VOLUME 7, ISSUE 1. WINTER 2020
REACH
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OPEN TO TRANSFORMATION When COVID-19 swept across our nation last spring, our faculty quickly adapted. They replaced classrooms with Zoom rooms, made videos of themselves performing experiments and invented ways for students to do science experiments at home. Throughout spring term, our faculty members ensured their students were heard and seen and intellectually stimulated. I am proud of their incredible work ethic and their commitment to student success.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Dean’s Message 2 Dream Chasers 3 The Way Forward 3 Field Conditions 4 Found Objects 5 A Foundation for STEM 6
If only we could respond to our country’s long history of racial injustice as swiftly and effectively! For years, the College of Science and Engineering has prided itself on an important measure of diversity: the percentage of students and full-time faculty who are women. That measure, however, is not nearly enough. Together, we must work to become a college in which the diversity of the faculty and students reflects the full, rich diversity of our community. Education is not simply about transmitting information. Education is about transformation, and we hope to form graduates who have a strong grounding in their disciplines, excellent problem-solving and communication skills and a passion for creating a more just and humane world. As a community of educators, our college must also be open to transformation. We, too, must become more just and humane.
Dear Friends 7 Making the Most of It 8 In the Moment 10
Michael J. Quinn, PhD Dean, College of Science and Engineering quinnm@seattleu.edu
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Fang Yuan, ‘21
Computer science graduate student Tong (Debby) Ding, ’21, who participated in the conference for a second time this year, appreciated the Decoding Bias session. “Bias may be unconscious, but the resulting tech products still do reflect the people who build them,” says Ding, noting the limits of facial recognition software in identifying faces with darker skin tones. “It matters who builds tech products.” Ding, who decided to become a software engineer in her late 20s, says her educational road hasn’t been easy. “The decision led to a massive fight with my family; they felt programming is hard work, not suitable for women,” she says. “When I was at the conference this year, I was ready to share my story and encourage other women to chase their dreams.” Sheila Oh, director of the university’s computer science fundamentals certificate program and faculty advisor for the Women in Technology Club, helps organize conference attendance and scholarships for students in the computer science and electrical and computer engineering departments. Student attendance is, in part, underwritten by generous donors who have given to the STEM Diversity Fund and the Dean’s Fund. “With over 200 sessions, an open-source day, networking sessions, amazing keynotes by Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe, and over 33,000 attendees, the event offered great opportunities to learn and be inspired,” says Oh. “Afterwards, students support and share knowledge with fellow underrepresented minority students in the SU community and educate potential allies to help bridge the gender gap and achieve pay parity.” Isabel Ovalles, ’23, is a gamer who realized in high school that she wanted to pursue computer science. This was her first year at the conference and she attended virtual sessions on workplace bullies, internships and technical whiteboard interviews. “I found myself meeting a lot of recruiters and starting connections,” says Ovalles. “As a young woman in tech, attending such a vast conference, I feel more confident as I navigate my early career.” There are still barriers for women in tech. But master’s degree candidate Fang (Jenny) Yuan, ’21, has some advice for the women who face those barriers. “There will be glass ceilings, but they are glass for a reason,” says Yuan. “So you can break them.”
In early September 2020, when Seattle University President Stephen V. Sundborg, S.J., welcomed the university community to a new academic year, he spoke about the Ignatian paradigm of context. “Our commitments always start with context… and what is our context as we start this year?” he asked. The first topic on his list was the deep moral challenge posed by racial inequity. Natasha Martin, JD, vice president for diversity and inclusion, joined Sundborg to introduce listeners to the ideals of LIFT SU, Seattle University’s Inclusive Excellence Action Plan for Racial Equity and Antiracism 2020–2021. These ideals include: Listen and learn; Impact through intentional action; Fail forward; and Transform together. Martin, who wrote an accompanying piece for the fall issue of Seattle University Magazine, explains the university’s commitment to a way forward. “We must create a culture of accountability through building our capacity to embed and infuse diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the institution—from admissions to alumni engagement and everything that exists in-between,” she says. Read more at seattleu.edu/newsroom/magazine/issues/.
Isabe l Ova lles, ‘23
Machine learning and leadership, driverless cars and inclusivity. This fall’s Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the world’s largest gathering of women technologists, had something for everyone, including the 45 Seattle University students who attended.
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YOUNG WOMEN PURSUE CAREERS IN STEM
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I thought, ‘We can’t,’” says Gualtieri, a senior instructor in environmental science. “Then we really started to think about how we could do it, and how we could do it better, and what new experiences we could bring the students.”
