ARGO ENGINEER YEAR IN REVIEW | 2017
Message from the Chairs What a great year 2017 was for Engineering at the University of West Florida! Not only did enrollment continue to grow (see graph on the next page), the mechanical engineering program graduated its first students in December and currently has more than 270 students in the major only one year after its launch! This was the end of a long process in getting the program started, but it is also the beginning of even greater things to come. Collaboration efforts between the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering took many shapes during the year and produced great results. Not only did students and faculty from both departments collaborate on various projects including capstone projects, competition teams, enterprise teams, and research projects, we were also able to work together to secure funding through president Martha Saunders’ Next Big Thing initiative to establish a Center for Advanced Manufacturing. The center will enhance student learning, research and community outreach in this field and will have sites on the main campus in Pensacola, in downtown Pensacola, and in Fort Walton Beach. On the main campus, the center will be housed in a new $1M building, which will be ready by the end of this summer. The center will house advanced additive manufacturing equipment, CNCs, Kuka robotic arms, and PLC training units, just to name a few. The year also saw our expanded efforts to increase female representation in the engineering program, a strategic goal supported by the college and the community. We are working on curriculum changes, grant proposals and scholarship opportunities that we expect will be effective in increasing the number of women getting engineering degrees at UWF. We have a great foundation and we continue to build great things on it here at the University of West Florida!
Best Regards, Mohamed A. Khabou, Ph.D. (right) Professor & Chair Electrical and Computer Engineering
Michael Reynolds, Ph.D. (left) Associate Professor & Chair Mechanical Engineering
Total UWF Engineering Enrollment 483
476
2012
2013
489
658 563
507
413 330 272
2008
289
2009
2010
2011
2014
New Faculty
3
Faculty News
4
Student Accomplishments 6 BEST Robotics
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UWF News
9
Dept Support
10
2015
2016
2017
New Engineering Faculty Dr. Joe Piacenza Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Dr. Joseph Piacenza earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of South Florida (USF), and completed his MBA at USF in 2008 with a focus on entrepreneurship and management. While working toward his MBA, Dr. Piacenza founded and managed an automotive-based small business for seven years. After selling the company in 2010, and he concurrently pursued his M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Oregon State University, completing each degree in 2012 and 2014 respectively. Dr. Piacenza’s dissertation explored concept-stage robust design for complex infrastructure systems. Additional active research areas include system optimization, automotive design, sustainable building design, and additive manufacturing. Dr. Piacenza instructs the mechanical engineering Junior Design course, and is actively involved with hands on and interdisciplinary student design projects. In addition, he is the Faculty advisor for SAE Baja and SAE Aero.
Dr. James Mann Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering Dr. James Mann is CEO/co-founder of M4 Sciences, a manufacturing technology business. Prior to joining UWF, Dr. Mann was a Research Engineer at the Center for Materials Processing and Tribology, Purdue University. Dr. Mann’s previous industry roles have intersected engineering and management in the aerospace, automotive, and contract manufacturing sectors. His research and commercialization work have been recognized by the Tibbetts Award, US Small Business Administration (2011), the R&D 100 Award (2010), and first place at the 20th Annual Burton Morgan entrepreneurial competition (2007). Dr. Mann pioneered the development and commercialization of modulation-assisted machining systems (MAM). MAM technology has demonstrated 5X increases in productivity and 10X increases in tool life for mechanical drilling applications across the orthopedic, aerospace, energy and transportation sectors and the technology was successfully commercialized in a unique application for metal fiber manufacturing. Dr. Mann earned a B.S., M.S. and PhD degrees in Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA Finance degree from Indiana University. 3 ENGINEERING: ECE AND ME
Mr. Richard Landry Visiting Instructor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Mr. Ricky Landry is a University of West Florida alum with an M.S. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida. His experience in the industry has primarily been in real-time software and systems engineering — with a focus in the TSPI and Telemetry domains. He has participated in the design and development efforts of both software and systems interoperability in roles ranging from developer to technical leadership. He is pleased to be contributing to the department which fostered his interest in electrical and computer engineering.
