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Engineering everywhere Going wherever problems need solving, the college’s faculty and students embrace a range of productive global partnerships.
John Nienhuis
DEAN’S MESSAGE
Circling the globe
More than three years ago, when I accepted the Opus Dean position at Marquette University, I was filled with excitement and energy. It was hard not to be with the first phase of Engineering Hall just under way and the expressed interest of many faculty to more fully evolve an interdisciplinary focus of the college. It has been very rewarding and inspiring to work with our faculty and the many new hires the college has made to implement innovative and visionary projects that have brought Engineering Hall to life.
Engineers design for 10 percent of the world’s population, but what about the other 90 percent? That’s where Marquette wants to be.
Throughout this issue, you will read examples that illustrate the amazing work being done, not only on campus, but around the world, by Marquette faculty, students and alumni. It starts here on campus, where faculty members are flipping the classroom and challenging students with a world-class engineering curriculum that continues to evolve to tackle the challenges of the 21st century. With state-of-the-art lab facilities and equipment, the college is committed to finding solutions to global problems, including research that is helping children with cerebral palsy walk, helping global communities breathe easier or aiming for amputees to have access to more advanced prosthetic limbs, to name just a few. And we continue to partner with leading international and local companies through our co-op program, providing invaluable real-world experience for our students. Everyone connected to the college should be proud of this work and driven to find ways to build and expand it, particularly as Marquette moves to implement its new strategic plan, Beyond Boundaries: Setting the Course for Marquette’s Future. The global engagement of the college and the research our students and faculty are immersed in perfectly demonstrate how Marquette is driven to reach beyond traditional academic boundaries, to engage in research in action and to be stewards of our valuable resources. It’s impossible to capture all the work of the college in only 38 pages, but this issue provides great insight into amazing work and progress of the Marquette College of Engineering. There is a lot of work ahead, and I look to the future of the college and Marquette with great excitement. Dr. Robert H. Bishop, P.E. Opus Dean of Engineering
John Nienhuis
Marquette University College of Engineering
414.288.6000 marquette.edu/engineering Engineering Hall 1637 W. Wisconsin Ave. Olin Engineering Center 1515 W. Wisconsin Ave. P.O. Box 1881 Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-1881 Opus Dean of Engineering Robert H. Bishop, Ph.D., P.E.
In this issue 02 // Aiming for the stars
Within three years, the college plans to send a satellite designed and built by students into space.
04 // Research and innovation profiles
Executive Associate Dean Kristina Ropella, Ph.D., Eng ’85
Dr. Susan Schneider: Flipping the classroom Dr. Brooke Mayer: Thriving in a water-focused region Dr. Scott Beardsley: A multi-tasker tackles MS tremors Dr. Barbara Silver-Thorn: Brain-controlled prosthetics
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Mark O. Federle, Ph.D., P.E., CPC
08 // Engineering beyond boundaries
Associate Dean for Enrollment Management Jon K. Jensen, Ph.D., Grad ’85 Associate Dean for Research Joseph Schimmels, Ph.D., P.E., Eng ’82 Director of Industry Relations Laura Lindemann, Eng ’00 Interim Chair of Biomedical Engineering Lars Olson, Ph.D. Chair of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Christopher M. Foley, Ph.D., P.E., Eng ’86, Grad ’89, ’96 Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering Edwin E. Yaz, Ph.D., P.E. Chair of Mechanical Engineering Kyuil (Kyle) Kim, Ph.D., P.E.
As the world gets smaller, its challenges grow more global. It’s a recipe for solutions-oriented international partnerships.
14 // Paying it forward
Alumni who gained pivotal experience through
Marquette co-ops introduce a new generation of students to real-world engineering.
16 // Peak performers Get to know Engineering Hall’s new generation of technology-rich labs and the engineers who make them go.
20 // Nuts & Bolts
The latest news in brief from the College of Engineering 22 // Special
section: 2013 Research Yearbook
Faculty honors, research grants and publications from the 2012-13 academic year, plus spotlights on some of the most remarkable research occurring in the college.
Marquette Engineer and Research Yearbook is published for colleagues, alumni and friends of the college. Feedback and story ideas are appreciated. Please email jessica.bulgrin@marquette.edu. Editorial team: Andy Brodzeller, Jessica Bulgrin, Stephen Filmanowicz, Sarah Koziol, Jennifer Russell Art Director: Sharon Grace
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aiming for the stars
by Andy Brodzeller
Illustration by Ian Murray
Marquette engineering students are aiming for the stars — literally. Within three years, the college plans to send a satellite designed and built by students into space. The project got started last year with two senior design teams. When asked why he chose to work on the project, Peter Jorgensen, Eng ’13, simply says, “SPACE! How many people can say that they worked on a satellite?” The project follows specifications set by the CubeSat program, developed by CalPoly and Stanford universities, which allows small satellites to be launched as secondary payloads on either a NASA or private rocket. “This project is an opportunity for our students who are driven to explore,” says Dr. Robert H. Bishop, P.E., Opus Dean of Engineering. “The college wants to inspire students to reach for places they normally wouldn’t reach for.”
Mission Objective The satellite has two main objectives. The first is to collect and transmit pictures from onboard cameras back to earth. The second is to test the reliability of special computer code used in space.
Payload Golden Eagle One’s main payload consists of two cameras: one captures visible light and the other thermal or infrared images.
Subsystems Specifications CubeSats are 10 centimeter cubes (just under four inches high, wide and deep) and must weigh less than 3 pounds.
Students must coordinate seven subsystems for the satellite to operate and complete its mission. Working in multidisciplinary engineering teams to coordinate these interrelated systems helps prepare students for the real-world challenges of the workforce.
Mission Control Power System The satellite will be powered by solar panels that will extend from the cube once in space. Batteries will store the power and a distribution board will send power to the necessary subsystems.
A ground station on campus will allow students to communicate with and retrieve data from the satellite once in orbit. It will include a radio transmitter, antenna and software to translate data from the satellite.
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r esea rch a n d i n n ovat io n
Flip the Classroom, Engage Today’s Student By Bruce Murphy
Name the course and Dr. Susan Schneider, asssociate professor, has taught it. In three decades teaching for the college’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Schneider has taught more than 18 different courses — including Circuits; Sensors; Thermodynamics; JAVA; and Introduction to Computer Hardware and Software. She has learned to teach a daunting amount of material, but in the course of adapting all that information for students, she has also seen how young people are changing. “Students today are different,” she says. “These are kids who have never not had a computer. They’re so wired in. I think it’s reasonable for somebody so technologically savvy to expect more of that to be applied to the classroom.”
The mantra for this movement is the professor’s switch from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side.” Schneider was intrigued by the concept of the “flipped classroom,” an approach to learning that is receiving increased attention nationally. The idea is to flip traditional teaching by delivering more instruction online outside of class and moving “homework” into the classroom. The mantra for this movement is that the professor switches from “sage on the stage” to the “guide on the side,” with the students assuming the role of more active learners. Schneider teamed up with colleagues Dr. James Richie and Frank Jacoby to propose an experiment
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in flipping the classroom, with Schneider as principle investigator. Their proposal won one of Marquette’s Way Klingler Teaching Enhancement Awards in spring 2010, a $10,000 grant that helped them transform some of the curriculum. The department offers five stand-alone lab courses, like Circuits Lab 1 or Digital Electronics Lab, each consisting of a one-hour lecture followed by three hours of lab work by students. Schneider’s team wanted to take that one-hour lecture, which is usually jam-packed with information, and present it online. They began in the fall of 2011 with Circuits Lab I. The online content created by this faculty team allows students to proceed at their own pace, at any time prior to the laboratory, through a series of modules, with periodic online quizzes to test their understanding of material. The idea was not to supplant the classroom: The old lecture hour became more like a discussion class, with the professor leading questions and answers about online material. “They don’t want the traditional lecture,” Schneider says of the students, “but they still want to come to class.” Last fall, the instrumentation lab course was flipped, with its standard lecture replaced by online material. This fall, the digital electronics lab will be flipped. Meantime, Jacoby retired, but the goal is still to phase-in the flipping of all five lab courses. “This is evolving,” says Schneider. “We’re getting feedback from our students as to what works and what doesn’t.” Molly McMahon, a bioelectrical engineering major in her junior year, who took the flipped Circuits 1 Lab, says, “It was definitely more individualized.
THRIVING IN A WATERFOCUSED REGION
Rethinking the conventional role of the professor, Dr. Susan Schneider spends more classroom time interacting with students.
The voice-over PowerPoints allowed me to play it back again for concepts I didn’t understand. I really was able to learn more and go into more depth.” Meanwhile, Dr. Mark Nagurka, P.E., associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was launching another experiment. In 2011, he co-wrote a white paper on ways to enhance discovery learning for students. Nagurka proposed a project, funded by Dr. Robert H. Bishop, P.E., Opus Dean of Engineering, in which students create their own instructional videos on course concepts that could then be used to help teach other students. Students identify a challenging topic of interest, generate a series of questions, seek out experts (such as practicing engineers) for answers, write a script, prepare appropriate visuals, and then make a video that includes talking heads, hardware, animation or whatever works. Nagurka has so far worked with six students, but just one, Dusty Bodine, Eng ’13, has been able to complete a video — an impressive, seven-minute exposition on gear design in electric gear motors, that is posted on YouTube. “The students didn’t realize how hard it would be just to create a professional five-minute video,” says Nagurka, who now encourages students to visit Marquette’s Instructional Media Center for assistance finalizing their videos. He hopes the college eventually can build a library of student-created videos. ”These kids are learning a lot, even if they don’t finish their video,” Nagurka says. “I look at this as a seed. I hope it will grow."
Although the amount of water on Earth has never changed, the demand for clean drinkable water continues to rise. In developing countries, nearly one billion people do not have access to reliable drinking water. Across the United States, droughts and contaminated wells are beginning to strain water supplies. Providing clean water where it is needed most is a key global imperative. Dr. Brooke Mayer, P.E., assistant professor of environmental engineering, is a rising researcher focused on addressing this issue. Mayer’s research focuses on improving the detection and inactivation of viral pathogens in drinking water and developing more sustainable wastewater treatment systems that recover nutrients for use in applications such as fertilizer. Her work expands and complements the research of the college’s Water Quality Center, which is recognized for its work in anaerobic wastewater digestion and stormwater runoff.
