A Wave of Sustainability - College of Engineering

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A Wave of
Sustainability
College of Engineering’s sustainable
infrastructure initiative gains energy
W
Electrical engineering students Colleen Cheung and Jacob Michener test some of the more than 1,000 solar panels donated to Cal Poly by SunPower.
SunPower Gift Promotes Sustainability in the Classroom
A
t Cal Poly, sustainability is about more than reducing the
university’s energy footprint — it’s also about education,
innovation and collaboration.
A gift of more than 1,000 photovoltaic solar panels from
SunPower, for instance, will add to student learning and provide opportunities for student projects in addition to reducing
Cal Poly’s energy bill. Valued at almost $500,000, the panels are
being used in a variety of ways across campus.
Features
College News
•Sustainable infrastructure initiative energizes campus
•Stantec gift funds Earn by Doing shop safety position
•Ron Smith endows first
named Cal Poly Scholar
•Cal Poly - Northrop Grumman
Cyber Lab dedicated
•Multidisciplinary grant to help student humanitarian projects
•Cal Poly announces return to Solar Decathlon competition
“There are exciting plans to use the panels among a number
of departments,” said Dale Dolan, electrical engineering professor and recently appointed co-coordinator of the College of
Engineering’s initiative on sustainable infrastructure and energy.
“My electronics class just finished a lab experiment, for
instance, measuring IV curves for the SunPower panels,” he
said. IV curves refer to the relationship between current (DC)
hether it’s solar panels, ocean energy or electric
vehicles, sustainability is making waves in the College of Engineering. These and related endeavors are
part of a new initiative that is committed to sustainable
infrastructure and energy.
The scope is such, in fact, that the initiative is led by
not one but two coordinators: Dale Dolan, electrical
engineering professor, and Dennis Elliot, Cal Poly’s
assistant director of energy, utilities and sustainability.
“Initially, the focus of this initiative was collegewide,” said Debra Larson, dean of the College of
Engineering, “and there could be no better fit than
Dale Dolan. Through his teaching and research, he is
engaged in sustainable energy generation and energy
efficiency on a daily basis. Through some serendipitous
conversations with Dennis Elliot, however, all of us
could suddenly see a larger opportunity. Dennis has vast
experience in bringing sustainable energy projects to
the campus as a whole. The dual position will produce
tremendous synergy, which, in turn, will create unprecedented opportunities to link classroom curriculum and
research with ‘living lab’ facilities.”
And in its expanded context, the effort also aligns
with a larger CSU initiative.
“Chancellor Timothy White describes university
buildings and infrastructure systems as ‘amazing and
untapped resources’ for teaching, research and student
projects in a living laboratory,” said Elliot, “and he has
Please see SOLAR PANELS, Page 2
Department
News
•Cal Poly announces online
graduate certificate program •Center helps creative engineers
•Mechanical Engineering offers manufacturing concentration
Please see SUSTAINABILITY, Page 8
Student News
Faculty News
Alumni News
•Cal Poly SWE honors five
outstanding women engineers
•Aerospace engineering student selected as NASA ambassador
•Cal Poly students recognized by California Legislature
•Steffen Peuker joins Cal Poly
as James Bartlett Professor
•Saikat Pal joins faculty in
biomedical engineering
•Sam Vigil honored for paper
on greenhouse gases
•Michael F. Cannon delivers
Fall Commencement keynote
•Mechanical engineering grad has the really right stuff •Rory Aronson helps start
SLO Makerspace workshop
Invest in the Best
Professor Dale Dolan, second from left, and electrical engineering students
test solar panels donated to the College of Engineering by SunPower.
Solar Panels
From Page 1
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ENGINEERING
Advantage
n TITLE: Engineering Advantage
n FREQUENCY: Published biannually
n ISSUE NO.: Vol. 11, Issue 2
n PUBLISHER: Cal Poly College of Engineering
1 Grand Avenue
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Mechanical engineering student Sean Michel works on the Cal Poly Supermileage vehicle. For more on the Supermileage Team, see Page 13.
n TELEPHONE: 805-756-2131
through an electronic device and the DC voltage across its terminals, or the current–voltage characteristic.
