Engineering Advantage | Fall 2018

Engineering

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING | CAL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO | FALL 2018

THE GIVING BACK ISSUE

A D V A N TA G E

FROM GANGS TO AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

JEFFREY APARICIO’S PATH TO GIVING BACK

Engineering A D V A N TA G E

PUBLISHED BIANNUALLY BY THE Cal Poly College of Engineering 1 Grand Ave. San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 805-756-2131 engineering.calpoly.edu DEAN Amy S. Fleischer afleisch@calpoly.edu ASSISTANT DEAN OF ADVANCEMENT Tanya Hauck thauck@calpoly.edu EDITOR Charlotte Tallman ctallman@calpoly.edu STAFF WRITERS Pat Pemberton ppembert@calpoly.edu Dennis Steers dsteers@calpoly.edu Cara King cking29@calpoly.edu Jo Ann Lloyd jlloyd@calpoly.edu PUBLICATION DESIGNER Shirley Howell Graphic Design srhowell@earthlink.net JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA facebook.com/CalPolySLOEngineering linkedin.com/in/CalPolyEngineering twitter.com/PolyEngineering Instagram.com/polyengineering

TH E GIVING BAC K ISSU E F E AT U R ES

DE PARTM E NTS

GIVING FOR IMPACT 18

4 FROM THE DESK OF DEAN AMY S. FLEISCHER

20 Forging Partnerships

A revived partnership program brings both money and connections to students.

22 If You Build It, They Will Come

The Beavers Charitable Trust supports students with this unique Cal Poly partnership.

24 Honoring Her Parents

Stephanie Allen’s endowment supports engineering.

26 A Legacy of Support

Alumni Robert and Kathleen Holmgren show their Cal Poly support.

GIVING BACK 30

Former gang member Jeffrey Aparicio studies aerospace engineering.

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GIVING KNOWLEDGE

Young alumnus Zach Sharpell generates a buzz and business with an energetic startup.

Our supporters show a confidence in our ability to develop principled, innovative leaders who will change the world around us.

6 CAAB CHAIR MESSAGE College Advancement Advisory Board Chair Stephen Lanza shares his goals for the future.

8 GIVING HANDS-ON OPPORTUNITIES The value of hands-on learning and student tech support.

12 GIVING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY Students look forward to making the cut with the power of water.

14 GIVING CORPORATE SUPPORT David Amormino’s company, Micro-Vu, bustles with Cal Poly Engineering student interns and alumni.

16 GIVING FINANCIAL SUPPORT Brady Aiello and the Martini Scholarship.

28 GIVING FOR A BETTER FUTURE The QL+ Lab and Greg Orekhov are still changing lives through engineering.

34 GIVING GREATER LEARN BY DOING Hubert Bromma learns about Dean Amy Fleischer’s vision for Cal Poly Engineering.

38 GIVING INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE Internships with companies provide industry experience.

OPPOSITE: Last year’s listening sessions inspired a recent dialog about the College of Engineering’s future between Dean Amy Fleischer and architecture alumnus Hubert Bromma. See their discussion on Pages 34-37.

FRONT AND BACK COVER: Aerospace engineering student Jeffrey Aparicio mentors Victor and Cevina Manzano, teen campers participating in the Engineering Possibilities in College (EPIC) program.

Aparicio, a former gang member, shares his story and what motivated him to attend Cal Poly on Pages 30-31.

FROM THE DESK OF DEAN AMY S. FLEISCHER

They Inspire Us CELEBRATING PEOPLE WHO IMPROVE THE WORLD SINCE ARRIVING ON CAMPUS, I have witnessed the impact and power that comes from Cal Poly’s most loyal supporters, leaving me deeply inspired and profoundly grateful be a part of the first Engineering Advantage giving issue.

What strikes me the most from the stories throughout the magazine — and across our college — is each person’s ability and desire to use their experiences and gifts to improve the world.

Each time we witness support from our community of alumni and friends, we see a shared confidence in Cal Poly’s ability to tackle the great challenges of our time — from improving our lives now to ensuring the safety of our planet for the future.

And these challenges will continue coming at a remarkable rate.

Breakthroughs in a variety of science and technology fields are evolving. The rapid advancement of technology, resulting in new knowledge, artificial intelligence, big data-driven decisions and societal and ethical dilemmas, makes it so work is changing.

As alumni and friends of Cal Poly, you know that we are developing principled, innovative leaders who will change the world around us. By keeping up with technological developments and ever-changing needs, our students will address the world’s challenges with confidence and competence.

The future is already here, and the men, women and companies highlighted in this edition are paying attention to it. But, they are also paying attention to the uniquely human skills of teamwork, cultural empathy, emotional intelligence and critical thinking.

I hope the stories throughout our giving issue inspire you. I hope they show you that the Cal Poly approach to engineering, and the support of our alumni and friends, empower students to evolve as the world is changing around us.

AMY S. FLEISCHER | DEAN, COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Join Dean Fleischer on social media: Instagram: dramyfleischer | Twitter: @amyfleischer | LinkedIn: Amy Fleischer

OPPOSITE: A Delta II rocket blasted into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Sept. 15, carrying NASA’s newest Earth-observation satellite and a CubeSat from Cal Poly. Dean Fleischer and her husband, Paul, woke up at 1:30 a.m. to watch the historic launch. PHOTO COURTESY UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE

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C O L L E G E A D VA N C E M E N T A D V I S O R Y B O A R D C H A I R M E S S A G E

LAST FALL, THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING’S (CENG) ambitious Listening Sessions Tour collected input from a cross-section of stakeholders to discover how the engineering profession has changed and how Cal Poly can best prepare students for rapidly evolving careers.

As you can imagine, the “blue ribbon thinkers,” as Interim Dean Jim Meagher called them, had plenty to say. I know this because I was one of them. And, as the new chair of the College Advancement Advisory Board, I plan to use that knowledge for the advisory board to provide useful guidance.

There are many reasons to get excited about the College of Engineering’s future: It has a new, forward-thinking dean; many of our industries are forming incredible partnerships and students are entering the workforce “day one prepared.”

CAAB Chair Stephen Lanza

Guiding Us Into the Future ‘BLUE RIBBON THINKERS’ OFFER VALUABLE INPUT

Our new dean, Amy Fleischer, brings leadership skills formed by real handson experience as an educator and researcher. A former chair of Villanova’s Mechanical Engineering Department, she has delved into important, timely engineering topics, such as sustainable energy design. She’s also committed to keeping Cal Poly on the cutting edge of innovation, technology and messaging while attracting a diverse group of students to the engineering profession.

That’s great news because, according to the listening sessions, the workplace is significantly transforming, and our students will need to continue to innovate and collaborate to be successful.

Cal Poly’s Learn by Doing approach provides our graduates a unique edge in the workforce. We want to ensure that CENG can continue to provide the facilities, equipment, coursework and internships that make hands-on learning beneficial.

Meanwhile, the advisory board will use analytics and broad thinking to identify the college’s further needs to keep with our industries’ requirements, ensuring that Cal Poly graduates remain highly sought after.

But, of course, the challenges are many, and we will need help. In this issue of Engineering Advantage are some inspiring examples of how others have been instrumental to the college’s success. As we discuss goals, including the construction of a technologically advanced project center, we’ll rely even more on the generous support of our donors. I know that’s asking a lot, but here’s what’s so incredible about Cal Poly: Those who benefitted from the university are often willing to “pay it forward” so that others can reap the same advantages.

Luckily, we’re in good hands with our newest blue-ribbon thinker, Dean Fleischer, who will not just look to the future – she will actively pursue it.