THE WORLD AS OUR LABORATORY Geologist Lyn Gualtieri, PhD, sits cross-legged on her paddleboard on Lake Washington. She’s holding a black-and-white disc and demonstrating its use—the measurement of water turbidity—to the camera held by her 12-year-old son. They’re recording the video for homebound students taking a class called Field Methods for Environmental Science. “When the university first told us everything had to go online because of COVID-19, Se-Yeun Lee (a faculty colleague) and
Lee filmed herself calibrating equipment to measure pH and temperature. In addition to venturing out on her paddleboard, Gualtieri dug a hole in her backyard so students could learn to describe layers of soil. Jack Jaworski, ’22, a junior minoring in environmental science, took Field Methods. Many of the sessions followed an interactive pattern that paired online learning with live experience. “They adapted the curriculum really well,” says Jaworski. “They had us use our neighborhoods, wherever we were, as our laboratories. Then we’d come back in and discuss what we’d found. ” In one example, he and his classmates were told to find a tree and estimate its height. Jaworski, a mechanical engineering major, used his tree’s shadow to make some calculations. Later, after a presentation from the teachers, the students went out again to try the process themselves. Jaworski enjoyed it and he was impressed with the wealth of web-based information that accompanied the class. “Since we were all learning online, all the handouts, the record of the lectures, all of it was accessible,” says Jaworski. Gualtieri notes that online learning sometimes offers a more expansive view than the one afforded by real life.
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We started to think about…what new experiences we could bring the students. —LYN GUALTIERI, PhD “This class usually visits a stream and students collect bugs, and what you learn by looking at the bugs under a microscope tells you about the health of the stream,” says Gualtieri. The students never collect many insects, so switching to an online macroinvertebrate collection lab this year had significant benefits. “Those were the perfect conditions,” Gualtieri says. “They could work with a large data set and do statistical analyses.” Nature—whether you’re considering insects or pandemics—is somewhat unpredictable. Consider the turbidity demonstration on the paddleboard: Although she thought the water was calm enough to perform the test, Gualtieri had to move back to the dock to complete the lesson. “I wanted to show the students that conditions are not always perfect—that, in real life, there are lots of things to consider,” Gualtieri says. “You have to improvise.”
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SETTING STUDENTS UP FOR SUCCESS Computer science major Emma Zucati, ’21, holds up a can of soup during her Zoom meeting with physics lab manager Chris Varney, PhD. He shakes his head. Then she shows him a bottle. No, that won’t do, either. Finally, she holds up the ball of yarn she found at her grandmother’s house. Bingo. Normally, students like Zucati, taking the Physics 1: Basic Mechanics class, would observe a cart roll down a track to study velocity or spin a turntable to study the moment of inertia. “Our old labs were very structured,” says Varney. During the COVID-caused shutdown this spring, however, physics students had to replicate these experiments with what they found at home. To study the moment of inertia, Zucati used a cornhole board to create an incline, dropping the yarn to watch it roll. Karla Borella-Leon, ’23, a chemistry major, performed the experiment by propping a cookbook under a cutting board. She then watched as a lime made its way to the kitchen counter. What really astounded her, though, was the gravity lab prepared by adjunct professor Doug Faust, PhD. “We were using several tools—photo-viewing software, a video made from images from the Juno probe, a stopwatch—to study the orbit of one of Jupiter’s moons,” says Borella-Leon. “After making some estimates and using a derived equation, I could calculate the approximate mass of Jupiter. It’s amazing to me that we were solving this problem just a few weeks into the quarter.” Varney and Faust were the perfect, MacGyver-like teachers for this home-based world of physics, guiding students through labs in basic mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and waves and optics. On video clips posted to Faust’s YouTube channel, the two conducted experiments with objects they found at home. Charged pieces of tape replicated the campus electroscope in studying polarization. Bottles of water replaced formal lenses in examining the behavior of light. Students were then invited to replicate and discuss the experiments in Zoom conversations.
Faust also replicated something essential to the laboratory experience: the lab partner. He set up a discussion page on Canvas so that students could talk about their experiments. “It’s easy to feel very isolated when you’re doing the lab by yourself in your grandma’s garage,” says Zucati. “But, by the fifth lab, everyone was answering each other’s questions. We were sharing work, correcting each other’s little math errors. It made us work as a team.” Looking back at the quarter, Varney thinks that physicslearned-at-home displayed substantial benefits. Lab participants really had to experiment. “Students were forced to work through problems themselves and come to conclusions,” Varney says. “The critical thinking components of these labs are really invigorating.” What Zucati and Borella-Leon may be most grateful for, however, is Varney’s thoughtfulness: the coaching, the feedback on lab reports, his willingness to make himself available. “He set us up for success,” says Borella-Leon.