Photo by John Nienhuis
Photo by Dan Johnson
By Andy Brodzeller
Growing up in rural Wyoming, Mayer spent a lot of time boating, fishing and camping with her family, which she credits with developing her connection to the environment. “When I learned about environmental engineering and how these professionals develop solutions to protect human health and environmental safety, it was a perfect fit,” Mayer recalls. After Mayer received her doctoral degree in environmental engineering in 2008 from Arizona State University and spent four years as a lecturer in ASU’s School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Marquette appealed to her because of its water lab (led by Dr. Daniel Zitomer, P.E.) and its location in a water-focused region. Mayer has quickly found her place in Milwaukee, which is home to more than 120 water-related businesses. Tapping into that network this past summer, she organized a two-day course called Life Cycle and Systems Innovation in Design. Attendees heard from leading academics and industry practitioners from ASU, Marquette, Briggs and Stratton, Eaton, General Electric, MillerCoors, SC Johnson and others. Says Mayer, “Water is so integral to many of our basic human operations that it creates numerous opportunities to work with other researchers.”
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Photo by John Nienhuis
A multi-taskER TACKLES motor control and MS By Stephen Filmanowicz
In his quest to better understand how the nervous system uses visual information to guide movement, Dr. Scott Beardsley approaches his subject from three distinct angles. The multi-tasking assistant professor of biomedical engineering moves fluidly from human behavioral studies in Cramer Hall, to work on functional brain imaging with partners at the Medical College of Wisconsin, to log-ins on Marquette’s high-performance computing system to refine models that simulate how hundreds of thousands of neurons in the brain respond to external stimuli.
Tests showed many MS patients with tremors process visual stimuli more slowly, but their brains perceive a normal delay. Although each is the subject of unique research projects, the approaches often support each other. And with increasing frequency, this research cluster’s multiple strands are leading Beardsley’s team toward promising discoveries. A striking example is Beardsley’s research into the causes of the arm tremors that afflict many multiple sclerosis patients. Beardsley had been busy characterizing how visual and position-awareness information are used by the brain to guide arm movements — under normal conditions — when a colleague asked him if he knew what kind of visual deficits were associated with MS. “I told him I didn’t off-hand, but I’d look into it,” recalls Beardsley. A dip into the MS literature revealed a type of 6 // 2013
common tremor very much linked to vision; when subjects closed their eyes, the tremors subsided markedly. From his work on sensory motor control, Beardsley happened to know that stretching out the processing delay — the time the nervous system takes to send and process visual information used in motion control — in his modeling work led to virtual oscillations that were very similar to tremors. A hypothesis was not far behind, followed by behavioral testing. Using robotics to measure subjects’ corrective movements in response to visual cues, Beardsley’s team determined that groups of MS patients experiencing tremors indeed were processing visual information two- to three-times slower than neurologically intact subjects. Even more significantly, related tests revealed a mismatch in the MS patients between their lengthened visual processing delays and their brains’ subconscious perception of those delays. In essence, their brains persist in perceiving their delays to be of normal length. “That mismatch — and we can show this on the model — actually results in tremor,” he says. As this knowledge opens doors to potential new tremor therapies (including coaching MS patients to use their vision to plan but not execute movements), opportunity calls Beardsley toward other noteworthy projects. Joining colleagues in efforts to improve performance of a new powered prosthetic ankle, he’s working on using sensor readings from amputees’ residual muscles to determine how the prosthesis needs to move during activities ranging from walking to climbing stairs. “Basically, we are using the residual muscle activity in the leg to predict in 150 milliseconds what the limb ought to be doing,” he says.
Photo by Kat Schleicher Photo by John Nienhuis
PUTTING THE BRAIN IN CHARGE OF PROSTHETIC LOWER LIMBS By Chris Jenkins
After more than two decades’ worth of work on devices to help amputees, Dr. Barbara Silver-Thorn is perhaps more enthusiastic than ever about new developments in the field. “Oh, there’s really exciting stuff happening as far as prosthetics right now,” says Silver-Thorn, an associate professor of biomedical and mechanical engineering.
While new electronic interfaces that allow amputees to control complex prosthetic arms with signals from their brains tend to get the most attention from the public, similar technology also is quietly making its way to prosthetic legs. Lower-limb prosthetics and orthotics are a primary research area for Silver-Thorn, and she currently is collaborating with a team that includes Dr. Philip Voglewede, P.E., assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Dr. Scott Beardsley, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, on the development of a motorized ankle for a prosthetic leg. While typical prosthetic legs have a passive mechanical ankle, the system under development at Marquette uses an active powered ankle with a motor. The motor lifts the prosthetic foot’s toes upward while the user is taking a step, keeping the foot from scraping the ground. The motor also simulates the way calf muscles naturally push off during walking, a function that can enhance a user’s endurance for longer distances, increasing their activity level. Voglewede’s early versions of the ankle used sensors on the prosthetic foot to make it function. Silver-Thorn and others now are researching the possibility of using signals that amputees’ brains still send to the severed muscles to make the ankle perform even better. “Even though their limb is gone, they often still can perceive their phantom limb, toes or ankles,” Silver-Thorn says. Silver-Thorn developed a test protocol and collected initial data from lower-limb amputees to demonstrate that sensors in a prosthetic socket can read the electrical activity still generated by severed muscles. “We optimized muscle sensor locations ... and then had amputee subjects visualize ‘pushing off’ with their phantom foot-ankle, as they had done with their intact limb prior to amputation,” Silver-Thorn says. “The objective of this protocol was to see if minimal training might result in robust muscle control signals that were similar to that for the intact or sound limb.” Using data she acquired and computer code she wrote, Silver-Thorn continues to collaborate with Voglewede, Beardsley and undergraduate students to develop a preliminary algorithm to control the ankle during walking — and even to guide it through more complex activities, such as climbing stairs. The group has submitted a proposal for federal funding to advance this part of the project. (Voglewede’s initial work to develop his active foot-ankle received federal support.) And while it isn’t the only research she’s conducting — she’s also working on a study of hockey players’ skating techniques in a partnership with a sporting goods manufacturer, and helping prepare the next generation of STEM teachers through her work with the Noyce Scholar program — her work with amputees is especially meaningful. Through her research, Silver-Thorn hopes to develop new technology and find ways to make it cost-effective for people in need. “There are some really cool things out there,” she says. “There’s a small population that can benefit in general, and an even smaller population that can afford it. You hate to have quality of life be a function of cost.”
Photo by Kat Schleicher
It's Silver-Thorn’s collaboration with several other professors that puts Marquette right in the middle of it.
Collaboration with Dr. Barbara Silver-Thorn (top left) has opened up new possibilities for using residual muscle signals to guide the movement of the powered prosthetic ankle developed by Dr. Philip Voglewede (above).
A multidisciplinary team is developing an algorithm to control the ankle during walking, even climbing stairs.
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ENGINE
BEYO
The world is getting smaller, while its challenges become more global.
BOUND 8 // 2013
EERING
OND
It’s a recipe for solutions-oriented international partnerships. By Nicole Sweeney Etter With additional reporting by Stephen Filmanowicz
DARIES marquette university college of engineering
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Home base is at 16th and Wisconsin, but the College of Engineering’s footprint is much, much larger. From tiny villages in Central America and Africa to bustling cities in Mexico and Canada, enterprising students and faculty are learning from and leveraging the expertise and experience of local partners to solve global problems — and change lives. It’s more than just service, although that’s part of it. It’s also about training today’s engineers to be creative and collaborative problem-solvers. It’s about aiming the college’s talent and resources toward critical, worldwide challenges — health; water; energy; and transportation and infrastructure — and learning that progress rarely occurs in a straight line, but instead through a lesson-rich process of trial and error. “There is no engineering solution that’s not global,” says Dr. Robert H. Bishop, P.E., Opus Dean of Engineering. “You can’t look at energy without looking at energy use and energy exploration around the world. You can’t look at water as a local issue — it’s a global issue. … Engineers are problem-solvers, and the problems facing us are global problems.” Engineering Hall was designed with this big-picture focus in mind. And momentum is building in other ways:
• T he secretariat of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies and its Global Engineering Deans Council are now based at Marquette, thanks to Dr. Hans J. Hoyer, who is also Marquette’s new resident scholar in global engineering. Hoyer has already connected Marquette to other engineering educators from around the world.
•B ishop joined the Global Engineering Deans Council, has been elected to its Executive Committee by peers globally and recently presented at Tecnologico de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico. He has since been asked to speak to
India
engineering deans in Africa and Latin America, and will host engineering deans and faculty from Argentina, Colombia, India and possibly Peru at Marquette this fall.
• T his academic year the college will launch a new speaker series, Connecting to the World, featuring engineering experts from points across the globe.
•M ore and more, Marquette’s engineering faculty are attracting attention on the world stage. For example, Dr. Fabien Josse, professor of electrical and computer engineering and the 2013 recipient of Marquette’s Lawrence G. Haggerty Award for Research Excellence, is collaborating with researchers in Germany, Switzerland and France, and his research on micro-sensors that detect waterborne contamination could have widespread impact. Other Marquette engineering professors have been invited to teach or present their research abroad, helping Marquette-born ideas spread in international networks.
The college’s growing focus on global solutions fits well with Marquette’s mission, Bishop notes. “The problems we’re addressing — health, energy, water — really impact the poor. Engineers design for 10 percent of the world’s population. But what about the other 90 percent? That’s where Marquette wants to be.” And students are eager to dive in. “I can’t wait to see where Dean Bishop takes us from here because I truly think MU could be a global, positive presence and role model for other universities and organizations,” says Elyse O’Callaghan, president of Marquette’s Engineers Without Borders chapter and a senior majoring in civil engineering. Read on to see how Marquette engineers are forging relationships around the globe and making an international impact.
Imagine a simple, low-cost device that could save you a 200-mile trip to the nearest hospital. That’s the potential power of a new digital stethoscope being designed by senior engineering students. The tool analyzes patients’ lung sounds and diagnoses whether they need further medical attention, a valuable service in remote areas of India and other developing countries. A senior design team tackled the first phase of the project during the 2012-13 school year; another group will refine the device this school year. Dr. Vikram Cariapa, the team’s adviser and an associate professor of mechanical engineering, has already reached out to a health care contact in India who is eager to try the final product with real patients.
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El Salvador and Africa By delivering a reliable mist of airway-clearing medication, a nebulizer can make a life-saving difference for those struggling with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. But for too long, commercial nebulizers have been out of reach for poor families who live in remote areas without electricity. Now, after years in development by successive student-faculty teams, Marquette’s human-powered nebulizer — which is powered by a hand crank — is poised to take off. Marquette is working with El Salvador’s Ministry of Health to distribute about 10 devices to community health workers in the field. The Marquette team members’ ability to work closely with their network of public health officials and community health workers in Africa and Central America — and their willingness to change the direction of the design in response to feedback from these partners — is a key reason for the project’s promising trajectory. For example, an early leg-powered design incorporating bicycle parts was well received in Africa but encountered resistance from women who provide primary health services in rural El Salvador. “They didn’t like it because they were less familiar with cycling,” recalls Dr. Lars Olson, the project’s director and interim chair and associate professor of biomedical engineering. “One nurse put it up on a table and started cranking it by hand just like they do when they grind corn manually with a maize molino. This was the dawn of the idea for the hand-powered version of the humanpowered nebulizer.”
