Inventing Tomorrow Fall 2021 by College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota

INVENTING TOMORROW A MAGAZINE FOR THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

FALL 2021

WHEN SMALL IS BIG Exploring how the invisible spawn research labs and kernels of ideas become major gifts

BONUS SECTION:

campaign updates

As I reflect on my time as dean of the College of Science and Engineering, I am reminded of a quote from Vincent Van Gogh that says, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” Tiny kernels of ideas have turned into big plans. Small and large donations have added up to make an enormous impact. And we’ve come together to meet one of the greatest challenges in a century caused by a virus we can’t even see. Over the last three years, we have set out on a path to increase the college’s incoming class by 100 students each year to meet the industry need for more scientists and engineers. This fall, we exceeded our goal and welcomed 1,453 new first-year students compared to 1,152 in Fall 2018—a 26 percent increase and the largest freshman class in history. The number of first-year

MOSTAFA (MOS) KAVEH

We have achieved great things together students of color increased 80 percent from 233 in Fall 2018 to 422 in Fall 2021. This year’s incoming class also has 452 women— the highest number in history. We achieved our goal despite a dip in new student enrollment last fall due to the pandemic. All of this doesn’t happen by accident. We met our goal through the many efforts of faculty, staff, alumni volunteers, and donors to support students. Faculty and staff made huge adjustments during the pandemic to continue our education and research missions. Our University quickly adapted to teaching classes remotely and it is now back to teaching more than 80 percent in-person classes again to give students the on-campus, hands-on experiences they need. Our college’s Diversity and Inclusivity Alliance was established in Fall 2019 through a grassroots effort born from the endeavors of a handful of people. Today, the Alliance has more than 500 champions who are working to change the culture and improve the climate in our college by bringing members of the CSE community together to identify critical diversity issues, develop action plans, and support efforts to diversify at all levels and units of the college.

In this issue of Inventing Tomorrow, we highlight the impact of our alumni and donors. Gifts, large and small, helped us surpass our goals with the University’s Driven campaign to double the number of scholarships and increase resources for faculty research, recruitment, and retention. We were also able to renovate spaces for student services and research, including a new student innovation lab and robotics lab. CSE alumni gave their time as well to mentoring students and serving on advisory boards. We also show the big impact of research on small things in this magazine—from mapping the chemical interactions of molecules to sending insects to space to studying the environmental impact of nanotechnology. As we welcome our next dean, Andrew Alleyne, on Jan. 10, 2022—and I return to teaching and research in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering— I want to thank all of you for your support over my nearly 17 years as associate dean and dean. I will remember all the little conversations and big ideas we’ve had together. I hope to keep doing my small part to continue on our path to accomplishing big things.

New CSE dean to begin duties Jan. 10, 2022 After an extensive nationwide search, Andrew G. Alleyne has been selected as the next dean of the University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering. An accomplished researcher, educator, and academic leader, Alleyne currently is the Ralph M. and Catherine V. Fisher Professor in Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

Since 2015, he has led the NSF Engineering Research Center on Power Optimization of Electro Thermal Systems (POETS), an ambitious multidisciplinary center based at UIUC. Previously, Alleyne was associate dean for research in the UIUC Grainger College of Engineering, overseeing the research interests of 13 departments and collaborating broadly to strategically strengthen the college’s research portfolio.

Photo by Brian Stauffer

Photo by Rebecca Slater

FROM THE DEAN

To read the full announcement, visit z.umn.edu/csedean22

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CONTENTS

INVENTING TOMORROW Fall 2021 • Vol. 46, No. 2

cse.umn.edu

ADMINISTRATION Dean Mostafa Kaveh

Associate Dean, Academic Affairs Ellen Longmire Associate Dean, Research Joseph Konstan Associate Dean, Undergraduate Programs Paul Strykowski

EDITORIAL STAFF

Communications and Marketing Director Rhonda Zurn Managing Editor Pauline Oo Assistant Editor Olivia Hultgren Designer Sara Specht

Inventing Tomorrow is published twice a year by the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities for our alumni and friends.

Send letters to the editor: 105 Walter Library 117 Pleasant Street SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 This publication is available in alternative formats for the visually impaired upon request. Call 612-624-8257.

NEED A PAST ISSUE?

TECH DIGEST / 4 FEATURES A little goes a long way / 6

Students turn to insects, plants, and quantum modeling to tackle monumental issues.

Little details, big deal / 12

Alumni offer cybersecurity tips and insights into the new James Webb Space Telescope.

The science of small / 16

Experts in nanotoxicology, transmission electron microscopy, and geomicrobiology tell us why their work matters.

RETROSPECT / 22

Tracing the origins of CSE Week— to an Irish saint

INVESTING IN TOMORROW / 24 ALUMNI NEWS / 32

INVENTING TOMORROW A MAGAZINE FOR THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Find it in our online archives at z.umn.edu/inventingtomorrowarchive WHEN SMALL IS BIG FALL 2021

ADDRESS CHANGE?

Email: csemagazine@umn.edu Call: 612-624-8257

Exploring how the invisible spawn research labs and kernels of ideas become major gifts

BONUS SECTION:

campaign updates

Photo by August Isaac

ON THE COVER It’s impossible to see the nanoparticles chemistry professor Christy Haynes makes without electron microscopy, but trust us—or, better yet, the Fortune 500 companies who partner with her and help fund her work—they’re packed with supersized powers. In addition to delivering disease-fighting drugs to humans and crops, these customizable particles can change color or light up when it detects a desired something, such as germs on a surface.

STORIES, LONG AND SHORT ©2 021 Regents of the University of

Looking for more CSE stories—about research, students, faculty, or alumni— between issues? Visit the college news page at cse.umn.edu/news.

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Photo courtesy of Kodandaramaiah Lab, U of M

TECH DIGEST

Antiviral mask coating could strengthen protection against COVID-19 With funding from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), CSE researchers are working on a liquid coating that, when applied to face masks, can remove the COVID-19 virus on contact. The coating is made from natural ingredients and can be easily made at home using a coffee grinder and filter. z.umn.edu/antiviralmasks

Photo by Olivia Hultgren

Unique mini-microscope provides insight into complex brain functions University researchers have developed a unique head-mounted minimicroscope device that allows them to image complex brain functions of freely moving mice in real time over a period of more than 300 days. The groundbreaking study provides new insight into fundamental research that could improve human brain conditions. z.umn.edu/MScope

Photo courtesy of European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)

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New technology will allow important metals to be made more efficiently CSE researchers have invented a cheaper, safer, and simpler technology that will allow a “stubborn” group of metals and metal oxides to be made into thin films used in many electronics, computer components, and other applications. The technology has been patented and is receiving interest from industry. z.umn.edu/metals21

Photo courtesy of Bharat Jalan MBE Lab, U of M

New fossil sheds light on the evolution of how dinosaurs breathed

Induced flaws in quantum materials could enhance superconducting properties

Using an exceptionally preserved fossil from South Africa, a particle accelerator, and highpowered x-rays, an international team including a University of Minnesota researcher has discovered that not all dinosaurs breathed in the same way. z.umn.edu/dinobreathe

In a surprising discovery, an international team of researchers, led by scientists in the University of Minnesota Center for Quantum Materials, found that induced imperfections in the crystal structure of quantum materials can actually improve the material’s superconducting and electrical properties. z.umn.edu/quantummaterials21

Photo by Michelle LaRue, U of M

Researchers and citizen scientists complete first-ever Weddell seal count

Photo by Podevin, J.f., 2006

A research team led by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, along with more than 330,000 international volunteer citizen scientists, used hundreds of high-resolution satellite images covering huge areas of Antarctica to complete a first-ever global population estimate of Weddell seals in Antarctica. z.umn.edu/Weddellseals