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AT THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING In June 2021, with the help of investments from alumni, friends, corporations, foundations, and other generous contributors, Seattle University will complete the largest capital project in its history—the Center for Science and Innovation. We thought you might enjoy an inside look at our progress.
WELCOMING A NEW ERA IN EDUCATION With the multimillion-dollar renovation of the Bannan Buildings and the creation of the new Center for Science and Innovation, the College of Science and Engineering is dedicating significantly more high-tech space to teaching, learning and collaboration. Our goal? To train the next generation of STEM professionals and to bring together an entire campus to learn and explore. Learn more at seattleu.edu/science-innovation. Clockwise, from top: Construction workers install glazing; looking up the grand staircase into the south light well; Fr. Stephen Sundborg, S.J., president of Seattle University, tours the construction site; workers install ceiling fixtures in one of the new classrooms.
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Growing up, our garage workbench was our son, Brad’s, extended classroom. He would tinker and modify things and eventually dismantle and rebuild his car engine. When thinking ahead to college, our wish for him was to expand his boundaries, feed his curiosity and introduce him to lifelong friends. When the time came, his desire was to attend a small liberal arts school that offered an exceptional and well-rounded education. Brad started college as a chemistry major at another institution, where he began an educational odyssey, experimenting with other colleges and coursework. After self-reflection and with encouragement from mentors and friends, Brad decided to pursue mechanical engineering (ME), landing him at Seattle University’s doorstep. With newly set sights on ME, a campus visit ignited Brad’s excitement about attending SU. During his visit, admissions representative Gwen Jackson saw his potential and provided invaluable and thoughtful advice. He observed a class taught by Dr. Teodora Rutar Shuman and was impressed by the classroom dynamics and relationships among the students and Teodora. He departed SU energized and focused, with a transfer roadmap and visions of himself as part of this community. Upon Brad’s admission, we were all impressed with SU: by his advisor, Dr. Josh Hamel, who helped untangle his complex transcript history and devise a two-year plan towards graduation; by the enthusiasm and authenticity of Professor Shuman and Dr. Yen-Lin Han, Brad’s mentors in ME; by Dean Mike Quinn’s vision for the College of Science and Engineering; and by so many students, faculty and staff who embraced Brad and believed that what you do with knowledge is just as important as acquiring it. Brad’s goals were nurtured and our hopes for him fulfilled in this remarkable community. It is through these experiences and others that we developed a deep affection for SU. In gratitude, we decided to establish a lasting gift. In addition to supporting the Center for Science and Innovation (CSI), we created the ME Innovators Endowment Fund, enabling student exposure to leaders and innovators in science and engineering. As Seattle University nears completion of the new CSI, please join us in our support of this exceptional institution, one that encourages our children to grow with a sense of responsibility to themselves and their community and to make ethical choices in their lives. With gratitude, Corky, Nancy and Brad
One of our favorite families—Corky Chew, Nancy Gilbert and Brad Chew (’17)—share their story of discovery and generosity at the College of Science and Engineering.
SPARKING INNOVATION IN STEM You can join the Chew-Gilbert family in laying a foundation for a new era of education. Simply use your giving envelope or visit seattleu.edu/science-innovation. And thank you.
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PAIRING STUDENT INGENUITY WITH REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCES When you’re building a prototype, a pandemic can alter your plans. Such was the case for four members of the Class of 2020— Jeimmy Barbosa, Nick Kennedy, Thomas Masters and Miles Urband—whose team had been constructing a piece of equipment for their yearlong senior project. With COVID-19, they had to change how they worked. “We spent a week just discussing how we could give certain pieces to team members and minimize contact with each other,” says Kennedy, a mechanical engineering major. The team carefully passed the device, being created for use at NIC Global Manufacturing Solutions, from member to member. “They were socially distanced drop-offs,” Kennedy hastens to add. “And, of course, we allowed time for any virus that might be on the device to die.” A rite of passage Every year, the Project Center of the College of Science and Engineering assigns capstone projects—sponsored by businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations— to student teams in the College of Science and Engineering. These senior projects, 36 in 2019-2020, have become a rite of passage. “The projects are practice in preparation for their careers; they have to build the project from ideation, to solving the problem, to implementation,” says computer science instructor Jason Wong, ’94 MSE, a faculty liaison to the Project Center. “Sometimes, the sponsoring companies also use the projects as a valuable recruiting tool.” The projects vary considerably, depending on the sponsor’s needs and interests. The U.S. Forest Service, for instance, submitted a challenge concerning aquatic habitat. Kenworth Truck Company’s project focused on a floodlight. NIC Global posed quite a different challenge, asking their student team to develop a reliable automated system to speed process inspections on the HD24 shear wall hold-down, a part used to resist earthquake-caused forces in construction projects. Kennedy enjoyed the project immensely, as he had been hoping to participate in a challenge that would integrate hardware, software and electrical components. “I absolutely loved it,” he says.
