IngenuitySTUDENTS P.4Russ Vision funds propel student passion

FACULTY P.28Taking – and making – the high road

ALUMNI P.14The beat of his own drum

CULTURE P.18Senior design, space, the gift of sound, and more

LOOK OUT ABOVERuss College researchers eye the future of UAV technology and an industry full of potential for good

THE RUSS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY • 2014–2015

02 | DEAN’S LETTER

04 | STUDENT PROFILE

08 | STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

10 | RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

12 | RESEARCH AWARDS

14 | ALUMNI PROFILE

16 | ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENTS

18 | OUR CULTURE

22 | FEATURE STORY

28 | FACULTY PROFILE

29 | FACULTY NEWS

30 | CLASS NOTES

32 | CO-OP PROFILE

33 | CREATE FOR THE FUTURE

EDITORIAL CREDITS

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Colleen Carow, BSJ ’93, MA ’97, MBA ’05

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Peter Shooner, MS ‘10

WRITERS

Colleen Carow Adrienne Cornwall Kaitor Kposowa Peter Shooner

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Rob Hardin, BSC ’08, MS ‘13 Rebecca Miller Paul Stocklin, BSEE ‘14 Electronic Vision, Athens, Ohio ev.net

DESIGN

Ullman Design Marietta, Ohio

21

14

NOW HEAR THIS

A group of five visionaries – engineers,

a physician, and a neuroscientist – are

awarded for embodying Fritz and Dolores

Russ’s belief in how engineering improves

the human condition.

SINGING A NEW SONGIt’s not all rock and roll to him. Electrical

engineering alumnus Dustin Bates, BSEE ’05,

MSEE ’08, proves that indeed, there is no such

thing as a typical engineer.

Share your comments, feedback, and

memorable Russ College moments by

writing us at INGENUITY@OHIO.EDU or

INGENUITY MAGAZINE, RUSS COLLEGE,

STOCKER CENTER 177, 1 OHIO

UNIVERSITY, ATHENS, OH 45701.

ON THE COVER: Cheng Professor of Electrical Engineering Maarten Uijt de Haag (second from left) and master’s students Ashkay Bharadwaj and Adam Schultz, BSEE ’14, and Russell Gilabert, BSEE ’15 (L-R, captured by Electronic Vision via UAV), are developing technologies to keep manned and unmanned aircraft flying safely as a new generation of life- and money-saving UAVs takes to the skies. For more, see pages 22-27.

www.ohio.edu/engineering

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE LEGOS.

At annual outreach events coordinated by the

Russ College chapter of the Society of Women

Engineers, students like Busra Cakmak, a

master’s candidate in industrial and systems

engineering, build more than just models

with local Girl Scouts – they build skills and

confidence in the women leaders of tomorrow.

For more about how SWE members create for

the future, see pages 4-5.

FROM THEDEAN’S DESKWe’re not just studying and writing papers.

We’re putting ourselves out there, and I’m not just talking about flight training. I’m talking

about participatory research and learning. We’re inside of it – as participants. It’s the best

way to determine true issues, not just the speculative ones.

Turn the page, and you’ll see. We’re not just speculating about improvements that could

result from cleaning up water at hydraulic fracturing sites – we’re observing, assessing,

analyzing, and then developing solutions to put them in industry’s hands. We’re also

identifying how electrochemical engineering can be used to make products in a more

sustainable way.

We’re talking to Nobel Laureates, solving the problems of developmentally disabled

workers, ensuring the safe transport of oil and gas. We’re not just gathering and analyzing

data for unmanned aerial vehicles – we’re building, flying, modifying, and discovering uses

that will save lives and livelihoods. And we’re saving the state of Ohio millions of dollars in

infrastructure because we’re not just at the roadside – we’re embedded, in each and every

pavement sensor, buried deep.

Read on in this issue: From the very beginning of semiconductor devices, we’ve been in the

middle, building real products.

Our new energy engineering program is a prime example. We’ve responded to a societal and

cultural need, motivated by demand from students and from the world.

We’re not just observing the technology from the outside. We’re here, now, listening,

learning, doing: creating for good.

Sincerely,

DENNIS IRWIN, PHD, PE

Dean Moss Professor of Engineering Education Thomas Professor of Engineering

02

03

Ingenuity | 2015

Attitude. Heading into competition at the Region III National Intercollegiate Flying Association's (NIFA) Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) held at Ohio State University in October, Flying Bobcats Safety Officer Matt Kershaw, along with Rob Derssel (left) and Chris Swink (right), stage one of the Russ College’s Piper Warrior aircraft for the navigation event. The team, which competed in nine events focused on navigation, landing, equipment proficiency, and other tasks relevant to safe aircraft operation, topped Kent State and Bowling Green in overall school ranking, coming in third for the second consecutive year.

04

STUDENTPROFILE

They can see for milesTake a look at students, supported by Russ Vision funds, who are charting new territory and blazing trails with a vision all their own

By Colleen Carow

students at Ohio University. His Innovator in Residence position is with the OU Entrepreneurs group, a student organization dedicated to training and supporting student entrepreneurs and innovators while connecting them with external experts and resources. Herbert networks with entrepreneurial experts all over the country, gathering their advice and spreading his enthusiasm and ideas for startup innovation.

“I want to see two more businesses, technologies, and movements start next year that otherwise wouldn't have. The year after that, I want to see 10, then 20, and then for it to just become a way of life here,” says Herbert, who did his work at OHIO’s Innovation Center, and the arts and media “Create_Space” lab in Putnam Hall. “I want to make Athens another Silicon Valley, but with a reasonable cost of living.”

In the meantime, he’s building his startup concept – a robotic pizza prep and cooking device he calls a “pizza kitchen in a box” – with parts custom-designed and printed on a 3D printer. Next steps? Get the production prototype up and running, and of course, start delivering pizzas.————

Picture this. You have a startup idea. For a compact robotic pizza printer. That’s right – a 3D printer robot that prints pizza instead of plastic. And you want to be able to take an academic term to work on it full time. So you propose that administrators let you use the one-credit-hour cooperative education course for a course of your own design. You get the green light. Then you win a nationally competitive fellowship in recognition of your ingenuity. And before you know it, you’re an Innovation Fellow, coaching other students. In your free time, you’re lobbying on Capitol Hill for intellectual property rights.

You’re John Herbert, a mechanical engineering senior who received Russ Vision funds to attend an entrepreneur workshop. Soon after, he was named to the National Science Foundation’s Epicenter fellowship program.

Since the fall, Herbert has divided his entrepreneurial co-op time between the startup and strengthening entrepreneurial support for

05

Addition of a phenyl group to the 4-nitrogen of methimazole significantly increases anti-inflammatory inhibition ability. This is just one of the results of Olivia Lanier’s research with Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Doug Goetz. Studying pathological inflammation – present in rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease – Lanier and colleagues learned ways to manipulate methimazole, a drug commonly used to treat Grave’s disease, to inhibit white blood cell adhesion that contributes to inflammation.

Russ Vision funds supported the chemical engineering senior’s lab wages, as well as submission costs to the European Journal of Pharmacology, which published the paper she co-authored as a result of the research.

“I want to use my chemical engineering skills to solve bio-related problems. I want to perform research to obtain cures for debilitating diseases

– I’ve witnessed first-hand the effect they have on people and their loved ones,” says Lanier.

The child of Bobcat parents, one of whom happens to be a Russ College alum and co-owner of a civil engineering firm, she also performs research at the Sustainable Energy and Advanced Materials Lab with Eminent Scholar Sunggyu

“K.B.” Lee on a novel, polymerization catalyst development project, on top of participating in three student organizations. This fall, she’ll head to graduate school with the hope of becoming a research professor.

“I find that this work is inspiring and rewarding,” she says.————

Ingenuity | 2015

“ I WANT TO SEE TWO MORE BUSINESSES, TECHNOLOGIES, AND MOVEMENTS START NEXT YEAR THAT OTHERWISE WOULDN'T HAVE. THE YEAR AFTER THAT, I WANT TO SEE 10, THEN 20, AND THEN FOR IT TO JUST BECOME A WAY OF LIFE HERE.”

— JOHN HERBERT, SENIOR

Olivia LanierChemical and

Biomolecular Engineering

John HerbertMechanical Engineering

If you can dream it, we’ll help you build it. Students and faculty

alike can apply for Russ Vision funds, created with the transformational $124 million estate gift from

Fritz, BSEE ’42, HON ’75, and Dolores Russ. The funds support student organizations and leader-

ship, competition teams, research experiences, and international study, taking students beyond the

classroom as they develop into meta-engineers and -technologists who will leave OHIO poised to

lead. The application process requires a detailed proposal with a budget, and receiving funding is a

commitment to make reports along the way while following a perspective and plan of one’s own.

Meet the leaders of tomorrow who are already leading today.

Hydraulic- or human-powered, it’s a wheeled world. As least that’s what two student competition teams bet on. Engineering technology and management, and mechanical engineering, students collaborated to build a hydraulic bicycle for Parker Hannifin’s Chainless Challenge competition. Meanwhile, additional mechanical engineering students are headed toward the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Human Powered Vehicle Competition (HPVC), which tasks them to work together on teams to build efficient, highly engineered vehicles for daily use.

The HPVC team, who received Russ Vision funds for materials and supplies used in their build, ultimately designed a three-wheeled recumbent trike, with two wheels in the front and one in the back – also known as a “tadpole” trike. But like all good engineers and technologists, they first built several recumbent concepts to give new team members experience and provide training vehicles.

First-year master’s student John Mullen, who established the team, has been there before – he started building recumbent bikes as a sophomore.

“It has greatly expanded my knowledge and intuitive understanding of how mechanical systems operate. That's everything from frame design, to power delivery, to ergonomics, to vehicle maintenance and more,” he says. “This project is

06

“ THIS PROJECT IS AN INCREDIBLY USEFUL WAY FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF ALL LEVELS TO GAIN HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WITH ENGINEERING DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND MANUFACTURING – ALL WITH A FAST-PACED COMPETITION ENVIRONMENT.”