Faculty News Engineering Faculty Book Publications
Bakhoum
Rashid
Engineering faculty continue their tradition of high-quality scholarly activities including the publication of books in their areas of expertise. During the last academic year, Dr. Ezzat Bakhoum published his book titled Micro and Nano-Scale Sensors and Transducers (CRC Press, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4822-5090-9), while Dr. Muhammad Rashid published his book on Electric Renewable Energy Systems (Elsevier Publishing, 2016, ISBN 9780128044483). Two more books by Dr. Rashid are in press and should be coming out sometime this year.
Gilbar wins 2017 SGA Distinguished Teaching Award
Gilbar
After reviewing almost 400 nominations, observing 50 lectures and interviewing 15 instructor finalists, the University Outreach Committee decided to award Dr. Tom Gilbar of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering the 2017 SGA Distinguished Teaching Award. The award is considered the highest honor bestowed by UWF students on a few select group of UWF faculty. This is not the first time Dr. Gilbar is recognized for his distinguished teaching as he previously received the Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, the Faculty Excellence in Advising Award, and the Distinguished Service Award.
4 YEAR IN REVIEW | 2017
Student Accomplishments
Fort Walton Beach Lab Manager Craig Anderson helps juniors Liam Randall and Morgan Willbanks use a load frame to test the strength of materials such as different types of metals, wood and plastic.
ECE Graduate wins Air Force Training Command (ATFC) 2017 Award ECE graduate, Jessica Whitten, won the Category 1 Civilian of the Year for the Air Force Test Center, which encompasses the 96th Test Wing, Eglin AFB, Florida; 412th Test Wing, Edwards AFB, California; and Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Arnold AFB, Tennessee. “This is quite an astounding accomplishment for someone with less than a year of government service,” said Sean Sylvester, a recruiter for the Air Force and instructor at UWF. The U.S. Air Force recruited Whitten into its prestigious Scientist & Engineering Palace Acquire Program for government civilians. The Air Force established the three-year program to heighten its ability to maintain a technology-intensive environment by hiring dynamic, creative and innovative scientists and engineers. Whitten graduated from UWF in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. She spent her first year of training as a Test Support Manager. She served as the focal point for coordinating Range Control Squadron support, setup and operated mission control rooms for live-fire weapons tests, and produced post-mission test data products for Eglin AFB’s diverse customer base. Whitten is currently pursuing a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Florida as part of the Palace Acquire Program.
Air Force Recruiter and UWF Instructor
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This is quite an astounding accomplishment for someone with less than a year of government service. - Sean Sylvester
6 YEAR IN REVIEW | 2017
Summer Internships Turn Classroom Knowledge into Real-World Experiences A record number of 25 electrical, computer and mechanical engineering students participated in internships and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs with companies and universities throughout the nation during the 2017 summer. Although not required for graduation, junior and senior level students who participate can earn course credit, a competitive salary or stipend and consideration for full-time employment or graduate-level studies. Internships provide a great opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience and observe how theory and topics they have learned in the classroom apply in the real world. For example, ECE student Everette Petsinger secured an internship with Caterpillar in its Seguin, Texas engine plant. As a controls engineering intern, he helped eliminate downtime in production by diagnosing a problem and then re-coding a robotic arm and computer vision system. “This internship has shown me how engineering techniques are implemented in real life, which can be quite different at times than classroom engineering,” said Petsinger. “The biggest takeaway is the need to be a self-starter and self-motivated in a new position.” Petsinger, who graduated in December, was offered a full-time position with Caterpillar and was selected to participate in their leadership training program. Another example is the two ME students Adam Humble and Rosa McWhirter who participated in REU activities at research institutions across the nation. At Louisiana State University Humble worked with Dr. S.M. Guo on a project entitled Contour and Plane Power Effect on 3D Printed Parts. The goal of the project was to better understand how mechanical properties of 3D-printed metals are affected by some of the printing parameters. At NYU Mechanical and Aerospace department Rosa McWhirter tested high density polyethylene (HDPE) with multiple weight composites of carbon fiber and predicted the strain rate sensitivity of polymer matrix composites using dynamic mechanical analysis data. This method is potentially valuable because it would greatly reduce the number of tests required to understand the materials behavior under a variety of temperatures and loading rates.
