15 minute read
Basic Highlights
News and notes from around the College of Basic and Applied Sciences
Bricks and Mortar Boards
MTSU cut the ribbon last October to officially open the new $40.1 million School of Concrete and Construction Management Building on the east side of campus.
The 54,000-square-foot facility is an integrated and experiential learning laboratory for the approximately 135 Concrete Industry Management majors and 200 Construction Management students and a major change from the roughly 9,000 square feet of space they’ve been using in the Voorhies Engineering Technology Building.
Among the building’s many features:
• a quartet of materials and building labs
• a dedicated mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) classroom
• a virtual design and construction computer lab capable of creating advanced building models and construction simulations
• an augmented virtual reality computer lab for immersive experiences
• a 200-seat lecture hall
• a covered amphitheater
The structure is a sophisticated instructional tool—a functional building with educational elements deliberately and intelligently integrated into its design. For the first time, MTSU has classrooms and laboratories that were designed from the outset for the specific purpose of teaching students about Construction Management and Concrete Industry Management.
Construction is a $1 trillion-plus industry that impacts every aspect of life, including where we live, work, learn, shop, and dine. Students utilizing the building are preparing for professional careers in a high-demand sector throughout the Midstate and beyond. Students graduating from the programs average $60,000-plus in starting salary and have an almost 100% placement rate.
The new facility marks an expansion of the University’s Science Corridor of Innovation in the heart of campus, anchored by the 250,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Science Building.
By 2025, SCCM will have a new neighbor: the $78.4 million Applied Engineering Building, which will include a Makerspace, robotics and automation lab, and close to $1.2 million of new equipment. The 89,000-square-foot facility, now under construction, will serve as the home for the Engineering Technology and Mechatronics Engineering programs as well as provide space for future engineering programs.
Moving on Up
MTSU last year celebrated advancement to an R2 high research activity doctoral university designation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
This elite status places MTSU among a select group of only 3% of institutions nationwide to earn the R2 designation.
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education releases classifications for more than 4,500 schools every three years. Based on a measure of research activity, doctoral universities like MTSU are assigned a category: R1 Doctoral University (very high research activity), R2 Doctoral University (high research activity), or R3 Doctoral/Professional University (D/PU).
It Takes a Village
In 23 STEM-related events for middle and high school students, 200 teenagers collaborated as teammates to find solutions, answer test questions, and create and build gadgets and gizmos during the 28th annual Regional Science Olympiad at MTSU.
The budding scientists learned teamwork and principles of STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics— during the all-day event in February. Middle school activities included “Forestry,” “Storm the Castle,” “Wheeled Vehicle,” and “Disease Detectives,” while high school challenges featured “Trajectory,” “Scrambler,” “Forensics,” and “Astronomy.”
On the Hill
For 10 MTSU undergraduate students and researchers, the annual Posters at the Capitol event was an opportunity not only to present their STEM-based research projects, but also to show off their work to state officials and peers and rub elbows with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
The MTSU cohort joined 41 other undergraduates from public universities across the state to participate in the February event, put on by MTSU’s Tennessee STEM Education Center (see related article on page 12). Participants had personal meetings with state representatives, were treated to lunch, and attended a short address from the governor.
Taking It to the Streets
A recent first-time partnership between CBAS and the Riverdale High School Honors program will, potentially, be a springboard for future visits from Riverdale and a model for collaborations with other area high schools.
With assistance from their students in some cases, MTSU science faculty gave the Riverdale visitors a different perspective from their regular high school classes at the October campus event.
Kimberly Cerchiaro, Riverdale Honors College coordinator involved in Advanced Placement classes at the school, said many of the 50 students who participated shared “rave reviews” from their visit.
Biology, chemistry, geosciences, mathematics, engineering technology, physics, and astronomy were areas of study the students could choose from while visiting MTSU. MTeach’s STEM teacher education program, quantum computing, physics of flight, lunar rovers (moon buggies), and others were among the sessions available to them.
Gold Standard
Forensic Science major Elizabeth Kowalczyk was recently named a 2023 Goldwater Scholar. She is one of only eight students from Tennessee institutions to receive the award this year and the only one from MTSU.
MTSU students have received Goldwater Scholarships nearly every year since 2007, when then-prodigy Taylor Barnes became the University’s first Goldwater recipient. Yaseen Ginnab (Biology and Psychology double-major) received the award in 2022. Denise Ortega (Organismal Biology and Ecology) earned the scholarship in 2021.
The Goldwater Scholarship is among the highest awards undergraduates majoring in science can receive.
Top of the Mountain
Seven first-place finishes propelled Northfield Elementary School in Murfreesboro to the team championship in the 13th Elementary Science Olympiad, which featured competition in 20 event categories.
The Olympiad allows youngsters to learn basic concepts in STEM— science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—both as teams and individuals and, hopefully, increase their interest in middle school and high school to potentially pursue the subjects in college and in their careers.
The spring event, held at John Pittard Campus School, was directed by Chemistry Professor Pat Patterson, who, once again, lined up MTSU faculty and 13 upper-division physical science experiential learning students and volunteers to run the daylong event.