— JOHN MULLEN, MASTER'S STUDENT

an incredibly useful way for undergraduate students of all levels to gain hands-on experience with engineering design, fabrication, and manufacturing – all within a fast-paced competition environment.”

At press time, the 10-member team – who considered steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber for the frame before deciding on 4130 chromoly steel – was prepping for fabrication before heading to Gainesville, Florida, in May to drop their three wheels on the pavement.

“Designing, building, and fine-tuning recumbents has been a valuable part of my life, and I continue to love the process,” says Mullen. “Next year, we'll have one competition under our belts and be ready to go back and kick it up a notch.”

Chainless Challenge and Human

Powered Vehicle Competition Teams

Engineering Technology and Management

Mechanical Engineering

At top: HPVC team leader John Mullen refines a design with mechanical

engineering sophomore Rachel Schack. At right: Mechanical engineering freshman Matt McKenzie takes a well-deserved break on the recumbent bicycle he created during

the HPVC team's marathon build day.

Photo by John Mullen

07

Two years and three freshmen ago, one of the Russ College’s newest student orgs got its start. “I didn’t know where the club was going to go, but I knew it was a good idea to be there, and that it would lead to success later on,” says mechanical engineering sophomore Ryan Lucas.

The aptly named Create Robots and Technology for Good, or CRT4G, manages a 3D printer purchased with Russ Vision funds. The students – who bring expertise from four engineering disciplines – started out by simply looking up open source instructions online and following them. A robotic hand here, a quadcopter there. They now aim to use their printer to build one themselves. Constantly approached by Russ College students for assistance with their own projects, the group has also fielded requests from external sources such as ReUse Industries, a local outfit that collects and sells reusables that wanted to make a model of its mascot “Rusty” in order to cast trophies for its fix-it competitions.

Perhaps the most meaningful offshoot of their work isn’t in the products – but the people. Describing CRT4G members, Lucas sounds like a proud parent. “I would wager these are the most creative and talented students in the Russ College,” he says.

And the connections students have made with each other are reaping real rewards. Remember John Herbert, the robotic pizza printer creator – or “entrepreneur extraordinaire,” as Lucas calls him? Adviser to CRT4G, he also joined Lucas on a project at this year’s Innovation Center Startup Weekend. Students pitched their startup idea, received feedback from their peers, then formed teams around the top ideas before engaging in a 54-hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. Lucas and Herbert’s team, “Smart Headband,” earned second place for their technology that alerts athletes, and those who treat them, to potential concussions by measuring the level of impact sustained in real time. The two were joined by information technology/business student Matthew "Alex" Geiser and biological sciences student Daniel Williams. Their prize? A package worth $1,920 in Innovation Center space and other business consulting services.

Lucas likely won’t be finished with his work – he wants to go into mechatronics and ultimately develop a rapid prototyping company of his own – or with celebrating his peers any time soon.

“Not only are they smart, but they’re good at communicating, and they’re diverse. They’re all going to make excellent engineers when they graduate,” he says. “And if I were to start my own company, I would hire them. They’re solid.”

Create Robots and Technology

for GoodComputer Science // Electrical Engineering

// Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

// Mechanical Engineering

While the HPVC team focused on innovative recumbent design, the Chainless Challenge team responded to a call from Parker Hannifin to build a bicycle powered by hydraulics instead of a chain drive.

Working together since last August, they had to first win Parker’s approval of their concept. With that came funding to continue design and testing – and the privilege of being able to attend the April competition in Irvine, California.

The team also planned for the bike to be “green.”“The regenerative system would recharge the

system with hydraulic pressure so the rider wouldn’t have to charge the accumulator constantly – so in the same way a car uses electricity, we’d use hydraulic pressure,” says Alex Schermacher, a sophomore who currently has senior standing.

One of the team’s key challenges – cost – was met by Russ Vision funds that enabled the team to purchase a hydraulic motor and a variable transmission system that uses gears. But their greatest challenge came with a design failure that ultimately prevented the bike from functioning properly, forcing them to scrap their dreams of attending the competition. Not all was lost, however.

In addition to gaining skills in research, design, hydraulics, and cost estimation, the team learned how to break up work into manageable tasks and delegate.

“We all worked hard and will not falter. Knowledge and creativity are opportunities to expand your horizon of the world,” Shermacher says.

A member of the Enlisted Marine Corps Reserve in combat engineering, Schermacher plans to use these skills in his career as an officer – and he already has an idea about how he’ll create for good after graduation. “I've always wanted to create prosthetic limbs for combat veterans or disabled people.”————

CRT4G hosts “tech fests” – workshops on programming, robotics, and AutoCAD and

finite analysis – for fellow students.

BIG BAN THEORY

A team of five electrical engineering seniors are getting two for the price of one – their senior capstone design course project landed them a spot as one of six semifinalist teams competing in the 2015 Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Antennas and Propagation Society Antenna Design Challenge. Tasked with designing and building a Bluetooth antenna for a body area network (BAN) – a system of devices worn either on or near a person’s body and that cooperate for the benefit of the user – the team designed a wearable medical device with five sensors that measure ambient and body temperatures, heart rate, oxygen levels and fall detection. The data is then sent to a microcontroller and transmitted by the team’s Bluetooth antenna to an Android smartphone app, which the team also developed.

08

STUDENTS RAKE IN ENHANCEMENT AWARDS

Russ college students are no strangers to award-winning original research. Three of them are

continuing that legacy with nearly $12,000 in Student Enhancement Awards. Chemical and biomolecular

engineering undergraduates Jennifer Robinson (L) and Nicole Sova (R) won last year for their project

that identifies biomarkers associated with cancer metastasis. They carried their work into the ensuing

summer break, spending two months at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, in order to use optical

tweezers to further their investigations studying lipids in the lab. Biomedical engineering master’s

student Eric Martin’s research focuses on continuing the development of a novel, flow-based tissue

assay, which has the potential to assist in managing a patient’s care by predicting an individual’s cancer

aggressiveness through the functional assessment of molecules that are implicated in cancer metastasis.

STUDENTACHIEVEMENTS

in monetary awards

BACK-TO-BACK INNOVATION WINS

New technology has an endless capacity for

good – a truth that mechanical engineering

master’s student Sanusi Shehu (above,

middle) took to heart during the 2015 Scripps

Innovation Challenge (SIC) at Ohio University.

As part of Team Du Monde, Shehu and three

other OHIO graduate students won the $10,000

top prize, for “Safety on the Streets,” an

app and wristband device that would enable

individuals to send and receive alerts about

sexual assaults on college campuses. The team

took home an additional $5,000 for winning

the competition’s diversity enhancement

prize. The victory follows Industrial and

Systems Engineering doctoral candidate Ehsan

Ardjmand’s 2014 SIC win for his team’s social

media analytics concept to monetize the

Columbus Dispatch’s Twitter account.

RAWENAH GETS REWARD

Sophomore Jennah Rawenah dedicated her freshman year to her engineering studies and the

broader industry community, and it paid off – she’s one of just two students who received the

nationally competitive 2014 Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Turner Construction Company

Scholarship. Not only was she chosen from 3,700 applicants, but the company offered her a co-op

position at its Columbus, Ohio office, giving her the opportunity to gain professional experience at

one of the country’s largest construction firms. The passionate civil engineering major is currently

vice president of OHIO’s student chapter of SWE, as well as a member of the student chapter of the

American Society of Civil Engineers and the Russ College steel bridge team.

PRIME MINISTER HONORS YAAKOB

The Malaysian Prime Minister personally recognized chemical engineering doctoral candidate Najmiddin Yaakob with one of the country’s highest student honors – a 2014 Perdana Scholar Award. Honored by the prime minister at a ceremony held in New York City, Yaakob was one of five individuals to be awarded in the field excellence category – and just 30 overall – for his work in wet gas pipelines. Yaakob’s research investigates corrosion that mainly occurs when a significant temperature difference exists between the environment and the gas inside a pipeline, leading to water condensation and corrosion. “My work can create for good to prevent or reduce the possibility of pipeline corrosion and failure, save lives, and save the earth from pollution,” Yaakob said.

Get the inside scoop on what students are up to by visiting the Russ College news center at ohio.edu/engineering/news

09

Ingenuity | 2015

SIMIO SIMULATION

13 countries. 130 groups. 28 days. Simio’s

biannual 2014 Student Simulation Competition

tasked teams with building a simulation to

test the profitability of a start-up business

idea, as well as submitting a video, in just less

than a month. Xinying Wu and Jue Jiang, both

graduate students in Industrial and Systems

Engineering, not only rose to the challenge but

finished among the top 16. The duo modeled

an airport rental car service business that would

enable outbound passengers to drop off their

car at a parking facility, then rent the car to

passengers flying in. The team embraced the

challenge of using Simio’s 3D, object-based

modeling software to simulate day-to-day

operations and predict performance of their

model using 3D animation.

CORROSION INSTITUTE STUDENTS SWEEP AT NACE

It was a banner year for the chemical

engineering graduate students of the Institute

for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology, the

largest pipeline research facility in the world.

Students won four awards at the 2014 National

Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE)

Corrosion conference. Master’s student Kyle

Addis won the first-place NACE Student Poster

Session in the Harvey Herro category for the

Field of Applied Corrosion Technology, Ph.D

candidate Wei Li received the Outstanding

Student Poster award for “Effect of Multiphase

Flow on Corrosion: Hydrodynamics of Gas/Liquid

Flow,” and doctoral students Jing Ning and Saba

Navabzadeh collected the two available $1,000

Graduate Student Book Awards.

CARLSON JOINS NOBEL LAUREATES

How many people can say they’ve met a Nobel Laureate? Chemical and biomolecular doctoral candidate Grady Carlson met 37 of them at the 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Physiology and Medicine last summer in Lindau, Germany. Via invitation, Carlson joined a prestigious group of nearly 600 young researchers representing 80 countries to discuss molecular, genetic and cellular mechanisms as keys to preventing and healing diseases in a series of lectures, discussions, and master classes. With a research focus in finding novel techniques and methods for targeting cancer biomarkers, Carlson’s ultimate goal is to help improve the survival rates of breast and colon cancer patients.

