Capstone Engineer - Fall 2021

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

The University of Alabama College of Engineering wouldn’t be where it is without the contributions of its alumni over the years.

The relationships formed with alumni are of massive importance in the growth and advancement of the College of Engineering.

Alumni repeatedly give their time, talents and treasure to UA, and we will forever be grateful for these connections that move the College forward and benefit our students.

Mentor UPP: Undergraduate Professional Partnering is an innovative mentoring program where our alumni spend time giving advice to upperclassmen to help them transition from academia to industry. The gift of time is invaluable. These interactions help prepare our students as they enter the workforce and often extend longer than the original yearlong appointment.

the donor. These gifts, like the Ramsay Engineers Fund started by alumnus Erskine Ramsay II, help the College reach its goal of having the best and brightest students and faculty at UA. Giving back is always a priority at UA, but now more than ever, the College is seeking support during UA’s Capital Campaign. Faculty, staff and administration would love to hear from you about how you wish to make your permanent mark on UA’s College of Engineering.

Our faculty and students appreciate partnering with industry to better understand the workforce needs. Working with companies like Gray Analytics, which was founded by our own alumni, enriches the student experience. Using their education and professional know-how, these alumni give of their talents.

Finally, I want to thank everyone I’ve had the privilege of working with as a student, faculty member and dean to advance the College to where it is today. I have truly enjoyed putting my all into working for this College of Engineering for the past 26 years and can't wait to watch its continued ascent.

Through generosity and a philanthropic spirit, many alumni give financially. Whether naming a space on campus or creating a professorship or scholarship fund, there are several ways to make a difference based on the priorities of

Dr. Charles L. Karr

CAPSTONE ENGINEERING SOCIETY 205-348-2452 Rick Nail, Chair, Board of Directors • Liz Moore, Manager, Capstone Engineering Society and Assistant Director of Alumni Engagement • Alana Norris, Editor • Alana Norris, Arayna Wooley, Abby Woodruff, Adam Jones, Bryant Welbourne, Brock Parker, Melissa Parker, Taylor Clark, Writers • Issue No. 62 • Capstone Engineer is published in the spring and fall by the Capstone Engineering Society • Joshua Clayton, Designer • Alana Norris, Proofreader • Mary Kathryn Carpenter, 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. MC

FEATURES 29 Developing

a Professional

Alumni support students in transition from college to career

33 Securing

the Workforce

UA combats the growing challenge of cyber security with new degree, alumni partnership

35 Investing in the

Future Through the Past

A 95-year family tradition of educational philanthropy

DEPARTMENTS 3 Surveying

The College

15 Faculty Accolades 23 Student Accomplishments

37 39 43 45

In Memory Alumni Notes End User Retirements

NOTEWORTHY NEWS AND RESEARCH FROM UA ENGINEERING

The UA EcoCAR Mobility Challenge team prepares to test their vehicle in a parking lot.

UA team named Year Three Champion in EcoCAR Mobility Challenge The University of Alabama team of 65 students spanning a variety of majors from engineering to communications and business took home first place for year three of the automotive engineering competition.

The four-year EcoCAR Mobility Challenge tasks student teams at 11 universities with improving a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer’s fuel efficiency by incorporating a hybrid-electric powertrain and optimizing its operation using connected and automated vehicle features. During the third year of competition, teams switched their focus from design and integration to development and performance.

In addition to the first-place finish, the UA team also won first in Project Management, Best Impact Report, Best Year-End Project Status Presentation, Best Propulsion Controls and Modeling Presentation, and Best Year Three Vehicle Technical Inspections.

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“We were the only team to receive full points for both the fall and spring vehicle technical inspection,” said Madeline Gilmer, the team’s project manager and a recent graduate of the STEM Path to the MBA program with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and a Master of Business Administration from Woodstock, Georgia.

Additional honors were Outstanding Team and Sponsor Collaboration, first place dSPACE Leadership in Validation Award, and second place MathWorks Model-Based Design Award. Brandon Stevens, Propulsion Controls and Modeling lead, won the Excellence in Leadership Award. Gilmer won a General Motors Women in STEM Award.

The pandemic presented several challenges for the team including limited access to labs. Gilmer said some students worked from home during the summer, which set the team up for success once they were able to be together. However, preparation did not go off without a hitch. The team experienced a setback but was able to overcome.

“Early in the fall, we over-sped the engine during dynamometer testing

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that resulted in the need to replace our engine and components on our electric motor assembly. Our Propulsion System Integration team was able to do this quickly and effectively, which allowed us to perform well in the fall vehicle technical inspection,” Gilmer said.

The team came up with several schedules to plan for lab occupancy and set priority tasks. Gilmer said having strong senior leadership helped give the team a boost this year and made them better prepared for the competition. Leaders were Jordon Olson, engineering manager; Michaela Alexander, communications manager; Zachary Davis, Propulsion System Integration lead; and Ashley Phan, Connected and Automated Vehicles lead.

In 2018, the UA team finished third in the final year of the four-year EcoCAR 3 program, which consisted of 16 teams working on a Chevrolet Camaro. The UA team held the third-place spot in the first year of the Mobility Challenge. While a few awards were given virtually last year, teams were not given an overall rank in Year Two because of the pandemic.

The team feels a lot of confidence and momentum going into Year Four.

Dr. Paul Puzinauskas, associate professor of mechanical engineering, Dr. Hwan-Sik Yoon, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Mike Pope, instructor of marketing in the Culverhouse College of Business, advise the team along with the designated General Motors mentor, Lisa Jesme.

The competition is supported by several sponsors including General Motors, MathWorks and the U.S. Department of Energy.

UA Research to Enhance Flood Resilience of Coastal Communities Researchers at The University of Alabama are working to develop advanced computational earth science and coastal models that help coastal communities prepare for flooding from tropical storms and hurricanes.

Sometimes overlooked compared to the wind strength of a tropical cyclone, flooding is as big a problem for coastal systems. For example, of the 30 most expensive tropical cyclones to make landfall in the United States from 1900 through 2017, only five were classified as category 4 or category 5 hurricanes, a rating based on the intensity of sustained winds.

Funded by a $2.84 million grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Research and Development Center, the work by researchers in the UA Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research will identify flooding hotspots along the Southeastern U.S. coastline and provide a way for emergency responders and local decision-makers to better prepare for flooding from tropical cyclones.

Members of UA’s EcoCAR Mobility Challenge team performing work on their competition vehicle.

Dr. Hamid Moradkhani, director of CCHR and Alton N. Scott professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering leads an interdisciplinary team with expertise in

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NIH Grant Supports UA Study of Acute Kidney Injury Treatment Researchers at The University of Alabama will study a novel nanomedicine treatment for acute kidney injury, a common disease with no federally-approved medication.

The five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health is the fourth active top-tier NIH grant, formally called R01, for Dr. Ravi Kumar, professor in the College of Community Health Sciences with an adjunct appointment in the College of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

Models created by UA researchers will help in better preparing for the compounding hazards of coastal flooding, wind and intense precipitation.

physically-based hydrologic modeling, data assimilation, coastal dynamics modeling, remote sensing and social sciences to ensure simulations are representative of the actual phenomenon.

Strong winds generated from air pressure difference in and outside a tropical cyclone create a storm surge that pushes ocean water onto land while heavy rain from the warm, moist tropical storm air can flood further inland. While intense wind is a major hazard, flooding is responsible for the majority of damage in most storms.

This research project will produce flood hazard maps and flood forecasting tools emergency management personnel can use to prepare a coastal community ahead of a storm and best locate resources to mitigate risks. Along with broader scientific knowledge to further this area, the project’s products will be shared with those responsible for forecasting and preparing communities for tropical cyclones.

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Kumar, an internationally recognized leader in the fields of nanoscience and nanomedicine, recently joined UA along with Drs. Meenakshi Arora and Raghu Ganugula, associate professor and assistant professor, respectively, in CCHS and part of the research team for the latest grant.

The R01 grant will allow the UA team to engineer nanoparticles comprised of a common gastrointestinal microbe derived from digestive metabolism of a natural antioxidant present in several fruits and vegetables and study their effectiveness in treating acute kidney injury, a non-rare side-effect of some cancer drugs, sepsis, heart surgeries, lengthy hospital stays and trauma.

AKI, which frequently leads to acute renal failure, affects about 13 million people worldwide each year and is characterized by kidneys ceasing to function over days or less. Unlike long-term kidney damage, AKI can be reversed if treated quickly, but it is fatal in some cases and can progress to chronic kidney disease when not fatal. Current treatments include dialysis, regulating fluid, and medicines to control vitamins and minerals, however, there is no single drug to treat AKI. “The proposed research is relevant to public health as it will develop novel

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therapeutic intervention that can treat AKI, which has already shown promise in our earlier work,” said Kumar.

The team has studied Urolithin A, a compound not found in any food, but created in the gastrointestinal tract from converting fruits and vegetables to energy. It is known to prevent cell damage, regulate inflammation and hold off cell death. However, it is not absorbed well in the gastrointestinal tract, limiting its therapeutic potential as it would require frequent high doses to gather enough of it in the body for any medical treatment.

Kumar’s research group has shown, however, that using nanoparticles of the Urolithin A coated with a biochemical substance that actively target the gastrointestinal tract cells necessary for absorption increase Urolithin A in the body, making it a viable therapy. They also found Urolithin A can thwart AKI by preventing a cascade of inflammation and cell death that causes kidneys to suddenly fail.

ensuring a stimulating and well-managed environment for quality research. Emphasis was placed this year on pilot projects that combine a strategic focus of the UA Cyber Initiative with that of a UA research institute.

The new grant will allow the UA researchers to study the structural elements and behavior of their novel delivery of Urolithin A to optimize the amount of the compound in the body, assess which nanoparticles best work through oral medication, understand the therapy’s interaction with cisplatin to move the research toward a clinical trial in cancer patients.

Two projects collaborate with the Alabama Transportation Institute and College of Engineering faculty.

UA CyberSeed Program Funds More Campus Research Four promising research projects received funding from Year 2 of The University of Alabama Cyber Initiative’s CyberSeed program, part of the UA Office for Research and Economic Development.

Three of the projects involved engineering faculty.

The pilot seed-funding program promotes collaborative research on campus while

The three major areas addressed by this year’s projects are artificial intelligence and machine learning, cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection.

Dr. Sevgi Gurbuz and Dr. Mithat Kisacikoglu, assistant professors of electrical and computer engineering, are using machine learning techniques to analyze, learn and characterize the power distribution grid operation. The proposed solution will enable scalable integration of electric vehicles into the complex operation of the power distribution grid.

This project is co-funded by ATI. Another project with ATI, led by Dr. Mizanur Rahman, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, and Dr. Travis Atkison, assistant professor of computer science, is using AI/ML to explore the security vulnerabilities in intelligent traffic signals and develop a predictive approach for cyberattack detection and mitigation. This innovative approach will help ensure safety against cyberattacks, which could cause catastrophic accidents at intersections

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controlled by traffic signals and hinder the transportation system of a city.

The next project funded through the CyberSeed program addresses a strategic focus of the Alabama Water Institute.