University to host new research center for organ and tissue preservation The University of Minnesota is one of two institutions in the United States to host a new center established by the Biostasis Research Institute (BRI) aimed at creating human organ banks through the cryogenic storage of organs donated for transplantation. z.umn.edu/BRIlaunch

Small galaxies likely played important role in evolution of the Universe A new study led by University of Minnesota astrophysicists shows that highenergy light from small galaxies may have played a key role in the early evolution of the Universe. The research gives insight into how the Universe became reionized, a problem that astronomers have been trying to solve for years. z.umn.edu/smallgalaxies21

New research optimizes body’s own immune system to fight cancer

Photo courtesy of Provenzano Group, U of M

A first-of-its-kind study shows how engineered immune cells used in new cancer therapies can overcome physical barriers to allow a patient’s own immune system to fight tumors. The research could improve cancer therapies in the future for millions of people worldwide. z.umn.edu/Tcellresearch

University of Minnesota part of $15M Great Lakes innovation hub The University of Minnesota will play a key role in a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Great Lakes Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Hub that will nurture a regional innovation ecosystem and move more discoveries from the research lab to the real world. z.umn.edu/icorpshub

University of Minnesota is part of $25M AI-based climate modeling center CSE researchers are part of a new $25 million NSF-funded center that will leverage big data and machine learning to bring greater precision to climate modeling. It will also train a new wave of students fluent in both climate science and working with big datasets. z.umn.edu/climatemodeling

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STUDENT

FEATURE

CSE students find their niches in insects, plants, and quantum modeling Scientific challenges can seem impossibly big at times. The Universe is infinite. Climate change is worldwide. A global energy crisis is looming. But no matter how widespread our problems may be, the solutions always start small. At its core, science is about the interactions and behaviors of tiny particles we can’t see, like the protons and neutrons within an atom. From mapping the chemical interactions between molecules to sending insects to space, University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering students are coming up with small-scale solutions to tackle monumental issues.

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A LITTLE

goes a lo ANDREW SURINE Houston, we have bugs Open up, astronauts. The cockroaches are coming. Or at least that’s what CSE student Andrew Surine hopes. Surine is an aerospace engineering major, with minors in astrophysics and entomology—the study of insects. The senior is currently aiming to make bugs an edible option on the International Space Station, the moon, and even Mars—where they may nourish future colonies. “I’ve always known that using insects as a food source is something that could be done for space,” said Surine, who became interested in studying insects at a young age. “They’re nutritious, they’re healthy, and they are very ecologically friendly to farm. Since insects have very small mass and can be farmed in a very small space, that makes them a great candidate for providing nutrition for astronauts.” Farming insects like crickets, mealworms, and cockroaches is common on earth, typically as food for pets like reptiles and tarantulas—but also for humans to eat. While the idea of farming insects in space has been discussed in academia, it’s never been seriously explored by NASA, which is currently more focused on growing plants in outer space.

Surine, a 3M Diversity Scholarship recipient, started his bug project through the University of Minnesota’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program last year with Professor Sujaya Rao, head of the U of M’s Department of Entomology. Surine began raising insects in plastic bins in his apartment to see what resources and how much it would take to manage the creatures in space. Now, he is working with a few other students to design a mechanical, self-automated box to farm cockroaches on a hypothetical spaceship—created with the vessel’s limited resources and mass requirements in mind. Astronauts can only bring a few items into space, so optimizing that mass is important. OK, how exactly would the astronauts eat the insects? Surine has an answer for that, too. While the roaches could be eaten raw, they could also be ground up into a powder or freeze dried in a ship’s air lock. His group submitted its project to the Deep Space Food Challenge, a joint NASA and Canadian Space Agency competition seeking innovative food systems for space. Although not selected among the 18 U.S. winners in Phase 1, Surine is

long way

Photo courtesy of Bell Museum

Written by OLIVIA HULTGREN

optimistic. His team may still have the chance to partake in or compete in Phase 2. “Several of the winning teams are incorporating insects in their systems, which was great to see,” he said. “The opportunity to launch science experiments and astronauts to space is increasing as rockets go bigger, faster, and cheaper, and I think the resulting escalation of the human endeavor will be fantastic.” Surine hopes to be an astronaut one day. He’s harbored this dream since he was five years old. It was this curiosity of space and engineering that led him to CSE, where his father and grandfather also studied. He’s involved with the liquid rocket team, a student group on campus, and works as a planetarium guide at the University’s Bell Museum. “I really enjoy talking about space,” Surine said. “I think the most important part of educating about astronomy is realizing how connected we are to that kind of stuff because a lot of people say, ‘Oh, the sun, the moon, and the stars and the galaxies… they’re all so far away. It doesn’t affect me.’ But it does. I like to make sure that people realize they are part of space, and space is part of them.”

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Photo by Olivia Hultgren

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MADDI JOHNSON The herbivorous engineer In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States entered a meat shortage. By the end of 2020, countrywide retail sales of plant-based foods had increased by 27 percent, the Good Food Institute and the Plant Based Foods Association reported. CSE student Maddi Johnson took notice. Johnson, who is majoring in bioproducts and biosystems engineering, is a vegetarian and has been eating plantbased products for the past four years. But it wasn’t until the novel coronavirus hit that the CSE senior realized she could make a career out of the food she’d been consuming. “It was really cool that we saw such a huge rise in plant-based products during the pandemic,” said Johnson, a recipient of CSE’s Frank Louk Scholarship. “And the technology behind it is also something I’m really interested in, like fermentation. It’s connected to what I’m learning about in my major, so I decided to look more into it.” Officially, “plant-based” means food derived from plants with no animal-sourced ingredients. In recent years, several companies have emerged in the United States and other countries to develop plant-based meat alternatives that look and taste much like the real thing—without the harsh environmental impact. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, animal agriculture is the second largest contributor to human-made greenhouse gas emissions

after fossil fuels. “Animal agriculture uses up so much land and resources, and emits so much pollution that it’s just not a sustainable thing,” Johnson said. “We can’t keep doing it at the rate that we’re doing it.”

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heavily involved in the college since her freshman year, holding several leadership positions in the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and working as an administrative assistant and orientation peer leader for CSE Student Services.

I don’t think that plant-based meat is the only way forward, but on top of promoting and innovating plant-based food, I think that it’s important to move away from factory farming and unsustainable agriculture. MADDI JOHNSON

There are several ways to make plantbased products, from using extruded proteins from plants to taking cells from animals and growing meat in a lab—a process that hasn’t yet been approved in the United States. “Plant-based protein is already an emerging field, but now there are even newer technologies,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that plant-based meat is the only way forward, but on top of promoting and innovating plant-based food, I think that it’s important to move away from factory farming and unsustainable agriculture.” As the daughter of two scientists, Johnson grew up wanting to make an impact on the environment. Her interest in research—and the University’s welcoming atmosphere—led her to CSE. She’s been

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Johnson works part-time as a contract student R&D engineer at General Mills. She is also an undergraduate research assistant in Professor Pam Ismail’s lab, part of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Sciences’ Plant Protein Innovation Center. There, she helps with optimizing pennycress and alfalfa protein extraction. Johnson hopes the experience will help her land a research or engineering position at a plant-based food company after graduation. “Since it’s such a growing industry, a lot of the companies need help with scaling up their processes,” she explained. “They all have pilot plants or are making products on a really small scale, and they need to figure out how to mass produce it. I think that’s where engineers can come in and help out.”

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BRIANNA COLLINS Solving chemical mysteries, one reaction at a time Brianna Collins is a self-proclaimed chemistry detective. While she isn’t exactly fighting scientific crime, she is solving mysteries—on the atomic level. The fourth-year CSE graduate student works in Department of Chemistry Assistant Professor Jason Goodpaster’s research group, where she uses quantum mechanical modeling to create computer simulations of chemical reactions. The technique gives scientists a more detailed picture of how the atoms within chemicals interact in ways that can’t be seen through physical experiments.

