Capstone Engineer - Spring 2016

Engineer

CAPSTONE

Spring 2016

M O N D A Y, O C T. 1 0 , 2 0 1 6 R IVERCH A SE COUNTRY CLUB

H T T P : / / G O L F . E N G . U A . E D U

Features 14 Sideline Engineering

Engineering, UA athletics team up to help student athletes

18 Time for Heroes

AE student works with friend to create comic book company

22 A Path to Success STEM MBA program graduating first class

26 State of the College

An interview with Dean Charles L. Karr

Departments 2 Dean’s Message 3 Surveying the College

Noteworthy news and research from UA Engineering

9 Currents

Events from around the College

30 Alumni Dynamics

Items of interest to Capstone engineers and computer scientists

39 Bits and Bytes

The College from outside

40 End User

Capstone engineers and computer scientists on today’s technology

41 Message from the CES

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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Dean’s Message

Dear Alumni and Friends, We work hard at recruiting young people to come to The University of Alabama College of Engineering, and I’m often asked by them why should they come here over another engineering college.

When I’m talking to young people, I ask them to make college a twostep process. Look at places where they can get a quality education. I feel very comfortable saying our College of Engineering provides a quality education.

We have a long, proven track record of doing that.

The next thing we ask young people to do is to pick a place they feel at home. I tell them I want them to come for one reason and one reason only: if it is the right place for them. The only way they are going to know that is if they come here and see what’s going on. We’ve done a nice job of creating opportunities that take advantage of the entire campus so that young people have an opportunity to accomplish their goals. We have a really nice environment where our faculty members take a genuine interest in young people, and we believe that’s the right environment for a lot of folks. It is not for everyone.

What we try to do is stick to our core values and look for young people who match up with the kinds of opportunities we have. We really do encourage young people to come here and look under the beds, look in the closets and see if it is a good fit for them. If it is, great. If it’s not, then they need to go to some place where they feel like they can accomplish their dreams. That’s been a successful formula for us. We don’t put on a hard sell for young people. Our focus is on getting the right students, not on numbers of students.

Dr. Charles L. Karr Dean

Capstone Engineering Society 205-348-2452 Selina S. Lee, Chair, Board of Directors • Charles L. Karr, PhD, Dean, College of Engineering • Nancy Holmes, Manager, Capstone Engineering Society • Adam Jones, Editor • Judah Martin, Writer • Issue No. 53 • Capstone Engineer is published in the spring and fall by the Capstone Engineering Society. • Natorio Howard, Designer • Benita Crepps, Proofreader • Jeff Hanson, Bryan Hester, Zach Riggins, Matthew Wood, Photography • Address correspondence

to the editor: The University of Alabama, Capstone Engineering Society, College of Engineering, Box 870200, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0200 website at www.eng.ua.edu. The University of Alabama is an equal-opportunity educational institution/employer. • MC8882

•

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• Visit the College of Engineering

Surveying the College

Surveying the College Noteworthy news and research from UA Engineering

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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Surveying the College

Previous page: A.J. Hamley, a junior in mechanical engineering from Cleveland, Ohio, speaks at a ceremony at Tuscaloosa Chevrolet where the UA EcoCAR 3 team received their Chevy Camaro. Above: Students plan to turn this Camaro into a plug-in hybrid with smaller combustion engine supplemented by two electric motors.

Students Making Muscle Car Greener in National Contest After nearly 18 months preparing, The University of Alabama EcoCAR 3 team received a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro before the start of the spring semester. They immediately set to work to transform it into an advanced, significantly more energy-efficient vehicle that should maintain the speed and performance of the muscle car.

“Our team has been planning for over a year now, working together to establish a solid foundation for our specific vehicle development program as if this was an actual effort to bring our vision for the Camaro to market,” said Brittany Galloway, communications manager for UA’s team and a graduate student from Lansing, Michigan, studying advertising and public relations.

In 2014, UA was selected as one of 16 institutions to participate in EcoCAR 3, a four-year engineering competition sponsored

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by General Motors Co. and the U.S. Department of Energy. The contest engages the next generation of automotive professionals in engineering, business and communications, allowing students to experience the vehicle development and launch process from design to marketing.

The UA team plans to turn the gasoline-powered Camaro into a blended plug-in hybrid with a smaller internal combustion engine supplemented by two electric motors.

The changes should mean the Camaro can travel 48 miles on the equivalent of one gallon of gasoline compared to the 28 mpg it is rated to achieve now, said Travis Foust, engineering project manager who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UA in 2014 and is a graduate student in the same discipline.

Despite the improved energy efficiency, the car should still accelerate and drive with the same power as the commercially available Camaro the team received from GM, he said.

Surveying the College

Dr. Thang Dao, left, and Dr. Sriram Aaleti, both assistant professors in civil, construction and environmental engineering, are developing a new method of constructing wood-framed buildings.

Building Taller, Sturdier Wood Buildings the Goal of Research University of Alabama researchers are leading an effort that could lead to the construction of taller and sturdier wood-framed buildings in earthquake-prone areas.

Dr. Thang Dao, UA assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, hopes to combine two methods of constructing tall wood buildings to yield a new system that could lead to wood-framed buildings reaching eight to 12 stories that withstand earthquakes better than current methods that top out at seven stories.

Earthquake damage, with the potential for substantial economic losses, highlights a need to focus on developing earthquake-resilient and sustainable buildings, Dao said.

“As the result of rapid population growth and urban densification, there is a need for taller buildings that are also

sustainable and can perform better than simply adequate in moderate to large earthquakes by sustaining only minimal damage,” he said. “Further, it is critical that such buildings have minimal interruption to allow people to remain in their residences and community following an earthquake event.”

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the research team will study how to combine, for the first time, the traditional light wood frame system, or LiFS, of construction with the emerging method of cross-laminated timber, or CLT, an engineered wood panel usually consisting of layers of wood glued at intersecting angles. CLT is strong, and its makeup can resist lateral forces created during an earthquake.

“The endeavor of this research project is to understand the mechanistic and statistical properties of all sub-components of the CLT-LiFS system and form a fundamental understanding of how to combine these two types of systems into an optimal hybrid system,” Dao said.

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Surveying the College

From left, graduate student Mohammad Parvinnezhad Hokmabadi, Dr. Patrick Kung and Dr. Seongsin Margaret Kim work with the terahertz metamaterial in Shelby Hall.

