Capstone Engineer - Fall 2019 by University of Alabama College of Engineering

NGINEER FA LL /// 20 1 9

ACCE N P IO D TE

MI S

CAPSTON

FEATURES MISSION ACCEPTED

THE SOUND OF ENGINEERING

SAVING THE PLANET â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ONE SMART BUILDING AT A TIME

UA launchpad propels alumnus to great heights

New degree mixes music and engineering

UA students are part of a national team working to reduce energy consumption by buildings and to quantify the savings

DEPARTMENTS SURVEYING THE COLLEGE

Noteworthy News and Research

BITS & BYTES

The College from Outside

Items of Interest to Capstone Engineers

CAPSTONE CURRENTS Events from Around the College

ALUMNI DYNAMICS & Computer Scientists

END USER The Engine that Keeps the College Moving

Dear Alumni and Friends, There are many areas where The University of Alabama College of Engineering focuses its energy in its quest to produce top engineers. In this edition of Capstone Engineer, we highlight research, alumni and education. Our faculty strive year-round to advance research in the College impacting the state, the world and beyond. Dr. Zheng O’Neill’s work centers on reducing energy used to heat, cool and ventilate buildings. She is one example of how the activities taking place on our campus are being recognized outside of the College. O’Neill, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, was honored by the University for her efforts this spring when she received the President’s Faculty Research Award. She was one of only eight UA faculty members recognized with this honor. Our list of degree programs continues to evolve as we add a bachelor’s degree in musical audio engineering to the slate. For two years, our faculty have partnered with UA’s School of Music to create a curriculum and make the program a reality, and starting this fall, it has finally come to fruition as students have begun pursuing this degree. Because of the efforts of electrical and computer engineering faculty members Dr. Tim Haskew and Dr. Kenny Ricks, our graduates will now have the opportunity to have careers in an industry with a need for employees who are both professional musicians and engineers. We recognize you are doing impressive things in your careers, and you are giving back to this institution at a level never seen before. Whether serving on an advisory board, giving philanthropically or hiring our graduates, you are a vital partner in our endeavors to advance the College. We enjoy hearing about the work you are doing and the successes you’ve had since your time at the Capstone. Robert Lightfoot’s ascension to acting administrator at NASA is a true point of pride for our College. His life after retirement has brought him back to UA, and his efforts to give back are greatly appreciated. He is just one of many who give their time, talents and resources. As the College grows and changes over time, we feel we are heading in the right direction by focusing on students and alumni as well as experiential and classroom learning opportunities. We see a common thread connecting these areas and believe our UA engineering community can help support. We urge each of you to visit our campus and get involved.

Dr. Charles L. Karr Dean

CAPSTONE ENGINEERING SOCIETY 205-348-2452 Howard Allen Faulkner, Chair, Board of Directors • Charles L. Karr, Ph.D., Dean, College of Engineering • Nancy Holmes, Manager, Capstone Engineering Society and Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement • Alana Norris, Editor • Alana Norris, Writer • Issue No. 58 • Capstone Engineer is published in the spring and fall by the Capstone Engineering Society • Kaly Glass, Designer • Alana Norris, 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 • Visit the College of Engineering website at www.eng.ua.edu • The University of Alabama is an equal-opportunity educational institution/employer. MC9394

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE Noteworthy news and research from UA Engineering

RESEARCHERS FIND PATTERNS ASSOCIATED WITH EXTREME FLOODS Extreme floods across the continental United States are associated with four broad atmospheric patterns, a machinelearning based analysis of extreme floods found. Researchers analyzed relatively rare floods in the United States, using a machine-learning algorithm to place the floods into groups based on atmospheric patterns that happen at the same time. They found that tropical moisture exports, tropical cyclones, low-pressure systems and melting snow are the primary patterns associated with extreme floods.

national and international initiative to promote practical solutions for sustainable development. Dr. Steven Jones, UA professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, is the lead person for UA’s involvement in this network. According to Jones, the United States is the only country in the developed world where the average life expectancy is declining. He said this is due to various conditions that affect much of rural and small town America, including Alabama. One of the main areas of focus for Jones and his work with the SDSN is issues regarding transportation. Jones says the lack

The findings are published in Scientific Reports. Dr. Hamid Moradkhani, the Alton N. Scott Endowed Professor of Engineering

of transportation in rural and small town Alabama is a barrier for sustainability.

and director of the Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research at The University of Alabama, is a co-author on the paper. The results of this analysis provide valuable insights for improved flood risk preparation and management. For example, the four main categories of atmospheric patterns could guide enhancements of weather forecasting models to improve flood prediction, management of water resources and emergency preparedness. The researchers used self-organizing maps, a type of artificial neural network that performs unsupervised clustering, to identify dominant atmospheric circulation patterns associated with extreme floods across the U.S. The process found 12 circulation patterns grouped in four broad categories. Broadly, the results showed large events usually

UA ENGINEERING RACING TEAM WORKS WITH LOCAL THIRD GRADERS UA’s Formula SAE Crimson Racing team took part in the Learn Twice Initiative by teaching third graders at Tuscaloosa Magnet School about science, technology, engineering and math. Through this initiative, UA students taught third graders in the gifted program at Tuscaloosa Magnet School about engineering by having the younger students go through a full engineering design process from start to finish. The elementary students created gliders and acted as designers for a toy company. The full process included basics of engineering design, market research, several prototyping stages and testing.

occur in the western and central U.S. because of tropical moisture exports and in the eastern U.S. because of tropical cyclones. With the data, weather forecasters and managers of water reservoirs, along with emergency management personnel, can better prepare for extreme floods that have a likelihood of occurring at the same time as the dominant atmospheric patterns.

UA JOINS UN NETWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS The University of Alabama College of Engineering’s Center for Sustainable Infrastructure has been invited to join the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, or SDSN, the

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

Tony VanGeersdaelen, far left, and Colin Bumgarner, far right, members of UA’s Formula SAE team Crimson Racing, help students at Tuscaloosa Magnet School design, prototype, create and test gliders through the Learn Twice Initiative.

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE The curriculum the team used was on an eighth-grade level.

In addition to members of the Astrobotics team, the UA students

The UA students said the Learn Twice Initiative gave them the

that participated in the designing and building process of this

opportunity to teach what they have learned about problem solving

project were Kevin Townsend, Kristin Harris, Cody Colangelo and

to the next generation of students.

Trent Gibson.

UA ENGINEERING SENIORS BUILD INTERACTIVE CUBE FOR RISE

UA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING RECEIVES THREE GAANN GRANTS

A University of Alabama student team continued a three-year tradition of local outreach. The University of Alabama Astrobotics team and a group of engineering senior design students partnered with UA’s RISE Center, a school for infants and preschoolers with and without special needs, to provide the children with a sensory cube to assist with in-class therapy. The sensory cube, called the Stimulation Station, is a 4-foot-tall, 2-foot-wide machine that was designed around the idea of an electronic fidget cube. This device helps with physical therapy, occupational therapy and music therapy in a way that is engaging for the children.

Three University of Alabama College of Engineering departments have been awarded U.S. Department of Education grants to fund graduate students in the fields of mechanical engineering, computer science, and chemical and biological engineering. The Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need, or GAANN, program provides financial support to graduate students planning to pursue the highest available degree in a field designated by the DOE as an area of national need. This year marks the first time UA has received three GAANN grants in separate engineering departments at the same time. The three-year fellowship — which includes a stipend of up to $34,000 a year in addition to tuition and other costs — is awarded to domestic doctoral students whose research aligns with overall needs of their respective fields and who demonstrate a financial need. This program will help each department with its goal to expand graduate student enrollment. Recipients will be chosen through an ongoing application process starting this year. Mechanical Engineering The mechanical engineering department will receive a total

Students at UA’s RISE Center play with their new sensory cube, called the Stimulation Station, which was created by UA engineering students.

of $1.2 million throughout this three-year grant. The focus is in the area of smart combustion systems incorporating automation, additive manufacturing and alternative energy. Specifically, it will cater to the nation’s emerging energy infrastructure. Doctoral

The Stimulation Station took one year to complete and was delivered to the RISE Center during a holiday party in December

students will be awarded the fellowship. Dr. Ajay Agrawal, Robert F. Barfield Endowed Chair in

2018. The cube is made up of three sides of interactive stimulation

Mechanical Engineering and department lead for the grant, has

that the children can use to assist with different forms of therapy

received three GAANN grants since his start at UA in 2005.

such as helping with muscle strength and the association of

Computer Science

sounds to objects. Specific aspects of the cube include a music center, push buttons to control various light patterns, mechanical games, elements that teach cause-and-effect, and a mirror to help with early developmental stages of crawling and standing. The Stimulation Station is made of clear Plexiglas to show the children the wires and the LED blinking lights on the computers inside the machine.

The computer science department’s lead professor for the GAANN grant is Dr. Jeffrey Carver, and the focus will be in the cybersecurity field. He said there is a critical need to develop more people who can research solutions. The $746,250 award will fund five computer science doctoral students for three years. The research will be collaborative with faculty from other disciplines, Carver said.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

LEFT: Student leaders of UA’s EcoCAR Mobility Challenge team include, from left, Easton Davis, Bri Roselius and David Barnes. RIGHT: Researchers from UA’s College of Engineering are working to improve traffic operations in West Alabama with a $16 million grant. Chemical and Biological Engineering While the GAANN fellowship is restricted to domestic students, the chemical and biological engineering portion allows students to work as teaching assistants in a study-abroad course. The $746,250 grant will focus on polymers and soft materials, which coincides with current research projects within the University.

UA AGAIN SELECTED FOR NATIONAL VEHICLE COMPETITION, PLACES IN YEAR ONE COMPETITION Students at The University of Alabama are competing in the latest national vehicle competition that challenges students to develop a hybrid-electric, autonomous vehicle over the next four years.

DATA SHOWS BUCKLING UP SAVES LIVES IN AUTO CRASHES Nearly half of the people killed in auto crashes in Alabama last year were not wearing a seat belt, according to an analysis of state crash records. A data analysis study conducted by The University of Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety using recently released 2018 Alabama crash data showed crash victims who die are often reported as not wearing a seat belt. Of the 743 persons killed in vehicles that were equipped with restraints in 2018 in Alabama, 366, about half, were not wearing their seat belts. The study showed the probability of dying in a crash is about 50 times higher when unrestrained. In general, less than one in 1,000 occupants involved in motor vehicle crashes are killed when restrained. This probability increases to one in 24 when not restrained. Without a seat belt, the probability of ejection increases about 500 times, and, if ejected, the probability of death increases by another 200 times, said Dr. David Brown, research associate at CAPS and computer science professor.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

UA is one of 12 universities across the country selected to participate in the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors Co. and MathWorks and managed by the Argonne National Laboratory. At the end of Year One, the team came in third place overall and took home seven other awards including GM’s Women in STEM Award, NSF Outstanding Faculty Adviser Award, first place in project management, project strategy and risk review, and propulsion and systems integration presentation. This is the second consecutive Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition for UA students after finishing strong in the most recent competition, EcoCAR 3, last year. The team of students has the opportunity to create their version of a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer by applying advanced propulsion systems, electrification, automation and vehicle connectivity to improve its energy efficiency while balancing factors such as emissions, safety, utility and consumer acceptability. The mission of the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge is to develop the next generation of engineers and business leaders who will be prepared to address the nation’s future energy and transportation challenges. These students will also accelerate the development

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE and demonstrations of technologies of interest to the Department

director of ATI and civil engineering professor, is the principal

of Energy and the automotive industry.

investigator on the grant.

The team consists of a collaboration of engineering with project

Along with ATI, the multi-agency partnership includes the

management, business and communications. This competition

Alabama Department of Transportation, the Tuscaloosa County

provides students with a real-world training ground to gain hands-

Road Improvement Commission, the cities of Tuscaloosa and

on experience following a vehicle development process to design,

Northport, and other local and regional industry stakeholders,

build and refine advanced technology vehicles.

including manufacturing and trucking. The UA team includes

Teams will use onboard sensors and wireless communication from the vehicle’s surrounding environment to improve overall operation efficiency in the connected urban environment of the future. Specifically, the students are challenged to implement SAE Level 2 automation, which is the ability for the vehicle to combine automated functions, such as acceleration and steering, while the driver remains engaged with the driving task and monitors the environment at all times.

UA LEADING TRANSPORTATION PROJECT TO IMPROVE WEST ALABAMA TRAFFIC In a partnership with federal, state and local agencies, The

researchers from the Center for Advanced Public Safety, or CAPS, Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies, or CAVT, and the University Transportation Center for Alabama, or UTCA. The deployment grant will allow UA researchers to test the technologies used as routine in smart and connected communities of the future, allowing them to grasp how they can enhance the safe and efficient movement of people and goods over the region’s transportation network, said Dr. Alex Hainen, UA assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering and a researcher on the project. Technologies deployed in the project include networked cameras, deep-learning algorithms for incident detection from video images, dedicated short-range communication radios, advanced traffic signal controllers, mobile apps, cable median

University of Alabama is leading an approximate $16 million project

crash sensors and traffic communication applications among

to transform traffic operations in West Alabama and provide

vehicles, people and infrastructure.

leading-edge research to address societal transportation needs. With an $8.03 million grant from the U.S. Department of

Along with Nambisan and Hainen, core team members from UA include Dr. Joshua A. Bittle, assistant professor of

Transportation, UA researchers will develop and deploy

mechanical engineering and a researcher within CAVT; Dr. Bharat

technologies to improve traffic control systems in west-central

Balasubramanian, executive director of CAVT; Dr. Laura Myers,

Alabama through the Advanced Connected Transportation

director of CAPS; Dr. Jun Liu, assistant professor of civil engineering

Infrastructure and Operations Network, or ACTION, initiative on

and a researcher within UTCA; and Dr. Randy Smith, associate

freeways and feeder roads in and around Tuscaloosa.

professor of computer science and a researcher within CAPS.