Led by Dr. Steven Weinman, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering; Dr. Jason Bara, professor of chemical and biological engineering; and Dr. Heath Turner, professor and head of chemical and biological engineering, the project is using AI/ML to reduce the amount of energy required to desalinate water that is much saltier than seawater. This project will transform the utilization of nontraditional water sources that are not rivers, lakes and oceans into potential sources of potable water, alleviating water stress seen in many areas around the world.

New EPIC Scholars program will promote equity, enrichment for engineering honors students UA’s College of Engineering has partnered with the Honors College to introduce a new enrichment opportunity for entering freshmen this fall.

Dr. Ken Fridley

The Engineering Positive and Intentional Change, or EPIC, Scholars Program is UA’s newest honors program. It is open to engineering and computer science students with a focus on advocacy and diversity.

Dr. Kenneth Fridley, the College of Engineering’s senior associate dean for administration, and Dr. Tara Williams, the dean of the Honors College, have collaborated to develop this program.

“The EPIC Scholars Program is novel in that it focuses on a long-term investment in developing a new cadre of engineering and computer science leaders who value and are advocates for diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and access,” Fridley said.

The program will admit around 25 students in a cohort every year, and they will participate in a living learning community. Graduates from the program will receive an honors distinction as well as a minor in engineering and positive intentional change.

The EPIC program will be housed in Paty Hall.

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Outside of the classroom, the students in the program will also participate in seminars, peer mentoring and community engagement. Underclassmen, upperclassmen and graduates will have different opportunities and distinctions

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throughout the program. The scholars will be recognized during Honors Week.

While incoming engineering freshmen are the only eligible participants in the program this year, the College will be seeking juniors, seniors, professionals and faculty to act as mentors for the first two years.

The application consists of open-ended writing prompts to allow the candidate to express themselves creatively. Once admitted, participants must maintain a 3.5 GPA. For more information, visit eng.ua.edu/epic.

Nearly a Third of Mobile Bay Marshes Gone Since 1980s, Study Finds

and a leading researcher of Mobile Bay and its marshes, teamed with scientists at UA’s Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research, who used publicly available images to classify land and program a machine learning model to show gains and losses of land types over time. These models will provide a basis to make decisions based on long-term projections.

The health of the bay requires marshes, which act like nature’s wastewater treatment plants, Mortazavi said. Besides removing excess nutrients from freshwater entering the bay, marshes stabilize the shoreline, buffer waves, gird against coastal flooding and serve as habitats for wildlife.

Marsh loss is attributed to urbanization and land development as barriers to marshes growing inward, sea level rise, loss of sediments flowing from dammed inland

About half a football field of marshes on the edges of Mobile Bay vanished annually over the past 35 years, according to a study by researchers at The University of Alabama.

The study of satellite and aerial images from 1984 to 2019 showed a loss of about 30 percent of saltwater marshes, critical for the health of oceans. The annual decrease of roughly 2,488 square meters means about 1% of marshes around the bay retreated each year over the course of the study, according to findings published in the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.

The project is the first to apply analyzation of satellite images through computer modeling to quantify not only the change in marshes, but to show how land along the bay changed through time, providing detailed, annual information that fine-tuned models with the ability to show how future actions should influence marsh and wetland habitat.

For the study, Dr. Behzad Mortazavi, professor and chair of biological sciences

Marsh loss seen in satellite images is isolated in purple and orange colors on a map of the Mobile Bay watershed.

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rivers as well as natural contributors such as tropical storms.

The model created for the project, validated with the annual data since 1984, can show, for instance, how marshes should respond to a powerful hurricane or a land development, said Dr. Hamed Moftakhari, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering.

Dr. Hamid Moradkhani, the Alton N. Scott Chair Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research, is the principle investigator of the research supported by the National Science Foundation. He is a co-author of this paper along with engineering doctorate students and center research assistants David Muñoz and Atieh Alipour. Also, a co-author on the paper is Paul Muñoz, a graduate student at the University of Cuenca in Ecuador.

Crimson Autonomous Racing team races up leader board in Indy Autonomous Challenge An engineering faculty member at The University of Alabama and a student team are making strides in a two-year competition with universities around the world for a chance to win a $1 million prize.

challenge in December 2020. These races were virtual using Ansys simulation software, but the final race will take place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The CAR team was created to participate in this competition. The objective is to develop new software to allow vehicles to accurately function at high speeds and close proximity to other race vehicles.

Registration was in November 2019 and the final race will take place Oct. 27, 2021.

Originally, all the challenges were planned to be in person, but COVID-19 shifted things.

“So far, the competition has been entirely virtual, using an engineering simulator to test autonomous software developed by the team. So, developing and improving the on-track performance of the vehicle has been the key,” Dixon said.

At the start, 30 teams were competing, and as of the latest challenge, Hackathon #3, 18 teams are left standing. The most recent challenge involved a two-car simulated race.

Dixon is working alongside Cole Frederick, a computer science doctoral student, and several undergraduate students. Dr. Paul Puzinauskas, associate professor in the mechanical engineering department, and Dr. Travis Atkison, assistant professor in the computer science department, are also helping with the competition.

Dr. Brandon Dixon, associate professor in the computer science department, is at the forefront of the Crimson Autonomous Racing, or CAR, team in the Indy Autonomous Challenge. The competition consists of four hackathons and a final race with teams innovatively guiding an autonomous version of an Indy Lights race car to its highest speed.

CAR finished second during the second challenge in September 2020, and finished first overall in the third

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Dr. Brandon Dixon, computer science associate professor, and Cole Frederick, a computer science doctoral student, work on code for the Indy Autonomous Challenge in Dixon’s office on campus.

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Parnab Das, left, and Aaron Blackwell, graduate students in Elliott’s lab, collect water from Big Prairie Creek outside Newbern, Alabama, looking for traces of human-made wastewater.

New Grant Strengthens Work to Solve Rural Wastewater Challenge Federal funding will move forward an ambitious project to demonstrate effective solutions to raw sewage draining into the waterways of the state’s Black Belt region.

The Consortium for Alabama Rural Water and Wastewater Management – led by the University of South Alabama in partnership with The University of Alabama, Auburn University and the Alabama Department of Public Health – has been granted the Rural Water Consortium Award by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The $4.85 million grant will allow the consortium to establish a technical assistance and training program and develop construction-ready plans for innovative rural wastewater treatment solutions in Alabama’s Black Belt region.

UA will receive about $1.5 million of the grant to support the research of Dr. Mark Elliott, associate professor in civil, construction and environmental engineering, and his students as part of the larger effort also supported by Columbia World Projects.

This work is the first serious attempt to address the challenge of untreated wastewater in the Black Belt that comes from a perfect storm of impermeable shrink-swell clay soil, low population density, rural poverty and a declining tax base, Elliott said.

The USDA award, which is a Technical Assistance and Training for Innovative Regional Wastewater Treatment Solutions grant, aims to provide alternative wastewater treatment solutions for underserved, low-income communities and works to implement them in a manner that is achievable and sustainable.

At select pilot sites, the project will install and test new clustered and

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Roya Salehzadeh, a mechanical engineering graduate student, works with a robot being developed by UA researchers to help law enforcement officers.

decentralized wastewater treatment systems, connecting neighboring infrastructure in a single system that will collect, treat, and reuse water – effectively reducing maintenance costs. It will also provide a model for transitioning other areas to the improved infrastructure, which could eventually be deployed throughout the state.

The project ultimately strives to supply historically disenfranchised communities, such as the Alabama Black Belt, access to safely treated wastewater.

The Alabama Black Belt is known for its dark, rich soil, which also contains high concentrations of clay soils that cause water drainage issues. As a result, the region has long suffered from ineffective traditional onsite wastewater systems.

The project will include guidance and training for rural communities in the Black Belt region, such as performing county-need assessments, evaluating and testing wastewater treatment options, defining workable funding mechanisms, and developing appropriate technical, management, and regulatory direction.

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UA Researchers Building Communication Robot for Law Enforcement Engineering and communication researchers at The University of Alabama are building the next generation of law enforcement robotic technology, working towards affordable robots that can interact directly with civilians in hazardous situations.

Supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the project partners with several state law enforcement agencies, including the Tuscaloosa Police Department, who are providing feedback to help the researchers build a prototype robot that will meet officers’ needs while enhancing safety and effectiveness in potentially dangerous situations.

Unlike faceless robots used to investigate explosive devices or explore areas with potential chemical hazards, UA faculty and student researchers are designing their robot to communicate with people through cameras, video displays, speakers, microphones and other sensors.

The robot would be a bridge between the officer, communicating through its interface remotely, and a civilian, a

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suspect or even other officers involved in a potentially dangerous situation.

Researchers are using feedback to understand the risks, challenges, and requirements of highly-immersive, social, human-robot systems and partnerships in future police work. After this initial phase, the project team can use potentially more NSF funding to take a concept robot to a prototype robot ready for testing.

Dr. Nader Jalili, professor and head of the department of mechanical engineering, is principal investigator and lead on the project. Dr. Christian Cousin, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, leads the robotics team.

Dr. Darrin Griffin, project researcher and associate professor of communication studies, is leading the communication team.

The research team hopes the current grant is a springboard for future research and collaboration with law enforcement and stresses a real-world robot is years away.

UA Professors to Study Underwater Robotics Wireless Communications Two University of Alabama professors have been selected by the National Science Foundation to lead a $1.5 million effort from its CISE Community Research Infrastructure program.

Dr. Aijun Song, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Dr. Xiaoyan Hong, associate professor of computer science, have been awarded $880,000 by the NSF for their project, “CCRI: mu-Net: Infrastructure to Advance Mobile Underwater Wireless Networking Research.” Working with their colleagues from several other universities, they plan to develop a community-shared infrastructure that

Dr. Aijun Song and Dr. Xiaoyan Hong

will enable underwater research robots to exchange information more easily.

The project, called mu-Net, is a low-cost and flexible infrastructure consisting of both software and hardware that will support both laboratory tests and field experiments. Shared infrastructures are not currently available in research communities for coordinated underwater robotic research.

The project will open doors for several areas of research, such as cooperative and coordinated marine robotics, underwater mobile communication networks and joint networking and navigation of marine robots. It could also lead to an underwater “Internet of Things,” which is a system of internet-connected devices that are able to collect and transfer data over a wireless network without human intervention.

Researchers believe mu-Net will increase the ability for greater aquatic exploration for scientific and commercial purposes in areas of marine biology, food sources and economic development. It will expand user communities by creating a variety of engagement activities such as annual workshops, summer training schools, and girls robotics camps.

The project will be funded by NSF for three years. In addition to UA, participating universities include Georgia Tech, City University of New York and Michigan Technological University.

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At right, Dr. Rohan Sood, assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, discusses trajectories of the Solar Cruiser mission with James Pezent, a graduate student in aerospace engineering.

NASA Mission to Include Contributions from UA Engineering Engineering researchers at The University of Alabama will contribute to a pioneering spaceflight mission set to launch in 2025.

Dr. Rohan Sood, assistant professor of aerospace engineering and mechanics, is part of a NASA-led mission to demonstrate the ability to harness the Sun’s radiation to maneuver a sail-based spacecraft into new orbits. The technology will enable high-value science missions in support of NASA’s Heliophysics Solar Terrestrial Probes Program to observe the Sun from certain vantage points and its effects on the interplanetary space. Led by Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, the Solar Cruiser investigation is budgeted for $65 million.