Organic Growth
The International Ginseng Institute at MTSU received a $455,000 grant award from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to investigate organic methods of protecting growers’ ginseng investments. The University has provided almost $300,000 more as a match.
American ginseng is considered one of the highest unit value cash crops and one of the most well-known medicinal plants grown in North America.
Baja Blast
MTSU’s Experimental Vehicles Program (EVP) participated in a virtual competition for the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge in 2022 and was awarded the Phoenix Award for technical document writing.
The Experimental Vehicles Program also competed in the 2022 Society of Automotive Engineers Baja competition in Cookeville with more than 100 other university teams from around the world. MTSU’s EVP Baja team finished in the top 10 in the sled pull and completed the four-hour endurance race, which included huge jumps, many obstacles, and tons of mud.
The EVP also captured six awards at the annual Solar Splash competition in Springfield, Ohio, last year.
Search Party
MTSU hosted its 17th annual Scholars Week research exposition, showcasing 168 research and creative activity projects students had been working on throughout the year, from the STEM fields to music, dance, philosophy, and more.
The March research expo in the Student Union’s secondfloor ballroom wrapped up a week’s worth of scholarly activity across campus.
Stars in the Making
Several MTSU undergraduates qualified for prestigious National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) grant placements. Each site hosts about 10 students who work on a specific research project with host-university faculty and other researchers for six to 10 weeks. Funds cover stipends for the students’ work and often pay for students’ travel and housing.
• Oscar Allen, physics, University of Alabama–Birmingham.
• Ian Alcox, computational physics, Pittsburgh
Supercomputing Center, Carnegie Mellon University
• James Evans, quantitative biology using genomics, UCLA
• Monika Fouad, physics and biochemistry, Texas A&M University
• Thomas Freeman and Ethan Weiche, physics, University of Arkansas
• Kendra Givens, computer science, Carnegie Mellon
• Elizabeth Kowalczyk, forensic science, placement in Mexico through the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
• Ariel Nicastro, physics, University of Maryland
• Rachael Quinby, physics, Vanderbilt University
• Alexandria Williams, biology, University of Notre Dame
Computer Crops
An interdisciplinary team of CBAS faculty pioneering the field of digital agriculture established the first Digital Agriculture Center in Tennessee. The project combines MTSU strengths in Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations, Agriculture, STEM education, and Data Science to optimize crop yields. The team is partnering under a $750,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to bring the cutting-edge approach to high school students through a multi-week residential summer camp on the MTSU campus.
Cheers!
Terrapin Beer Co., owned by Molson Coors Beverage Co., partnered with MTSU Fermentation Science to offer an annual scholarship to underrepresented undergraduate students wanting to pursue a degree in this program.
Fermentation Science major Calvin Hood was the inaugural recipient in 2021, and Emily Beavers (pictured above) earned the second award in 2022 worth $10,000. The Brewing Education Scholarship also provides an opportunity to intern with Terrapin during the summer between the student’s junior and senior years of college.
Flying High Now
The Department of Aerospace is expected to become the first MTSU unit to have a permanent presence outside of Rutherford County when it moves two of its concentrations to Shelbyville.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a budget in 2022 that includes $62 million to construct a new airport campus at the Shelbyville Municipal Airport, known as Bomar Field. MTSU expects to relocate its Professional Pilot and Maintenance Management concentrations from the Murfreesboro Airport to Shelbyville. Those two concentrations have recently accounted for nearly 1,000 students combined, roughly 80% of the total undergraduate Aerospace majors. MTSU has been working with the city of Shelbyville to finalize the plans for the flight training campus there.
Propelled Forward
Colton Gray, a 2018 graduate of MTSU, was the first pilot to advance all the way through Delta Air Lines’ Propel program for collegiate aviators to become pilots for Delta. The airline currently partners with 17 of the top aviation programs in the country, including MTSU, to recruit and prepare pilots. Gray advanced through the program faster than any candidate from any of the other university programs.
Destination Known
MTSU’s Department of Aerospace joined Southwest Airlines’ Destination 225° program in April as one of the newest partners in the airline’s unique first officer development and recruitment program.
Destination 225° builds pathways for aspiring pilots from university aviation programs across the country to first officer roles at Southwest. On a compass rose, 225° is the southwest heading. MTSU is one of only 12 current Destination 225° university partners nationwide.
Fleet Feat
With the rise in demand for flight training, the MTSU Flight School found it necessary to implement a multi-tiered plan for fleet growth to keep up. The department took possession of two additional Piper Seminole aircraft last fall, bringing the level of multi-engine training to the highest seen at the University.
The Aerospace program, celebrating its 80th anniversary, has the largest multi-engine fleet and the largest total fleet in MTSU history. The MTSU Flight School now maintains a fleet of 45 total aircraft: 38 Diamond DA40’s, five Piper PA44 Seminoles, one Diamond DA20, and a Piper Super Cub.
