LSU College of Engineering E-News

LSU Engineer Chooses to Teach for America

Megan Barnum isn't your typical biological engineer. A native of New Roads, La., Barnum will graduate in May but won't be heading to graduate school - like she originally planned - or a laboratory. Rather, Barnum will find her home in a classroom at Patrick Henry Middle School in Houston, Texas as a Teach for America participant. Although Barnum was first introduced to the Teach for America program by one of her friends' teachers who was an "older guy with a Ph.D. from Harvard" - not the average Teach for America participant - she didn't know it would be the path she would take after college graduation. In her junior year of college, Barnum enrolled in a biological engineering class that required the students to teach STEM lessons - in Barnum's case the difference between latent and specific heat - to fourth graders at University High. "I kept asking myself how am I going to take what I learned in college and put it on a fourth grade level?" Barnum said. But, Barnum was well prepared. While at LSU, Barnum has been involved in numerous campus organizations and programs including: Boys Hope/Girls Hope with National Society of Black Engineers; a University Terrace third grade reading tutor and team leader with Volunteers in Public Schools; a LEAP remediation tutor at Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School; a missionary at hospitals and support homes in Brazil; and... (more)

Twenty-two scholars travel to Baton Rouge for ASME Conference

On March 29-31, 2012, 22 schools and more than 200 individuals participated in the Student Professional Development Conference (SPDC) and Early Career Technical Conference (ECTC) held by the District E of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers at the Marriott Hotel in Baton Rouge, La. The highly successful ASME conference allows engineering students to work on their professional skills and apply engineering knowledge in practical situations. The conference serves as a learning platform and allows the engineers to develop and showcase their skills, while at the same time, provides a networking environment with many prospective employers in the engineering world. The industry representatives were joined by a group of LSU mechanical engineering alumni who offered mentorship and advice to the student participants. The conference began with tours of local industry. The visiting engineering students enjoyed tours of the Entergy River Bend Nuclear Station, the Shell Oil Company Geismar Plant and Shell Oil Company Robert Training and Conference Center. These tours allowed student participants to visit engineering industries in the area and contemplate where they may find themselves after graduation. Oral Roberts University mechanical engineering student Joshua Weed remarked, "The industry tours were very worthwhile. We were able to get an inside look at industries that we may work in someday." The keynote speaker of the conference banquet this... (more)

LED’s Stephen Moret Presented as Keynote Speaker for LSU College of Engineering Diploma Ceremony May 18

Secretary Stephen Michael Moret of the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, or LED, who is an LSU mechanical engineering alumnus, will serve as the keynote speaker for the spring 2012 LSU College of Engineering Diploma Ceremony. The ceremony will be held at the Maddox Field House on Friday, May 18, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Moret earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1995 from LSU, where he was elected president of the student body. In 2001, he received an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was elected co-president of the student body and was a recipient of the Dean's Award for exceptional leadership and service. Moret recently gained induction into the College of Engineering's Hall of Distinction, Class of 2010-2011. As the leader of Gov. Bobby Jindal's economic development team, Moret has focused on transforming LED into one of the top state economic development agencies in the country. Moret's vision is for LED to be a fast, creative and highly responsive partner for corporate executives and site selection consultants; a champion for small businesses and other existing Louisiana employers; and the architect of Louisiana's economic renaissance. "Stephen Moret is the exemplar LSU engineer," said Rick Koubek, dean, College of Engineering. "He has established a renowned international reputation among the engineering community for his commitment to public service and building a... (more)

TAF Recognizes Engineering Faculty for Teaching Excellence

The following College of Engineering faculty will receive the 2012 Tiger Athletic Foundation Michael R. Mangham College of Engineering Memorial Teaching Award, for demonstrating excellence in instruction. Michele Barbato, assistant professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Daniel Hayes, assistant professor, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Gerald Knapp, associate professor, Industrial Engineering Mileva Radonjic, assistant professor, Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering Ingmar Schoegl, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering "I feel very honored by this award. The 2012 TAF Undergraduate Teaching Award inspires me even more to provide high quality instruction and an intellectually stimulating environment for my students," Barbato said. Recipients will be recognized at this year's annual LSU Distinguished Faculty Awards Reception, which will be held on May 1, at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. "The TAF teaching awards recognize outstanding faculty committed to providing a robust and rich learning environment for our students," said Rick Koubek, dean, College of Engineering. "It gives me great honor to congratulate the College of Engineering's 2012 recipients." In celebration of the life of the former chairman of the Tiger Athletic Foundation and LSU football player, Michael Ray "Mickey" Mangham, the Tiger Athletic Foundation has created a Memorial... (more)

Civil Engineering Student Honored as Member of the 2012 Tiger Twelve Class

Jessica Addison, civil engineering senior, has been named one of this year's Tiger Twelve. This prestigious accolade recognizes student leaders university-wide for their campus and community service. Each spring, the Office of the Dean of Students recognizes 12 outstanding seniors with the Tiger Twelve honor. The selected seniors must "contribute positively to the life of the campus and surrounding community." Seniors must have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5 and have best demonstrated the seven basic principles outlined in LSU's Commitment to Community. Addison, a native of Maurice, La., will graduate in December with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. She is president of Tigers Against Trafficking and involved with Leadership LSU, Trafficking Hope and Healing Place Church. After graduation, Addison plans to become more involved with fighting human trafficking around the world, develop her career in civil engineering and pursue her professional engineering license. "Throughout the experience of being selected as a Tiger 12, I have had an incredible sense of overwhelming honor. I am still shocked that I was chosen, and it's been over a month since I've known," Addison said. "It has been a tremendous privilege to represent our great university in this capacity. What I find the most incredible is that my being selected as a Tiger 12 is a true testament to the character of the employees devoted to higher... (more)