The second sponsor, the second challenge Nick Ferguson, a senior network support engineer at F5 Networks, had noticed a process issue at his company. It turned out that the queue leads at F5—people responsible for routing and tracking hundreds of customer service tickets each day to the teams that could best handle them—had to use multiple manual systems to complete their work. The process was hard on the queue leads and it was slow. Ferguson thought he saw a better way. “My idea was to automate updates by creating a web app,” he says. His second idea was to enlist a team of students from Seattle University to help. “The students were building a data pipeline and anytime you do that, you have to bring data online. And that can be very challenging from a systems engineering standpoint,” explains the team’s faculty advisor Steven Hanks, PhD. “Sometimes the data that’s used to make the decision isn’t available electronically or it’s in different places or formats.” Fortunately, Samantha Fisher, ’20, and the other members of her team—Lina Chung, Jonathan Kimray and William Lathrop— love solving puzzles. “Computer science gives you a really cool opportunity to look at problems in a different way and come up with creative solutions,” Fisher says. Over the course of the project, the team worked closely with Ferguson. “We’d have these six-hour coding calls and he was on those calls, coding with us, too. It was a really tremendous experience,” says Fisher. Fisher and her colleagues also made a point of making the experience—designing the “One Tool”—as rich as possible. “We had a great team dynamic and we each took a turn being lead architect and lead product manager, so that we all got to see different sides of the project,” Fisher says. F5, one of the university’s emerging corporate partners, greatly appreciated the students’ energy and insight. “I would say that working with the students is a great way to see things from a fresh new perspective,” Ferguson says. “They might even help you realize some additional potential within your project that was previously unrealized.” Practicing the transition Greg Mason, PhD, PE, a faculty advisor, admires the way that Ted Wirsching—a manufacturing engineer at NIC Global—interacts with students. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
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DESIGNING THE “ONE TOOL” Student team Lina Chung, ’20, Samantha Fisher, ’20, Jonathan Kimray, ’20, William Lathrop, ’20 Faculty advisor Steven Hanks, PhD Sponsor liaison Nick Ferguson
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Senior projects are a great opportunity to work with smart, innovative and enthusiastic students. It’s a great recruiting opportunity for excellent talent and it definitely makes me proud to be an alumna. Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, F5 Networks Member, Center for Science and Innovation Task Force
NIC Globa l team
m F5 tea
—ANA WHITE, ’95
KEEPING HOLD-DOWNS SAFE Student team Jeimmy Barbosa, ’20, Nick Kennedy, ’20, Thomas Masters, ’20, Miles Urband, ’20 Faculty advisor Greg Mason, PhD, PE Sponsor liaisons Spencer Morse, ’19, Ted Wirsching
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The students are impressive—the units they designed hit every requirement we laid out in scope. I look at their work and I see Seattle University growing and adapting to the technical requirements of the marketplace, while maintaining the core of strong basics and ethics. —BRIDGET BREWER, ’88
President, NIC Global Manufacturing Solutions Member, Dean’s Leadership Council
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REFLECTIONS ON SCHOOL AND LIFE IN 2020 COMMUNITY. Spring quarter was the first time I’d ever taught a course where we all walked into a virtual space together. I had to think differently about creating community. So, the students’ very first assignment was to create a 30-second introduction video, one where they shared something from their environment, and about half brought their cat or their puppy on-screen. It was fun and it gave us an opportunity to see each other as people before we saw each other as students and professor.