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I really enjoy fundamentally explaining things. Rather than being a lab researcher, I can actually explain things on the atomic level using these techniques. BRIANNA COLLINS

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“There’s a lot of unexplored chemical space that exists that we cannot explore using traditional experimental methods, and using these quantum mechanical

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models, we can actually explore the space more freely,” Collins explained. “And I don’t have to spend time or money on [experiments] in the lab or make waste. I can actually just model my reactions on the computer.” Most of Collins’ work happens through the University’s Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, which provides the software she needs to run the models. One of her main goals is using this technique to help other researchers understand the experiments they’re doing. “We’ve had situations where an experimental group didn’t fully know how to explain some of their results, so they asked us, ‘Hey, can you play detective and try to model this to see if you can figure out why this certain phenomenon is happening?’” Collins said. “I really enjoy fundamentally explaining things. Rather than being a lab researcher, I can actually explain things on the atomic level using these techniques.” Collins is an Arlington, Texas native. She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a minor in mathematics about four hours south of home, at St. Edward’s University in Austin. Her move to the Midwest came in January 2018. She chose the University of Minnesota because of two reasons: She loves the outdoors—a welcome change from her Texas suburbia, she said—and she felt a connection to the chemistry program. “While I was an undergraduate, I was lucky enough to meet some members of the University of Minnesota Department of Chemistry,” she recalled. “Their drive and depth of knowledge left such

an impression on me that I wanted to be a part of their work.” Collins’ decision to uproot from the Lone Star State was a good one. “I love the vibrant energy of the Twin Cities, the verdant natural beauty of the parks and lakes, and the depth of the food scene,” she said. It has also opened new professional doors for her. On campus, Collins has been heavily involved in diversity efforts as part of the chemistry department’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. “It’s a very unique position for a graduate student to be in, as a part of a committee that’s helped change policies within the department,” she said. “So that’s been a really good experience for me to see things from the other side, not only as a student, but as somebody who makes decisions.” And, she’s not only interested in making a difference socially, but also environmentally. One of the applications of her research is electrochemistry, which is the study of chemical processes that can be driven by electrons, or electricity. This technology could eventually be used to replace traditional chemical processes that utilize fossil fuels. “Right now, one of the biggest contributions to these greenhouse gases and air pollution is the refinement of raw materials, and any chemical process that works on this refinement of raw materials tends to be very labor intensive,” Collins said. “If we can use new technologies to make these processes more efficient, then we’re saving energy.”

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Photo by Olivia Hultgren

ALUMNI

FEATURE

What do a cosmologist and cybersecurity expert have in common? The answer: Powers of observation. University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni Dan Weisz and Adolf Barclift come from very different fields— astronomy and cybersecurity. But the two also have plenty in common. While one dissects galaxies and the other detects fraud, both understand how small details can quickly turn into a big deal. This progression can be good, like a seed of an idea that eventually becomes the world’s biggest space telescope. It can also be not-so-good, like an email link that turns into a widespread security breach. During the pandemic, everything from space programs to financial institutions was thrown into a state of uncertainty. Fortunately, both alumni are highly skilled at adapting to changes, from the small scale to the big picture.

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Little Details, Written by EVE DANIELS

Big Deal

Like most big advancements, the James Webb Space Telescope began with a small seed of an idea. In the mid-1980s, the late astrophysicist Riccardo Giacconi, a Nobel Laureate and then-director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, challenged his team to think about the future of space exploration. Several years before Hubble even launched, he dreamed of making the next mission bigger and better than ever. More than three decades later, that seed grew into something epic. The Webb telescope will be the largest and most powerful observatory ever built and sent into space. Scheduled to launch in December 2021, Webb will build on the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope—and it’s likely to completely transform our understanding of the Universe. “Webb will be the biggest mission we’ve ever undertaken, bringing together people from all over the world, and it all started with a few scientists just kicking around an idea,” said Dan Weisz (Ph.D. astronomy and astrophysics ’10), an associate professor of astronomy at University of California, Berkeley, and a former Hubble fellow. As a principal investigator on the Resolved Stellar Populations early release

Stellar observations Weisz’s research team will be the first to closely observe individual stars within the globular cluster M92, the star-forming dwarf WLM, and the ultra-faint dwarf Draco II.

science program, Weisz will be one of the world’s first users of the Webb telescope. An expert in near-field cosmology, stars, and dark matter, Weisz and his team will design, test, and release new Webb-specific software. They’ll focus on capturing data from three stellar systems that will help verify their software calibration. The data from these test objects will offer “high archival value for other science, such as calibrating stellar evolution models, measuring properties of variable stars, and searching for metal-poor stars,” according to the program abstract. In layperson’s terms, “We’re going to observe these objects early on and make sure everything matches up with our predictions, like how bright the stars should be,” said Weisz. From there, his team will refine its software as needed and release both the software and the results to the broader community, including documentation, a series of catalogs, and step-by-step tutorials for users. (And they plan to do all of this in a span of five months!) Although the Webb and Hubble missions will complement each other, there are some major differences between the two—Webb will look at the Universe mostly in the infrared, while Hubble studies it mostly at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. Webb also has a much bigger mirror than Hubble, enabling it to look much farther back in time. In addition, Webb won’t have any interference from our pale blue dot. Hubble follows a close orbit around Earth, but Webb will be 940,000 miles away, beyond the moon at the second Lagrange point, a gravitationally stable location with no drag out of orbit.

Photo courtesy Dan Weisz

DAN WEISZ Exploring the Vast Unknown

“When you’re out at the second Lagrange point, you’re basically operating all the time, so it really gives you a lot more time to actually use the telescope because there’s nothing in the way,” Weisz explained. “The downside is that if anything goes wrong, we can’t go out to the Lagrange point and fix it because it’s so far away.” This inability to go out and service the telescope means that everything has to be in tip-top shape prior to launch, which has created a few delays. Of course, the pandemic didn’t help, as the teams had to hit pause and revise their timelines over the past year. “We’re finally getting back to ‘normal-ish’ operations and getting moving again,” said Weisz. In addition to the technology itself, the early release science program is another way that Webb differs from Hubble. Weisz says that when Hubble launched back in 1990, there wasn’t as clear of a plan for how to use the telescope to its fullest potential. “There were all of these nice images,” he noted, “but actually analyzing them was a community-wide effort that wasn’t very organized.” Later in Hubble’s mission, with the installation of a new camera network, the researchers tested out an early re-

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Credit: NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez

UMN proud (in space!) One of the many reasons Weisz chose the University of Minnesota for his doctoral degree was his thesis advisor, Evan Skillman, an astronomy professor and the director of the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics. Both of them had similar interests and got along well, and that connection continues today. Skillman is one of Weisz’s collaborators on the James Webb early science release program. < A rtist conception of the James Webb Space Telescope.

lease program that solicited community expertise for how to use the telescope. The program went smoothly, so they stuck with it. Around 2017, the Space Telescope Science Institute asked for proposals to develop data products and software for common use with Webb. They received approximately 100 proposals and selected about 13, including the one from Weisz’s team. Webb will be able to observe galaxies that formed about 400 million years after the Big Bang. Asked what this could mean for the people of Earth, Weisz said, “We don’t know. That’s one of the beauties of science and building these new, amazing instruments. We know there are things they will provide better answers for, but we don’t even know the questions they will answer ahead of time.”

ADOLPH BARCLIFT Building Confidence in Uncertain Times Most of us have received a work email warning us not to click on suspicious links. Unfortunately, many of those scams are becoming less and less suspicious, while the scammers become more and more sophisticated. Meanwhile, not everyone heeds the warnings.