The initiative’s core theme is to leverage technological advances to enhance efficiency, capacity and safety. Key components of ACTION include a network of sensors and cameras, communications technologies and traffic signal systems, as well as mobility tools for passenger and freight traffic. The DOT funding comes through its Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment, or ATCMTD, Program. Established by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act in 2015, ATCMTD is a competitive program designed to provide funding for eligible entities to improve the performance of U.S. transportation systems, reduce traffic congestion and improve the safety of the traveling public by providing state-of-the-art technology. The three-year project includes $8.3 million in matching funds from state and local agencies. At UA, the Alabama Transportation Institute will spearhead the work. Dr. Shashi Nambisan, executive

ALABAMA ASTROBOTICS’ NEW LAB MIRRORS COMPETITION SPACE A University of Alabama student team’s recent success has earned them a new and improved lab space on campus. The Alabama Astrobotics team migrated in January from a shared space with Baja SAE Bama Racing and Formula SAE Crimson Racing teams, to its own space in Bureau of Mines 4, the former student machine shop. The new location includes multiple worktables, computer areas and a soundproof and dustproof testing pit. The new space more closely mirrors the competition space at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, making it easier for the team to recreate competition atmosphere while practicing. New additions include a more accurate material in the pit matching the competition substance, and computer

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

Gogineni, an internationally recognized expert in remote sensing, developed an ice-penetrating radar mounted on planes to peer to the bottom of the glacier and determine ice thickness and shape. He said satellite data only reaches the ice surface. The study, led by researchers at Imperial College London, connected an 81-mile-long channel on the surface of an Antarctic floating ice shelf to the landscape below the ice sheet upstream. The channel, and associated features on the ice surface, are thought to be a point of instability on the ice shelf. If the surface ice The new Alabama Astrobotics lab has a soundproof and dustproof testing pit with a computer station outside facing the pit. stations both facing the pit and on the opposite side of the room to represent accurate locations for team members during the competition. In addition to the new location helping with competition practice, the larger room will help the team to work on multiple projects at

melts, water will preferentially run down these features, carving out a deeper channel and creating further weaknesses. The UA Remote Sensing Center, part of the Alabama Water Institute, develops technologies that enable high-resolution measurements of soil moisture, snow and ice. UA trustees established the center when Gogineni joined UA after conducting similar research at the University of Kansas. Gogineni began working on this project while at Kansas.

one time. Work on the new location began in early October 2018 and was completed in mid-January 2019, but the planning process started over the summer of 2018 with Dr. Kenny Ricks, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and Astrobotics faculty adviser, and Max Eastepp, Astrobotics team lead, designing plans and 3D models of the new facility. Two UA facilities workers, Trent Hall and AJ Johnston, played an integral part in completing the move to the new location. Hall and Johnston worked to dry and relocate 20 tons of the material needed to fill the pit.

EPA GRANT ASSISTS IN UNDERSTANDING WASTEWATER ISSUES IN RURAL ALABAMA Researchers from The University of Alabama are shedding light on the issue of raw sewage draining into waterways of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Black Belt region, a problem garnering international attention. With a grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, UA researchers from environmental engineering and geology will build a model to quantify the extent of untreated raw sewage discharges from homes throughout five counties in the Black Belt, an economically depressed region in the state named for its dark, rich soil.

UA RESEARCHER HELPS FIND CAUSE OF CHANNELS ON ANTARCTIC ICE A researcher at The University of Alabama is part of an international team that found the cause of long, potentially

Dr. Mark Elliott, UA associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, said the rural wastewater problem is contributed to impervious soil, rural poverty and the unknown extent of the issue.

damaging channels on Antarctic Ice Shelves. Dr. Prasad Gogineni, the Cudworth Professor of Engineering and director of the UA Remote Sensing Center, is co-author on a paper published in Nature Communications that finds large rock hills deep below glaciers can cause huge channels on the ice surface â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even if the hills are buried under 1.25 miles, or 2 kilometers, of ice. Much about Antarctic glaciers is unknown because they are remote and difficult to study, so scientists cannot be sure how they will respond to climate change. New technology, however, allows researchers to study them in detail, even looking through milesthick glaciers to view processes occurring at their bases.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

Graduate student Aaron Blackwell, left, shown working with fellow graduate student Parnab Dason on an earlier project studying straight pipe drainage.

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE The situation garnered the attention of the United Nations, which sent an official to examine straight pipe drainage in 2017. There has also been national and international reporting on the conditions as studies have shown diseases and parasites common in tropical areas, and once thought contained in the United States, are appearing in the Black Belt. Much of the country can dispose of household wastewater safely, either into a sewer system that leads to a treatment plant or into a septic system that uses engineering and natural geology to filter out contaminants before reaching the groundwater. The Black Belt, an area of 17 counties across southwest Alabama, is often different. Underneath the topsoil is clay and chalk, which holds water. This can cause a backup of a septic system and risk sending untreated wastewater into the streams, lakes, rivers and groundwater nearby. Added to the soil challenge, the Black Belt is a poverty-stricken area of the country, especially outside its small towns. Many find it difficult to afford advanced septic systems needed for the soil, instead using a straight pipe running from the home to some other part of the property to drain untreated wastewater. A 2017 survey by Elliott’s group in Wilcox County conservatively estimated that 60 percent of homes drain wastewater without

Jessica Irvin, an undergraduate research assistant from Galloway, New Jersey, grinds a plant as preparation for creating a plant extract to be used in research.

RESEARCHERS QUICKEN DRUG DISCOVERY METHOD VIA ZOMBIE-LIKE CELLS Researchers are using zombie-like cells that behave normally on the outside, but are filled with magnetic particles inside, to screen potential drugs from natural products. Discovered at The University of Alabama, the method could quicken a laborious task that slows drug discovery, according to findings in a paper published in the journal Nanoscale. The method uses magnetic nanoparticles coated with a

treatment. Elliott said it is possible more than 500,000 gallons

biological cell membrane as a lure to fish out pharmacologically

of raw sewage enter the rivers and streams in Wilcox County

active compounds from plants and other natural organisms such

each day.

as fungi. It quickly sorts through hundreds, possibly thousands, of

Site surveys are expensive and time-consuming, so the full extent of straight pipe drainage in the region is largely unknown. Aaron Blackwell, a graduate student in Elliott’s lab, leads the work of making maps to predict the risk of homes using straight pipe drainage. The maps combine geological information of the soil, property values from the county government and population density to show areas where there is greater risk of homes discharging untreated waste through straight pipes. The maps can show areas where intervention could be effective, such as clusters of homes outside a town that could share a simple treatment system, he said. The $15,000 grant to UA comes through EPA’s People, Prosperity, and the Planet, or P3, program. Research teams receive funding to develop sustainable technologies to help solve environmental and public health challenges. The P3 competition challenges students to research, develop, and design innovative projects that address a myriad of environmental protection and public health issues.

compounds found in a natural product in a few days, a process that can take weeks or months using traditional screening methods. The work was done in the labs of Dr. Lukasz M. Ciesla, UA assistant professor of biological sciences, and Dr. Yuping Bao, UA associate professor of chemical and biological engineering. The lead author is Dr. Jennifer Sherwood, a former researcher in Bao’s lab who earned her doctorate from UA in 2018. About 70 percent of drugs approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration were first identified in nature, but teasing out possible chemical compounds from the abundance of plants is time consuming. Pharmaceutical research has turned mostly to libraries of synthesized chemical compounds tuned for a specific purpose. However, nature is more diverse in the compounds it creates, and plants produce compounds designed for a biological response. The same pathways a chemical uses to ward off an insect, for example, can interact with humans. Natural samples are complex. An extract of a plant produces scores of chemical compounds, and finding one that shows pharmacological promise is done by isolating and screening them individually.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

The new method uses ionic solvents to leech out the innards of a cell and wrapping the cell’s shell around iron oxide nanoparticles. They are inserted into a plant extract. The encapsulation of the magnetic beads of iron oxide with a cell membrane keeps the function of the transmembrane proteins that act as receptors for active compounds, which bind to the coated nanoparticles. Like a zombie moving despite being dead, the cell is no longer an active human cell, yet its membrane continues to function. This advantage differentiates it from computational methods that simulate chemical interaction in one, static state, Ciesla said. If there is a compound in the natural extract that can interact with the receptor, they will stick to the surface of the nanoparticles. A magnet can be used to separate the nanoparticles from the extract, and solvents can detach them, yielding the possible pharmacologically active compounds.

GRANT EXPANDS PROFESSOR’S HUMANCOMPUTER INTERACTION RESEARCH A University of Alabama computer science professor is working to better understand how K-12 students in the Alabama Black Belt perceive human-computer interaction. Dr. Chris Crawford, UA assistant professor of computer science, was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to develop technology that allows children to get hands-on experiences building neurofeedback programs, a type of biofeedback application that uses near real-time visualizations of brain activity to teach self-regulation. Crawford’s focus on physiological computing, any closed-loop technological system that incorporates physiological data, dates back to his time in graduate school when the increase of consumer grade, or home use, technologies sparked interest in non-critical applications to engage students.

The UA team used cell membranes with nicotinic receptors as a coating, but any transmembrane receptor could be used as a way to search for compounds, Ciesla said.

Previously, Crawford worked on a project involving braincontrolled drone racing, which helped influence the idea for his current research. During that project, Crawford and his team

He stresses this method is only a first step in the long process of creating drugs to treat a disease, but it shows promise in helping find medicinal uses from natural products. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Alabama Life Research Institute.

connected electroencephalogram, or EEG, devices to drones, and people raced each other with their brains as opposed to controllers. This new grant will help Crawford research building computer science education and non-critical applications based on how students in the Alabama Black Belt in K-12 relate to this technology in an educational and practical way. The co-principal investigator on the grant is Dr. Andre Denham, associate professor of instructional technology for UA’s College of Education. Denham will ensure the technology addresses the needs found during the preliminary research. The process will focus on understanding how people learn ways to interface, or exchange information, with new physiological systems. This analysis will set the fundamental groundwork for future research on physiological computing. Crawford said most of the research in this field focuses on building end-user technology, which results in applications computer scientists think people want rather than the types of applications people actually need. In this study, the students have a role in designing and implementing the technology itself, Crawford

Dr. Chris Crawford, right, captures electrical activity from the brain using the Ultracortex “Mark IV” EEG Headset worn here by Ethan Mines, a computer science major from Panama City, Florida, who is part of the research team.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

said, and he hopes this will lead to more novel ways to use the technology.

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE of bacteria that thrive in the absence of oxygen—known for its ability to produce butanol. Using existing capabilities, the UA researchers will help understand how the fuel mix ignites and reacts in diesel engines used in highway trucks. Different mixes of the fuel – some with more BA than others – will be investigated using a unique spray diagnostic apparatus developed at UA and in UA’s heavy-duty diesel engine test platform, one of the few engine test cell facilities in the country. Dr. Ajay K. Agrawal, right, and Dr. Joshua A. Bittle will test a blend of a new bio-based fuel and diesel fuel for the project.

UA ENGINEERS PART OF RESEARCH TO MAXIMIZE U.S. FUEL ECONOMY Engineering researchers at The University of Alabama will test a blend of a new bio-based fuel and diesel fuel as part of a project to reduce soot and greenhouse gas emissions and yield cleaner engine operation in cold-weather conditions. The diesel fuel will be blended with the chemical butyl acetate, or BA, produced in a novel way by researchers at Auburn University. Dr. Ajay K. Agrawal, UA professor and the Robert F. Barfield Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering, said they plan to learn how this fuel mix impacts engine emissions and efficiency inside the engine cylinder and in an actual engine during a usual drive cycle. The work is part of a $2 million U.S. Department of Energy project led by Auburn that promises to improve fuel emissions and efficiency. Other collaborators are Cornell University, Virginia Tech University and corporate partners EcoEngineers and Microvi Biotech Inc. The project is one of 42 totaling $80 million awarded by the DOE to support advanced vehicles technologies research. Auburn researchers are developing an integrated bioprocess for efficient production of BA, an organic compound that occurs naturally in various fruits and can be used as a flavoring in the food industry and a feedstock in various other industries. BA can be produced chemically. However, traditional petrochemical-based BA production is energy consuming and not environmentally friendly, said Dr. Yi Wang, principal investigator for the project and assistant professor in the department of biosystems engineering in Auburn’s College of Agriculture. Wang and the Auburn team developed a customized CRISPRCas9 genome engineering system that has resulted in an engineered strain with the highest BA production ever reported in a microbial host. The process uses a strain of Clostridium—a group

Dr. Joshua A. Bittle, UA assistant professor of mechanical engineering, said UA’s engine facilities will work well with Auburn’s fuel production. In the first part of the project, UA researchers will use a Constant Pressure Flow Vessel, or flow rig, to simulate fuel-air mixing processes inside a diesel engine and monitor it with advanced optical diagnostic techniques integrated with multiple high-speed camera systems. The flow rig simulates the temperatures and pressures inside an engine just before fuel injection. Cameras record the event as the fuel is injected, ignites and combusts. The experimental results will be provided to Auburn researchers to refine the fuel production. Then, the UA researchers will test the improved fuel in a production heavy-duty diesel engine in the UA College of Engineering’s Engines and Combustion Laboratory. Engine tests will be performed over the EPA defined drive-cycle used to certify engine emissions compliance. These tests will provide a realistic estimation of the benefits of BA-diesel blends on engine performance. Before a new process such as this can be up-scaled for commercialization, a techno-economic analysis is warranted. Virginia Tech’s role in the project is to conduct this analysis to evaluate the economic practicality of the biofuel being produced, said Dr. Haibo Huang, an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology. Researchers at Cornell will examine more fundamental aspects of blending BA with diesel fuel in the form of droplets that represent the sub-grid element of a spray used for fuel injection into combustion engines, said Dr. Thomas Avedisian, professor with the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. The bioprocess development for high-efficiency BA production in this project is based on an innovative technology called MicroNiche Engineering developed by Microvi Biotech. Another corporate partner in the research project is EcoEngineers, a renewable energy consulting firm that will perform a lifecycle emissions analysis of BA as a bioblendstock for diesel fuel.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

STUDENT

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

LEFT: Members of Alabama Astrobotics position their robot before their final competition run of the Robotic Mining Challenge. RIGHT: Peyton Strickland was one of three UA students selected as Goldwater Scholars for 2019-2020. He was also named to Aviation Week’s 20 Twenties for 2019 list.