Sood and students in his lab working on the project will design trajectories for the spacecraft, compute effectiveness of different sail sizes, and investigate ways of leveraging the technology for future missions, including Solar Polar Imager concept, a mission to orbit the Sun in a novel way to capture imagery of its poles.

Solar Cruiser is planned to share a ride to space in 2025 with NASA’s Interstellar

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Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, as part of the Solar Terrestrial Probes Missions of Opportunity. The launch of the IMAP mission in 2025 to the first L1, or Lagrangepoint, about 1 million miles towards the Sun, will be a pathfinder for NASA’s new RideShare policy.

Consisting of a nearly 18,000-square-foot solar sail, Solar Cruiser will demonstrate the ability to use solar radiation as a propulsion system, enabling future missions in new orbits including SmallSat observations from deep space, out of the ecliptic plane, and in stationary orbits in the Earth’s geo-tail.

Solar Cruiser will demonstrate one such orbit, where a spacecraft maintains position along the Earth-Sun line at a point closer to the Sun than L1. By positioning a monitoring spacecraft closer to the Sun, space weather scientists hope to obtain more advanced warnings of solar storms headed to Earth.

Getting a spacecraft out of the ecliptic plane, the plane in which the Earth orbits the Sun, is expensive in either fuel or time.

Traditionally, planets have been used to slingshot spacecraft out of the plane, as has been done with previous deep space probes. If solar radiation can be used to propel a spacecraft out of the ecliptic plane, the technology could lead to innovative explorations.

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They are part of a grant to UA from the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy that includes the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and General Comminution Incorporated in Toronto, Canada.

GCI invented and sells the Szego Mill, a machine that crushes and grinds organic material into fine particles using special steel, helical rollers. Developed about 30 years ago, the Szego Mill’s proprietary roller technology has a high specific capacity while using low energy.

Metallurgical engineering student Madyson Canulette, left, from Picayune, Mississippi, works with Dr. Luke Brewer, right, in his lab.

UA Engineering Researchers Investigating Solutions for Jet Biofuel Engineering researchers at The University of Alabama are working to improve a novel process to turn leftover corn scraps into biofuel for jet engines as part of a $3.8 million grant from the United States Department of Energy.

The designers of the process and a critical machine used to grind the corn leftovers, or stover, turned to UA metallurgical and mechanical engineers with expertise in mechanics to help clear a significant hurdle to scale up the process, paving the way to produce commercially viable jet biofuel.

“This is a great example of pure engineering being used to come up with solutions that benefit the nation,” said Dr. Luke Brewer, associate professor of metallurgical and materials engineering.

“Our graduate and undergraduate students will get experience working across disciplines and see how their work influences other areas of technology.”

At UA, Brewer is working with Dr. Keivan Davami, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Dr. Mark Barkey, professor and head of the UA Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics.

Scientists at the NREL innovated a process that uses the Szego Mill to transform corn stover, the leaves, cobb and stalk – everything except the corn kernels – from the corn plant into a chemical state that readies it for preparation into fuel. The deacetylation and mechanical refining process uses the rolling mill and chemical reactions to wring as much of the building blocks for the fuel, sugar, from the corn stover as possible. When using the Szego Mill to mash the corn stover, the process yields 10 percent more sugar.

However, the process needs to scale to produce industrial-sized quantities, and the current Szego Mills are too small to eat through the amount of corn stover needed.

For successful scale-up, engineers need higher reliability and designs optimized for grinding biomass. These improvements demand better materials and mechanical design in the rolling mill.

UA researchers will study different types of steels that will perform better and last longer. The team will also see if cold sprayed metallic coatings and laser peening surface treatments on top of the steel rollers will help with wear and tear, and will use computer modeling of mechanical loading to further refine the choice of materials.

“We can help them find a better steel because we know which steels will perform better for certain configurations of the mill,” Brewer said.

The four-year project will support a postdoctoral researcher and two doctorate students while enabling undergraduate researchers to participate, including a current senior design project.

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National Awards for Early Career Research go to Four UA Professors During the past academic year, four professors at The University of Alabama, including two engineering faculty, received national recognition early in their careers for leading-edge research that will advance knowledge and enhance the educational experience.

The National Science Foundation selected the professors for a CAREER Award, one of the nation’s most prestigious recognitions of topperforming young scientists. The grants allow each researcher to train and motivate a new generation of scientists and engineers through instruction and hands-on lab work at UA as well as through outreach efforts to schools and the community.

Crawford will use his award to understand how high school students in rural Alabama can learn about computer science through interacting with computers using sensors attached to the body, such as those that detect brain activity. Physiological computing systems are at the forefront of humancomputer interaction, and the study will provide rural students and their teachers with hands-on learning experiences that investigate how students learn about physiological data processing and computational concepts. It should inform future pathways for teaching, train students for future careers and understand how the experience influences students’ ability to learn the concepts.

An NSF CAREER Award will fund projects by Dr. Chris Crawford, assistant professor of computer science, and Dr. Aijun Song, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.

The NSF Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER, Program is a Foundation-wide activity offering the most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty with the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.

Song’s award will develop advanced subsea wireless sensor networks with a goal to promote ocean science progress and the development of the future ocean economy workforce.

Self-driving underwater vehicles are a critical innovation in ocean exploration, but limited underwater wireless communication capabilities hinder their applications in the field. Song envisions a mobile, multi-mode communication network with a fleet of cooperative autonomous surface vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles. The mobile network will provide muchneeded connectivity for self-driving underwater vehicles and help advance the next frontier of ocean sampling and exploration.

Dr. Chris Crawford

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Dr. Aijun Song

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New Director of the Randall Research Scholars Program Named

16 doctoral dissertations. In collaboration with students and other colleagues, his research publication activities include 80 journal articles and editorials, 18 book chapters, 173 refereed conference and workshop papers, over 130 posters, 10 demonstrations, 21 tutorials and over 25 panels.

Gray is a National Science Foundation CAREER award recipient and was named the 2008 Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is a distinguished member of the Association for Computing Machinery and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He currently serves as the chair of the Alabama IEEE Computer Society and the co-editorin-chief of the Journal on Software and Systems Modeling.

Dr. Jeff Gray

Dr. Jeff Gray, computer science professor in The University of Alabama’s College of Engineering, was chosen as the new director of the Randall Research Scholars Program.

A native of Glen Dale, West Virginia, and a first-generation college graduate, Gray received his doctorate in computer science from Vanderbilt University and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from West Virginia University, where he was a member of the Honors program.

His research interests are in software engineering, computer science education, programming languages and humancomputer interaction – with a specific interest in interdisciplinary research. Funding to support his research has been granted by the National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Google, IBM, Air Force, Boeing, College Board and the Department of Education.

There have been 43 funded awards for his research, with a total combined dollar value of over $21 million.

Gray has been at The University of Alabama since 2010, and currently serves as the codirector of the Software Engineering Lab. Over the past two decades, he has advised

Gray is also co-chair of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey’s Computer Science Advisory Council. He was appointed as one of three higher-education faculty on the College Board’s Development Committee for the AP CS Principles course. He previously serviced on the Education Advisory Council of code.org.

His passion for service and outreach has helped promote K-12th grade computer science opportunities throughout Alabama and the nation for both students and teachers.

Alabama Water Institute Names First Faculty Fellowship Recipients The Alabama Water Institute selected three faculty members from The University of Alabama, including two engineering faculty, as the inaugural fellows in the AWI Faculty Fellowship Program.

The program recognizes UA faculty for outstanding research, extension and education programs that significantly advance UA’s interdisciplinary waterrelated communities of science.

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• Dr. Milad R. Esfahani, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering.

The first Distinguished AWI Faculty Fellow is: • Dr. Lisa Davis, associate professor of geography, College of Arts & Sciences.

Two Early Career and one Distinguished Faculty Fellowships will be awarded each year by AWI to candidates affiliated with the institute. Each fellowship has a tenure of three academic years and is accompanied by an annual salary stipend.

Dr. Leigh Terry

Selected fellows have evidenced strong interdisciplinary water-related research, education and/or extension programs.

Their research, education and extension priorities align with AWI’s mission to carry out cutting-edge and applied research and train the next generation of scientists to provide actionable, novel solutions for a more water-secure world.

AWI’s goal is to become a world-class interdisciplinary water research institute that develops path-breaking, holistic and environmentally friendly solutions to ensure people and ecological systems in our community, state, nation and around the world have access to clean water and are resilient to extreme events.

Dr. Milad R. Esfahani

AWI established two types of fellowships. Assistant professors are eligible for the Early Career Alabama Water Institute Faculty Fellowship.

Associate and full professors are eligible for the Distinguished Alabama Water Institute Faculty Fellowship.

The first Early Career AWI Faculty Fellows are: • Dr. Leigh Terry, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering.

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UA Professor Named Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador Dr. Steven Jones, the James R. Cudworth Professor with The University of Alabama’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, was named a Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador.

Jones, who conducted research at the Namibia University of Science and Technology in 2019 through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, will serve a two-year

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President’s Faculty Research Award Recipients for 2021 Honored Members of The University of Alabama faculty were honored for their research and creative contributions as part of Faculty Research Day.

Dr. Steven Jones

term as an alumni ambassador and present information on his Fulbright experience at multiple events on college campuses and academic conferences each year.

During his time in Namibia, Jones, who also serves as deputy director of the Alabama Transportation Institute, studied the road safety epidemic plaguing SubSaharan Africa and how transportation affects the lives of Namibians. His work produced multiple peer-reviewed articles and a chapter in a forthcoming book on transportation in Africa.

The Fulbright Scholar Program, funded by the U.S. Department of State, supports more than 800 U.S. faculty and professionals each year to teach or conduct research in over 135 countries. The Fulbright award is a prestigious honor that brings distinction to the faculty member and their institution. A key priority for the State Department is to increase the diversity and quality of the scholars who participate in the program and the range of U.S. higher education institutions.

To support this goal, the Institute of International Education launched the Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador Program. Ambassadors represent the program externally and serve as advisors about critical aspects of the program to the State Department and IIE.

Faculty Research Day highlights and celebrates excellence in research, creativity and scholarship by honoring faculty from across campus. It is intended to increase awareness and generate enthusiasm for scholarship among faculty as the University advances its research enterprise and its impact.

Sponsored by UA’s president and the Office for Research and Economic Development, the awards go to outstanding faculty researchers from across the University’s colleges and schools.

The recipients come from each of three areas: arts and humanities; physical and biological sciences, mathematics and engineering; and social and behavioral sciences. In each group, nominations are solicited for a senior, mid-career and emerging scholar to be honored.

Faculty Research Day also recognizes recent inductees into the National Academy of Inventors. This year’s inductee is Dr. Xiangrong Shen, professor of mechanical engineering.

The 2021 President’s Faculty Research Award Recipients from engineering were:

Mid-Career Scholar Physical and Biological Sciences, Mathematics & Engineering • Dr. Paul G. Allison – mechanical engineering

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Senior Scholar Physical and Biological Sciences, Mathematics & Engineering • Dr. Fei Hu – electrical and computer engineering

Moradkhani’s research spans across hydrosystems with an emphasis on natural disasters. Droughts and floods, data assimilation, machine learning, remote sensing and climate change take the forefront of his research.