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“If everybody did what they were supposed to, I wouldn’t have a job,” said Adolph Barclift (B.S. computer science and engineering ’06), chief information security officer at Five Star Bank in Rochester, N.Y. Barclift leads the bank’s information and cybersecurity program. His job is to protect the company and its customers from internal and external security threats. Financial institutions are a popular target for theft and fraud, but not just

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WATCH Dan Weisz answers a few questions about the James Webb Space Telescope and the importance of space exploration in our short video. z.umn.edu/DanWeisz

To illustrate, Barclift describes a common phishing scam: The scammer files a fraudulent unemployment claim, but they can’t have the check go directly to them for obvious reasons. Instead, they set up bill pay on your bank account and use you as the conduit. Now the check goes through your account to the scammer’s bill pay. You don’t notice it because you pay all your bills electronically. Sure, you might notice a deduction here and a credit there, but it all balances out just fine.

Increasingly, our digital self is as big or bigger than our physical self.

because of the money. A person’s bank is a central part of their identity—revealing one’s likes and interests, buying habits, destinations, and more. “Increasingly, our digital self is as big or bigger than our physical self,” said Barclift. And that digital self is often more valuable than the money in our savings account.

ADOLPH BARCLIFT

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And it all started by clicking a link in an email that looked totally legit. This happens in the office as well, with scam emails that appear to be coming from the CEO or another executive, asking you to “send this check right away, we need to close this deal!”

Along with phishing scams, Barclift is on the lookout for everything from mal-

ware to ransomware. With more than 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, he knows how to anticipate and tackle the threats before it’s too late. By the time Barclift attended the University of Minnesota in the mid2000s, he had already studied computer science at the University of Illinois and worked in the field for two decades. His studies at the University of Minnesota gave him a much-needed reboot of knowledge and skills, while piquing his interest in information security. Barclift also has a strong background in data visualization. This helps him understand complex security topics and explain them clearly to others. Thanks to steady advancements in artificial intelligence, it’s easier than ever to consume large amounts of data. As a result, it’s easier for Barclift to help people make informed decisions, complete with some convincing charts and graphs.

WATCH Passwords are one of the top threats to our online security. Adolph Barclift shares tips on choosing a strong password— and the 1,2,3 rule to remember it— in our short video. z.umn.edu/AdolphBarcliftmag

Oddly enough, helping people make informed decisions isn’t the best way to make friends. “On any given day, I’m probably telling you something that you don’t want to hear,” said Barclift. “I might be telling you to spend money that you hadn’t planned on spending, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Nevertheless, Barclift loves his line of work and enjoys the challenge it brings. In September 2019, just a few months before the coronavirus was dubbed a pandemic, Barclift became the Chief Information Security Officer at Five Star Bank. The sudden transition to a remote workforce brought its own set of security challenges. And back in 2007, Barclift took on the role of database and infrastructure manager for Fannie Mae. Then came the global financial crisis. “I like helping people decide what to do in difficult situations,” he said. “It’s not about fear, it’s about building confidence.”

Photo courtesy Adolph Barclift

University of Minnesota launches Center for Medical Device Cybersecurity A new Center for Medical Device Cybersecurity (CMDC) will foster university-industry-government collaborations to ensure that medical devices are both safe and secure from the growing number of cybersecurity threats. It will focus on developing new research, technologies, education, and training. The CMDC is founded and funded in large part by five U.S. leading health companies: Boston Scientific, Smiths Medical, Optum, Medtronic, and Abbott Laboratories. Industry members are invited to join the steering committee, and additional

members will be actively recruited over the next two years. “Cultivating innovative and transformational partnerships, like the CMDC, is a core focus of MPact 2025, our new systemwide strategic plan,” said University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel. “I’m excited about how this new innovative center will enhance the security of our state’s thriving medtech sector and beyond.” Upcoming activities include roundtables, a hackathon, and a summer internship program. z.umn.edu/CMDCannouncement

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FACULTY

FEATURE

The Science of

Why the tiny and invisible matters “This past year, with COVID, we learned the importance of studying something we can’t see except with really specialized instrumentation,” said Professor Christy Haynes. “None of us can see the COVID virus, right? But it has changed our entire planet. Nobody knew what was going to stop it or what would help. So, small does matter. Don’t just brush it off. There are implications.” Haynes, Andre Mkhoyan, and Jake Bailey are respected experts in nanotoxicology, transmission electron microscopy, and geomicrobiology respectively. They lead multicultural teams of students, post-docs, and professional scientists in research labs on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. They teach both undergraduate and graduate courses—and all three fell into their careers through unexpected or circuitous routes. Haynes, Mkhoyan, and Bailey are just three of many College of Science and Engineering scientists who study the super small for answers and new discoveries.

Written by PAULINE OO

CHRISTY HAYNES From bank employee to engineering nanoparticles

Chemistry professor and associate department head Christy Haynes designs tiny polymer beads that can save lives and feed the hungry—and Fortune 500 partners are paying attention. “You can’t see any of the nanoparticles we make,” she said, “but they can be used to deliver drugs to fight disease or transport nutrients to increase crop yield. They can also be used to sense things or to make things visible. For example, we have a collaboration with Ecolab on some nanoparticles we make, and the goal is to incorporate them into products so you can trace where the products have been used.” Haynes’ team has also brought their nanoscience expertise into a collaboration with 3M, where she designed nanostructures for the detection of toxins in food. The sensors she and her students developed make it possible to detect multiple toxins within a complicated food sample with high sensitivity. Haynes’ life today is a far cry from the future her mom and dad saw for her.

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“My parents were really young when they had me, and neither of them had the opportunity to go to college,” said Haynes, who grew up in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. “So, going to college definitely wasn’t part of what was expected of me or even what I expected of myself. My parents were actually against me going to college. I was a bank teller in high school and they kept telling me, ‘You’re really good at this; you could be a bank manager someday.’” Haynes believed this was her path, until she didn’t. “One day it just became really clear to me that education was the most likely exit ramp from the life my parents led,” she said, “which included jobs that didn’t seem very fulfilling and neighborhoods that didn’t feel particularly welcoming.” In 2005, with advanced degrees plus national awards, Haynes brought her expertise in nanomaterials to Minnesota. The field of nanoscience was growing. Nanoparticles—matter that’s a few billionths of a meter in size—were in all sorts of everyday products, including handwashes, sunscreen, scratchproof eyeglasses, and wrinkle-free fabrics. Haynes began wondering: What if nano-

Photo by Augustus Isaac

The 25 Ph.D. students, including Eleni Spanolios (left), and more than 60 undergraduate researchers with experience in Christy Haynes’ University of Minnesota lab are all over the world, across a variety of industries, bringing nanoscience into new realms.

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WATCH TEDxEdina 2017

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Nanomaterials are everywhere; how do we make them safe? z.umn.edu/Haynes_tedx2017

As a chemist, I find these ideas of chemical-free living and products, kind of maddening. We are all made of chemicals. DNA is a chemical. Vitamins are chemicals…

”

—Christy Haynes on TEDxEdina

particles got inside humans? What are the health effects? What are the potential risks to our environment? In hopes of finding those answers, Haynes helped established the National Science Foundation Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology in 2012. Seven years later, she spent a year at the Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia, Spain studying the effects of nanotechnology on our living world. “There are cases where nanoparticles can do bad things but, for the most part, nobody’s discovered new modes of human toxicology,” she noted. “But the truth is things build up in the environment— concentrations can get high in very specific pockets of the ecosystem—and the question is, ‘Okay, what happens then?” The good news is we could actually regulate nanoparticles that we’re putting into

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a person the same way we could regulate anything else for human use.”

at magnifications of up to 10 million times what the unassisted eye can see.

In addition to championing more ecological practices in her field, Haynes, a Distinguished McKnight University Professor, excels at being an advocate for diversity in higher education. She regularly partakes in outreach activities in local schools and is a lead presenter for the University of Minnesota’s Energy and U show, which draws more than 10,000 third- to sixth-graders to the Twin Cities campus.

“To see human hair very nicely, you will need about 1,000 times magnification because human hair is about 75 microns or 75,000 nanometers,” he explained. “One nanometer is a billionth of a meter or one millionth of a millimeter. In my research, we want one level higher. We want to go to the atomic scale, which is 10 times higher than nanometer.”