In the Construction Management Department located in the
College of Architecture & Environmental Design, students in
specialty contracting have developed a photovoltaic system that
they installed at a remote off-the-grid school in Costa Rica. “This
is an example of what we intend to develop using the SunPower
panels,” said instructor Lonny Simonian. “The student groups will
be prefabricating systems for potential installations in Ecuador.”
Other areas on campus will benefit from installation of the
panels. According to Jim Dunning, program manager at Cal Poly
Technology Park, “We’re planning to work with Construction
Management, College of Engineering faculty and students,
national and local architects, professional engineers, and solar
system component suppliers to develop system engineering
requirements and construction plans for installation of the solar
system on the Technology Park Building.”
The BioResource & Agricultural Engineering Department
(BRAE), meanwhile, plans to deploy panels on the BRAE building
and on the Water Research Facility near Poly Canyon Village, as
well as in several remote water wells on Cal Poly agricultural land.
“With a maximum output potential in full sun of 435 watts each,
we have enough to theoretically push 148 kW back to the grid,
more than the needs of the entire department, even when the
large machine tools are being used in the shops,” said Art MacCarley, interim department chair. n
Cal Poly Among Magazine’s List
of Public Colleges for ‘Best Value’
C
al Poly has again been named among the Kiplinger’s Personal
Finance list of 100 Best Values in Public Colleges for 2014.
Cal Poly ranked No. 43 for in-state and No. 34 for out-of-state
for its “high four-year graduation rate, low average student debt
at graduation, abundant financial aid, low sticker price and overall
great value.”
The Washington, D.C.-based Kiplinger business publication
develops its list based on measures of academic quality, including
test scores and four-year graduation rates, as well as affordability.
More than 600 colleges and universities are examined initially to
develop the Top 100 ranking. n
The Center of Things
Cal Poly dedicates the Warren J. Baker Center for Science & Mathematics
D
edicated on Nov. 1, the Warren J. Baker Center for Science
& Mathematics is a six-story, state-of-the-art polytechnic
facility located at the heart of campus.
Every Cal Poly student will take a class in the 189,000-squarefoot, cutting-edge facility, where ample study spaces facilitate
teamwork and studio classrooms integrate lecture and
lab, encouraging students to actively discover science. Beyond the strictly academic, the Baker Center is designed
to be a working model of sustainability and building
Sandi and Paul Bonderson sit with a sculpture of Albert Einstein, not far
performance for tomorrow’s
from the Bonderson Lecture Hall shown below.
scientists and engineers.
Among the center’s many science-inspired works
of art is a statue and bench featuring Albert Einstein.
Sandi and Paul Bonderson (B.S., Electronic Engineering, 1975), founding donors of the Baker Center, commissioned sculptor Gary Lee Price to create the piece.
Einstein’s bench, which has quickly become a favorite
spot for students to snap a selfie, is not far from the
Bonderson Lecture Hall, a 132-seat amphitheater-style
At top, electrical engineering student Chanel Crespin checks out
space that is the largest of the new center’s labs and
the periodic chart of the elements display in the Baker Center lobby.
classroom facilities. n
The center has a living roof on the western portion of the fifth floor
that is visible from a study lounge.
3
Invest in the Best
Ron Smith Endows First
Named Cal Poly Scholar
W
hen she first came to Cal Poly, freshman
Kai Ling Liang had no idea that she would be
chosen as the first named Cal Poly Scholar. But the
honor now drives her to excel.
Established in 2012-13, the universitywide scholarship program is designed
to attract high-achieving
students from lowincome families to Cal
Poly. The program now
awards scholarships to
more than 55 incoming
freshmen.
Raytheon Vice President Ron Smith (B.S.,
Electronic Engineering,
1983) is the first donor to
establish an endowment
to fund a Cal Poly Scholar.
Ron Smith
(B.S., Electronic Engineering, 1983) In recognition of his
generosity, the university
will select one student annually as the Ronald Smith Cal
Poly Scholar.