UA ROBOTICS TEAM WINS NASA’S GRAND PRIZE FOR FIFTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR For the fifth consecutive year, the student robotics team from The University of Alabama won NASA’s grand prize in its Robotic Mining Competition. Made up of 60 students, primarily from UA’s College of Engineering, Alabama Astrobotics won the Joe Kosmo Award for Excellence, the grand prize, in NASA’s 2019 robotic mining competition, NASA announced. UA’s teams previously placed first

the SSERVI Regolith Mechanics Award. In the Robotic Mining Challenge held at UA, teams demonstrated how a robot they built over the past year could autonomously navigate and excavate simulated lunar and Martian soil, known as regolith. The events are designed to provide a competitive environment to foster innovative ideas and solutions that could potentially be used during NASA journeys to the moon and Mars. NASA’s competition is expected to return on-site next year.

in 2012 and from 2015-2018. This year’s NASA competition was held virtually, rather than on-site at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Teams were judged on systems engineering papers and outreach project reports and with the options of submitting systems engineering plans and slide demonstrations. In addition to the top prize, UA’s team also won first place for its systems engineering paper, its slide presentations and demonstrations and second place for its outreach report. In a separate event hosted at The University of Alabama, UA’s team bested 27 other robotics teams from across the nation to win first in mining, first in the Caterpillar Autonomy Awards and

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

UA ENGINEERING STUDENT LANDS PRESTIGIOUS GOLDWATER SCHOLARSHIP AND TOP TECHNOLOGY AWARD The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program has selected a University of Alabama College of Engineering student as a Goldwater Scholar for 2019-2020. Peyton Strickland, a native of Pelham, is pursuing his Bachelor and Master of Science in aerospace engineering and mechanics. He was one of three UA students selected as Goldwater Scholars this year.

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE Strickland was also named one of Aviation Week’s 20 Twenties for 2019, sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is the first UA student to receive this award recognizing the top 20 STEM students in their 20s internationally. Finalists for this award are decided based on the nominees’

that propagated colorectal cancer tumors – one of many research pursuits she has followed. Xia’s talents in research have earned her several awards, including a national Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for science students, the Randall Outstanding Undergraduate Research

academic achievements, current work toward their career goals

Award and the Henry Pettus Randall Jr. Scholarship at UA, as well

and community service efforts. An award ceremony was held last

as the outstanding undergraduate poster presentation award

March in Washington, D.C.

from the Southeastern Theoretical Chemistry Association.

He has conducted research under the advisement of Dr.

Outside of research, Xia is active in the Society of Engineers in

Semih Olcmen, professor in aerospace engineering, since the

Medicine, is involved in the Blackburn Institute and the Crisis Text

spring of his freshman year. His work, sponsored by The MITRE

Line and works as a scribe at University Medical Center.

Corp., investigates the use of a low-cost K-band communication satellite constellation to meet our nation’s low Earth orbit space object communication needs. Outside of research, Strickland is a volunteer C++ coding instructor at Central High School, UA

Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award The award honors one

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics president-

man and one woman

elect and a member of the Alabama Rocketry Association’s

of the academic year’s

Project ARES.

graduating class as well as one non-student. The

UA RECOGNIZES LEADERSHIP, INNOVATION WITH 2019 PREMIER AWARDS The University of Alabama recognized two College of Engineering students as the recipients of 2019 Premier Awards – the top individual honors for scholarship, leadership and service — as well as four other UA students and three faculty and staff members.

recipients of the award have demonstrated the highest standards of scholarship, leadership and service. UA has brought Joline Hartheimer face to face with some of the more agonizing

Joline Hartheimer

threats to health – a form of

brain tumor that resists treatment and the persistent, genetically borne sickle-cell anemia.

Dr. Catherine J. Randall Award The award recognizes the most outstanding student scholar at UA based on GPA, rigor of course study and extraordinary scholarly or creative endeavor; applicants may come from any academic program of study,

She has used her research skills to fight the tumor – glioblastoma multiforme – and her experience as a medical scribe and trainer at DCH has shown her how sickle-cell anemia causes suffering. Both experiences are fueling her passion for research in her major of chemical engineering and as a Randall

as scholarly and creative

Research Scholar.

activities from within all majors will be considered

Hartheimer, who served as co-president of UA Society of

for this award.

Engineers in Medicine, worked in the lab of Dr. Yonghyun “John” Kim, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering,

Donna Xia, a chemical

and she is first author of a paper under review with Journal of

engineering major and a

Neuro-Oncology.

Randall Research Scholar, conducted an independent

Coupled with her research skills is a profound desire to help

study at the Mayo Clinic in

people. She has served as a campaign coordinator for Teach for

2018 where she analyzed

America, worked as a peer tutor and volunteered as an Al’s Pal at

the metabolic interactions in a bacterial community

Donna Xia

Northington Elementary School.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

UA ENGINEERING ALUMNI HONOR 2019 OUTSTANDING SENIOR Morgan Ross, who studied metallurgical and materials engineering at The University of Alabama, received the 2019 Capstone Engineering Society Outstanding Senior Award. A native of Meridian, Mississippi, she earned 10 different scholarship awards and a 4.08 grade point average during her time at UA. Ross was in the University Honors Program and the Randall Research Scholars Program. She became a member of honor societies Tau Beta Pi, The Anderson Society, Mortar Board, Omicron Delta Kappa, Cardinal Key, The XXXI, Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Eta Sigma and Golden Key International. Ross was named 2018 RRSP Outstanding Junior, 2017 UA Outstanding Sophomore and 2016 MTE E.C. Wright Outstanding Sophomore. In 2017, she won the C.H.T. Wilkins Award for Excellence. During summer 2017, Ross was a research intern with the Army Education Outreach Program conducting thin film studies. She also worked with Dr. Gregory Thompson, UA professor of metallurgical and materials engineering, studying ultra-high temperature ceramics and coatings. Ross has presented her work at seven events during her undergraduate career including the 42nd Annual Conference on Composites, Materials and Structures. In 2018, she earned first place in the UA System Casting Competition and first-place oral presentation at the UA Systems Conference. At the 2018 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference, Ross came in first in the College of Engineering category and second in the Engineering, Technology and Energy category.

At the Capstone, she served in several leadership positions including secretary of the Materials Advantage/American Foundry Society, vice president of STEAM Alabama and middle school outreach chairman of the Society of Women Engineers. In 2018, Ross was a summer measurement engineering intern at Corning, Inc. in Hickory, North Carolina, and she interned with Chevron in Mississippi during the summer of 2019. Ross returned to UA in fall 2019 to finish her metallurgical engineering master’s degree in UA’s Accelerated Master’s Program. The CES began the Outstanding Senior Award in 1986 to honor an exceptional student who deserves distinction among his or her peers. An outstanding student is selected from the 11 academic programs in the College, and the overall winner is determined by a selection committee after assessing each student’s academic performance, professional and technical activities, College leadership, external leadership and other activities.

CRIMSON RACING BRINGS HOME BEST FINISH TO DATE The University of Alabama’s Formula SAE team had the best performance in team history this year. UA’s team, called Crimson Racing, placed 10th overall out of 108 international teams from eight countries at the Formula SAE Michigan competition. The results placed UA fifth out of U.S. schools and first in the Southeastern Conference. The annual competition took place in May at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Teams were judged in static and dynamic events. The static events were based on research, presentation and reports while dynamic events were based on how the car preformed while racing. Crimson Racing placed seventh in design and business, ninth in endurance and 10th in autocross. Preparation for this competition began last summer. During the fall semester, the 18-member team finalized the design and manufactured the parts. In the spring, the car was assembled and tested. Five years ago, UA placed 93rd in the same competition. The team has been ambitious in setting high goals for themselves the past few years, and the results are starting to reflect their

Morgan Ross was honored with the 2019 Capstone Engineering Society Outstanding Senior Award. Dean Chuck Karr presented the award to her during a ceremony at the NorthRiver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

hard work. The competition has given team members a lot of experience and opportunities.

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE

With the best finish in team history, UA’s Formula SAE team Crimson Racing came in 10th place out of 108 international teams.

ENGINEERING SENIORS WIN SECOND CONSECUTIVE IEEE ROBOTIC COMPETITION For the second consecutive year, a senior robotics team from The University of Alabama took home a win at an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers regional conference. Six senior computer engineering students won the Student Hardware Competition at IEEE SoutheastCon 2019 in Huntsville. Dr. Kenny Ricks, faculty adviser and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, doesn’t think any school has ever won twice in a row. More than 40 teams from across the southeast in IEEE Region 3 participated. This year’s competition theme was space. Students were tasked with programming their robot to autonomously move colored blocks and balls that simulated space debris from one place to another. To earn points, teams could continue to deorbit the debris, or for bonus points, teams could color sort the debris. Obstacles were also placed in orbit to make navigating more difficult. The top eight teams after two preliminary rounds moved on to

Brandon Quinn, Julia Lanier, Trent Whalen, Katie McCray and David Weil, senior computer engineering students, competed at IEEE SoutheastCon 2019 in Huntsville. the arena at the same time and fought for the same debris. The competition rules and theme were announced before the fall 2018 semester and were refined throughout the school year. The UA students worked on their robot, named Big AL-e and

a seeded playoff bracket with a quarterfinal, semifinal and final

often called Stumpy Sr., the entire academic year for their senior

round to name the champion. In the playoff, both teams were in

design project.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

Before Ricks took the helm in 2008, UA did not compete. Ricks worked with Dr. Tim Haskew, electrical and computer engineering department head, to provide resources for the team to succeed. Year after year the team has steadily improved and placed first in 2018. The team consisted of Julia Lanier, Katie McCray, Michael Norman, Brandon Quinn, David Weil and Trent Whalen.

UA STUDENTS SHINE AT HACKING COMPETITIONS Several University of Alabama students competed in two Tennessee-based collegiate hacking competitions last fall and won top prizes. VolHacks 2018 was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, last September. This 36-hour annual hacking competition involved students from all over the country competing and using programming and design skills to create software projects. Mayank Agarwal, a computer science major from Surat, India, won first place overall with his program “Qlink Music,” a music sharing app that allows people to quickly link to music and share it with friends regardless of what app they use to listen to music. In addition to first place, Agarwal also received two of the competition’s sponsored awards for Best Mobile App and Best Use of Google Cloud Platform. A three-person team of computer science majors, Amber Gupta, from New Delhi, India; Thien Sn Duong Do, from Saigon, Vietnam; and David McCoy, from Hendersonville, Tennessee, placed second with their creation of “Diff Pic.” Their program is a web browser tool that compares images and shows the difference between versions of an image over time. The Best Duo Hack award was given to two UA students, Kayla Hamilton, a computer science major from Howell, Michigan, and

Several UA College of Engineering students participated in a hacking competition at the University of Tennessee called VolHacks.

ENGINEERING STUDENTS SUCCEED IN ANNUAL UA BUSINESS COMPETITION University of Alabama students were invited to pitch their business ideas at the Edward K. Aldag Jr. Business Plan Competition held on campus this spring. UA College of Engineering students were members of seven teams that placed in the competition including the grand prize winning team. Started in 2014 by Edward K. Aldag Jr., CEO and chairman of Medical Properties Trust Inc., the business plan competition cultivates entrepreneurship by allowing UA students to turn their business plans into reality through a daylong series of pitches to panels of judges. This year, 34 student teams competed. The Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute, an outreach center in UA’s Culverhouse College of Business hosted the competition.

Grand Prize $50,000

Mason McVicker, an electrical engineering major with a computer

Trips 4 Trade is a peer-

engineering option from Aurora, Colorado. Their program “Bama-

to-peer based service that

Food-Trucks” allows students to track the food trucks on UA’s

allows users to trade trips

campus throughout the day.

and experiences pertaining

VandyHacks 2018 was held in Nashville, Tennessee, last November. A student team called Seismic Data, consisting of computer science major Ben Gitter, civil engineering major Patrick Murray, computer science major Genevieve Minias, computer science and math major Nehal Vora and Belmont University audio engineering major James Bertrand, won Best Overall and Built for Business for their project that worked as a video surveillance alternative.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

to outdoors, adventure, vacation, and sports. Members include: Slade Johnston, MBA student, from Butler, Alabama, and Andrew Johnson, mechanical and aerospace engineering student, from La Grange, Kentucky. This team also took home the Community Affairs Board of Directors Award worth $5,000 provided by the innovation and entrepreneurship committee and the Alabama Capital Network Business Grant and Mentoring Award worth $5,000 from the members of the Alabama Capital Network.