“I had a lot of luck when I was teenager,” she said. “I didn’t have any of the kind of support system that told me what to do or how to apply for college, or what to study, but I had a certain kind of academic ability. My life turned out way better than I expected—and I have a platform now to make a difference. Education gives you more options for what you can do with your life.”

K. ANDRE MKHOYAN From soccer balls to atomic-scale structures

There are special rooms for the instruments that K. Andre Mkhoyan uses. The walls are padded to dampen acoustic vibrations, the air is cooled so temperatures never vary more than one to two degrees, and the floors are concrete to lessen any sudden human movements or unexpected seismic activity. Mkhoyan, the Ray D. and Mary T. Johnson/Mayon Plastics Chair in CSE’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, specializes in advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Instead of using visible light, his microscopes are capable of producing high-resolution images of a specimen with a beam of electrons—and

In other words, Mkhoyan can really see the flaws that could compromise the integrity of a structure. Finding these discrepancies, or defects, in commonly used materials is one direction that really excites him today. Why? Because what makes one material more desirable versus another depends on its properties. “Let’s say you have a piece of metal and it has a crack or some holes on it,” he explained. “Now, imagine those defects inside the metal. Every material has plenty of them on an atomic level. What this means is some atoms are missing or they may be in the wrong position. Knowing where those defects are allows us to better understand their role or sometimes take advantage of them. We can use a defect as a way to improve the material.” Recently, his research team was the first to observe metallic lines in a crystal. The discovery is significant because it could lead to even more smart devices and windows, ones that have a touch-sensitive surface, are transparent to light and conduct electricity. “We need to understand what a material looks like first to help drive technology,” said the Armenian-born Mkhoyan, who joined the University of Minnesota in 2008. “I always like to look at defects as spices in the food. If you sprinkle the

right amount of the defects into a new structure, like spices into your soup or meal, it will give you all of the flavor you need or the functional properties you want.”

The U of M’s Characterization Facility has several electron microscopes, including this Titan Scanning-TEM that enables researchers to observe materials at magnifications of up to 10 million and make new discoveries about their properties or behavior.

Arriving at his current career wasn’t easy. Mkhoyan spent a whole summer in his early teens “meditating on” whether to pursue his dreams of becoming a soccer player or a scientist. “I needed to choose one or the other because there was a really good boarding school for physics and math on the other end of town,” he recalled, “and it was absolutely incompatible with soccer.” His decision eventually led to graduate school in the United States and his first full-time job as a physicist at Bell Labs, in Murray Hill, N.J., where he was introduced to TEM.

The COVID Year

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—K. Andre Mkhoyan, when asked about his pandemic life

Read his recent study:

z.umn.edu/ conductivecrystalstructures

Photos by Pauline Oo

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In 2020, I finished the highest number of papers in my entire career. When you’re stuck at home in front of your computer, what do you do? You keep writing, like a madman.

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Photo courtesy of Jake Bailey

Jake Bailey’s team recently discovered a rock-dissolving bacteria that can help scientists better estimate carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, a main driver of global warming.

“Nanotechnology was starting to be a really important topic and I really enjoyed that type of science,” he said. “I also always had a fascination with photography. So it felt like a good idea then to combine both my joys in life and make a career out of it.”

able to anyone whose work spans from nanotechnology to medicine.

Mkhoyan—who hasn’t missed a World Cup soccer final in 30 years—oversaw the 2014 renovation of his lab in the University of Minnesota’s Characterization Facility. His role included securing funding and designing the rooms to hold key instruments, which are avail-

“I think it’s fair to say Minnesota is one of the most well-equipped in electron microscopes,” he said. “There are not that many universities that can say that. We are definitely on the forefront of this type of research and facility.”

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However, advanced microscopes are complicated instruments. Mkhoyan said some take one month to learn; others, half a year or a year to use properly.

JAKE BAILEY From parachutes to bacteria

Jake Bailey studies bacteria. In fact, the associate professor of earth and environmental sciences is intrigued by the largest known bacterium—Thiomargarita namibiensis—and relishes jumping into a research vessel every year to collect it off the coast of Namibia, in southwestern Africa. “These are the only bacteria that you can see with the naked eye,” he said.

A bacteria genome?

Jake Bailey is collaborating with University of Minnesota research scientist Beverly Flood to sequence the genome of his favorite tiny organism.

“They are very small, like a little speck of dust or about a millimeter in diameter, but you can see them.” Last fall, Bailey’s team discovered that other bacteria closely related to Thiomargarita dissolved rocks, releasing excess carbon into the ocean and atmosphere. This finding enables scientists to better estimate the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, a main driver of global warming. “These bacteria are fascinating for many reasons, but one reason is that we believe they make a mineral form of phosphorus on the ocean floor,” he explained. “Right now, we get most of our phosphorus—for agriculture that feeds seven-and-a-half billion people—from land deposits in a variety of different places, like Morocco and China, and we’re basically mining our way through these non-renewable deposits.” A seafloor mining option is being considered to stretch those resources, he added, but like any other kind of excavating or extracting of natural resources, tapping ocean phosphorus is not without controversy because of its understudied environmental impacts. However, Bailey’s life work isn’t about tackling disputes. Instead, this Colorado-born geobiologist is focused on basic scientific discoveries that can lead to bigger solutions. “Microbes are living everywhere on our planet, and they have for the last threeand-a-half billion years,” said Bailey, who fell in love with science when reading books by Stephen Hawking and Richard Feynman during his stint as a paratrooper for the U.S. Army’s

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82nd Airborne Division. “They live all the way in the upper atmosphere and way into the earth as well. There are millions and millions of bacteria in just a teaspoon of soil or in sea water, and we’re still just on the fringes of understanding all the different things that microbes are doing on our planet.” Humans have used microorganisms to produce food, treat waste water, and clean up polluted sites. More recently, noted Bailey, scientists have found that microbes can manipulate the chemical makeup of minerals and cause them either to precipitate or dissolve. Those discoveries got Bailey thinking: Would the same kind of chemistry that occurred with bacteria on the ocean floor also happen in our mouths? “My research group looked into this, and sure enough, we found a lot of polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria in our dental plaque and saliva. This really hadn’t been looked at before—how these bacteria might change the chemical environment of our teeth and influence either their dissolution, like making cavities, or also the precipitation under different conditions, making mineral deposits like dental calculus or tartar.”

We have a genome in us that codes what we do. It’s the same with bacteria. Our goal is to identify a set of genes and relate them to different types of chemical processes that are happening in the environment. The work is challenging—about 95 percent or more of bacteria [including Thiomargarita namibiensis] can’t be grown in culture—but it’s also exciting.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research, was significant because up until then dental decay was only thought to be caused by acids from bacteria that broke down sugars on our teeth. Bailey’s team, working with Dr. Rob Jones in the U of M School of Dentistry, suggested that oral bacteria also played a different role—by removing phosphate from the mouth and altering the chemistry of saliva.

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Although preventable, tooth decay remains one of the most common chronic disease of children ages 6 to 11 and adolescents 12 to 19 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Microbes are so much more than pathogens, and there are so many different types of microbes out there that are doing amazing things—many of which have nothing to do with human health,” Bailey noted. “They’re just trying to make a living out there, just like all of us. If we can figure out their secrets, we can have some powerful tools that we can apply to many of the challenges we’re facing in our society, like climate change.”

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RETROSPECT >

St. Patrick was an

The origins of CSE Week, a longstanding College of Science and Engineering tradition, have less to do with science and more to do with a particular Irish saint.