Researchers Design Material that More Effectively Slows Light Researchers at The University of Alabama designed and made a material that manipulates the speed of light in a new, more effective way than previous methods, according to findings recently published in Scientific Reports by the Nature Publishing Group.

The research by two professors and three graduate students in the UA College of Engineering could help in creating nextgeneration optical networks and sensors that rely on variances in the speed of light.

“Slow light will lead to the development of optical buffers and delay lines as essential elements of future ultrafast, all-optical communication networks that could meet the ever-increasing demands for long-distance communications,” said Dr. Seongsin Margaret Kim, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and principal investigator on the research.

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“In addition, enhanced interaction of photons with matter by lowering the speed of light gives rise to reduced power consumption in nonlinear, optical-switching devices and ultraaccurate sensing performance of optical sensors.”

Besides Kim, the paper, “Impact of Substrate and Bright Resonances on Group Velocity in Metamaterial without Dark Resonator,” is authored by graduate students Mohammad Parvinnezhad Hokmabadi, Ju-Hyung Kim and Elmer Rivera along with Dr. Patrick Kung, an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering.

UA Studying How to Make Longer, More Durable Bridge Girders

Engineering researchers tested massive concrete girders in a campus laboratory to find ways for bridges to span longer distances with fewer supports underneath.

Surveying the College

Graduate students David Burkhalter, left, and Vidya Sagah Ronanki, both in civil, construction and environmental engineering, work on a 54-foot concrete girder in the Large Structures Lab on UA’s campus.

Longer, more durable concrete girders would mean fewer support structures underneath the bridge, and that could lead to lower construction costs.

Besides cost saving, longer spans would mean fewer disturbances over water, wetlands or other natural habitats. In urban areas, such as interstates that sit over city streets, fewer supports would mean less disruption of traffic and business below.

The two-year project with the Alabama Department of Transportation is focused on small cracks that appear at the end of concrete girders soon after fabrication. Concrete often cracks without safety issues, but, as girders get longer, the cracks become more problematic for the long-term durability of the girder, said Dr. Wei Song, UA assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering.

Song works on the project with Dr. Sriram Aaleti, assistant professor, and Dr. Jim Richardson, associate professor, both in UA’s civil, construction and environmental engineering department.

Graduate students David Burkhalter and Vidya Sagar Ronanki are also involved with the project.

“We want to make sure these cracks don’t happen,” Aaleti said.

“We have different designs near the end, and we hope to find the optimal design.”

The research team designed three different versions of the girder end zone after performing computer simulations. They then worked with Hanson Pipe and Precast, an international building products company and one of the largest manufacturers of concrete products in North America, to fabricate the concrete girders at a facility near Birmingham. The girders were fitted with sensors and tested in UA’s Large Scale Structures Laboratory.

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Surveying the College

In Brief Barkey honored by alumni

The UA National Alumni Association selected Dr. Mark E. Barkey, professor in the department of aerospace engineering and mechanics, as one of four recipients of the 2015 Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award, UA’s highest honor for excellence in teaching. Barkey joined UA in 1995 and was promoted to professor in 2006.

CE student awarded Eisenhower Fellowship

The Federal Highway Administration recently awarded an Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship to Nathan Klenke, a University of Alabama graduate student in civil engineering, as part of the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program.

Klenke, of Lebanon, Ohio, intends to use his Eisenhower Fellowship to pursue research on diamond grinding, a concretepreservation technique that involves removing a pavement’s surface level using closely spaced diamond saw blades.

Bara honored for contributions to chemical engineering

Dr. Jason E. Bara, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, is being honored for his achievements in chemical engineering. He was recognized with the FRI/John G. Kunesh award by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. This award is presented by the AIChE Separations Division and acknowledges separations scientists under the age of 40 with outstanding contributions to the academic, scientific, technological, industrial or service areas involving separations technologies.

CSAB taps Cordes as fellow

Dr. David Cordes, head of the department of computer science and director of the Freshman Engineering Program, was recognized as a fellow of the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board, the lead society for accreditation of degree programs in computer science, information systems, software engineering and information technology. The award is given in recognition of individuals who

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Clockwise from top left: Dr. Mark E. Barkey, Dr. Jason E. Bara, Dr. David Cordes and Dr. Daniel Turner

have given sustained, quality service to the computing profession and to computing education through the activities of CSAB.

ME student selected as Mercedes-Benz Doctoral Fellow

Eric Schulz, BSME ’15, from Parker, Colorado, was selected for a doctoral fellowship that will partner his studies with research for Mercedes-Benz.

The fellowship was jointly set up by Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. and the UA College of Engineering with support from Mercedes-Benz Research and Development in Stuttgart, Germany. Schulz will study for four semesters at UA before continuing his dissertation at Mercedes-Benz Research and Development’s advanced manufacturing labs in Stuttgart.

Turner to lead national engineering group

Dr. Daniel Turner, professor emeritus of civil engineering at UA, was elected president-elect for the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying. He will serve as president-elect during the 2015–16 term and as president the following year.

Currents

Currents Events from Around the College

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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Currents

Participants in the annual E-Day met with members of the College’s student competition teams and professional societies before touring labs and eating lunch provided by McAbee Pigfitters.

Crowd comes for annual E-Day

The College of Engineering hosted about 1,000 prospective students, parents, teachers and counselors at the annual Engineering Day, or E-Day. The College’s open house gives prospective students a closer look at the College, and participants receive a realistic view of how engineering skills are used in everyday life. Lunch was provided by McAbee Pigfitters.

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Alumni return for homecoming tailgate

College of Engineering alumni and friends returned to the Capstone for the annual homecoming tailgate on Oct. 10 before the Crimson Tide’s victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks. The tailgate was held on the UA Quad. It was one of three tailgates hosted by the CES last football season. The 2016 CES tailgates will be on Oct. 1 before the Kentucky game and on Oct. 22 before the Texas A&M game..