STEPHEN LANZA | CHAIR, COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT ADVISORY BOARD

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G I V I N G By The Numbers

CAL POLY ENGINEERING

Philanthropic Impact $10,184,267 52 $101,265 3,039 558 18.3 $200 621 $39,865 159 #1

TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED (FISCAL YEAR 2018)

PERCENTAGE OF CORPORATE SUPPORT

MATCHING GIFTS

NUMBER OF DONORS

NEW OR FIRST-TIME DONORS

PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL DOLLARS FROM FIRST-TIME DONORS

MEDIAN GIFT SIZE

DONORS WHO GAVE $1,000+

RAISED IN 24 HOURS ON POLY GIVES DAY OF GIVING

DONORS WHO GAVE TO ENGINEERING ON POLY GIVES DAY

COLLEGE AMONG CAL POLY’S SIX COLLEGES WITH THE MOST DOLLARS AND DONORS ON POLY GIVES DAY

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G I V I N G Hands-On Opportunities

THE MANY FACES OF

Shop Techs

I

T IS ONE OF THE BEST examples of Learn

by Doing and loyal partnerships at Cal Poly Engineering. Companies and individuals hire students to work in the Cal Poly engineering shops, saving the school money, providing jobs to students and assuring the shops remain open for the entire student body to use.

To keep up with student demand and ensure

effective, safe working environments, the college has substantially increased the number of student shop and safety technicians, or techs, that directly interact with students. Currently 50 percent of shop techs are sponsored by philanthropic support.

Partners can enhance Cal Poly’s renowned hands-on learning and lab experiences by sponsoring student techs. A gift of $5,000 with a five-year commitment, or $25,000 over five years, supports a student or shop tech. A $100,000 endowment sponsors a student technician in perpetuity. Sponsors are recognized in the shops, and student techs wear individual and company logos on their shirts.

For more information on sponsoring a student tech, contact Amanda McAdams at 805-756-5711 or anmcadam@calpoly.edu. n

RIGHT: Fourth-year mechanical engineering senior Kyra Schmidt tests a drill press in the Mustang ’60 Machine Shop.

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ENGINEERING MAJORS GAIN PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE, THANKS TO THE COLLEGE’S GENEROUS SUPPORTERS

STUDENT TECH KYRA SCHMIDT HONES VALUABLE REAL-WORLD SKILLS KYRA SCHMIDT wants to be an engineer who helps solve real-world problems with her head and hands.

A fourth-year mechanical engineering senior from Irvine, Calif., Schmidt entered Cal Poly as a freshman with a coveted spot in the Biomedical Engineering Department and little experience working with her hands, aside from a ceramics class in high school.

“In my first BMED class, we had to get a Red Tag (safety certification) in the shop, and I soon figured out I liked the mechanical engineering aspects of BMED better,” Schmidt said. “In my second year, I joined the Human Powered Vehicle Club and

worked doing metal fabrication and composites stuff, and I really enjoyed that, too. That’s when I decided to switch to mechanical engineering.”

Schmidt is now fully immersed in the department and is one of 50 student shop techs currently working in the Mustang ’60 and Hangar workshops. With her position sponsored by ERG Materials and Aerospace, Schmidt spent the summer “all over the shops” doing maintenance work.

“Everything from oiling and replacing parts to fixing something that broke,” she said. “I rewired the table saw in the Hangar that basically died, worked on a couple of mills and

a lathe. I also do efficiency work to try to make the shop run better.”

For Schmidt, using well-oiled machines is but one of the rewards of the Student Shop Tech Program, which has been around for decades but began in earnest in 2000 under former Hangar supervisor George Leone. Schmidt, a former swim coach and camp counselor, also enjoys the mentoring aspects of the position.

“I didn’t really have any shop experience before I came to Cal Poly, and I was able to come into the shop here and the techs helped me immediately,” she said. “I learned so much from the techs the first quarter it was amazing. I’d like to pass on that knowledge.” n

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G I V I N G Hands-On Opportunities

Recognizing Our Talent GENERAL ATOMICS SUPPORTS THE CAL POLY ENGINEERING PROGRAM AND HIRES ITS GRADS

“WE FIND THAT CAL POLY — THROUGH ITS LEARN BY DOING TEACHING PHILOSOPHY — GRADUATES ENGINEERS THAT ARE CONSISTENTLY AMONG THE BEST PREPARED TO WORK IN OUR FASTPACED, HANDSON, TECHNICALLY CHALLENGING AND INNOVATIVE AEROSPACE ENVIRONMENT.” DEE WILSON (’97) GENERAL ATOMICS

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ITH MULTIPLE DIVISIONS, General Atomics has plenty of opportunities for Cal Poly engineers.

The San Diego-based defense contractor has a long history of filling those opportunities with Cal Poly engineers, whether by hiring graduates ­— more than 40 Cal Poly alumni now work at General Atomics — or recruiting dozens of undergrads for internships every summer.

Dee Wilson, vice president of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., (GA-ASI) and a 1997 Cal Poly aerospace engineering graduate, believes the company and the college are a good fit.

“We are a vertically integrated engineering company, meaning that we design, build and test the majority of components that go into our aircraft — from flight computers, to control actuators, airframe structures software, avionics, power systems and even engines,” Wilson said. “We find that Cal Poly — through its Learn by Doing teaching philosophy — graduates engineers that are consistently among the best prepared to work in our fast-paced, LEFT: Student Lynette Cox appreciates the sponsorship of her shop tech job by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.

hands-on, technically challenging and innovative aerospace environment.”

General Atomics recently added to their support of the College of Engineering by sponsoring a student shop tech for the Mustang ’60 and Hangar machine shops.

“GA-ASI is excited to sponsor lab technicians,” said Wilson, “because it is that type of activity that makes Cal Poly engineers so capable and successful.”

Lynette Cox, a mechanical engineering junior from Clayton, Calif., and composite structures lead on Cal Poly’s Formula Car, was named the first General Atomics Shop Tech in August.

“I really like the fact that the machine shops are now being sponsored by big companies,” Cox said. “The Hangar changed my entire mindset about Cal Poly. It was then that I was truly able to piece together how I would approach the ‘Learn by Doing’ experience. Cal Poly has become the place where I can learn how to collaborate within teams, hone my people skills, get engineering experience and teach and be taught by some of the smartest and most down-to-earth coworkers I’ve ever met.”

And for Cox, there’s one more positive aspect of being a shop tech.

“I’m now going to get paid to do something I love. I believe this is the best job at Cal Poly.” n

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G I V I N G Advanced Technology

OPERATION

WATERJET

STUDENTS PREPARE SPACE FOR THE POWERFUL WATER TOOL THAT CAN CUT STEEL PURCHASED WITH AN ANONYMOUS GIFT AFTER USING A WATERJET to cut 3/4-inch steel into intricate shapes on his recently completed senior project, mechanical engineering graduate Ali Harake is sure of one thing: “When the new waterjet is installed in Mustang ’60 this winter, it will quickly become the most-used tool in the shop.”

Thanks to a generous gift from an anonymous donor, a desire to relocate a noisy compressor and a commitment from the College of Engineering to build an awning outside of the Bonderson Projects Center that will nearly double the dedicated student space of the

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Mustang ’60 Shop, a new Mach2 Flow Waterjet is scheduled to be installed during winter quarter.

Harake, who served as a student shop tech for three years and started a job at Northrop Grumman in Los Angeles in September, will miss the unveiling but is enthused for the students who will benefit from the waterjet’s versatility.

“There’s a lot you can do with a waterjet that you can’t really do with another machine,” he said. “A waterjet can cut concrete, steel, wood, plastic, cardboard — pretty much any

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ABOVE: The student shop techs clean the area next to the Bonderson Projects Center where a waterjet cutter purchased with an anonymous gift will be housed.

material. And especially with composite materials becoming such an important part of our lives, waterjets are more important than ever because they cut composites really well.”

Waterjet cutters employ the power of erosion, using a combination of water and an abrasive material under high pressure to cut rather than heat generated from electricity, light or gas.

“A WATERJET CAN CUT CONCRETE, STEEL, WOOD, PLASTIC, CARDBOARD — PRETTY MUCH ANY MATERIAL.”