1932 Engineer’s Day Parade

CSE Week, the college’s seven-day celebration of barbecues, student group activities, and friendly competition, is more than 100 years old. Its origins, however, can be traced back about a decade prior—and involve a mystical Irish stone, the School of Mines, and a few failing physics students. Legend has it that on March 16, 1903, University of Minnesota engineering seniors discovered the sacred Blarney Stone during an excavation on the Twin Cities campus. The stone was engraved with the phrase, “Erin go Bragh,” which the students declared could be loosely translated to “St. Patrick was an engineer.” The real translation is “Ireland to the end of time,” but “St. Patrick was an engineer” has a better ring to it, right? From that day forward, engineering students at the U of M would pay homage to their patron saint on St. Patrick’s Day each year.

WATCH READ 22

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See action from E-Week 1954 in this video: z.umn.edu/EWeek1954

Find out more about IT Week in this 1986 Technolog article: z.umn.edu/ITWeekHistory

The celebration was officially dubbed Engineer’s Day, or E-Day, in 1914. The main attraction was a knighting ceremony in which students were given the opportunity to kiss the sacred stone. Later, the Plumb Bob Honorary Leadership Society—a student group born out of their mutual failing of a U of M physics course—were tasked with guarding the Blarney Stone for the rest of the year.

Top left to right: 1914 E-Day parade; the 1943 St. Pat, Caroll Martenson, and his queen, Laurel Anne Lein; a huckstering student in 1953 selling the traditional green hats worn by men from the Institute of Technology (to distinguished them from other UMN students in crowds); a snowfight. Bottom left: Professor Emeritus John Akerman at a 1930 aeronautical engineering display.

In the 1950s, E-Day and its humble Irish traditions evolved into Engineering Week, which included “chariot races,” the crowning of an E-Day Queen, and eventually in 1969, homemade car races down Church Street. Engineering Week became IT Week in the 1980s, and the fourth iteration, Science and Engineering Week or CSE Week, has been around since 2011.

All photos courtesy University of Minnesota Archives

The valiant “Plumb Bobbers,” as they were called, had to fend off thieving attempts by students in the School of Mines—at the time a separate U of M college that trained future scientists in the field of mining. At one point, the mining students did get their hands on the Blarney Stone and crushed it at a local quarry. The clever engineering students, however, insisted that was a fake stone and the real one remained safely hidden on campus.

Above left: A wedding on a parade float to celebrate E-day’s golden anniversary in 1960. Left: Plumb Bob students protecting the blarney stone from thieves in 1963. Above: A bed race in E-week 1981 and forestry rivals (in green hats) driving in the 1965 parade.

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$313

A better future. You make CSE possible.

MILLION RAISED

• Driven campaign update Individual and corporate donations ensure our college remains a resource that educates the very best STEM professionals. During our 10-year Driven campaign, we received gifts of all sizes to many areas in our college. You supported everything from the most obvious, like a building renovation, to the not so noticeable, such as a child’s dream to become a scientist, engineer, or mathematician. Here are a few highlights.

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Goal: $285 million

12,741 9,158

alumni, friends, and organizations contributed

alumni and friends gave under $1,000

Donors committed:

$113.7 $63.8 $50.1 $43.7 $41.6

MILLION to fellowships and scholarships MILLION to research MILLION to faculty support MILLION to capital improvements MILLION to strategic priorities and outreach

THANK YOU.

PROGRESS Because of your generosity, CSE has: FY 2012

FY 2021

SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS 184 345 FELLOWSHIP FUNDS 153 202 CHAIRS AND PROFESSORSHIPS 53 70

We reached a milestone on July 1, 2021, but the journey isn’t over. You can support your favorite cause in our college all year round. Let’s talk! Courtney Billing

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

612-626-9501 • cbilling@umn.edu Jennifer Clarke

What you made possible annually... Opened CSE to more students by dramatically increasing undergraduate scholarship support from $1.6 Million in FY12 to $2.7 Million in FY21. Paved the way for ground-breaking research and teaching excellence by investing in faculty—from $2.8 Million in FY12 to $3.2 Million in FY21. Attracted the best and brightest graduate students by increasing fellowship funding—from $1.3 Million in FY12 to $1.7 Million in FY21. Modernized CSE facilities to meet the need for more scientists and engineers by financing the renovation of over 380,000 sq. ft. of space. Enabled nearly 500,000 children from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds to explore STEM by supporting K-12 outreach.

Industrial and Systems Engineering Mechanical Engineering 612-626-9354 • jclarke@umn.edu

Anastacia Davis

Electrical and Computer Engineering Institute for Math and its Applications 612-625-4509 • aqdavis@umn.edu

Kathy Peters-Martell

Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Chemistry 612-626-8282 • kpeters@umn.edu Brett Schreiner

Corporate and Foundation Relations

612-625-7051 • bschrein@umn.edu Emily Strand

Computer Science and Engineering Medical Devices Center School of Mathematics

612-625-6798 • ecstrand@umn.edu

Shannon Weiher

Biomedical Engineering Earth and Environmental Sciences School of Physics and Astronomy

612-624-5543 • seweiher@umn.edu Shannon Wolkerstorfer

Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering History of Science, Technology, and Medicine St. Anthony Falls Laboratory 612-626-6035 • swolkers@umn.edu

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Investing in Tomorrow Generosity in challenging times KIM DOCKTER Assistant Dean, External Relations

dockter@umn.edu 612-626-9385 WE ARE HUMBLED BY AND IMMENSELY GRATEFUL FOR YOUR GENEROSITY.

cse.umn.edu/giving

Kim will retire in January 2022, after nearly 16 years of exemplary service to CSE. I have had the good fortune to be her colleague and to see first-hand her transformative leadership. —Dean Mos Kaveh

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Our community of steadfast alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and students has come together in extraordinary ways during the past 18 months. This collective spirit of generosity and willingness to rise to challenges, as well as to seize opportunities, is a hallmark of the College of Science and Engineering. Since its public launch in 2017, Driven. The College of Science and Engineering Campaign has responded to urgent priorities, solved intractable problems, and opened doors to a brighter future for the next generation of scientists and engineers. In the face of the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice, you, our alumni and friends, continued to contribute generously throughout the final campaign year to help us not only to meet, but also to exceed our $285 million campaign goal—with 12,741 supporters contributing a humbling $313 million to this historic effort. Your gifts have empowered students to access a world-class education, ignited faculty innovation and discovery, provided experiential learning opportunities, and created enhanced laboratories and teaching spaces that spark creativity and ingenuity. Your generosity has made a tremendous impact across the college, including: •

Doubling the number of endowed scholarships to 345 and increasing annual awards by 138%

•

Creating 17 new endowed chairs and professorships (a 33% increase), increasing resources for faculty research, recruitment, and retention by 27%

•

Growing the number of endowed graduate fellowship funds by 32%, with the annual amount increasing by 71%

•

Renovating and constructing seven research and teaching facilities: Shepherd Labs, Gore Annex, Gary Balas Atrium, Mechanical Engineering labs, the Anderson Student Innovation Labs, the Physics and Nanotechnology building, and the first floor of Lind Hall

•

Increasing alumni engagement from 46% in 2012 to 59% in 2021

•

Growing the mentor program by 71% from 115 mentors in 2012 to 203 in 2021 and mentoring more than 1,500 students during the 10-year campaign

While we have reached this milestone, we have not yet reached our destination and much work remains. It takes many hands to educate the workforce of tomorrow, drive the economy of Minnesota and our nation, and solve pressing global problems. With the conclusion of our historic campaign, I will be embarking upon my own next chapter. At the start of 2022, I will retire from a role that has brought me immense optimism and pride each day for the past 16 years. I enter retirement with tremendous gratitude, knowing that you, our steadfast community of alumni, donors, and friends, will continue to stand alongside CSE and the remarkable efforts that this college undertakes each and every day with the help of its 9,000 students, faculty, and staff. Much like you, I am eager and excited to witness even more incredible accomplishments by CSE and its people. Thank you once again for the important role that you play in driving CSE forward.

Photo by Richard Anderson

What are the dean’s priorities?