In the acceptance email, Thomas Smith III, ASCE’s executive director, said Moradkhani received the award for his contributions to data assimilation and regional water scarcity and drought studies.

President’s Faculty Research Award Recipients for 2021 Honored The Environmental & Water Resources Institute, one of the nine technical institutes a part of the American Society of Civil Engineers, has recognized two trailblazing professors from The University of Alabama who made strides in water research.

Dr. Hamid Moradkhani, who serves as Alton N. Scott Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research, was awarded the 2021 Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering Award.

Dr. Robert Pitt

Dr. Robert Pitt, retired Cudworth Professor of Urban Water Systems in the civil, construction and environmental engineering department, received the 2021 Julian Hinds Award.

Pitt works on various research projects focusing on stormwater management and teaches occasional workshops on urban water systems. He has helped develop green infrastructure controls and continues to work on urban stormwater quality model development.

Smith said Pitt was chosen for the award because of his contributions in the water resources engineering field and urban water resources research.

Both recipients are fellows in the organization as well as active members of ASCE and EWRI committees.

Dr. Hamid Moradkhani

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Moradkhani has been involved in the Water and Society Committee and the EWRI Watershed Council. He served as chair of the Uncertainty and Risk Analysis Technical Committee and has organized multiple panels and conference tracks over the years. Pitt worked with the Water Resources

Safety Committee and the Stormwater Pathogens Committee.

They were nominated by peers and selected by the ASCE/EWRI awards committee for this distinction.

Moradkhani and Pitt attended the virtual award ceremony in June.

IN BRIEF The Engineering Council of Birmingham held its annual awards banquet virtually Tuesday, Feb. 23. Dr. Todd Freeborn, electrical and computer engineering assistant professor, was named ECOB Educator of the Year.

The National Science Foundation awarded more than $520,000 to Dr. James Harris, assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering; and Dr. Martin Bakker, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, to study the incorporation of phthalocyanine dyes into zeolites and their use to the oxidation of light alkenes.

Dr. Hamid Moradkhani, the Alton N. Scott Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering and director of the UA Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research, was selected for the AAWRE 2020 Outstanding Research & Innovation Award by the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers, a subsidiary of the American Society of Civil Engineers. His recognition stems from his outstanding landmark contributions in applied hydrology and groundbreaking research in the field of water resources.

Dr. Shreyas Rao, the Reichhold-Shumaker Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, received a research grant in January from METAvivor Research and Support Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for stage IV metastatic breast cancer. The grant will enhance the understanding of metastatic breast cancer, help improve current treatments and develop greatly needed therapeutic options to combat this complicated disease.

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NEW TO THE COLLEGE

UA hires preeminent alumnus to advance water research initiatives An expert water researcher and University of Alabama alumnus has joined the faculty of UA’s College of Engineering.

Dr. Steven Burian joined the civil, construction and environmental engineering department as a professor on June 1. In addition, he is affiliated with the University’s Alabama Water Institute.

“Alabama has the vision and the trajectory to be a national leader in water,” Burian said.

His research focuses on advancing the sustainability and resilience of water infrastructure systems, including stormwater, flood control, water supply and wastewater collection.

“In particular, I will be developing and applying new data acquisition systems, computational tools, and artificial intelligence to help enhance the nation’s ability to forecast water hazards and to prepare communities to respond and adapt,” Burian said.

Rayder has plans for the projects Burian will focus on with AWI, including working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Geological Survey as well as regional and state partners.

AWI is one of four institutes in UA’s Office for Research & Economic Development. Dr. Russell Mumper, vice president of research and economic development, believes Burian will help ORED execute its mission of using innovative research to impact society.

Dr. Steven Burian

“Steve is a nationally recognized leader in water research, and he brings a unique perspective to our efforts to drive research into operations with federal partners as well as the private sector,” said Scott Rayder, AWI executive director.

“He is respected by the hydrologic community around the world and brings a wealth of experience and ideas to move our expertise out of the lab into the real world.”

Burian’s desire to return to Alabama had a lot to do with the direction the University is taking in its focus on water research. He was attracted to the growing possibilities and wanted to be part of the impact it will have on the state and beyond.

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Burian was most recently a professor at the University of Utah, director of the University of Utah Water Center, project director of the U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water, and associate director for the Global Change and Sustainability Center at the University of Utah. Previously, he was a professor at the University of Arkansas, scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and director of a consulting firm he cofounded.

Dr. Charles Karr, dean of the UA College of Engineering, is excited to see Burian return to the Capstone as a faculty member and believes he is an example of the type of highquality graduate UA produces.

Burian will teach classes on water resources infrastructure and operations at UA. He said he is passionate about enhancing higher education.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s and doctorate from The University of Alabama in environmental engineering and civil engineering, respectively.

Assistant Professor hired for New EPIC Scholars Program and University Honors Program Dr. Kathryn O’Harra joined The University of Alabama faculty as an assistant professor in the Engineering Positive and Intentional Change, or EPIC, Scholars Program and University Honors Program.

O’Harra received her doctorate in chemical engineering, a bachelor’s and master’s degree in chemical and biological engineering and a second bachelor’s in dance with a mathematics minor from The University of Alabama.

While at UA, O’Harra has published over 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, presented at 15 national and international conferences and contributed as an inventor to multiple U.S. patent applications. She served as a Graduate Student Association departmental representative and vice president, a student inclusivity and diversity delegate and a mentor to undergraduate and graduate students. O’Harra is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the North American Membrane Society and the American Chemical Society.

Dr. Kathryn O’Harra

She will play a critical role in the transdisciplinary curriculum of the Honors College. O’Harra recently taught a new Honors College seminar — The Chemistry of Baking – and will develop and teach other honors courses in the future.

EPIC is an intentional, small, cohortbased Honors program for engineering and computer science students. This unique program will emphasize diversity, equity, inclusion and justice to develop students into leaders, advocates and agents of positive and intentional change in service to their profession, community and society.

NEW UA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FACULTY Dr. Denis Aslangil, assistant professor, AEM

Dr. Kaiwen Chen, assistant professor, CCE

Dr. Sara Neshani, assistant professor, ECE

Dr. Nicholas "Nick" Baker, assistant professor, ECE

Dr. Daqian "DJ" Jiang, assistant professor, CCE

Dr. Ali Pakniyat, assistant professor, ME

Dr. Purushotham "Puri" Bangalore, Cudworth Endowed Professor, CS

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UA Engineering Alumni Honor 2021 Outstanding Senior

In 2018, she worked as a clinically trained medical scribe at Physician’s Urgent Care in Tennessee and participated in the University of Tennessee Medical Explorations Shadowing Program.

The following year, Sanders shadowed professionals at Internal Medicine Associates of Tuscaloosa.

Sanders received the Chemical Engineering Outstanding Junior Award in 2020. The year prior, she was given the AIChE Donald F. Othmer Sophomore Academic Excellence Award. Sanders was a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Golden Key International honor societies.

Emma Sanders

Emma Sanders, who studied chemical engineering at The University of Alabama, received the 2021 Capstone Engineering Society Outstanding Senior Award.

A student in the Honors College with a premedical concentration and minors in biology and the Randall Research Scholars Program, Sanders earned a 4.14 GPA and was on the president’s list every semester since fall 2017.

A Franklin, Tennessee native, she earned six scholarships while at the Capstone, including the Randall Research Scholars Program Fellowship, which is the nation’s first interdisciplinary undergraduate research program. Within this program, Sanders did research on campus, was a mentor and acquired a minor.

Beginning in 2018, Sanders worked as an undergraduate researcher for assistant professor Dr. Shreyas Rao. She looked at how the tumor microenvironment plays a role in cancer progression, therapeutic response and drug resistance. Sanders was able to present her research at RSS Live in 2018 and 2019 and UA’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference in 2019.

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She served as president of UA’s Tau chapter of Omega Chi Epsilon, a chemical engineering honor society, and as a member of UA’s chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Sanders had been an Ambassador for the College of Engineering since 2018 and worked as vice president of communications in 2019 and vice president of recruitment in 2020.

Along with being a Randall Research Scholars mentor, Sanders was an Honors Year One Program mentor. She participated in UA Honors New Zealand Study Abroad Program and intramural sports at UA. Sanders was an active volunteer in the community. Within UA’s Center for Service and Leadership, she was a UA Arboretum volunteer for Serving Bama and an assistant team leader and logistics chair for Beyond Bama. She also volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.

This fall she is attending the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine in Memphis, Tennessee.

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.

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Nominees for the 2021 CES Outstanding Senior Award were: •Abby Feeder of Parker, Colorado Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics •Allie Ćemalović of Metairie, Louisiana Architectural Engineering •Josh Lambert of Brandenton, Florida Civil Engineering •Galen Lee of Cottondale, Alabama Construction Engineering •Matthew Mason of Oviedo, Florida Computer Engineering •Jude Alnas of Columbus, Mississippi Electrical Engineering •Lauren Chambliss of Prattville, Alabama Environmental Engineering •Emma Scott of Collierville, Tennessee Mechanical Engineering •Brandon Keneda of Lincolnton, North Carolina - Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

Two UA Engineering Students Win Prestigious Goldwater Scholarship The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program selected two University of Alabama engineering students as Goldwater Scholars for 20212022.

Anna Stevenson

She plans on pursuing a doctorate in mechanical engineering with the goal of conducting research in sustainable alternative energy sources for lowemission vehicles, either with a national or governmental lab or in combination with teaching as a university professor.

Outside of research, Stevenson is the Southeast Student Regional Chair of the American Society of Mechanical Engineer’s International Student Section Enterprise Committee, a member of UA’s chapter of Pi Tau Sigma, a mechanical engineering honor society, and volunteers as a local high school math and science tutor. Her parents are Jon and Cindy Stevenson.

Jacob Wall is metallurgical engineering major from Maryville, Tennessee. Wall, a student in UA’s Honors College, has been working under the mentorship of Dr. Feng Yan to

The selections bring the number of UA students who have received Goldwater scholarships to 59.

Anna Stevenson is a Randall Research Scholar studying mechanical engineering from Tall Timbers, Maryland. Stevenson, a student in UA’s Honors College, has worked under Drs. Joshua Bittle and Ajay Agrawal to characterize properties of biomassbased fuels and fuel blends for use in lowemissions, advanced compression ignition (diesel) engines.

Jacob Wall

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explore new materials and fabrication techniques for perovskite solar cells. His research has yielded three publications in scientific journals, one of which he was the primary author.

Wall plans to pursue a doctorate in materials science and continue his research into clean energy, such as solar, at a national laboratory.

Outside of research, Wall acts on his strong sense of philanthropy. His most recent fundraiser was called Pedal Against Parkinson’s in which he and his brother bicycled from Key West, Florida to Vancouver, British Columbia. In a trip of over 5,000 miles, he helped raise more than $5,000 for Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s foundation. His parents are Jon and Donna Wall.

Three UA Students Earn Critical Language Scholarship Three University of Alabama students, including one computer science major, received the Critical Language Scholarship to study overseas during summer 2021.

The Critical Language Scholarship, or CLS program, is part of a U.S. State Department effort to expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages. CLS scholars gain critical language and cultural skills that enable them to contribute to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security.

