Faculty Abroad The RG Engineer

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The R.G. Engineer
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
FACULTY ABROAD
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FIRST PRIZE FOR
IEEE ROBOTICS
1
NEW FACULTY
2
PUBLICATIONS/
PRESENTATIONS
2
WHAT’S NEW IN SEET
3
NSF GRANT AWARDED
4
BMES CONFERENCE
4
GUINNESS WORLD RECORD 5
KECK WHEELS GRANT
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DEPARTMART CHAIR’S
MESSAGE
6
In the Spring Semester of 2013, a
group of students enrolled in the
ENGR 4983 International Engineering
Experience—Australia. Several LETU
students, along with civil engineering
professor Dr. Stephen Ayers, traveled
to Brisbane, Toowoomba, Carnarvon
Gorge, Emerald, Blackwater, Mt. Morgan, Yeppoon, Hervey Bay, Sunshine
Coast, and Sydney, Australia during the
20-day trip.
They first flew into Brisbane, which is
the capital city of Queensland to experience Australian life in a large city.
While there they visited the Brisbane
Airport, Gateway Bridge, a motor
construction project, the Brisbane
traffic control center, a water treatment plant, and various other sites. In
Faculty Abroad
Dr. Ayers’ hometown, of Toowoomba, they toured the University of Southern Queensland, a
startup company that develops fiber
composite products for construction, and a mining equipment manufacturer. From Toowoomba, the
students and Dr. Ayers backpacked
through the Australian Outback
visiting the Carnarvon Gorge National Park, the town of Emerald,
and the BHP-Mitsubishi coal mine in
Blackwater. After the Outback,
they went snorkeling at the Great
Barrier Reef and chartered a private yacht. From here, they
stopped at Hervey Bay and the
Sunshine Coast near Brisbane. After
the coast, they ended their trip by
traveling to Sydney for a tour of the
harbor, Opera House, and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The locations were chosen to provide
exposure to a wide range of engineering
projects and local culture. The aim was
to combine understanding of how engineering work is done differently in Australia in the context of a different societal setting. It also provided practical
experience with issues Dr. Ayers spent
the semester, prior to the trip, discussing in class. “The trip takes them out of
the box they live in. It’s something different.”, said Ayers, “Its important that
they learn that different is not a value
judgment. Everything is done for a reason, and sometimes you have to understand the reason for the differences.”
LETU Student Competition—4 Winners
LETU students placed at or
near the top in four big competitions last year.
First place winners, Alex Rickards
(left) pictured with Ben Ito (right)
LeTourneau University students.
The LARC Robotics team of
Jonathan Sculley (team lead),
Evan Jones, Jordan Swavely,
William Warke, Leila Yammine, Peter Heitmann, and
Bryan Swink took first place in
the IEEE Region V Robotics competition against 26 other teams. The
competition involved simulating the
safe extinguishing of an oil rig fire.
Challenges included navigation
through the wooden “waves,” object
detection, and object manipulation.
At the same student conference,
seniors Ben Ito and Alex Rickards
won first place in the Region V
Circuit Design Competition against
18 other teams.
Stephen Wood of Longview, Texas
won second place in the 2013 IEEE
Metro-Con Undergraduate Student
Poster Competition. Stephen was
presenting a poster on the 20112013 High Frequency Antenna
Coupler (HFAC) senior design
project, which was the focus of an
electrical and computer engineering capstone course under the
direction of faculty sponsor Dr.
Joonwan Kim, who also sponsored
Stephen at the poster competition.
The High Frequency Antenna Coupler (HFAC) design project featured in Wood’s poster was a senior design team project in partnership with Rockwell Collins Inc.
Last October, an LETU team took
third place in the nation and 34th
place internationally in the IEEE
Extreme Programming Competition, a 24-hour (7 PM to 7PM) programming contest.
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New Faculty
Dr. David Dittenber grew up
in Columbus, Ohio, and
moved to Longview from Morgantown, W.V., in August to
become an assistant professor
of civil engineering. He earned
his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering here at
LeTourneau University in
2007, and received both his
master’s and doctoral degrees
from West Virginia University.
His master’s degree is in Civil
Engineering with a structural
concentration, and for his
doctoral dissertation, he researched potential use of natural fiber reinforced composite
materials as primary structural
elements in civil engineering
applications. During his time at
West Virginia University, He
was also a part of the Constructed Facilities Center Research Group. Dr. Dittenber
has recently conducted research involving the use of
new or advanced materials in
infrastructure applications,
mainly focusing on the use of
polymer composites and sustainability concepts. Some of
his academic areas of interest
are composite materials, structures, mechanics, sustainability,
long-term material behavior,
and material/product testing
and evaluation. In his free time,
he enjoys reading, watching
movies, and working on projects. His wife, Rachel, is currently an RN for Good Shepherd Medical Center. They
also have a cat named Olivia.
Dr. David Dittenber
Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering
Recent Faculty Publications & Conference Presentations
THE
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“Effects of Blade Number and Solidity on the Performance of a Novel VAWT,” David Wright, Corey Ressler, Dr. Jesse J. French,
ASME ICES Annual Conference, Boston MA, (2014)
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“Novel Controlled-Velocity Wind Turbine Testing Apparatus to Simulate Turbulent, Non-Return Flow,” Corey Ressler, Dr. Jesse J.
French, ASME ICES Annual Conference, Boston, MA, (2014)