LSU Engineers in Powerlifting Club Help Team Win Another National Championship

Three engineers helped bring another national championship to the LSU Powerlifting Club at the USA Powerlifting Collegiate Nations held at the Crown Plaza Executive Center in Baton Rouge April 13-15. Jacob Beckham, Malcolm Richard and Jonathan Pepper, all biological engineering students, aided the team in their own ways at nationals. Beckham did not get to compete, just missing the qualifying total. He, along with many other members of the teams, worked as a handler. The handlers help the lifters warm up, put on equipment and wrap their knees, which ensures the lifters don't have to waste any more energy than they need to. "We always work as a team," Beckham said. "If you're not lifting that day, you're handling someone." Richard did not only compete in the 100 kg weight class, but also placed first. Richard had a squat best of 330 kg, a bench press best of 180 kg and a deadlift best of 348 kg for a total of 855.5 points, just half a point ahead of the second place finisher. Pepper competed in the 90 kg weight class but did not place. "It was an amazing journey and the championship would not have been possible without the family-like dynamic the team has developed over the past year," Beckham said. "I could go on forever about how proud I am of every member, women's team included, for persevering through rigorous training and hardship and not allowing anything to stand in the way of themselves or their... (more)

LSU Students Study Petro-Chemical Operators to Create Scientific Alarm Rates

LSU engineering and construction management students and faculty aided the Center for Operator Performance in Dayton, Ohio, an industry-university consortium, in conducting a series of studies to determine how many alarms a processing plant operator can handle—a common question that process plant managers often ask. Dr. Craig Harvey, associate professor, LSU Department of Construction Management and Industrial Engineering, along with Beville Engineering David Strobhar helped commission the studies. The studies were conducted to determine whether or not the guidelines that industrial plants already follow were correct and have been recently published in Chemical Processing journal. The first study involved LSU engineering students using alarm rates of one, two, five and 10 alarms in a 10-minute span on a pipeline simulator. No difference was found in response time with one, two, five or 10 alarm rates. The response time significantly increased with 20 alarms in 10 minutes. These implications were significant enough to prompt a second study involving actual refinery operators and pipeline controllers. The second study found that real operators were about twice as fast as the students and therefore illustrated the value of a well-trained person. "The industry has pushed to create standards for how many alarms an operator could handle," Harvey said. "However, there was no existing empirical evidence to support or disprove alarm standards. These two... (more)

Engineering Students Win at LSU Digital Media Fest

Students represented the College of Engineering well at the sixth annual LSU Digital Media Festival with three first place winners, one student placing third and one student winning the audience choice award. Naser Imran Hossain, mechanical engineering graduate student, claimed the top prize in the photography category, the largest category, for his photograph The Happy Trio. Hossain received $250 credit for Canvaspress, a website specializing in art prints and framing, as his prize. "Right now, I don't have anything to print but, I'm planning on printing a few of my favorite photographs and giving them away to my sisters in the coming days," Hossain said. The Happy Trio captures the emotions of a single father and his two daughters looking towards the sky in the city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Aaron McDonald, mechanical engineering senior, took third in the photography category for his photograph Tractor. McDonald said that he just stumbled upon the tractor in the picture. He took the photograph while on winter break in Clark County, Nev., where his mother lives. McDonald taught himself how to excel in photography, as it only started out as a hobby. McDonald now focuses on artistic photography and has started a Facebook page to sell his prints. Hossain's and McDonald's engineering backgrounds are more helpful to their photography than one would think. "I realized there's as much science to (photography) as... (more)

LSU Environmental Engineering Students Compete in WERC International Environmental Design Contest

Sixteen LSU environmental engineering students in three distinct senior design groups competed in this year's WERC International Environmental Design Competition in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The contest is a unique event that brings together industry, government and academia in the search for improved environmental solutions and draws hundreds of college students from the U.S. and around the world every year. For past competitions, students select a proposed project to work on, but this year offered an 'open task' option allowing students to propose a project. "The students present a paper, poster and a short presentation about their respective projects," said John Pardue, Elizabeth Howell Stewart Professor, LSU Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and director of the Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute. "All of the students were interested by the open task option. Our three teams focused on aquaponics, taking the salt out of water using wind power and a green roof project." Aquaponics system looks to grow crawfish without soil This year's aquaponics group, who built a self-sustaining water circulation system for the growth of crawfish and plants without soil, won the Freeport McMoran Innovation in Sustainability award, a $2,500 prize, and a second place task award with a $1,000 prize. Group members included: Sarah Simmons, Brian McCormick, Matt Rodrigue, Jacob Zeairs, Tori Ocmand and Jena... (more)

Mechanical Engineering’s Wang Named 2011 LSU Rainmaker

LSU's Office of Research & Economic Development, with the support of Campus Federal Credit Union, recently announced its annual Rainmaker Awards for Research and Creative Activity. Rainmakers are those faculty members who are nationally and internationally recognized for innovative research and creative scholarship, compete for external funding at the highest levels and attract and mentor exceptional graduate students. Ying "Jane" Wang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in LSU's College of Engineering, has received the university's 2011 Rainmaker's Emerging Scholar Award in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. "The LSU Rainmaker recipients are an elite group of scholars whose research records set the bar higher," said Richard Koubek, dean, College of Engineering. "Such is the case for Dr. Wang, recipient of the 2012 Rainmaker award in the Emerging Scholar category. Dr. Wang's early contributions in her research field are remarkable, and we are quite proud of her latest accomplishment." This award recognizes junior faculty members exhibiting success at the assistant professor level as measured by significant contribution to the faculty member's field of research or creative activity including publication in a high impact journal(s); a highly cited piece of work; external awards; invited presentations at national and international meetings; high... (more)

Engineering Students Participate in Cultural Immersion Experience

A group of engineering students spent their spring break experiencing a cultural immersion experience in France. See what they've been up to. http://on.fb.me/HSIQyk Check back soon for a full story!