Liang, who imigrated to the U.S. from China when
she was 7, is the first in her family to attend college. She
chose Cal Poly because of its reputation for excellence
and hands-on approach. “For my first class, we hauled
out equipment and spent the day surveying,” she said.
“I’ve had a great experience at Cal Poly so far — I’m
very thankful that it’s giving me a practical view of civil
engineering.”
Other Cal Poly Scholar naming opportunities are
available to donors who make a $100,000 gift. n
Conversation
about Safety
Leads to Earn
by Doing Gift
from Stantec
W
hen Alfonso Rodriguez
(B.S., Civil Engineering,
1984) met over breakfast last fall
with College of Engineering Dean
Debra Larson, they discovered a
shared commitment to safety.
Fostering a culture of safety
is one of the college’s strategic
goals according to Larson. “As a
world-class engineering college
with a lab-intensive environment, Stantec Health & Safety Coordinator Tony Wong, left, and Cal Poly mechanical engineering student
David Schaeffer go over safety procedures on a horizontal band saw in the Mustang ’60 shop.
we have a duty to instill awareness of safety and to teach best
skills while providing income for educational expenses. The
practices to students, who will carry this knowledge with
Stantec Safety Tech will undertake safety inspections of
them into industry,” she said.
labs and provide safety training, help ensure that protocols
Safety is also paramount at Stantec, where Rodriquez
are followed when incidents occur, share best practices,
serves as vice president. “As one of our core values — we
create safety-oriented content for lab manuals, and support
do what is right — we continually look for ways to enhance
events, such as the College of Engineering Project Expo.
our safety culture within our workforce and industry,” said
As part of its partnership, Stantec has offered a chance
Rodriquez. As he and Larson spoke, they developed a donor
for the sponsored student to spend time with the company’s
opportunity focused on safety.
national accounts health and safety coordinator, Tony
“We launched an Earn by Doing safety tech employment
Wong, who provides strategic guidance to the firm’s team
opportunity for students,” explained Larson, “and we’re
members on safety procedures — both in the offices and in
grateful to Stantec for sponsoring the first safety position
the field, working with clients. “We’re excited about assistwith a gift of $5,000.”
ing the college in creating on-campus jobs that give students
The Earn by Doing program sponsors student jobs — like greater insight to safety practices in the workplace,” said
shop techs and, now, safety techs — that hone engineering
Rodriguez. n
Quartus Engineering Helps Set Human Motion Biomechanics Lab Program in Motion
A
new Cal Poly Engineering initiative in
human motion biomechanics (HMB)
got a kick-start from Quartus Engineering
with a gift of $25,000.
Under the leadership of professors
Steve Klisch in mechanical engineering
and Scott Hazelwood in biomedical engineering, the HMB Lab program focuses on
research in the prevention, treatment and
rehabilitation of osteoarthritis in human
hip and knee joints.
Earlier this year, Klisch acquired a motion analysis system (MAS) for the lab with
funds from the Constant J. and Dorothy F.
Chrones Endowment. “With the MAS and,
now, the Quartus gift, we can launch new
4
student projects over the next two years,”
said Klisch. “Undergraduates will have the
opportunity to undertake experimental
studies of knee and hip joint biomechanics. Our goal is to help prevent or slow
the progress of osteoarthritis in high-risk
patients.
“We will also be able to integrate the
capabilities of the HMB Lab with the Kinesiology Department’s Cycling Biomechanics Lab in order to undertake research to
optimize human motion biomechanics in
performance bicycling,” he said.
Cal Poly alumnus and Quartus engineer
Matt Griebel (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 2010) was happy to hear of his com-
pany’s support for Cal Poly. “I continue to
see how well Cal Poly prepared me for a
professional career,” he said. “I can’t wait
to see the progress and contributions
that the HMB team makes to the field of
biomechanics.”
In a letter with the gift, Quartus
President C. Douglas Botos noted that the
company hoped to directly support student projects. “We feel that the combination of classroom and theoretical learning,
along with hands-on laboratory learning
and experimentation for undergraduate
students, is paramount to success in the
workplace,” he said. “Keep up the great
work!” n
Cycling biomechanics research by Professor Robert
Clark in kinesiology contributes to the multidisciplinary collaboration with the HMB Lab program.