PARENTHOOD. Ever since I had my first daughter, lots of students (especially women) have questions about how I deal with work-life balance. This spring, my students got a firsthand view of how work-life balance works (or not) in my life—my 4-year-old would park herself next to me and ask what we were doing while I worked through chemistry example problems. I think the students came to an appreciation of how you can be a chemist, researcher and parent at the same time. —KATIE FRATO, PhD, Associate Professor, Chemistry
—JEN SORENSEN, PhD, Assistant Professor, Chemistry
STRUGGLE. Quarantine isn’t the only challenging thing that has happened, mentally, during 2020. I think a lot of us are struggling in different ways. I think it’s important to be patient, to take care of yourself, to make sure you’re doing things that make you happy in a safe way. You know, a lot of people are dying because of COVID-19. But if you believe in God, well, we can just thank God, every day, for another day. Just another day of being healthy and alive. —KARLA BORELLA-LEON, ’23
DISCOVERY. In the physics lab, we use these thin little lenses and there’s an equation—the thin lens equation—that describes how they work. Well, I was adapting our optics lab for students quarantining at home and we were using bottles full of water to simulate lenses. And what I realized is that the thin lens equation works for pretty darn fat lenses, too, like those water bottles, due to their shape and the index of refraction of water. In all my investigations, I’ve never seen this anywhere else, so I might be the first person who’s discovered it. —CHRIS VARNEY, PhD, Laboratory Manager, Physics
MINDFULNESS. When we first went into quarantine, we were told, “Be patient with yourself, take breaks. This doesn’t have to be your best work.” This was a really good conversation and I feel like we need to go back and remember it. All of the emotions that everyone was dealing with in March and April—well, we’re still experiencing them now. —EMMA ZUCATI, ’21
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“Ted is good. He lays the project out there, and he’s willing to stand back and let things happen,” Mason says. “Because he knows his company, he’ll then step in and tell the team what will and won’t work.” In addition to counseling the teams, Wirsching and his colleague, Spencer Morse, ’19, often help students in a more hands-on way: by helping them construct machine parts that can only be manufactured at a big shop, such as that found at NIC Global. “One of the hardest transitions from being a student to being in the real world is that you’re not used to physically having to build and implement things,” Wirsching says. Kennedy was appreciative.
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The college has grown enormously over the past few years, and I’m very proud to say that our partnerships with local leaders in tech and other industries have kept pace. The real-world opportunities our partners provide help these young people make the transition from students to citizens. —MICHAEL J. QUINN, PhD
Dean, College of Science and Engineering
“NIC Global provided raw materials for us, they machined it, they spent their own time researching and comparing their results to ours,” says Kennedy. “They just went above and beyond.” Redefining success Kennedy’s and Fisher’s teams were fortunate. With COVID-19 shutting down face-to-face interactions, both team projects were well underway. Kennedy’s team had already purchased the parts needed to create their device and Fisher’s team, working on their app, had little need for in-person meetings. Not all the teams could complete their projects as they were originally scoped, however; some were too hands-on. “We had to work with the sponsors and students to redefine what success looked like during the pandemic,” explains Rachael Brown, corporate relations manager at the College of Science and Engineering’s Project Center. “For some, that meant a digital report. Others had to build digital versions of their prototypes and develop testing protocols.” Brown and her colleagues also had to change the way they worked. Normally, project completion is celebrated at an inperson event called Projects Day, attended by sponsors, alumni,
parents, donors and mentors. This year, the Project Center reimagined the event, including all 36 student presentations, and held it online. It was an unequivocal success. “Typically, we have between 400 to 600 attendees,” says Brown. “This year, between our alumni and the families of international students, we had more than 1,100 people watching the presentations and asking questions of the teams. It was a rich, interactive experience.” Big opportunities Faculty and sponsors work together to find the right balance to these senior projects. A project needs to be compact enough so that students can reach the goal by the end of the year. At the same time, the students need to be able to apply what they’ve learned—and, ideally, to learn something completely new. When he thinks about what he learned, Kennedy thinks about the unexpected complexities of working on a significant project. The importance of building relationships. And, not least, the immense opportunity these projects provide. “I was one of the students who didn’t have an internship going into my senior project and this was a big deal for me,” says Kennedy. “I was determined to make the most of it.” Visit the Project Center at seattleu.edu/scieng/project-center/.
REACH Magazine College of Science and Engineering, Seattle University Volume 7, Issue 1. Winter 2020 Michael J. Quinn, PhD, Dean Michelle Finet, Senior Director of Development Editor Crow Street Communications Designer Hatch Fine Art and Design Photographer Yosef Chaim Kalinko Contributors Kristen Kirst, Tina Potterf, Seattle University Marketing Communications Printing DCG ONE Dean’s Office: 206-296-5500 Development Office: 206-296-2846; finetm@seattleu.edu seattleu.edu/scieng/about/reach-magazine Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, free of chlorine chemistry. Printed with biorenewable inks. Cover Art by Darby Wygal and Hannah Wygal
SEATTLE UNIVERSITY 901 12th Ave. PO Box 222000 Seattle, WA 98122
When the new Center for Science and Innovation and the renovated Bannan Buildings are fully operational, they’ll help educate the next generation of STEM professionals and bring together an entire campus to learn and explore. Join us as we start the countdown toward completion. Help lay the foundation for a new era of education at Seattle University. Simply use the enclosed envelope or visit seattleu.edu/science-innovation.