ALI HARAKE (’18)

ABOVE: Mechanical engineering graduate Ali Harake used a waterjet, at right, to complete his senior project.

They have been around for years yet remain state of the art because of their unmatched efficiency, said Mustang ’60 Supervising Director Eric Pulse (’06).

“It cuts with a fine stream of water coming out of the nozzle at 60,000 PSI (pounds per square inch), and they’re extremely accurate,” Pulse said.

Harake used a smaller waterjet in the Industrial Technology Department for his senior project.

“It’s advanced technology that makes your life a lot simpler and more efficient,” he said. “On my senior project, something that would have taken us five or six days to do took us a full day on the waterjet.

When you think about it, all you have to do is put your (software) file

into the waterjet, set it up and let it run. No doubt it will become the workhorse of the shop.”

To house the gifted waterjet and provide a new home for a secondstory compressor that occasionally interrupts meetings elsewhere in the building, the College of Engineering is funding a metal awning measuring 60-by-30-feet to be built adjacent to the east side of the Bonderson Project Center.

The additional 1,800 square feet under the awning will be combined with the area under the breezeway, making it approximately 3,000 square feet of dedicated, controlled shop space. This example of needed space and extraordinary measures taken to

ABOVE: The Mach2 Flow Waterjet will provide more hands-on opportunities for students.

provide a larger learning environment shows the need for a new building.

“We are simply out of space, and have a true need for the 70,000-square-foot Center for Creative Engineering,” said Dean Amy Fleischer. “This center will provide a comprehensive facility where students and faculty can dream, design and create solutions that solve the challenges of the 21st century.” n

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G I V I N G Corporate Support

CAL POLY ENGINEERING GRADUATES:

THEY’RE DAY-ONE READY MICRO-VU PRESIDENT DAVID AMORMINO ENVISIONS HOW CENG’S FUTURE CENTER FOR CREATIVE ENGINEERING WILL BETTER PREPARE STUDENTS FOR INDUSTRY JOBS

FOR MORE THAN three decades, David Amormino has made substantial contributions to his family-owned business, going back to drafting work he performed as a high school student.

But his biggest contribution, he said, has been tirelessly recruiting the engineering talent that has helped Micro-Vu develop new products and drive the future of the company.

“Micro-Vu recruits mostly from Cal Poly,” said Amormino, president of the Windsor, Calif., company, which makes state of the art machines that measure down to the micron. “We feel that Cal Poly has the best undergraduate engineering program in the country.”

Having benefitted from Cal Poly’s engineering program, Micro-Vu has returned the favor through the years, supporting student shop techs, senior projects, clubs and career fairs. More recently, the company offered major

support to the Center for Creative Engineering, a future project.

The center will be a hotbed of interdisciplinary activity with access to cutting-edge technology. Students will use the center both as a place to design and create, with an emphasis on innovation. That kind of hands-on environment, Amormino said, is what has made Cal Poly students so prepared to work for his company.

“The combination of having engineering classes early and often, along with the practical designing and building that students perform in club projects, senior projects or working as shop techs, is what prepares Cal Poly students best for real-world engineering,” he said.

Amormino knows the value of hands-on experience. After his grandparents and parents purchased the company in 1972, he grew up around the shop. While he earned an electrical engineering degree from UC Irvine, Amormino said his alma mater didn’t provide the Learn by Doing approach that Cal Poly does.

Luckily, he worked at Micro-Vu through college. And, like Cal Poly, he embraced innovation.

After 30 years as an engineer, Amormino became company president in 2015. The company has continued to grow, thanks to the introduction of new and better technology to their products.

“The engineers are responsible for that,” he said. n

LEFT: Caleb Munsill (‘17), Mavis Tsoi (‘20) and Mike Nordmann (‘16) examine the prototype of their electronic board design at Micro-Vu.

A NETWORK OF SUPPORT NORTHROP GRUMMAN PARTNERSHIP INSPIRES DA VINCI STEM SUMMIT IN 2014, NORTHROP GRUMMAN, and a generous gift, brought Cal Poly and Da Vinci Science High School in El Segundo, Calif., together with a specific goal in mind — matriculate more Da Vinci students to Cal Poly.

But what started as a collaboration that focused on students also turned into a network of support between STEM educators.

In June, eight Cal Poly professors representing disciplines across four of Cal Poly’s six colleges provided curricular consultation, instructional methodologies and collaborative dialogue at the first-ever Da Vinci STEM Summit. It was just one example of the partnership that Northrop Grumman so generously supports.

Lauren Cooper, a tenure-track assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering, was there to help Da Vinci

teachers understand what they can do in their classrooms to prepare students for college.

“I jumped at the chance to participate in the STEM Summit,” Cooper said. “Prior to teaching at the university level, I spent several years doing engineering outreach in middle and high school classrooms, where I worked alongside teachers to help them integrate engineering and creative design into math and science classes.”

Cooper participated in a daylong workshop on student motivation in project-based learning and design thinking, then returned the following morning to brainstorm ways to revamp existing project-based curriculum. In August she returned to deliver a design thinking and creativity in engineering workshop

ABOVE: Cal Poly Assistant Professor Lauren Cooper works with educators at the Da Vinci STEM Summit.

to the entire school. She will continue that work through the next year.

“The premise of design thinking, and why it is so successful, is that it places real, everyday people at the center of all design activities,” she said.

“Successful, creative and sustainable solutions to our most pressing current and future challenges will only come about if we involve the people who experience those challenges. Many big companies, like Apple, Google and Nike, have already figured this out and are applying design thinking to solve big, messy problems. My hope is that the Da Vinci teachers now have some of these same skills that they can apply in their everyday teaching.” n

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G I V I N G Financial Support

Game Changer A SCHOLARSHIP FROM THE MARTINI FAMILY CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR FORMER MANUAL LABORER BRADY AIELLO AND HIS FAMILY HAVING SCRAPED BY with food stamps, low-income housing and the occasional manual labor job, Brady Aiello wasn’t sure how he and his wife were going to continue paying for another year at Cal Poly. Then he found a mysterious email in his inbox.

“On behalf of the Computer Engineering Program,” he read, “I want to congratulate you on being selected for this year’s Martini Scholarship.”

Aiello, who didn’t even know the scholarship existed, was elated. After struggling for years to support their journey through college, suddenly he had a game changer.

“Erin and I worried a lot less,” he said. “I didn’t have to work while going to school full-time, and we didn’t need to take out a loan.”

The Martini Scholarship was created in 2007 by San Diego resident Don Heikkinen and named after his daughter, Karen Martini, a Cal Poly alumna (Dietetics and Food Administration, ’77; M.S., Home Economics, ’79) who has two children that also graduated from Cal Poly. The scholarship helps three engineering students every year.

“It’s nice that students who want to finish their education can do it with a little financial help,” said Heikkinen, a retired electrical engineer, with degrees from the University of Michigan.

Now that he has a master’s degree, Aiello will likely gravitate toward

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“WE FEEL HE IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF HOW SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS CAN ALLOW THEM TO REACH THEIR ACADEMIC GOALS IN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME AND REDUCE THEIR FINANCIAL BURDEN.” KAREN MARTINI MARTINI SCHOLARSHIP

a tech career. But he won’t forget his humble past.

After two years studying Spanish language and fine arts at UC Davis, the San Jose native dropped out of school and performed exhausting manual labor the next five years.

“Most of my work was on flooring and carpet installation,” he said.

During the recession, though, work opportunities became more difficult. So he enrolled in Cuesta College in 2009,

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continuing to work manual jobs. He met his future wife, also a Cuesta student, in 2012. The couple, who married the next year, transferred to Cal Poly in 2014, when Aiello was 29.

Struggling to make ends meet, study for school and care for Erin’s 4-year-old son posed a strain on the marriage.

“You can’t really be with each other if you’re just focused on school all the time, and you’re overwhelmed by anxiety and depression,” Aiello said.