Clifford and Nancy Anderson’s longstanding, unconventional philanthropic engagement covers a wide range of areas in the college Years before the University of Minnesota’s Driven campaign launched, Clifford “Cliff’ Anderson was already giving back. The 1962 Carlson School graduate has generously shared his money with his alma mater because he values the education that launched his career. Anderson served as president of Crown Iron Works Company until he retired in 2008. His gifts to CSE are broad and diverse—the result of a longtime interest in engineering and regularly asking the dean how he and his wife, Nancy, can help.

15+ years

of supporting CSE

2 deans

established partnerships with Deans Mos Kaveh and Steven Crouch

“I’m very much interested in helping the education of engineers beyond the blackboard and lecture. Our economy needs engineers who can work with others and who have broad perspective...”

Experiential Learning

Created the Student Project Fund, which provides students up to $3,000 to pursue engineering ideas beyond what’s expected in class or a club.

Instructional lab equipment

2019

Shepherd Lab renovation complete $1 million toward a workshop space for the Solar Vehicle Project Team

2018

Anderson Innovation Labs opens 10,000 sq. ft. + equipment for classes, student groups & entrepreneurs

2017

Physics/Nanotechnology Building

2014

Lind Hall renovation

2012

Established a four-year renewable award that’s currently supporting eight students.

—Cliff Anderson, in summer 2019 (for an Inventing Tomorrow article about investing in CSE)

Infrastructure

Scholarships

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Clifford I. and Nancy C. Anderson Scholar Arthur Nghiem, Class of 2023 Major: Biomedical engineering • Hometown: Houston, TX

With the ongoing coronavirus outbreak continuing to impact our society and the economy, I worried that I might not be able to pay off any student debt I incurred. I was also uneasy about the financial contributions that my parents might have needed to make towards my education. I knew that your scholarship offer could relieve me of all of these worries, which would allow me to focus on my academic and extracurricular work.

Photo by Rebecca Slater

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RISING TO THE MOMENT

IMPACT ON STUDENTS Your gifts doubled the number of endowed scholarships to 345 and increased annual awards by 138%.

$10,000 3M Diversity Scholarships awarded to 10 underrepresented students in chemistry, chemical engineering, or mechanical engineering

“I would not have been able to go to the University of Minnesota without the 3M Diversity Scholarship. It has allowed me to explore my options and expand my network so I could figure out what’s best for me as a potential career.” —Governess Simpson, ISyE ’22; CSci minor Read about her CSE experience: z.umn.edu/GovernessSimpson

Anonymous donor leaves quiet legacy $15 million bequest will create CSE’s largest scholarship endowment

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As a first-generation college student and a woman of color in STEM, your donation made me feel like I made it. That I have accomplished the impossible. That I have overcome the societal barriers in place to keep people like me from succeeding in college. —Deborah Rodriguez

Chem & Math ’21 Ellen and Carlo Parravano Scholarship Watch her CSE experience: z.umn.edu/DeborahRodriguez

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An alumnus of two CSE departments and two colleges at the University of Minnesota has never forgotten the generous scholarship he received in his undergraduate years. During the Driven campaign, he fulfilled a lifelong ambition to help more engineering students in generations to come. His $15 million bequest will create the largest scholarship endowment in CSE, and one of the largest at the University. This gift will fund tuition awards for four years of undergraduate study in any CSE or UMD engineering program. After a long career that left him with assets far beyond his imagination, he is proud that he can leave such a legacy when he is gone. In a letter

to his future scholarship recipients, he urges his scholars to consider creating, in their own financially fruitful years, a scholarship for future University of Minnesota students just as he has done for them. “Engineering is far from the easiest path in life, but the rewards can be great,” he wrote. “The curriculum is difficult, and engineers often must live in challenging places and make other sacrifices. Engineering jobs are often in competition with jobs in other parts of the world, also. I have always felt that there should be an extra inducement for young people to enter this important profession. This is the reason that I have established this scholarship fund.”

Photo by Eric Miller

IMPACT ON FACILITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE Over 10 years, you invested more than $43.7 million

Photo by Patrick O’Leary

on improvements to our college facilities. Here are highlights:

Gemini-Huntley Robotics Research Laboratory

Donors: Funded in part by Gemini Inc. founders James (CivE ’56) and Sharon Weinel + CEO Frederick Oss and his wife, Siri Weinel Oss Description: The 20,000-sq.-ft. overhaul turned the once-drab 1970sera building into an airy, naturally lit home for the Minnesota Robotics Institute, Solar Vehicle Project, and nine flexible labs for faculty and grad students. Completed: 2019

Gore Annex

Photo by Patrick O’Leary

Donors: Funded in part by Robert (ChemE Ph.D. ’63) and Jane Gore Description: This 40,000-sq.-ft. addition to Amundson Hall included research facilities such as the world’s first FEI ultrafast electron microscope lab and the Valspar Materials Science and Engineering Lab. Completed: 2014

Lind Hall *

Donors: Funded in part by 14 companies and foundations, including ADC Foundation, Boston Scientific Corporation, Schlumberger, and many individual donors Description: The first floor was transformed into a hub for undergraduates, including academic advising, tutoring, and career planning. Photo by Josh Kohanek

Completed: 2012 * Another renovation is underway. The second and third floors will serve as home for the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and extra teachingadvising spaces for the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Gary J. Balas Atrium

Donors: Funded in part by 32 donors, including a few companies Description: An old airplane hangar in Akerman Hall was repurposed into labs, offices, and study spaces. Its name honors an AEM department head and Distinguished McKnight Professor who died of cancer at 54. Completed: 2010; renamed in 2015

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IMPACT ON FACULTY Your gifts created 17 new endowed chairs and professorships, increasing resources for faculty research, recruitment, and retention by 27%. Endowed positions help accelerate research and make Minnesota stand out. Here are two examples: Joseph T. & Rose S. Ling Chair in Environmental Engineering Paige Novak, CEGE

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In 2019, Novak and her grad student helped Fulton Brewery in Minneapolis treat its beer waste and turn the byproducts into energy to fuel its operations. More recently, she’s partnering with the Minnesota Rural Water Association to improve nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment ponds. Donor support provides us with the freedom to think beyond the paradigms of traditional funding opportunities and into bold new realms of scientific discovery and innovation. It has allowed us to pursue revolutionary biomedical advances that look 10-20 years forward and improve the lives of current patients, as well as future generations. — Michael McAlpine, ME professor & Kuhrmeyer Family Chair, is using 3D printing to create life-like organs. Watch his TEDxMinneapolis talk, “Bionic humans aren’t science fiction,” at z.umn.edu/BionicHumans

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Chris Macosko Professorship David Poerschke, ChemE Ronald L. and Janet A. Christenson Chair of Renewable Energy Uwe Kortshagen, ME Together, they’re studying plasma reactors as a way to more efficiently process titanium ore. If successful, their method could be a game changer for our Iron Range state. Read more at z.umn.edu/titanium

• For more on faculty research, see cse.umn.edu/news.