With a trial run just completed in South Africa and deployments ahead in Ghana and Madagascar, as well as El Salvador, the nebulizer is one step closer, says Olson, to saving “lower- and middle-income countries money and simultaneously improving public health.”
Honduras Bacteria-infested water can have deadly consequences, but that was all that was available to the people of Joyas de Carballo until a Marquette Engineers Without Borders team arrived on the scene. Since 2008, Marquette students have worked with the community to improve the water distribution system so that villagers have access to clean, running water. The Marquette team also developed an education program on health and sanitation. The students’ work was recognized nationally with the Engineers Without Borders 2011 Premier Project Award.
“Engineers don’t realize the impact our work can have,” says Mike Paddock, P.E., a senior transportation engineer with CH2M HILL who frequently leads Marquette EWB teams abroad, primarily in Guatemala. “Here in the United States we’re often improving existing infrastructure. When you can expose students to an area that doesn’t have any infrastructure, I think it can really enforce what the profession is all about.” marquette university college of engineering
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Guatemala
A decade ago, when the sun set in the village of Nueva Providencia, work came to a halt. If it couldn’t be done by the glow of a candle or hearth fire, it couldn’t be done. Then a Marquette Engineers Without Borders team arrived in 2008 to install solar-powered streetlights and add outlets and LED lights to every home. “That literally is the first time they’ve ever had electricity,” says Dr. Mark Federle, professor, McShane Chair of Construction Engineering and Management, and adviser to Marquette’s award-winning EWB chapter. The EWB group has returned several times to help expand the village’s electrical system, and this summer a team completed a water pipeline that will be used by a micro-hydropower system to generate electricity 24/7. The system was designed by students with professional mentors reviewing the design to make sure it met engineering and safety standards. Once on the ground, the students collaborated with local partners to obtain necessary supplies and get the project built — on a deadline. “It’s not like there’s a Home Depot you can run to if you need something,” Federle says. As part of the project, designated villagers shadowed electricians and learned how to operate and maintain the system. Last summer, a Marquette team also built an 80-meter-span pedestrian bridge to replace a bridge washed out by Hurricane Agatha. Students worked side-by-side with local laborers, many of whom worked their usual full-time manual jobs and then spent before- or after-work hours lending expertise and “sweat equity” to tasks such as mixing concrete and building masonry walls. Before the new bridge, these villagers couldn’t reach stores, schools or work during parts of the six-month rainy season. Now their village is reconnected to the rest of the world whatever the weather.
On the final day of the bridge’s construction, the EWB team faced an unexpected dilemma: too many community volunteers. “We didn’t have enough hammers to go around,” recalls O’Callaghan. “People had to take turns installing the fence, and we ultimately had to go into the city to buy more fencing nails so that all of the community members could have a chance to put a nail in their bridge.”
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Colombia Until a year and a half ago, the only way for a doctor in Cali, Colombia, to assess the movement of a child with cerebral palsy was to simply watch the child walk. Today orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Luis Caicedo has access to a new Marquettedesigned gait lab that provides 3D motion analysis of complex cases. The benefit: more objective surgical decisions and expectations for better post-surgical evaluation, says Caicedo, who also uses the lab to study children with clubfoot.
Canada and Mexico Last fall, College of Engineering student, Michael Thorn, got a close-up look at biomedical engineering north of the border when he studied for a semester at the University of Toronto. While there, he participated in research on a prosthetic knee designed for younger patients in developing countries. “My international experience has given me a new perspective on how my work might have an impact around the world,” Thorn says.
Thorn’s experience in Canada was thanks to Marquette’s involvement in the North American Consortium on Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology for the Individual, which is designed to increase the research experiences and skills of biomedical engineering students through a unique semester-long exchange program with five other universities in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The goal is for each institution to send two students to each of the other international universities, and nearly all of the students participate in research while abroad. “Through the NARETI program, biomedical engineering students have direct insight into delivery of care issues across cultures, giving them better perspective on how to design accessible and applicable technology,” explains Dr. Barbara Silver-Thorn, associate professor of biomedical and mechanical engineering and the project’s principal investigator.
It’s an advancement that would not have been possible without Marquette’s Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center. After Dr. Gerald Harris, P.E., professor of biomedical engineering and OREC director, learned about the unmet need in Cali — Colombia’s third largest city — he decided he must help. The project generates “all sorts of opportunities for collaboration and better science,” Harris says. “These are engineering challenges that are well within our ability to address, but they’re different from what we’re seeing in the United States.” OREC has other global connections. Harris regularly assists former postdoctoral fellow Dr. Karla Bustamante Valles, who operates a sister lab in Chihuahua, Mexico, to test children with cerebral palsy. Meanwhile, Harris is fielding requests for gait analysis labs in Mexico, the Philippines, and Nepal. He’s happy to help. “We’re building this international structure,” Harris says. “We’ll have access to more and more children with orthopaedic disabilities around the world, so it’s a pretty safe bet that we’re going to be able to have a better impact on care.”
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Photos by John Sibilski
paying it forward
Medical device maker Medela has a new co-op program at its U.S. headquarters thanks to the efforts of Sarah Loeffel, Eng ’09.
Alumni who gained pivotal experience through Marquette co-ops help introduce a new generation of students to real-world engineering. By Ann Christenson After Sarah Loeffel, Eng ’09, finished the first term of her Marquette co-op experience at Baxter Healthcare in Round Lake, Ill., she returned to Marquette with a head start on some of her classmates. And she knew it immediately. “I could relate something from every single engineering class I was taking back to the work I was completing at Baxter,” recalls the native of suburban Chicago. From the get-go, Baxter — a global manufacturer focused on therapies for hemophilia, bleeding disorders and immune deficiencies — gave her “hands-on experience” within the company’s reliability group. The lab testing and test protocols, as well as writing and presenting of test findings, offered “a very cool way to expose an engineering major to the real world,” she adds. Her work at Baxter, combined with related coursework at Marquette, sparked the enterprising young graduate’s entrepreneurial instincts after graduation, when she was hired by Medela, a European company specializing
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in breast-feeding pumps and medical vacuum technology. Working at the company’s U.S. headquarters in McHenry, Ill., Loeffel discovered that Medela did not have a co-op program in place. With the full support of her boss, Loeffel took her mission to Laura Lindemann, director of industry relations, who coordinates the college’s co-op program. Beyond simply establishing a Medela co-op program, the key was building a connection between the healthcare technology company and Marquette that would benefit them both — expanding opportunities for biomedical engineering students and creating a pool of potential candidates for Medela’s workforce. So instrumental was her co-op experience to Loeffel’s academic career that she believes co-oping should be a requirement for all MU engineering students. She told Lindemann exactly that. Seeing nothing but a win for her company and the budding engineers, Loeffel and her boss devised a list of
starter projects for co-ops (and later opened up suggestions to Medela’s whole engineering department.) The first co-op semester would involve a great deal of training for the student, but the intention would be to match students with projects they could begin in one term and return to once they’re back at the company for the next term. As a mentor to the co-ops, Loeffel can trouble-shoot along the way. Just a few weeks into his first semester at Medela, MU co-op Shane Einloth, Eng ’16, honed in on the advantages of co-oping. But the biomechanical engineering major also admits settling into the process has been “kind of a shock,” albeit a pleasant one. Before he can launch into design work, Einloth learned “there is paperwork and approvals to get in order to achieve a simple task.” It’s this progression from rudimentary steps to project fruition that separates the office from the classroom. “The simulated project walkthroughs from freshman year were indescribably amplified,” he says.
two, they move to Manufacturing and Process Engineering, where they learn how products are made. The third semester places them in one of four Design and Engineering Teams, where they descend into design and problem resolution. The final semester gives co-ops the chance to select a new engineering department or revisit an area of their choosing.
compete for co-op positions within their field, whatever their major: civil, mechanical, biomedical, computer, construction, environmental, and electrical engineering. STRATTEC Security Corporation, a leading maker of automotive locks, keys, push-button starts and other accessories, operates one of the largest co-op programs, with 11 currently active Marquette students. It’s also highly structured, explains product engineer and former co-op coordinator Gregor Germana, Eng ’08 , Grad ’13. (Germana was himself a STRATTEC co-op as an undergraduate.) Co-ops spend their first term performing tests and compiling reports in the Testing and Rapid Prototyping Division Center. In semester
Back at Medela, Loeffel also sees long-term potential for the new co-op program to “test-run” potential new grad hires. But it’s not too soon to see other benefits of the new relationship with Marquette. Medela engineers are having co-ops revive projects that have been on project lists for some time, but have been pushed aside in favor of day-to-day work, says Loeffel. “Co-ops are great for projects like this because they are young and completely unbiased in the ways of the engineering world. That mentality allows them to quickly adapt and ask questions that may be overlooked by someone who has more experience and may make assumptions.”
Ultimately, one of the biggest benefits — for both company and co-op — is potential job placement after graduation. “We look at co-oping as a training program. (Co-ops) are already integrated in our culture and trained in our processes,” observes Germana.
At Waukesha-based HUSCO International, Pat Masterson, Eng ’98, is highly involved with the co-op engineering program. That’s more than 15 years after he was a co-op with Milwaukee’s Briggs & Stratton. Masterson also sits on an industry advisory board of the College of As Medela’s first engineering co-op, Engineering. He says HUSCO — Einloth appreciates the role Marquette which makes hydraulic controls Feeling grateful for her co-op experience at plays in bringing about this real-world Baxter Healthcare, Loeffel wanted Medela to for construction, agricultural and play a similar role in students’ lives. experience and the responsibility it automotive vehicles — sees its places on students like him. “If we [the co-op program as a crucial way to groom engineers co-ops] work to a standard, the company will know for careers in the industry. Six Marquette engineering what they can receive from an MU student.” students are currently in HUSCO’s program and 13 alumni work there full time. Every engineering major at Marquette has the opportunity to
Become a co-op partner Marquette partners with more than 100 leading international and local engineering and technology firms to support its co-op program, whose proud tradition extends back to its founding in 1919 as one of the first such programs in the country. Every year, more than 250 students gain valuable experience and mentorship while working alongside seasoned engineers. Students and employers commit to a two-year relationship during which students work at least three, full-time terms and complete required coursework during opposite terms. To learn how you or your company can benefit from being a co-op partner, contact Laura Lindemann at (414) 288-5698 or laura.lindemann@marquette.edu.
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peak performers Get to know Engineering Hall’s new generation of tech-rich labs and the faculty and students who make them go. By Pete May Visualize this. You’re driving west through a new billion-dollar highway interchange. As you curve around a connecting ramp, there is a moment, in the glare of the still-bright dusk sky, when you’re confused. Headlights flare directly in front of you, and for a panicked instant, you think oncoming traffic has crossed into your lane. Luckily, you’re not behind the wheel of a real car; you’re in an immersive virtual 3D environment. The interchange you’re seeing is projected onto the walls and floor of Marquette’s new Visualization Lab so making the virtual roadway safer won’t require heavy equipment, just some clicking and dragging. According to Dr. John LaDisa, associate professor of biomedical engineering, by the time the VL is completed later this fall, engineers and their partners will be able to use it to model almost anything they can envision.
