Engineering News

Message from Cherrice Traver,
Dean of Engineering

Greetings from Steinmetz Hall.

I have been privileged to be involved in a number of exciting transitions since I took over as dean of engineering in June 2005. We have welcomed a new president, Stephen C. Ainlay, who through the Strategic Plan has begun a College-wide discussion of engineering’s strong future at Union. We have initiated a new General Education curriculum that emphasizes our unique interdisciplinary approach. And we recently inaugurated the Center for Bioengineering and Computational Biology, a new home for an exciting branch of teaching and learning that is a perfect fit for the College.

Throughout these transitions, however, many things have remained constant.

We continue to draw first-rate faculty who are excellent teachers and researchers. Palma Catravas, assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, does research that focuses on the intersection of electrical engineering and music. You can meet Palma and some of our newest faculty members here.

Our students are engaged in a number of fascinating research projects, working closely with their faculty mentors. Matthew Adams ’09 is working with Prof. Ron Bucinell on a project that uses photogrammetry on a bullfrog heart to better understand the stresses on a human heart. You can learn more about their research and other projects here.

Finally, while we continue to offer the basic courses that are essential to engineering, the College is well equipped to offer new courses such as Digital Arts, Renewable Energy Technology, and Biomechanics that draw from disparate disciplines. You can learn more about those courses here.

I’m pleased to share our progress, and I hope that after reading more you will be as excited as I am about the future of engineering at Union. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cherrice Traver
Dean of Engineering

Engineering in the Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan, approved by the Board of Trustees in February 2007, has identified engineering as a distinguishing feature of the College. (see www.union.edu/strategic)

Several strategies are in place for defining our future directions:

Build on the Converging Technologies initiative by developing more programmatic ties between engineering and science departments and the arts while maintaining strong departments and high-quality accredited programs in engineering.
Pioneer the expansion of the liberal arts concept itself to include technology and serve as a national leader in this area.
Use engineering as a collaborative and supporting resource for courses and programs in other areas of the liberal arts.
Expand partnerships.

Initiatives to implement these strategies are under development. Highlights include:

Introduction of new interdisciplinary majors in bioengineering and environmental engineering.
Commitment to the digital art program through the creation of a tenure track position.
Integration of Converging Technologies into major programs.
Hosting a national symposium on engineering as a liberal art.
Establishing the Minerva Challenge, an annual competition between the Minerva houses to foster the integration engineering and the liberal arts.
Establishing a rotating “Engineer in Residence” with engineers from industry or academia who have expertise and a passion for the integration of engineering and the liberal arts.

New Places - Facilities

We are planning for a major renovation of Science and Engineering facilities. The plan includes about 40,000 net square feet of new space and a series of renovations to existing space. Plans and concept sketches for the first phase are nearly complete.

What makes the facilities planning process both exciting and challenging is our success in getting major government grants. A $1.6M grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (led by Leo Fleishman, Biology) has provided funding to renovate half of the first floor of Butterfield Hall for classrooms, research labs, and support space for Bioengineering. The facility is now complete, faculty have moved into labs, classes are being conducted in the classrooms, and research projects are underway. The grand opening of the Center for Bioengineering and Computational Biology was held in February 7, 2007.

Another large grant of $1.7M from New York State (Ron Bucinell, Mechanical Engineering) was instrumental in allowing us to renovate the remainder of the first floor and the second floor of Butterfield Hall. The renovations included engineering faculty research laboratories, an elevator to make the building accessible, a teaching laboratory, a microscopy laboratory, and a clean room. This grant also provided funding for new equipment for materials characterization and testing, including an atomic force microscope and a scanning electron microscope.

New Laboratories in Butterfield Hall

Grants and Other News

College secures several grants for engineering programs; textbook wins prize; Union to host international conference

In addition to the grants discussed earlier that have had an impact on facilities, faculty have been very active (and successful!) in writing proposals for grants to support research, teaching, and curriculum innovation. The following is a list of the grants received over the last couple of years:

Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory: Ronald Bucinell (Mechanical Engineering), "Contract Work with Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, $18,000.
NSF: Mary Carroll (Mechanical Engineering) and Ann Anderson (Mechanical Engineering), "RUI: Aerogel-Platform Gas Sensors," $276,700.
NSF-CCLI: Andrew Rapoff (Mechanical Engineering), "Integrating Micro-Computed Tomography in Undergraduate Bioengineering Courses," $75,726.
New York State: Ronald Bucinell (Mechanical Engineering), partners the College with Superpower Inc. and SCCC and provided the College with mechanical, microscopy and quality control testing equipment; a clean room and characterization laboratory; and internship and professional development programs, $1,700,000.
NYSTAR: Ronald Bucinell (Mechanical Engineering), support for the Watervliet Innovation Center-Homeland Security Incubator, $692,000.
Jerome A. Schiff Charitable Trust Faculty Research Award: Palma Catravas (Electrical and Computer Engineering ), “Visualization of Information Content in Music Signals and Interdisciplinary Applications,” $30,000.
NSF-CCLI: Christopher Fernandes (Computer Science) and Aaron Cass (Computer Science), “ Appreciating Technology and Understanding Science Through Usability Studies,” $150,000.
Fulbright: Ashraf Ghaly (Engineering), “Combating Waste Disposal by Implementing Environmentally Friendly Recycling Techniques in Developing Materials Useful in Engineering Applications,” Fellowship Stipend was used in Alexandria, Egypt.
NSF-MRI: Cherrice Traver (Electrical & Computer Engineering), Ronald Bucinell (Mechanical Engineering), John Garver (Geology), Michael Hagerman (Chemistry), Donald Rodbell (Geology), with Palma Catravas (Electrical Engineering), Kurt Hollocher (Geology), Seyfollah Maleki (Astronomy & Physics), “MRI: Acquisition of a Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope,” $298,620.
NSF-S-STEM: Cherrice Traver (Dean of Engineering and Computer Science) and Doug Klein (Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies & Special Programs), “Supporting Scholars in Science and Engineering,” $499,983.
NYSERDA: Rich Wilk (Mechanical Engineering), “Development of a High-Performance, Optically-Enhanced Solar Thermal Collector to Power a Trochoidal Gear Engine/Generator,” $39,922.
NSF-MRI: Ann Anderson, Mary Carroll & Bill Keat (Mechanical Engineering/Chemistry), “Collaborative Facility for Research on Aerogel Materials,” $172,574.
NSF-CPATH: Valerie B. Barr (Computer Science), with Chun Wei Liew, Lafayette “Campus Wide Computation Initiative – A New Model for Computing Education,”$1,150,000 total; $560,000 to Union.
NSF-CPATH: Valerie B. Barr {Computer Science), “CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education” $326,752 total; $41,432 to Union.
National Grid: Frank Wicks (Mechanical Engineering) and Richard Wilk (Mechanical Engineering, “Support for Undergraduate Research”, $10,000.

Exploring Engineering

Exploring Engineering (Elsevier Academic Press, 2007), a text for first-year students developed by Philip Kosky, George Wise, Bob Balmer, and Bill Keat, was named “Best New Undergraduate Textbook of the Year” by the Professional and Scholarly Publications division of the American Association of Publishers.

The first year introduction to engineering course sequence that Union developed in the mid-1990s has evolved over the years and is now a favorite course for first-year engineering students. The Exploring Engineering course is offered in the fall, and typically attracts about a dozen non-engineering students in addition to the 80-100 engineering majors.

After teaching the course for a few years with a “Smart Car” theme, the co-authors (all instructors of the course) converted their class notes into a textbook.

A distinguishing feature of the textbook and the course is the focus on the design process. Students have weekly “design studio” sessions where they learn about all of the phases of the design process, and in the last half of the course they work on a design challenge and compete for prizes at the end of the term.

Design Studio Work

The Soccer Challenge

The Golf Challenge

Extraterrestrial Rock Grabbers

FIE 2008 to be Hosted by Union

The College will host the 2008 Frontiers of Education conference in Saratoga Springs on October 22-25. FIE is a premier international conference with a long tradition that focuses on computer science and engineering education. Dean Cherrice Traver is the General Chair of the conference; Prof. Ann Anderson is the Workshop Chair. The conference has been held in Milwaukee, San Diego, Indianapolis, Savannah, and Boulder over the last 5 years. Check it out at: http://fie-conference.org/fie2008/

Students Going Global

Abroad in Prague

Students in Japan

Professor Tom Jewell – Director of Engineering International Programs

The engineering programs at Union continue to be among the nation’s leaders in sending students abroad to help them prepare to compete in the global engineering marketplace.

Seventy percent of the Class of 2007 graduates spent either a full-term or mini-term in study abroad. An additional 18 percent met their general education requirements by studying a modern language. Of those going abroad, 23 percent went on a regular Union term abroad, 34 percent participated in an engineering exchange, and 13 percent went on a mini-term.

Engineering students went on regular terms to Australia, China, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Tasmania. Engineering exchanges included students going to the Czech Technical University in Prague, and ESIGELEC in Rouen, France.

Exchanges are an excellent way for our students to gain international experience. In addition to being immersed in the culture, they can also take engineering courses at the host institution. As part of the exchange, engineering students from the host institution come to Union and take classes with our students. Mini-terms are three-week immersions in an international culture, with additional study about the country and its culture at Union. Class of 2007 graduates went on mini-terms to Brazil, New Zealand, and France.

The engineering programs continue to develop additional opportunities, with the goal of having 100 percent of those eligible participate in some type of program that includes study or work abroad. Recently, Union students, with faculty assistance, have started a chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Participation in EWB will allow students to design and implement service projects for developing regions of the world. We also continue to develop additional engineering exchange programs, and seek opportunities for international internships in industry. We hope to develop outside funding sources to assist in these latest initiatives. Prof. Tom Jewell has been doing a great job of overseeing the engineering international experiences, advertising experiences, and tracking students.