LSU Civil Engineering Students Compete in Regional Competition

Steel Bridge Teams Clinches First Place The LSU American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter competed in the ASCE Deep South Regional Conference March 29-31 at the University of Tennessee at Martin. The Deep South concrete canoe and steel bridge competitions are the region's ASCE preliminaries to the organization's national competitions. The competitions provide students with valuable experience in design and construction and grant them the opportunity to put engineering principles learned in the classroom into practice. Students also learn team and management skills necessary for the professional world. "I've been on the bridge team for three years now, and have enjoyed every minute of it. I've learned how to be a true leader over these past few years, and I'm going to miss not having to worry about the bridge after this semester," said David Ziegler, steel bridge team captain and civil engineering senior. "With a team full of returning members our goal for this year's competition is nothing less than first and an invitation to nationals. We have maintained a great schedule this year." In the steel bridge challenge, students design and construct a steel bridge structure. Teams are judged based on the following criteria: the bridge's display, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, construction economy (speed multiplied by the number of builders), structural efficiency and an overall performance rating. The... (more)

Electrical Engineering Alumnus Jody Fail Honored

More than 300 people filled the Lod Cook Alumni Center's Noland-Laborde Hall for the 2012 LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction gala on Friday, March 30. The Association's premier event of the year, the 2012 event spotlighted the 47th Hall of Distinction induction class, including telecommunication industrialist Joseph Fail. A native of Bay Springs, Miss., Joseph D. "Jody" Fail graduated from LSU in 1961 with a degree in electrical engineering. Other honorees were 2012 Alumnus of the Year Dr. John Butler and NFL linebacker Bradie James, who was recognized as the Young Alumnus of the Year. The remainder of the class included urban designer and landscape architect Kurt Culbertson; lawyer and cattleman David Means; award-winning designer, writer and educator James Richards; food manufacturing mogul Donald Welge, and retired businessman Claude West. Mr. Fail is president and chairman of the board of the family-owned Telephone Electronics Corporation, a holding company for numerous telecommunications subsidiaries in the southeast United States. TEC employs more than 240 people and provides services to more than 60,000 customers in Mississippi and surrounding areas. Mr. Fail holds Professional Engineering licenses in four states and is active in both the telephone industry and electrical engineering professional organizations at the local, state, and national levels. In 2011, Fail was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Organization... (more)

William Brookshire Scholarship in Engineering Recognizes Students' Hard Work and Academic Progress

Balancing work and school can be stressful and challenging for LSU students. Thanks to the generosity of a chemical engineering alumnus, 25 students in the College of Engineering can focus more on achieving their goals. The William Brookshire Scholarship in Engineering rewards full-time undergraduate students in the college who have a combined work and course work schedule of 30 hours or more. This award is a testament to LSU engineering and construction management students' hard work and academic progress. "This scholarship is crucial in supporting my financial needs," said Daniel Kopcso, electrical engineering junior. "Between work and school, it is very hard to pay rent, groceries, and bills while still keeping my grades up. My parents help me out as much as they can, but they have a hard enough time paying bills without worrying about me. As soon as I found out I was accepted for this scholarship, I immediately picked up the phone to call my mother and tell her the good news. The sheer satisfaction of getting to tell her I won a scholarship was incredibly gratifying, because while at the same time I was happy for myself, I was also happy to take some weight of my parents' shoulders." Dr. William Brookshire graduated from the LSU College of Engineering with a master's degree in 1959 and PhD in 1961, both in chemical engineering. He established this scholarship through the LSU Foundation because of his passion to assist College... (more)

Valsaraj Named Distinguished Research Master

LSU will name Suzanne L. Marchand and Kalliat T. Valsaraj Distinguished Research Masters on Thursday, April 19, at 2 p.m. at the LSU Faculty Club. The event is sponsored by LSU's Office of Research & Economic Development, or ORED. Valsaraj currently holds several honorific titles, including the Ike East Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Charles and Hilda Roddey Distinguished Professor in Chemical Engineering, both within LSU's College of Engineering. He also currently serves as associate vice chancellor of ORED. Valsaraj received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Calicut in India. He went on to receive a master's degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India, then completed his Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University. Prior to his administrative role at ORED, Valsaraj served as chair in the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering at LSU. Valsaraj has published more than 180 peer-reviewed journal articles, more than 25 book chapters and has presented his research at numerous conferences and invited presentations across the globe. He has published three solutions manuals and five books, including three editions of Elements of Environmental Engineering: Thermodynamics and Kinetics, along with Atmospheric Aerosols: Characterization, Chemistry and Modeling, and Photocatalytic Reaction with Inverse Opal Catalyst: A Method to Solve Air Pollution via Photocatalysis. He is responsible for a number of... (more)

LSU Engineering Students Prepare for National Robotics Competition

Five LSU engineering seniors are building a 1-by-1-foot wheeled robot capable of harnessing energy from a blow dryer, light bulb and battery, and then delivering that energy to a motor that will raise a flag. The robot, which sports a solar panel and tiny windmill, is part of the students' requirements for an LSU senior design course, and is the group's entry into the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Robotics Competition April 21 in Tulsa, Okla. The project's goal is to design a small, battery-powered robot that can navigate an 8-foot-square playing field to collect "green energy" and then deliver that energy to a motor that will raise a flag. "The robot is to harvest energy from two of three alternative energy sources and use the energy collected to raise a flag," said Amelia Simpson, who worked on the electronic and power portions of the project. "Whichever team raises the flag the highest after two rounds wins the competition." Simpson's team and the others in the LSU senior design course are required to take the problem from the initial formulation to the final product, including construction and testing. They must consider budgetary, safety and other usual constraints encountered in the profession. Josh Kozan helped design the electronics for the robot. He said as soon as the robot is powered on, a combination of a camera, microphone and other power source will help... (more)