Samuel Watson, a computer science major with a concentration in cybersecurity from Hazel Green, Alabama, used the scholarship to study Korean at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea.

Watson, who is minoring in Korean, is also a recipient of the Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship, the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship and the Boren Scholarship, through which he spent seven months studying at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, in 2017.

In addition, he served as a college-level English instructor at Ansan University

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Samuel Watson

in Ansan, South Korea, in 2019, and participated in a software engineering co-op at ADTRAN in spring 2021. Watson plans to further develop his Korean proficiency, and upon graduation from UA, he hopes to secure a cybersecurity position within the U.S. government.

The CLS program provides scholarships to U.S. undergraduate and graduate students to spend eight to 10 weeks overseas studying one of 14 critical languages, including Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Turkish or Urdu.

The program includes intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences designed to promote rapid language gains. CLS scholars are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship and apply their critical language skills in their future careers.

UA Students Win Gilman International Scholarships Three University of Alabama students, including one engineering student, have been awarded the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to participate in study abroad programs during the 20212022 academic year.

Scholarship winners are selected by the Institute of International Education

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Presentation Category: Computer Science, MIS, Cybersecurity and Statistics First Place Completed Research: Utkarsh Singh, Stephen Gregory (Computer Science). Mentor: Jeff Gray. “A Computer Vision Pipeline for Automatic Large-Scale Inventory Tracking.”

First Place Work in Progress: Utkarsh Singh (Computer Science). Mentor: Chris Crawford. “AvaFlow: Learning to Design Intelligent Virtual Agents through Flow-Based Programming.”

Presentation Category: Engineering, Transportation and Energy Lauren Baltimore

through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in the U.S. Department of State.

Lauren Baltimore, a junior majoring in chemical engineering, from Columbus, Ohio, was selected to study in Ireland.

Gilman awardees receive up to $5,000 to apply toward their study abroad program costs, giving them the opportunity to gain a better understanding of other cultures, countries, languages and economies.

Critical Need Language Awards provide up to an additional $3,000.

First Place Completed Research: Oreoluwa Agede (Chemical and Biological Engineering). Mentor: Amanda Koh. “Studying the effects of electrolytes and initiators on Poly-HIPE foams.”

First Place Work in Progress: Josh Perch (Chemical and Biological Engineering). Mentor: James Harris.

“Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Catalysts for Selective Oxidation Reactions.”

Presentation Category: Physical Sciences First Place Work in Progress: Nathan Silvey (Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics). Mentor: Marcos Santander.

“Characterizing the Long-Term behavior of Gamma-Ray Blazars Using the Fermi-LAT Space Telescope.”

Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Winners Honored This year’s winners of the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference at The University of Alabama highlight the ingenuity and dedication of those who rigorously pursued research and creative avenues outside the classroom.

The premier research event to highlight undergraduate research at UA spurs interest in research among undergraduate students and helps students polish their communication skills. The winners of the 14th annual conference, hosted by the Office for Undergraduate Research, include these engineering students:

The 2021 UA Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference.

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IN BRIEF Four University of Alabama engineering students received 2021 National Alumni Association Outstanding Senior Awards.

Lauren Pan, a UA chemical and biological engineering student, was awarded second place in the Society of Women Engineer's WE Local Undergraduate Collegiate Competition.

• Meghan Gilhooly - Chemical and Biological Engineering • Elizabeth Bury - Chemical and Biological Engineering

The Engineering Council of Birmingham held its annual awards banquet virtually Tuesday, Feb. 23. Jonathan Platt, electrical and computer engineering, was named UA's Outstanding Undergraduate Student of the Year, and Kathryn O'Harra, chemical and biological engineering, was named UA's Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year.

• Lauren Pan - Chemical and Biological Engineering • Carrie Sandel - Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Demarcus Joiner, civil engineering student and 2020-2021 Student Government Association president, was awarded one of UA's nine Premier Awards — the Morris Lehman Mayer Award. This award recognizes one graduating senior and one teaching faculty who exemplifies integrity, selfless service and leadership at the University and in the community, and who have made significant contributions to student life.

Christopher Wanstall, who graduated in December 2020 with a doctorate in mechanical engineering, won the UA Graduate School's Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Kittson Hamill, computer science student, was named one of UA's Outstanding Freshmen at the annual Tapping on the Mound Ceremony in April.

Tonmoy Ghosh and Delwar Hossain, UA electrical engineering doctoral students, and Dr. Edward Sazonov, electrical and computer engineering professor, received a Best Paper Award at the sixth IEEE-EMBS Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Sciences for the paper “Implementing Real-Time Food Intake Detection in a Wearable System Using Accelerometer."

Chase Lee, a 2021 UA aerospace engineering and mechanics graduate and Alabama Baseball relief pitcher, earned third team All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and was selected to the American Baseball Coaches Association/ Rawlings All-Southeast Region First Team.

Allie Ćemalović, a UA architectural engineering student, was awarded a Society of Women Engineers WE Local 2021 Rising Star Award.

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Tyler Barnes, a 2021 chemical engineering graduate and Alabama Men’s Basketball forward, was named to the Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Community Service Team.

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Most events remained virtual during the spring as campus began loosening restrictions During the spring 2021 semester, many meetings and events happened virtually through video conferencing as The University of Alabama worked to maximize opportunities during pandemic restrictions.

Steel Day kicked off the spring semester in February with a completely virtual lineup of steel-related industries networking with students and sharing career opportunities.

The event was organized by Dr. Nilesh Kumar, metallurgical and materials engineering assistant professor. The following day, the UA Career Center hosted a virtual Technical and Engineering Career Fair for students to connect with hiring employers.

In March, the spring semester hit full swing. At the beginning of the month, the Engineering Career Development Center held Co-op Interview Day. That same week, the Capstone Engineering Society held a virtual networking reception, and Lisa Nicole Smith, the College of Engineering’s new manager of diversity, equity and inclusion and director of the Multicultural Engineering Program, held a virtual meet and greet.

A week later, Mentor UPP held an alumni panel for students to ask five alumni questions relating to career readiness and experience. The alumni generously shared their time to talk with students and give their tips for preparing for life after college. Smith also held an event to Celebrate Women’s History Month with the second and third African American women to graduate from

the UA College of Engineering, Carnetta Nabors Davis and Carvetta Nabors Williams.

In April, Dr. Alex Hainen, civil, construction and environmental engineering associate professor, took students in his CE48 Traffic Engineering class to see the new 2nd Avenue overpass on campus. The students talked with UA senior project manager, David Welch, and the superintendents from Brasfield & Gorrie about transportation, construction, materials and water/drainage components involved in the project.

Bama Blitz 2021 was held at its typical time in April; unlike the 2020 crowdfunding campaign, which was rescheduled for last fall. The event grew to a four-day extravaganza of fundraising.

This year the College focused its efforts on raising money to purchase another engine lathe for the student machine shop in Hardaway Hall.

Thanks to generous donors, $8,293 was raised from 54 gifts and a matching promise from Bryant Bank. In addition to the passion project, the CES raised $2,887 from 29 gifts.

UA announced plans to return to full operations for the fall 2021 semester.

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Developing

a Professional Alumni support students in transition from college to career

By Arayna Wooley

Jason Collins and Hannah Clayton, both senior mechanical engineering students, are being mentored by Bob Brazeal, a 1977 electrical engineering graduate.

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T

he University of Alabama’s Mentor UPP Program gives engineering students and alumni access to valuable industry insights and relationships. The program connects students with mentors and aims to provide educational and professional development opportunities.

Liz Moore, the former College of Engineering assistant director for alumni engagement, was an adviser for the program.

“The relationships built through the mentoring program can open doors and expand opportunities for personal and professional growth,” Moore said. “Many alumni have shared that it's a truly rewarding experience and they often feel more connected and engaged with the college through participation.”

Mentor UPP has two initiatives within its program. Freshmen and sophomores can enter into the peer mentoring component where they are paired with upperclassmen mentors. Juniors and seniors join the professional partnering component where they are mentored by alumni. The program was officially launched in 2014 by engineering staff — Nancy Holmes and Gayle Howell — with the goal of increasing student retention, involvement and confidence.

“It is our hope that students matriculate through both arms of the program,” Moore said.

Once they are matched, the students and alumni are asked to introduce SMART goals and discussion topics plus establish their own expectations and meeting schedules.

SMART goals are understood to be goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. On the Mentor UPP website there are relevant materials about roles and responsibilities for mentors and mentees to utilize.

Bob Brazeal, who retired in 2016, is a 1977 electrical engineering graduate. He has been a mentor in the program for the last two years and has had five mentees in the time period.

He has worked with Moore to help enhance the program.

“I always enjoyed working with the interns and it was one thing that I missed after retiring,” he said. “As soon as I heard about the Mentor UPP program, I saw it as a chance to continue working with young engineering students and recent graduates even in retirement.”

Jason Collins, a senior at UA majoring in mechanical engineering, joined the program in the fall of 2020. He serves as a mentor to underclassmen and is one of Brazeal’s mentees.

“Bob has told me so many stories and shared so many life lessons with me that I write down and will take with me when I begin my career as an engineer. There is an indescribable amount of value in being exposed to Bob’s wisdom and his experience in engineering after spending almost 40 years in the industry.”

Brazeal began his career at Boeing and most recently worked at Walt Disney World Resort.

He is a strong advocate for mentorships and has continued to ignite passion in today's new engineers, Collins said.

Brazeal believes mentorship to be a great learning tool for both parties involved. He aims to teach his mentees things outside of the engineering curriculum by giving anecdotal life lessons and engaging their curiosity.

“Working with the students has forced me to do a lot of thinking and research for the topics we discuss. I graduated from The University of Alabama many years ago so I have learned a lot from my mentees about how different it is to be coming out of college and getting a job for their generation,” Brazeal said.

Collins wants to become a professional mentor during his career to guide students the way Brazeal guided him. His time in the program has transformed his college experience by allowing him to build meaningful connections.

“Ultimately, Mentor UPP has helped me find more than a degree in school; it has helped me decide who I want to become in life, and every day it gives me the chance to pursue that identity,” he said.

Collins is also on Mentor UPP’s student advisory board, which is a group of ambassadors for the

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program who work to continuously improve the mentor and mentee experience. He has had the chance to learn from his mentors and the advisory board has allowed him to give back and aid younger students in their journey.

“My decision to get involved with the advisory board starts with the identity that Mentor UPP helped me to find. I want to become someone who elevates others and helps others to reach their maximum potential,” he said.

Mentors and mentees are paired for one academic school year unless they request to stay with each other. Collins has chosen to continue as Brazeal’s mentee through the 2021-2022 school year. They plan to keep in contact with each other after Collins graduates.

Michael Scott, who received his master’s in mechanical engineering in 2012, began as a mentor during the 2020-2021 school year and has enjoyed his role in the program.

“When I was graduating from undergrad and grad school, there were so many questions that only someone that had been working in the industry could answer,” Scott said.

“With the Mentor UPP program, you create a personal relationship with the student and it allows them to progressively ask questions from previous conversations that dig deeper into their future career path.”

Luke Vilagi, a current mechanical engineering student at UA, was Scott’s first mentee. He joined the program in May 2020. The chance to gain guidance from someone on a similar path drew him to the program.