But the Martini Scholarship, awarded in the spring of 2015, parted the clouds. Able to focus on their studies, the couple decided to pursue graduate degrees. With living expenses covered, Aiello landed quality internships in Santa Barbara and Pleasanton, Calif., as his wife made plans for a doctorate in biology.

Aiello showed his appreciation with heartfelt thank-you letters to the Martini family. Then Karen and her son Scott met with him for lunch.

“We feel he is a perfect example of how scholarship support for students can allow them to reach their academic goals in a reasonable amount of time and reduce their financial burden,” Karen Martini said. “By reducing a student’s financial strain, this can allow them to spend more time focusing on their studies, accept internships to put into practice the Learn by Doing philosophy and begin their professional networking.” n

The Martini Scholarship enabled Brady Aiello and his wife, Erin, to not only continue their studies at Cal Poly, but to pursue master’s degrees.

G I V I N G For Impact

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HEN INDUSTRIAL AND Manufacturing Engineering (IME) staff member Stephanie Allen found herself able to make a financial gift, she didn’t have to look very far to decide where she wanted the impact to be. It was within the very department she supported each week. (Read more about Stephanie’s inspiring story on Page 25.)

Allen, like many other faculty, staff, students and alumni, has a deep affinity for IME and Cal Poly Engineering (CENG).

That’s because each department within Cal Poly Engineering actively works to support the college in achieving university goals, implementing successful fundraising and development programs, and inspiring alumni and corporate donors to stay involved as the engineering field rapidly changes.

All CENG departments are extraordinary — in fact so special, THIS IS THE FIRST IN Cal Poly Engineering is a A SERIES FEATURING nationwide leader in providing a EACH OF CAL POLY relevant, innovative and competitive ENGINEERING’S education and was ranked as one of EXTRAORDINARY the best undergraduate programs DEPARTMENTS. in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The Computer Engineering and IME programs were both ranked best among masterslevel universities nationwide.

“Being ranked No. 1 by the U.S. News and World Report shows we are doing incredible things in our department,” said Dan Waldorf, chair of the IME Department. “It is because of the support we receive that we can provide relevant handson learning opportunities for our students.”

Other CENG programs were ranked in the top 10, including the mechanical, electrical and aerospace engineering departments, which all ranked second, and the civil engineering program, which ranked third.

“Since arriving at Cal Poly in July, I have been so inspired by the college’s most loyal supporters, our faculty and our staff,” said Dean Amy S. Fleischer. “To honor the contributions that advance the excellent level of education and innovation that distinguishes Cal Poly Engineering, we are excited to begin highlighting each of our departments.”

This special giving back edition will focus on the first two of the 10 departments that are stellar examples when it comes to alumni and corporate engagement: Civil and Environmental Engineering and IME. As these two departments and their loyal supporters prove, it is an exciting time at Cal Poly Engineering, and a great time to share their inspiring stories. u

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Philanthropic Impact Inspires and Elevates Departments SHINING EXAMPLES INCLUDE CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING AND INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING PROGRAMS PROGRAMS

Brian Hillenbrand, a manufacturing engineering student and a technician, was one of several students hired as a tech with $40,000 in scholarship money provided to Cal Poly manufacturing and mechanical engineering students by the Haas Foundation.

The techs were trained on a fleet of new Haas machines over the summer and will now advise other students. The new machines will help students learn how to create with modern machinery, better preparing them for industry work.

G I V I N G For Impact: Civil and Environmental Engineering

Forging Partnerships A revived partnership program brings both money and connections to civil and environmental engineering students THE EDGE THAT strong industry partnerships gives to students in the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CE/ENVE) Department was made apparent recently when U.S. News & World Report ranked the department the third best in the country.

Those partnerships have contributed to visible student successes — such as the Concrete Canoe team’s national championship and Engineers without Borders’ humanitarian efforts in Malawi and Nicaragua — while also providing enviable Charles Chadwell connections and job opportunities.

“There are way more jobs for our CE/ENVE graduates than there are students to fill them,” said Department Chair Charles Chadwell.

When he noticed that graduating students were inundated with multiple job offers, Chadwell saw an opportunity for advancement in a way that benefits students, recruiters and the department.

So, last January, he pumped new energy into the Industrial Partnership Program (IPP), planning to generate up to $200,000 a year for the department.

“We’re in this incredible overheated economy, where building construction and civil engineering are thriving,” he said. “And we produce really high-end, awesome, Day-One ready civil and environmental engineers.”

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Already the program features 30 partners. The benefactors choose from one of four levels of commitment (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum), with support starting at $250 per year and topping out at $5,000. All levels offer companies website job postings and presentation opportunities at club events, while the top level includes a booth at the career fair, on-campus interview opportunities and lab naming (with a five-year commitment).

For employers, the partnerships provide an opportunity to build their brand on campus and better recruit talent. For students, the IPP funds competitions, conferences and projects, along with research and instructional materials. The program allows the department to be more sustainable and strategic in elevating student opportunity while also allowing industry to engage directly with students in high-impact ways.

Marcial Lamera, a civil engineering major, said the support also promotes day-one readiness, an edge they have over graduates from other institutions.

“A big reason for that is because we have a lot of company-sponsored labs on campus that provide us with the opportunity to use up-to-date machines and technology that are being used in the industry today,” Lamera said. “In addition to providing funding for these facilities, we also have avid company involvement on campus for professional development events, such as career fairs, interview panels and marketing sessions.”

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One platinum partner, ZFA Structural Engineers, already had a long history of involvement, attending career fairs and advisory board meetings and giving presentations to student clubs.

“The IPP was a logical next step to be able to contribute to Cal Poly student programs and formalize the relationship,” said Kevin Zucco (’92), executive principal of the company.

“Plus, it’s a wonderful place to visit and reconnect with other alumni.”

Zucco is one of multiple Cal Poly graduates who work for the company, which has five offices in the Bay Area and Sacramento.

“As evidenced in ZFA’s history of hiring from Cal Poly, we’ve found Cal Poly graduates particularly suited to our engineering services and company culture,” he said.

Lamera is on the committee, consisting of students and faculty members, that decides where the IPP money goes.

The committee is expected to distribute money every quarter.

Meanwhile, this year’s career fair already has eight companies lined up as Platinum-level sponsors. While encountering companies can be intimidating, Lamera said, the IPP helps bridge the gap.

“Thankfully, many of these companies are proactive in participating in other professional development events on campus to build up students’ confidence to be themselves and show employers why they should be hired,” he said. n

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G I V I N G For Impact: Civil and Environmental Engineering

If You Build It, They Will Come The Beavers Charitable Trust seeks to draw more students to heavy construction with a unique Cal Poly partnership

22

OVER THE YEARS, the Beavers honorary association has endowed scholarships and professorships throughout the country. But none of those endowments compare to the $1 million the association provided Cal Poly for its unique partnership with Granite Construction.

“We’re really excited about the program,” said Ron Fedrick, chairman of the Beavers Charitable Trust and CEO of Nova Group Inc. “It’s got the potential to be the first of many.”

Beavers was founded in 1955 by a group of contractors and suppliers who were primarily dam builders — hence the name — to promote goodwill in the heavy engineering construction industry and to attract talent. As far back as 1977, the organization foresaw losing prospective engineers to hightech fields and created the Beavers Charitable Trust.

F A L L 2 0 1 8 E N G I N E E R I N G . C A L P O LY. E D U

When Dave Woods, executive director of Beavers, began in 1999, he said the trust had approximately $2 million. Now it has $30 million. The organization has successfully raised money through membership fees, donations and fundraisers. In turn, it has provided key funding to promote heavy construction.

“It’s a great time to come into this business,” said Woods, noting that the job market is very favorable.

Past recessions that halted construction — primarily of residential and commercial structures — caused concern, and many parents were reluctant to have their children pursue heavy construction careers.

Meanwhile, high-tech careers exploded, offering jobs with cool perks.