Visual Exploration

LSU Engineering Opens State-of-the-Art Chevron Lab for Visualization Student demonstrations and video featured "Simulated Flow Through Porous Media," visit http://bit.ly/HaTu3l Visualization is essential for engineers and scientists to study subsurface structures that contain oil & gas, geothermal energy, or that can be used for CO2 storage. LSU's College of Engineering recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the grand opening of the new Chevron Reservoir Characterization Lab in Patrick F. Taylor Hall, where students demonstrated the new technology for oil and gas research. This facility, for interdisciplinary research and teaching contains state-of-the-art computers and software for visualization, with an emphasis on advancing the art and practice of oil and gas reservoir modeling. Funds for the renovation were donated to the project by Chevron Corporation through the LSU Foundation. "Chevron is proud to continue its support of LSU through our University Partnership Program," said Bill Hunter, portfolio manager, University Affairs, Chevron. "Our partnership with LSU is a strategic part of Chevron's efforts to hire top quality students necessary to help us meet energy demands around the world. We believe that the new Chevron Reservoir Characterization Lab will help train LSU students in Petroleum Engineering and other disciplines and be a great tool to help achieve academic excellence." From a student perspective, where an array of... (more)

Engineering Taylor Scholar Seeks to Develop Models of Hurricane Evacuation

As both a budding Bridge to Doctorate Ph.D. Scholar in civil and environmental engineering (CEE) and a Bogalusa, La. native, Jaworski Sartin is familiar with hurricanes and traffic. Sartin is currently on track to research how large metropolitan areas similar to Houston, Texas and New Orleans, La. could be safely evacuated simultaneously in the days before a massive hurricane. "Living in the south, hurricanes are something I have actually lived through and dealt with," Sartin said explaining his interests in hurricane evacuation research. Sartin was a senior in high school when Hurricane Katrina hit and was on the LSU campus when Gustav roared through Baton Rouge, LA. Sartin, a graduate of the CEE undergraduate program at LSU, is currently working with Dr. Brian Wolshon studying transportation engineering. "We are looking at data we have from Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita," Sartin said. "It may not be that difficult to evacuate Houston and New Orleans individually, but what about the rural areas in between, such as Beaumont, Texas and Lake Charles, La., if the major cities to the east and west were also under orders to evacuate. Our research will assess what the resulting traffic would look like and what kind of plans could be developed to safely and quickly evacuate everyone" During his Ph.D. research, Sartin hopes to develop a large-scale model and to evaluate evacuation planning targeted toward multiple overlapping... (more)

LSU College of Engineering Gives Back to Community, Inspires Students at First-Ever Glasgow Middle School STEM Night

LSU Peer Mentors and Diversity Ambassadors donned their LSU Engineering polos and enthusiastically headed to Glasgow Middle School recently to participate in the school's first-ever STEM night - a night of activities dedicated to introducing middle school children to STEM or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Organized by Summer Dann, project coordinator, STEP, peer mentors and Diversity Ambassadors joined with ChemDemo and Scope on a Rope students from the College of Science and the Cain Center's Geaux Teach program to demonstrate STEM principles. The demonstrations and activities included: "From rocks to your car," snap circuits, lemon and coca cola batteries, marshmallow towers and balloon sharks to highlight the fields of petroleum engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering and mechanical engineering respectively. "We are all so grateful to Ms. Dann and to the LSU community for sending such knowledgeable, vibrant and engaging graduate students to conduct experiments with our middle schoolers and their siblings," said Mary Juneau, Glasgow Middle School parent. "One of our teachers of students in the traditional program had tears in her eyes as she noted that she had never seen so many of her students enjoying an after-school, academic activity. Each experiment was fun and thought-provoking." The College of Engineering's mission is to impart... (more)

LSU Engineering Alumni Impact Local, Regional, National Economy

Twelve Named to LSU 100: Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses The impact that alumni from LSU's College of Engineering have on the state and country is far-reaching. Regardless of discipline, LSU's engineering and construction management alumni are helping Louisiana and the nation solve critical problems that affect and improve human lives through research and innovation. Twelve companies owned by LSU engineering alumni were selected to the second annual LSU 100: Fastest Growing Tiger Businesses. "This year's LSU 100 engineering inductees personify the attributes of the LSU engineer," said Rick Koubek, dean, College of Engineering. "They are entrepreneurial in thinking, globally conscious, ethically strong, and well-rounded with sound technical knowledge learned not only at LSU, but through years of field work. They are true leaders, and we are proud of their affiliation with LSU's College of Engineering." The College prides itself on producing the "LSU Engineer" who is a critical and holistic thinker and a life-long learner with an entrepreneurial spirit; is a skilled communicator, adept at teamwork and able to rally teams around him/her; has a great awareness of the national and global implications of issues such as the environment and sustainability—always remaining engaged with the community and society; is a hands-on problem solver, possessing a strong work ethic and leadership qualities; and is well grounded with... (more)