Currents

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COLLEGE OF E N G I N E E R I N G by th e n u m b e rs COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING ENROLLMENT 6000 5000 4000

UA VS. COE ENROLLMENT

BY CLASSIFICATION TOTAL UNDERGRADUATE GRADUATE

COE Enrollment

3000

5,649

UA Enrollment

37,100

2000 1000 0

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

2011 2012

2013

2014

WOMEN IN COE

2015

BY DEGREE (UNDERGRADUATE ONLY)

COE Undergraduate Enrollment

Female Undergraduate Enrollment

5,300

1,256

METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING COMPUTER SCIENCE

PATENTS

CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION, ENVIRONMENTAL OR ARCHITECTURAL ENGINEERING

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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

7

12

0

1

1

2

2

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

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UNDESIGNATED

7%

2014

2015

DRIVING INNOVATION HONORS COLLEGE STUDENTS 2015

UNDERGRADUATES ON MERIT-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS

2,445

2014

7,731

2,015

2013

1,720

2012

6,374

2011 1,048 2010 956

5000

TOTAL

5,672

1,362

0

5500

6,965

ENGINEERING

4,903

4,673

4500

ENROLLMENT SCHOLARS

4000

1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

3500 3000

DEGREES AWARDED

• • •

19 76 313

• • •

22 88 333

• • •

19 98 359

• • •

34 101 354

• • •

31 88 455

• • •

2500

33 75 484

2000

PHD MASTER’S BACHELOR’S

1500 1000 500

408

443

476

489

574

592

09–10

10–11

11–12

12–13

13–14

14–15

TOTAL

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TOTAL

TOTAL

TOTAL

TOTAL

MEAN ACT SCORE FOR ENTERING FRESHMEN

24.2

SINCE 2006,

CAPSTONE ENGINEERING SOCIETY (CES) HAS AWARDED

UA AVERAGE

2006

13–14 14–15 15–16

26.6

ENGINEERING

20

10–11 11–12 12–13

29.8

26.2

25

0

TOTAL

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

$384,674 IN SCHOLARSHIPS

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Engineering, UA athletics team up to help student athletes

By Adam Jones

A

collapsible tent designed to limit distractions during medical evaluations while providing better privacy for student athletes at The University of Alabama was introduced this football season, catching the attention of the sports world.

What started on the sideline could become a standard fixture across college football, the NFL and, perhaps, other outdoor sports as well.

The tent resulted from collaboration between UA’s Intercollegiate Athletics and College of Engineering. A provisional patent is filed for the innovative design developed by Jeff Allen, director of sports medicine at UA, and four senior mechanical engineering students.

Already the tent has gained national publicity. It began with two segments on the tent during ESPN’s broadcast of the Crimson Tide football game against the Arkansas Razorbacks on Oct. 10,

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2015. The media attention cascaded to nearly every media outlet in the state, the SEC Network, a host of sports media sites, trade publications and even a prominent piece in USA Today before the national championship game in January.

“I knew it would get people’s attention, but I have been surprised at how positive the reception of this product has been,” Allen said. “I continue to have people ask me about it all the time. It has really brought a lot of attention to UA and the collaboration between the athletic department and the College of Engineering.”

CapstoneEngineer Engineer••Spring Spring2016 2016 } {{Capstone

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The publicity can only help Allen and two alumni who are working to market the tent. The three formed a company, Kinematic Sports, to sell the tent, now called SidelinER. The Office for Technology Transfer within the UA Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development is assisting in protecting and promoting the intellectual property covered in the pending patent.

Except for the first game, the Crimson Tide football team used the tent at every game last season, including away games and post-season games.

The tent can be set up on any sideline, and it does not block the view of fans watching — Jeff Allen the game, Allen said. During most of the game, the tent is collapsed onto the ground, but if an injured player needs an evaluation by the medical staff, it quickly

“I continue to have people ask me about it all the time. It has really brought a lot of attention to UA and the collaboration between the Athletic Department and the College of Engineering.”

expands over the examination table.

“That first 10 minutes of an evaluation of an injury is critical, and that’s usually done on the sideline,” Allen said. “The tent provides an environment free from distractions so that we can improve the level of medical care.”

The tent also provides more privacy for student athletes and medical staff at locations where injured players are traditionally evaluated in view of fans, media and opposing teams, said Dr. E. Lyle Cain Jr., Crimson Tide team physician with Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham.

“The tent is great for patient privacy and confidentiality,” he said. “Oftentimes, the media will report an injury before we have had the chance to notify the family or come up with a treatment plan, so it is a big advantage to examine an athlete in a more private setting.”

The tent creates a less intense atmosphere for doctor and patient, Cain said. “It makes it like our own little exam room,” he said.

The tent can mean a player does not have to leave the sideline for an evaluation if it is not necessary, Allen said. Still, the tent will likely not be taken onto

Previous page: Jared Cassity, of Tuscaloosa, left, and Patrick Powell, originally from Pelham, demonstrate how to use a tent they helped design for use on the sideline of Crimson Tide football games. Below: The tent rests on the sideline during UA’s game with LSU last season.

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From left, Jeff Allen, director of sports medicine at UA Athletics, Jared Cassity and Patrick Powell have formed the company, Kinematic Sports, that licensed the intellectual property of the tent, which they have called the SidelinER.

the field, meaning more serious injuries will still require a player to be taken from the field of play directly to the locker room for evaluation, Allen said.

Allen had the idea for a tent, and he asked Dr. Charles L. Karr, dean of the UA College of Engineering, if he could help. Karr gave the task of designing and fabricating the tent to four students in mechanical engineering, who used the tent as their senior design project.

The students, all from Alabama, are Jared Cassity, of Tuscaloosa; Christian Parris, of Birmingham; Jared Porteous, of Tuscaloosa; and Patrick Powell, of Pelham. Dr. Beth Todd, associate professor of mechanical engineering, was the group’s adviser for the project.

Most tents of this size, such as the commercially available tailgate tents that dot the Quad on game days, take more than one person to raise, and setting up and taking down is a lengthy process, said Powell, project leader. Commercially-available tents also require guidelines to secure them to the ground.

“The challenge was to deliver the most working space while maintaining a small footprint, develop a system that could be quickly deployed by a single person, and be portable enough to travel with the team for road games,” Powell said. “Once in position, our tent can be raised in less than 10 seconds.”

The tent, developed by the students and Allen, connects the structure of the tent to a central hub. When raised, the structure fans over the exam table. The exam table secures the structure to the ground and allows the tent be used on grass, artificial turf or concrete without the use of guidelines, Powell said.

“This design allows the tent to fan out from a small footprint into a structure twice as long and fully enclosed,” he said.

