MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING | SUMMER 2021
News to ME
Sparks of inspiration ME students work all year to present senior projects to challengers — see Page 6
news to ME I N SI DE 03 FROM THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR 04 ALUMNUS GOTTHARD JANSON 06 ME SENIOR PROJECTS 10 GRAD STUDENT REYMIL FERNANDEZ 12 KEYSIGHT SUPPORTS ME PROJECT 13 ME DEPARTMENT RETIREMENTS 14 MEMORIUM: FRANK OWEN 16 EMBERLEY RECOGNIZED
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Mechanical engineering students Luke Vickerman, left, and Kahye Yu test the research raft they built for their senior project at Lake Nacimiento. For more on ME senior projects, see Page 6.
From The
Department chair
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ear friends of Cal Poly M.E., I am happy to report that no pandemic can suppress our student’s ability to learn and grow into amazing engineers ready to tackle important problems. This past academic year, our dedicated faculty and staff were able to provide in-person laboratory experiences for nearly all our classes so our students could receive our famous hands-on, Learn by Doing education. Also, due to generous support from our corporate partners and people like you, we provided Learn by Doing at-home kits for labs that could not be held in person. I cannot Jim Widmann thank you enough for that support.
In this issue of News to M.E., you will learn about how our students were able to complete fantastic senior projects and advance research initiatives despite the many obstacles brought on by the pandemic. In this year of change, you can also read about how the faculty and students are looking closely at social justice issues through the lens of engineering design with a new course offering by Dr. Ben Lutz. Also inside, you can catch up on personnel changes with several long-time faculty and staff members retiring, and sadly, we lost a long-time faculty member, Dr. Frank Owen. I hope you enjoy this issue, and if you are ever in San Luis Obispo and and would like to tour our facilities and/or learn about recent updates and advancements in the department, please do not hesitate to contact me through the Mechanical Engineering Department office. Sincerely, Jim Widmann, Department Chair
SPRING 2021 | 3
News to ME
A deeper
dive ▲Divers test a device Cal Poly students designed and created for NASA astronauts to use in space. The team won first place in the Micro-g NExT Space Suit Attachment Quick Release System design challenge.
Space industry veteran engineer Gotthard Janson wants to help future generations explore space 4 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
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al Poly’s timeline has changed considerably since Gotthard Janson last walked on campus 57 years ago. But the most drastic difference since the space industry veteran’s 1964 graduation is the technology available to today’s students.
“Today’s students have been brought up with computers,” he said. “When I went to Cal Poly, the most fascinating thing I had in the way of technology was a slide rule. I firmly believe technology is accelerating.” While some graduates from past generations might resist change, Janson thinks his mentorship can help students use modern technology to gain even greater advances.
This past year, he mentored a team of Cal Poly students, the CP Space Squad, working on NASA’s Micro-g NExT Space Suit Attachment Quick Release System design challenge. The challenge, which served as the team’s senior project, was to design a device that would allow future astronauts to easily access tools during lunar missions. “Throughout his mentorship, he recounted many stories of his time at Cal Poly and his experience in getting to where he is today,” said Andres Elzaurdia, the team lead. “Hearing about his struggles and triumphs helped put into perspective where we are in our career paths and how many options we have available to us.”