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BEST Robotics Competition UWF hosted the 10th annual Emerald Coast BEST Robotics competition in October. The project-based STEM program inspires middle and high school students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology through participation in a sport-like competition to design, program and build a robot. This year, 585 students from 22 public and private schools in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties participated in the competition. The winners of this year’s event, who competed at the regional championship at Auburn University in December, include Seaside Neighborhood School, Pensacola Catholic High School, Woodlawn Beach Middle School, and Brown Barge Middle School. As part of the program, students and teachers are invited to attend programming classes taught by UWF engineering faculty members. The trainings, as well as the kits and resources to build the robots for the competition, are funded by the University and provided at no cost to area schools.
8 YEAR IN REVIEW | 2017
UWF News UWF ranks in top three in Florida Board of Governors performance-based funding model UWF ranked in the top three top-performing public universities in the state and secured more than $20 million in new funding for the 2017-18 academic year. Under the performance funding model, the Board of Governors scores each of Florida’ twelve public universities based on 10 metrics designed to incentivize university excellence and improvement. UWF earned 82 points out of 100, earning a top spot in the rankings alongside the University of Florida and the University of South Florida. This is a significant improvement from 2014, the year the performance metrics were first introduced, when UWF was ranked No. 11. “This is great news for UWF and a testimony to the hard work of the entire campus over the past few years,” said UWF President Martha Saunders. “The additional funding will go a long way toward supporting the success of our students.” The highlights of UWF’s metrics scores include: • The percent of bachelor’s graduates enrolled in postgraduate school or employed and earning $25,000 or more increased by 6.5 percent, from 61 percent to 67.6 percent. • The academic progress rate increased by 5.2 percent, reaching 70.1 percent overall. • The number of students earning bachelor’s degrees without excess hours increased by 4.7 percent, from 75.8 percent to 80.5 percent.
$3 million gift to assist UWF students in pursuit of American Dream Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, the University of West Florida will receive more than $3 million to assist deserving students in their pursuit of the American Dream. This transformational gift will establish an endowment for needbased scholarships with preference given to immigrants and refugees and enhance accessibility to higher education for UWF students. UWF enrolled 290 students classified as immigrants in Fall 2015. With the additional scholarship funds, new student enrollment is projected to increase by approximately 30 percent over the next several years. “Sometimes it amazes me how strong the power of generosity is in our region,” UWF President Martha Saunders said. “This gift will provide needed financial aid to students for generations to come. The donor does not want credit for this incredible act of giving. We are deeply grateful.” Endowment dollars enable UWF to sustain growth, increase its reputation for quality and compete in the higher education marketplace to attract and retain a talented and diverse student body. Need- and talent-based scholarships to support students within all academic programs improve the lives of students and, in return, the community.
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Department Support Dr. Muhammad Rashid Best Project Award Dr. Muhammad Rashid who has been with the ECE program since 1997 has made a generous $30K donation to establish an endowment to support a student award given every semester to the best capstone project. The first award was given in the spring 2017 semester to a the team who designed a remotely operated system to inspect power lines. The project was tested at Gulf Power training facilities.
Female Engineer Scholarships To support our strategic effort to increase female participation in the engineering programs, we were fortunate and grateful to receive two generous endowment donations to establish two Female Engineer Scholarships. The first $30K endowment was established by Dr. Muhammad Rashid and his wife Dr. Fatema Rashid. The second $30K endowment was established by the board of trustees of the Islamic Center of Northwest Florida who already support an additional engineering scholarship.
Request for Donation Thank you for choosing to support engineering at The University of West Florida. Your gift will empower students with the skills and knowledge to succeed in all that they do. Giving is easy on our safe and secure website: uwf.edu/give. Choose Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering to find the different ENGINEERING funds available. You can direct your gifts to provide scholarships, academic enhancements, hands-on learning opportunities and leadership development experiences. 10 YEAR IN REVIEW | 2017
D E PA R T M E N T OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING University of West Florida 11000 University Parkway Building 4, Room 323 Pensacola, Florida 32514 850.474.2963 ece@uwf.edu
uwf.edu/ece
D E PA R T M E N T OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING University of West Florida 11000 University Parkway Building 4, Room 323 Pensacola, Florida 32514 850.474.2098 me@uwf.edu
uwf.edu/me
uwfhmcse