SPRING 2019

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE

Second Place $3,000 Locality is an app intended to help people connect by being the bridge between screens and face-to-face interactions. Members include: Lily Prater, creative media major, from Calhoun, Georgia; Bryant Mathis, metallurgical engineering major, from Calhoun, Georgia; Alex Tidwell, mathematics major, from Panama City, Florida; and Ethan Reeves, electrical engineering major, from Milford, New Hampshire.

Third Place $2,000 Rottweiler Security aims to reduce theft and loss by providing customers with the ability to be alerted the second they leave their item behind or when a thief steals their item. Photo: John R. Zimmerman, chemical engineering major, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Crowd Favorite $500 Fiber Motionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s idea is to use a patent for 3D fiber optic motion capture in a suit to capture human movement in real-time. Members include: Carson Burgin, chemical engineering major, from Anderson, South Carolina; Daniel Murphree, computer science major, from Birmingham, Alabama; Noah Zahm, mechanical engineering major, from Austin, Texas; Jack Sledge and Jessica Crawford.

Best New Idea $500 SEACR is an adaptive, noise cancelling earbud. Members include: Sani Ghulmani, computer science major, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Rachel Becse, nursing major, from Murrysville, Pennsylvania; Clay Nunley, mechanical engineering major, from Louisville, Kentucky; Adam Graff, electrical engineering major, from Gibsonia, Pennsylvania; and Elizabeth Holley.

Round 2 Runner Up $1,000 The Artemis Co. offers unique safety tools for women in the form of self-defense jewelry. CEO: Lauren Irene Gwin, mechanical engineering major, from Shalimar, Florida.

Room Runner Up $500 ME-Commerce is an eCommerce business that provides a consulting business and is building out its own eCommerce sites. Members include: Louis Shulman, computer science major, from Las Vegas, Nevada; Sani Ghulamani, computer engineering major, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Alan MacGavin, marketing major, from Temecula, California; Jake Sacco, general business major, from Huntsville, Alabama; and Raza Bajwa.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

FACULTY & STAFF

ACCOLADES

Dean Chuck Karr, left, presents Dr. Kenny Ricks, right, with the 2019 T. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership award during a recent ceremony at NorthRiver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa.

RICKS RECEIVES UA ENGINEERINGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HACKNEY LEADERSHIP AWARD The University of Alabama College of Engineering announced Dr. Kenneth G. Ricks, associate professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, as the 2019 T. Morris Hackney Endowed Faculty Leadership Award recipient. The award honors a faculty member who exemplifies the constant guidance and leadership necessary to make the College of Engineering exceptional. Currently, Ricks serves as assistant department head and undergraduate program director for the electrical and computer engineering department. He was hired at UA as an assistant professor in 2002 and was awarded tenure and named an associate professor in 2008. Since joining UA, Ricks has taught 19 different undergraduate and graduate courses and has directed three graduate student dissertations and 19 theses. He has served in several capacities at the Capstone including on several committees and councils. He has been the faculty adviser for the UA Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Robotics Team since 2008 and the Alabama Astrobotics NASA Robotic Mining Competition Team since 2009. The six-time national champion Astrobotics team has

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

placed in the top six of the NASA Robotic Mining Competition since the team began competing in 2010. In eight of the last 10 years, the IEEE robotics team has placed in the top six and are current two-time champions of the IEEE SoutheastCon Hardware Competition. Ricks, who holds engineering degrees from UA and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, is a senior member of IEEE, IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, and the International Society of Computers and their Applications. He has won awards from IEEE, ISCA and NASA, and has been recognized several times for his work as an educator including the UA National Alumni Association Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award. He has research contracts and grants totaling more than $2.6 million, in-kind gifts organized from external sources totaling $53,000, and monetary gifts organized from external sources totaling more than $150,000. Ricks has published a book chapter, refereed journal articles, refereed conference proceedings, nonrefereed conference proceedings, and a technical presentation. This award was created as a tribute to T. Morris Hackney and was made possible by the contributions from John H. Josey and his son, Howard Josey.

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE UA PROFESSORS CHOSEN FOR FULBRIGHTS Two members of The University of Alabama College of Engineering’s faculty received Fulbright Scholar Grants. The U.S. Fulbright Scholar Program offers nearly 470 teaching, research or combination teaching and research awards in more than 125 countries.

Dr. Anwarul Haque, associate professor, department of aerospace engineering and mechanics Haque will receive a Fulbright Teaching and Research scholar award for spring 2020 to the European University of Madrid, Spain, where he will teach a course in “Resistance of Materials and Elasticity” that is relevant to the European curriculum in the department of aerospace engineering. He also will deliver guest lectures to faculty, graduate students and researchers in the areas of nanotechnology and digital manufacturing of composites. He will share his current research interests with international researchers for collaboration among UA, the

Dr. Anwarul Haque

European University of Madrid and European companies such as Airbus.

Dr. Edward Sazonov, professor, department of electrical and computer engineering As a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, Sazonov will perform a research study using the sensor-driven assessment of infant feeding at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He will collaborate with the nutrition and dietetic researchers at the Priority Research Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition. The study will use infant feeding sensors developed in Sazonov’s lab and investigate feeding patterns of infants during the first year of life, focusing on transition from milk and formula to complementary foods. Sazonov will collaborate with researchers from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computing to process the collected data and develop metrics of feeding behavior that may describe and explain the differences in feeding patterns. Overall, Sazonov’s research focuses on technological solutions for monitoring diet and feeding behaviors in infants, children and adults and the uses of these technologies in weight loss interventions. One other UA professor received a Fulbright Grant, and one UA instructor received a

Dr. Edward Sazonov

Fulbright Specialist Award.

PROFESSOR SELECTED AS UA’S SEC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER Officials of the Southeastern Conference announced that Dr. Ramana Reddy, ACIPCO Endowed Professor in Metallurgy, was the 2019 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner for The University of Alabama. Faculty members from each SEC university have been named recipients of the honor, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey announced. Now in its eighth year, the program honors one individual from each SEC university who has excelled in teaching – particularly at the undergraduate level – and research. Reddy has more than 33 years of teaching and research experience in chemical and materials engineering, particularly in the areas of thermodynamics, materials synthesis, molten metal processing and renewable energy. While at UA, he has served as head of the department of metallurgical and materials engineering as well as associate director for the UA

Dr. Ramana Reddy

Center for Green Manufacturing.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

In 2017, the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, or TMS,

•

honored Reddy with the TMS Educator Award. He has secured nearly $20 million in grants and holds five U.S. patents.

Aaron Brovont, assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering

•

Prabhakar Clement, director of the Center for Water Quality Research

There are approximately 14,000 full-time, tenured faculty members in the SEC, and to be eligible for an achievement award

•

Chris S. Crawford, assistant professor, computer science

the individual must have achieved the rank of full professor; have

•

Terry Elliott, Center for Advanced Public Safety

a record of extraordinary teaching; and have a record of research

•

Sevgi Zubeyde Gurbuz, assistant professor, electrical and

that is recognized nationally and/or internationally.

UA CELEBRATES RESEARCH, CREATIVE ACTIVITY BY UA FACULTY Members of The University of Alabama faculty were honored for their research and creative contributions at Faculty Research Day. Eight members of the UA faculty, including mechanical engineering associate professor Zheng O’Neill, were recognized

computer engineering •

Zhe Jiang, assistant professor, computer science

•

Jonghun Kam, assistant professor, civil, construction and environmental engineering

•

Civil Engineering •

Sponsored by the offices of the President and Vice President for Research and Economic Development, the award goes to outstanding faculty researchers from across UA’s colleges and schools. Faculty Research Day highlights and celebrates excellence in research, creativity and scholarship by bringing together faculty from across campus. The event is also intended to increase awareness and generate enthusiasm for scholarship among faculty as the University advances its research enterprise and its impact.

•

More than 80 members of the UA faculty and staff, including 17 College of Engineering faculty and staff, were honored for receiving their first externally funded research award at The University of Alabama. Dr. John C. Higginbotham, interim vice president for research and economic development when the awards were given in fall 2018, recognized the researchers at the Celebrate Research First Awardee Luncheon. Higginbotham initiated the event to promote, enhance and generate excitement for research activities and opportunities on campus. Those College of Engineering faculty and staff who received their first sponsored research award at UA during the 2017-2018 academic year include:

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

Hamid Moradkhani, Alton N. Scott Professor of Engineering, director of Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research

•

Rebecca Odom-Bartel, instructor, computer science

•

Jeremy Pate, Center for Advanced Public Safety

•

Kalyan Kumar Srinivasan, associate professor, mechanical engineering

•

Ryan Summers, assistant professor, chemical and biological engineering

•

Ryan Taylor, assistant professor, electrical and computer engineering

•

Leigh Terry, assistant professor, civil, construction and environmental engineering

•

UA RESEARCHERS RECOGNIZED FOR FIRST AWARDS

Sundar Rajan Krishnan, associate professor, mechanical engineering

as recipients of the President’s Faculty Research Award during a ceremony on the UA campus in April.

Michael Kreger, Garry Neil Drummond Endowed Chair in

Feng Yan, assistant professor, metallurgical and materials engineering

UA ENGINEERING PROFESSOR NAMED AVS FELLOW A University of Alabama metallurgical and materials engineering professor has received an award for her contributions to disciplines related to materials, interfaces and processing. Dr. Subhadra Gupta has been named a 2018 American Vacuum Society Fellow for her research in thin film and vacuum

SPRING 2019

Dr. Subhadra Gupta

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE technology for optical, electronic and magnetic devices leading to commercial applications in the semiconductor and data storage industry. The 2018 award was given to 13 out of 4,500 AVS members worldwide. This award recognizes members who have made sustained and exceptional scientific contributions in areas of interest to AVS for at least 10 years. These contributions can be in research, engineering, technical advancement, academic education or managerial leadership.

UA ENGINEERING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR WINS TOP CONFERENCE PAPER AWARD A University of Alabama assistant professor of computer science was awarded three Best Paper Awards at the 2018 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International

Each Fellow must have been a member of AVS for five consecutive years prior to receiving this award. Due to the prestigious nature of this award, each class of Fellows cannot exceed .5 percent of its members. Gupta is the current secretary/treasurer of the Thin Films Division, which is the third largest division of AVS. Previously, Gupta has held the positions of program chair, chair and executive committee member of the Thin Films Division.

UA ENGINEERING PROFESSOR CHOSEN AS 2019 MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY MEETING CHAIR The 2019 MRS Spring Meeting Chairs are, from left to right, Subhash L. Shinde, University of Notre Dame; Bruce Dunn, University of California, Los Angeles; Yuping Bao, The University of Alabama; Subodh Mhaisalkar, Nanyang Technological University; and sitting in the chair is Ruth Schwaiger, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology—Institute for Applied Materials.

Conference on Cluster Computing including winning the Overall Best Paper Award. Dr. Dingwen Tao co-

Dr. Dingwen Tao

authored two papers submitted to the 2018 Cluster

Conference held in Belfast, United Kingdom. Both submissions received best paper in their respective tracks. One paper was awarded first in the area of Data, Storage and Visualization, and the second paper won both in the area of Applications, Algorithms and Libraries as well as the conference Overall Best Paper Award. The IEEE Cluster Conference is a major international forum for presenting recent accomplishments and technological developments in the field of cluster computing. A total of 154 papers were submitted and 44 of those were accepted into the conference. The overall winning paper is titled “PaSTRI: Error-Bounded Lossy Compression for Two Electron Integrals in Quantum Chemistry.” This paper developed a fast and effective data compression algorithm for two-electron repulsion integrals in a parallel quantum chemistry simulation. The second paper is titled “An Efficient Transformation Scheme for Lossy Data Compression with Point-wise Relative Error Bound.” This paper proposed a transformation scheme that

A University of Alabama associate professor of chemical and biological engineering was chosen to help lead the 2019

can transfer pointwise relative-error-bounded problems to an absolute-error-bounded compression issue.

Materials Research Society Spring Meeting. Dr. Yuping Bao served as one of five meeting chairs for the annual event, which was held April 22-26 in Phoenix, Arizona. Bao was nominated by the previous year’s chair and selected by the MRS president. According to Bao, meeting chairs need to be well-known within their field, highly involved in the Materials Research Society and willing to work. Preparation for the annual meeting takes a year and a half and starts with each chair selecting a topic to promote, share and discuss at the meeting. Bao’s topic was biomaterials.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

BRIEF Dr. Paul Allison, mechanical engineering, was named to the Graphene Academic Council. The University of Alabama was one of eight universities that joined the council. It was formed in May 2019 and is governed by the National Graphene Association.

Dr. Edward Back, civil, construction and environmental engineering, was selected as an SEC Academic Leadership Development Program fellow for the 2018-2019 Academic Year.

Dr. Jeff Gray, computer science, was presented with a commendation from Gov. Kay Ivey for his work in helping to expand the K-12 computer science options in Alabama over the past decade.

Dr. Mukesh Kumar, civil, construction and environmental engineering, received the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Samman Award for outstanding services, achievements and contributions. Presented by the Non-Resident Indian Welfare Society of India to about 60 nonresident Indians per year out of nearly 16 million living outside of India, the award recognizes their accomplishments while also strengthening the bond between nonresident Indians and India.