TechPawLooza 2012 Features Technology-Driven Engineering Study Abroad Program

The 2012 TechPawLooza! event, held in the LSU Union, boasted more than 851 attendees and 50 exhibits. The theme for this year's event, Educate! Connect! Discover!, was embodied by a project headed by Paige Davis, instructor, Department of Construction Management and Industrial Engineering, LSU and director of the Encounter Engineering in Europe summer program (E3), and David "Boz" Bowles, communication instructor for Communication across the Curriculum (CxC). Davis and Bowles oversaw the 5-week study-abroad program, in which a group of 13 students studied English, German and/or manufacturing and technology in Germany. A pilot ENGL 2000 classroom environment carried out both in the field with factory excursions and online via Moodle, SkypeTM and GotoMeetingTM made the 2011 E3 program one-of-a-kind. Bowles taught the class from the Engineering Communication Studio, in Patrick F. Taylor Hall, while Davis led students on excursions in Germany. "My experience was like nothing else," said James Parker, 2011 E3 participant, civil engineering junior and president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student organization at LSU. "It was great to be part of a class that has never been attempted before. At first, it was hard to realize that we were in class when we were Skyping with Boz back in Baton Rouge." Bowles worked with Barbara Heifferon, director of the University Writing Program, to make sure that the pilot... (more)

LSU Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Looks Forward to Internship with Intel

Guoying Qu, a chemical engineering graduate student at LSU, is a motivated young researcher with a drive for improving the performance of devices most of us use every single day: computer chips. Qu works with Dr. John C. Flake, associate professor and Cain Professor in the Cain Department of Chemical Engineering at LSU, to create a process to better evaluate the performance of Intel microchips before they are sold. "I had no idea that the real working parts of our computers were so small and so important," Qu said. An Intel microchip, the workhorse of the computer, only measures one to two centimeters in length and width. These devices must support thousands of electrical connections per chip and must endure high currents in a very small area. The problem with these thousands of connections is that each one must be soldered, a melting process that joins two pieces of metal wire together independently. At this time, Intel doesn't know whether the connections on each microchip are good before they are permanently soldered and when these connections might break after being sold inside of a computer. Qu's research might be the key to solving this problem, and she is ready to meet the challenge. Two years after coming to LSU, Qu is now a student in Dr. Flake's laboratory and will intern with Intel at the company's research center in Phoenix, Ariz. Through a partnership between Intel and Dr. Flake, Qu has been able to interact with Intel... (more)

Making Connections: LSU Construction Interviewing Days Provides Networking Opportunities for Students, Alumni

LSU construction management students and alumni were eager to dress to impress for the 2012 Construction Interviewing Day, a career-building event sponsored by LSU Career Services and the Department of Construction Management & Industrial Engineering. The one-day recruiting event provides unique opportunities for students and alumni to network and secure internships and full-time positions in the industry. "I like how it's set up. Everybody is really organized, and you know where to go. You can quickly check in, grab a bite to eat and get to your interview," said Syndney Jenkins, civil engineering student. Jenkins interviewed with Cajun Deep Foundation, LCC, a Baton Rouge company that specializes in all disciplines of deep foundations work. "I scheduled my interview through Careers2Geaux earlier," Jenkins said. "I think my interview went really well. Career Services always does a great job getting opportunities out to students - I know I've gotten five or six interviews through them, as well as an internship opportunity. I'm really grateful to LSU Career Services." Construction Interviewing Day is an opportunity for industry representatives to select students and alumni to interview for internships and full-time positions, as well as network with members of the CoE's construction management program. This year, more than 30 employers interacted with and interviewed LSU construction... (more)

Whipped Innovation: LSU Engineers Create Spirited Whipped Cream

Mark Gabriel and Erik Durr have never strayed from challenges. Rather, the two have coupled their engineering backgrounds and entrepreneurial passions to create a product that's generating quite a buzz around the country - an alcohol-infused whipped cream. As tenants in The Louisiana Business & Technology Center, Gabriel and Durr founded New Orleans Whipped Cream Co. in 2008 to make the best whipped cream on the market. Marketed as Whip-C, the product was sold at local grocery stores and used fresh cream from a well-known local dairy. But, Whip-C customers wanted more. "We got request after request from customers to add alcohol to the product for the fun aspect," explained Gabriel, a 2008 LSU biological engineering alumnus. Although the customers' request was simple, Gabriel and Durr faced many challenges including how to infuse the alcohol into the cream, how to develop a package that was competitive with existing brands but innovative enough to be able to offer different sizes, and how to market the product. Gabriel and Durr relied on their engineering backgrounds to work through these challenges and create Whipsy, a play on the original product name that was voted on by their friends. Currently available in three flavors - Ooh-La-La Original, Hazey Hazelnut and Loco Cocoa - and distributed in 11 states, Whipsy is made by slowly adding alcohol to the cream before it's packaged. "We looked at the... (more)

LSU Engineering Students Look to Change Physical Fitness

One group of LSU engineering students has created an abdominal muscle monitoring device that will decrease exercise-related injuries as well as increase overall physical fitness. The device is called the "core monitor." The basic design is a belt that will be worn around the core muscles and will provide real-time feedback as to whether or not the user is contracting his or her core muscles. With the help of this device, users should expect a stronger core and alleviated back pain. The belt detects signals that pass though the muscle, which tell the muscle to contract. It will detect core muscle contractions—specifically abdominal contractions. When the user is not contracting his or her core, the belt will rumble using a vibrating motor to let the user know that they are not contracting. The belt may also show the user the intensity of contractions and possibly record contraction data. The group is undertaking this project in conjunction with an LSU senior designing course required for electrical engineering students. The core monitor's circuit board is hooked up to electrodes that go on the core of the user. The monitor measures abdominal muscle contractions. (Photo by Stephen Owens) Ryan Tortorich, LSU electrical engineering senior, is in charge of the sensor and belt design. He said that his group came up with the idea for the core monitor from Fran Miranda, a sponsor, who pitched them the idea... (more)