Boeing and GeoControl Systems. His efforts have included working on the design and assembly for the International Space Station and projects focused on technologies supporting humans being able to live and work in near zero gravity. “I wish I could be around for another 20 years, but I look forward to future generations exploring further into space,” he said. To help prepare those generations, he regularly promotes STEM to high school and college students. The CP Space Squad he mentored for the Micro-g project created a 21-page document on their quick release system, along with a device that was actually tested underwater (which simulates near-zero gravity) at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
After graduating from Cal Poly ▲Mechanical engineering alumnus Gotthard Janson measures up to a Robonaut. with a mechanical engineering degree, Janson wanted to become “Gotthard did a good job of an Air Force pilot, but a vision issue reminding us of the professionalism disqualified him from flying. However, when the Air Force and quality of work expected of us by NASA,” Elzaurdia sought volunteers to help NASA with the Space Shuttle said. program, Janson navigated a new career path. Janson also arranged for the students to present their In the Air Force, where Janson eventually became a design work to a principal NASA contractor and a new lieutenant colonel, he directed studies to define Shuttle engineering design company constructing a lunar lander elements. for the upcoming Artemis Program. “For the design, it started with the basic questions, ‘What should it look like? Should it have wings? Should it have propulsive capabilities? Should it be able to come back from space in a few orbits?” Janson said. Janson was there when the first shuttle, Columbia, launched in 1981 — a watershed moment for both his career and the space program. “After having worked on it for many years before that, designing it, testing it, getting it ready and everything else, going down to the Kennedy Space Center to see it lift off was just one of those moments – you just hold your breath and hope it gets off the ground,” Janson said. “That was a marvelous piece of engineering that we humans built.” After 25 years with the Air Force, Janson continues to advance the space industry as an engineer with private companies supporting NASA, including Lockheed Martin,
“This gave them more knowledge about how the industry works, along with exposure to other industry professionals,” said Professor Peter Schuster, who served as the faculty advisor. “In addition, Gotthard talked with them about how these activities aligned with industry practices and constantly reminded them that the quality of their presentations was almost as important as the quality of their work.” While Janson provides an important link to the past, he likes to remind the younger generations of their technological advantages – illustrated by cellphones that can outperform computers used to send astronauts to the moon. “Only in the last few hundred years did we develop the internal combustion engine, and then we developed a car,” he said. “And in the last hundred years, look at what we’ve done — we’re flying, and we’ve accelerated technology to the point where we walked on the moon, and now we’re planning and talking about going to Mars.” n SUMMER 2021 | 5
News to ME
“moment of sheer joy” After months of work, anticipations run high when senior projects are put to the test
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n a dirt field near Sacramento, beekeeper Alex Jauregui attaches the arm of a modified dolly to the top of one of his bee boxes, then pulls the dolly back, lifting the 80-pound box with ease.
Then Jauregui, who is also a wounded war vet, turns to Cal Poly student and fellow veteran Javier Guerra, who is standing to his left, and offers a thumb’s up. “There it is, brother,” Jauregui says with a smile. Then he turns to the rest of the team that designed and built the dolly for its senior project. “You guys passed!”
▲ Mechanical engineering student Javier Guerra was so inspired by his senior project working on a project to help a beekeeper who is an injured war veteran, he enrolled in a beekeeping class at Cal Poly to better understand the physical requirements of the job. 6 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
After nine months of researching, designing and building, this is the moment mechanical engineering students both fear and relish — presenting their final project to the client. While there is always a possibility the product won’t work as planned, when it does, students often feel a rush of elation — followed by a sigh of relief.
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Mechanical engineering students, from left, Kyle Ladtkow, Jose Velazquez and Javier Guerra modified a dolly to help a wounded veteran lift bee boxes for his business near Sacramento.
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Mechanical engineering students Jacob Davis, left, and Luke Vickerman test the research raft they built for their senior project at Lake Nacimiento. The project was sponsored by Lawrence Livermore National Lab so they could have a scaled version of their research rafts, which would allow them to more efficiently develop and test new control strategies.
“That moment of sheer joy — seeing the thing that you created come to life — it’s just incredible,” said Peter Schuster, professor and senior project advisor.
would work. The chair was made for AmpSurf, a nonprofit that offers surfing as therapy, and delivered during the organization’s VetSurf event.
Mechanical engineering senior projects represent relevant real-world work designed to address challenges posed by industry or individuals with specific needs. And since teams present projects to clients when they’re finished, they are able to witness client reactions — often as they perform their product’s first real test.
“After nine months, we finally delivered it and saw it in action on the beach,” Yakel said.