So Beavers now is tasked with recruiting more students to the industry. And it does so through scholarships, promoting internships and creating endowed professorships that bring educators with industry experience to the classroom. To further generate excitement, Beavers takes students to major projects, like a dam in Fremont or a major highway site in Phoenix.

Then there’s the lure of prideful work: Those involved in a major project will have a lasting reminder of their accomplishment. “If you build a bridge or a dam, you say, ‘My fingerprints are on that,’” Woods said.

Beavers has supported Cal Poly students with scholarships in the past.

But the Granite partnership is a bellwether. With the help of $3 million from Granite, the Granite Heavy Civil Engineering and Construction Program will bring together civil engineering students from the College of Engineering and construction management students from the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. Coursework will cover both fields, and students will be required to complete two internships. Granite Construction

provided the major initial funding for the new initiative and invited Beavers and other industry members to complete the endowment so it will be self-sufficient moving forward.

The Granite Beavers Heavy Civil Engineering and Construction Endowed Chair will support one fulltime professor with academic expertise and related industry experience.

During a recent tour of the Oroville Dam Spillway repair project with Project Manager Todd Orbus (Civil Engineering, ‘99), Woods told Orbus about the new program.

“I sure wish the program was available when I was at Cal Poly,” Orbus said. n

“I SURE WISH THE [GRANITE HEAVY CIVIL ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION] PROGRAM WAS AVAILABLE WHEN I WAS AT CAL POLY.” TODD ORBUS (’99)

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G I V I N G For Impact: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

24

F A L L 2 0 1 8 E N G I N E E R I N G . C A L P O LY. E D U

Honoring Her Parents Stephanie Allen’s endowment in their name supports the foundation of Cal Poly Engineering WHEN STEPHANIE ALLEN’S mother died in 2016,

“HAVING A CAL POLY EDUCATION

herself with an inheritance and a desire to give back.

GIVES YOU THE FOUNDATION

years after her father had passed away, she found She and her husband, Jeff, turned that desire into an impactful plan by creating the Conner Family

TO MOVE FORWARD IN YOUR

Endowment, named in honor of her parents.

LIFE. IT’S OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO

would have, and you realize you want to do something

SUPPORT THAT FOUNDATION. I

“You get this money that you never thought you

great with it,” Allen said.

She didn’t have to look far to find a place she

wanted to support. Having worked at Cal Poly for

nearly 30 years, she had a deep appreciation for the

WANT TO ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO GIVE WHAT THEY CAN.

university — and an even deeper appreciation for the

IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO.”

where she works as an administrative coordinator. The

STEPHANIE ALLEN CONNER FAMILY ENDOWMENT

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, funds from the endowment will be used for process improvement-related courses and lab opportunities within the department.

“This department has been so good to me,” she said.

It wasn’t just the support she found among her

colleagues that inspired her to create the endowment, it

from Chico State and son Conner will graduate from

was the entire concept of industrial engineering.

Cuesta College, spring 2019. In all, 10 of Stephanie’s

ment,” she said. “That is where change happens. I just love

make it 11.

and that our students are going to be part of that.”

my senior year, and I’ve wanted to earn my degree ever

“Industrial engineering is about process improve-

family members have attended Cal Poly, and she plans to

how much of an impact process improvement can have

“I’m the only one who didn’t graduate. I left during

Two of the Allen’s children graduated from Cal Poly:

Shannon (Biomedical Engineering, ’13) and Kenzie

(Applied Nutrition, ’16). Her daughter Maddie graduated

since then,” she said.

With plans to return to school that will soon become

a reality, Allen will be a Cal Poly employee, donor and alumna.

“Having a Cal Poly education gives you the foundation

to move forward in your life. It’s our responsibility to LEFT: Stephanie and Jeff Allen (foreground) with their children (from left) Conner, Maddie, Kenzie and Shannon.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ENDOWMENTS

support that foundation,” she said. “I want to encourage

everyone to give what they can. It’s the right thing to do.” n

For more information on giving to an endowment like the Conner Family Endowment, or to create an endowment focused on future impact, contact Amanda McAdams at 805-756-5711 or anmcadam@calpoly.edu.

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G I V I N G For Impact: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

A Legacy of Support Robert and Kathy Holmgren’s gifts to their alma mater demonstrate their Mustang spirit ROBERT AND KATHLEEN Holmgren met at Cal Poly when they were industrial engineering students. They had the same circle of great friends and a passion for the area. As it turned out, they also shared a desire to give back in a variety of meaningful ways.

“After we started our careers, we began donating small annual gifts to Cal Poly,” Robert (’81) said. “We donated what we could afford and then supplemented our annual gift by volunteering at the university.”

That volunteering included guest lecturing, recruiting Cal Poly students for internships, participating on Society of Women Engineers panel discussions and serving as Innovation Quest judges.

“Volunteering has always been such a blast,” Kathleen (’80) said. “A chance to come back to SLO and to Cal Poly and interact with really bright, energetic students and faculty. We felt we always received so much more than we gave.”

After three years of working, and during their first year of marriage, both entered graduate school for their MBAs — Kathleen at Stanford and Robert at UC Berkeley. With generous gifts of money and time, Robert and Kathleen began to give more and more. Kathleen was asked to serve on the Industrial Engineering Advisory Council and, later, she was invited to sit on the Dean’s Advisory Board.

Before long, they gained a new title — Cal Poly parents.

“While it wasn’t planned that way, we feel very blessed to be able to say we are all Cal Poly alumni,” Kathleen said of daughter Allison (Industrial Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, ’10); son Thomas (Industrial Engineering, ’12) and daughter Sarah

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“AS A FAMILY WE HAVE A FAMILY OF ALUMNI Robert and Kathleen’s family include a long list of proud Cal Poly graduates: Mike Marostica (Business Administration, ’69) Kathleen’s brother Mary Cline Marostica (Home Economics, ’69) Kathleen’s sister-in-law John Holmgren (Industrial Technology, ’79) Robert’s brother Kathleen Marostica Holmgren (Industrial Engineering, ’80) Robert Holmgren (Industrial Engineering, ’81) Tom Marostica (Industrial Engineering, ’96) Nephew Allison Holmgren (Industrial Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, ’10) Daughter Thomas Holmgren (Industrial Engineering, ’12) Son Sarah Holmgren (Kinesiology, ’15) Daughter

(Kinesiology, ’15). “As a family we have very strong feelings for Cal Poly.”

Those feelings are supported by great appreciation for Learn by Doing, something important to Robert and Kathleen as students, parents and industry leaders. Robert retired from his consulting business, and Kathleen retired as an executive, with Automation Anywhere Inc., and is now a member of five corporate boards of directors.

F A L L 2 0 1 8 E N G I N E E R I N G . C A L P O LY. E D U

VERY STRONG FEELINGS FOR CAL POLY.” KATHLEEN HOLMGREN (’80)

“Being able to get your hands dirty and test various scenarios to see what works and what doesn’t is an invaluable experience during your college career,” Kathleen said. “Having a lab with every class allows tactile learners, like us, to really understand and remember the concepts by putting them to use immediately. The result of the approach manifests itself into students who can hit the ground running and have an immediate impact once they are out in industry, whether it is in an internship or in a full time post-graduate role.”

Because Cal Poly continues to reinvent itself and is committed to serving its students and industry by providing a relevant, competitive, innovative and highly engaging engineering education, Robert and Kathleen decided to leave a legacy with a $1 million planned gift to support Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department faculty and Learn by Doing initiatives.

“Our desire is that this gift will help Cal Poly continue to invest in its faculty and programs so that engineering remains a top program in the USA,” Kathleen said. “We ask all alumni to consider giving something back to

Cal Poly. Whether it is a donation of time or financial in nature, we know it will be greatly appreciated.” n

ABOVE: The Holmgren family — all Cal Poly alumni — includes (from left) Kathleen, Thomas, Allison, Sarah and Robert.