The material the students selected had to be light but strong enough to support the structure and withstand the varying weather conditions, Powell said. The synthetic fabrics chosen allow for ventilation. Furthermore, the light-gray roof is transparent enough to conduct an exam without the need for lights, he said.

Every part of the tent that touches the ground is covered with heavy-grade ballistic nylon to protect from wear and tear from the ground and players’ footwear. The doors are sectioned and clasp together with magnets.

Altec Industries, of Birmingham, donated the manufactured components for the tent, and a custom seamstress, Elizabeth Powell, stitched the fabrics. CAVCO, of Childersburg, donated the supplies for the prototype.

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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Time

for Heroes AE student works with friend to create comic book company

By Judah Martin

I

t’s a curious thing the way a superhero can appear just in the nick of time, tights donned and remarkably wrinkle-free.

At the very least, it requires superb time-management skills on the hero’s part. If you ask Ethan Jackson, the same goes for those creating the heroes.

He should know.

Now a senior in aerospace engineering at The University of Alabama, he recently started a comic book company, Dream Ink Comics, with his best friend, Kris Pearce.

A lifelong comics fan, Jackson could not ask for a better part-time job. Perhaps, that’s why he’s so dedicated.

“I’ve learned that when you start something and you stick with it every day, then you will get an end product,” Jackson said.

Every morning, he spends an hour creating graphics to accompany the stories Pearce writes about characters like Pierre Snyder, the ghost-powered resident of the fictional town Burkington, immersing himself in a fictional reality before getting dressed for class and reassuming his civilian identity as an engineering student.

Jackson, who grew up near San Antonio, Texas, knew he wanted to be an engineer before he ever realized his artistic talent. He hoped to one day build airplanes. He has spent his years at the University working on research projects in aerospace engineering while honing his artistic skills.

After declaring a minor in art, Jackson spent a year teaching a class called Art Is, where amateur artists were instructed to recreate their own renditions of various paintings.

“My art minor has unintentionally propelled me into different things,” he said.

“When Art Is first came about, I was able to meet with the dean of engineering because he was an advocate for branching the College of Arts and Sciences and the

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Above: Aerospace engineering student Ethan Jackson, right, and friend Kris Pearce, a senior in New College, collaborate to create comic book characters they enjoy.

College of Engineering, so that kind of gave me a bridge between the two colleges.”

During his free time he would often hang out with Pearce, who came from Atlanta, Georgia, and is now a senior in New College.

The two became friends as freshmen and were happy to learn that they shared an affinity for comic books. One day the two were sitting in Lloyd Hall, critiquing a new comic book Pearce had recently bought. Disappointed in the book, they figured they could create something better with Jackson’s artistic experience and Pearce’s creative writing skills. So, —Ethan Jackson they did.

Over the next year they developed various plots and characters, finally deciding on the Kid Snyder series, although they later developed alternative heroes for other books.

“I’ve learned that when you start something and you stick with it every day, then you will get an end product.”

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{ The University of Alabama }

“The first issue shows Kid Snyder using his powers stopping a car chase,” Pearce said. “This second issue gives you a taste of how he got his powers … where’s he from.”

Jackson and Pearce pooled their money to have the first book published by Greco Publishing in Michigan and went to work distributing copies around Tuscaloosa.

A year later, their books are sold in various comic book stores throughout the country. Now the books pay for themselves.

Jackson hopes Dream Ink will live on after he starts his engineering career. He dreams of passing the torch on to another young artist while still serving as an adviser.

Until then, he has another goal he wants to pursue, one that allows him to use both his artistic skills and his engineering education.

“Eventually I want to have my own business creating designs for airplanes,” Jackson said. “With that I want to use my artistic skills, my eye and my ability to draw different designs to create better aircraft designs.”

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A Path to

Success STEM MBA PROGRAM GRADUATING FIRST CLASS

By Jean M. McLean, Edith Parten and Adam Jones

F

ive years ago an ongoing conversation in The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce launched a unique program aimed at helping students studying the sciences and engineering gain experience with business before graduating.

Called the STEM Path to the MBA, students in the program earn a bachelor’s of science and a master’s of business administration within five years, along the way getting the chance to work as a group on entrepreneurial experiences. From group competitions sponsored by the National Institutes of Health to hearing internationally renowned speakers, participants do much more than acquire dual degrees.

Since the first class was admitted in 2011, candidates have spent their spare time developing new products (multiple patents pending), engaging in philanthropic-focused development (students worked in India this past summer) and cultivating business sense and ethics from the start of their college career.

The first class of students came in fall 2011, and, this year, 14 who stuck with the program are the first to graduate. Of those, 12 had accepted jobs before graduation with prestigious companies, such as Brasfield & Gorrie, Cigna- HealthSpring, Alabama Power, AT&T, SAS, Acuity, IBM and the federal government.

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{ The University of Alabama }

“This is the only program of its kind in the nation,” said Dr. Rob Morgan, director of the STEM Path to the MBA program. “Other programs have separate STEM and MBA programs, but ours is the first to combine the two and keep the students in the same cohort throughout college. We are excited to see the first class graduate.”

This year there are 841 students, from freshman year to the MBA year, in the program.

About 84 percent are from the College of — Dr. Rob Morgan Engineering.

“The students who participate are presented with terrific opportunities, and I believe have a great academic experience,” said Dr. Charles L. Karr, dean of the UA College of Engineering. “Our

“Other programs have separate STEM and MBA programs, but ours is the first to combine the two and keep the students in the same cohort throughout college.”

approach has been to try to provide students with a wide array of opportunities from which they can select to ultimately accomplish their career goals. We are delighted to work cooperatively with Culverhouse on this fantastic program.”

Innovative solutions are exactly what Morgan, a Phifer fellow and the Culverhouse executive director for innovation initiatives, imagined when, as a marketing professor, he conceived an effort tying science-technology careers with higher-level business skills.

Morgan discussed the intersections of science, technology and business education with then-associate dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce, Dr. Mike Hardin. As the two considered how to better prepare the MBA students in the Manderson Graduate School of Business for current corporate challenges, they remembered the degree’s origins.

“The MBA was originally designed for engineers back in the 1940s and 1950s, who had been out working for a few years and were being promoted into managerial positions, or for those who wanted to get into a management track,” Morgan said. “The American MBA was designed for the person who didn’t have a business undergraduate degree.”