Haas Lab Student Projects Can Be Real Page Turners
I
n its first year of full operation, what goes on inside the
Gene Haas Laboratory for Robotics and Automation is
a real page-turner. Really. Ask Melinda Phan, a mechanical engineering senior and violinist, who’s developing an
automated page-turning device for performing musicians —
with a little help from the lab’s PCL (programmable control
language) programming and a bit of robotics know-how.
The experience is also helping turn a page in her career.
In a recent interview at Intuitive Surgical in Sunnyvale,
Calif., it was Phan’s experience at Haas Lab that, in large
measure, won her a summer internship.
“Through the Haas Lab, classes and my own project, I’ve
learned a lot about industrial manufacturing and how to apply those concepts on a smaller scale, which is a little more
robotic-like.
“Intuitive Surgical is a robotics company that specializes
in minimally invasive surgery. They make robots that help
surgeons. When I was describing my project, they were
interested in my knowledge of automation processes, especially the robotic aspects.”
Phan leaped at the new technical elective in manufacturing recently made available to mechanical engineering
students.
Invest in the Best
an exciting, hands-on environment for
“I am absolutely glad it’s there.
students to fully engage in automated
I love the manufacturing side. It’s
systems and technologies. Our 12 workstamore people-oriented than mechantions were outfitted with state-of-the-art
ics and design, and I was looking for
hardware, software, precision tools and
that human interaction matching
advanced technology, including very
up my technical and mechanical
sophisticated motion control and visual
background with people. When I
systems, by industry leaders including
started at Cal Poly I wasn’t aware of
Yaskawa America, Rockwell Automation,
biomedical engineering as a major,
Keyence and Trust Automation.”
but I really like the industry. You get
Jose Macedo, chair of the Industrial and
a real sense of doing good. I see so
Manufacturing Department, marvels how
many ways I can contribute to that
the lab, coupled with its advanced automaindustry as a mechanical engineer.
tion class, is acceleratings student learning.
“What we have in the Haas Lab
“What amazes me is how quickly and
is more sophisticated than what I’ve
easily our students can develop very
seen in industry,” she said. “I was
sophisticated applications. They definitely
fortunate enough to have interned
Melinda Phan, a mechanical engineering
thrive in an environment that’s designed
at another leading biomed company student, enjoys working with automation
technology in the Gene Haas Laboratory.
and built for complex applications. The
in a manufacturing engineering
students are exposed to the latest technology. In most
role, but there was little automation there. The Haas Lab
instances the students come in knowing virtually nothing
reflects industry trends. Automation is where everything
about automation, and over the course of 10 weeks learn
is going — it’s safer, more efficient.”
how to develop a working system.” n
Instructor Nick Sweeney agrees: “The Haas Lab is
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College News
Cal Poly - Northrop Grumman Cyber Lab
Students will be able to study
malware, encryption, cyber
attacks and other digital-age
threats in new sponsored lab
Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush, above, chats with engineering students in the
new Cal Poly - Northrop Grumman Cyber Lab. Supported by a $150,000 grant from the
Northrop Grumman Foundation, the lab was dedicated in January.
W
hen it comes to training young,
work-ready engineers in the critical
field of cybersecurity, Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush believes Cal Poly
“gets it.”
Bush was on campus Jan. 23 for the
dedication of the Cal Poly – Northrop
Grumman Cyber Lab, a 32-workstation
facility that is the centerpiece of the new
Cal Poly Cybersecurity Center, a major
new educational initiative encompassing
a comprehensive and collaborative program that spans the polytechnic university and partners with public and private
organizations. Bush said programs like
Cal Poly’s are crucial in meeting the growing challenges to modern life.
“Cybersecurity isn’t just about national security, it’s about economic security,”
he said. “Clearly, there’s a lot of technology involved in this, but technology is not
what makes it happen. It’s people.”