LEFT: Kathleen and Robert met as students at Cal Poly, then began dating after graduation. Now the couple are loyal Cal Poly supporters.

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27

G I V I N G For A Better Future

UP

28

GREG OREKHOV AND THE QL+ LAB CONTINUE TO CHANGE LIVES THROUGH ENGINEERING

FOR THE

CHALLENGE F A L L 2 0 1 8 E N G I N E E R I N G . C A L P O LY. E D U

E

VEN AS HE LAY severely wounded in a military medical center, his body devastated by an explosive, Taylor Morris knew he’d walk again.

The center included a prosthetic clinic, and Morris had been told that he would be fitted for artificial limbs. But the question remained: How active could he be after losing parts of all four limbs?

“The setup that they give you is made for getting around,” he said. “But it’s not necessarily set up for all these physical activities.”

Morris, a Navy vet who was injured in 2012 after stepping on an IED in Afghanistan, was figuring out how to return to an active lifestyle when he met Jon Monett, a Cal Poly grad (Industrial Engineering, ’64), who had founded the Quality of Life Plus (QL+) lab at his alma mater in 2008 so student engineers could help veterans like Morris. Through that introduction, Morris met student Greg Orekhov.

Morris — who wanted to run, hike, swim, kayak and more — had difficulty changing into the prosthetics needed for each activity without help. So he sent the challenge to QL+ students, who coincidentally had already been working on a “quick swap” device for a singlelimb amputee.

“The idea was already there,” said Orekhov, who is now completing his master’s thesis. “We modified it to suit his needs.”

Morris communicated with the students before arriving in San Luis

OPPOSITE PAGE: QL+ lab projects inspired Greg Orekhov to attend Cal Poly, where he has since helped to develop lifechanging products in the lab and conduct internationally recognized research.

ABOVE: Industrial engineering alumnus Jon Monett (’64) founded the Quality of Life Plus (QL+) lab in 2008.

Obispo. “There’s no fear — they’re not afraid to try a bunch of different, new things,” Morris said.

Morris arrived to a throng of journalists chronicling his visit. But even when the media was gone, new students continued to work each year on perfecting the device.

“That’s how you can tell the QL+ program really cares,” said Morris, who would also have students assist him with a prosthetic cooling system.

“They’re not just getting a photo opp.”

For Orekhov, the lab offered a chance to not only work on an important project, but also directly with someone impacted by it.

“It’s very fulfilling to be able to improve the quality of life for someone through engineering,” Orekhov said.

Orekhov, who came to Cal Poly largely because of the lab, went on to conduct Army-sponsored research to determine which exercise is best for single-leg amputees — and his paper summarizing that recently won the top prize at the World Congress of Biomechanics Conference in Dublin, Ireland.

As Orekhov pursues a doctorate at Northern Arizona University, the QL+ Lab that inspired him has expanded to

ABOVE: Students in the QL+ lab fit Navy Veteran Taylor Morris for prosthetics that he can easily slip on for athletic activities.

a dozen other universities. But, Monett said, Cal Poly’s lab is special: It was the first and the biggest, he said, with students especially trained for the challenges.

“At Cal Poly, you can get a job at the machine shop at the end of your freshman year because of the whole Learn by Doing thing,” he said.

Monett said the best part of his visits occur when he sees a vet test a lifechanging device for the first time.

“That is heavy stuff,” he said. n

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29

G I V I N G Back

From Gangs to Aerospace Engineering JEFFREY APARICIO GOT A SECOND CHANCE AND WANTS TO GIVE BACK

J

EFFREY APARICIO had almost completed his sentence when another gang member at the Sacramento County Jail summoned him to his cell for a meeting.

“I was worried because that means one of two things,” Aparicio remembered. “They were either going to give me an assignment, which means they’re going to make me do something and probably extend my sentence, or they’re going to punish me because I broke some rule.”

Aparicio had another reason to be nervous: While he was in jail on a

30

residential burglary case, the three other gang members in the meeting were facing life terms for murder. Yet, instead of pummeling him, they surprisingly shook his hand.

“You have a second chance,” one of them said. “Don’t come back, man.”

Aparicio took their advice, and in a dramatic turnaround, the former gang member is now pursuing an aerospace engineering degree at Cal Poly.

“Hopefully, I can grow and be a better person,” he said. “And in the future, I can give back and tell wonderful stories.”

F A L L 2 0 1 8 E N G I N E E R I N G . C A L P O LY. E D U

ABOVE: Jeffrey Aparicio, an aerospace engineering major, volunteers at events on campus and in the community.

Aparicio, 27, mostly grew up in Sacramento, where his father’s family members, who were involved in gangs, were frequent visitors. When Aparicio’s father died of cirrhosis, due to alcoholism, Aparicio, then 13, turned to gang members for guidance.

The more he hung around the older gang members, the more troubles he had at school. Then he got involved in criminal activity, committing armed robberies, auto theft and more.

“I got a lot of recognition,” he said.

“Eventually people wanted to kill me.”

When he was 16, other gang members crashed a car through his family’s garage. “And the next thing you know, a white Toyota Corolla pulls up, dims his lights, and just starts firing,” he said. “Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Despite stints in juvenile offender programs, he managed to enroll in Cosumnes River College near his home.

But the next year, he got a phone call that would put his community college plans on hold.

“It’s true — a phone call can change everything,” he said.

Aparicio said he was only the driver. But one of his cohorts told police he was the key culprit in a residential burglary. According to the Sacramento Superior Court, Aparicio was convicted of burglary, leading to 240 days in the Sacramento County Jail, where past inmates have included “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski and serial killer Dorothea Puente.

When he first arrived at jail, more powerful gang members took to him,

“HOPEFULLY, I CAN GROW AND BE A BETTER PERSON.” JEFFREY APARICIO | AERO MAJOR

especially when he participated in a riot, sparked when a gang “shot caller” was attacked by rivals.

Yet, as his release date neared, that advice from the future lifers made an impact.

“I know those guys would do anything to get out of there — living in four brick walls and following people’s orders,” Aparicio said. “It’s not cool.”

Upon his return to community college, he quickly excelled, becoming a math tutor and joining a math competition.

“Jeffrey did many things well,” said Michael Carney, director of the community college’s Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement program. “He maintained quality relationships with his professors,

advisors and counselors. He always had encouraging words for other students.”

After giving an inspiring speech during graduation ceremonies, he was chosen to participate in a public relations campaign for the school, which led to his image being displayed on buses, billboards and movie theater screens. And when he decided to transfer to a four-year school, several state universities accepted him.

“Never in my life did I have options,” he said.

Aparicio plans to work in industry a few years, then return to his community college as an educator.

“I want to help those that helped me out,” he said.

Meanwhile, he volunteers at the SLO Food Bank and has offered guidance to students during PolyCultural Weekend and the SLO Days new student orientation.

This summer, Aparicio worked as a counselor for the Engineering Possibilities in College (EPIC) summer camps, sharing the story of his journey with future college students. Most of those teens could see the tattoo of a rosary, dedicated to his father, on Aparicio’s hand. But they couldn’t see the gang tattoos on his back and bicep.

Today those tattoos serve a different purpose, Aparicio said.

“Every time I look at my gang tattoos, I just remember how I’ve come so far.”

Watch as Jeffrey shares his journey from former gang member and felon to successful aerospace engineering student at ceng.calpoly.edu/aparicio. n

LEFT: Aparicio and Engineering Dean Amy Fleischer connect.

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G I V I N G Knowledge

ZACH SHARPELL WANTS TO

ENERGIZE EVERYTHING

Z

ACH SHARPELL (’17) HAS A STARTUP business based on designing, engineering and assembling by hand custom lithium ion battery packs for use in homes, scooters, bikes and appliances. It’s a business model that seems appropriate for the 2017 mechanical engineering graduate since the first thing you notice about him is he has a lot of energy.