Photo by John Nienhuis
Dr. John LaDisa
LaDisa sees combining ultrasound, MRI and CT scans to construct virtual
cardiovascular models. Mechanical engineers see simulated factory processes. The College of Nursing sees a virtual ER. The Department of Theatre Arts sees a chance to test lighting designs on sets before they are built. In fact, anyone can see that the VL is poised to become a virtual bridge to the future. “The world has changed. Our students have changed. The challenges that are facing us have changed,” says Dr. Robert H. Bishop, P.E., Opus Dean of Engineering. “That’s why engineering education is transforming itself.” A key to that transformation is the kind of hands-on, student-centered active learning — and solutions-oriented academic research — made possible by the College of Engineering’s remarkable new laboratories. Just off the third-floor atrium, the glass walls of Engineering Hall’s new Human Performance Lab reveal what appears to be a standard rehabilitative treadmill riding three feet above the floor on an iron forest of criss-crossed rods and hydraulics. “That’s a motion system that’s made for in-flight simulators or Disney
Biomedical engineering professor Dr. Brian Schmit (right) helps doctoral graduate Michael Jirjis (left) and doctoral candidate Ryan McKindless (wearing motion-capture sensors) master operation of the college’s new highperformance treadmill. marquette university college of engineering
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The Engineering Materials and Structural Testing Lab is thriving as a learning environment, research hub and test site for industry.
“We have a series of senior laboratory courses in biomechanics, and those students, for the first time this year, performed 3D gait analysis in this laboratory.” rides,” says Dr. Brian Schmit, professor of biomedical engineering, pointing proudly to Marquette’s new gait analysis rig. Schmit’s work focuses on neural problems resulting from strokes or spinal cord injuries. The motion platform beneath the treadmill will allow his students to program challenging angles and obstacles meant to simulate the difficulties of daily perambulation. A harness system being constructed around the unit will keep patients safe while electronic sensors and twelve cameras trained on human subjects will provide data. Screens mounted around the unit will allow researchers to create an integrated, interactive virtual display. The complex apparatus, designed and built on campus, will allow Schmit’s team both to study patients’ neurological injuries and to develop therapies that can help them recover more rapidly. “If you challenge the nervous system, it tends to learn more,” says Schmit.
A modern Marquette engineering education isn’t about lengthy lectures and workbooks with the answers in the back. “The real world isn’t a nice canned experiment,” reminds Dr. Kristina Ropella, executive associate dean and professor of biomedical engineering. “There is not a right answer to most problems.”
Dr. Kristina Ropella
While there might not be a right answer, there’s always a best answer. Working side by side with graduate students and faculty, undergrads have the opportunity to exercise their engineering muscle working out solutions
It’s a real gamechanger.
Dr. Gerald Harris
Biomedical Engineering Professor, Dr. Gerald Harris, P.E., studies the special needs of children with cerebral palsy who have difficulty walking. The new six-axis treadmill will allow him to accomplish complex gait analysis critical to his work guiding surgeons who attempt to correct disabilities and provide young CP patients with improved mobility that’s sustained into adulthood.
Both Harris and Schmit note the special connection that develops when students work directly with disabled children and adults — a connection that brings academic study to life. “Many of our students are biomedical engineers because they want to do something for society,” says Harris. “This is the type of laboratory that allows them to actually see that in practice,” he adds.
Photography on these two pages by Dan Johnson, John Nienhuis, Kat Schleicher and John Sibilski. Visualization lab rendering courtesy of Christie®
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to real-world problems in labs like the Engineering Materials and Structural Testing Lab. The EMST lab opened with Engineering Hall in 2011 and is living up to its potential as a learning environment, research hub and for-hire cost center. “It’s an undergraduate and graduate teaching and research laboratory,” says Dr. Christopher Foley, P.E., chair and professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, “Now it’s Dr. Christoper a community-based laboratory and tool Foley for people to come in and test structural components and novel materials.” Foley calls the EMST lab one of the four best in the Midwest and that status has companies beating a path to their door — a door large enough to back in a semi and lift off a 70-foot beam for structural testing.
Upgrades to Marquette’s wind tunnel helped engineers unlock the knuckleball’s secrets. Below, a rendering of the new immersive Visualization Lab which is poised for liftoff later this fall.
The contract work that flows through the EMST lab has the advantage of paying some of the bills but, more importantly, the jobs give students the opportunity to work on real-world projects in a facility big enough to teach real life lessons. Foley contends that though students can do structural analysis on a computer or a bench top model, they don’t get that all-important sense of scale. “If you watch something that’s bigger than you buckle with a bang, you get a far deeper appreciation of structural failure!” “To me, it’s a real game-changer,” offers Dr. John Borg, P.E., associate professor of mechanical engineering, talking about the advantages of having bigger, better labs in a showcase facility like the new College of Engineering building. “When ‘60 Minutes’ came to scout the location, they were, like, Dr. John Borg ‘Wow! This is fantastic!’” Last spring brought Borg an impressive amount of attention from the national media. “It was just luck,” Borg demurs. Specifically, it was lucky that he’d been using Marquette’s new research-quality wind tunnel and helium bubble generator to explore the unique dynamics of the knuckleball, a vexing, mostly unhittable pitch that earned R.A. Dickey a Cy Young Award in 2012.
The lab’s old wind tunnel was too small to do anything but demonstrations and while blowing smoke in the wind is dramatic, it doesn’t yield much hard data. On the other hand, blowing neutral buoyancy helium bubbles, then calculating their speed and trajectory vectors using sophisticated computer algorithms, well that’s modern PIV — particle image velocimetry. “60 Minutes Sports,” “Discovery Channel” and “Popular Mechanics” all did preseason stories on Borg’s knuckleball research. “It was really fun,” Borg recalls. He also remembers having conversations with his student and research assistant, Mike Morrissey, who said, “This is great, but can I get a job in this? Do I really want to get an education in knuckleball pitching?” Borg told Mike that no one was going to hire him because he did knuckleball research. They’d hire him because he did the post-processing on all the strain rate data, and learned how to use PIV and do data reduction. Borg was right. This past spring Mike was hired by the healthcare giant Baxter International to join their PIV team. True to its design, the glass walls of the new building put engineering on display in four significant new labs that enhance and accelerate teaching and research to the benefit of a new generation of Marquette engineers.
“ The world has changed. Our students have changed. The challenges that are facing us have changed. That’s why engineering education is transforming itself.” — Dr. Robert H. Bishop, Opus Dean of Engineering marquette university college of engineering
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NUTS &BOLTS Math and Mosquitoes By Nicole Sweeney Etter (Adapted from Marquette Magazine, Fall 2012)
Growing up in Tanzania, Samson Kiware, Grad ’10, suffered through the pain and fever of malaria more times than he can count. Now the doctoral student is taking his revenge on the disease with two unlikely weapons: math and mosquitoes. Kiware was studying computer science and mathematics at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., when he met Dr. George Corliss, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at Marquette. Their chance meeting at church led to Kiware’s internship with the College of Engineering’s GasDay Lab, which helps predict natural gas demand for utilities across the country. Corliss encouraged Kiware to pursue graduate studies at Marquette. That’s when Kiware realized he could put his passion for mathematical modeling to work in the health field and “do something that can benefit my country,” Kiware says.
College of Engineering welcomes three new assistant professors Two departments in the College of Engineering have new assistant professors joining their faculty this fall. The Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering is excited to be the new home to two of these new faculty members. Dr. Ting Lin is joining the structural engineering and structural mechanics area group. Lin comes to Marquette after completing post-doctoral research at Stanford University, focusing on seismic performance of tall buildings and performance-based tsunami engineering. Her research in the area of resilient civil
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“Malaria is treatable, but a lot of people die because they don’t have access to treatment,” he says. One of Kiware’s research projects is to develop models for a system in which mosquitoes kill their offspring by transferring insecticides to their breeding sites. For environmental and cost reasons, it’s not feasible to spray insecticide everywhere, and “who knows their homes better than mosquitoes?” Kiware asks. His models will help guide field trials for the technique and eventually predict its progress toward malaria elimination. If it works well, the approach could be applied to other malaria-prone parts of the world. Kiware is working with the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, and his research is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Marquette’s Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science; and the GasDay Lab. He is splitting his time between Milwaukee and Tanzania while finishing his doctorate. After he finishes his degree, Kiware will continue his research in Tanzania. “The goal,” he says with a smile, “is to work myself out of this job as soon as possible.”
infrastructure is focused on hazard-consistent ground motion selection methodologies, which are used to characterize seismic hazard and building code provisions. Dr. Patrick McNamara, Eng ’06, previously a post-doctoral fellow at Marquette, joins the department’s environmental engineering area group. McNamara’s research focuses on the role that chemical micro pollutants from household items like sanitizers or antimicrobial soaps play in disrupting wastewater treatment processes and even natural processes. These chemicals can also impact public health concerns such as antibiotic resistance. In addition to understanding these impacts, McNamara is also interested in mitigating their effects.
Dr. Cristinel Ababei joins the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Before coming to Marquette, he served as an assistant professor at North Dakota State University and the State University of New York at Buffalo. His research interest centers on the design automation of very large-scale circuit integration, through which thousands of transistors are combined into a single chip. He also pursues advances in field programmable gate array circuits and systems. Using design automation as a foundation, Ababei formulates and solves new design and optimization problems related to the ever-growing complexity and uncertainty of circuits, systems and networks.
Aero Marquette Team Excels in International Competition
Josse Honored with Haggerty Research Award The annual award recognizes a Marquette faculty member who has demonstrated scholarly distinction and an all-encompassing belief in excellence. Contaminated drinking wells. Deep sea oil spills. Homeland security threats. These are examples of some of the world’s most pressing problems. Dr. Fabien Josse, professor of electrical and computer engineering and the 2013 recipient of the Lawrence G. Haggerty Faculty Award for Research Excellence, is using his skills to help find answers to some of them. With support from Marquette’s Microsensors Research Lab team, Josse is investigating and developing novel sensors and sensor systems that can be used in liquid applications. Josse and his team have developed microacoustic wave-based sensors and microcantilevers to detect fuel and oil contamination, as well as contaminates such as organophosphate pesticides, which can leak into groundwater, causing harm when ingested or absorbed through the skin. Josse is respected for his ability to collaborate not only on campus but throughout the country and world. “Fabien is actively contributing to solving important global issues, such as monitoring the health of drinking water,” says Dr. Robert H. Bishop, Opus Dean of the College of Engineering. “He has built impressive international collaborations while also reaching across Marquette’s campus to further not only his research, but the research of others as well.”