Although that emphasis shifted in subsequent decades, American industry again faces technology-fueled

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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Five women are part of the 2016 class of the STEM Path to MBA program. They include, from left, Samantha Walker, Samantha Oliver, Kaylie Crosby, Holly Poole and Megan Torman.

international pressures. Science- and math-related innovators must understand how their solutions might be managed, financed and marketed, whether their expertise is software engineering, infrastructure or health care.

UA’s STEM program has drawn national attention. When Morgan visited the office of Procter and Gamble’s William Gipson, senior vice president of global diversity and research and development, Gipson greeted Morgan by saying, “You know what you guys are doing is revolutionary, right?

“The feedback we get from — Kent Darzi employers, paraphrased, is, ‘This is exactly the kind of people we want to hire,’” Morgan said. “They want their engineers to understand the business impact of what they do.”

Kent Darzi is one of those employers. As director

“The STEM Path to the MBA has absolutely proven to be a phenomenal program.”

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{ The University of Alabama }

of engineering at ADTRAN, Darzi is another executive who makes time to sit on Culverhouse’s STEM-MBA advisory board.

“The STEM Path to the MBA has absolutely proven to be a phenomenal program,” said Kent Darzi. “It has paid off in spades, attracting highly motivated, energetic students who will come from anywhere to participate. This is a very attractive way of differentiating The University of Alabama as a competitor in the global academic market.”

—Material from the Executive Magazine, published by the UA Culverhouse College of Commerce, was used in the article.

Jean M. McLean is a writer for the magazine. Edith Parten is communications director for Culverhouse.

STEM MBA

Enrollment

by College

ENROLLMENT College of Engineering Enrollment by Major

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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An interview with Dean Charles L. Karr

I

t’s been nearly 11 years since Dr. Charles L. Karr was appointed dean of The University of Alabama College of Engineering.

Early on in his tenure, Karr and other leaders from the College set goals for growth and improvement, many of which have long since been surpassed, particularly enrollment, degrees awarded, academic performance of incoming freshmen and research funding.

Today, as head of the largest undergraduate college of engineering in the state, Karr is turning his focus to strengthening graduate education, leveraging growth among the faculty, improving teaching and research space, and mentoring and guiding undergraduate students — all with an eye toward increased research funding and graduate degrees awarded.

The Capstone Engineer recently sat down with Karr to catch up on the past 11 years and discuss the future.

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{ The University of Alabama }

CE: When you became dean, what did you see that needed to change in the College?

Karr: Looking back there were three main areas that really needed hard work. One was our undergraduate population.

Back then we had roughly 1,600 undergraduate students, but we didn’t have enough critical mass in a lot of areas. We really weren’t graduating enough engineers and computer scientists to make it worth a company’s time to recruit our graduates. We weren’t producing enough. I felt like we needed to grow our undergraduate enrollment.

We needed to be very careful that we didn’t just grow by opening the doors and letting anybody in. We actually tried to make it a twopronged goal to not only grow the enrollment but improve the quality of the undergraduate students. I think we’ve accomplished that. We’ve always had wonderful young people, but, right now, it’s

The College of Engineering has seen growth in undergraduate students, expansion of facilities and more professors over the past 11 years, and now faculty and staff are working to improve graduate education and research opportunities for faculty and students.

almost scary-smart for some of these young people. I think you’ll see we have a much richer pool of students because we draw from all over the United States. That provides a great learning environment for our young people because you have different perspectives on almost everything talked about in the College.

In the College of Engineering today, we have about 5,300 undergraduate students and a freshman class with a mean ACT score right at 30. That’s pretty remarkable. I think if we can continue to work with these young people, mentor them, and guide them and do it in an efficient manner, we should get to a point where we are graduating about 600 or more engineers and computer scientists a year. That makes us relevant on a national stage with regard to our undergraduate program.

Also, if you go back and look at our facilities 11 years ago, most everybody said they needed some work. During that time, we were

very fortunate to have investments in our facilities. The Shelby Engineering and Science Quad was built along with other projects, such as the foundry. Now, we have national-scale facilities. We continue pushing the facilities side of the house. We’ve gone back into buildings we continue to occupy, whether it is Bevill, H.M. Comer or Hardaway Hall, to make improvements and do renovations. I’m excited about our progress there.

Another thing people might lose sight of is the tremendous strides made in hiring faculty. In 11 years we’ve moved the faculty head count from around 95 to 130-plus. We’ve been able to hire some outstanding faculty. These things play in concert with one another.

When you get a better and stronger pool of undergraduate students, when you improve your facilities, faculty candidates on campus see that. They recognize it. They get excited about that.

CE: Are you surprised in the growth and changes?

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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“I also don’t believe we’re finished here. We’ve made some progress to become the College of Engineering we all want, but we understand we’re not finished.”

— Dr. Charles L. Karr

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Karr: I’m a little surprised in the magnitude. You could say, “Great, you set the bar low, and you surpassed it.” But the truth of the matter is when we put those targets out, they were very aggressive targets. I’ve been really pleased and excited about all the progress that has happened at The University of Alabama, and we’ve certainly benefited from the University’s aggressive pursuit of similar goals. Now, I like to think that in engineering we help drive meeting those goals in that we regularly are one of the top colleges on campus when it comes to increased enrollment. I think we drive the rise in the mean ACT score of the freshman class because we’re usually well ahead of the University as a whole. I think it’s been really exciting to see.

CE: What’s the secret to success?

Karr: Plain and simple, a whole lot of people rolled up their sleeves and went to work. They worked really hard on achieving these goals. The goals we had that we helped shape — none of those goals were going to be achieved by any individual. We knew up front it was going to take a team of folks really working hard, moving in one direction.

The second thing was focus. We had a lot of people running really fast and working hard, but they were going in a lot of different directions. We narrowed it down and let everybody know that resource allocation would be based on helping us achieve those things. We had our targets, and we stayed focused on those and worked hard. It’s not a secret.

CE: In 2016, how would you describe the state of the College?

Healthy?

Karr: I’ve been associated with the College of Engineering almost 35 years now, going back to when I was a student, and I’ve always felt like we had a healthy College. We’ve always produced a good product, and always had healthy programs. Over that period, I’ve seen some tough economic situations, but I think we’re in a good position right now.