SEC FACULTY TRAVEL PROGRAM RECIPIENTS The SEC Faculty Travel Program supported more than 100 SEC faculty members during the 2018-2019 academic year. Participants traveled to other SEC universities to exchange ideas, develop grant proposals, conduct research and deliver lectures or performances. University of Alabama College of Engineering travelers and the universities they visited include:

Dr. Qing Peng,

Dr. Steve Ritchie,

Dr. Ryan Summers,

chemical and biological engineering,

Auburn University

University of Kentucky

University of Georgia

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

SURVEYING THE COLLEGE

RETIREMENTS Dr. Susan Burkett, Alabama Power Foundation Endowed Professor of electrical and computer engineering, retired May 31, 2019. A native of Columbia, Missouri, she received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri in 1985, 1987 and 1992, respectively. Burkett was an assistant professor at The University of Alabama from 1994-1997, and she returned to UA as an endowed professor in 2008. Her research interests included silicon processing, electronic device fabrication, microelectronic materials, integrated circuit processing and 3D integration. Burkett was a member of UA’s Center for Materials for Information Technology. She was also the UA campus director of the Alabama Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program, and she was on the executive steering committee of UA’s Women in STEM Experience, or WiSE, Conference. In 1997, Burkett received the prestigious NSF Early Faculty CAREER award to investigate materials reliability issues for information storage devices. In 2014, Burkett was honored with the College’s T. Morris Hackney Faculty Leadership Award, and in 2016 she was named an American Vacuum Society Fellow. During her career, she Dr. Susan Burkett

also worked at the University of Arkansas, Boise State University, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Becton Dickinson Research Center and AT&T Technologies. Burkett has been awarded more than $10 million in external funding, has more than 120 refereed publications and is an inventor on five U.S. patents.

Dr. John Lusth, associate professor of computer science, retired May 31, 2019. He taught at UA for 11 years and was named best teacher in the department nine times with the Upsilon Pi Epsilon Excellence in Instruction Award. Lusth received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Michigan Technological University in 1980, a master’s degree in computer science from Duke University in 1983, and a doctorate in computer science from UA in 1997. His research was in programming languages. At UA, he was named a Graduate Council Fellow, a Graduate Council Creative Activity Fellow and was given a College of Engineering Excellence in Research Award. During his career, he also worked at the University of Arkansas, Boise State University, the Statistical Analysis System Institute, Southwest Research Institute, Becton Dickinson Research Center and Milliken and Company. At Boise State, he was awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Dr. John Lusth

NEW TO THE COLLEGE •

Dr. Saahastaranshu “Saahas” Bhardwaj, assistant

•

Dr. Bhupendra Khandelwal, assistant professor, ME

professor, CCEE

•

Dr. Gregory “Greg” Kubacki, assistant professor, MTE

•

Dr. Mark Cheng, professor, ECE

•

Dr. Jordan Larson, assistant professor, AEM

•

Dr. Christian Cousin, assistant professor, ME

•

Dr. Daan Liang, professor, CCEE

•

Dr. Keivan Davami, assistant professor, ME

•

Dr. Dario Martelli, assistant professor, ME

•

Dr. James “Jamie” Harris, assistant professor, ChBE

•

Dr. Shunqiao Sun, assistant professor, ECE

•

Dr. Jiaze “Jason” He, assistant professor, AEM

•

Dr. Ning Zhang, assistant professor, AEM

•

Dr. Matthew Kasemer, assistant professor, ME

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

CAPSTONE CURRENTS Events from around the College

LEFT: Alabama Astrobotics team members watch their robot during its final competition run of the Robotic Mining Challenge held in the team’s lab on campus in May. RIGHT: Members of the Alabama Astrobotics team watch in anticipation as their robot autonomously mines for gravel during the final two minutes of the Robotic Mining Challenge.

UA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING HOSTS ROBOTIC MINING CHALLENGE The five-time NASA Robotic Mining Competition champions from The University of Alabama assumed hosting duties this year. The Alabama Astrobotics team, titleholders in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, hosted the Robotic Mining Challenge May 6-10 on UA’s campus. For the past nine years, the competition has taken place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Twenty-seven teams accepted the invitation to travel to UA from schools in North Dakota, Alaska, California, New York and around the country. The college students descended on Tuscaloosa to demonstrate how a robot they built over the past year could autonomously navigate and excavate simulated Martian soil, or regolith. Every team had two 10-minute competition runs. Judges used NASA’s rules with only slight logistics tweaks made by main event sponsor Caterpillar Inc. Since UA had a team in the challenge, the University had no part in the judging or rules. Teams were recognized at a banquet with the Judge’s Innovation Award, the SSERVI Regolith Mechanics Award, first

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

through sixth place Caterpillar Autonomy Awards and first through third place Mining Awards. UA’s team took home the SSERVI award, first place autonomy and first place mining. The student teams found themselves in uncharted territory in February. An announcement by NASA stated the yearly mining competition was suspended. NASA was forced to relinquish its annual hosting duties because of lost preparation time during the government shutdown earlier this year. Event sponsors and participating schools scrambled to create a replacement event for the students who had worked hard to prepare this past year. Representatives from Caterpillar asked if UA could host the event in the Astobotics team’s new state-of-the-art lab. The event was made possible by generous sponsors. NASA had a virtual competition this year with categories including systems engineering paper, outreach report and technical presentation. UA only hosted the on-site mining challenge. The competition is scheduled to return to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 2020.

CAPSTONE CURRENTS LEGACY PROGRAM PREPARES YOUNG WOMEN OF COLOR WITH COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION A National Science Foundation grant has enabled The University of Alabama to introduce young women of color to opportunities in computer science. The LEGACY Program is an initiative to prepare African American high school females in Alabama for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles course and exam. In collaboration with Tuskegee and Oakland universities, the grant will fund a cohort of 40 students each year for three years. The participating scholars will have a year-long computer science preparatory experience that begins with summer training and mentoring and continues through the academic year. Each participant will take the AP course during the 20192020 school year and the exam in May 2020. The goal of the program is to increase participation and preparation of African American young women in computer science. Dr. Jeff Gray, UA computer science professor, said African American females have the lowest percentage of representation in computer science and software development fields. He said Alabama ranks third in the country in the number of African American girls per capita taking the AP test, and he hopes this project will help Alabama become No. 1.

This year’s cohort was on UA’s campus June 2-7 for a weeklong workshop. Each day, the students experienced a summarized version of the AP CSP course they are taking during the upcoming school year. Three African American female teachers from across the state — Pam McClendon, Wendy Johnson, Donnita Tucker — led the workshop. Each afternoon, the students attended panels where they heard noted female software engineers from Microsoft and Google speak. The professionals gave the students advice and talked about their experiences in the field. Four current UA female African American computer science students — Phoebe Burns, Jovonda Robinson, Kristade Swain, Brianna Wimer — were mentors to the participants during their week on campus and offered insight into life as a college student. The high school scholars also got to experience social activities during the evenings including watching the movie Hidden Figures. The group met again for a two-day workshop at Tuskegee in July. Throughout the school year the program will continue as a support system to the students. Scholars who complete the LEGACY program will get a stipend to cover travel, lodging, technology and the AP exam to ensure total participation. More than 100 students applied to the program this year. Gray hopes LEGACY will make an impact at each of the participants’ schools and their peers will be uplifted by their success.

In addition to giving students a head start in content knowledge, he said it will also give them confidence to succeed in the computer science discipline and insight into college life.

The LEGACY students took a break during their weeklong computer science workshop this summer to take a photo outside of Shelby Hall.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

The contest featured teams of students programming robots to autonomously move through a playing field and complete three problems over a two-and-a-half-hour period. Students were in teams of between two and five participants, and they competed in three separate age divisions, elementary, middle and high school. Awards were given to the top four teams in each age division. Prior to the contest, Dr. Jeff Gray, UA computer science professor, co-hosted a robotics workshop on campus with the Black Belt Bridge Builder Foundation to help teachers prepare. The first challenge was wind sprints, which featured the robot Dr. Jeff Gray, UA computer science professor, speaks at the 2018 National Center for Women in Information Technology, or NCWIT, Aspirations Award celebration for the North Alabama region.

sprinting to various lengths. The second challenge was a threepoint contest where the robot moved five plastic balls from fixed locations outside the three-point range to the goal area. The final challenge featured a fast break and buzzer beater where the robots moved past defenders and passed over key locations on the court without moving the defenders.

UA COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT HONORS HIGH SCHOOL FEMALES IN COMPUTING The computer science department at The University of Alabama honored female high school students for their successes in computing this spring.

UA computer science assistant professor Dr. Chris Crawford was the event’s keynote speaker, and his speech was titled Brain-Robot Interaction and Brain-Computer Interfaces for Novice Programmers. After the competition, Crawford hosted UA’s first collegiate brain-drone race in the conference center. Competitors raced

The department hosted the 2019 National Center for Women in Information Technology, or NCWIT, Aspirations Award celebration for the North Alabama region on April 27. The event took place in H.M. Comer Hall and recognized 60 award

their drones by wearing electroencephalogram headbands around their forehead and concentrating on anything from math problems to music notes to move the aircraft with their brain waves.

recipients including 57 female high school students and three teachers. The keynote speaker for this event was Lisa Evans, the chief information officer and IT director at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International.

UA COMPUTER SCIENCE HOSTS ANNUAL K-12 ROBOTICS COMPETITION AND NEW BRAINDRONE RACE Nearly 300 K-12 students from across Alabama were welcomed to campus this spring for a computer programming competition that used robotics as a host platform. The University of Alabama computer science department hosted the ninth annual Alabama Robotics Competition April 6 at the Bryant Conference Center. This year’s competition was March Madness basketball themed.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

The computer science department hosted the University’s first brain-drone race on campus in April.

CAPSTONE CURRENTS

LEFT: UA doctoral student Akshay Narkhede makes hydrogels for high-school students visiting Dr. Shreyas Rao’s lab during Scientist for a Day. RIGHT: John Allen is an electrical engineering alumnus of The University of Alabama who races in the Pirelli World Challenge.

IN THE LAB: UA STUDENTS HELP INSPIRE NEXT WAVE OF SCIENTISTS Akshay Narkhede routinely prepares polymeric biomaterials during lab work in the Science and Engineering Complex at The

The event is an extension of ASIM’s mission to provide hightech lab experiences for students and professional development for teachers. ASIM has 33 branches across the state, including an office at the UA-UWA In-Service Center at UA.

University of Alabama. engineering, uses these hydrogels to mimic the mechanical

ALUMNUS DISPLAYS UA THEMED RACECARS ON CAMPUS

aspects of human tissue to study how cancer cells behave in

An alumnus of The University of Alabama and professional

Narkhede, a doctoral student in chemical and biological

human or clinical settings. In Dr. Shreyas Rao’s lab, Narkhede investigates how breast cancer cells will act in distant organ tissues and studies the spread of breast cancer to these organs. Narkhede has other research concentrations in Rao’s lab, but on this day, he’s focused on duplicating hydrogels to demonstrate to several young, curious shadows: high school seniors in a daylong immersion of hands-on lab experiments at UA. Nine students from five high schools in the Tuscaloosa area participated in Scientist for a Day, an Alabama Science in Motion program designed to inspire upperclassmen to major in a STEM field. In the last five years, 34 high school students have participated in the program. This year, in addition to Rao’s lab, students conducted

racecar driver, brought two new cars to campus in February. John Allen, a 1979 electrical engineering graduate, races professionally in the Pirelli World Challenge. He displayed his new BMW M235iR and M4 GT4 racecars in front of H.M. Comer Hall before the start of the racing season. The two racecars are covered in University of Alabama and Where Legends Are Made logos. A 2018 Distinguished Engineering Fellow of the College of Engineering, Allen has retired from his careers in U.S. intelligence and business to race full time. The Pirelli World Challenge season began March 2 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The races are streamed live and re-broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

experiments in a biology lab in Mary Harmon Bryant Hall and the Caldwell Lab, better known as the “Worm Shack,” in the SEC.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

ACCEPTED UA launchpad propels alumnus to great heights By Alana Norris Former acting administrator of

For 15 months, Lightfoot served

NASA and University of Alabama

as NASAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s acting administrator, and

alumnus Robert Lightfoot has been

he now holds the record for longest

on a path of reconnection for the

serving acting administrator in

past year.

history. In this position, he prepared

After retiring from NASA in April 2018, Lightfoot returned to Alabama on a quest to spend more time with family and to give back to his alma

the budget, completed space missions and frequently worked with Congress and the White House.

mater. He has done just that as well

Lightfoot never imagined he

as taking on a few more new jobs in

would one day hold a top-level

the process.

position at NASA.

(Photo by Pixabay from Pexels)

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

Robert Lightfoot is giving back to his alma mater by making more visits to campus and being a member of the UA College of Engineering Dean’s Leadership Board.

“I was just doing my job,” he said.

from UA with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Lightfoot considers himself lucky to have been in the right

While at Alabama, he said he recognized how difficult

places at the right times throughout his career and to have had mentors who guided him there. Now, he is the one mentoring students.

engineering could be, but he also realized that he was capable. The classroom wasn’t really where he thrived, but Lightfoot, a self-described experiential learner, said everything he had

The pieces of advice he finds most important to give students are to be persistent and positive every day. Lightfoot encourages his mentees to not think they’re better than

learned in class clicked during an internship before his senior year. Two lessons in particular stand out to him. “What the University taught me is you’ve got to work hard,

anyone else and to treat people the way they would like to be

[and] it takes a team,” Lightfoot said. “Everything takes a team.

treated.