LSU's College of Engineering Graduate Programs Advance in U.S. News & World Report Rankings

LSU Engineering post-graduate programs have improved considerably in the 2013 edition of U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Graduate Schools," released March 13. In the new report, the LSU College of Engineering's graduate program moved up two spots in the overall rankings, with each of the college's departments also showing improvement in ranking as well. The college moved from an overall ranking of 95 out of 184 programs in the 2012 report to a ranking of 93 out of 193 programs in the 2013 report. Departmentally, the college saw the following improvements in graduate programs: Chemical engineering improved from 53 out of 125 programs in the 2012 report to 51 out of 125 programs in the 2013 report; Civil engineering improved from 65 out of 111 programs in the 2012 report to 54 out of 106 programs in the 2013 report; Mechanical engineering improved from 73 out of 123 programs in the 2012 report to 72out of 109 programs in the 2013 report; Environmental health engineering improved from 70 out of 79 programs in the 2012 report to 65 out of 68 programs in the 2013 report; Electrical/Electronic/Communications engineering improved from 121 out of 135 programs in the 2012 report to 89 out of 112 programs in the 2013 report. "This year's movement up in the U.S. News and World report rankings emphasizes the desire of our students, faculty, staff and... (more)

LSU Engineering Honors Bassiouni and Fuchs

The LSU College of Engineering will welcome two new inductees, Zaki Bassiouni and Sidney E. Fuchs, to its 31st annual Hall of Distinction on Thursday, April 26 at the Lod Cook Alumni Center. A professional petroleum engineer since 1964, Dr. Zaki Bassiouni joined LSU in 1977. He was a professor and chair of the Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering from July 1983 to June 2004, before assuming the position of dean of the College of Engineering (CoE) and Bert S. Turner Chair in Engineering. Bassiouni received a B.S. in petroleum engineering from Cairo University, Egypt, a diploma in geophysics from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Pétrole et des Moteurs of Paris, France, and an M.S. (DEA) and Ph.D. (Docteur En Sciences) from the University of Lille in France. Fuchs is the president and chief executive officer of MacAulay Brown, Inc. (MacB), a premier engineering and technical services company headquartered in Dayton, Ohio with more than 2,000 employees worldwide that serves the U.S. Defense and Intelligence communities. Fuchs is a leading executive with more than 25 years experience in Intelligence and National Security, Aerospace and Defense, Commercial IT Services, and Private Equity with an emphasis on the engineering, development, integration and operations of mission-critical programs, systems, and technologies. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana State University and has completed executive... (more)

Alumnus Donald W. Keller Enhances Educational Opportunities to Petroleum Engineering

In Louisiana, engineering is critical to the economy and environment. In North America, LSU is the only university where future petroleum engineers can get hands-on training in well control by working at a full-scale research and training facility. On Monday, March 5, the LSU College of Engineering held a groundbreaking ceremony to add a new classroom at the LSU Petroleum Engineering Research & Technology Transfer Laboratory (PERTT). Donald W. and Gayle A. Keller established the Petroleum Engineering Building Fund to fund the construction of a new classroom at the PERTT Lab and support ongoing facility needs following its construction. The combination of increased consumption of energy, accompanied by an increasing emphasis on frontier areas and new technology, will result in exciting opportunities for petroleum engineers in the future. The new Donald W. and Gayle A. Keller Well Facility Classroom, being supported by private donations made through the LSU Foundation, will have a significant and positive impact on those who use the facility, especially LSU's petroleum engineering (PETE) students, in addition to research and industry as LSU addresses relevant challenges in the petroleum engineering field. "Giving back to our alma mater has always been an important consideration to me and my wife, Gayle," Keller said. "I feel that it is my responsibility to do what I can to provide educational opportunities to new engineering students at LSU and to... (more)

LSU Engineers Participate in Louisiana’s First Startup Bus

Stuart Adams and Logan Leger are two of about 30 entrepreneurs chosen to represent Louisiana in Startup Bus, a nationwide entrepreneurial road trip to Austin, Texas. Adams is a civil engineering doctoral student and the co-creator of Hurricakes - a hurricane-shaped, cinnamon-sugar, pull-a-part pastry with an EYEcing dessert sauce in the center. Leger is a senior majoring in computer engineering with a minor in math and competed in the Startup Bus competition last year as the only Louisiana college student in the competition. Leger co-owns NewAperio, a Baton Rouge mobile app company. This year's competition marks the first that the state has its own Startup Bus. Louisiana Startup Bus entrepreneurs met on Monday and departed for a statewide tour that began on Tuesday. The team will hold an event at the Varsity Theatre at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7. Six of the 10 Startup Buses will also be present in Baton Rouge for the event, and the public is invited to attend and show support for the entrepreneurs. "This year's Startup Bus, to me, is more important than my participation last year," Leger said. "Perhaps you can attribute last year as a warm-up, act 1, if you will. I'm glad Louisiana is finally getting recognition for the quality of the innovation and creativity happening here." "This is an amazing opportunity to network, acquire new skills and showcase the ingenuity of LSU students and Louisiana residents on an... (more)

Engineering Students Submit 14 Entries to Digital Media Fest, Display Creative Talents