CLEANER WATER FOR ALL

Jason Trembly, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is scaling up his innovative supercritical water treatment method for hydraulic fracturing wastewater. That process would enable water to be treated onsite, eliminating the need for transport and the associated heavy trucking. With support from Ohio Third Frontier, industry partners, and Ohio University, Trembly is leading a $2.9 million project with the Russ College’s Ohio Coal Research Center to test the technology’s commercial viability and explore its applications outside of the oil and gas industry, including emergency water supplies and agricultural use.

10

RESEARCHSPOTLIGHT

WHAT DO NSF AND NIST SPELL? CEER.The Center for Electrochemical Engineering (CEER) has received not only an esteemed National

Science Foundation award to establish a new industry university cooperative research center –

but also a prominent award from the U.S. Department of Commerce and National Institutes of

Standards and Technology (NIST). Led by Russ Professor of Chemical and Biomecular Engineering

and CEER Director Gerri Botte, the new Center for Electrochemical Processes and Technology

(CEProTECH) is a partnership with Washington University, St. Louis. Research focuses on

electrochemical alternatives to conventional chemical and biological processes, with the goal of

enhancing the country’s advanced production capabilities.

The Department of Commerce and NIST have taken note of CEER’s capabilities as well: To further

innovate the nation's $1.5 trillion chemical industry, CEER received a $375,000 grant to create the

Electrochemical Pathway for Sustainable Manufacturing Consortium. Capitalizing on CEER and

CEProTECH’s infrastructure – which includes a dedicated 20,000-square-foot facility on Mill Street

in Athens, Ohio, and more than $10 million in state-of-the-art equipment – leaders from the

electrochemical engineering industry, academics, and associations will work to support, sustain,

and enhance U.S. manufacturing capacity in the nation's chemical industry and allied sectors

through innovative electrochemical processes.

THE DNA OF DIABETES

Faculty and student researchers at the Center for Scientific Computing and Immersive Technologies are discovering the power of big data – and putting it to good use. Through a partnership with the University of Leipzig in Germany, CSCIT Director and Stuckey Professor of Electrical Engineering Lonnie Welch and students are analyzing diabetes patient data using bioinformatics and computational biology methods to develop a more accurate and more refined way to diagnose the disease.

LIGHT BULB MOMENT

Stocker Visiting Professor of Electrical Engineering Faiz Rahman has developed a solid state lighting system using laser diodes, instead of now-common LEDs. Laser diodes create a more efficient light bulb that produces superior light. With longer lifetimes than even LED bulbs, laser diode bulbs may even be able to change the shade of white light to suit individual tastes – something that until now has been impossible.

11

Ingenuity | 2015

NETWORKS AND NAVIGATION From the smallest computer chips to the largest aircraft, modern-day electronics rely on

dependable communication networks, and faculty researchers in the School of Electrical

Engineering and Computer Science are improving systems on every scale. Associate Professor of

Computer Science Avinash Kodi, with support from a $200,000 NSF grant, is developing a holistic

design methodology for the networks-on-chips, or NoCs, that connect chip cores, enabling them

to “talk” to one another. Focusing on error detection and correction techniques, and redundant

design, Kodi’s research will ensure reliable operation as technological advancements enable the

number of cores in the average computer to increase exponentially.

Meanwhile, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Wouter Pelgrum received nearly $500,000

from the FAA for research on alternative navigation systems to GPS, for use in aviation. Focused

on enhancing the legacy Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) system, Pelgrum’s research for the

Russ College’s Avionics Engineering Center will provide a reliable backup navigation system for

aircraft when GPS is interrupted or unavailable. This will enable planes to fly more direct routes

and more closely together, to reduce gridlock in the sky and on the ground. “We aim to create for

good by making safer, more economical, and more ‘green’ flights possible,” Pelgrum says.

THE PATH TO BETTER ROADWAYS

Traveling in Athens’ backyard – and around the region – civil engineering researchers have been called upon to offer their expertise to Department of Transportation-funded projects. Deb McAvoy, chair of the Department of Civil Engineering, is leading a $600,000 Ohio DOT-funded study of traffic safety and wildlife preservation efforts along the new U.S. Route 33 Nelsonville Bypass, which passes through Wayne National Forest, Ohio’s only national forest. Collaborating with ecologists and animal biologists from the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences, McAvoy will test the effectiveness of ODOT’s cutting-edge wildlife mitigation techniques such as deer jump-outs; a meadow habitat bridge; and culverts designed for amphibians, reptiles, and mammals to use for safe crossing. [EDITOR’S NOTE: For more on McAvoy, see the Faculty Profile on page 28.]

At the same time, Russ Professor of Civil Engineering Shad Sargand is leading a team from the Ohio Research Institute for Transportation and the Environment to analyze loads of data from test roads across New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania as part of a multi-state-funded study to better understand how pavements perform under diverse weather and traffic conditions. The budget for Ohio alone is $1.2 million, with more funds being added. From snow-covered mountain roads to the traffic-jammed highways of the Big Apple, Sargand’s research will inform future construction projects with more sustainable and cost-effective designs.

$1.056 million from the Korea PTG Company, Ltd.Sustainable Energy and Advanced Materials (SEAM) Laboratory

“Catalytic Chemistry of Polymerization”

Almost

in research and sponsored programs

$378,928 from the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) to establish an industry-led consortium – the

Electrochemical Pathway for Sustainable

Manufacturing (EPSuM) – in order to support,

enhance, and sustain U.S. manufacturing

capacity in the chemical and allied industries

(ChEAllieds) by designing and developing

processes and innovation that uses

electrochemical science and technology to

address major technical problems inhibiting

the growth of advanced manufacturing in the

ChEAllieds

Electrochemical Engineering Research Center

“NIST AMTECH: Electrochemical Pathway for Sustainable Manufacturing (EPSuM)”

$783,917 from Iowa State University to monitor instrumented field pavements

in New York (including Interstate 490,

Interstate 90, and Interstate 86), in order

to improve calibration of pavement

design software

Ohio Research Institute for Transportation & the Environment

“Performance and Load Response of Rigid Pavement Systems”

$772,169 from NASA’s Langley Research Center to design, develop, verify, and validate a

performance-based cockpit information

management system with the aim of

improving hazard and state awareness

while simultaneously monitoring the

accuracy, integrity availability, and

continuity of source information used

by pilots

Avionics Engineering Research Center

“A Performance-Based Flight Deck Information Management System for Improved Hazard Awareness and Source Data Integrity”

$547,000 from General Electric Corporation to continue the improvement in cost-

estimation accuracy and expanding the

functionality of COMPEAT$, software

developed by Russ College researchers that

enable GE engineers to estimate the costs

of manufacturing a new product, while the

product is being designed

Center for Advanced Systems and Transportation Logistics Engineering

”COMPEAT$ Cost Model Enhancements for 2014”

12

RESEARCHAWARDS

+ a look at awards from additional research units or departments that received funding

TOP TEN

$14.3

$149,669 from the Babcock and Wilcox Company to develop a reliable, high

performance, low cost wet

electrostatic precipitator design

using non-alloy, composite

electrode materials

Center for Advanced Materials Processing

“Design of a Pilot WESP and Testing of Non-alloy Composite Electrodes”

$330,877 from Petroleum Institute to study the reaction kinetics

and thermodynamics of iron

sulfides, in order to determine

how they behave in sour corrosion

environments related to the oil

and gas industry

Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology

“Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Reactionsin Systems Containing Hydrogen Sulfide and Carbon Dioxide”

$100,000 from Syngenta to study potential mobility and

persistence of chlorothalonil in soil

and the transport and dissipation

of chlorothalonil in air under field

conditions to tomatoes in the Central

Valley of California, USA

Center for Air Quality

“Transport and Dissipation of

Chlorothalonil in Air and Soil Under

Processing Tomato Production Conditions

in the Central Valley of California, U.S.A.”

$177,185 from the Babcock and Wilcox Companyto evaluate deposition of dissolved

solids from saturated steam

mixtures onto internal tube walls

under commercially relevant heat

flux conditions

Ohio Coal Research Center

“Deposition of Dissolved Solids to Internal Tube Walls Under Saturated Steam Conditions”

$94,069 from NanoRidge Materials, Inc. / National Science Foundation to develop industrially-viable processes to

convert carbon nanotube (CNT) enhanced

copper foils into a copper/CNT wire with

superior electrical performance

Center for Advanced Materials Processing

“STTR Phase I: Conversion of Enhanced Copper Foils to Wire Forms”

$153,000 from the National Science Foundation to utilize the advances and unique

advantages of photonic technology

and 3D stacking to develop scalable,

multi-layer, energy-efficient, bandwidth-

reconfigurable and reliable photonic

network-on-chip subsystems for future

multicore multiprocessors

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

“Power-Efficient and Reliable 3D Stacked Reconfigurable Photonic Network-on-Chips for Scalable Multicore Architectures”

13

Ingenuity | 2015

14

ALUMNIPROFILE

His mission was simple. He was to use his unique combination of musical ability and scientific knowledge to form a band as part of the Starset Society’s public outreach campaign – to share with the world the fact that human life exists on another planet, and that our government knows about it.

Accepting the task, Dustin Bates, BSEE ’05, MSEE ’08, formed Starset. The aptly-named first album, “Transmissions,” hit airwaves in July 2014.

People listened. Gaining popularity among independent hard and alternative rock fans, the record climbed the Billboard charts, breaking into the top 50 on the Billboard 200, with the single “My Demons” landing in the top 5 Mainstream Rock Songs.

For Bates, spreading the message of the Starset Society, which provided all the lyrics for the album, turned out to be a good gig.

There’s just one thing – there is no Starset Society.

For Russ College alum and Starset frontman Dustin Bates, creativity takes center stage

By Peter Shooner

SCIENCE, MYTHS, AND

ROCK & ROLL

Ingenuity | 2015

15

“Are we ready to take down the fourth wall?” Bates asks, as he draws up his pint for a swig. The truth is that Bates is the fourth wall, and the Starset Society, along with its extensive mythology, is entirely his creation.