When Seth Yakel’s interdisciplinary team took their all-terrain, adaptive wheelchair to Pismo Beach a day before graduation ceremonies, they weren’t sure how it
Despite a potential last-minute disaster – team members quickly fixed an initial glitch that caused the chair to stall — the chair successfully transported veteran Sarah Taylor to the shoreline, leading to sighs of relief. Elation followed when Yakel was able to control the chair with a smart phone while sitting on a surfboard in the ocean. Continued on Page 9 SUMMER 2021 | 7
News to ME
▲ Mechanical engineering student Seth Yakel performs last-minute adjustments (above) on an all-terrain, adaptive wheelchair. Yakel later controlled the chair from his smart phone (below) while on a surf board in the ocean.
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Continued from Page 7
“This chair is ideal for a paraplegic who has use of their upper body but not their lower body and for lower limb amputees who don’t wear their prosthetic in the water,” said Dana Cummings, AmpSurf’s founder and president. “I think it is amazing, and it will really impact the access for adaptive surfers.” The adaptive wheelchair team had added pressure: Local media were there to cover the story, which wound up leading to national attention. “It’s a very complex project for students to do, but these Cal Poly students come through – they put in an incredible amount of effort,” said Jim Widmann, chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, who acted as an advisor to the project.
swimmingly well,” Nyholm said, as the vessel traveled on water behind him. As anxiety-producing as the final delivery can be, for students it can also offer the greatest sense of accomplishment they will experience in college. Prior to delivering his team’s dolly to Jauregui, Kyle Ladtkow said he relished projects that solve problems for people. While on active duty in Afghanistan, Army vet Jauregui stepped on an explosive and lost two legs. After his return, a nonprofit helped him establish a business, Fury Bees, but lifting heavy bee boxes can be taxing with two prosthetic legs. Ladtkow was eager to see how their dolly would help alleviate the pain.
Another senior project team tested its project – an unmanned research vessel — for the first time at Lake Nacimiento, with sponsors from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory there to witness the test.
“It’s going to be a great feeling, honestly,” Ladtkow said. “I’m just happy to know that we could put our time and energy into something that could really help him on a day-to-day basis.”
“They have put nine months into this project, and now it’s all on the line today,” said Schuster, the faculty advisor. As they carried their raft to the water, the students felt the pressure.
While the team had tested it on bee boxes on campus, seeing Jauregui use it offered a different reaction.
“I’ve been an anxious all day today and all day yesterday,” said one of them, Jacob Davis. “I had trouble getting to sleep last night. I was, like, ‘Oh, is this going to work?’ And all the math in the world can tell you that something is going to work, and you just don’t know.” When the vessel both floated and maneuvered as they had hoped, Davis pumped a fist in the air, then patted his chest, shook his head and smiled. “I’m going to tell you I’m going to take lots of photos, and I’m going to cry myself to sleep tonight at a job well done,” he said. “Because it was awesome just seeing it all come together.” Paul Nyholm, an engineer for Lawrence Livermore, said the students had done well with conceptual, critical and final design reviews beforehand. But reviews are one thing. The trip to Lake Nacimiento would show if the product they manufactured — a more compact version of what the lab uses on the open ocean — would work.
“It worked!” Ladtkow said, as bees fluttered around. “I mean, I knew it worked, but, you know . . . it’s nice to have validation.” n
“I had trouble getting to sleep last night. I was, like, ‘Oh, is this going to work?’ And all the math in the world can tell you that something is going to work, and you just don’t know.” Jacob Davis, mechanical engineering student
“At the end of the day they’ve actually made a prototype that we’re out here testing today, and it’s working SUMMER 2021 | 9
news to mE
for the benefit of society CENG’s top graduate student is motivated to help others
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eymil Fernandez lit up the first time he encountered the Human Motion Biomechanics Laboratory.