“I've always loved cars and knew I wanted to go into the automotive industry, but there's so many paths to choose from within this realm that I just found myself uncertain about which to pursue,” Vilagi said.

In addition to his engineering master’s degree, Scott also has a Masters of Business Administration. He works for Mercedes-Benz and just returned to Tuscaloosa in early 2021 from an expat assignment. He and Vilagi met

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Luke Vilagi, a mechanical engineering student, and Michael Scott, a mechanical engineering alumnus, met up in Germany while Vilagi was studying abroad and Scott was working with Mercedes-Benz.

up in Germany while Scott was working in Stuttgart and Vilagi was beginning his study abroad program in March of 2020.

Since Scott graduated, he said technology and the world around it has grown exponentially. He is not surprised to see engineers continuing to change and adapt to life's new challenges.

“It's also been good to see that there are still very eager engineers coming out into the world that want to do something great,” he said. “The experience itself has been very rewarding to me personally. I feel like I have made a positive impact on Luke and hopefully been able to steer his future career path on where he wants to go.”

Vilagi has been delighted with his pairing with Scott and has found him to be a great resource with engineering as well as living abroad.

“This program has given me a much better sense of direction in terms of my future education, career and life goals. I feel much more confident in the path I want to pursue within the automotive industry — research and development — and I'm more excited than ever to dive in headfirst. All of this has boosted my mindset to succeed in and out of the classroom and it has provided much needed motivation during online classes thanks to COVID,” Vilagi said.

He is part of Two Steps Ahead, which is a German student exchange program at UA. Scott was able to show Vilagi around during their time in Germany.

“I came to UA specifically for [the Two-Steps Ahead] program; it offered the chance to learn German, study abroad near the heart of Germany's automotive industry and complete an internship with an automotive company in Germany,” Vilagi said.

Scott and Vilagi are still in contact and plan to continue their communication.

“It is incredibly rewarding to watch these relationships grow throughout the year. The commitment from our alumni is inspiring,” Moore said.

Collins has found his time in the program to be invaluable and thanks everyone who has been a part of the process. He plans to continue to uplift others and be an asset to the College.

“I have been surprised at what incredible passion the people who are involved with Mentor UPP have. Liz Moore and Gayle Howell, along with the rest of the leadership, do a fantastic job trying to improve the program and ensuring the student experience is excellent,” Collins said.

Vilagi applied to Mentor UPP without many expectations. He was surprised to find a lifelong connection in his field of interest and an entryway into his intended career path.

“The folks at Mentor UPP went above and beyond to pair me with the absolute perfect mentor for my situation and ambitions. I'm incredibly thankful for their efforts and would recommend this program to anyone who's even considering it in the slightest,” Vilagi said.

“We students have so much to learn from the alumni that were once in the same positions as we're in now.”

Mentor UPP: Undergraduate Professional Partnering is a way for alumni to give back to UA with their time and resources. Alumni are matched with upperclassmen for a yearlong professional 32 DRIVING INNOVATION development relationship.

Securing the Workforce UA combats the growing challenge of cyber security with new degree, alumni partnership

Careers in cyber security have become increasingly needed across the country, and The University of Alabama is working to create a direct line of employees ready to take on the challenge.

Last academic year, UA added a new cyber security bachelor’s degree to the computer science department to help meet the workforce need.

“There is a growing need for professionals skilled in the protection and defense of digital information across the nation,” said Dr. Travis Atkison, associate professor of computer science and cyber security program director.

“In fact, cyber security is one of the fastestgrowing fields in the country. It is estimated that approximately 750,000 cyber security jobs remain unfilled because of the lack of qualified candidates.”

After realizing the need, he said the College of Engineering made it a mission to create a degree program that was rigorous, technical and gave students the skills and knowledge to excel at protecting digital information.

Problem-solving skills and innovation are important to the core curriculum of UA’s cyber security degree. Atkison said the courses are based on developing these skills in students.

“We feel that one of the greatest takeaways from our programs are our students' ability to dissect a problem into appropriate components and build solid, efficient, and secure solutions,” Atkison said.

In addition to the new degree, cyber security is also a point of focus in UA’s four main

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Jennifer Gray Elwell, a 2006 computer science graduate, works with her father Ron Gray, a 1981 mechanical engineering graduate, at Gray Analytics in Huntsville. The family company plans on deepening their involvement with UA by working with students and serving on boards.

research areas, which are water, transportation, cyber and life research. UA’s Cyber Initiative, an interdisciplinary research center with a mission to build awareness of cyber issue dynamics and allinclusive cyber research programs on campus, is led by computer science professor Dr. Jeff Carver.

“The Cyber Initiative has a charge to enhance and support the research efforts ongoing at the Capstone in cyber-related fields. The support provided by the Cyber Initiative has opened up opportunities for our students to gain valuable

experience working on cyber-related projects while pursuing their degree,” Atkison said.

The need for cyber security defense by trained professionals has become more apparent over recent years as several high-profile attacks have halted the way critical infrastructure is able to function.

“Cyber is touching fields now that 10 years ago many people would never have imagined. With this pervasiveness, there is a great need for skilled professionals that understand the field and make positive contributions to society,” Atkison said.

As the scope of the cyber world continues to grow, he said the importance of this discipline cannot be understated because almost everything has gone digital.

“As more and more of our daily activities are conducted online and more everyday devices become 'connected,’ being able to protect not only the device but the user is paramount,” Atkison said.

Faculty are working with companies to create a supportive network for students. He said companies, like Gray Analytics, put time and resources into supporting the students and letting them know the best practices in the field.

Ron, 1981 mechanical engineering alumnus, and Cindy Gray, 1982 computer science alumna, founded Gray Analytics in 2018.

The cyber security and engineering services firm, headquartered in Huntsville, works with commercial and government clients and has offices in California and South Carolina.

Ron is the chief executive officer, and Cindy is the chair of the board. Their daughter Jennifer Gray Elwell, a 2006 computer science alumna, is vice president of business operations.

“Gray Analytics provides cyber security risk management, regulatory compliance, supply chain integrity, digital forensics, and agile software development to enable cyber defenses for corporations and state and local governments,” Elwell said. “Gray Analytics provides these same services plus hypersonics engineering, test, and analysis to the U.S. Department of Defense to improve cyber defenses, traditional ballistic missile defense, and hypersonic weapon defense.”

She said the company is eager to start working with students at UA and plans to help sponsor cyber security student group events and speak at their meetings once campus returns to regular operations. The partnership will be mutually beneficial. Elwell said there are more cyber security jobs available than applicants trained to fill those roles.

“UA’s new cyber security degree will help build a pipeline for new graduates to support the development efforts that we have at Gray Analytics,” Elwell said. “Through our close relationship with the University, we hope to develop a pipeline where current students can intern with us to gain real-world experience, and we can train them for the specific types of cyber work that we do both in the federal and commercial space.”

Currently, there are two other UA alums employed at the company: Scott Gray, 1984 industrial engineering alumnus, is the president; and Ashley Mayton Sanders, 2005 computer science alumna, is a software engineer.

One major project Gray is currently working on with the help of their UA graduates is supply chain integrity. The team analyzed the risks of the global supply chain by conceptualizing an artificial intelligence based global supply chain and illumination tool. Gray partnered with SAP National Security Services and hosted a hackathon to develop a prototype. Sanders played a pivotal role in the development.

“Ashley led a virtual hackathon team of 10-15 personnel of various disciplines from across the country to produce a working software prototype in one month that excelled at data collection and analytics of open-source intelligence information,” Elwell said. “Her education at UA helped Ashley develop exceptional team leadership, project management, systems engineer, and software development skills that provided immediate success for herself and Gray Analytics.”

In addition to aiding academic and student programs, Cindy Gray is on the College of Engineering’s Capital Campaign Committee and will be an ambassador for the University’s fundraising efforts, and Ron serves on the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama.

“We know that our College is only as good as its leaders and supporters, and we want to do our part to continue the excellence for which the UA COE is known,” Elwell said.

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Investing in the future through the past A 95-year family tradition of educational philanthropy

By Alana Norris Erskine Ramsay II earned his master's degree in metallurgical and materials engineering from UA in 1973.

The Ramsay Engineers Fund was endowed in April 2019.

T

he University of Alabama and its College of Engineering have inspired at least one family to pursue a path of generational philanthropy that has lasted for almost one hundred years.

commercial mechanical construction firm together.

When his father retired, Erskine II took over RamsayMcCormack Land Company and still serves as president today.

Erskine Ramsay II, a 1973 master’s graduate in metallurgical and materials engineering, set up the Ramsay Engineers Fund to create a scholarship in memory of his father, Robert Mclester Ramsay, who died in 2016 at the age of 94. The scholarship is offered to a veteran pursuing a degree in engineering.

“The company is one of the oldest, continually operating companies in the Birmingham area,” he said.

“My father fought in the Pacific in WWII as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army,” Erskine II said.

“He was a quiet man, but gave back to the Birmingham community in many ways without wanting to be noticed…With my wife, Laura, and our son, Erskine III, we decided to approach the University about endowing a scholarship.”

Erskine II followed in his father’s footsteps throughout his career. After graduating from UA, he joined his father’s firm. The duo later opened their own

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Erskine II wasn’t the first person in his family to find joy in philanthropy. In 1926, the first Erskine Ramsay, a relative, donated $100,000 to institutions of higher education in Alabama after selling his extensive coal holdings. He wasn’t an alumnus of any of the colleges where he gave. Erskine I’s gifts 95 years ago, given to UA in memory of his own father Robert Ramsay, became what is now known as the Robert Ramsay Chair of Chemistry.

“Giving back and giving to others has been a tradition in our family going back many generations,” Erskine II said. “[Erskine I] believed that education was the way to success…He instilled in my father this trait of always giving back.”

As a young alumnus, Erskine II began to give money to UA’s general fund annually. He was 35 when he began his philanthropic efforts at UA, and he has continued this tradition for 39 years.

over the past decade. Erskine II is impressed with the facility upgrades and additions as well as the advanced student body and the education provided by top-notch faculty.

“This endowment has grown to over $3 million. I have continued giving every year because of my love and respect for the University and how my education at the Capstone helped me succeed in life,” Erskine II said.

“The quality of the students and their enthusiasm is what has really impressed me. Their learning experience today is lightyears ahead of when I was a student. These students are being prepared to hit the workplace running when they graduate,” he said.

Earlier this year, Erskine II accepted a request to participate on the College’s Capital Campaign Committee. UA’s Capital Campaign became public on Sept. 10.

“I said I would do whatever I could to help make the Capital Campaign a success. Helping raise capital for the engineering school was a nobrainer,” Erskine II said.

He was quick to point out that supporting the campaign can come in all shapes and sizes and will look different to each individual who wants to contribute.

“Giving money is only one way to help. Every engineering graduate should do [their] part to see that the engineering school has the support it needs to be successful. Encouraging others to participate is very important,” Erskine II said.

After spending years studying in Hardaway Hall, Erskine II is interested in seeing the building transform into housing student competition teams and the Multicultural Engineering Program. He is especially enthusiastic about the new innovative labs and the subsonic and supersonic wind tunnels.

“This building is in need of renovation and preservation. It is a mainstay of the engineering school,” Erskine II said.