There’s nothing more rewarding than being part of something

“There’s going to be times when things get really hard. Don’t quit. And, don’t let anybody tell you, ‘you can’t do it,’” he said.

bigger than you.” After graduating, he worked at Rockwell International

“Just do the job you’re given, and do it the best you can. No

doing testing in the aftermath of the Challenger space shuttle

matter what it is.”

accident. While working with NASA on this project, he made

His inspirational words are immortalized in Alumni Hall on the second floor of the newly renovated H.M. Comer Hall. “In The University of Alabama College of Engineering, I learned how to approach and solve the most complex of problems. I could have never been part of such incredible missions and discoveries without standing on the foundation of my experience to function as a team player, give back and encourage the next generation of engineers.” To him, earning a degree is proof that someone is strong willed enough to follow through. In 1986, Lightfoot graduated

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

several connections, and just a few years later, he applied and was hired for a job at Marshall Space Flight Center. At the beginning of his NASA career, Lightfoot mostly did propulsion testing at both Marshall and Stennis Space Center. After the Columbia accident, he was asked to lead return to flight efforts in Washington D.C. His main duty was to communicate what the agency was doing and how they were working to improve operations. Later, he returned to Marshall as the shuttle propulsion manager and was promoted to deputy center director, and then center director.

In 2012, Lightfoot was invited back to D.C. to become the associate administrator, which is the third highest position at NASA. It is considered to be the top career position because the deputy director and director are appointed by the president. “As the associate administrator, you’re responsible for the day-to-day operations of the agency,” Lightfoot said, adding it was a more technical position. For a year and a half, he maintained this position while he worked as the acting administrator. Throughout his years at NASA, Lightfoot said there have been several highlights. In his early profession, he thoroughly enjoyed running space shuttle main engine tests. During his mid-career years, he was exhilarated sitting on the consul for launches. Later, he found satisfaction in creating national space policy. One of the greatest accomplishments he was a part of at NASA was flying the space shuttle safely. “I was center director at Marshall for the last eight shuttle launches, and when you’re responsible for all the propulsion elements, there’s a lot of anxious moments,” Lightfoot said. “My teams there did an amazing job. The workforce stayed there to the very end and made sure we launched and returned those astronauts safely.” The first year after his retirement from NASA, Lightfoot worked as president of LSINC Corp. in Huntsville. Then in May 2019, he became vice president of business development for Lockheed Martin’s space segment. In this position, he is responsible for planning, strategies and new technology for the $9 billion-revenue business. Lightfoot became chairman of the Alabama Space Grant Consortium’s Industrial Advisory Board in June 2019. The board is made up of 12 members and will advise the consortium on programs and industry relevance. He also serves on the UA College of Engineering Dean’s Leadership Board. This March, Lightfoot was honored by the National Space Club & Foundation with the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy for his service to the country. During his career, NASA presented him with the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executives and the Silver Snoopy Award. He was inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2010. Lightfoot has also been named a fellow of UA’s mechanical engineering department and a College of Engineering Distinguished Engineering Fellow. In addition to spending more time with his family, moving back to Alabama has also given Lightfoot an opportunity to reconnect with the University. “The University took care of me and frankly, got me off to this start. It’s time for me to give back,” he said.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

THE SOUND OF New degree mixes music and engineering By Alana Norris

The University of Alabama is now the place where technical engineering skills and musical talent meet. The College of Engineering added a musical audio engineering degree to its catalog this fall in collaboration with UA’s School of Music. The degree is housed in the electrical and computer engineering department. “This is a collaboration between two colleges for a degree

“It’s all a natural fit really,” Haskew said. “Music is very mathematical. A lot of times you will see folks with a technical background gravitate towards music.” Charles “Skip” Snead, director of the School of Music, said many Million Dollar Band members are engineering students. “There are many students on this campus every year that have strengths in both engineering and music. The

program. I don’t know that we’ve ever done that on this

opportunity to bring both of these to the table is certainly

campus,” said Dr. Tim Haskew, electrical and computer

going to be a very attractive option for a lot of folks,” Snead

engineering department head.

said.

Students who pursue this degree will learn about recording studio operations, live recording environments and use of equipment to become fully trained audio engineers. Students must take a mixture of foundational engineering courses, like physics, electronics and calculus, as well as traditional music courses, like performance, history and theory, to earn their degree. Haskew said the idea is to graduate students who can fully understand how to design, maintain and operate performance and recording equipment who are musically trained to know how the technical aspect can be applied in a creative context. He sees this degree path as an opportunity for students who want to be an engineer but also have a passion for the arts.

Tory Ezell, UA College of Engineering manager of web communication, is earning a degree in this program. “I think it’s a cutting-edge program. It takes audio engineering to a level that is above and beyond just mixing down audio and using pro tools,” Ezell said. “It takes it to a level where the knowledge that you learn spans across multiple disciplines.” Ezell has always had an interest in music and its technical application, and this program was the perfect combination of his interests. He wants to fuel that curiosity into building and repairing synthesizers because he appreciates the sound the instrument produces. “That’s what steered me to the program. It specifically will give me that technical knowledge,” Ezell said.

Musical audio engineering students will be able to learn in the UA School of Music’s recording studio on campus. From left to right, Tory Ezell, professor of jazz studies Tom Wolfe, Skip Snead and Dr. Tim Haskew. Haskew said the engineering portion is what really sets it

It all started with a conversation between Haskew and

apart from programs that focus on the music business. Snead

Snead. The duo was setting up a sound system at a bike

agreed there is much more engineering in this program and

race and realized the need for a program of this nature. Plus,

a good bit more music too. Instead of just learning audio tech

they already had everything they needed to make the idea a

and recording skills, he said the graduates from this program

reality.

will be both professional musicians and engineers. “To our knowledge, this is the first degree program of

“It became clear that if we just simply figure out a way to synthesize and marry these resources, faculty and courses,

its kind in the country that literally has a balance between

we could come up with a unique degree program that is

musical training and engineering, having a full core

going to really benefit students to offer them something they

curriculum between both disciplines,” Snead said.

can’t get at another university,” Snead said.

The program will be capped at 60 students who must

The two professors worked with Dr. Kenny Ricks and

audition for the School of Music to be accepted. Most

Dr. Amir Zaheri, and it took about two years, Snead said,

of the courses are already established in the respective

between designing the curriculum and the approval of both

departments and only one new engineering class will be

respective college deans, the provost, the Alabama Council

added. The degree requires a total of 126 credit hours.

on Higher Education and the UA Board of Trustees.

“Looking at the industry, there are so many opportunities,” Snead said. He listed community centers, religious organizations, civic centers, television and radio stations and music venues as places where these graduates could find employment. In addition, graduates could also work as consultants and advisers on hardware and software manufacturing. “We certainly anticipate students coming out of this degree program moving in on the high end of this market because of their training and background and what they’ll be bringing to the table,” Snead said.

The goal is to have the program accredited by both ABET, the national accrediting agency for engineering and computing programs, and the National Association of Schools of Music, the foremost U.S. accreditor for music higher education. The two agencies already have a relationship to support combined engineering and music studies and UA intends to take advantage of the connection. “We’re really excited to see this program happening. It’s going to be special,” Snead said. “The students that come out with this degree are going to be uniquely trained to be really successful.”

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

SAVING THE

PLANET

UA students are part of a national team working to reduce energy consumption by buildings and to quantify the savings. By Hannah Price It’s a Friday night, and you have invited a houseful of people over for a dinner party. Your mind is spinning with the details: cooking, cleaning and decorating. You think you’ve covered every element; but, as guests start to arrive, the temperature in your house begins rising. Before you know it, the place is sweltering and your friends are uncomfortable. You realize you have forgotten to adjust your home’s thermostat to account for the increase in occupancy. The opposite situation might occur if you neglect to adjust the thermostat before you leave for vacation. These common problems beg the question: in a world with self-driving cars and instant connection to an endless supply of information, why must we still adjust building temperatures by hand? If our phones are “smart,” our buildings should be smart as well. This is the question that led Dr. Zheng O’Neill, associate professor of mechanical engineering at The University of Alabama, to research building energy consumption. O’Neill and several students are now part of a nationwide project to find ways of reducing energy used to heat, cool and ventilate buildings. The UA team’s specific goal is to develop a testing protocol for advanced occupancy sensor technologies, and test and quantify energy savings enabled by occupancy-sensor driven controls in laboratories and real buildings. UA’s team also includes Dr. Fei Hu, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Dr. Charles O’Neill, research engineer at UA’s Remote Sensing Center.

ONE SMART BUILDING AT A TIME

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

The first phase of the UA team’s project involves developing a comprehensive testing protocol. Students will then run thousands of simulations using conditions from various locations across the country. The next steps will be testing the sensors and installing them in the two buildings. O’Neill says there is value in utilizing a multidisciplinary team. “The mechanical engineering students are conducting a simulation-based study to evaluate energy savings and exploring different HVAC control strategies,” she says. “The electrical engineering students are enabling the wirelessnetwork sensor to talk with HVAC controls along with collecting and transferring data.” Tao Yang, a doctoral student from China studying mechanical

Dr. Zheng O’Neill and Tao Yang, mechanical engineering doctoral student, discuss building controls. (Photo by Ryan O’Sullivan)

engineering, says he is not only learning practical knowledge

“The building sector consumes 40 percent of the energy in

“I can apply what I learn in class to real life, and witness my

America,” says Zhihong Pang, a doctoral student from China studying mechanical engineering, citing a study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This leaves only 60 percent of the country’s energy for transportation and industry sectors, continues Pang, who began working in O’Neill’s lab in Fall 2017. In Fall 2018, O’Neill and three students – two studying mechanical engineering and one studying electrical engineering – began research that will continue in several phases over the next three years. They plan to implement trials of occupancy sensors in two buildings in Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama’s South Engineering Research Center and Tuscaloosa City Hall. Due to variations in building spaces, usage patterns, HVAC systems and climates, proving energy savings from a particular technology can be difficult. Yet such proof is needed to facilitate widespread adoption of energy-saving devices. “When we complete the work, we should be able to say that if we use this kind of sensor-driven control strategy, we can achieve HVAC energy savings of at least 30 percent,” O’Neill told UA News. Students will test numerous types of sensors, including those that detect movement, count people and measure carbon dioxide.

team. professional knowledge providing energy savings in buildings,” he says. Yang says he has been especially impacted by the interdisciplinary aspect of the research. “It helped me to understand if you want to do something new, you should not only focus on your own field; you also need knowledge from other fields,” he says. Pang says the project could be globally beneficial because of the significant influence it could have on lowering levels of CO2 emissions. The standard testing protocols developed will be shared with engineers across the country to help lower energy consumption nationwide. Once engineers are able to test energy use, they can install sensors to automatically optimize energy use, Pang says. In addition to improving the environment, the technologies the team is exploring could positively affect individuals and families. “The most direct impact will be for the homeowner,” O’Neill says. These sensors will reduce the amount of energy their homes use and therefore lower their utility bills. While the team works to reduce energy use on a large scale, there are many actions the average citizen can take to work toward the same objective. “Everyone can do a little bit,” O’Neill says. Until sensors and HVAC systems can adjust and optimize

Testing protocols will be validated in laboratory-controlled environments at the Delos Well Living Lab, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Lab Homes and in field testing in four commercial buildings, including those in Tuscaloosa, and four residential structures in two climate zones.

about HVAC systems, but also about how to cooperate in a

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

energy use automatically, everyone should pitch in, she says. Suggestions include adjusting thermostats to use less electricity or gas, keeping building occupancy in mind, and turning off lights when leaving a room.

BITS & BYTES The College from Outside

“I have learned so much about the real-world application of my degree and whether or not this is the path I want to take. This opportunity has provided immeasurable benefits and is one of the greatest choices I have made while at UA.” — Joseph Seale, UA civil engineering student, in the article “Co-ops give engineering students ‘real-world application’” in The Crimson White. “None of our work is really traditional computer science or work that has really been done before. Dr. [Chris] Crawford started the foundation for a community at UA that’s not been presented before. He brought together so “A lot of people have misconceptions about hackathons. They think it’s some event where sketchy people do sketchy things with computers. It’s not that at all. We have several students, actually over 200 students, from over 30 different universities that come together to build something awesome. So, think of it more like an invention marathon.” — Kedron Abbott, UA computer science student, in the

many different people from so many different backgrounds to make a new avenue in computer science that will eventually be something very impactful in the years to come.” — Amanda Holloman, a doctoral student studying computer science with a concentration in human-computer interaction and brain-computer interfaces, in the article “UA research team studies human-computer interaction” in The Crimson White.

article “CrimsonHacks provides place for innovation” in The Crimson White. (Photo courtesy of The Crimson White) “Generally, in engineering, if you want to get a job when you graduate, the single most important thing that companies look at is relevant work experience.” — Dr. Beth Todd, mechanical engineering departmental undergraduate program director, in the article “Faculty help students gain real-world job experience” in The Crimson White. “When you think about the competitive nature of the postgraduate job search, being able to have some professional experience that you can discuss as a part of that job search as a way to set yourself apart is really important. It

“We hacked together a team. We did something in 36

provides outstanding network opportunities as well, so you

hours with a team of strangers that had never competed in

get to network within companies, you get to network with

a hackathon before, and I could not have been more proud

peers, both with students from The University of Alabama

of this amazing team I worked with. It was awesome.”

and students who may be co-oping from other universities

— Ben Gitter, UA computer science student, in the article

as well.”