“A Pilot Study of an Online Accelerated Statics Course with Intensive Video Delivery,” Dr. Benjamin W. Caldwell, Collen M.
Halupa, ASEE Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN. (2014)
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“Heuristics-based Prototyping Strategy Formation: Development and Testing of a New Prototyping Planning Tool,” B Dunlap, C.
Hammon, B. Camburn, R. Crawford, D. Jenson, Dr. Matthew G. Green, K. Ott, K. Wood. In Proc. ASME IMECE Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada (2014)
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“Virtual or Physical Prototypes? Development and Testing of a Prototyping Planning Tool,” C. Hammon, Dr. Matthew G. Green,
B. Dunlap, B. Camburn, R. Crawford, D. Jenson. In Proc. ASEE Annual Conference, pp. 9025, Indianapolis, IN (2014)

“A Novel Dynamic Layer-by-Layer Assembled Nano-Scale Biointerface: Functionality Tests with Platelet Adhesion and Aggregation
Morphology Influenced by Adenosine Diphosphate,” Dr. Melanie G. Watson, Dr. Juan M. Lopez, Dr. Mihaela Paun, and Dr. Steven
A. Jones, Journal of Thrombosis and Thrombolysis, Vol. 35, Num. 3, 2013

“Effect of Calcium Chloride in Platelet-Rich-Plasma on Platelet Aggregation via Biointerfaces,” Alex Rhyner, Jamie Malinaric, Lucas
Galey, Patrick Lammert, Abby Genet, Zach Steege, Dr. Juan M. Lopez, Dr. Melanie G. Watson, BMES Annual Conference, Seattle,
WA (2013)
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“Study of Platelet Adhesion using the Novel Dynamic Layer-By-Layer Biointerface Construction,” Patrick Lammert, Abby Genet,
Zach Steege, Alex Rhyner, Jamie Malinaric, Lucas Galey, Dr. Melanie G. Watson, BMES Annual Conference, Seattle, WA (2013)

“An optical cavity based biosensor with chained differential detection to improve sensitivity and fabrication tolerance,” Josh Brake
and Dr. SeungHyun Kim, Proc. SPIE 8951, Optical Diagnostics and Sensing XIV: Toward Point-of-Care Diagnostics, 89510C (2014);
doi:10.1117/12.2038621.

“Closed-Loop Controlled Microwave Design for Ceramics to Metal Joining,” Allen Worcester, Dr. Yoni Adonyi, Dr. SeungHyun
Kim, and Tim Privitt, FABTECH 2013, Chicago, IL, (2013)

