or developmental work toward the next step in a funded research program. Awards of up to $10,000 per application for each program are made possible by support from the University of Nebraska Foundation.
The College of Engineering faculty being supported by Layman Seed Program awards in 2022-23 are:
2022 LAYMAN SEED PROGRAM AWARDS
- Mona Bavarian, chemical and biomolecular engineering; "Continuous manufacturing of microelectronics polymers via combination of data science and macroscopic modeling."
- Jason Hawkins, civil and environmental engineering, "Environmental-economic systems as dynamic networks-of-networks."
- Qiang Liu, School of Computing, "Automated offline simulator augmentation with real-to-sim learning in mobile networks."
- Nitesh Nama, mechanical and materials engineering, "Bubble based acoustic microswimmers."
- Arman Roohi, School of Computing, "Enabling robust quantized neural network acceleration in federated edge computing."
2022 LAYMAN NEW DIRECTIONS GRANTS
- Moe Alahmad, Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, "Analysis and statistical prediction of variability in time-series data."
- Srivatsan Kidambi, chemical and biomolecular engineering, "Synthetic biomimetic environment (BEASTS) to investigate the role of stiffness in altered redox signaling and inflammation in placenta during HDP."
- Daniel Linzell, civil and environmental engineering, "Individual-level factors that and their impact on retention of women in the construction industry."
- Hongfeng Yu, School of Computing, "Hierarchical knowledge-driven visual analytics for oncologic diagnosis."
Thirty Nebraska Engineering students earn Milton E. Mohr fellowships, scholarships
Thirty students from the College of Engineering were selected to receive awards from the Milton E. Mohr Scholarship and Fellowship Awards Program for the 2022-23 academic year.
Each scholarship and fellowship provides $1,000 per year to the student and is renewable.
The Milton E. Mohr Scholarship and Fellowship Awards Program was established in 1989 for students in the College of Engineering or Biotechnology degree programs. The scholarships and fellowships are made possible through an endowment to the University Foundation.
To be eligible for the 2022-23 academic year, students must be a full-time junior, senior or graduate student or have full-time graduate status enrolled in as a primary major in engineering or biotechnology programs, maintain a minimum 3.5 grade-point average, and have a graduation date of no earlier than May 2023.
The 2022-23 recipients from the College of Engineering:
Graduate Fellowships (12)
Ivon Acosta Ramirez, Ph.D., Biological Engineering
Justin Brooks, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
Niaz Chowdhury, Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Ryan Haggerty, Ph.D., Civil Engineering
Fei San Lee, Ph.D., Biological Engineering
Jazmin Ley, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
Sussan Moussavi, Ph.D., Civil Engineering
Kshitij Nikhal, Ph.D., Electrical Engineering
Hafiz Oyediran, Ph.D., Engineering, Construction Engineering and Management
Sahand Serajian, Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Megan Stokey, Ph.D., Electrical Engineering
Nathan Taylor, Masters, Architectural Engineering
Undergraduate Scholarships (18)
Nicholas Abbott, Architectural Engineering
Caitlyn Allen, Biological Systems Engineering
Sarah Altman, Biological Systems Engineering
Benjamin Bashtovoi, Mechanical Engineering
Elena Butler, Biological Systems Engineering
Sophia Frappier, Biological Systems Engineering
Luke Freyhof, Biological Systems Engineering
Miah Hoppens, Chemical Engineering
Isabelle Koehler, Chemical Engineering
Josiah Kolar, Mechanical Engineering
Kimberly Law, Chemical Engineering
Ryan Orth, Software Engineering
Ryan Otte, Civil Engineering
Chase Pettit, Mechanical Engineering
Ken Pham, Computer Engineering
Keifer Smith, Civil Engineering
Rylie Steffen, Biological Systems Engineering
Simon Thengvall, Mechanical Engineering
Wei Qiao elected as fellow of Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association
Wei Qiao, Clyde Hyde Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was elected as a Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA).
AAIA is a new academic, non-profit and non-governmental organization formed by academicians worldwide whose research interests are in Artificial Intelligence or related areas. All AAIA Fellows are IEEE Fellows, ACM Fellows, or/and members of National Academy of Sciences/Engineering of their countries.
Similar to the IEEE, AAIA has three classes of memberships for individuals: member, senior member, and Fellow. Currently, AAIA has 583 Fellows.
Thirteen Nebraska Engineering faculty named NSRI Fellows
Thirteen faculty from the College of Engineering were among the 49 researchers from across the University of Nebraska system who were selected to the 2022 National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) Fellows cohort. They join the more than 70 NSRI fellows who were chosen to the inaugural cohort in May 2021.