“UA students win Best Overall at VandyHacks” in The

— Neil Adams, assistant director of the Cooperative

Crimson White. (Photo courtesy of Ben Gitter)

Education Program, in the article “Co-ops give engineering students ‘real-world application’” in The Crimson White.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

ALUMNI DYNAMICS

Items of interest to Capstone engineers & computer scientists

UA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING HONORS 2019 DISTINGUISHED FELLOWS The University of Alabama College of Engineering honored five alumni by inducting them into its 2019 class of Distinguished Engineering Fellows. Each year, the College of Engineering inducts a select group of alumni and friends as Distinguished Engineering Fellows. Recognition as a Distinguished Fellow is the highest commendation given to graduates and others who have strengthened the reputation of the College of Engineering through their efforts. Since the recognition’s inception more than 30 years ago, fewer than 400 individuals have been recognized as Distinguished Engineering Fellows. The 2019 class includes Johnny James Howze III, of McDonough, Georgia; Richard Allen Nail II, of Morris; Samir Shah, of Saratoga, California; Annette Maddox Sledd, of Huntsville; and Joan Reichwein Smith, of Huntsville. The inductees were honored at a ceremony at the NorthRiver Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa in April 2019. For complete biographies of this year’s Distinguished Engineering Fellows, visit eng.ua.edu/awards. Johnny James Howze III has worked at 10 Southern Co. energy sites and has earned several recognitions while leading the largest coal-fired power plant in America. Howze, a 1997 mechanical engineering graduate, joined Southern Co. as a summer student in 1990. After completing the Executive Master of Business Administration program at Kennesaw State University, he became the youngest plant manager in the history of Southern Co. when he took the helm of Plant Smith & Scholz in 2003. Howze also has been plant manager at Plant Branch and Wansley. Since 2014, he has been the plant manager of Georgia Power’s Plant Scherer, the largest coalfired power plant in America. In this role, Howze is responsible for providing overall leadership for operations of four coalfired units that can produce 3,700 megawatts of electricity and provide electricity to power approximately 2.7 million homes. Under his leadership, Plant Scherer earned the Southern Company Generation Exceptional Plant Award in 2016, and it was named the 2017 Powder River Basin Coal Users’ Group Plant of the Year.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

The 2019 Distinguished Engineering Fellows are, from left, Richard Allen Nail II, Annette Maddox Sledd, Joan Reichwein Smith, Samir Shah and Johnny James Howze III. Richard Allen “Rick” Nail II has provided comprehensive civil engineering services on projects throughout the Southeast with more than 24 years of experience in all aspects of site development, project management and construction. Nail, a 1994 civil engineering graduate, began as a project manager at LBYD in 2001, became an associate in 2002, principal in 2003, senior principal in 2009, and has been executive vice president since 2012. He has worked on several projects at UA, including Stran-Hardin Arena, Coleman Coliseum and the Bryant-Denny Stadium North End Zone expansion. Nail has also worked on projects at FBI Quantico, FBI Redstone and Redstone Arsenal. He is a registered professional engineer in eight states and a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, accredited professional. Nail serves as a consulting city engineer for Gardendale and West Jefferson. He is chairman of the UA civil, construction and environmental engineering department’s board of advisors. He was recently voted chair-elect of the Capstone Engineering Society board of directors and is a member of the College’s leadership board. Samir Shah earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from UA in 1992. After graduation, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he started a career in software testing. He held various individual and management positions from 1992 to 2000 at companies, such as The Wollongong Group, Attachmate Corp. and PointCast. In 2000, Shah joined Cymbal Corp., a boutique consulting firm founded by another UA graduate, Neeraj Gupta. In 2007, Shah founded a cloud-

ALUMNI DYNAMICS based software test management startup called Zephyr. Over the next 10 years, Zephyr’s products were used worldwide by more than 18,000 customers in 100 different countries. In 2018, he sold the business to SmartBear, graduated from the Stanford Executive Program in the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and became an operating partner at Cervin Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm. In this position, he actively invests in leading edge technology companies based in Silicon Valley and works closely with 28 portfolio companies to help them build highly successful businesses. Shah is also a mentor at Stanford’s Venture Studio, assisting students and first-time entrepreneurs on innovation and company building. Annette Maddox Sledd has dedicated her career to working in engineering management at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. She earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from The University of Alabama in 1982. In 1989, she graduated from the Florida Institute of Technology at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville with a master’s degree in engineering management. Sledd has taken on several engineering and management positions during her career at Marshall. Since 2011, she has supervised the International Space Station Projects Office, which is responsible for the management of on-going ISS payload and life support facilities, as well as continued development of hardware to support technology development and utilization of ISS. Her duties include addressing on-orbit anomalies, ensuring the pipeline of spare hardware is maintained for continued onorbit crew support and research operations, and working with multiple NASA centers. Sledd provides performance plans and evaluations of more than 20 direct report employees, gives guidance for approximately 100 matrixed civil service team members, and is responsible for the implementation of approximately $40 million in annual funding. Joan Reichwein Smith graduated from the Capstone in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical and materials engineering. Since then, she has had an impressive career serving as a U.S. Army civilian and leading an energy technology development company. Smith spent over a decade with the Department of Defense leading interdisciplinary teams working in research, development, engineering and sustainment of new technology. She managed projects in excess of $50 million, addressing Black Hawk and Apache helicopter fleets, missile research and the Improved Turbine Engine Program. Smith was the first civilian ever selected to serve as executive officer to the Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center director. After receiving a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University in 2018, she became president of S-RAM Dynamics, an energy technology development company that holds more than 50 patents with engine, refrigeration and energy efficiency applications. Smith has established a design, fabrication and test facility in Huntsville and led a proposal team to multiple

contract awards. Under her leadership, S-RAM is developing technology for the U.S. Army and Air Force as well as commercial companies.

UA ENGINEERING RECOGNIZES 2019 OUTSTANDING ALUMNI VOLUNTEER The University of Alabama College of Engineering recently recognized Robert P. “Bob” Barnett as its 2019 Outstanding Alumni Volunteer. Barnett, a Sycamore native, has demonstrated loyalty to the College by previously serving on the Capstone Engineering Society Board of Directors and on the advisory board for the civil, construction and environmental engineering department. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree in civil engineering from UA in 1968 and 1971, respectively. In 1986, he founded the firm that is now Barnett Jones Wilson, LLC, a progressive-thinking structural engineering design firm that believes in combining experience with new techniques to produce creative design solutions. Barnett has given back to his alma mater by spending time as an adjunct professor of civil engineering from 2010-2018. In 2012, he was named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow in The University of Alabama College of Engineering. Recognition as a Distinguished Fellow is the highest commendation given to graduates whose efforts have strengthened the reputation of the College. The UA civil engineering department has also named him a Departmental Fellow and a Keith-Woodman Fellow. Barnett has two children, Paul and Michael. He lives in Pell City with his wife, Jean Hall Barnett. In 1995, the UA College of Engineering began a yearly tradition recognizing an alumni who provided excellent volunteer assistance as the Outstanding Alumni Volunteer. For a complete biography of this year’s Outstanding Alumni Volunteer, visit eng.ua.edu/awards.

Dean Charles Karr presented Bob Barnett with the Outstanding Alumni Volunteer Award.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

ALUMNI DYNAMICS UA ALUMNI INDUCTED INTO STATE HALL OF FAME Two former University of Alabama engineering students were recently inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in the class of 2019. 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. For more information and full biographies, visit aehof.eng.ua.edu. Lowell Christy Through her career, Lowell Christy has broken ground for women in engineering and construction, along the way providing critical support for influential projects around Alabama and the nation. As a founding partner and former president of Christy/Cobb Inc., she developed management skills as the prime design professional and structural engineer for architectural projects, municipal and industrial facilities along with temporary and special structures. Her clients include owners, state and local governmental agencies, engineers and contractors as well as architects. An Alabama native, Christy began in engineering as a summer employee with Rust International while still a civil engineering student at The University of Alabama. In 1971, she went to work for Hudson & Associates, a small consulting structural engineering firm. During the decade that followed she designed the structures of parking garages, malls, medical, educational and commercial buildings, and industrial facilities and worked as a consultant to other structural engineering firms. In 1981, she and Len Cobb founded Christy/Cobb Inc. The firm initially focused on residential and commercial projects serving architectural clients. Today, the firm is a woman-owned, small-structural engineering consulting company with members of the firm licensed in most southeastern states. It expanded over the years to become a diverse, talented team that develops innovative structural engineering solutions for its clients and the community. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in Alabama and currently licensed in three other Southern states. Some of Christy’s favorite projects include the historic site assessments for Fort Morgan and Wheeler Plantation, the stone restoration and columbarium at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, and the shortwave broadcasting facility for Mother Angelica. Jonathan Sharpe In a career dedicated to our nation’s civil space and missile defense programs, Jonathan Sharpe has developed and implemented innovative solutions to challenging problems, along the way strengthening human spaceflight capabilities and contributing to improved national and allied security. Earning a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from The University of Alabama in 1984, Sharpe began work with Lockheed Martin Corporation in Louisiana supporting the development of advanced materials and process technologies for space vehicles. He later earned a master’s degree in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Transferring to his hometown of Huntsville with Lockheed Martin, he led research, developmental, test and production efforts. He was also instrumental in establishing a commercial operation for thermal protection coating processing. Sharpe ultimately served as lead executive of Lockheed Martin’s Civil Space operations at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and Lockheed Martin’s chief engineer at the Huntsville Operations Support Center, managing multiple engineering and production disciplines, and functional areas supporting Shuttle and developmental programs. In 2010, he was named the Huntsville Site director and director of Weapon Systems Integration for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Missile Systems and Advanced Programs business unit. Sharpe oversaw operations of the Huntsville site with more than 700 employees and teammates supporting missile defense, battle management, and developmental programs until his retirement in 2017. After 34 years with Lockheed Martin, Sharpe became the vice president of the Lee & Associates Division of QuantiTech, continuing to provide technical and management support to government and commercial customers through technical engineering and software development services for the civil space and defense industry. In 2016, the UA College of Engineering honored him as Distinguished Engineering Fellow. He serves on the UA College of Engineering Leadership Board.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

Vicki Hollub found her purpose early. She joined Occidental Petroleum upon graduation and worked her way to the top, becoming the first female CEO of a major U.S. oil and gas company.

ALUMNI

NOTES

Jobs. Promotions. Awards. Recognition. Dr. Bernard J. Schroer

Vicki A. Hollub

Milton Davis

J. David Pugh

1967

1986

Dr. Bernard J. Schroer, MSE, was one of three inaugural inductees into the Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association Hall of Fame. The AAMA Hall of Fame recognizes individuals in Alabama who have made a significant impact on the establishment and growth of the automotive manufacturing industry in the state. Schroer founded the AAMA in 2001.

Ricardo Koki Machin, BSAE, was presented with the 2019 Theodor W. Knacke Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Award by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the 2019 AIAA AVIATION Forum. The award is given for excellence in the area of design, test, and certification of human-rated capsule recovery parachutes enabling mankind to explore beyond the Earth. At the National Space Club’s 62nd Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington, D.C., Machin received the Eagle Manned Mission Award for completing Orion’s final parachute drop test in September 2018.

1981 Vicki A. Hollub, BSMinE (Pet.), was No. 19 on Fortune magazine’s 2018 Businessperson of the Year list. Hollub, chief executive officer of Occidental Petroleum Corp., became the first female CEO of a major U.S. oil company in 2016. Milton Davis, BSChE, was appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey and reconfirmed by the Alabama Senate to the Alabama Community College System Board of Trustees for another four-year term. Davis began his service to the Board of Trustees — the governing body of the ACCS that oversees Alabama’s 25 community and technical colleges— in 2015.

1984 J. David Pugh, BSCE, was listed in the 2019 edition of Who’s Who Legal: Construction as among the world’s leading construction lawyers. Pugh is a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP and is a member of the firm’s Construction Practice Group in Birmingham.

Tim Dunn, BSEE, accepted the Nelson P. Jackson Award for NASA’s Delta II Program Team at the National Space Club’s 62nd Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes an outstanding contribution to the missile, aircraft and space field during the preceding year and is given in honor of the late Nelson P. Jackson, a founding member and past president of the National Space Club.

1987 Douglas A. Moore, BSEE, was named vice president of cloud platform at Command Alkon, the supplier collaboration platform for construction’s heavy work. In his role, Moore will bolster the company’s longterm technology vision, be responsible for the cloud platform and drive key cloud technology topics such as scalability, security, analytics and information access. Ricardo Koki Machin (Middle) and Tim Dunn (Right)

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

Douglas A. Moore

SPRING 2019

Warren Davis

Johnny Howze

J. Gaston Large III

Arnar Thors

Dr. Olivia Underwood

1992

2005

Matthew J. Ericksen, BSCE, was named the lead engineer for the Alabama Department of Transportation’s Southwest Region. He is responsible for administering and directing activities in planning, construction, equipment, maintenance, and materials and tests to ensure functionality of the area’s infrastructure. The Southwest Region consists of the following counties: Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, Conecuh, Washington, Monroe, Wilcox, Marengo, Choctaw and Clarke in the Grove Hill area.

Arnar Thors, BSME, MSME ’07, is the president and chief executive officer of AerBetic Inc., which is developing an innovative device to help diabetics better manage their blood sugar. The company demonstrated its non-invasive, wearable diabetes alert system at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which showcases more than 4,500 manufacturers, developers and suppliers of consumer technology hardware, content and delivery systems.

1996 Warren Davis, BSCS, received the 2019 Research Leadership Award at the Black Engineer of the Year STEM Global Competitiveness Conference in Washington, D.C. The award is given for being a consistent leader in discovering, developing and implementing new technologies.

1997 Johnny Howze, BSME, assumed the new position of vice president of supply chain management at Southern Company. In this position, he accelerates the company’s category management work and develops and executes strategies to support Southern Company gas, fossil and hydro generation and shared services, including supplier diversity and supply chain data analytics. Previously, he was plant manager at the company’s Plant Scherer.