As a student, Sharpell was an active member in no less than a dozen clubs covering the full Cal Poly Engineering spectrum, from the Society of Automotive Engineers, Cal Poly Supermileage and the PROVE Lab to the Future Fuels Club, Cal Poly Entrepreneurs and College Ambassadors.

He now has similarly ambitious and multidisciplinary plans for San Luis Obispo-based Sharpell Technologies, a business he began thinking about as a freshman after arriving from Escondido, Calif., tinkered with in his dorm room as a sophomore and fully developed during his junior year.

Originally focused on building an electric vehicle, Sharpell, who was planning on attending MIT before he observed the hands-on opportunities in Cal Poly’s mechanical engineering labs, has been surprised by the quick evolution of the business.

“Officially, we started out in 2016 with one crazy guy — me — trying to build an electric car, and now we’re up to a team of 22 working on battery applications,” Sharpell said.

“I was naive to think I had the resources to build an electric car, but while working on it, I saw a need for a better-designed battery pack. People think the road to the finish line is straight, but we’ve gone backwards, upside down and sideways.

That’s the way it is when you’re a startup company.”

With the slogan “Energize Everything,” Sharpell Technologies actually charged off in new directions during the summer, recruiting 16 Cal Poly student interns to focus on four new initiatives: a battery management system; a battery home pack for residential power storage; a batterypowered GPS tracker for security purposes and an electric bike that can go 200 miles on a single charge.

Sharpell said the battery management system, which he describes as a “guardian angel for your battery,” is a particularly intense project, especially for the five freshmen he recruited at a Startup Job Fair during the spring.

“Developing a system like this, which can shut your battery down to protect it if it gets too hot or cold, involves

ABOVE: Sharpell Technologies makes custom lithium ion battery packs for use in homes, scooters, bikes and appliances.

“PEOPLE THINK THE ROAD TO THE FINISH LINE IS STRAIGHT, BUT WE’VE GONE BACKWARDS, UPSIDE DOWN AND SIDEWAYS. THAT’S THE WAY IT IS WHEN YOU’RE A STARTUP COMPANY.” ZACHARY SHARPELL | SHARPELL TECHNOLOGIES

every discipline of engineering — electrical, software, computer, mechanical.”

Hiring interns is only one of the ways Sharpell, who did his senior project on the steering system for the PROVE Lab’s Solar Car, said he hoped to give back to Cal Poly Engineering.

He plans to mentor students working on the PROVE Lab’s second project, an electric car with a 1,000-mile range, and to sponsor a student project that connects battery storage with Cal Poly’s new Gold Tree Solar Farm.

“I want to help students soar and achieve,” he said. “I can’t give back with money right now, but I will give back with knowledge.” n

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G I V I N G Greater Learn by Doing

Meet Dean Fleischer Introducing Our New Leader and the Future of Cal Poly Engineering

B

EFORE AMY FLEISCHER,

Cal Poly’s new

dean of the College of Engineering,

arrived on campus in July

2018, the college held several

“listening sessions” on campus and around the state. Alumni

— both engineering and others — and thought leaders from prestigious universities and cutting-edge industry were invited to begin a dialogue

across disciplines. Cal Poly

architecture alumnus Hubert

Bromma was so intrigued by the process, he participated in three

sessions. Later he sat down with Fleischer to hear her views on the vision for the college and

educating tomorrow’s engineers.

Cal Poly alumnus Hubert Bromma chats with College of Engineering Dean Amy Fleischer.

Bromma: Learn by Doing, Cal Poly’s bedrock educational philosophy, is evolving, as are technologies and the process of learning. How can Cal Poly best prepare engineers for a future of constant change?

Dean Fleischer: I strongly believe in Learn by Doing; there’s no doubt we’ll continue to build on this heritage far into the future. It’s through Learn by Doing activity that we take ownership of our knowledge. Whenever I visit Poly Canyon, I can feel this strong connection between past, current and future generations of Cal Poly students applying Learn by Doing.

Our Cal Poly engineers are mastering the fundamentals in ways many other engineering graduates never do, and then apply those principles to real-world situations. We regularly see our fourth-year students exhibiting mastery of their subjects as they mentor our first-year students. Our role as faculty is to help students be excited about the unknown — not to fear it. We do this through class-based projects, clubs, industry partnerships and applied research. And we do this with a culture that embraces differences, challenges and making mistakes.

This is a polytechnic school. Everyone here — whether they’re studying liberal arts or engineering — has made a choice to be at a school focused on technology.

Technology impacts every aspect of our lives, so how do we help other students understand the roles that engineers play in society? We can do this by forging partnerships with people like ethics Professor Patrick Lin, who examines the implications of technology in society outside of engineering.

We’re also seeing a new generation of involved activiststudents, and we have a responsibility to help them develop ways to make a difference in the world.

Bromma: Perhaps the future itself is dependent upon today’s engineering students finding solutions for humankind’s most pressing issues — to focus students’ efforts on what matters most. Thus, we end up asking, “Learn by Doing: what and with whom?”

Dean Fleischer: Far from being isolated from society, engineers are integrated into every aspect of today’s world. It’s up to engineers to develop and implement the technology that is changing our world. Cal Poly engineers do transformational things. Look at some of the technologies that have come out of Cal Poly — the CubeSat, for instance! CubeSat has changed the

“Cal Poly engineers are mastering the fundamentals in ways many other engineering graduates never do.”

paradigm for satellite design and has launched a new way of approaching space science.

We must continue to focus on worldwide initiatives, particularly those that address the most fundamental challenges facing global society — things like clean energy, robust infrastructure, healthcare, space exploration and cybersecurity. This will require diverse teams working collaboratively in a Learn by Doing framework. For instance, cybersecurity isn’t just a computer science problem. It impacts politics, ethics, business, and even the systems that manage our food supply. It’s clear that Cal Poly’s strengths clearly align with our most pressing, complex issues.

My intention is to tell students, “You’re going to meet a lot of people here. They’re not smarter than you; they have just learned more than you — so far. You may not have learned it yet, but you can learn anything you want to.”

Bromma: From your perspective, what is the changing role of the engineer as we secure a beneficial future for humans in a global environment?

Dean Fleischer: Engineers have a profound responsibility to have an impact on society because we are literally changing the ways we interact with each other. We’ve always been entrusted with the public’s safety and wellbeing. We trusted engineers to build our earliest bridges and water systems. While our expertise may keep getting narrowly focused, we cannot forget that we need “whole brain” engineers who think broadly. We have to prepare students to not only work at the cutting edge of technology; we must also teach them to understand what they’re doing, why and understand the implications of their work. u

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G I V I N G Greater Learn by Doing

Engineers are the optimists of society, the ones who always believe that we can find a better way. As educators, we must enable cross-disciplinary sharing of ideas to foster creativity and imagination.

We will remain true to our roots, but the challenges we face require new approaches. Advancements in bioinformatics, for instance, will require biomedical engineers, computer scientists, computer engineers, mechanical engineers, industrial engineers, statisticians and others all working together. We are going to have to be comfortable working in each other’s disciplines and speaking the same languages. By doing this, I want Cal Poly engineering students to push the limits of what humans can accomplish.

Bromma: I believe students need more international exposure to better understand their contributions within the global context.

What are your thoughts along those lines?

ABOVE: Dean Fleischer enjoys wearing interesting socks, like the kitty astronaut socks she wore during the interview.

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F A L L 2 0 1 8 E N G I N E E R I N G . C A L P O LY. E D U

Dean Fleischer: It’s critical to prepare students to work internationally. Many of our students will work in

international teams from their first week on the job. I believe we can create an international experience without students ever leaving the Central Coast. It’s never been easier to collaborate internationally using technology.

We can expand our work with universities in Germany, Egypt and Chile and create new partnerships in Latin America, China and the Middle East. Students in those countries could partner with our students to work on some of engineering’s grand challenges, interacting regularly using modern collaboration tools. It’s important to provide an international perspective to enrich and deepen students’ experience while preparing them for their careers.