Until now, Bates had maintained that Dr. Aston Wise, a researcher and entrepreneur, approached him in early 2013 to join the Starset Society. The Starset Society’s leaders possessed a secret radio transmission, picked up by the Allen Telescope Array, that they said will change our understanding of the universe.

Sitting in a corner booth at Casa Nueva in Athens, Bates goes for it. He pulls back the veil, explaining how what started as a daydream about technology turned into a international, multimedia, chart-topping creative project.

“I keep becoming more aware of how odd this all is,” he says, coming to a conclusion. “I feel like an atypical engineer.”

Jump back to the summer before his fifth grade. Reading more than 100 biographies in just those few warm months, Bates found he was most interested in self-made inventors like Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone.

“That’s when I became radicalized – not only to pursue science and engineering, but also to find my own niche in the world, where I could be memorialized in my own biography,” Bates says.

“That’s a ridiculously tall order, but in fifth grade I didn’t realize it,” he adds with a laugh.

So the intrepid 10-year-old set out to make a name for himself – and didn’t waste any time. While still feeding his passion for all things science, he explored other interests. Like rock and roll. Learning from his self-made idols, Bates spent a summer picking strawberries and selling them roadside. He’d soon save enough to buy his first guitar.

His passion for science and music only grew stronger as he did.

“I was a 16-year-old kid, loving rock and obsessed with it. I was also programming on my computer in QBasic, using mathematical functions to make screensavers,” Bates recalls.

At the Russ College during his electrical engineering studies, he started a band called Downplay. He lived a relatively typical college life – working hard in class, with ample time devoted to entertainment.

For his senior capstone design course project, he chose to build an autonomous robotic lawnmower – because it seemed like the most challenging. Meanwhile, Downplay was growing in popularity.

“My life was dichotomous at that point. I was partying and playing rock music, then doing research into this lawnmower,” Bates says.

Bates participated in International Space University’s Space Studies Program the summer after senior year. [EDITOR’S NOTE: For more on International Space University, see page 21.] Working in Australia with more than 100 space professionals solidified his interest in engineering. He returned to OHIO and began his master’s research on using scanning lasers to enable automatic navigation indoors, eventually developing a statistics-based algorithm that can help a robot determine its possible location without GPS.

“I didn’t just want a thesis that was a book report on the state of the art. I wanted to push the state of the art. That goes back to the fifth-grade me,” Bates says.

By then, numerous record labels had heard one of Downplay’s more popular songs. Eventually, Epic Records took notice and after an audition in New York City, Downplay signed a contract in 2011.

Bates’ dream seemed to be within reach. “For a year, I wrote songs and recorded this record I was really proud of – then we lost the deal right after it was done. That was Downplay,” Bates recalls.

But Epic dropped Downplay from its label to make room in the budget for contracts developed from The X-Factor talent show. The loss sent Bates into a freefall.

“ I WAS A 16-YEAR-OLD KID, LOVING ROCK AND OBSESSED WITH IT. I WAS ALSO PROGRAMMING ON MY COMPUTER IN QBASIC, USING MATHEMATICAL FUNCTIONS TO MAKE SCREENSAVERS.”

— DUSTIN BATES

On stage, Bates is all about passion – including his passion for electrical engineering, which is evident in Starset’s custom-built LED displays, modified electronics, and futuristic stage design.

ONLINE, FOR GOOD

The image of Alan Schaff’s, BSCS ’10, image-hosting site, imgur.com, keeps getting bigger and bigger. Imgur, the “gift to Reddit” that Schaaf developed during his junior year while studying computer science at OHIO, received a $40 million boost last year from venture-capital firm Andreesen Horowitz. With the site pulling in more than 150 million unique visitors and 5.5 billion images a month, it’s no wonder investors were fighting to buy in. Now, Schaaf has been named to Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30” list for 2015. Imgur’s Director of Community Sarah Schaaf, BSCS ’08, who is Schaaf’s sister and one of several Bobcats on staff, says that while his time has grown more valuable through the years, his top priorities are still his employees and maintaining the culture of Imgur over all else. “By encouraging community on Imgur, Alan has allowed millions of people to come together – inspiring marriages and incredible charity, launching careers, sharing knowledge, and creating proof that online communities can be amazing.” The 27-year-old’s focus for 2015: native advertising and helping brands create content.

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SCIENCE, MYTHS, AND ROCK & ROLL… Continued from Alumni Profile

ALUMNIACHIEVEMENTS

“I had fallen off the rails. I sat there for about three months,” Bates says.Moving back into his parent’s house, he began daydreaming in the spare

bedroom. He wrote some music but spent most of his time sketching out ideas that would eventually become the narrative of the Starset Society.

“It started with thought experiments on what technology could look like in the near future,” Bates says. “What if amazing technology came online, but it was monopolized and manipulated for the benefit of a few even though it could easily and without cost benefit the many?”

Filling dry erase boards in his parents’ garage with drawings and story outlines, Bates didn’t know where his creativity was leading him, but he knew to follow it.

“Eventually, I realized I wanted to create this multimedia project that used scientific and space themes, where the music was the soundtrack to the overarching narrative, and all these other multimedia elements.”

Starset’s first album and music video were independently produced. Soon after, though, Starset signed with Razor and Tie. The next stop was the top of the Billboard charts.

Now writing a novel – the “message” that the Starset Society intends to release to the public – Bates explains how the project’s core themes focus on the dual nature of technology; Humans will always have the choice to use technological advancements to create for good or for evil.

What’s the next transmission? Bates hasn’t ruled out the silver screen. But for now, he’s focusing on Starset’s twenty-three-date summer tour, which includes a stop at Columbus, Ohio’s “Rock on the Range” May 17.

Bates says, with any luck, his work will inspire more atypical engineers.“Kids are coming to Starset shows and getting scientific thinking, but they’re just

looking for rock,” Bates says. “The science is sci-fi and hyperbolic at times, but I think it can inspire kids into real science and engineering – and I hope to.”

Swapping road stories backstage with members of Starset’s opening

band, Betrayed by the Bullet, Bates prepares for the band’s 2014 New

Year’s Eve show in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

FUEL FOR SUCCESS

West Virginia’s oil and gas industry thanked alumnus Mike McCown, BSCE ’76, for powering the state by naming him the 2014 West Virginia Oil and Gas Man of Year. Over the course of his 24 years with West Virginia Pennzoil, McCown held numerous managerial positions across West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. He also served seven years on the board of directors for the West Virginia Oil and Gas Association and the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia, and as president of both. Although he’s now based in Houston, Texas, serving as chief operating officer for Gastar Exploration, wild and wonderful West Virginia hasn’t forgotten him.

A LIFE IN FLIGHT

Department of Aviation Chair Emerita Joan Mace, AA ’73, BGS ’78, is still being praised for

her high-soaring career. The Ninety-Nines, an international organization of women pilots, has

honored Mace with the Award of Achievement, which recognizes individuals who have made

significant contributions to any facet of aviation. Her interest in aviation began during World

War II, when she worked at the Curtiss-Wright Factory in Columbus, Ohio. “She was a true-life

Rosie the Riveter, responsible for inspecting airframe rivets, landing gear, flaring panels and

wing root attachments,” says Ninety-Nines International President Martha Phillips. Mace joined

OHIO as a flight instructor in 1946 and later became the first woman chair of Aviation. While

she no longer takes to the skies, she remains committed to the field as a judge for the National

Association of Flight Instructors and a member of the Ohio chapter of the Ninety-Nines. She was

inducted into The National Flight Instructor Hall of Fame in 2008.

A NEW CLASS

Induction into the Russ College Academy of Distinguished Graduates is the highest honor the college can bestow on its alumni. The College has now recognized the career accomplishments and life achievements of Helen Crawley-Austin, BSEE ’84, Richard “Dick” Dickerson, BSCE ’80, and James “Jim” Grote, BSEE ’78. From Crawley-Austin’s distinguished 25-year career in business management, to Dickerson’s 35-year career in pipeline construction and operations management, to Grote’s 35 years of advanced materials and avionics research with the founding of multiple companies in between, the renowned class of 2014 proves the Russ College is a birthplace of future leaders.

THREE’S COMPANY

Three is the magic number, or at least it was at Homecoming 2014, when a trio of Russ College alumni received Ohio University Alumni Association Awards. Robert “Bob” D. Walter, BSME ’67, HON ’97, former chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health in Columbus, Ohio, was named Alumnus of the Year. Jack Myslenski, BSIT ’73, former marketing executive vice president at Parker Hannifin Corporation, received the Medal of Merit. And Jake R. Sigal, BSISE ’03, MS ’05, founder and former CEO of Livio, which was acquired by Ford Motor Company last year, received the Charles J. and Claire O. Ping Recent Graduate Award.

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Ingenuity | 2015

Photo by Chris Parker/ThisWeek Community News

LEADERSHIP LEGACY

Thanks to a new student and veterans support center on campus, OHIO’s students and families will always know the name of retired Brigadier General James M. Abraham, BSEE '43, BSIE '48, as their Veterans and Military Student Services Center will be named the Brigadier James M. Abraham-Colonel Arlene F. Greenfield Veterans and Military Student Services Center. The honor celebrates Abraham’s 40 years of service to the U.S. Army, and his contributions to OHIO, from establishing the original WOUB radio station to authoring the nation’s first tuition grant program for National Guard soldiers when the ROTC program was in danger of being eliminated. Its incredible success led the governor to expand the program to all public universities in Ohio, and other states used the model as well. The program has been one of the major programs for producing officers for the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, and state Army and Air Force National Guards.

Joan Mace might not be piloting aircraft anymore, but her

involvement in aviation is hardly parked – she continues to volunteer

her expertise as a judge for a variety of student flight competitions.

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Ingenuity | 2015

A REDBIRD FOR THE GREEN AND WHITE The Department of Aviation has added to its fleet – of advanced aviation training devices (AATDs).