2008 Dr. Olivia Underwood, BSMtE, MSMtE ’09, was featured on Albuquerque Business First’s 2019 40 Under Forty list for her professional achievements, leadership and community commitment as a young professional in New Mexico. This year she also received the 2019 Frank Crossley Diversity Award from The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society at the group’s annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, and she received a 2019 Science Spectrum Trailblazer Award at the Black Engineer of the Year STEM Global Competitiveness Conference in Washington, D.C. for actively creating new paths for others in science, research, technology and development.

2003 J. Gaston Large III, BSEE, assumed the role of distribution engineering supervisor at Alabama Power Company’s Power Delivery office in Haleyville. He began his career with Alabama Power Company in 2000 as a co-op student. In 2014, he was promoted to senior engineer and became an engineering supervisor in 2017.

SOMETHING WE MISSED? Please send us your professional achievements and recognitions for inclusion in Alumni Notes by visiting eng.ua.edu/alumni/update.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

IN MEMORY

DR. RICHARD C. “DICK” BRADT Dr. Richard C. “Dick” Bradt died Jan. 3, 2019, in Birmingham. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Bradt grew up in nearby Mascoutah, Illinois. He obtained a bachelor’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, and a master’s and doctorate at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. After working at Pennsylvania State University, University of Washington in Seattle, and the University of Nevada-Reno, Bradt joined the faculty of The University of Alabama College of Engineering in 1994 as head of the department of metallurgical and materials engineering. In 2004, he was named the Alton N. Scott Professor of Engineering. Bradt retired in 2009, but as Professor Emeritus, he remained an active researcher, speaker and educator. His research focused on the properties of refractories, glass and ceramics. With students and colleagues from all over the world, he published more than 400 articles and edited more than 20 proceedings of international meetings. Bradt advised more than 100 graduate students and directed 50 doctoral dissertations. The American Ceramic Society presented him with the W. David Kingery Award in 2013, and named him a Distinguished Life Member in 2017. He was especially pleased to be awarded The University of Alabama Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award in 1998.

EUGENE L. “GENE” CROXTON JR. Eugene Luke “Gene” Croxton Jr. died Dec. 14, 2018, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A native of Montgomery, he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from The University of Alabama in 1952. Croxton was employed by Ethyl Corporation for 40 years. He was named a Fellow of UA’s chemical and biological engineering department in 1988, and was honored as a Centennial Fellow by the department in 2010. Croxton was one of six graduates in the 1952 chemical engineering class that remained close friends and celebrated annual reunions.

MICHAEL A. GIBBS Michael Allan Gibbs died Oct. 1, 2018, in Greenwich, Connecticut. Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Gibbs graduated from The University of Alabama in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering. Later he received a master’s degree in industrial management from New York Polytechnic University. At UA, Gibbs was a member of the Air Force ROTC program, and he served for three years in the U.S. Air Force military air transport squadron at Hickman Air Force Base in Hawaii. He was honorably discharged in 1960 with the rank of captain. His career as an engineer, executive and consultant included working for Treadwell Engineering on the Navy’s Polaris Nuclear Submarine Project; working as a consultant at Booz, Allen, Hamilton; overseeing corporate planning for Leasco Data Corp. and the Reliance Group; and working with numerous companies and clients through his investment banking and financial consulting firm, Page Mill Management. Gibbs was named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow of the College in 1988.

THOMAS J. “JACK” LEE Thomas J. “Jack” Lee died Feb. 24, 2019, in Birmingham. Born in Wedowee, Lee graduated from The University of Alabama with a bachelor’s in aeronautical engineering in 1958. He later received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Lee began his professional career as an aeronautical research engineer with the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal. When the agency transferred to NASA in 1960, Lee worked as a systems engineer with the Center’s Centaur Resident Manager Office in San Diego. From 1963 to 1965, he was resident project manager for the Pegasus Meteoroid Detection Satellite Project in Bladensburg, Maryland, and from 1965-1969 was chief of the Center’s Saturn Program Resident Office at Kennedy Space Center. He served as assistant to the technical deputy director of Marshall Space Flight Center from 1969 to 1973 and became program manager of the Spacelab Program Office in 1974. As manager of the Spacelab Program Office, he was responsible for NASA’s work with the European Space Agency in the development of Spacelab, a multipurpose reusable laboratory for Earth orbital science activities. In 1980, Lee became the deputy director of Marshall until his appointment as the center’s director in 1989. He retired in 1995 and co-founded LWI, an engineering consulting firm. He later founded Lee & Associates, LLC, a systems engineering consulting firm, and served as president until his death. Lee was involved with the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission, Sci-Quest Hands-on Science Center, National Space Club and more. He was named a UA Distinguished Engineering Fellow in 1988 and to the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 1993.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

THOMAS M. MARR SR.

CECIL A. WOOTEN JR.

Thomas Marshall Marr Sr. died April 17, 2019. Born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, he graduated with an associate degree from the Marion Institute, a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from The University of Alabama, and a Juris Doctor degree from The University of Alabama School of Law. UA’s civil, construction and environmental engineering department named him a Fellow in 1992, and UA’s College of Engineering named him a Distinguished Engineering Fellow in 2011. During Marr’s career, he was an assistant attorney general for the state of Alabama, a representative for the Alabama Legislature, president and chairman of the Board of Deposit National Bank of Mobile, director of Central Bank of Mobile, and director of Mrs. Stratton’s Salads. He also founded DRC, Inc., which provided emergency services during natural disasters. Marr was the senior law partner in the firm Marr & Friedlander, PC, for more than 50 years with his late partner Maury Friedlander. He was a successful entrepreneur in Baldwin County, having built the first privately-owned sewage treatment plant in Orange Beach and numerous condominium projects.

Cecil A. Wooten Jr. died Nov. 5, 2018. Born in Laurel, Mississippi, and raised in Birmingham, Wooten graduated from The University of Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1949. While still in high school, he began working as a file clerk in the drafting room at Chicago Bridge and Iron Company. Wooten rose to senior vice president during a 43-year career with the company and served on the board of directors for 18 years. He entered the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1942 and rose from the rank of private to first lieutenant. A platoon leader during the Battle of the Bulge, he received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for meritorious achievement, along with many other commendations and awards. After the war, he served as the assistant to the general in charge of all post-war operations. Wooten had a remarkable career, traveling the world and doing business with J. Paul Getty, serving on a number of corporate boards of directors, and appearing before several Senate committees regarding his expertise on nuclear power plants. He is listed in the Who’s Who of American Businessmen. After retiring from the company, Wooten began to work full time in Christian ministry. Cecil retired for the second time from the International Churches of Christ as the chief administrator. Wooten was named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow in 1988.

FRIENDS WE WILL MISS Jackson A. Ashton, BSCE ’49

William S. Fuller Jr., BSME ’58

Hubert R. McLellan, BSCE ’60

Walter L. Ashton Jr., BSME ’43, BSCE ’47

Frank P. Gasper, BSME ’63

Frank Michel Sr., BSEE ’51

James S. Atkins, BSChE ’69, MSChE ’72

Adolphus H. Gibson Jr., BSME ’54

James R. Morrow Sr., BSCE ’50

Clifford J. Balzli Sr., BSME ’52

Frederick E. Glazner, BSEE ’64

Jack J. Nichols, MSMh ’63

Wilbur G. Berry Jr., BSIE ’55

John P. Green, BSCE ’75

Leon A. Nolen III, BSME ’63

Colonel Luke H. Boykin, BSAE ’53

Phillip S. Hanna, BSCS ’96

Dimitrios Plionis, MSIE ’70

Phillip L. Brasher, BSCE ’54

Ernest N. Harmon Jr., BSME ’49

Ernest M. Plummer, BSAE ’50, BSCE ’54

James S. Buckler, BSIE ’58

Joe G. Harvey, BSIE ’57

Shelton L. Price, BSAE ’66

Robert E. Busby, BSIE ’65

Leroy J. Helt Jr., BSAE ’62

Fred B. Roberson Jr., BSME ’54

Raymond F. Cathcart, BSME ’48

James M. Hillman, BSE ’69

William P. Sherer, BSEE ’81

Jefferson D. Cowen, BSMtE ’53

Johnny M. Hutt, BSCE ’63, MSCE ’65

William R. Tatum Sr., BSEE ’51

William W. DaLee Jr., BSEE ’57

Robert K. Johnson BSEE ’51

Charles P. Terrier, BSME ’67

Carl M. Davis, BSME ’61

Floyd D. Jury, BSME ’61

Jack D. Traill, BSEE ’67

Russell E. Dean, BSIE ’60

Clifton A. Kirby, BSME ’60

Alan D. Trott, BSIE ’51

Wilbur I. Doty, BSME ’67

Samuel H. Livingston Jr., BSME ’50

William S. Viall, MSE ’62

Donald R. Ferguson Jr., BSAE ’85

Charles E. Mattson, BSChE ’68

Seth W. Ward, BSCE ’52

Arthur E. Fitzgerald, BSIE ’51

John D. McClain, BSME ’60

John S. Williams, BSME ’73

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

END USER

The Engine that Keeps the College Moving

Susan “Sues” Noble, administrative secretary of Engineering Student Services, was recognized by The University of Alabama’s Office, Clerical and Technical Staff Assembly with a 2019 Outstanding Staff Award. The award recipients were announced at OCTSA’s May meeting, with Lynn Brooks, WVUA 23 news director and anchor, as presenter. Noble was recognized for her generosity and efforts in going far beyond the important administrative aspects of her job to show personal warmth, understanding and concern for staff and students alike. Whether she is making phone calls for anxious students or handling lastminute meeting details, Noble does so with grace and patience, according to the nomination materials. Learn more about her in this Q&A.

CE: What do you do in Engineering Student Services and the Freshman Engineering Program? Noble: As an administrative secretary, I provide support to both the Engineering Advising Center and the Freshman Engineering Program. I make sure that supplies are ordered, classrooms are reserved, all the structure that the programs need to work within in order to fulfill their mission statements. CE: How does your job support student life? Why is your job important to young engineers’ development? Noble: I love the fact that my job supports student life in that I get to encourage students, find them help when they need it, fuss at them when they need that, and I enjoy being part of their success. My job is important to the engineering students because sometimes they can get so overwhelmed by the enormity of their endeavors they lose focus. I’m there to keep them on track, guide them along their flowchart and school career – providing help and a roadmap along the way. CE: How did it feel to receive this award? Do you know how you were selected? Noble: When I found out I had been nominated it made me cry simply because I love what I do so much, and to be nominated for an award for doing what I love is humbling. One of the people who nominated me said that I always say, “My job is to make your job easier.” That’s how I feel about all that I do. If I’m doing my job correctly, then the people I come into contact with, students, faculty, advisors, will be helped along their path of being successful. It can be getting a classroom, finding a tutor for a student, printing out flowcharts for advisors. I am the facilitator for other people to achieve what they need to – and I get to enjoy doing it. The other members of the ESS office nominated me. CE: How are you involved with OCTSA? Why is this organization important? Noble: I have been involved with the OCTSA for several years and was past chair for the Professional Development Committee. I think that the OCTSA is vitally important because the staff work behind the scenes to make sure that faculty, students and other administrators have what they need in order to be able to do what they do. What we do may not seem significant or important, but when the copier jams while faculty are trying to print out final exams – you’ll see how important we are! CE: How long have you worked at UA? How has your experience been? Noble: I have worked at UA since 2005 and have enjoyed hearing all the success stories and watching “my” students become successful adults with their own children. I’ve also tried to practice what I preach and since 2005, using the UA Educational Benefit, I have earned a BS in HES, an MA in Higher Education Administration and am currently working on a second master’s in Interactive Technology, and should be finished in December. As a first-generation, non-traditional student, I’m proof that anyone can be successful if they put in the effort and are willing to sacrifice in the short-term for rewards in the long-run.

CAPSTONE ENGINEER

SPRING 2019

Sues Noble, center, with her work-study students and a former adviser, from top left, Joe Nichols, Trent Whalen, Avery Madden, Emili Alexander and Quetta Williams in front.

Greetings alumni and friends, As we start this academic year, I wish to share some updates on the Capstone Engineering Society Board of Directors as well as some upcoming activities and engagement opportunities. First of all, we are so fortunate to have a dedicated group of alumni and industry leaders who support the University, the Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leadership and the CES. The CES Board consists of 40 members who represent various industries â&#x20AC;&#x201C; aerospace, civil and construction, automotive, manufacturing, oil and gas, energy and power, digital finance, defense and cybersecurity, research and more. They are leaders in their fields and have dedicated countless hours to supporting our College, students and alumni. I invite you to visit ces.eng.ua.edu/ces-board to learn more about them. Be sure to mark your calendar for the CES Alumni Homecoming Tailgate on the Quad three hours prior to kickoff Oct. 26. The CES will host our fall networking reception Oct. 17 and Space Days at UA on Nov. 6 and 7. These are great events that bring students, alumni and industry partners together to network and explore career opportunities. The CES strives to present students with numerous engagement and professional development activities to help them prepare for the workforce. If you or your company are interested in participating in these events, please contact me at nholmes@eng.ua.edu. In 2006, the CES established the Capstone Engineering Society Alumni Endowed Scholarship fund. This year, over $600,000 in scholarships have been awarded to more than 141 students. Part of the CES commitment is to provide scholarships to deserving engineering and computer science students ensuring they have a superior educational experience. These are just a few of the activities and accomplishments the CES has made possible through the generosity of our alumni and friends. If you would like to be a part of the CES and make a difference in the lives of our students, join today! Go to ces.eng.ua.edu to learn more. Roll Tide!

Nancy Holmes

Capstone Engineering Society Manager Assistant Director of Student and Alumni Engagement

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

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

HOMECOMING

TAILGATE

OCT. 26 vs. ARKANSAS 3 HOURS BEFORE KICKOFF ON THE QUAD IN TENT D1