CSI Murfreesboro
Yangseung Jeong, a member of the Department of Biology and Forensic Science program since 2017, received the 2022 Kerley Award, recognizing excellence in the continuing effort to research and develop methods in forensic anthropology. MTSU is one of three U.S. universities with multiple Kerley Award winners since 2002. Hugh Berryman, retired director of MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education, was bestowed the honor in 2008.
Back in Hack
Computer Science and Data Science students were not only creating games and dabbling with virtual reality and artificial intelligence at this year’s HackMT event, but also networking and establishing relationships with, hopefully, potential employers. Joined by representatives from industry partners, MTSU students on 10 teams spent 36 nonstop hours creating apps and more during the annual HackMT and project expo in the MTSU Science Building in January. One team, named KOM-fused, developed an app called .KOM— creating a hypothetical way to renovate Kirksey Old Main, one of the four original buildings on campus in 1911 and home to Computer Science and Mathematical Sciences.
Two students received $2,500 Asurion HackMT Scholarships, one of many scholarships handed out at the event. The event annually receives support from a number of industry partners, led by Asurion and Amazon. Other featured sponsors included Bondware, CAT Financial, Antage, Genesco, CGI, L3Harris, and TVA.
Top-Notch
Rhonda Hoffman, director of MTSU’s Horse Science program, won a national award as the Equine Science Society’s Outstanding Educator. Hoffman has served on the faculty at MTSU since 2003 and won MTSU’s Outstanding Teacher Award in 2013.
Start Your Engines
MTSU’s involvement in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix IndyCar race, a three-day festival of speed and sound, continued in 2023. Cushioned concrete barriers made of environmentally conscious mixes along the 2.17-mile course were developed in partnership with MTSU’s Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program—its students, faculty, and alumni.
The Music City Grand Prix IndyCar Series has quickly established itself as one of the top events in downtown Nashville each year. Millions of fans around the world watch the race, which takes place each summer through the downtown streets of Nashville.
Professor Gone Wild
Donny Walker, assistant professor of Biology, landed a boost to his research through a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant attained in collaboration with researchers at Oregon State University and the University of California–Riverside. Walker and MTSU will receive $870,000 of the $2.61 million highly competitive grant for the NSF project titled “Understanding the Rules of Life: Microbiome Interactions and Mechanisms.”
The grant will fund research of members of the microbiome, the host, and the environment. The project investigates the role metabolites play with fungi and bacteria in reptile, amphibian, and other animal digestion. Metabolites are substances formed in or necessary for metabolism. The project goal is to advance the understanding of microbiomes in wild animal systems—increasingly important in species such as reptiles and amphibians, some of the most threatened on the planet.
Build a Better Robot
More than 100 teenagers on nearly 30 teams showed their skills while competing in the FIRST Tech Challenge Tennessee State Championship in robotics at MTSU’s Alumni Memorial Gym in February. FIRST Tech Challenge teams (up to 15 participants in grades 7 to 12) were challenged to design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in head-to-head matches in an alliance format. Guided by adult coaches and mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles, realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and teamwork.
Fuel for Thought
Keying Ding of the Department of Chemistry secured two new, highly competitive research grants to support her research in green chemistry.
These grants, from the National Science Foundation and the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, support her investigations into the production of high-value chemical catalysts from inexpensive, nontoxic, and earth-abundant metals. She has previously earned two National Science Foundation grants and participated in another.
The NSF grant provides $172,182 of funding and extends for three years. The ACS Petroleum Research Fund grant provides $70,000 of funding and also lasts for three years.
Cave Man
MTSU Geosciences Professor Mark Abolins recalls that moving from his native California to Tennessee centered around caves. “It makes the most sense if I came to Tennessee to involve students in cave studies,” said Abolins, an instructor of the Geoscience of Caves and Field Methods in Geology courses. “There are more caves in Tennessee than in any other American state!”
And MTSU specifically is serendipitously located in cave-rich territory. Rutherford County is home to 129 known caves, including the most well-known and impressive system: Snail Shell Cave in Rockvale, 14 miles from the MTSU campus. It is also at the heart of a preserve administered by the nonprofit Southeastern Cave Conservancy.
The Geoscience of Caves course at MTSU gives undergraduate students access to another important university experience: research. Students recently helped with data entry on a project that digitally assessed and mapped the geologic folds—rock structures made by flat rock deformed by stress and pressure—at Snail Shell Cave. National Science Foundation and MTSU’s Faculty Research and Creative Activity Committee grants funded the project. The International Journal of Speleology published the research in spring 2021, a first for MTSU. Speleology is the scientific study or exploration of caves. Albert Ogden, a Geosciences professor emeritus, contributed to the research and co-authored the paper.
Racking Up Numbers
Ningbo University (NBU) and Guangxi University (GXU) are two partner schools in China from which MTSU receives transfer students regularly each year. In fiscal year 2021, 11 students from NBU enrolled at MTSU on campus for Actuarial Science B.S. studies, and seven students from GXU joined MTSU in the 3+1+1 program to study actuarial science. Eleven new applications were received from NBU for 2022 admission.