LSU engineering students submitted 14 entries to this year's Digital Media Fest. From photographs to movies to music videos, this year's entries show the creative side of our engineers. Sponsored by LSU Communication across the Curriculum, Digital Media Fest is a celebration of LSU undergraduate students who are producing intellectual and creative work using digital media, in and out of the classroom. The annual event encourages undergraduate students across all disciplines to experiment with digital media as a tool to effectively communicate knowledge, information and ideas. A panel of faculty members judge the entries and select the best 25 from each category, including creative animation, academic/extracurricular gumbo, informational and promotional, idea/business plan pitch, art and photography and film and video . The top 25 entries are then submitted to industry professionals and experts who narrow the entries to the top five. The finalists in each category go on to compete at the ultimate level by delivering a five-minute presentation about their entry to a community panel of judges. Prizes valued between $250-500 are awarded to the highest scoring students in each category, and the entry with the most votes is named the Audience Choice winner. Dean's scholarship awards are also given to the highest placing student from each college. Below are the links to each entry submitted by LSU engineering students. Defending the Flag Morning... (more)

LSU Tiger Tracks to Feature LSU's College of Engineering Feb. 29 and March 1

This week's edition of LSU Tiger Tracks, a program highlighting various aspects of the university and its athletic department, will conclude with an inside look at the world-renowned LSU College of Engineering and its impact around the globe. The show airs on Wednesday's at 4:30 p.m. and Thursday's at 7 p.m. on Cox Sports Television. ###

Career Expo Brings Together Students, Alumni, Industry

LSU engineering students packed the Royal Cotillion Ballroom in the LSU Student Union for the Engineering, Science and Technology Expo. The expo hosted more than 100 companies and attracted students from a wide range of academic disciplines. "I'm incredibly impressed with the turn out, especially considering the rain!" said Halliburton employee and LSU recruiter Megan Huttenmaier. Despite the inclement weather, persistent job-seeking LSU engineering and science students attended the expo well-prepared- a characteristic that is highly valued for engineering professionals. "Since I began recruiting at LSU, I've noticed that LSU students are always well-prepared and organized," Huttenmaier said. "LSU students never approach us asking what does your company do? They have done their research beforehand, and conversation is always good - we hire a lot from here." This year, the Expo featured colored stickers for students' nametags that helped to indicate to recruiters whether a student was searching for a full-time position, internship or more information about companies. "LSU has a strong history of relationships with engineering firms, and we are seeing more and more new ones every year," said Trey Truitt, associate director of employment services at LSU. "There seems to be a new trend of companies relying heavily on internships to fill full-time positions. Internships have become a primary means... (more)

An LSU Engineering Love Story

Alida Chaumont and Reid Guzzetta were both petroleum engineering sophomores when they met in CEBA (now PFT) in Fall 2006 at an oil company's info session for summer internships. They began dating in January 2008 and were married in January! When asked what it's like being married to another engineer, Alida said, "I really like it. We get along great with one another and enjoy a lot of the same activities. We also have the same group of friends from our LSU engineering classes and we like hanging out with each other's coworkers in Houston too." "There are so many good memories, but I think my favorite is our senior project in Fall 2008 and Spring 2009. We were allowed to pick our own groups, so Reid and I were able to work together and we also worked with our friend, Ben. Ben was the best man in our wedding this past January, and Reid will be Ben's best man in April 2012. I met Ben in 2005 at LSU Geology Camp, and introduced the two of them after I met Reid. We had the best senior project faculty mentor (Dr. Hughes) and it was so much fun getting to work with my two favorite classmates, and we all learned so much too! We worked on a challenging project for the same company that Ben and Reid both went to work for in Houston after graduation in December 2009." Read more from our Q&A with Alida below. Best date at LSU -... (more)

LSU Mechanical Engineering Professor Named ASME Fellow

Ram Devireddy, associate professor, department of mechanical engineering, has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Fellow grade, the highest elected grade of membership in ASME, is conferred upon members with at least 10 years of active engineering practice who have made significant contributions to the profession. Nominated by their peers and selected by the Fellow Review Committee with final approval of the Committee of Past Presidents, these individuals have distinguished themselves in their careers. There are only 3,215 Fellows out of 125,881 ASME members. Devireddy's research interests lie at the intersection of heat transfer and biology, specifically microscale phenomena and thermal properties of media (cell culture solutions), cells and tissues with applications to biopreservation. Devireddy was recognized for having made seminal research contributions in the area of bioheat and mass transfer and more recently in the field of adult stem biopreservation and thermo-electric materials. His research contributions have been published in 3 book chapters, 62 archival journal articles and 80 conference proceedings/abstracts. The quality of his publications has been widely recognized with best paper awards from the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, Mid-West Thermal Analysis Forum the Society of Cryobiology and the Materials Research Society. Devireddy's research activities have been funded continuously from a variety of sources... (more)

LSU Construction Management Students Volunteer to Build Homes

Students from LSU's Construction Student Association volunteered at a Habitat for Humanity build in the Longwood Area off Gardere in Baton Rouge, La., on Jan. 28. Students nailed down roof decking, applied water-proof lining and exterior sheathing and installed windows as part of CSA's efforts to get involved within the community through monthly service projects. The Habitat build was the first in a series of planned volunteer projects for this semester. "The students that participated were excited to offer their construction knowledge and experience to the build," said Chris Shinaberry, service chair, CSA. Harold Lohman, CSA vice president and senior construction management student, hopes to see LSU's Construction Management program incorporate Habitat for Humanity hours in the degree curriculum. "It was helpful to see a real life example of what I had learned in class," Lohman said. Shinaberry says he is always looking for volunteer opportunities for CSA members to participate in, construction oriented or not. "I believe that through various service events, CSA members will develop a liking for volunteering and continue to offer the skills we are developing in class to areas in need," Shinaberry said. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit housing ministry that invites volunteers to help provide more families with decent, safe and affordable places to live. ### For more information,... (more)