A state-of-the-art Redbird MCX joins the two Frascas already onsite at Francis Fuller Training Center

on the grounds of the Ohio University Airport (UNI). The AATD offers flight panel displays that

align with the Russ College’s technical advanced aircraft used for flight training, such as the Piper

Warrior fleet. Department Chair Bryan Branham says the Redbird, which is a motion simulator, gives

students a unique “seat-of-the-pants” feel for flying. “When a student makes an input on the flight

controls, the sim will respond to that input regardless of whether it’s correct, so the student feels it,”

Branham explains. The department uses the Redbird for recurrent training, review lessons, and to test

prospective certified flight instructors.

OURCULTURE

More than just a cultural exchange If you walk through the halls of Ohio

University’s Stocker Center or the Academic

& Research Center, you’ll find engineering

students from a wide range of backgrounds and

nationalities. This year, 35 Brazilian students

joined the mix as part of the Brazil Scientific

Mobility Program. The one-year, non-degree

scholarship program for Brazilian students

in STEM fields studying abroad in the United

States is part of the Brazilian government's

larger effort to grant 100,000 Brazilian

university students the opportunity to learn at

the world's best colleges and universities.

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A day in the life A suite of nine new video portraits are telling the story

of the Russ College experience from diverse angles.

Aimed at encouraging future students to join our

community, the videos target the interests of prospective

undergraduate, graduate, multicultural and women

students, as well as research sponsors, by offering an

insider’s look at the Russ College educational experience.

Check out our music video, “A Day in the Life,” and more

at www.youtube.com/user/OhioUnivRussCollege/.

Online degree programs climb national rankings

The Russ College learning community extends far beyond OHIO’s West Green through

three successful online master’s degree programs, which have earned the University 36th

best institution for online graduate engineering programs in the country, according to

U.S. News & World Report. The master’s degree programs in electrical engineering and

civil engineering entered their second year this fall, while the Master of Engineering

Management program enrolled more than 130 students spring semester – the most since

the program’s start in 2011. To learn more about how our virtual-learning opportunities

are opening doors for experienced engineers and technologists to hone their skills and

expertise, visit ohio.edu/engineering/academics/online.cfm/.

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OUR CULTURE

WINNING STREAK – FOR GOODMechanical engineering senior design teams are in the midst of a golden era. The “Designing

to Make a Difference” teams have accumulated more than $100,000 in prize money from

various competitions in recent years, including winning or placing in the national Ability One

Network Design Challenge from 2011-2014 and back in 2009; and earning a first and second

place J.F. Lincoln Foundation (JFLF) award from 2013-2014 and a second place in 2011. The

2014 Ability One winners designed a machine to clean primary art materials for employees

at ATCO, a local work training facility for individuals with developmental disabilities. The

invention ultimately supports the development of artwork for Passion Works Studio in

Athens. “Team Flower Power” and the Department of Mechanical Engineering were each

awarded $10,000; Passion Works Studio/ATCO and Robe Professor/Department of Mechanical

Engineering Chair Greg Kremer, who developed the course, were each awarded $5,000.

U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) awards members of Team Flower Power – Marissa Singley, Nick Reed, and Scott Kostohyrz (L to R) – first prize in the Ability One Design Challenge in June 2014 at a Congressional reception in Washington, D.C.

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Ingenuity | 2015

Did you hear?Thanks to the recipients of the 2015 Russ Prize,

more than 320,000 hearing-impaired people

have gained a sense of sound via a cochlear

implant (CI). Developers of the CI – Blake S.

Wilson, Graeme M. Clark, Erwin Hochmair,

Ingeborg J. Hochmair-Desoyer, and

Michael M. Merzenich – were awarded the

2015 Russ Prize this February in Washington,

D.C., for demonstrating how engineering

improves the human condition. The Hochmairs,

and Merzenich, visited OHIO shortly after

receiving the award to deliver a public lecture

and meet with Russ College students.

www.ohio.edu/engineering/russ-prize

Blast offMore than 150 space professionals across the

globe will land in Athens from June 8-August

7 for the 2015 Space Studies Program (SSP15)

of International Space University, the world’s

premier space education organization. ISU

chose Ohio University to host the nine-week,

graduate-level immersion in the study of

humankind’s evolving experience of space. The

Russ College, lead campus partner in executing

the conference, helped plan and will facilitate

the conference, with most academic activities

occurring in the Academic & Research Center

and Stocker Center. SSP15 faculty, including

international astronauts and leading experts

in the field, will chair workshops and special

projects including a robot competition and

rocket launch, give core and special lectures, and

lead trips to regional space-related destinations.

Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. Senator

Harrison “Jack” Schmitt is just one of the

confirmed guests. Many events will be open

to the public. Want to see what’s going on at

mission control? www.ohio.edu/engineering/isu

New bachelor’s degree programs mark firsts for the Russ CollegeStudents who want to go green or transform organizations can now earn OHIO degrees. Last fall,

the Russ College launched bachelor’s programs in energy engineering (EnE) and, online, technical

operations management (TOM). The EnE program is the first four-year energy engineering program

in Ohio, and just the third in the country. Students will graduate prepared to address a significant

societal demand for energy innovation in a rapidly growing field. “It’s only with a clear, present,

and overwhelming need that we develop a new bachelor’s program. If we can solve the source and

environmental considerations of energy generation, then we’ve done society an everlasting good,”

said Russ College Dean Dennis Irwin. The TOM degree, offered by the Russ College in partnership

with eLearning, enables associate degree holders to complete a bachelor’s degree. It’s the first such

program in the state of Ohio and the only one in the nation for technical operations management.

Fertile ground for innovationCelebrating the Russ College’s continuing leadership in technical creativity, the 2014 Innovation

Awards gala honored alumnus and computer chip pioneer Hua-Thye “H.T.” Chua, BSEE ’59, with

the 2014 Konneker Medal for Commercialization and Entrepreneurship. Chua, who co-designed

Intel’s first commercial product, the i3101 64-bit RAM chip, joins former mechanical engineering

faculty member William Beale, who won the 2013 Konneker Medal for developing the Free-Piston

Stirling Engine. The awards don’t stop there: Russ Professor of Chemical Engineering Gerri Botte,

who developed the groundbreaking Pee-to-Power process, and Assistant Professor of Chemical and

Biomolecular Engineering Jason Trembly, whose revolutionary wastewater treatment method

could lighten the hydraulic fracturing industry’s environmental impact, received Outstanding Faculty

Innovation awards for 2013 and 2012, respectively. Previous Outstanding Student Innovation awards

have gone to former doctoral students Chad Mourning and Scott Nykl in 2013, and Huiwen Chen

in 2012. At press time, our fingers were still crossed for this year’s faculty and student nominees.

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Ranging from relatively cheap toys to expensive, high-tech machines, modern unmanned aerial vehicles are enabling countless real-world applications, and Russ College researchers are pushing the fast-moving tech to its limits.

FEATURESTORY

23

Ingenuity | 2015

Big, bad drones?

For years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – commonly called “drones” – were thought of as stealthy aircraft flying high above the clouds, patrolling a warzone. But today, the next UAV you see is more likely to be in your neighbor’s backyard than in the battlefield.

Recent and rapid advances in technology and innovation within the UAV industry have resulted in a boom of small UAV ownership by civilians. Affordable, lightweight, and easy to operate, these devices come in all shapes and sizes – from miniature fixed-wing airplanes to futuristic multirotor helicopters with as many as eight sets of propellers.

Anyone with a few hundred dollars can purchase a small UAV and send it flying for miles, hundreds of feet in the air, all while filming the ground below. This high level of capability coupled with relative ease of use is the root of an evolving debate about the seemingly inevitable addition of UAVs into our skies.

Private citizens, industry advocates, and the federal government are scrambling to find a regulatory balance – a sweet spot that allows an industry with a vast potential for good to grow, while putting rules in place necessary to maintain public safety and protect individual privacy.

Safety and privacy concerns loom large

over this tiny tech. Russ College experts

show there’s more to UAVs than we

might think.

By Peter Shooner

24

FEATURE STORY

“For a couple hundred bucks, you can buy a quadcopter

that pretty much flies itself. Anyone buying one can, if they

choose, fly it in an unsafe manner. Because they haven’t

had any need for extensive training, the potential for

accidental misuse of the technology is pretty significant.”

—Mike Braasch, Thomas Professor of Electrical Engineering

Researchers at the Russ College’s Avionics Engineering Center have been developing technologies to ensure modern UAVs not only fly

safely, but also achieve their full potential – which includes life-saving applications.

Center Director Mike DiBenedetto explains that today’s UAVs could assist in emergencies like search and rescue or help police avoid dangerous high-speed chases by monitoring situations from the air. They can also help engineers inspect bridges and other infrastructure, enable biologists to locate environmental hazards like acid mine drainage, and boost farmers’ yields through precision monitoring of crops and soil.

“If you had an economical way to fly over a field and say whether the corn has emerged and then fly back over it in a week or two, you could say ‘I have corn sprouting everywhere except for this 10-acre spot – I can get in right away and replant that,’” DiBenedetto says.

Even with countless potential applications, many industry leaders and citizens eager to take advantage of the technology are still waiting for the industry to take off.

Developed in part by the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), these guidelines have kept the skies – and people on the ground – safe over the last 80 years of remote-controlled (RC) aircraft use. But, the culture surrounding modern UAVs isn’t the same as RC culture, according to Thomas Professor of Electrical Engineering Mike Braasch, who has been researching navigation systems and aviation policy since 1985.

“As a member of an RC hobby community, you worked with senior people who were teaching you how to fly, and you were highly motivated to do it safely because you didn’t want to lose your investment. All that worked very well and allowed the industry to self-regulate,” Braasch says.

Fast forward to today, when cheaper and more powerful electronics have pushed UAV capability faster than expected, resulting in the potentially dangerous combination of minimal training and a high ease of use.

“For a couple hundred bucks, you can buy a quadcopter that pretty much flies itself,” Braasch explains. “Anyone buying one can, if they choose, fly it in an unsafe manner. Because they haven’t had any need for extensive training, the potential for accidental misuse of the technology is pretty significant.”