“Management and Assessment of a Successful Peer Mentor Program for Increasing Freshman Retention,” Mr. Jeff Johnson, Prof.
Alan D. Niemi, Dr. Matthew G. Green, and Mrs. Lauren E. Gentry, ASEE Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN. (2014)
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What’s New in the SEET?(2013-2014 Year)
1. We added four new faculty members:
Dr. David Dittenber (CVE), who completed his
PhD at West Virginia University (profiled in
this issue)
Dr. Scott Anson, P.E. (ME), previously at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Dr. Byron Lichtenberg (ENGR), (part-time
faculty) previously at NASA, Zero Gravity
Corp., and Southwest Airlines.
2. We renovated the Student Services
Building for ME Labs:
The new space contains the ME Lab I and II
experiments, the wind tunnel lab, and a Maker lab (beginning with 3D printing)
3. We graduated our first Civil Engineering
students:
Our first crop of students to complete the BS
in Engineering—Civil Concentration were
awarded degrees in May of 2013. Their record
in obtaining positions and passing the FE exam
was 100%
7. We had a faculty member on sabbatical:
Dr. Matthew G. Green spent the year at UT Austin
working with the Design faculty and teaching a design
course to their ME students.
8. We continued our contact with Senegal:
Dr. Steve Ayers and Dr. Darryl Low brought the newest well pump design to the village, tested the local
water, and drilled another well there.
9. We had a faculty member become a distinguished alum:
Last year Dr. Yoni Adonyi was honored by the Ohio
State University—where he earned his Ph.D. in Welding Engineering—as a distinguished alum
10. Equally important is what hasn’t changed:
We are committed to being a Christ-centered engineering program with a strong interdisciplinary handson emphasis. That’s LeTourneau Engineering.
4. We Awarded One Masters of Science in
Engineering Degree:
Josh Brake (EE) - Advisor: Dr. SeungHyun Kim,
Thesis: Design and Experimental Demonstration of a Low-Cost, Multiplexable Optical Cavity Based Biosensor for Point-of-Care Diagnosis
5. We offered our First-Ever Hybrid
course:
Dr. Matthew G. Green
Last summer Dr. Yoni Adonyi developed and
offered Advanced Steel Welding Metallurgy, a
14-week online course with an intense oneweek hands-on component (including metallography, fractography, NDE, Gleeble Testing,
Varestraint testing) on campus.
6. We saw every freshman student build
their own 3D printer:
Dr. Yoni Adonyi
(see related story on page 5)
Dr. Byron Lichtenberg
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LETU Professor Awarded NSF CAREER GRANT
A LeTourneau University project could make detecting cancer as easy as checking blood
glucose levels. For the past 10
years, Seung Kim, assistant
professor of electrical engineering, has been studying biosensor technology and its possible benefits in the fight against
cancer and other diseases. Kim
is working with senior engineering students to develop a
prototype for an affordable and
portable device that could recognize disease in its early stages. The device could be used anywhere. “It may be able to predict heart
attacks, too,” Kim said. Much like a
blood glucose monitor used by diabetics, early disease detection with the
biosensor would use blood analysis, he
said. Kim used prostate cancer as an
example of what the device could
identify. “A certain PSA (prostatespecific antigen) level could tell a patient his risk for that type of cancer,”
he said. “You can imagine if you have
that kind of device, you could prick
your finger and input that info into the
device. We are focusing on blood because the main information is there,
but it could use other bodily fluids in
the future.”
she and other senior biomedical
engineering majors started working on the 7-by-7-by-4 inch prototype in August and plan to have
it completed by the end of the
semester. “I think it would be
wonderful if we had an open and
available resource to help people
before they get really sick and
there is nothing that can be
done,” she said.
Senior Louis Trevino said the
biggest challenge in developing
the prototype has been preparing
slides to analyze the fluids. “We recently
The National Science Foundation recentwere able to resolve the problem, and
ly awarded Kim a $400,000 grant to further his work on the biosensor technol- that has been kind of a relief,” he said.
ogy. The grant is for five years, Kim said, Tyler Antcliff, a senior materials engiand went into effect June 1. “We got this neering major, said the project has taken
grant because (the biosensor) is a novel
the input of a variety of engineering stuidea, and we have a good plan in place to dents. “It takes a team, and we all have
accomplish the goal,” he said. “(The
different skills that we bring to the table
foundation) believed in me.” However,
to accomplish this one goal,” he said.
Kim said the device may not be available
Source: LEN News Release, April 2014
for commercial use until 2024 at the
earliest. “If everything goes successful, it
could be done in five years. But there is
always something we are troubleshooting, and it has to be approved by the
FDA,” he said.
LeTourneau student Abby Genet said
Biomedical Engineering Society 2013 Conference
From September 26-28th, LeTourneau
University Biomedical Engineering students
and professor attended the annual Biomedical Engineering Society Conference in Seattle, Wash. At the conference, nearly
4,000 engineers, scientists, professors, students, and healthcare providers gathered
to learn and share the latest in biomedical
and bioengineering research and technologies. The conference featured hundreds of
poster sessions, platform presentations,
and industrial/academic exhibitors.
LeTourneau students were among a small
percentage of the undergraduate researchTHE
R.G.
ENGINEER
presenting their studies with posters entitled “Effect of Calcium Chloride in PlateletRich-Plasma on Platelet Aggregation via Biointerfaces” and “Study of Platelet Adhesion
using the Novel Dynamic Layer-by-Layer
Biointerface Construction.” Students gained
valuable experience in scientific presenting,
learned about exciting technologies, and
were afforded networking opportunities.
They also got the opportunity to experience
Seattle. The conference was located in the
heart of the city, and students were able to
explore the caffeine-fueled city. Highlights