Civil Engineering Professor Appointed President of ASCE BR Branch

Dr. Clinton Willson, associate professor, LSU department of civil and environmental engineering, will serve as president of the Baton Rouge branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers. As a longtime and active member of ASCE, Willson has served on the ASCE BR Branch Board of Directors since 2006. He previously served as a director, secretary-treasurer, vice president and president-elect. As president, Willson plans to build upon the recently released Louisiana Infrastructure Report Card by educating the public and policy makers on the value of civil infrastructure in our daily lives. A number of ASCE BR Branch members and LSU alumni played a large role in final report. "We owe it to all of them and to the public to ensure that the results and messages are as widely disseminated as possible," Willson said. Willson will also focus on ensuring that current and future civil engineers have the skills and tools to meet the challenges imposed by our critical and, in all too many cases, aging infrastructure. Willson will also spotlight the 50th Anniversary of the ASCE Baton Rouge Branch, increase the ASCE and Branch presence through outreach and educational activities and provide a technically relevant and strong 2012 Louisiana Section Spring Conference. For more information about the Baton Rouge Branch of the ASCE, visit their website at http://www.ascebr.org/ ### For more information, contact Cassie Arceneaux, College of Engineering, carcen6@lsu.edu... (more)

LSU Engineering Student Nationally Recognized as an ASCE New Faces of Civil Engineering

Marlie Ventress, civil engineering senior, was one of 10 civil engineering students that the American Society of Civil Engineers recognized in its first annual New Faces of Civil Engineering - College Edition. These students were recognized for achieving the highest standards as college civil engineering students, whose academic success and extracurricular engagement point to a bright future as professionals in the field of civil engineering. "It is an honor and privilege to receive this recognition for my hard work and dedication," Ventress said. "This is another step toward developing my career goals from my previous internships and community involvement. I am proud to represent LSU as a top 10 Civil Engineering student on a national level." "Marlie is a very bright student and a very hard worker," said Sherif Ishak, associate professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. "She is very ambitious and is currently on an exchange program between U.S. and Scotland. I am confident that Ms. Ventress will have a bright future." "These students are an inspiration to future generations of students seeking a career in which they can make a difference," said ASCE President Andrew Herrmann, P.E. See photos of and read more about all of ASCE's 2012 New Faces of Civil Engineering - College Edition, and see all of the winners from each of the 15 engineering societies for... (more)

LSU Engineering Professor Helps Bring National Evacuation Conference to La.

The second biennial National Evacuation Conference will be held Feb. 7-9, in New Orleans at the Hilton Riverside hotel. Stephen Flynn, professor of political science and the founding co-director of the George J. Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security at Northeastern University, will headline the lineup of keynote speakers and panelists set to appear as part of the 2012 conference. The 2012 National Evacuation Conference is organized by the Stephenson Disaster Management Institute and the Gulf Coast Center for Evacuation and Transportation Resiliency, which is housed at LSU and the University of New Orleans, respectively. Flynn, who has authored "The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation," will also host a book signing during the conference. This conference will be relevant to both academics and professionals with an interest in the development and modeling of comprehensive evacuation plans, and will offer a venue for dialogue between the academy and practice, as well as between the private and public sector. Participants will contribute to an important step towards more efficient and effective evacuation planning. "We are in the business of saving lives," said Gulf Coast Center for Evacuation & Transportation Resiliency Director Brian Wolshon. "LSU is part of the organizing effort to bring this mix of academics, practitioners and government agencies to address a significant issue and develop solutions for... (more)

Mixing it Up

Jim Odom Grows Global Company, Keeps Ties to LSU Engineering Winning international awards for innovative and affordable music production tools wasn't particularly what Jim Odom had on his mind while sitting in electrical engineering classes in the '90s. But it's exactly what happened. With a grandfather and father who were engineers, it seemed Odom was also destined to become one. Odom chose LSU engineering because he knew it would prepare him for a successful career. And it didn't hurt that LSU was close to home. "The courses you go through in electrical engineering at LSU do prepare you to keep up with technology, which is incredibly fast-paced," Odom said. Like many engineering students, Odom initially struggled with the mathematical concepts of the discipline and contemplated changing majors. But two of his professors recognized his in-depth understanding of engineering design and encouraged him to stick with it. "They felt I had the talent to be a good engineer," Odom said. With a strong support system, Odom graduated from LSU in 1992 with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. Today, Odom is an acclaimed entrepreneur, engineer, musician and producer. He serves as the President and Chief Strategy Officer of PreSonus Audio Electronics, a company that he and fellow LSU Electrical Engineering graduate and PreSonus VP of Engineering, Brian Smith, founded in order to solve the technical... (more)

LSU Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Improves Clean Energy Production Through Ethanol Research

Have you ever dreamed of seeing renewable sources become the world's primary source of energy? One LSU student is researching ethanol as an alternative energy source to help the environment and the United State's rising need. Nitin Kumar, LSU chemical engineering graduate student, conducts research related to the production of ethanol from Syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be obtained from various sources such as coal, biomass and natural gas. With oil prices rising, fossil fuels resources gradually being depleted and cleaner fuel demands increasing, ethanol offers a cleaner energy source that takes advantage of fuel and vehicle infrastructures already in place. "I want to see a future where we can have renewable sources of energy and less dependence on oil and fossil fuels," Kumar said. He is looking for direct catalytic conversion of syngas to ethanol and has studied several catalysts for this purpose. Kumar has produced new catalytic particles that measure in at less than 2 nanometers, much smaller than even the smallest known bacteria and viruses and that reproducibly convert Syngas to ethanol at efficiencies competitive with the best catalysts on the market. If Syngas can efficiently be converted to ethanol, for example through the use of more effective catalysts, then ethanol can increasingly be used as an alternative energy source, with cleaner burning properties and the potential for localized production in... (more)