“When I first walked into that lab, I looked like a happy child,” he recalled. “A happy child — that was my first reaction to it.” His work in the lab helped inspire him to focus his career objectives and eventually pursue a master’s degree at Cal Poly. Before graduating, Fernandez was named the College of Engineering’s Outstanding Graduate Student. In high school, Fernandez enjoyed math, but he wanted to pursue a field that was more practical than theoretical. Engineering, he learned, entailed math but also a lot of hands-on work as well. “You’re applying mathematics and physics concepts in to solving engineering problems,” he said. “I specifically chose mechanical engineering because of its broad aspect.” 10 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
As a first-generation college student, Fernandez transferred to Cal Poly from Bakersfield College as a mechanical engineering student. In 2017, he approached professors Scott Hazelwood and Steve Klisch about working in the Human Motion Biomechanics Lab. At the time, the lab was in the middle of a 3-year study, sponsored by the Department of Defense, looking at how exercise impacts amputees with prosthetics. “One of the biggest challenges is how to integrate man-made materials that can be quite stiff with living, less-stiff biological tissues that have various responses to the objects they are interacting with,” said Scott Hazelwood, a biomedical engineering professor. “The main contribution of my students and myself on these projects was to use the information gathered from the motion analysis experiments to generate whole knee computational models to examine the build-up of pressure on the cartilage on the knee — and, therefore, the risk of arthritis — throughout the motions of these exercises.”
“I distinctly remember him saying that a major reason he was interested in the position was because he was very attracted to our lab’s goal of improving lives through injury and disease prevention biomechanics,” said Klisch, who nominated Fernandez for the recognition. “In other words, to reduce pain and suffering in human lives.” Hazelwood, who leads the lab with Klisch, Brian Self and Christie O’Hara, noticed the enthusiasm that day as well. ▲ Mechanical Engineering student Reymil Fernandez found a home in the Human Motion Biomechanics Laboratory.
The studies entailed using real people, wearing retroreflective markers as 12 motion capture cameras recorded their exercise. Fernandez was one of the students who helped with that study. “The idea is to investigate hip and knee forces on amputee participants to see which exercise is best for them to minimize the risk of arthritis at the knee,” he said. “We looked at the knee compressive forces and compared that with controls (non-amputees).” Fernandez, who is writing a journal paper on that research, also helped research the arthritis risk for obese individuals who exercise. As an undergraduate, he also took part in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program. His project used the lab’s equipment in a novel way – verifying sensor data recorded from a scaled-down autonomous semi-truck.
“It was clear during that interview that he strongly felt this was what he was meant to do and he certainly was able to convey that to us during the interview,” Hazelwood said. Fernandez was trained by other former lab members, Hazelwood said, and quickly became involved in studies involving transtibial amputees and obese individuals, among others. Eventually, he became the lab manager, overseeing the everyday operation of the lab and mentoring other students. “I find Rey to be a very hard working individual, intelligent, well-mannered, easy to talk to, very willing to learn, and ambitious,” Hazelwood said. “He has helped advance the capabilities of the lab by extending the
While an undergraduate, Fernandez also attended the Society of Biomechanics Conference in 2019, which motivated him to pursue a graduate degree. He wanted to continue his studies at Cal Poly because of the lab. Fernandez, whose mother is a caregiver, hopes to have a career in the biomedical device industry because he wants to impact positive change in the lives of others. “The human motion biomechanics mission statement is to do work that benefits society,” he said. “And I’ve always had this motivation to help people.” Klisch, a mechanical engineering professor, said Fernandez’s motivation was obvious from the day he stepped into the lab.
research we do in the lab.” In his nomination, Klisch noted that Fernandez is a leader in the lab, with five conference papers. “In my 20 years of research and activities at Cal Poly, I have never worked with another student who has more scholarly and professional potential than Rey,” Klisch wrote. n SUMMER 2021 | 11
news to mE
Keysight helps student and faculty research project ▲
A research project involving laser interferometer systems received support from Keysight in June. Pictured, left to right: (Eric) Tan Run En, Aria Pegah, Jordan David Kochavi, Grant P. Gallagher, Charlie Birdsong, John Flowers and Riley Barrett from Keysight, Joseph Callenes Sloan, and Siyuan (Simon) Xing.
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tudents and faculty hosted engineers from Keysight in June to discuss a new Cal Poly research project focused on investigating novel uses of laser interferometer systems. A laser interferometer is a sensor capable of measuring the position of objects with extreme accuracy, down to the picometer, and it is used in several industries, including silicon wafer manufacturing. Keysight donated a three-axis laser interferometer measurement system capable of nanometer position resolution worth approximately $55,000 and direct funding for the 18-month research project. Students and faculty from the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering departments are developing new tools to enable users without expertise in motion control to leverage these types of systems for their applications. The group is developing tools for new system identification and motion control applications using the laser system. Additionally, the group is building a new flexible and scalable interface that would allow the system to be used in a variety of emerging applications.