I also don’t believe we’re finished here. We’ve made some progress to become the College of Engineering we all want, but we understand we’re not finished. If you ask people to look at our College right now and to look at where we want to go, most of our folks understand there’s some distance in there. Most of our folks understand there’s really no path that gets us to where we want to be without all of us working pretty hard at it. When you look around the College of Engineering right now it really shouldn’t be too difficult to drum up a little bit of enthusiasm to come to work every day because it’s a really exciting place to be. You see a lot of marvelous young people. You see a lot of great faculty pushing back the boundaries of knowledge. So, healthy, yes. Finished, no.

CE: So what’s next?

Karr: The next thing we need to do — and this is something we’ve begun placing emphasis on — is trying to grow and improve our graduate program. Specifically, I’m talking about the number of outstanding PhDs we graduate in the College of Engineering.

Long term one of the best things we can do to improve the reputation of the College of Engineering is to produce outstanding PhD graduates, who go out and take jobs at other universities, government labs and industry. So our main focus in the next few years will be growing and improving our PhD enrollment.

In engineering, because of the nature of graduate programs, increasing the size of and improving the quality of your graduate program means you’re talking about research funding. Graduate students in engineering expect to be funded to come here. It’s different on some sides of campus, but, here, that’s an expectation. We have to make that a two-pronged goal. We have to increase the number of PhD students we have, and to do that we have to get external funding. We’ve set some targets on the PhD graduates we want to produce and the research dollars we want to bring in, but we also don’t need to get mercenary about this. We recognize our products wear shoes. If we bring in the funding without producing the PhDs, we’ve kind of lost out on a — Dr. Charles L. Karr great opportunity.

Research funding is a tough environment right now, but we have hired faculty members that can go out and compete on a national level. I believe we have the facilities that allow us to compete on a national level. Now, we just need to put the same kind of energy and effort and focus on improving our graduate program as we did with our undergraduate program and facilities.

I think you’ll see some success here.

It’s a good time for us to be focused on that. We have a new president at the University, Dr. Stuart Bell, who we are excited about. He’s a terrific choice for president. One of his focus areas is growing the research program, and I think we sit in a good position to kind of take the lead at The University of Alabama on pushing the research train. I’m excited about some of the things that are going to happen.

“You look at the College of Engineering today, we have about 5,300 undergraduate students and a freshman class with a mean ACT score right at 30. That’s pretty remarkable.”

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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Alumni Dynamics Items of interest to Capstone engineers and computer scientists

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Alumni Dynamics

Previous page: Stephen D. Moxley Jr. was inducted into the 2016 class of the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame, a year after his father was inducted.

Above: The 2015 CES Golf Tournament proved to be a success, raising more than $40,000 for scholarships.

Former CES president, Stephen D. Moxley Jr., inducted into Engineering Hall of Fame

Among this year’s class of inductees in the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame was Stephen D. Moxley Jr., a UA College of Engineering alumnus. His father, Stephen D. Moxley, was inducted in 2015.

The Moxley family accepted the award for Moxley Jr., who died in 1987.

Founded in 1987 by proclamation of the governor, the Hall of Fame honors, preserves and perpetuates the outstanding accomplishments and contributions of individuals, projects, corporations and institutions that brought, and continue to bring, significant recognition to the state.

A prolific engineer, Moxley Jr. was engaged in the technical development and management of projects in the fields of computercontrolled systems, electronic and hydraulic closed-loop control, air traffic control, space telemetry equipment, and industrial and consumer electronics, all the while growing a company in Huntsville, Alabama.

Moxley Jr. was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and graduated from The University of Alabama in electrical engineering in 1949.

From there he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to earn a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1950. His master’s thesis pioneered the use of acceleration feedback for stabilizing a highperformance servo mechanism.

After graduation, he worked briefly with General Electric before joining Reliance Electric and Engineering Co. in 1950 in the development of industrial closed-loop control systems and specialpurpose electric motors.

He joined Continental Oil Co. in 1953, now ConocoPhillips, and became part of a team that developed the Vibroseis exploration technique for using seismic vibrators to survey underground.

The technique became an industry standard. Based largely on his contributions to this innovation in the field of oil exploration, he was elected a fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 1975. Moxley Jr. is credited with two patents at Conoco on crosscorrelating computers and magnetic recording techniques.

In 1957, he went to Cincinnati, Ohio, to work for the Avco Electronics Division of Avco Corp. The company designed and manufactured OEM electronic products for the telecommunication, office products, industrial and educational markets along with spaceflight hardware and government electronics.

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Alumni Dynamics

The annual golf tournament brought more than 130 golfers to Riverchase Country Club in Hoover. The tournament is made possible by seven tournament sponsors, 32 hole sponsors, a putting-contest sponsor and donors for the silent auction.

In his early years with AED he designed the automatic ticketing system for the then new transit system for Washington, DC. He also supervised design and development of the Volscan Air Traffic Control System and other developments in predicted-paths air traffic control. He is the inventor of a United States-patented technology that improved air traffic control systems.

In 1963, Avco named Moxley Jr. vice president and general manager of AED, putting him in charge of a 10-person sales and electronic fabrication unit in Huntsville. While he was at the helm of AED, the company grew to 1,000 employees and $100 million in annual sales by the time of his death in 1987. He also oversaw international expansion with the opening of plants in Singapore and Scotland.

Moxley Jr. was named AED president in 1984, and Avco merged with Textron in 1985. AED was sold to the J.M. Huber Corp. and the name was changed to the Avex Electronics. Just before his death, the company named Avex’s headquarters after Moxley.

A registered professional engineer in Ohio and Alabama, Moxley Jr. authored several papers on computer control, air traffic control technology, among other subjects. He was a member of Tau Beta Pi and was chairman of the IEEE Huntsville section.

Active in civic affairs, Moxley Jr. served on the boards of the

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Business Council of Alabama, Huntsville Chamber of Commerce and Alabama Council on Economic Education. He was also active in the Capstone Engineering Society, serving a term as chair and honored in 1987 as Outstanding Alumni Volunteer.

CES Golf Tournament a success

The 15th annual Capstone Engineering Society Golf Tournament was held in September at Riverchase Country Club in Hoover, Alabama. This year, seven tournament sponsors, 32 hole sponsors, one putting-contest sponsor, one tent sponsor, multiple silent-auction donors and 131 golfers participated in the tournament. Thanks to generous contributors, more than $40,000 was raised for the Capstone Engineering Society.