Bromma: As someone who has great interest in architecture, I believe the way people move through places and spaces informs how they think of themselves and their shared experience with others. I understand there is a vision for creating a modern learning facility at Cal Poly.

Dean Fleischer: Creating the right spaces enables faculty and students to work on cross-disciplinary and crossinstitutional projects. Spaces do create community, and our goal is a diverse community focused on collaborative problem-solving. We hope this will take the form of a new 70,000-square-foot building.

I envision the Center for Creative Engineering will enable students and faculty to dream, design and create solutions to the world’s challenges. Our vision is a warm, welcoming space that fosters creativity and the cultivation of ideas — a facility that provides the modern collaboration, computing and manufacturing labs necessary to bring ideas to life. It’s important to have classrooms that reflect our desired type of learning environment. Many of our departments are revamping their classrooms to be more interactive, focusing on details like desks that roll so students can easily move in and out of groups.

I want to foster what we call “accidental exposure to ideas,” leading to dynamic cross-fertilization between teams. I’d like to have an Ideation Space where students in different majors can work next to each other, a place that fosters ideas to flow freely. It’s an intentional way of setting up space to create interactions. Steve Jobs did that at Apple, and I would like to see more of that here.

We want to encourage 360-degree learning, which creates a more inclusive environment where everyone is a teacher and everyone

“Engineers are the optimists of society, the ones who believe that we can find a better way.”

is a learner. That doesn’t include just faculty and students; it also includes our staff, who have amazing things to share.

Bromma: Would you provide a few personal comments and one simple thing you hope to launch in the college?

Dean Fleischer: My first few months here have been delightful, and I look forward to the challenges of being dean. So many talented people are working in the roles that keep the college moving forward. While my background is in mechanical engineering, I consider myself a renaissance person with interests in many aspects of engineering, and frankly the world in general. I have a bit of a quirky sense of humor and try not to take things overly seriously. I’m known for the interesting socks I wear, like these fabulous kitty astronaut socks I’m wearing today.

I’m a very curious person so am naturally interested in fostering creativity and entrepreneurship.

I’m a strong believer in lifelong learning — and I read more than a hundred books each year on wide-ranging topics.

One simple thing that’s important to me is ensuring we bring different kinds of thought leaders to speak with our students. I heard when Buckminster Fuller visited Cal Poly many years ago, he left an impression that was palpable for years afterward. Many recent students felt the same way about a visit from Bill Nye the Science Guy, who is actually, in fact, an engineer!

Inviting game-changers to campus helps spark dialogue and create the type of dynamic collaborative vision that I have for Cal Poly Engineering. n

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G I V I N G Industry Experience

INTERNSHIPS WITH COMPANIES LARGE AND SMALL PROVIDE REAL INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE — AND A GREAT LINKEDIN ADDITION

O

VER THE SUMMER, ELLEN GLAD attracted an unusual, persistent follower during her summer hikes.

The R1 autonomous drone doesn’t need a pilot – it just recognizes its subject and dutifully trails wherever the subject goes, careful to avoid potentially drone-jarring objects along the way.

“R1 has amazing subject tracking and obstacle avoidance,” said Glad, an aerospace major from Lake Oswego, Oregon. “Nothing like I’ve ever seen on another drone before.”

If Glad seems like she’s promoting the R1, that’s good.

Because that’s exactly what she’s supposed to do as an intern for R1’s maker, the Bay Area-based Skydio.

“I do a lot of photography and social media marketing both personally and for Cal Poly’s Prototype Vehicles Laboratory,” she said. “And so coming across a marketing internship for a start-up drone company seemed like a perfect find.”

Through internships, companies provide industry opportunities for College of Engineering students, who benefit by gaining relevant career experience and an impressive update to their LinkedIn page.

Amman Asfaw was an intern during Intel’s 50th anniversary, working at the company’s Chandler, Arizona campus.

“This is my first ever full-time job, and for it to be with a respected and functional corporation like Intel is priceless, to say the least,” said Asfaw, an electrical engineering student.

Asfaw, who helped manage and maintain the site’s electrical equipment, enjoyed Intel perks, like flying on a private plane to Oregon for an intern conference. u

RIGHT: Ellen Glad’s marketing internship at startup Skydio involves using drones to understand them better.

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“... Coming across a marketing internship for a start-up drone company seemed like a perfect find.”

ELLEN GLAD | INTERN, SKYDIO

The Real World

G I V I N G Industry Experience

ABOVE: Amman Asfaw interned at Intel’s Arizona campus near Phoenix during the company’s 50th anniversary, helping to manage and maintain electrical equipment.

RIGHT: Alyssa Liu, an intern and self-professed “rover geek” at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, visits a rover replica at JPL’s campus museum in Pasadena, Calif.

OPPOSITE PAGE: Kevin Joseph’s internship with NASCAR in North Carolina put him in good company with stock cars.

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When Alyssa Liu received an email from NASA, asking if she was interested in an internship, she immediately researched the sender’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages to make sure it wasn’t a joke. And soon, the self-professed “rover geek” was working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

“At JPL, when I finish something, I am able to say, ‘It was for the Mars 2020 Rover,’ which is just so amazing and mind blowing for me,” said Liu, an aerospace student from Concord.

As an intern at Universal Studios, mechanical engineering student Tyler Koski worked with technical services – at what has to be one of the more fun work sites in the world.

“On days where I was tired of looking at a screen or just needed to stretch my legs, I could take a stroll outside, and I was walking through a place people were traveling from across the world to visit,” said Koski, an Irvine native who will also intern at Universal Creative. “One way or another, I know that the theme park industry is where I want my career to lead.”

Kevin Joseph’s internship allowed him to add NASCAR to his résumé. Like Koski, Joseph’s summer job in Concord, North Carolina, helped him to pursue a long-time interest.

“I’ve dreamed of being in motorsport since a very young age, and this helped me realize my dream,” said Joseph, an aerospace grad student from India and a member of Cal Poly Racing.

While stock cars require drivers, Glad has learned a lot about autonomous aircraft so she can write newsletters for Skydio.

And, of course, to understand autonomous drones better, she had to fly them.

“The most fun part has been using the drone whenever I want,” she said. “When I take weekend trips or go for a hike, it’s so fun to let the drone follow me around and then have footage from my adventures at the end of the day.” n

“I’ve dreamed of being in motorsports since a young age, and this helped me realize my dream.”

KEVIN JOSEPH | INTERN, NASCAR

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GIVING

Electrical Engineering graduate Melinda Ong, Society of Women Engineers president and 30 under 30: Cal Poly’s Most Influential Women recipient.

1.

MAIL YOUR DONATION OR MAKE A GIFT ONLINE Send a check to the College of Engineering, 1 Grand Ave., San Luis Obispo, Calif. 93407 or visit www.engineering.calpoly.edu/giving.

2.

MAKE A GIFT OF SECURITIES A gift of securities or mutual funds offers the chance to support students and programs while realizing tax benefits.

3.

MAKE PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS AND MATCH YOUR GIFTS

IMPACTING THE FUTURE OF

CAL POLY ENGINEERING

WAYS TO GIVE BACK

Set up a simple payroll deduction through your human resources department — double your gift by leveraging your employer’s matching program.

See www.giving.calpoly.edu/matching.

4.

PLEDGE A GIFT Pledge a gift paid through multi-year installments.

5.

PLAN A GIFT Include the College of Engineering in your estate plans to leave a legacy on campus.

Visit www.plannedgiving.calpoly.edu

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Your support is essential! Join the 558 first-time donors who gave last year. Large or small, your donation will directly impact student experiences.

Assistant Dean of Advancement Tanya Hauck at 805-756-2163 or thauck@calpoly.edu.

California Polytechnic State University College of Engineering 1 Grand Ave. San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-0350 PARENTS, PLEASE NOTE: If your son or daughter is no longer at this address, please share his or her current address with the College of Engineering.