included visiting the first Starbucks,
visiting the Space Needle, going to the Public Market,
and eating along the Waterfront. Senior BME student,
Alex Rhyner, said, “There were several interesting
talks, and Seattle was beautiful. I learned a lot from
the conference, and I hope people learned from us
too!”
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LETU Guinness World Record
Guinness World Record Holders
LeTourneau University claimed a Guinness
World Record on Friday, April 4, when
LETU engineering students set the record for
the greatest number of 3D printers running
simultaneously.
Only seven of the 109 3D printers that competed in the event did not work, resulting in
the world record number of 102, as confirmed by a panel of independent witnesses.
The students used their 3D printers to make
a gear-shaped coin to commemorate the
world record attempt.
ly achieved a new Guinness World Records
title for “Most 3D printers operating simultaThe evidence required by Guinness World
Records, including witness statements, video neously”...We would like to congratulate you
on your record breaking achievement. You
proof, photographs, and media reports, was
compiled and sent to London before the Uni- are OFFICIALLY AMAZING!
The event was made possible because of the
versity was notified of its win.
university’s first-ever requirement last fall for
In the email of congratulations, the Records
Management Team at Guinness said: We are all of their incoming freshman engineering
delighted to confirm that you have successful- students to build their own, individual 3D
printers in their Introduction to Engineering
Practices courses, taught by Dr. Jesse
French and Dr. Byron Lichtenberg. We
are the only engineering program in the
country that I know of that requires all
of our freshmen engineering students to
build their own 3D printers,” said LETU
Dean of Engineering Dr. Ron DeLap.
“This achievement is a result of their
great work.”
Source: NOW, Spring 2014
Alumni News Input
This is where you come in.
Please send us stories, details,
and updates.
What’s new at work?
What’s new with your family?
Keep us –and your classmatesinformed.
FEEDBACK REQUESTED
We’re continually looking for answers to some basic questions:
What are you doing at work that you weren’t prepared for at school? Do you
see some way we should be preparing graduates for this area? How (besides representing the Lord at your workplace) do you now see the intersection of Christian faith and engineering (philosophically or practically)?
Please send any thoughts to MelanieWatson@letu.edu
Thanks!
Keck Wheels Grant
LeTourneau University researchers won a $250,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation at the start of 2014 to expand research
related to human mobility and integrate that research into related courses. Assistant professor Norman Reese collaborated with
biology and kinesiology departments to submit the grant proposal in a year-long process. The collaboration is defined as the Interdisciplinary Mobility Lab.
The grant is providing funding for expanding research related to understanding the effort required to propel various wheelchairs
and improving wheelchair test methods. The studies will take place on the LeTourneau campus and various international sites. One
of the major purchases made possible by the grant is an instrumented wheelchair wheel that wirelessly communicates the force the
user exerts on the hand rim and the resulting acceleration of the chair. This device, as well s various load cells, instrumented gait
mats, and oxygen calorimeters, will also be used to demonstrate various principles in classes such as physics, dynamics, engineering
design methods, biology, and kinesiology courses. Along with advancing LeTourneau’s research capabilities, the goal of the grant is
to increase student learning by showing how course concepts can be used for real-life humanitarian applications.
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Designer, Co-Writer & Editor: Dr. Melanie G. Watson
P.O. Box 7001
Co-Writer and Assistant Editor: Dr. Paul Leiffer
Longview, Texas 75607
Co-Writers: Jamie Malinaric, & Dr. Stephen Ayers
Dr. Melanie G. Watson
Assistant Professor, Program Coordinator
Biomedical Engineering
Phone: 903-233-3900
Fax: 903-233-3901
Every Workplace, Every Nation
The Department Chair’s Message
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
I always enjoy a thought-provoking
discussion. One of the key discussions
that came out of our faculty workshop
this fall centered on the question:
“Where do we each fit in God’s grand
story?”
The specific wording was linked to one
of our University Goals:
“LeTourneau University educates
students who…integrate Christian
faith and work: understanding their
vocation within the triune God’s
grand story of redemption revealed in
Scripture.”
The “grand narrative” is the history of
the world in four parts—Creation, Fall,
Redemption, and Restoration. As
Christian engineers, we have the privilege of both pointing people to Christ
our Savior and participating with God
in the restoration of a fallen, broken
world. Providing clean water, safe
structures, effective communication,
and devices that restore damaged
limbs are all part of that restoration.
Our goal is to educate the next generation of engineers who will positively
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impact their workplace and world
with this mindset.
Some things look a lot different
from when I came 35 years ago.
Students with 3-D printers, Arduinos, and Lego Mindstorms can fabricate amazing designs.
We are hitting several “soft”
skills—teamwork, project planning,
and communication—as well as solid technical skills. Now,18% of our
engineering students are female.
We are a truly global student body,
with multiple students from Korea,
Brazil, African nations, Saudi Arabia,
and Latin America. Our basic mission hasn’t changed.
As I write this in late October we
have just completed another ABET
(accreditation ) visit, and we're
thankful for the experience. Back in
July we submitted a Self-Study
report that ran 100 pages, with an
additional 900 pages of supporting
documentation. Looking back over
all of the course and lab material I
am reminded again of what a great
team we have here and how the
Lord has blessed this program.
Dr. Paul Leiffer, Department Chair
School of Engineering and Engineering
Technology