Over the past 15 years, the CES Golf Tournament has raised more than $331,000 for the College of Engineering.

“The results of this tournament certainly make a difference for the Capstone Engineering Society and The University of Alabama College of Engineering in our mission to provide scholarships and to ensure that UA engineering and computer science students are provided a superior educational experience,” said Nancy Holmes, CES manager.

“We are grateful to our sponsors, players and volunteers who made the CES Golf Tournament a success.”

Alumni Dynamics

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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2015 CES Golf Tournament Sponsors

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LBYD Inc. Apache Construction Corporation Barnett Jones Wilson LLC Neptune Technology Group Inc. Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP Nucor Steel Decatur C&B Piping Inc. Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa Inc. C.S. Beatty Construction Process Automation Chesapeake Consulting Inc. & Simulation Services Inc. Dynetics Ready Mix USA Enercon Southland Pipe & Supply Enerfab Southern Nuclear Energen Resources Corporation (two holes) Express Scale Parts Inc. Volkert Inc. Ferguson Waterworks Vulcan Materials Company Geocent LLC Vulcan Painters Inc. Hargrove Engineers + Constructors Wade Sand & Gravel Co. Inc. Hoar Program Management Walter Schoel Engineering Co. Inc. Hunt Refining Company Whitaker & Rawson LLC Jim House and Associates

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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Alumni Dynamics

Jerry Cook

Mark Whorton

Alumni Notes 1963

Michael K. Brown, BSIE, MSIE ’64, author of “Somewhere a River,” was awarded the 2015 Georgia Author of the Year by the Georgia Writers Association at the Kennesaw State University Continuing Education Center.

1980

Frederick Stanley, BSCE, was appointed director of the Integrated Stimulation Expertise Group for Baker Hughes.

1985

Jerry Cook, BSME, was named deputy director of NASA’s Space Launch System Program at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

1987

Barry A. Johnson, BSCE, MBA, was appointed senior engineer for the IAPMO Group’s Uniform Evaluation Service.

Bryant Moss, BSCE, was named county engineer by the Limestone County

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Rashesh Jethi

Ravi Byakod

Tera Tubbs

Carson Perrella

Jobs. Promotions. Awards.

Commission. Previously, he was assistant county engineer.

Mark Whorton, BSAE, MSAE ’89, was appointed president of Teledyne Optech Inc.

1988

George Law, PhDEE, was appointed department chair of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Northridge.

1991

Souhel Sam Awabdeh, BSEE, was promoted to a vice president with Peter Basso Associates, an engineering consultancy in Michigan.

Greg Mays, BSAE, was named vice president of labor relations for Alaska Airlines.

He previously served as vice president of maintenance and engineering for the airline.

1992

1999

1993

2015

Horacio Vasquez, BSME, MSME ’93, PhDME, received the University of Texas System Board of Regents’ 2015 Outstanding Teaching award.

Something we missed?

Please send us your professional achievement and recognitions for inclusion in Alumni Notes by visiting eng.ua.edu/alumni/update.

Rashesh Jethi, MSIE, was chosen to lead the research and development team for Amadeus. Jethi previously served as portfolio management and marketing leader for Cisco Services.

Ravi Byakod, MSEE, was named director of engineeringaccounting for Flipkart, an Indian e-commerce firm.

He previously worked as head engineer for Google.

1997

Tera Tubbs, BSCE, MSCE ’98, was selected as the executive director of the new Department of Infrastructure and Public Services for the city of Tuscaloosa.

Tres Jernigan, BSCE, senior project manager for Brasfield & Gorrie in Birmingham, Alabama, was honored by the Subcontractors Association of Alabama with their Project Manager of the Year award.

Carson Perrella, BSChE, was named a University of Alabama Rural Medical Scholar.

She plans to attend medical school through the Rural Medical Scholars Program.

Alumni Dynamics

In Memory James L. Carden

James L. Carden died Sept. 23, 2015, in Calera, Alabama. After graduating from Calera High School in 1956 he served for three years in the U.S. Marine Corps. In 1964, Carden earned a degree in civil engineering from the University. While at UA, he served as president of the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

After graduation, he spent two years working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before returning to Calera in 1966 to join his father in starting Central Alabama Paving Co. During this time he served on the board of directors of the Alabama Asphalt Association and the Alabama Road Builders Association, becoming president of both boards in 1978 and 1981, respectively. In addition, he served on the Calera Industrial Board and the Shelby County Economic and Industrial Development Authority board and was a member of the Road Builders Hall of Fame.

Mark Charles Gregoire

Mark C. Gregoire died Oct. 4, 2015. A native of Buffalo, New York, he was the second of seven siblings and a son of an electrician. Gregoire earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University in 1954 and was later recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of Engineering. After graduation, he served in the Air Force for three years before beginning a career in aircraft design at Boeing that spanned 30 years. After retiring, he started his own consulting business for General Electric.

Donald C. Jacox

Donald Clayton Jacox died Oct. 20, 2015, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

A native of Modesto, California, Jacox earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University in 1965. He later worked as an Information Technology computer manager for Drexel Heritage Co.. in Morganton, North Carolina, before retiring and moving to Clinton, Tennessee.

Luther L. Leavell

Luther L. Leavell died Sept. 11, 2015, in Knoxville, Tennessee. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Leavell served in the Korean War before earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University in 1960, where he was a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. After college he worked in Tennessee as a professional engineer for Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s X-10 Graphite Reactor before retiring in 1994. .

James Edward Rorex

James Edward Rorex died Nov. 12, 2015, in Huntsville, Alabama. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University in 1949. Rorex served as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps during World War II and was part of a nuclear missile test, Operation Hard Tack I, in Bikini Atoll. He worked for NASA, where he helped design telemetering systems for the first United States satellite, Explorer I, among additional programs.

Marvin Joe Wallace

Marvin “Joe” Wallace died Sept. 7, 2015, in St. Petersburg, Florida. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II before earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the University in 1948, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He spent his career working as a construction engineer for Phillips Petroleum Co. and was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Copiah-Lincoln Community College.

Albert Edwards Wynne III

Albert Edwards Wynne III died Sept. 4, 2015, in Birmingham, Alabama.

A native of Savannah, Georgia, Wynne attended Shades Valley High School before earning a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from UA, where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

After college, Wynne became a lieutenant for the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He was also a member of the Birmingham Rotary Club and served on the board of the Boy Scouts of America and on the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council.