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John Flowers and Riley Barrett from Keysight met with Dr. Siyuan Xing, Dr. Charlie Birdsong, Jordan Kochavi, and Grant Gallagher from Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Joseph Callenes, Aria Pegah, and Tan Run En from Electrical Engineering. The Cal Poly team demonstrated their initial lab setup in Building 13, including a new learning platform for testing the optical system and an electrical subsystem for emulating the behavior of the optical system. The Cal Poly and Keysight teams spent the day working together collaboratively in the lab to bring the equipment online successfully. John Flowers provided in-depth explanations for the inner workings of the laser interferometer system and background for their potential applications. Students and faculty learned important concepts and details regarding interferometer systems and obtained a great foundation to understand their realworld applications. After the Cal Poly team provided a demonstration of potential Matlab/Simulink tools to be used in the project, the entire group planned for their next steps over the summer. n
Retirement
ME Department says goodbye to retiring faculty and staff
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uring his nearly four decades at Cal Poly, Jim Gerhardt witnessed many changes — including several he helped institute. “In 37 years, he’s seen so many changes, I can’t even think about it,” said Department Chair Jim Widmann. “It’s hard to fathom what our program would be without him. He has kept our laboratories running.”
Jim Gerhardt
Gerhardt, an electrical mechanical technician, is one of several faculty and staff members who retired from the department in the past year.
Larry Coolidge — “Larry has served our department as our ‘IT magician’ for 21 years,” Widmann said. The technical support coordinator identified cost-effective solutions that led to numerous upgrades of department computing equipment. And he provided extensive after-hours assistance to faculty and students. “Most of us will think of Larry for his incredible dedication to our educational mission,” Widmann said.
Vera Flores — Over nearly two decades, Flores served multiple administrative roles at Cal Poly, most recently as assistant to the chair.
The longest serving of the retirees, Gerhardt was instrumental, Widmann said, in planning Building 192 and establishing the AERO Hangar and Mustang ’60 machine shops while also helping the department focus on safety issues. “Our safety record is incredible thanks to him,” Widmann said. Lee McFarland — McFarland, who taught in both the Mechanical Engineering and Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering departments, came to Cal Poly in 1999 after retiring from his first career at 3M. “Lee has really had a special place in his heart for educating the next generation of engineers,” Widmann said. “His career design experience from a company famous for making ingenious discoveries has always helped him inspire and energize student innovation at Cal Poly.”
Larry Coolidge
Vera Flores
“She has served as the face of the department and saw our department grow 50 percent during her time here,” Widmann said.
While department chairs rotated through her tenure, Widmann said, Flores was a consistent presence. Flores also served as a representative for the California State University Employees Union. “And I think we can all thank her for her efforts in calling out the parking problems on campus,” Widmann said. Scott Patton — A lecturer for 17 years, Patton was “incredibly knowledgeable about fluids,” Widmann said.
Lee McFarland
McFarland said advising senior projects has been a highlight of his teaching career, and his favorite part of the job has been the students – many of whom have stayed in touch even after graduation.
Soon after announcing his retirement, Patton sold his home and moved to Oregon to be near his granddaughter. n Scott Patton SUMMER 2021 | 13
Memorium
Frank owen remembered as A life-long learner
▲ Frank Owen (right), pictured with friend, business partner and faculty peer Pat Lemieux, passed away in June at age 68.