The 2013 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) airplane-design competition pitted a six-person team of Marquette engineering students against almost 40 teams from around the globe. The task was to design and construct a remote-controlled aircraft to carry as much weight as possible with a constrained engine. Balsa wood, basswood and aluminum components for structural integrity went into constructing a plane that measured six feet from tip to tail and had a 10-foot wingspan. Team Aero Marquette’s plane finished second in the national competition and sixth in international competition. See the following link for videos of the competition flights: go.mu.edu/MUaeroteam.
The experience introduced students to the fun and excitement of being an engineering college student, as they participated in labs in Engineering Hall, were challenged by leadership programs led by Marquette’s ROTC program and toured Milwaukee companies and organizations like Rockwell Automation and Growing Power. At the end of the experience, which was sponsored in part by Hein Electric and Marquette ROTC, one student summed up his experience saying, “I learned how broadly engineering is being used to help others.” We hope the week inspired the students to become global problem solvers — otherwise known as engineers.
Recognizing Engineering’s Distinguished 2013 Alumni Award Winners Congratulations to the engineering alumni who were nominated by their peers for excelling in their careers and lives, and selected for Marquette’s prestigious Alumni National Awards. All-University Professional Achievement Award: Dr. John F. Wakerly, Eng ’70 Engineering Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award: Thomas G. Searle, Eng ’77, Grad ’78
Featured is Peter Malak, Ed Barry, Mike Bergagna, Mike Krzoska, Matt Komro (pilot) and Beau Hommes.
Engineering Leadership Academy This past June, 36 young men and women from across the country plunged head first into an intense engineering and university experience on Marquette’s campus. High school juniors and seniors from seven states participated in the Engineering Leadership Academy, sleeping and eating in a residence hall for a week.
Engineering Professional Achievement Award: Michael J. Harsh, Eng ’78 Engineering Entrepreneurial Award: Daniel Casey, Eng ’66 Engineering Service Award: Lawrence V. Jacques, Eng ’75 Engineering Young Alumna of the Year Award: Katherine Litkowiec Medalle, Eng ’99 For the complete story see marquette.edu/ alumni/awards.
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2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
2013 Research Yearbook In collaboration with colleagues and students — and often in pursuit of solutions to global problems — the faculty of the College of Engineering extend knowledge on engineering’s many frontiers, including sensorimotor control, acoustic-to-articulator inversion systems, technologies for pediatric orthopaedic disabilities, fault-tolerant electric machines and drives, advanced prosthetic design, and energy-or-nutrient generating water remediation techniques. In addition to listing prominent honors, grants and publications from the 2012-2013 academic year, this section highlights a number of faculty members from the college whose research is breaking new ground and earning attention.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Taly Gilat-Schmidt, Ph.D.
Mark Federle, Ph.D., P.E., CPC
professor
assistant professor
professor
The 2013 Marquette University College of Engineering Outstanding Research Award.
ASCE Outstanding Reviewer, Journal of Management in Engineering, May 2013.
2012 IEEE-IAS Electric Machines Committee Prize Paper award for “Calculation of Magnet Losses in Concentrated-Winding Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines Using a Computationally EfficientFinite Element Method,” with Peng Zhang, Gennadi Y. Sizov, Jiangbiao He and Dan M. Ionel.
AWARDS
Dean Jeutter, Ph.D., P.E. professor
Patricia A. Horner Outstanding Chapter Advisor, Alpha Eta Mu Beta National Biomedical Engineering Student Honor Society, October 2012.
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Member of the Year, Associated General Contractors of America, May 2013. James L. Allhands Faculty Mentor, Associated General Contractors of America, March 2013.
Nabeel Demerdash, Ph.D.
2012 IEEE-PES Prize Paper award for “Fault-Tolerant Technique for Delta-Connected AC Motor Drives,” with Ahmed SayedAhmed and Behrooz Mirafzal.
2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Photo by John Nienhuis
Dr. Nabeel Demerdash professor, electrical and computer engineering What’s he working on? Demerdash and three graduate students are developing the next generation of computational design tools that combine finite element electromagnetic analysis and novel optimization algorithms to enhance the design of electrical machines for higher efficiencies and minimum cost. This project — from Marquette’s Electric Machines and Drives Lab — highlights the successful collaboration of academic and industrial research. During the last three years, the lab’s work has attracted more than $180,000 in funds from industrial sponsors, namely A.O. Smith and Regal Beloit corporations.
What else is he doing? In addition, Demerdash and his graduate students are using a $425,000 award from the National Science Foundation to investigate fault prognostics/diagnostics and fault-tolerant operation of electric machines and drives. Demerdash is also participating in a nationwide consortium of universities to revitalize electric power engineering education with state-of-the-art laboratories. This project supplied the College of Engineering with more than five different topologies of DC-DC converters for students’ hands-on experimental studies.
What are the expected benefits? The tools developed in this project will assist motor and generator designers in the tedious and iterative design process. Furthermore, automated design tools will provide the means to tackle more complex design problems that deal with multiple design objectives and constraints, thus leading to more efficient use and generation of electric energy.
Who’s paying attention? Demerdash recently was recognized for authoring two “prize papers” by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), its Power and Energy Society (IEEE-PES) and its Industry Applications Society (IEEE-IAS).
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2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
Dr. Michael Johnson, P.E. professor, electrical and computer engineering
Why? The two are aiming to develop a system for “acoustic-toarticulator” inversion that will allow them to use a recording of
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a person’s voice to determine the motion pattern of articulators. One key application of this research is improving the abilities of Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL) systems to identify errors in pronunciation patterns and provide users with specific acoustic and visual feedback for correcting those errors and improving speaking ability. In addition to its impact on pronunciation and accent-modification systems, this work also has application to other speech technologies, such as speech recognition and speech synthesis, and to clinical speech therapy tools for patients with sever dysarthria. Has his research been in the spotlight before? Johnson’s earlier work on animal vocalization analysis — the “Dr. Doolittle Project” — attracted attention from academic journals and popular media, and he continues his research work in this area as well.
Photo by John Nienhuis
What is he working on? Johnson and Dr. Jeff Berry from Marquette’s Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology are using an electromagnetic articulography system to place small sensors on subjects’ vocal articulators (e.g., the lower and upper lip, tongue and jaw) to collect accurate position and orientation information, while simultaneously recording the corresponding acoustic sounds.With support from a $150,000 National Science Foundation grant, they have gathered and transcribed this data from native English speakers and native Mandarin speakers speaking English, and are now preparing to release the data to the research community and begin work on a second $450,000 NSF grant supporting novel applications of this new data.
2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
awards continued... Fabien Josse, Ph.D.
Joseph Schimmels, Ph.D., P.E.
professor
professor and associate dean for research
Lawrence G. Haggerty Faculty Award for Research Excellence, 2013, Marquette University.
See entry for Dr. Shuguang Huang.
Philip Voglewede, Ph.D., P.E.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING Said Audi, Ph.D. associate professor
Chung Hoon Lee, Ph.D.
assistant professor
assistant professor
Way Klinger Young Scholar Award, 2013, Marquette University.
The 2013 Marquette University College of Engineering Outstanding Teacher Award.
Andrew Williams, Ph.D.
GRANTS
OREC research engineer
Robert H. Bishop, Ph.D., P.E.
See entry for Dr. Joseph Schimmels, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
John P. Raynor, S.J., Chair and professor
Named one of the 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology by BlackMoney.com.
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Jessica Fritz
OPUS dean
$1,666,600, “Phase 1 of the Discovery Learning Complex,” State of Wisconsin. $50,000, “ALHAT Navigation and Morpheus Development,” NASA.
Casey Allen, Ph.D.
$23,000, “ALHAT Navigation and Morpheus Development,” NASA.
assistant professor
Jon Jensen, Ph.D.
Michael J. Wallace Endowed Faculty Scholar in Energy Leadership, Michael J. Wallace Endowment, November 2012, with Margaret Mathison, Ph.D.
associate dean for enrollment management
Kevin Craig, Ph.D.
Kristina Ropella, Ph.D.
Greenheck Chair and professor
The 2013 Outstanding Educator Award from the ASEE North Midwest Section.
Shuguang Huang, Ph.D. research associate professor
2012 Best Paper Award at the ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference for “Design of a 2 DOF Prosthetic Ankle Using Coupled Compliance to Increase Ankle Torque,” with Dr. Joseph Schimmels.
$6,213, “Novel Diagnostics to Detect Lung Injury,” Veterans Administration.
$12,000, “Environmental Engineering Exploration,” Pentair Water Treatment.
executive associate dean
$250,000, “Collaborative Research Integrating Neuroimaging and Neurorehabilitation: Continuing the Momentum (FNERC),” Dr. Ralph and Marian Falk Medical Research Trust, with Dr. Brian Schmit, Department of Biomedical Engineering. $18,000, “Graduate Research Assistantship: Kathryn Gallenberger,” U.S. Department of Defense.
Taly Gilat-Schmidt, Ph.D. assistant professor
$223,636, “Advancing EnergyResolved CT Systems for Imaging K-Edge Contrast Agents,” National Institutes of Health. $73,182, “GE Advanced Cardiac Applications,” General Electric Company. $62,792, “Evaluating the Dose and Image Quality Performance of Organ-Based Tube Current Modulation,” General Electric Company. See entry for Dr. Gerald Harris, Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Jay Goldberg, Ph.D., P.E. clinical professor and director of Healthcare Technologies Management
$21,859, “Multidisciplinary Team-based Design Education to Create Biomedical Engineering Innovators,“ National Institutes of Health.
Margaret Mathison, Ph.D. See entry for Dr. Casey Allen
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2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
grants continued...
Gerald Harris, Ph.D., P.E.
John F. LaDisa, Jr., Ph.D.
professor and director of the Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center
associate professor
$950,000, “Rehabilitation Engineer Research Center on Technologies for Children with Orthopedic Disabilities,” U.S. Department of Education, with Dr. Taly GilatSchmidt, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Dr. Brian Schmit, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Sheila Schindler-Ivens, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences. $150,000, “Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training (ARRT) in Pediatric to Adult Transition,” U.S. Department of Education. $150,000, “Advanced Rehabilitation Research Training in Pediatric Mobility,” U.S. Department of Education. $41,196, “Shriners Research II,” Shriners Hospital for Children. $32,115, “Shriners Research II,” Shriners Hospital for Children. $15,000, “Shriners Research II,” Shriners Hospital for Children. $5,000, “Shriners Research II,” Shriners Hospital for Children.
Michelle Johnson, Ph.D. research assistant professor
$7,000, “Development of a Mobile Robot for Stroke Therapy,” Medical College of Wisconsin.
$74,000, “Optical Coherence and Computed Tomography for Evaluation of Wall Shear Stress and Thrombus Potential in Coronary Arteries after Stenting,” Kobe University.