It is his mission to invest in the future of engineering education by remembering his family’s past.

Dedicating space to student enrichment is just one of the goals of the campaign. The College is also working to expand student scholarships and fellowships as well as faculty professorships and chairs. Engineering aims to raise $55 million.

Getting people involved in the campaign is important to him, and he hopes others agree.

“It can be as simple as a call to the development office to provide names for the office to call on for support. I have learned that there are people who love this University and would appreciate a call to ask them for support,” Erskine II said.

He is looking forward to getting more involved with the University through the campaign and is excited about what he’s seen happen on campus

Erskine Ramsay II visited UA's Foundry in August 2021 and spoke with Dr. Charles Monroe, metallurgical and materials associate professor, and several students about the research being done in the facility.

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RAYMOND M. HOLLUB Raymond “Ray” Matthew Hollub died Jan. 19, 2021, in Tuscaloosa. He was 92. Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Hollub served in the U.S. Navy during War World II, the Korean War and Vietnam War. He earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering in 1955 and master’s degree in engineering mechanics in 1958 from The University of Alabama. Hollub was an associate professor and the department head of aerospace engineering at UA. For 13 years, he was an administrator for the UA College of Continuing Studies. Hollub co-founded the Alabama Labor-Management Council and the UA Safe State program.

HERSCHEL A. MATHENY Herschel Albert Matheny died Jan. 23, 2021, in Huntsville. He was 90. Born in Guntersville, Matheny served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After his service, Matheny attended The University of Alabama on the GI Bill, graduating in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. He was co-founder, president and chairman of the board of Dynetics, Inc., an aerospace, defense and information technology company based in Huntsville. Matheny was named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow of UA’s College of Engineering in 1988 and was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2021. He established the Herschel and Lynne Matheny Endowed Engineering Scholarship.

M.A. OZTEKIN M.A. “John” Oztekin died Dec. 14, 2020. He was 95. A native of Istanbul, Turkey, Oztekin studied liberal arts in his home country before moving to Michigan in 1947 to study engineering and commerce at the University of Michigan. He then transferred to The University of Alabama after he began a relationship with a pen pal from Alabama, who he would later marry. After Oztekin earned his degree and became a naturalized citizen in 1951, he moved to Detroit for a job with a store-fixtures manufacturer. In 1956, Oztekin moved back to Alabama and established Dixie Craft Manufacturing Company to produce shelving and counters for retail merchandising. In 1958, he started Kent Corporation, a fixture and equipment manufacturing company, and patented his idea for the first unitized single-piece adjustable steel shelves and uprights with integrated roll formed back-panel channels. Oztekin also founded landholding Supermatic Development Corporation in 1962. He was nominated for the President’s “E” Award for significant contributions to the U.S. export program in 1968. Oztekin was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2007, named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow of the UA College of Engineering in 2006 and established the Oztekin Family Endowed Scholarship at UA.

JOSEPH E. SANDERS JR. Joseph Everett Sanders Jr. died April 8, 2021, in Birmingham. He was 82. Born in Tuscaloosa and raised in Aliceville, Sanders first attended Marion Military Institute before going to The University of Alabama to pursue a degree in chemical engineering. At UA, Sanders was a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity, student vice president of the engineering school and a distinguished military student. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserves as a captain. After graduating in 1960, Sanders moved to Charleston, West Virginia, and started his lifelong career with Union Carbide Corporation. He traveled regularly for work, visiting places like Japan, Canada and Venezuela, and spent time living in Texas and Brazil. Sanders retired from the company as the director of central research and engineering technology for chemical and plastics. He was recognized as a Distinguished Engineering Fellow by the UA College of Engineering in 1990-1991 and served many years on the advisory board for the chemical and biological engineering department.

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DR. MICHAEL E. STEVENSON Dr. Michael Earle Stevenson died March 28, 2021, in Georgia. He was 44. Stevenson received his bachelor’s in 1998, master’s in 1999 and doctorate in 2001, all in metallurgical and materials engineering, from The University of Alabama. He completed all three degrees in seven years from 1994-2001, making him the fastest individual to do so at Alabama. While still in school, Stevenson worked as a metallurgist and non-destructive technician for Ultrasonics and Magnetics Corporation in New Orleans and also played for the UA Rugby Football Club. After graduate school, he co-founded the firm Metals & Materials Engineers. Stevenson became the vice president and principal engineer for the company, and stayed in that position until 2007 when he joined Engineering Systems Inc., or ESi, as the vice president and director of Georgia operations. In 2009, he was appointed president, and in 2010, he became chief executive officer. Additionally, Stevenson was appointed board chairman in 2018 and remained in that position until his death. He was a professional engineer in 11 states, authored more than 300 technical reports and presented at numerous industry and technical forums. Stevenson chaired and cochaired several symposiums and served as editor-in-chief of ASM International’s Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention. He paid tribute to a former UA professor, Dr. Richard C. Bradt, by founding a lecture series in his honor in 2013. Stevenson also served on the industrial advisory board for both the aerospace engineering and mechanics department and the metallurgical and materials engineering department at UA. He was named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow of the UA College of Engineering in 2018, and he established the Dr. Michael E. Stevenson Memorial Endowed Engineering Scholarship.

KENNETH R. WINSLOW Kenneth Robert Winslow died March 18, 2021, in Jefferson City, Tennessee. He was 99. Born in Waterville, Maine, Winslow served in the Army Air Corps and Air Force as a bomber pilot. After, he attended The University of Alabama and earned his bachelor’s degree in mineral engineering, mining in 1947 and a master’s in 1955. At UA, Winslow was a member of the Million Dollar Band and engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi. He was an employee of the New Jersey Zinc Company until he retired in 1980 as vice president of mining, gulf and western industries. In 1988, Winslow was named a Distinguished Engineering Fellow of the UA College of Engineering.

Dr. Benny B. Barnes, MSEE ’62

Gary W. Euler, BSE ’66

John T. McKenzie, BSME ’48

James R. Batchelor Jr., BSME ’65

John M. Evans, BSE ’68

Col. Joseph M. Nall, BSAE ’66

Richard H. Beauchamp, BSIE ’51

Guthrie E. Farrar, BSME ’55

James W. Neal, BSCE ’57

Melvin F. Brown, BSEE ’59

Edward J. Finnell III, BSEE ’70, MSEE ’74

Terry E. Phillips, BSMinE ’71

Bryan W. Brown, BSME ’14

Robert H. Forrester, BSME ’58

Thomas G. Pigg, BSCE ’79

Victor F. Burrell, MSIE ’72

Roy G. Gage, BSEE ’56

Robert R. Richwine Jr., BSAE ’66

Delbert V. Carraher, BSME ’57

David L. Gordon Sr., BSEE ’56

Wade B. Riggs, BSCE ’63

Joseph A. Castelli, BSME ’47

Orrin H. Grangaard, BSEE ’63

Alfred A. Roser, BSAE ’43

William Compton, BSEE ’50

Ira M. Gross, BSAE ’43

John S. Searcy, BSChE ’49, MSChE ’52

Travis N. Conner, BSME ’60

Bobby B. Henson, BSEE ’57

Donald L. Smith Jr., BSCE ’60

John T. Corn, BSCE ’71

Charles R. Hill, BSEE ’64

John B. Smith Jr., BSCE ’73

Gerald P. Culwell, BSME ’69

William M. Hill Jr., BSEE ’67

Charles B. Tisdale, BSME ’61

Dr. Lawrence E. Doughty, Joseph R. Hock Jr., BSIE ’53 BSCE ’52, MSCE ’65, Ph.D. ’70 George S. Eastwood II, BSME ’52

Jack H. Waite, BSME ’51, MSE ’62

Charles R. Hodges, BSME ’59

William D. Walker, BSMET ’76

James L. McEuen, BSME ’62

Chaunce A. Wallace, BSE ’68

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JOBS. PROMOTIONS. AWARDS. RECOGNITION.

1978 JOHN LASSITER BSAE, retired as a test facility manager from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's Test Laboratory in December 2020 with over 42 years of federal service. He will continue to serve on the UA Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Industry Advisory Board and as a docent with the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.

1981 MILTON DAVIS BSChE, was selected by the Alabama Community College System Board of Trustees to serve as chairman in May 2021. Davis began his service on the board in 2015. He is the director of industrial business development for BL Harbert International.

1982 PIERCE H. NORTON II BSME, was named president and chief executive officer of ONEOK, Inc. He was previously president and CEO of ONE Gas, Inc. ONEOK is a leading midstream service provider in the United States connecting prolific supply basins with key market centers.

1984 SCOTT GRAY BSIE, was named president of Gray Analytics, Inc., a cybersecurity firm based in Huntsville.

1990 DR. LYLE CAIN BSChE, University of Alabama team orthopedic surgeon, was recognized as the Southeastern Conference Team Physician of the Year, and The University of Alabama Athletics' orthopaedic team was named the SEC Orthopaedic Team of the Year.

1993 BRIG. GEN. DAVID A. HARRIS JR. BSAE, was nominated by the president of the Senate for promotion to major general in the U.S. Air Force in February 2021.

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1995 RODNEY CHESTER BSCE, MSCE '97, was announced as the next chief executive officer of Gresham Smith, an architecture, engineering and design firm in Nashville. He will assume the role in January 2022. Previously, Chester was the company's chief operating officer.

2003 BARBARA HATTEMER MCCRARY BSME, MSME '05, was named 2021 Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Council of Birmingham in February 2021. She is the president of HHB Engineers, P.C., a consulting firm for mechanical engineers in the architectural, engineering and construction industry.

2008 RYAN LETSON BSME, was promoted to partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP in Huntsville.

2009 DR. JUSTIN HILL BSME, MSME '11, was named Young Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Council of Birmingham in February 2021. He is a principal research engineer at Southern Company Services.

2020 NEALY MARTIN BSChE, signed with Racing Louisville Football Club in April. Martin played for the Crimson Tide from 2016-19. She was the 2019 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year and was selected as a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-American that season.

Something we missed?

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

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GIVING SPOTLIGHT

By Abby Woodruff Through generous philanthropic donations, The University of Alabama’s College of Engineering is able to provide needed funding to students and professors.

UA’s Capstone Engineering Society is an organization committed to giving back to its alma mater. Currently, there is more than $2 million in the Capstone Engineering Society Endowed Scholarship Fund. During the 2020-2021 academic year, 41 students were awarded $101,250 in scholarships.

Among the grateful recipients of the CES Endowed Scholarship is Jade Cartolano.

A native of New York City, she is a sophomore majoring in computer science with a concentration in cyber security and a liberal arts minor. She is in the STEM Path to the MBA and Blount Scholars programs.

“Receiving the CES Endowed Scholarship financially supports my journey, at Alabama, as a young woman in computer science on the path to pursuing graduate studies,” Cartolano said. “More importantly, it is a sign to me that the Alabama community sees my value and in turn makes me work as hard as I can to earn that trust and hopefully return it back when the time comes.”

These scholarships are possible due to the contributions and support of alumni and friends of the College. Students often have a great need for additional financial resources in higher education and understand the importance of each gift provided by donors.