Evidence of misuse makes regular headlines, with incidents occurring everywhere from thousands of feet in the air to the White House lawn. And with recent estimates of close to 30,000 civilian UAVs being sold each month, the problems aren’t expected to go away on their own. This prompted regulators to ban outright the use of UAVs for commercial purposes.

The 2012 FRMA allows commercial use of UAVs only through special and specific FAA exemption. The process can take years, and the agency has only issued a handful of exemptions so far.

To help integrate commercial UAVs into our skies, the FAA says it’s collaborating with industry leaders to work toward a solution.

Why? The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has classified even the smallest UAVs as aircraft, which means they fall under the agency’s regulatory jurisdiction. When the FAA Modernization and Reform Act (FRMA) was signed into law in 2012, Congress tasked the FAA with achieving safe integration of UAVs into the National Airspace System (NAS) by the end of September 2015.

The task was daunting when handed down, and the subsequent three years have proven as much.

To achieve Congress’ directive, the FAA published the Integration of Civil Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the National Airspace System Roadmap in 2013, which took a comprehensive look at the current state of UAV development, capabilities, and use and laid out an incremental approach to regulation development.

Based on the FRMA, the FAA determined that UAVs lighter than 55 pounds used recreationally are no more than highly capable model aircraft, flown by hobbyists for decades, and must simply adhere to existing model aircraft guidelines.

And those guidelines say small UAVs can’t be flown higher than 400 feet, and must be kept within eyesight and in constant operator control. Additional rules apply when flying near restricted airspace near airports and urban centers, but no special FAA application or approval is necessary.

The Russ College’s diverse fleet of UAVs gives researchers options when testing new

navigation or control technology. From ultra-lightweight quadcopters (left) to more

traditional fixed-wing aircraft (below), having the right tool for the job is essential.

25

“Government-industry collaboration is at the heart of the 333 exemption process,” an FAA spokesperson says, in response to our inquiries. “In addition, we’re partnering with American Society for Testing and Materials on standards development, and the industry participates in technical issue resolution via the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics and policy development by the UAS Aviation Rulemaking Committee.”

Even with these efforts, there is tremendous pressure from industry advocacy groups, who routinely point to the economic impact of delayed regulation.

In 2013, the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), which is the world’s largest nonprofit unmanned systems advocacy organization, released a report on how the UAV industry would affect the U.S. economy. The report found that in the first three years after UAV integration into the NAS, the industry would create more than 70,000 new jobs, with more than $13.6 billion in economic impact, reaching more than $82 billion by the end of the first decade.

“Additionally, the report found that for every year integration is delayed, it will cost the United States more than $10 billion in potential economic impact: That translates to $27.6 million per day,” says Brett Davis, AUVSI vice president of communications and publications. ————

Ingenuity | 2015

The set of regulations that the entire UAV hobby community and commercial industry had been waiting for is the FAA’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding use of small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), defined as any UAV less than 55 pounds.

The FAA gave itself an initial deadline of early 2014 to publish the NPRM, which for years was a topic of swirling speculation. Some eagerly awaited the guidance it would provide a commercial industry about to boom, and others feared that it would contain a regulatory overreach that would restrict use by hobbyists who have gone decades without formal federal rules.

After years of delay and debate, the FAA released the sUAS NPRM in February 2015, outlining a broad set of rules for commercial UAV use, while maintaining its long-standing hands-off approach to the hobby community.

“We have tried to be flexible in writing these rules,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in an initial release. “We want to maintain today’s outstanding level of aviation safety without placing an undue regulatory burden on an emerging industry.”

The proposal is open to a 60-day public comment period, after which the FAA will revise the rule as it sees fit, a process that could take up to two years or longer. In short, the proposed rule is an important first step toward UAV integration and gives the commercial industry a look into the future.

» Clockwise from top left: Professor of Electrical Engineering Jim Zhu, Cheng Professor of Electrical Engineering Maarten Uijt de Haag, and Research Engineer Tony Adami.

Under the new rules, commercial users would be allowed to fly their UAV under 500 feet and less than 100 mph, but must keep it in their sight at all times and only fly in daylight. Although autonomous flight is permitted, its use will likely be minimized due to the line-of-sight requirement.

Before taking to the skies, operators would need to be certified by passing an FAA-administered general aeronautical knowledge test. The certification will cost much less in capital and time than a similarly obtained pilot’s license.

So, what does this mean for the future of UAVs? Besides the delay before the new rules take effect, Braasch says not to expect your next Amazon delivery to come by UAV, even though the FAA has approved Amazon to test its technology.

One of the Russ College’s quadcopters hovers outside Stocker Center, where Russ

College researchers test its ability to create a 3D map of its environment, which enables

it to navigate autonomously.

26

FEATURE STORY

“The idea that you’re going to throw up a multicopter in a downtown area and allow it to autonomously navigate a few miles through the city, in my opinion, isn’t going to happen very soon,” Braasch says. “It’s a challenge, but of course that means it’s an excellent opportunity for research because there will be a need for this kind of thing eventually.”————

Center researchers are looking to address that challenge, and a range of others.

With groundbreaking work in control algorithms, GPS and non-GPS navigation, and sense and avoid capabilities, our researchers are developing the technology that allows a UAV to get off the ground, stay aloft, and fly where needed. Their findings will ensure safe, autonomous operation of UAVs carrying out varied missions.

Professor of Electrical Engineering Jim Zhu and Center Research Engineer Tony Adami develop

advanced control algorithms for automated flight systems, which can be applied to platforms ranging from space launch vehicles and commercial jets to UAVs of all sizes and shapes.

Control actuators are the physical mechanics that affect an aircraft’s flight. On fixed-wing aircraft, these typically consist of the engines and various control surfaces, such as the ailerons, elevator, and rudder. Control algorithms are pieces of software that automatically adjust these controls in order to hold the aircraft level or carry out a designated flight path.

They’re also the reason why the newest UAVs are much easier to fly – with the advent of inexpensive, lightweight microprocessors, many of today’s hobby-level products include built-in stabilization algorithms that keep them stable enough for a novice to more safely maneuver them without the aircraft falling over.

Traditional autopilot systems on manned aircraft similarly take over simple tasks for the pilot, like maintaining a cruising altitude, but the systems are

not designed for use in bad weather or in the event the plane gets into a compromised or “upset” condition.

“Advanced control design methods are meant to address that concern, allowing the autopilot to fly the airplane in not just nominal conditions but also to help when things go wrong,” explains Adami, who hopes to test their algorithm – TLC, or trajectory linearization control – on a Russ College UAV soon.

Zhu’s earlier research informed their recent breakthroughs, and most recently, Zhu and Adami received a U.S. patent for TLC, which enables a plane to autonomously follow an arbitrary path through space – like rising while turning in an upward corkscrew path, for example.

“It seems simple, but there hasn’t been an autopilot that can do this precisely until our patent,” Zhu says.

While Zhu and Adami’s research will allow future UAVs to fly without human control, Cheng Professor of Electrical Engineering Maarten Uijt de Haag is developing advanced navigation systems for both manned and unmanned aircraft so they know where they are, and where to go both outdoors and indoors.

His current projects focus on navigation and mapping techniques using lasers and cameras onboard small multicopters. His UAVs can move autonomously, simultaneously taking pictures and creating 3D images, while avoiding obstacles using lasers.

This way, the UAV can navigate tight spaces while mapping its surroundings, which can be useful for creating 3D renderings of the exteriors and interiors of buildings, bridges, and even abandoned mines or caves.

“Right now, if you want to renovate a building, you have architectural plans – and someone goes in and takes measurements,” Uijt de Haag explains.

“But you can let a UAV fly around by itself, and what you get is not just measurements but an image you can view in virtual reality.”

Designers and architects could then manipulate the image to fully envision the complete renovation from start to finish. But the utility gets better.

“Suppose you have a collapsed building or a fire, and you can’t go in. You can send in a UAV and find out where major obstructions, hot spots, and victims are located, and use sensors to check if the environment is structurally sound and safe to be entered by rescue workers,” Uijt de Haag says.————

While the UAV industry and those who wish to take advantage of the technology welcome the progress toward integration, many have concerns over UAV use that extend beyond safety.

A recent Reuters poll in the U.S. showed that 73 percent of respondents said they want regulations for small UAVs. Forty-two percent said they oppose private ownership of UAVs.

Seventy-one percent said UAVs shouldn’t be allowed to operate over someone else’s property, and 64 percent said they wouldn’t want their neighbor to have one.

The sky’s the limit for Cheng Professor of Electrical Engineering Maarten Uijt de Haag (second from left) and master’s students Ashkay Bharadwaj and Adam Schultz, BSEE ’14, and Russell Gilabert, BSEE ’15, (L-R), whose innovations are keeping our skies safe while

maximizing UAV technology’s capacity for good.

27

Ingenuity | 2015

» Colleen Carow contributed to this story.

So what consideration is the FAA giving to privacy, and what power does the agency have to protect it?

“The administration has recognized the importance of this issue and has formed an inter-agency policy group,” our FAA spokesperson says.

“We’re working with these agency partners on a whole-of-government approach. Once this approach has been finalized, the FAA will assist as required.”

AUVSI’s Davis said that the industry understands the privacy concerns people have over UAV technology, but that existing laws are more than enough to protect individuals’ rights.

“UAVs are one of many platforms that could be used for collecting data. Privacy policies should focus on how data is collected and used, as opposed to focusing on the specific platform that is doing the collecting,” Davis argued.

In February, President Obama tasked all federal agencies currently using UAVs to develop transparent data collecting and storing policies, to help ensure that citizens’ civil liberties are upheld.

For hobbyists, the AMA maintains a privacy policy that warns against the potential misuse of the technology, according to AMA Director of Public Relations and Government Affairs Rich Hanson, but stops short of suggesting limiting the technology itself.

Russ College Avionics Engineering Center

The Avionics Engineering Center, the only

facility of its kind in the United States,

specializes in the research, development,

and evaluation of electronic navigation,

communication, and surveillance systems.