Brian Schmit, Ph.D. professor
$70,305, “Mechanisms of Neuromuscular Fatigue Post Stroke,” National Institutes of Health, with Dr. Allison Hyngstrom, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences. $43,471, “Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Injured Spinal Cord,” Veterans Administration. $26,000, “Perturbation of Frontal Plane Center of Mass Movements During Walking Reveals Altered Dynamic Balance Control Strategies: Predoctoral Fellowship for Eric Walker,” American Heart Association. $25,000, “Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Targeting Using Computational Modeling,” National Institutes of Health. $11,693, “Robotic Gait Training Improves Locomotor Function in Children with Cerebral Palsy,” National Institutes of Health. See entries for Dr. Gerald Harris, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Kristina Ropella, College of Engineering.
Barbara Silver-Thorn, Ph.D. associate professor
$280,365, “Noyce Engineering/ Science Teacher Education Scholars,” National Science Foundation, with Dr. Ellen Eckman,
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Department of Educational Policy and Leadership, College of Education, and Dr. Benjamin Brown, Department of Physics, Klinger College of Arts and Sciences. $8,687, “Kinematics of Hockey Skating,” Easton Corporation.
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING Michael Switzenbaum, Ph.D. professor emeritus
$110,000, “Collaborative Research: I/UCRC for Water Equipment and Policy,” National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center, with Dr. Daniel Zitomer, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.
Daniel Zitomer, Ph.D., P.E. professor and director of the Water Quality Center
$59,500, “GBMSD Phase I BenchScale Digestion,” CH2MHILL. $45,000, “Nutrient-enhanced Biochar Product and Processing of Wastewater Biosolids,” National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. $18,000, “Ammonia and Phosphorus Beneficial Use Processes and Technologies Evaluation,” Xylem,Inc. $8,000, “REU Supplement: I/UCRC for Water Equipment and Policy,” National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center.
2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
Dr. Margaret Mathison assistant professor, mechanical engineering What is she working on? One of the greatest challenges facing the heating, ventilating, airconditioning and refrigeration industry is transitioning to new working fluids with lower global warming potential (GWP) than current refrigerants. To that end, Mathison worked with a team of senior design students to rebuild a room air conditioner to run with a newly developed, low-GWP refrigerant alternative in a project sponsored by Whirlpool Corporation. The team’s working model hit its target cooling capacity.
What’s the impact? Mathison’s research will help ensure the HVAC&R industry is prepared for the future and ready to act as responsible stewards of environmental resources by minimizing energy consumption and the emission of potentially hazardous chemicals.
Photo by Kat Schliecher
What about the energy consumption impact of HVAC&R equipment? Mathison is working on that, too, designing and building a load stand to improve the efficiency of the main power-consuming component in any air-conditioning or refrigeration cycle: the compressors. The load stand will be capable of supplying liquid-vapor mixtures to the compressor at two intermediate pressures, a design unique to Marquette.
See entry for Dr. Michael Switzenbaum, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering.
Power Engineering Education by State-of-the-Art Laboratories,” U.S. Department of Energy.
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
adjunct associate professor
Nabeel Demerdash, Ph.D.
Dan Ionel, Ph.D. See entry for Dr. Nabeel Demerdash, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
professor
Michael Johnson, Ph.D., P.E.
$57,554, “Advanced Design Optimization and Simulation of Modular Brushless PM Electric Machines and Drives,” Regal Beloit Manufacturing Corporation, with Dr. Dan Ionel, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
$19,840, “EAGER: AcousticArticulator Modeling for Pronunciation Analysis,” National Science Foundation, with Dr. Jeffrey Berry, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, College of Health Sciences.
professor
Shrinivas Joshi, Ph.D. professor
$49,973, “Water Equip and Miniature High Efficiency Transducers for Use in Ultrasonic Flow Meters,” National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. $45,000, “Miniature High Efficiency Transducers for Use in Ultrasonic Flow Meters,” National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center.
$8,333, “A Nationwide Consortium of Universities to Revitalize Electric
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2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Dr. Robert Scheidt professor, biomedical engineering What’s new? Scheidt’s lab developed technology that uses functional magnetic resonance imaging, a simple video game and a robotic joystick handle to visualize sensorimotor information processing in brain regions involved in acquiring new movement skills. Supported by the National Science Foundation and other agencies, this work has demonstrated that essential intelligent behaviors — predictive compensation of a changing environment — rely on the coordination and integration of neural activities within multiple distributed brain regions.
Photo by John Sibilski
What’s next? Scheidt and his students recognized that their neuroimaging techniques are sensitive to neural activity changes in many brain regions demonstrating structural and functional abnormalities in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). He has obtained preliminary findings which reveal deficits in the way children with ASD process sensory information, encode it into memories and use those memories to influence upcoming actions. In collaboration with Dr. Amy Van Hecke, assistant professor of psychology, he aims to determine whether individual differences in sensorimotor memory processing can predict deficits in social and linguistic skills in children with ASD. Drs. Scheidt and Van Hecke are actively seeking funding to continue their study. What are the expected benefits? By providing insights into how neural mechanisms responsible for impaired representation and integration of sensorimotor memories contribute to deficits in motor learning in the ASD child, the project aims to provide clinicians with the knowledge needed to better treat their patients and to optimize their integration into society.
grants continued... Fabien Josse, Ph.D.
Susan Schneider, Ph.D.
professor
associate professor
$400,000, “Guided SH-Surface Acoustic Wave Chemical Sensor for Monitoring BTEX and TPH Contaminants in Aqueous Environments,” Chevron Corporation.
See entry for Dr. Edwin Yaz, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
$60,000, “Array Chemical Sensing Microsystems with Novel Signal Processing,” National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center.
$133,266, “Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need: Smart Sensor Systems in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,” U.S. Department of Education, with Dr. Fabien Josse, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. Susan Schneider, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
See entry for Dr. Edwin Yaz, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
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Edwin Yaz, Ph.D., P.E. professor and chair
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING John Borg, Ph.D., P.E. associate professor
$149,923, “Penetration of Granular Earth Materials: A Multi-scale Physics-based Approach Toward Developing a Greater Understanding of Dynamically Loaded Heterogeneous Systems,” U.S. Department of Defense. $125,000, “Dynamic Highpressure Behavior of Hierarchical Heterogeneous Geological Materials,” U.S. Department of Defense.
Scott Beardsley, Ph.D.
$5,000, “Ferrous Processing Curriculum Development Project,” Association for Iron and Steel Technology Foundation.
DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Margaret Mathison, Ph.D.
See entries for Dr. Jeffrey Toth, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Dr. Gerald Harris, Department of Biomedical Engineering.
“Impairments in Sensorimotor Control During Pursuit and Compensatory Tracking in Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis,” Society for Neuroscience Proceedings, (2012), with Dr. Robert Scheidt, Department of Biomedical Engineering, D. Woo and J. Bobholz.
associate professor
assistant professor
$35,217, “Evaluation of Health Recovery Options for Improved Energy Efficiency of Manufacturing Facility,” Strattec.
Joseph Schimmels, Ph.D., P.E. professor and associate dean for research
$199,862, “Development of a Passive Prosthetic Ankle with Mechanical Performance that Matches that of a Natural Ankle,” U.S. Department of Education, with Dr. Philip Voglewede, Department of Mechanical Engineering $43,146, “Bridging the Gap between Patient Perception of Quality and the Engineering Performance of Assistive Lower Limb Prostheses,” Medical College of Wisconsin, with Jessica Fritz, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Dr. Stephen Guastello, Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences and Dr. Philip Voglewede, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Philip Voglewede, Ph.D., P.E. assistant professor
See entries for Dr. Joseph Schimmels, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Carolyne Albert, Ph.D. ARRT postdoctoral fellow
Said Audi, Ph.D. associate professor
“Surface Fluorescence Studies of Tissue Mitochondrial Redox State in Isolated Perfused Rat Lungs,” Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 41, No. 4 (April 2013), pp 827-836, with R. Sepehr, E. Jacobs and M.Ranji. “Differential Lung Uptake of 99mTcHexamethylpropyleneamine Oxime and 99mTc-Duramycin in the Chronic Hyperoxia Rat Model,” Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Vol.53, No.12 (December 2012), pp 1984-1991, with S. Haworth and D. Roerig. “Lung Uptake of 99mTcHexamethylpropyleneamine Oxime (99mTc-HMPAO) in Two Unique Rat Models of Pulmonary Oxygen Toxicity,” Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of The Biomedical Engineering Society, (October 2012), with Dr. Anne Clough, Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. “Understanding the In Vivo Uptake Kinetics of a Phosphatidylethanolamine-binding Agent 99mTc-Duramycin,” Nuclear Medicine and Biology, Vol. 39, No. 6 (August 2012), pp 821-825, with graduate student Joseph Capacete.
2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
PUBLICATIONS
Joseph Domblesky, Ph.D.
assistant professor
“Experimental Design for ERP and fMRI Integration Using Joint-independent Component Analysis: A Simulation Study,” Society for Neuroscience, (2012), with E. Liebenthal. “Within-subject Joint Independent Component Analysis of Simultaneous fMRI ERP in an Auditory Oddball Paradigm,” Neuroimage, Vol. 60, No. 4 (May 2012), pp 2247-2257, with E. Liebenthal.
Taly Gilat-Schmidt, Ph.D. assistant professor
“A Database for Estimating Organ Dose for Chest and Head CT Scans for Arbitrary Spectra and Angular Tube Current Modulation,” Medical Physics, Vol. 39, No.9 (September 2012), pp 5336-5346, with A. Badal and I. Kyprianou. “The Performance of MLEM for Dynamic Imaging From Simulated Few-View, Multi-Pinhole SPECT,” IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 60, No.1 (September 2012), pp 115-123, with Dr. Anne Clough, Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. “Estimation of Organ and Effective Dose Due to Compton Backscatter Security Scans,” Medical Physics, Vol. 39, No.6 (June 2012), pp 3396-3403.
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2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
publications continued...