The power of partnership A gift idea and its impact are maximized when donor and department join forces As mid-career faculty achieve research and teaching success, other universities take notice and these rising stars are often pursued by other institutions. To retain them, Electrical and Computer Engineering chair Randall Victora set out to fund professorships specifically to support mid-career faculty in his department. According to him, “mid-career professorships will signal to talented

faculty that we value their scholarship, believe in their research, and appreciate their teaching.” When Robert “Bob” Hartmann (EE ’65) learned about Victora’s initiative, he decided to back it—and encourage others to join him. “Exceptional faculty are the foundation of an exceptional department,” said Hartmann, co-founder of Altera Corporation and holder of seven U.S. patents. “I am a strong believer

IMPACT ON OUTREACH Photo by Ackerman + Gruber

Your gifts support programs that spark kids’

interest and imagination. “Outreach efforts are often the first experience that kids have with STEM. It opens doors they might never have thought of. I’m a perfect example of this. Going into my junior year of high school, I joined my school’s FIRST Robotics program… then as a student in CSE, I became president of UMN Robotics. In addition to participating in national competitions, we engaged with junior high and high school students—and showed them options to continue their STEM experience into college. I’ve seen first-hand the value of STEM outreach. We have to keep investing in it.” — Elise (Lohmann) Irvine, ChemE ’19 former Ed and Cora Remus Scholar now advanced project manager at 3M

OVER 50,000 Number of K-12 students we reach per year, with programs like Physics Force, Energy and U, and summer camps

• For more on how your efforts have reached younger generations: cse.umn.edu/college/impact-outreach

(continued from page 30)

in supporting these talented people who make our lives better through their research and by teaching our future engineers.” Hartmann has already created a scholarship and a chair in the department. This time, he will match gifts of $500k to help reach the $1M threshold for the new endowed professorships. One ECE alumnus has taken advantage of the match, and Hartmann hopes to fund one more professorship with the match. He is excited to talk to

fellow alumni who might be interested in this opportunity and share in his commitment to support faculty. Beyond creating the professorships in ECE, Hartmann aims to show other donors that there are many ways to give. He hopes to inspire other donors to create their own matching gifts. “Let’s work together,” he said. “This initiative is important because we need to keep the best here in Minnesota.” Learn more about this match, email Anastacia Davis aqdavis@umn.edu.

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RISING TO THE MOMENT

IMPACT ON EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Your gifts created and sustained hands-on learning beyond the classroom. This includes internships, mentorships, and student organizations.

U of M Solar Vehicle Project

Our team is one of the most decorated in the United States, with 14 cars and over 30 races on three continents. 2021 welcomed Freya—the team’s very first 4-seater! “A huge shoutout to all of our sponsors for helping us make this dream a reality,” posted the students on social media.

Tesla Works

2020 marked the 10th anniversary of its most popular activity: the CSE Winter Light Show—a spectacle of 250,000 LED lights synchronized to music. Hear how students grew it into a Twin Cities event for families in this video: z.umn.edu/RetrospectLightShow

• For more on how donors shape well-rounded students: cse.umn.edu/college/impact-learning

Going the extra mile The U of M Solar Vehicle Project team at Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site, 2021 American Solar Challenge

Fun Fact That’s a counter sink the student is holding—find out why: z.umn.edu/ AmericanSolarChallenge21

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Photo courtesy of Marcus Thomas

Alumnus links EWB students to $15K, families to cleaner water Marcus Thomas (CivE ’94), a member of the Burnsville Rotary Club and CEGE Professional Advisory Board, has been a tireless supporter of the UMN chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). In fall 2020, he helped the student leaders apply for a Small International Projects grant from District 5950, the group of 64 Rotary Clubs located in central and southwestern Minnesota. Thomas collaborated with them to write, review, and revise the grant application. Additionally, he went the extra mile by

In Memoriam: Russell Penrose Written by JENNIFER CLARKE

Chirijuyu

contacting other local Rotaries to secure partnerships and funding commitments, which were essential to have in place before applying for the grant. He also worked with the students on a series of presentations—one of which was to the Rotary Grants Committee. “I wanted to step up and do this,” said Thomas, who now mentors EWB’s Guatemala project, “because I could see that the missions of Rotary and EWB were aligned, and I knew I could help make it happen.” The more than $15,000 grant will cover materials to construct a pipe system that would replace handdug wells and bring natural spring water year round to 250 people in Chirijuyu, Guatemala. Additionally, EWB will connect with two Rotary “host” clubs in the Central American country as the project moves forward. “We are so excited about this partnership with Rotary and hope to continue working with them in our efforts to build sustainable water distribution systems,” said EWB vice president Lydia Anshus, CivE ’22.

Russell “Russ” Penrose grew up in northern Minnesota and, though gifted with intelligence and drive, he never imagined he could afford a college education. He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve after graduating from high school and trained as an electronics technician. After WWII, he came to the U of M on the GI Bill and earned his B.S. in electrical engineering in 1949. He died in Central Valley, CA on Feb 3, 2021. During his career, which started in 1950 at North American Aviation (later Rockwell International), he worked on airborne electronic and optical instrumentation for various avionics weapons systems. He also supervised engineers who designed the aircraft modifications and equipment installations. In the last two years of his working life, he was assigned to Lear-Seigler to work on the flight computer of the Stealth fighter. Russ’ generosity to CSE over the past 35 years includes many endowment funds, which ensures his support of CSE’s teaching and research goes on in perpetuity: •

Penrose Honors Scholarship (supports several four year/full tuition awards)

•

Penrose Fellowship in Astronomy

•

Penrose Chair and a Penrose Professorship in AEM

Russ Penrose on his bike with his garage/house behind him.

•

Penrose Professorship in Nanotechnology

•

Penrose Excellence in Teaching Award in ISyE

•

Penrose Excellence in Teaching Award in ECE

•

Generous support to the ECE Exceed Lab

•

Generous support to the ME New Building Campaign

He has left the bulk of his estate to the college as well. Russ was proud of his legacy of giving, knowing it will help the people in CSE forever.

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Who attended reunion?

Reunion Recap On May 6, 2021 the college hosted its 14th annual 50-Year and Golden Medallion Society Reunion. “Our first virtual reunion was a success,” said Joelle Larson, alumni relations director. “The planning committee did a great job putting together a celebratory program and spreading the word. We had a lot more interest than we expected to get for a virtual reunion.” On the agenda were updates from Dean Mos Kaveh; a keynote address by Brenda Ogle, head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering; and time for classmates to chat in breakout rooms. As part of this Zoom reunion, the CSE Alumni Relations team created a webpage that includes a virtual tour and photo books from the 1960s and 1970s. Take a look: cse.umn.edu/college/just-fun

200+ Burnaby, British Columbia

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Farthest city

Number of different U.S. states

224 1949

A sample of images from the 1960 and 1970 online CSE reunion photo books.

Alumni

Number of commemorative medallions mailed

Earliest graduation year

Electrical Engineering

Most common major

Bill/William Dave/David

Tie for most common name (21 registrants!)

Playlist roundup Watch our most popular virtual events from 2021 We have a new playlist on the CSE YouTube channel with a curated list of the most popular virtual events for alumni and friends: z.umn.edu/AlumniRelationsvideos Recent videos include:

CSE Public Lecture: Rising to the Moment, featuring Chun Wang talking about his new vaccine delivery technology

A behind-the-scenes look at Bakken Medical Devices Center’s unique facility

Do you ever wonder what you’re missing? We primarily use email to deliver up-to-date information, event notices, the CSE Alumni and Friends Enewsletter, and more. Stay connected to the college and your home department by ensuring we have the most recent email address and contact information for you. Go to cse.umn.edu/update today!

• For more college events,

Dean’s Lunch and Learn, a series offering college updates, departmentspecific news, and exciting faculty research

CSE Public Lecture:

RISING TO THE MOMENT Tuesday, April 12, 2022 6 p.m. (tentative) Coffman Memorial Union Theater

Jayshree Seth, a 3M Corporate Scientist and the company’s first Chief Science Advocate, will discuss her unique role at 3M and the importance of diversity and equity in STEM. Learn more at cse.umn.edu/publiclecture.

visit cse.umn.edu/events.

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Implantable pacemakers. The Black Box. Retractable seatbelts. For more than 100 years, College of Science and Engineering inventions have shown that just because something is small, or inconspicuous, doesn’t mean it can’t have enormous significance. So it is with the CSE Alumni Scholarship. Gifts large and small come together to have an outsize effect on the lives of our students so that one day, they too can make their own enormous impact on our world.

Your gift makes a difference. Learn how at cse.umn.edu/giving.

CSE

RISING TO THE MOMENT

Small inventions. Big impact.