The center, the largest at Ohio University,

was established in 1963 to support a

unique combination of theoreticians and

technical specialists to address navigation

issues encountered in air transportation

and furnish immediate, practical solutions.

“Any statutory or regulatory approach to protecting privacy should be based upon the unseemly intent and aberrant behavior of the individual, and not unilaterally restrict the use of any specific technology,” Hanson said.

While the data show that a large number of Americans have concerns over privacy, some – including Uijt de Haag – point to the much larger risk posed by cybersecurity breaches, which regularly make headlines.

“People can get way more information about you from your online social behavior than taking a UAV and flying it around your house,” Uijt de Haag said.

“If I’m walking down the street with my children and there’s a drone, I’m not worried if the guy is spying on me – I’m worried that it will fall on my children. Personally, that’s what scares me.”

Only time will tell what our future skies will look like. As regulation chases a fast-paced industry founded on innovation and quickening technological advances, there will always be gaps in the law. The researchers at the Russ College’s Avionics Engineering Center will keep their eyes focused on the path ahead, so you don’t have to keep yours trained on the sky.

Research Engineer Tony Adami preps his fixed-wing UAV for flight after installing

the latest version of his and Professor of Electrical Engineering Jim Zhu’s

experimental control algorithm onto the aircraft’s computer.

28

Deb McAvoy, associate professor and chair of the Department of Civil Engineering, is one of

Ohio’s most influential drivers – of traffic safety.By Kaitor Kposowa

Deb McAvoy has been driven to improve local

transportation systems her entire career.

“We’re not trying to develop things for 10 or

15 years from now,” the transportation engineer

says of her research teams. “We’re really

trying to come up with solutions that can be

implemented right away and immediately have

an impact.”

McAvoy serves as principle investigator of

a new, three-year, $600,000 federally funded

research contract for the Ohio DOT assessing

traffic safety and the effectiveness of wildlife

preservation efforts along the new U.S. Route 33

Nelsonville Bypass.

The 8.5-mile roadway project, which opened

in 2013, relieved a major congestion problem

on U.S. 33 by constructing a new four-lane

bypass around the city of Nelsonville, Ohio.

With nearly five miles of the highway bisecting

Wayne National Forest – Ohio’s only national

forest – ODOT invested $10 million to safeguard

the forest’s natural habitat and threatened

species with wildlife crossings and fencing,

special high mast lighting, and the construction

of a 7.5 acre wetland.

According to McAvoy, ODOT’s project is the

first of its kind in Ohio – such solutions are more

typically found only in the western United States

for large mammal preservation.

“The big questions are whether these systems

work for a different terrain, for different

types of animals, and should they be used in

the future in Ohio or anywhere else in the

east,” says McAvoy, who will collaborate with

fellow researchers from the Voinovich School of

Leadership and Public Affairs and the College of

Arts and Sciences.

McAvoy is also investigating traffic issues

virtually. In 2010, she established a driving

simulator lab with support from the National

Science Foundation. The simulator, one of

THE ROAD MORE SAFELY TRAVELED BY

This includes the Russ College’s American

Society of Civil Engineers concrete canoe team,

which she advised from 2009-2014, sticking

with it for a year after becoming department

chair. Students construct, present, test, and

display canoes in competition with schools

across the region – schools who often have

their canoes constructed by professional firms.

McAvoy, on the other hand, believes Russ

College students should take full ownership.

“In the end, they have something that they are

fully proud of. If it fails, it’s because of them; and

if it’s great, it’s because of them,” she says.

Hague says McAvoy’s perspective gives

students a stealth advantage. “She gives us

the opportunity to gain knowledge about

how to solve real-world problems and

complete real-world design prior to entering

the workforce. She’s one of those individuals

who has influenced so many student lives that

she deserves far more recognition than could

ever be provided.”

only two in Ohio and one of about 40 in the

world, features the front half of a Ford Focus

connected to a computer simulation system

loaded with hundreds of different driving

scenarios and an eye-tracking system that can

show researchers how long drivers look at

certain objects on the roadway and how often

their eyes close from fatigue.

She and students use the lab to determine

the most effective traffic devices for highway

operations and work zone safety, and can help

assess the cause of roadway crashes.

“I’ve been working with our state-of-the-art

driving simulator to test various delineation

devices included in typical work zones. Dr.

McAvoy’s guidance and support throughout

my research has been second to none,” says civil

engineering master’s student and lab graduate

assistant Darrell Hague.

McAvoy has also had a hand in rescue vehicle

graphics. The U.S. Department of Justice asked

her to study lighting, paint, and reflective

material schemes on first responder vehicles.

She found that different color combinations,

four-inch stripes, half-Battenbergs (a regular

pattern with contrasting light and dark colors),

and red and blue lights on top had improved

visibility and motorist reaction time. And

retroreflective markings – those that reflect

light back to its source – improve visibility,

but any retroflectivity more than 30 percent

actually increases motorist distraction.

Today’s projects investigate urban work zones,

mobile phone impact on driving, and two local

intersections: Johnson Road and U.S. 33, and

U.S. Rt. 50/Ohio Rt. 32 and Radford Road, sites of

recent fatal crashes.

But students are what really drive McAvoy.

The roadmap she lays out for students is one of

real-world examples from her vast consulting,

and hands-on applications beyond the classroom.

FACULTYPROFILE

» Above: Civil Engineering Chair and

Associate Professor Deb McAvoy reviews

statistics with civil engineering senior Tyler

Brothers during a class of CE 4000 – Societal

Concerns in Civil Engineering.

29

ELECTROCHEMICAL FELLOW

A pioneer in her field, Russ Professor of

Chemical and Biomecular Engineering

Gerardine Botte is an internationally

recognized expert in alternative energy

solutions based on electrochemical process

techniques. Her well-known “pee-to-power”

process, which converts the ammonia found in

wastewater into hydrogen for fuel cells with

clear water as the only byproduct; and her work

converting coal into graphene, a nanomaterial

with emerging applications, spurred the

Electrochemical Society to name her a fellow

in 2014. Read more about Botte’s leadership in

the electrochemical field on page 10.

LEE IS THE CHOICE

Sunggyu “K.B.” Lee’s excellence extends

beyond the classroom, where he’s known for

his dedication to undergraduate teaching, and

the research lab, where he’s world-renowned

for the development of clean coal technology.

Spreading his expertise to students around

the world, Lee, who is Russ-Ohio Eminent

Scholar in Syngas Utilization and professor of

chemical engineering, co-edited the Handbook

of Alternative Fuel Technologies, which

was named a 2014 “CHOICE” Outstanding

Academic Title by the American Library

Association.

Ingenuity | 2015

FACULTYNEWS

CAPPING A CAREER

When former Engineering Technology and Management Chair – Retired Professor Peter Klein – capped off his 24-year Russ College career last year, technology professional organization Epsilon Pi Tau awarded him the Lambda Chapter Distinguished Service Membership Award. The highest recognition an active member can receive, the award recognizes Klein’s dedication to top-notch teaching, scholarship, and research.

RUSS COLLEGE REACH

When he’s not steering the Russ College toward strategic goals, Dean Dennis Irwin, who is also Moss Professor of Engineering Education and Thomas Professor of Engineering, offers his leadership expertise to engineering education groups across the state, including the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers. A member of the society’s board of directors since 2012, Irwin was recently elected president-elect. He plans to focus on the importance of an engineers’ code of ethics as the major reason to motivate new engineering graduates to pursue professional registration. Irwin was also appointed by President Roderick McDavis to the board of directors of the Ohio Aerospace Institute.

SMART RECOGNITION FOR SENIOR MEMBER

At the Russ College, artificial intelligence is hardly science fiction – it’s a reality. Associate Professor of

Computer Science Cindy Marling, in collaboration with faculty researchers from the Heritage College of

Osteopathic Medicine, directs the SmartHealth Lab, where she leveraged advances in machine learning

and bioinformatics to create a glucose monitoring system that can predict adverse blood sugar levels

in diabetes patients further in advance than traditional methods. It’s fitting, then, that the Association

for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence awarded Marling “senior member status,” an accolade

reserved for active members who achieve significant accomplishments in the field.

30

CLASSNOTES

Here’s what Russ College alumni are up to – and how you’re creating for good.

HOLLY (CARLSON) AHRENHOLZ BSCHE ’01 is a program manager for Trimble Navigation. She was married in 2011 and gave birth to a son, Fritz, in 2012, and a daughter, Liesl, in 2014. I donate to a variety of organizations including my church (Eagle Brook), as well as World Vision, ASPCA, and a number of local charities.

BLAKE M. ANDREWS BSCE ‘06 is a senior associate for Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. I solve structural problems in the built world.

DAVID GALLAGHER BSME ‘10 is a product excellence engineer/powertrain at Tesla Motors in the San Francisco Bay area.

Last spring, I started an exciting new career at electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company has nearly doubled in size since I joined and continues to grow at a rate nearly as fast as our car (0-60 mph in 3.2 seconds)! Tesla is filled with some of the best and brightest engineers in the world. Among a sea of Ivy League degrees and Silicon Valley resumes, I constantly flaunt my OHIO Bobcat gear to let everyone know that the students from Athens, Ohio, perform with the best of the best. I encourage young alumni looking for a challenge to reach out to Tesla Motors as we continue our push to change the world. Working at Tesla has not only been a fantastic for my professional development – I have been forced to learn and achieve at a blistering pace -- but it has also been an enjoyable moral experience as Tesla strives to "create for good" by transitioning the world to the electric car.

CLASSNOTES

TODD BEEKMAN BSEE ‘00 is an executive vice president, managing director of strategy and investor relations for Huntington Bancshares.

RILEY BROOKINGS BSA ‘08 is a first officer/pilot for ExpressJet Airlines, where he has worked for more than four years. I live in a difficult neighborhood close to Atlanta and spend a lot of time with and invest in the lives of teenagers in my area.

CHRISTOPHER L. BUEHNER BSME ‘01 is a mechanical engineer for AECOM.

ZACH FETCHU BSME ‘11 is an engineer/technologist at GE Aviation. He recently graduated from GE Aviation’s Edison Engineering Development Program with a master’s in mechanical engineering and traveled to one of the company’s engine shops in Scotland to get hands on experience.