Jay Goldberg, Ph.D., P.E. clinical professor and director of Healthcare Technologies Management
“Enhancing the Engineering Curriculum: Defining Discovery Learning at Marquette University,” Proceedings of the 42nd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (October 2012), pp 405-410, with Dr. Mark Nagurka, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Capstone Design Courses: Preparing Biomedical Engineers for the Real World, (September 2012), Morgan and Claypool. See entry for Dr. Ronald Brown, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Gerald Harris, Ph.D., P.E. professor and director of the Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center
“Long Term Outcomes in Adults of Comprehensive Surgical vs. Ponseti Treated Clubfoot,” Proceedings of Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA), (2013), with A. Graf, S. Hassani, J. Krzak, A. Caudill, A. Flanagan, K. Kuo, F. Dietz and J. Morcuende. “Wheelchair Kinematics for Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury,” Proceedings of Howard Steel Conference: Pediatric Spinal Cord Injuries and Dysfunction, (2013), with A. Graf, J. Krzak and L. Vogel. “3D Micron-scale Imaging of the Cortical Bone Canal Network in Human Osteogenesis Imperfecta,”
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Proceedings of SPIE, Medical Imaging: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging, (2013), Vol. 8672, with Dr. Carolyne Albert, Department of Biomedical Engineering, B. Busse and P. Smith. Proceedings of Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society, (May 2013). “Biomechanical Evaluation of an Optical System for Outreach Clinic Application in Underserved Areas,” with graduate student J. Fritz, J. Long, J. Krzak and A. Graf, pp 76-77; “Glenohumeral Joint Dynamics During Pediatric Wheelchair Mobility,” with B. Slavens, A Graf, J. Krzak and L. Vogel, pp 227-228; “Glenohumeral Joint Kinematics Following Single Tendon Rotator Cuff Repair,” with graduate students J. Fritz, L. Rankine, S. Grindel and B. Slavens, pp 253-254; “The Use of Gait Analysis in the Treatment of a Child with Myelomenigocele: A Case Study,” with A. Graf, J. Krzak and S. Hassani, pp 285-286; “Fluoroscopic Assessment of Hindfoot Kinematics During Gait: Comparison of Barefoot and Shod Motion,” with B. Mchenry, pp 320-312. “Application of a Bi-planar Postural Model to Evaluate Effect of Spinal Fusion Surgery on Upright Standing Postural Control in Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis,” Proceedings of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Research Symposium, (May 2013), pp 1.
“Bone Properties by Nanoindentation in Mild and Severe Osteogenesis Imperfecta,” Clinical Biomechancis, Vol. 28, No. 1 (February 2013), pp 110-116, with Dr. Jeffrey Toth, Department of Biomedical Engineering, graduate student J. Jameson, and P. Smith. “Design and Validation of Bending Test Method for Characterization of Miniature Pediatric Cortical Bone Specimens,” Journal of Engineering in Medicine, Part H, Vol. 227, No. 2 (February 2013), pp 105–113, with Dr. Jeffrey Toth, Department of Biomedical Engineering, graduate student J. Jameson, and P. Smith. “Effect of Fine Wire Electrode Insertion on Gait Patterns in Children with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy,” Gait and Posture, Vol. 37 (February 2013), pp 251–257, with D.M. Corcos, A. Graf and P. Smith. “Long-term Follow Up of Van Nes Rotationplasty for Congenital Proximal Focal Femoral Deficiency,” Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Vol. 95-B, No. 2 (February 2013), pp 1-7, with A. Haluk, A. Flanagan, M. Peer, A. Graf, J. Krzak, S. Hasani and D. Eastwood. “Static and Dynamic Calibration of an Eight-Camera Optical System for Human Motion Analysis,” Critical Reviews in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Vol.22, Nos. 1-4 (2012), pp 49-59, with J. Fritz and J. Long. “Chapter 7: Biomechanics,” Biomedical Engineering Education and Advanced Bioengineering Learning: Interdisciplinary Concepts of IGI Global, Vol.1 (2012), pp 284-388.
2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
Dr. Joseph Schimmels, P.E. professor, mechanical engineering What’s he working on? Schimmels does research in robotics and prosthetics. His work focuses on the design of multidimensional mechanical behavior to achieve desired dynamic behavior during physical interaction. What are the new discoveries? In robotics, his research is directed toward improving robot dexterity. This work, in the short-term, is expected to lead to more reliable robotic assembly in manufacturing and, in the long-term, may lead to the level of dexterity needed to have robots function as human assistants. In prosthetics, Schimmels is working on a lower-leg prosthesis capable of providing user mobility close to that of a nonamputee. With support from a $600,000, three-year grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research and other sources, he is developing a multi-directional mechanism that uses only conventional springs, cams and linkages to store and release energy at the appropriate time to propel the body forward during walking. This energy is obtained using only the person’s weight and their normal body motion. This type of passive device can be produced at much less cost than one using active components, such as motors and batteries.
Photo by John Sibilski
Who’s paying attention?A description of the prosthetic ankle mechanism received the Best Paper Award at the ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference in 2012.
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Photo by John Sibilski
2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT: Tech4Pod What is Tech4Pod? Tech4Pod stands for Technologies for Pediatric Orthopaedic Disabilities and is synonymous with the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC), a program funded by a five-year, $4.75 million federal grant. Led by Biomedical Engineering Professor Dr. Gerald Harris, P.E., RERC is earning influence as a national center with a focus on advanced engineering research and development based on innovative technologies addressing children with orthopaedic disabilities. Why collaborate? RERC resources foster a series of national level research and development projects, which are supported by teams of engineers, physicians, therapists and other professionals. Collaboration ranges from designing and conducting research studies to developing
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Dr. Gerald Harris has led Tech4Pod’s embrace of innovation in addressing childhood orthopaedic disabilities.
and testing prototypes and instruments suitable for the marketplace. For example, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Dr. Taly Gilat-Schmidt is leading “Project D3: Biplanar Fluroscopic System for Dynamic, in vivo Foot and Ankle Motion Analysis,” a project in which biomechanical and imaging specialists are working together to construct a system that uses two X-ray imagers to track the motion of bones in the foot while walking. What’s next? The information and technology resulting from Tech4Pod is designed to migrate into future clinical practice and therapeutic treatment. The assistive device studies (walkers, crutches, wheelchairs) may soon impact clinical care through better training paradigms, alternate therapies and risk prevention.
2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
publications continued... “Long-term Follow up of Van Nes Rotationplasty for Congenital Proximal Focal Femoral Deficiency,” Proceedings of American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, (2012), with J. Ackman, A. Flanagan, M. Peer, A. Graf, J. Krzak and S. Hassani. “Static and Dynamic Calibration of an Eight-Camera Optical System for Human Motion Analysis,” Critical Reviews in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Vol. 22, No. 1-4 (2012), pp 49-59, with J. Fritz, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and J. Long. Critical Reviews in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Vol. 23, No. 1-4 (Dec. 2012). “Osteoanatomy of the Adult Humerus for Rehabilitative Assessment: Referenced to the NIH Visible Human Project (NIH-VHP),” with S. Grindel, pp 79-93; “Postural Sway in Children with Diplegic and Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy,” with J. Long, A. Graf, J. Krzak, S. Hassani and S. Riedel, pp 95-107. “Development and Validation of Bending Test for Characterization of Small Bone Specimens,” Journal of Engineering in Medicine, Part H, (October 2012), with Dr. Jeffrey Toth, Department of Biomedical Engineering, graduate student J. Jameson and P. Smith. “Storage and Loss Moduli of Bone in Osteogenesis Imperfecta,” Proceedings of the American Society of Biomechanics, (August 2012), with Dr. Jeffrey Toth, Department of Biomedical Engineering, graduate student J. Jameson and P. Smith.
Proceedings of IEEE EMBS, (August 2012). “Creep Evaluation of (Orthotic) Cast Materials During Simulated Clubfoot Correction,” with H. Altiok, S. Tarima and P. Smith, pp 33523355; “Upper Extremity Biomechanical Model for Evaluation of Pediatric Joint Demands During Wheelchair Mobility,” with B. Slavens, A. Graf, J. Krzak and L. Vogel, pp 4788-4791. “Effect of Fine Wire Electrode Insertion on Gait Patterns in Children with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy,” Gait and Posture, (Aug. 29, 2012), PMID: 22939752, with D. Corcos, A. Graf and P. Smith. See entry for Dr. Jeffrey Toth, Department of Biomedical Engineering.
John F. LaDisa, Jr., Ph.D. associate professor
“Quantification of Thoracic Aorta Blood Flow by Magnetic Resonance Imaging During Supine Cycling Exercise of Increasing Intensity,” Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, Vol. 15 (January 2013), with Dr. Sheila Schindler-Ivens, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, S. Leibham and M. Samyn “Altered Hemodynamics, Endothelial Function and Protein Expression Occur with Aortic Coarctation and Persist Following Repair,” American Journal of Physiology—Heart and Circulatory Physiology, Vol. 303, No. 11 (September 2012), pp H1304-H1318, with Dr. Thomas Eddinger, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Jeffrey Toth, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and graduate students H. Wang and D. Wendell.
“Including Aortic Valve Morphology in Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations: Initial Findings and Application to Aortic Coarctation,” Medical Engineering and Physics, (August 2012), with M. Samyn, J. Cava, and S. Shadden.
Robert Scheidt, Ph.D. professor
“Visuomotor Learning Enhanced by Augmenting Instantaneous Trajectory Error Feedback During Reaching,” PLoS One, Vol. 8, No.1 (2013), with undergraduate students P. Bahal and Y. Wei. See entry for Dr. Scott Beardsley, Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Brian Schmit, Ph.D. professor
“Changes in Hemodynamic Responses in Chronic Stroke Survivors Do Not Affect fMRI Signal Detection in a Block Experimental Design,” Magnetic Resonance Imaging, doi: 10.1016/j.mri.2013.02.009, (May 2013), with Dr. Sheila Schindler-Ivens, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences. “EEG During Pedaling: Evidence for Cortical Control of Locomotor Tasks,” Clinical Neurophysiology, Vol. 124, No.2 (February 2013), pp 379-390, with Dr. Sheila SchindlerIvens, Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, and K. Gourab. “Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Tractography in Brown-Sequard Syndrome,” Spinal Cord, Vol. 50, No. 12 (December 2012), pp 928-930, with graduate student M. Jirjis, J. Ulmer, M. Wang and S. Kurpad.
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RESEARCH YEARBOOK S P E2013 CIAL R E S E A RC H SECION
publications continued... “Locomotor Adaptation to Resistance During Treadmill Training Transfers to Overground Walking in Human SCI,” Experimental Brain Research, Vol. 216, No. 3 (February 2012), pp 473-482, with J. Landry, H. Roth and M. Wu. “Robotic Resistance Treadmill Training Improves Locomotor Function in Human SCI: A Pilot Study,” Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 93, No.5 (May 2012), pp 782-789, with J. Landry, T. Hornby and S. Yen.
Barbara Silver-Thorn, Ph.D. associate professor
“Preliminary Investigation of Residual Limb Plantarflexion and Dorsiflexion Muscle Activity During Walking for Trans-tibial Amputees,” Prosthetics & Orthotics International, Vol. 36, No. 4 (December 2012), pp 435-442, with B. Kuhse and T. Current.