The 2022 Fellows from the College of Engineering are:
- Christos Argyropoulos, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Sina Balkir, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Mehmet Can Vuran, School of Computing
- George Gogos, Mechanical and Materials Engineering
- Andrew Harms, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Michael Hempel, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Qing Hui, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Xu Li, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Eric Markvicka, Mechanical and Materials Engineering
- Carl Nelson, Mechanical and Materials Engineering
- Angela Pannier, Biological Systems Engineering
- Yi Qian, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Byrav Ramamurthy, School of Computing
Durham School team wins multiple awards at AEI International Student Design Competition
A team of architectural engineering students from the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction took home multiple honors at the recent Architectural Engineering Institute's International Student Design Competition held April 7 in Arlington, Texas.
Nebraska's Team Nexus finished second in Building Integration, the competition's top award, and won in Electrical. The team was also second in Mechanical and Structural competitions. Additionally, the team also was honored for Outstanding Achievement in Innovation for Building Performance Enhancement.
Advised by Clarence Waters, professor in the Durham School, the student team included:
- Isabel Anderson, Team Leader (Integration, Electrical)
- Izzy Brown (Integration, Electrical)
- Emily Ritzdorf (Integration, Electrical)
- Alec Eiseman (Integration, Electrical)
- Caleb Krouse (Integration, Structural)
- Jenna Reynard (Integration, Structural)
- Jackson Cordell (Integration, Mechanical)
- Grace Stirling (Integration, Mechanical)
- Josh Palakapilly (Integration, Mechanical)
Engineers Without Borders chapter earns two Student Impact Awards
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) was honored with two Student Impact Awards - the Diversity and Inclusion Award and the Student Organization Philanthropy/Service Award - at a reception April 14 at the Nebraska East Union.
EWB, a Recognized Student Organization (RSO) in the College of Engineering, was also nominated in six other categories - including Program of the Year, Outstanding Commitment to Recruitment, and Outstanding Student Organization - and individual nominations for Laurel Wagner (Outstanding Student Organization Member), Uziel Ramos (Outstanding Student Organization Officer), Isabelle Koehler (Outstanding Student Organization President).
Elizabeth "Libby" Jones, Holling Family Distinguished Engineering Educator and professor of civil and environmental engineering, is the faculty advisor for ESB.
The Student Impact Awards, presented annually by the Office of Student Affairs' Student Leadership, Involvement and Community Engagement, celebrate the outstanding contributions to the university community by the more than 550 RSOs and their leaders. This year's nominees included 19 organizations and 23 individuals.
Sarah Altman earns Goldwater Scholarship
Sarah Altman, a junior in biological systems engineering, has earned a Goldwater Scholarship to support her pursuit of a research career.
Altman is among 417 college sophomores and juniors nationally who were awarded 2022 Goldwater Scholarships from a pool of 1,242 natural science, engineering and mathematics students nominated by 433 academic institutions.
The scholarship, which honors the late Sen. Barry Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. The scholarship provides up to $7,500 per year for educational expenses and is the pre-eminent undergraduate award of its type in these fields.
A La Vista native, Altman has conducted research through Nebraska's Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences (UCARE) program and the National Institutes of Health's INBRE Scholars program. Her work includes laboratory experiences with Nebraska Engineering's Jung Yul Lim (breast cancer metastasis) and with Shi-Hua Xiang at the Nebraska Center for Virology (treatments against RNA viruses) and Maneesh Jain at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (vaccines for pancreatic cancer).
Altman said she is excited about the opportunity to advance cancer immunotherapy.
"(The field) is so new and rapidly expanding, so I really do have an opportunity, especially with the help of the Goldwater Scholarship, to be at the forefront and work with technologies as they are being developed and improved," she said.
Altman, who is also a member of the University Honors Program, hopes to earn a doctoral degree in biomedical engineering and work in genetic engineering and biomaterials—applying that knowledge to cancer immunotherapy technologies. She said she wants to work at a university, teaching students, conducting research and perhaps patenting some technologies.
Alexis Horton earns Patti Grace Smith Fellowship in aerospace
Alexis Horton, a first-year student in mechanical and materials engineering, is one of 39 undergraduate students from colleges and universities across the United States who have been selected as recipients of the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship.
The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship is an award-winning program that connects the nation's leading aerospace companies with talented Black students. Each member of the program's Class of 2022 has earned a challenging summer internship in the aerospace field, in addition to receiving a scholarship worth thousands of dollars, a pair of personalized mentors, and more.
Horton, who is from Omaha, Nebraska, has earned a summer internship with Northrop Grumman.
Tian Zhang selected as ASCE Distinguished Member
Tian Zhang, professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been selected by the American Society of Civil Engineers as a Distinguished Member, the association's highest honor.
The ASCE website says a Distinguished Member “is a person who has attained eminence in some branch of engineering or in the arts and sciences related thereto, including the fields of engineering education and construction."