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rank Owen was already past 50 when he became a world traveler and learned French, Italian and German. And during his semiretirement, he was still eager to learn new engineering software. “He was constantly learning new things,” said his friend Pat Lemieux, a colleague in the Mechanical Engineering Department. “He was a life-long learner.” Owen, who passed away in June at age 68, also implored others to become more worldly. “Frank was a citizen of the world, a strong believer that all people could cooperate in peace to make the world a better place,” said Fabio Previdi, who first met Owen as a visiting researcher from Italy in 2014. While he enjoyed traveling to new places, Owen, a native of Columbus, Mississippi, harbored mixed feelings about his own hometown. “He grew up knowing only the hemmed-in world of segregated Mississippi and Alabama of the 1950s and ‘60s,” Owen wrote in his own obituary. “The family had been stuck in the South for 300+ years. He broke away from all of that and became a proud Californian, contributing to the betterment of that special society.” “One of his biggest accomplishments, he felt, was leaving Mississippi,” Lemieux said. At the same time, he added, Owen also talked fondly about parts of the state. “He would constantly fall back on these eulogies about Mississippi.” Owen was from “a privileged family of lawyers, politicians, judges and journalists,” he wrote prior to his death. Yet, Lemieux said, he lived more simply, driving older cars and wearing modest clothing.
“He had this way of showing people the beauty of engineering.” Pat Lemieux Mechanical engineering professor
“He just was the opposite of flashy,” Lemieux said. After beginning his career in industry, Owen transitioned to teaching in 1987, at the Maine Maritime Academy. A few years after landing at Cal Poly in 1998, he would also teach abroad as a guest professor in Germany and Senegal. “He had this way of showing people the beauty of engineering,” Lemieux said. In Germany, Owen both taught and conducted research, said Rolf Herz, who initiated a cooperation with Cal Poly and München University of Applied Sciences, which included a faculty exchange, in 1997. “He and his family integrated exceptionally well,” Herz said. “They all learned German well and made lots of friends.” At 16, Herz’s son would later spend five months with Owen’s family in San Luis Obispo as part of a high school foreign exchange. “He and Benji, Frank’s son, became very close friends,” Herz said. While he began traveling internationally in 2005, Owen’s fascination for international exploration began much earlier.
“He poured over atlases as a boy,” his obituary read, “looking at how countries fit together to form the world.” Herz and Previdi remembered Owen as a social, understanding and empathetic person, but Lemieux said Owen was also a passionate engineer — a control systems specialist — who could be stubborn, abrasive and even polarizing. Even though the two would occasionally have heated debates over engineering, Lemieux was inspired by Owen’s incessant curiosity. “It pushed me to never stop learning,” he said. Lemieux met Owen in 2007, and the two eventually launched an engineering consulting business together. They also shared a plane, which they flew from California to North Carolina. Owen was also passionate about flying. “The very first day I met him, after an hour talking in his office, he told me, ‘Would you like to see the town?’” Previdi recalled. “I supposed he wanted to take me for a city tour by car or foot. On the contrary, he drove me to the airport and took me on a plane tour of the town.” After permanently retiring in March, Owen was diagnosed with cancer the following month. He passed away six weeks later. While the illness deprived Owen of a full retirement, that shouldn’t be viewed as a tragedy, Lemieux said. “He never regretted the path he took work-wise,” Lemieux said. “His life was richer because of teaching.” n
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News to ME
Emberley honored as “Top Five Under 35” R ichard Emberley, an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department who also teaches in the Fire Protection Engineering program, was recently named one of the “5 Under 35” SFPE (Society of Fire Protection Engineers) Emerging Professionals.
The SFPE, which represents those practicing in the field of fire protection and fire safety engineering, recognizes five individuals each year who best represent the industry’s top rising leaders giving back to the fire protection and engineering profession and community. Emberley, who joined the ME faculty in 2017, has conducted research encompassing a broad range of topics, including self-extinction of timber, compartment
fire dynamics of exposed and protection timber structures, debonding of engineered timber, visibility in smoke filled environments, and novel fire testing methodologies.
One of the other “5 Under 35” individuals is Gary Dominguez, who earned his master’s degree from Cal Richard Emberley Poly’s Fire Protection program in 2015. He currently works as a senior fire protection engineer at Jensen Hughes in Orange County, CA. n
Panel Discussion
Mechanical engineering students Ryan Dubois and Sophie Getty take measurements from solar panels outside the solar lab as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Program. The students, who are being mentored by Assistant Professor Jacques Belanger, are learning how to optimize energy production at the solar field on the Cal Poly campus.
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