Jeffrey M. Toth, Ph.D. adjunct professor
“Biocompatibility of PEEK Polymers,” The PEEK Biomaterials Handbook, (2012), Stephen M. Kurtz (editor), pp 81-92, Elsevier Publishing. “The Latest Lessons Learned from Retrieval Analyses of Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, Metal-on-Metal and Alternative Bearing Total Disc Replacements,” Seminars in Spinal Surgery, Vol. 24, No.1 (2012), pp 57-70, with S.M. Kurtz, R. Siskey, L. Ciccarelli, D. MacDonald, J. Isaza, T. Lanman, I. Punt, P. Steinbeck, J. Goffin and A. van Ooij. “Early and Mid-Term Histological Events During Single Level Posterolateral Intertransverse Process Fusion with rhbmp-2/ Collagen Carrier and a Ceramic Bulking Agent in a Non-Human Primate Model: Implications For Bone
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Graft Preparation,” Journal of Spinal Disorders and Techniques, (Oct. 15, 2012) PMID: 23073151, with S.N. Khan, K. Gupta, S.D. Glassman and M.C. Gupta. “Chronically Inadequate Sleep Loss Results in Abnormal Bone Formation and Abnormal Bone Marrow in Rats,” Experimental Biology and Medicine, Vol. 237, No. 9 (September 2012), pp 1101-1109, with C.A. Everson and A.E. Folley. “Bone Properties by Nanoindentation in Mild and Severe Osteogenesis Imperfecta,” Clinical Biomechanics, doi:10.1016/j clinbiomech.2012.10.003, with Dr. Gerald Harris, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Dr. Carolyne Albert, Department of Biomedical Engineering, research assistant J. Jameson, and P. Smith. See entry for Dr. John DaLisa, Department of Biomedical Engineering; and entries for Dr. Gerald Harris, Department of Biomedical Engineering.
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING Stephen Heinrich, Ph.D. professor
See entries for Dr. Fabien Josse, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Patrick McNamara, Ph.D. assistant professor
“Triclosan Enriches for Dehalococcoides Like Chloroflexi in Anaerobic Soil at Environmentally Relevant Concentrations,” FEMS Microbiology Letters, Vol. 344, No.1 (July 2013), pp 48-52, with M. Krzmarzick.
“Abundance and Diversity of Organohalide-respiring Bacteria in Lake Sediments Across a Geographical Sulfur Gradient,” FEMS Microbiology Ecology, Vol. 84, No. 2 (Jan. 10, 2013), pp 248-258, with M. Krzmarzick, B. Crary and P. Novak. “Industrial Symbiosis: Corn Ethanol Fermentation, Hydrothermal Carbonization, and Anaerobic Digestion,” Biotechnology and Bioengineering, doi: 10.1002/ bit.24924, (April 26, 2013), pp 1-9, with B. Wood, L. Jader, F. Schendel, N. Hahn, K. Valentas, P. Novak and S. Heilmann.
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING Ronald Brown, Ph.D. associate professor and director of GasDay
“The GasDay Project at Marquette University: A Learning Laboratory in a Functioning Business,” American Society for Engineering Education 119th Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings, (June 2012), with Dr. Jay Goldberg, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Dr. George Corliss, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. Mark Nagurka, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
George Corliss, Ph.D. senior research scientist and professor emeritus
See entry for Dr. Ronald Brown, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
professor
See entry for Dr. Richard Povinelli, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Michael Johnson, Ph.D., P.E. professor
“Noise Impacts from Professional Dog Grooming Forced-air Dryers,” Noise and Health, Vol. 14, No. 60 (September 2012), with D. Bryne, J. Clark, A. Vandlik, L. Kretschmer and K. Sonstrom. Interspeech 2012 Proceedings, (September 2012). “Improvements of the BetaOrder Minimum Mean-Square Error (MMSE) Spectral Amplitude Estimator using Chi Priors;” “Residual Phase Cepstrum Coefficients with Application to Cross-lingual Speaker Verification.” International Conference on Audio, Language and Image Processing Proceedings, (July 2012). “Features for Phoneme Independent Speaker Identification;” “Multichannel Speech Recognition Using Distributed Microphone Signal Fusion Strategies;” “Tracking Articulator Movements Using Orientation Measurements,” with Dr. Jeffrey Berry, Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, College of Health Sciences.
Fabien Josse, Ph.D.
pp 115-121, with Dr. Stephen Heinrich, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, C. Lucat, C. Ayela, F. Menil and O. Brand.
Microengineering, Vol. 23, No. 5 (April 2013), pp 55017, with graduate student J. Han and S. Radhakrishnan. “A Suspended Nanogap Formed by Field-induced Atomically Sharp Tips,” Appl. Phys. Lett, Vol. 101, No.18 (November 2012), pp 183106-183109, with J. Han, K. Song and S. Radhakrishnan.
“Analysis of the Detection of Organophosphates Pesticides in Aqueous Solutions Using Hydrogen-Bond Acidic Coating on SH-SAW Devices,” IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol. 12, No. 5 (May 2012), pp 893-903, with Dr. Susan Schneider, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and graduate student D. Mlambo.
Richard Povinelli, Ph.D., P.E.
“Detection of IgG using CantileverType Resonant Microsensors Vibrating in In-Plane Flexural Mode,” Proceedings IEEE Sensors 2012 Conference, with Dr. Stephen Heinrich, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, graduate students S. Aravamudhan and C. Carron, P. Joseph and O. Brand.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“Geometrical Considerations for the Design of Liquid-Phase BioChemical Sensors Using a Cantilever’s Fundamental In-Plane Mode,” Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, Vol. 164, No. 1 (March 2012), pp 7-14, with Dr. Stephen Heinrich, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, I. Dufour and O. Brand. “Thermally Actuated Silicon Tuning Fork Resonators for Sensing Applications in Air,” IEEE MEMS 2012 Proceedings, with graduate students J. Lehmann, C Carron and J.J. Su, I. Dufour and O. Brand.
professor
Chung Hoon Lee, Ph.D.
“Unconventional Uses of Microcantilevers as Chemical Sensors in Gas and Liquid Media,” Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, Vol. 170, (July 2012),
assistant professor
“A Novel Batch-processing Method for Accurate Crystallographic Axis Alignment,” Journal of Micromechanics and
2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK
Nabeel Demerdash, Ph.D.
associate professor
“Rotor Bar Fault Monitoring Method Based on Analysis of Air-gap Torques of Induction Motors,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, Vol. PP, No. 99 (January 2013), pp.1, with Dr. Nabeel Demerdash,
Susan Schneider, Ph.D. associate professor
See entry for Dr. Fabien Josse, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Thomas Quinn director of sales and marketing, GasDay
See entry for Ronald Brown, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Casey Allen, Ph.D. assistant professor
“Characterization of the Effect of Fatty Ester Composition on the Ignition Behavior of Biodiesel Fuel Sprays,” Fuel, Vol. 111, (September 2013), pp 659-669, with undergraduate student D. Tepe, E. Toulson, H. Schock, D. Miller and T. Lee.
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publications continued... “Ignition Behavior and Surrogate Modeling of JP-8 and of Camelina and Tallow Hydrotreated Renewable Jet Fuels at Low Temperatures,” Combustion and Flame, (October 2012), pp 8, with graduate student D. Valco, E. Toulson, T. Edwards and T. Lee.
See entries for Dr. Jay Goldberg, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Dr. Ronald Brown, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Richard Marklin, Ph.D., C.P.E.
Probabilistic Models for Dynamical Systems, (2013), CRC Press, with S. Han.
“An Inside Step in an Aerial Bucket Reduces Postural Instability,” Proceedings of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, (October 2012), pp 1206-1210. “Are Posture Data From Simulated Tasks Representative of Field Connections? Case Study for Electric Utility Overhead Workers,” Ergonomics, (August 2012), doi:10.1080/0014, pp 1-13, with L. Carnaz, L. Miranda and H. Gil Coury.
Mark Nagurka, Ph.D., P.E. associate professor
Proceedings of the ASME/ISCIE International Symposium on Flexible Automation, (June 2012). “A Robust Wheel Interface with a Novel Adaptive Controller for Computer/Robot-Assisted Motivating Rehabilitation,” with J. Johnson; “Robust Control Design of a Single Degree-of-Freedom Magnetic Levitation System by Quantitative Feedback Theory.”
assistant professor
Proceedings of the ASME IDETC Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, (August 2012). “A Dynamic Model of a Belt Driven Electromechanical XY Plotter Cutter,” paper number DETC2012-71004; “Configuration Space Analysis and Synthesis of Planar Variable Kinematics Joints,” paper number DETC2012-71146; “Controller Design and Preliminary Testing of a Powered Below-Knee Prosthetic Device,” paper number DETC2012-71010;
Photos by John Nienhuis
professor
Philip Voglewede, Ph.D., P.E.
“Mechanism State Matrices for Spatial Reconfigurable Mechanisms,” paper number DETC2012-71361. “Design of an Active Ankle-Foot Prosthesis Utilizing a Four-bar Mechanism,” ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, Vol. 134 (June 2012), with graduate student B. Bergelin.
Dr. Daniel Zitomer
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2013 RESEARCH YEARBOOK Dr. Brooke Mayer is working to reclaim valuable nutrients through efforts to clean contaminated water.
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT: Environmental Engineering Lab What happens in the Environmental Engineering Lab? Most of the lab’s interrelated research projects involve the development of technologies to clean contaminated waste and drinking water, and to generate renewable energy or reclaim valuable nutrients. This transformation of “waste” materials into valuable products is a fundamental premise of sustainable engineering solutions. Why collaborate? “The lab creates a synergistic working environment for researchers interested in water and wastewater issues,” explains Dr. Brooke Mayer, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering. Dr. Daniel Zitomer, P.E., professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering and director of the Water Quality Center, focuses on industrial wastewater treatment using microorganisms that convert waste into biomethane gas, while working on nutrient recovery with Mayer. Zitomer also collaborates with Dr. Jon Koch, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, on thermal
waste treatment and with Dr. Patrick McNamara, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, on micropollutant destruction. Together, this research cluster puts the College of Engineering in a better position to forge collaborative relationships with internationally recognized partners, including industry leaders, other academic institutions and organizations such as the U.S. Department of Energy, Zylem, Inc., and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. What’s next? “Our team will be developing more intellectual property to treat wastes and generate renewable energy, like converting wastewater into gasoline,” says an enthusiastic Zitomer. “We will also be providing more research and classroom educational opportunities for Marquette students to be well equipped to address waste treatment and renewable energy concepts, like biorefinery development.” marquette university college of engineering
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Non-profit Org. U.S. Postage
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Milwaukee, WI Permit No. 628
Marquette University College of Engineering
P.O. Box 1881, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-1881 USA
BLUE AND GOLD (aND GREEN)
Engineering Hall, home of Marquette University’s College of Engineering, received the LEED — Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The building, which opened in the fall of 2011, received points for several elements, including extensive use of LED lighting, polished floors instead of carpet, an experimental green roof that includes solar panels and a water retention system, all features that showcase the college’s environmentally conscious commitment to solutions that address global issues. marquette.edu/engineering-hall