I contribute to GE Aviation, where we “invent the future of flight, lift people up and bring them home safely." Every three seconds of every single day, one of our CFM56 engines is taking off somewhere in the world.

DREW GERHAN BSME ‘04 is a product engineer for Honda of America Manufacturing.

MORGAN HALLWACHS BSCHE ‘87 is an operations engineering manager for the Clorox Company.

MICHAEL HAMM BSCE ‘70 is retired and spends as much time as possible with his grandchildren, fishing and following Bobcat sports.

JASON HEINEN BSIT ‘96 is a quality engineering team leader for ThyssenKrupp-Bilstein, where he is in the advanced planning stage of transferring new automotive damping technology from Germany to the U.S. I will help bring more than 50 new jobs to the Hamilton, Ohio, area by transferring technology.

JOHN HEMPSTEAD BSEE ’68 retired from Siemens after more than forty-one years and is now a self-employed consulting engineer providing low voltage electrical distribution equipment incident consulting services. I participate on three IEEE safety related electrical standards committees and am an active member of a county Emergency Management Agency communications support team.

“I develop agreements to foster research collaborations between federal labs and commercial, academic, and other government entities.”

—JAMES KEARNS, BSCHE ‘70

JAMES KEARNS BSCHE ‘70 a technology transfer program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory, became a grandfather in 2014. I develop agreements to foster research collaborations between federal labs and commercial, academic, and other government entities.

KEN KUCINSKI BSIS ‘12 a manufacturing engineer for TECT Aerospace, recently moved from the engine side to the structural side of aviation and will be working with new product introduction. He relocated from Chicago to Seattle.

KEITH W. KURZ BSIT ‘71 retired as a director from Williams International in 2011 and relocated from Utah to Tennessee. I vote as a member of my local Habitat for Humanity’s family selection committee.

CHRISTOPHER LLOYD BSCE ‘02, DO ‘06 is a department of emergency medicine chair for Emergency Medicine Physicians, LLC.

JEFFREY MALLORY BSME ‘98 is a project engineer for Sargent & Lundy, where he has designed and upgraded power plants for sixteen years. Employed in the nuclear power division, he is a specialist in cooling systems and a member of the Cooling Technology Institute. He and his family recently welcomed their 4-year-old adopted son, Joshua, from China. I continually find ways to ensure that nuclear power plants are operated safely without sacrificing quality and robust design. I had the opportunity to adopt my wonderful son from China in 2014.

31

Ingenuity | 2015

SALEH MUBARAK MSCE ‘85 a self-employed consultant who focuses on writing, teaching seminars, public speaking, and consulting in construction project management, recently resigned as a professor at Qatar University. I speak and consult to help people achieve happiness and success in both their personal life and at work.

JAMES J. MURPHY BSIT ‘72 is a sales manager for Diamond Power Int’l Inc., where he is celebrating forty-two years with the company’s Allen-Sherman-Hoff division. He has been responsible for international sales in Asia for more than twenty-five years.

SHAWN NOGA BSIT ‘92 a commander in the U.S. Navy, became the officer in charge of the Fleet Readiness Center West Detachment in Fort Worth in 2014. I manage human resources, labor, and cost in support of the U.S. Navy.

EVERETT LOUIS OVERSTREET BSCE ‘67 is retired. He returned to Athens for Homecoming 2014 to renew half-century old friendships, and he recently welcomed his second grandchild. He is a member of the Russ College Academy of Distinguished Graduates.

MATTHEW PROCTOR BSME ‘11 is a quality assurance engineer for Ariel.

CHESTER “CHET” B. ROGENSKI BSIT ’72 retired from sales project management at Iscar Metals, Inc., teaches manufacturing engineering technology classes part-time at University of Cincinnnati-Clermont East and Sinclair Community College. He volunteers at Crossroads Community Church in the Oakley community of Cincinnati and spends time with his wife of 47 years, five children, and four grandchildren. I teach and inspire students to prepare for the world of manufacturing.

GARRY RUFF BSCHE ‘09 retired after thirty-five years in engineering and management with the DuPont Company and entered the Methodist ministry, completing an MDiv at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is now is a pastor for a United Methodist Church. I facilitate spiritual good as a primary part of my calling as a pastor.

ANTHONY SCHWARTZ BSME ‘07 , MSEE ‘09 received his biomedical engineering Ph.D. in 2012 from Colorado State University. He is a scientist at the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute, where he develops anti-cancer/rare disease therapeutics, and a scientific advisor for Zacks Investments, the top investment firm for the biotechnology industry. I develop drugs for cancer and provide expertise into the next upcoming drugs for investment funds.

ROBERT SAMPSON BSME ‘10 a health educator and engineer for El Porvenir, an organization in rural Nicaragua, works to reduce the burden of water-borne diseases through water, sanitation, reforestation, and education initiatives.

Diarrhea is the cause of about 5 million deaths every year for children under the age of five and can cause long term physical and cognitive development problems. I tackle the problem daily by building wells, water systems, and latrines, and promoting safe hygiene.

JIBRIL SHEHU BSCE ‘06, MS ‘09 a structural quality assurance manager for GPD Group, is a member of the Telecommunication Industry Association sub-committee for recommendations on changes and improvements to the telecommunications structural engineering code. He also engages in Skype presentations with Illinois college engineering students on "Thinking Like an Engineer."

I make recommendations on changes, improvements and updates to the next revision of the design code as a member of the structural design code sub-committee with the Telecommunication Industry Association.

LARRY STUPKA BSIT ‘89 is a principal research scientist for Battelle Memorial Institute. Two of his children attend Ohio University.

“I speak and consult to help people achieve happiness and success in both their personal life and at work.”

—SALEH MUBARAK, MSCE ‘85

SHADI WADI-RAMAHI BSEE ‘94 a regional sales manager for Metso, is responsible for power and pulp-and-paper accounts for more than nineteen states, as well as providing automation and controls, advanced process controls, and various analyzers and flow controls. I continue to support the Russ College of Engineering and Technology because without Ohio University, I don’t think I would be where I am in my career.

PATRICK WARNEMENT BSCE ‘05 a project manager for the Kleingers Group, is a student in OHIO's PMBA program and will graduate in August. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were married in October.

ROBERT L. WILLIAMS II BSME ‘84 a professor of mechanical engineering at the Russ College, took a sabbatical during fall 2014 to teach and collaborate on robotic research at the University of Puerto Rico. He snorkeled the beautiful reefs of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, and traveled all over the island with his wife.

LESTER A TINKHAM BSCE ’57 retired in 1990 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in San Francisco and is now a project engineer for Eastham & Associates

in his hometown of Huntington, West Virginia. Seventy-nine years old, he has been married for fifty-five years and has one daughter, one granddaughter, and two great-grandchildren.

I provide engineering support to my church's missions program.

Catch up with more alums at www.ohio.edu/engineering/alumni

Get in touch. Let us know what’s new with you at www.ohio.edu/engineering/alumni/update.cfm

COUNTDOWN TO LAUNCH

For some of us, being able to witness the launch of a NASA rocket – much less build your own – is the stuff dreams are made of.

But for mechanical engineering senior Emily

Forrester, it’s just another day on the job after

clinching a competitive, two-summer Pathways

Internship at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

She was chosen as one of about 30 interns

from a pool of more than 2,000 applicants.

During the first of her two summers with the

Engineering Assurance Branch of the Safety

and Mission Assurance (S&MA) directorate, her

missions included updating training materials

and helping develop a hazard analysis

for a rocket engine test fixture to assess

different fuel mixtures. She also attended

“Rocket University,” learning the basics of

32

CO-OPPROFILE

aerodynamics and solid propellant design

before building her own model, launching it,

and retrieving it. Now certified in “level one”

high-powered rocketry, she expects to complete

part two this summer when she returns.

“Working for NASA, I felt as if every day I

was helping to create something new and good

for the world. There are the strictly practical

applications of rockets and payloads, of taking

satellite communications and GPS navigation

into orbit. But to me what’s more important

is striving to keep pushing the limits of what

humanity can do,” Forrester says. “The future is

in the stars, and I want to help us get there.”

By Colleen Carow and Kaitor Kposowa

33

OUR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS HAVE CREATED MORE THAN 33 NEW SCHOLARSHIPS IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS. You can join them by making a charitable gift that honors the knowledge and learning you experienced – and that gives opportunity to students who need that extra boost in their fight song. They're tomorrow’s creators of good. For more info., contact Senior Director of Development Scott Gluck at glucks@ohio.edu or 740.593.2533, or visit ohio.edu/engineering/giving/.

skol - er - ship (noun):

Shout about it. How do you create for

good? Telling the world about the Russ

College is how Debbie Burke, BSCHE ’85, does.

Burke and her husband, Bill Burke, DO ’88,

dean of the Heritage College of Osteopathic

Medicine’s Dublin campus – both former

members of the Alumni Association Board of

Directors – formalized the battle cry when they

established the George and Sally Wenner Russ

Vision Scholarship Fund for students.

But there’s more to cheer about: Their gift

will double, thanks to being matched by both

Ohio University and the Russ College – so

even more students will benefit. As part of a

special Russ College initiative, and a University

initiative called The OHIO Match, both the Russ

CREATE FORTHE FUTURE

By Colleen Carow

College and OHIO match $.50 on every $1.00

contributed to qualified scholarship accounts.

The Russ College matching funds come from Russ

Vision funds created with our transformational

$124 million estate gift from Fritz, BSEE ’42, HON

’75, and Dolores Russ. The OHIO funds come

from the university’s Undergraduate Scholarship

Investment Program.

Debbie grew up in a small town where she

says people worked hard to make ends meet,

which made her aware of the obstacles some

students face in pursuing education. “You

feel every nickel and dime,” she says. “So we

wanted to help a student get here who might

not otherwise be able to.”

A fund of knowledge and learning

“We wanted to help a student get here who might not otherwise be able to.”

—DEBBIE BURKE, BSCHE ’85

Ingenuity | 2015

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