“I would like to say thank you to the CES community,” Cartolano said. “UA has amazing alumni who support and uplift current students. My education is significantly impacted by the generosity of alumni and the CES community. I hope one day to be a supportive alumnus because I know firsthand the impact it has on students and their future.”

The College of Engineering awards several other scholarships each year in addition to those provided by contributions to CES. Many of these scholarships are endowed by alumni and friends of the College.

Rick Nail, senior principal engineer at LBYD, Inc., UA civil engineering alumnus, and chair of the CES Board of Directors, advocates for the University through his dedicated leadership. He is actively involved in multiple organizations in the College, including the mentoring program and several advisory boards.

Jade Cartolano

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“I love to invest in and mentor young engineers as they are the future of our profession,” Nail said. “I enjoy being able to

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give back to the COE as it equipped me with the tools and a pathway to pursue my passion for site civil design.”

Rick Nail

He is proud to lead the CES board because of the opportunities and experiences the organization is able to give students through scholarships and networking. Throughout his involvement in the CES, Nail has had a front row seat to witness the College’s needs as well as its accomplishments over the years. To him, there is a direct line between providing for a need and seeing positive outcomes.

“I see the CES Endowed Scholarships as a means for CES to continually invest in our students and profession in perpetuity. A long term, sustainable way to ensure a pipeline for leaders in our profession,” Nail said.

UA’s College of Engineering is committed to educating tomorrow’s engineers and computer scientists who will continue leading our state and world in the construction, automotive and high-tech industries.

Generations of future engineers and the growing economy are greatly affected by these philanthropic contributions. Therefore, the University looks to its alumni and friends

to support this great institution to impact the future.

“As an alumnus and a professional, we all need to give back to our next generation of leaders to make us better – investing in our future. We have been blessed with numerous opportunities and experiences that have shaped us into the engineers we are today and it would be a shame to lose this wealth of knowledge and not pass it on.

Someone invested in us so we, in turn, have an obligation to invest in others,” said Nail, “Furthermore, having a spirit of giving back makes us better individually, as a profession, and as a society. As Jesus said, ‘It is more blessed to give than receive,’ –Acts 20:35, NIV– is so true with philanthropy.”

In addition to scholarships, charitable contributions are used in many needed areas, like providing for faculty chairs or dedicating spaces for student innovation, all of which enrich the College to its fullest.

“Private funding will be key in our ability to continue our ascent,” said Dr. Chuck Karr, former dean of UA’s College of Engineering.

“Gifts can elevate undergraduate experiential learning, increase graduate fellowships and expand endowed professorships. Each of these areas has the potential to contribute to our recordbreaking success.”

The College invites all alumni and friends to help build tomorrow’s legends. The new development staff is ready to meet the UA engineering community. Please reach out and make a connection with your alma mater!

Ron Wilson, director of development, College of Engineering ron.wilson@ua.edu 205-348-7594 Tru Livaudais, associate director of development, College of Engineering tlivaudais@ua.edu 205-348-4834

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THE ENGINE THAT KEEPS THE COLLEGE MOVING

top 10 rankings in degrees awarded in chemical engineering, civil engineering and mechanical engineering.

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education rates The University of Alabama as a R1: Doctoral Universities – Very High Research Activity status university. This rating opens the window of opportunity for the College of Engineering to expand the excellence of its academic base to develop a graduate program to match its undergraduate program. The College of Engineering finds itself poised to take the final step to move into the most elite colleges of engineering in the United States. The ultimate goal of the Capital Campaign is for the graduate and undergraduate programs to reach the same high standard with the involvement of alumni and friends of the College.

Ron Wilson joined the College of Engineering in April 2021 as the director of development. The development director builds relationships with alumni and corporate partners to support the needs of the College through philanthropic fundraising and strategic planning. Learn more about Ron and his position in this Q&A. CE: Why is UA’s Capital Campaign important to the College of Engineering?

Wilson: The College of Engineering at The University of Alabama is in a great position to continue its recent growth. According to the American Society for Engineering Education 2019 Edition, the College holds national top 50 rankings in highest number of undergraduate degrees annually awarded, engineering undergraduate degrees awarded to women and undergraduate enrollment. When the focus bears down to the various departments, the College of Engineering holds national

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CE: What are the College’s priorities for the Capital Campaign?

Wilson: Because of the University’s R1 research status, the priorities for the College of Engineering align toward deepening and expanding the research capacity of the College. These efforts translate into establishing more named endowed chairs and professorships in each of the seven engineering departments, recognizing several of our most successful alumni with named endowments and identifying that person or family who may desire to name the College of Engineering. In order for each of the departments to foster its graduate programs, the College must have additional funds to attract and recruit the best engineering students to UA’s College of Engineering. Finally, to enhance the undergraduate students’ experiential learning opportunities, funds will be allocated to give students the space and tools they need to be successful.

CE: What do you do as a development director?

Wilson: As director of development for the College of Engineering, I coordinate the College’s development priorities with the development priorities of the University. Practically, this affords me the daily opportunity to work with some of the best development personnel in the profession. These professionals include the frontline fundraisers and the communication specialists situated throughout the University. In the College of Engineering, I am fortunate to work with Tru Livaudais, assistant director of development, who partners with me to identify, engage and cultivate relationships that result in greater current and endowed funds for the College.

CE: How can alumni and friends make a difference in the College through giving?

Wilson: On Sept. 10, 2021, the public phase of the Capital Campaign launched. In order for the College to reach our goal of raising $55 million during this campaign, the College of Engineering will need all of our alumni and friends to be aware of the opportunity, informed of the priority projects and involved with the process. We hope to see our young alumni, mid-career graduates and quite mature alumni equally give serious consideration to making an appropriate gift to push the College over the top of its goal.

CE: Why is giving back to the UA College of Engineering important?

Wilson: When I am asked what I do for a living, I respond, “I assist in the development of educational opportunities for students at The University of Alabama.” Development is all about involving people as partners in the educational process and producing a new generation of exceptionally educated and trained engineers. The world and its needs have changed over the years, and the educational experience must keep pace to equip new generations of graduates for this ever-evolving world.

CE: How can the College of Engineering’s alumni and friends get involved with the development office?

Wilson: The bedrock analogy I use for my work as a director of development, is that of an ant colony. Ants, by the thousands, go out each day to search for that grain of sand that can be used to expand and strengthen the ant hill. Before long, the ant colony’s home base has grown and strengthened. Every alumnus and friend of the College of Engineering at The University of Alabama has a story, an experience and a stake in the College. The work of our engineering alumni and friends must be to know what the new initiatives are, who the new faculty are and how the students are progressing. Yes, making a gift is of crucial importance, but knowing what is happening at the College gives meaning to those gifts. Stay aware, stay informed and stay involved!

CE: What are you looking forward to most working in this position?

Wilson: When my father-in-law taught me to play golf, he started with the pitching and putting of the game. He said that more games are won or lost around or on the green. The object in golf is to get the ball in the cup. In developing resources for the College of Engineering, the donor is the cup, the focus of attention and attainment.

I experience my greatest satisfaction in development as I get to know our alumni and friends, engage them in conversation about the College of Engineering and assist them to identify what they want to fund. People's financial resources usually follow where their hearts move them. I look forward most to engaging alumni and friends and assisting them in giving from their hearts to the College of Engineering at The University of Alabama. Roll Tide!

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RETIREMENTS DR. RICHARD BORIE, associate professor of computer science, retired at the end of May 2021. He worked at The University of Alabama for 32 years. Borie earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1983 and a master’s degree in computer science in 1984, both from UA. He received another master’s degree in 1986 and his doctorate in 1988, both in information and computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Borie has done research developing algorithms to solve difficult problems related to graphs and computer theory.

DR. TAKAO SUZUKI, professor of metallurgical and materials engineering, retired in June 2021. He worked at The University of Alabama for 11 years. From April 2010 to March 2020, Suzuki was the director of the Center for Materials for Information Technology. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1962 and master’s degree in 1964, both in applied physics from Waseda University in Tokyo.

In 1969, Suzuki received his doctorate in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. He has conducted research in multiple fields, including energy-storage materials, magnetic materials, magnetism, permanent magnets and spintronics. During his career, Suzuki wrote over 300 scientific papers and four books. He has taught and worked in Germany, Japan, California and Alabama. Suzuki won the 1999 Technical Achievement Award and the 2010 Society Award from the Magnetics Society of Japan. He also won the 2007 Distinguished Lecturer Award and the 2015 Achievement Award from the Magnetics Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Suzuki served on many professional societies and was a president of the IEEE Magnetics Society for 20112012. He is a fellow of IEEE and MSJ as well as professor emeritus of Toyota Technological Institute of Japan.

DR. JOHN W. VAN ZEE, professor of chemical and biological engineering, retired in August 2021 after 8 1/2 years at The University of Alabama and 28 1/2 years at the University of South Carolina. Van Zee earned his bachelor's degree in 1975 from the University of California, Berkeley, his master’s in 1982 and doctorate in 1984 at Texas A&M University, all in chemical engineering.

His research focused on electrochemical engineering with recent projects in concentrated solar power. At USC, Van Zee directed the National Science Foundation Center for Fuel Cells, an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center. His awards include the 2008 Research Achievement Award from the College of Engineering and Computing at USC and the 2005 Gold Medal of Honor from the Third European Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Forum. Van Zee was a member of the Plug Power Scientific Advisory Board in 2007 and 2008. He graduated 27 doctoral students and 11 master’s students in his career.

DR. KEITH A. WOODBURY, professor of mechanical engineering, retired from The University of Alabama in July 2021 after 33 years of service. Woodbury earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from UA in 1979 and 1981, respectively. He went on to earn his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech in 1984. Woodbury is passionate about energy issues, including energy and building efficiency, industrial energy efficiency and sustainable energy. In 2006, he became founding director of the Alabama Industrial Assessment Center, which provides students training in industrial energy while helping manufacturers reduce energy costs. Woodbury is an internationally recognized authority in inverse heat conduction, and he was the editor of the 2002 Inverse Engineering Handbook.

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CAPSTONE ENGINEER

| FALL 2021

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

DEAR

ALUMNI & FRIENDS, It feels great to be back to business as usual around The University of Alabama College of Engineering!

We hit the ground running in August as we prepared to return to full operations on campus for the fall 2021 semester. During this time, we launched the 2021-2022 Mentor UPP program for both the peer and professional programs, celebrated three of our own as they were inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame, hosted the 2020-2021 Distinguished Engineering Fellows banquet, and welcomed around 1,200 students back to campus. The losses brought on by COVID-19 have only made this full return to operations and our recent in-person events that much more meaningful.

There is much to celebrate in the College of Engineering, a few of which you have the opportunity to read about in this issue. Our faculty continue to be dedicated to research and teaching excellence, the caliber and capabilities of our students exceeds all expectations and you, our alumni, continue to make us proud.

I urge you to stay engaged and involved with the College.

The generosity of time, talent and treasure that you all share with us is inspirational. The College is eager to connect you to areas of impact and grateful for your continued support.

I hope each of you make it back to campus this fall! It has been an honor working alongside you for the past few years. As of Sept. 27, I have accepted a new role outside The University of Alabama. If I can ever be a resource for you, don't hesitate to reach out.

Roll Tide,

Liz Moore Manager, Capstone Engineering Society Assistant Director for Alumni Engagement

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