Friends we will miss Andrew Eller Beck BSME ’10

Nikeesha Lavet Fletcher BSChE ’96

W. Gerald Maughan BSChE ’60

George Edward Bishop BSME ’58

Jesse Harlan Garner ’57

Jerry Marion Morrison BSCE ’76

William Clyde BSAE ’48

Joseph Conway Graden BSME ’50

Paul Eugene Tidwell BSCE ’60

George C. Cowgill IV BSCE ’95

Tom Davis Holder BSEE ’51

William Wesley White BSCE ’60

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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Alumni Dynamics

Because of You

Our students express gratitude for the support of the College’s alumni and friends.

“The support I have received from you is the reason I am able to be a part of such a developing program and university, and I would like to extend a sincere thank you for this opportunity. While a letter may not be able to accurately express my appreciation, I hope that my continued hard work and determination will more effectively serve as an example of my gratitude.”

—Anna Jamieson

“Because of your donations, I have been able to continue my education here and, as a result, continue pursuing my life goals.

For this reason, I am writing you in order to express my deep gratitude. I want to assure you that I do not take the scholarships I have been given for granted, and that I have worked hard every day not only to ensure that they do not go to waste, but to ensure also that they are used to their fullest.”

—Austin Beattie

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Bits and Bytes

Bits and Bytes The College from outside “To make a really long girder presents problems with transporting, and the bridge contractor has to have cranes that can pick up heavier girders. But we wanted something that would be a little bit bigger and have a little bit longer span.” — Dr. Jim Richardson, assistant professor of civil engineering, in the article “Engineers Work to Crack the Code for Longer Bridge Girders” in Civil Engineering Magazine.

“There’s nothing magical about the concept of coding, but we’ve never integrated it in students’ curricula like the topic was a first-class citizen.” — Dr. Jeff Gray, professor of computer science, in the article “What’s the Right Age for Kids to Learn to Code?” in HowStuffWorks.com.

“We can bury our heads in the sand and keep on keeping on until something falls down. It’s like a car that you don’t do anything to but change the oil.

At some point, it’s going to leave you on the side of the road.”— Dr. Michael E. Kreger, the Gary Neil Drummond Endowed Chair in Civil Engineering, in the article “Human Cost Rises as Old Bridges, Dams and Roads Go Unrepaired” in the New York Times.

Kaylie Crosby, project manager for UA’s EcoCAR 3 team, talks with ABC 33/40 while testing the team’s vehicle.

Tweetgineering —

Because engineers use Twitter, too

“I know I’m meant to be an engineer because I’m sitting here watching a movie for homework and wishing I was doing math.” — Pam Zierdt, sophomore in aerospace engineering

“Remember there was a time when we did math with numbers instead of letters?

Good times ...” —Kirk Hanson, sophomore in electrical engineering

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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End User

End User

Capstone engineers and computer scientists on today’s technology With virtual reality, or VR, technology finally seeming to come of age, the UA Center for Advanced Public Safety and the department of computer science, both within the College of Engineering, are exploring ways VR can help further understanding from a range of disciplines. CAPS developers are working to develop VR products that help with severe-weather safety, health care, psychology and law enforcement.

Dr. Brandon Dixon, associate professor of computer science and researcher at CAPS, is improving UA’s capabilities through the buildup of a VR and visualization lab on campus designed to spur research.

CE: VR has been around for a long time. It was the next great thing 20 years ago. Why is it taking off now?

Dixon: Part of it is the computing power is finally here, and another part of it is the resolution of the goggles is finally getting to the level that your eyes will buy into it. The graphic processing then is not what we have now. If it’s all blocky, it’s just not believable enough. We’re rapidly approaching something that’s very realistic. The issue is frames per second, but, moreover, it is the response time between when you do something – tilt your head, for instance – and when it changes. When does what you’re seeing change? If there’s a long lag, it makes it unbelievable and throws you off. That’s what can induce motion sickness. They are closing that gap. It’s less of a silly tinker toy now. Ten years ago VR was not really believable. The lag and lack of image quality would have prevented you from buying into the idea that you are really there.

CE: In the 1970s computers became useful for academic research. Is that happening to VR now?

Dixon: Yes, that’s a fair comparison. VR is more affordable and gotten better for higher-end uses, so the technology is at a point where academic researchers can begin using VR to answer questions. Computer science’s role is the software development side of it, so we can facilitate and get the kind of skills and knowledge to support those projects and know what’s going to work and not work.

Now that this technology and hardware is here, we’ve got to figure out what’s even possible and what makes sense. This opens

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up some very interesting interdisciplinary projects. We have neuroscience, social work, severe weather and all kinds of things going on. The applications are going to grow, and the number of projects is only going to increase.

CES Message

Greetings alumni and friends,

•

Sit on a discussion panel.

It is a rare week when I do not have alumni ask how to get involved with the College of Engineering or the Capstone Engineering Society.

•

Assist with a senior-design project.

•

Contribute to the Capstone Engineering Society to support student scholarships, student and alumni engagement events, and opportunities and outreach.

I encourage alumni and friends to become engaged with our students, faculty and staff. We are working toward a menu of engagement opportunities to display on our website this fall.

Whether you are interested in occasionally helping out or committing to serve for a semester or an academic year, we have numerous opportunities for you to share your time and talents. Many of the opportunities do not require you to be in the Tuscaloosa area to participate.

I hope to you will begin to consider where you would like to share your time and talents. More information will be coming soon on the various opportunities where you can become actively engaged with the College and the Capstone Engineering Society.

Roll Tide!

Here are some areas for you to consider: •

Assist with a student organization.

•

Offer job-shadowing opportunities at your company.

•

Conduct on-campus information sessions about your company or industry trends.

•

Serve as an alumni mentor to juniors or seniors through the Mentor UPP Program.

•

Join the Capstone Engineering Society LinkedIn Group to network and participate in online discussions and share internship, co-op and job opportunities with your company.

Nancy N. Holmes Manager, Capstone Engineering Society

{ Capstone Engineer • Spring 2016 }

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Capstone Engineering Society College of Engineering Box 870200 Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0200

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID The University of Alabama

M O N D A Y, O C T. 1 0 , 2 0 1 6 RIVERCHASE COUNTRY CLUB H T T P : / / G O L F . E N G . U A . E D U