Cal Poly students will now be able
to receive intensive training in malware,
encryption, cyber attacks and cryptogra-
6
phy in the new lab. The lab
was built with the support
of a $150,000 grant from
the Northrop Grumman
Foundation and is connected to the defense company’s Virtual Cyber Lab in
Virginia. Dale Griffiths, chief scientist at
Northrop Grumman’s Intelligence System
Division, helped configure the lab, which
is equipped with specialized software,
hardware and television monitors that
rotate 360 degrees.
Supported by gifts from Raytheon,
Boeing, Parsons Corp., Pacific Gas &
Electric and McAfee Corp., the cybersecurity program will utilize the new facility
for a growing curriculum of undergraduate and graduate cybersecurity courses
that Cal Poly president Jeffrey
D. Armstrong said will allow
students to “stay ahead of the
curve” on cyber attacks.
“The threats evolve faster
than the textbooks,” Armstrong said. “This opportunity
is unprecedented in higher
education and particularly
unheard-of at the undergraduate level. This is much more
than a state-of-the-art lab.
Cal Poly students will be able to
enter the workforce equipped and ready
to handle the challenges they’ll face.”
Computer science student Jessie
Pease, president of the university’s White
Hat Club, said the lab would help the club
fight hacking and “make the Internet a
safer place.” Pease, a junior who said her
interest in cybersecurity drew her to Cal
Poly, said the lab should make her major
more popular. “It’s really exciting to see
this dream become a reality,” she said.
“I’m glad I will be able to take advantage
of the new lab.”
Bush, who joked he would “love to
hire every one of the students,” said he
knew Northrop Grumman will have to
compete for them, adding, “This is going
to be the place where people come to
look for talent.” n
Industry Partners with
Cal Poly on Cybersecurity
T
he Cal Poly – Northrop Grumman Cyber
Lab represents one part of Cal Poly’s initiative in cybersecurity education. The
Cal Poly Cybersecurity Center serves as the
nexus for a wide range of activities that involve faculty and students collaborating with
experts from other universities, private companies, government agencies and research
labs. Programmatic and strategic direction is
provided by the Cybersecurity Council.
The Cybersecurity Council consists of individuals at the highest levels of cyber leadership in companies that include:
• Boeing
• Good Technology
• McAfee
• Northrop Grumman
• Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)
• Parsons
• Raytheon
• QL+
Both Raytheon and Boeing have been
key supporters of Cal Poly’s initial efforts in
cybersecurity; PG&E, Parsons and McAfee
have provided recent major gifts to launch
the Cybersecurity Council and develop curriculum.
Cal Poly Computer Science Chair Ignatios
Vakalis and Russ Bik (B.S., Industrial Technology, 1970), a member of the President’s
Cabinet and Sun Microsystems’s original vice
president of operations, serve as council cochairs. n
Cal Poly Engineering Presents Industry-Sponsored
Faculty and Outstanding Staff Awards
R
ecipients of industry-sponsored faculty awards for
2013 included Biomedical Engineering Professor
Lily Laiho and John Larson, instructor in the Mechanical
Engineering Department. Jaime Carmo and Christine
Haas received Outstanding Staff Awards.
The $1,000 Raytheon Excellence in Teaching and Applied Research Award recognizes Laiho’s contributions,
including teaching the mechanical engineering design
series in which student team projects have received recognition at a national design competition for assistive
technologies. Laiho also serves as the founding director of interdisciplinary projects, a position in which she
helps manage the spectrum of interdisciplinary
project experiences, creates opportunities for
projects and collaboration, and fosters connections with external partners.
Active in funded research, Laiho played a key
role in creating the master’s degree specialization in stem cell research, a program that spans
three colleges and has attracted more than $3
million in external support over the past five years.
Larson received the $3,000 Wingate Foundation
HVAC&R (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning &
Refrigeration) Award, which is presented annually to
an outstanding student or staff member in the HVAC&R
Program.
Larson was cited for the award for voluntarily developing curriculum and teaching classes without compensation on computer-aided design for HVAC&R students.
He provided these essential services from 2011 to 2013,
when the program lacked instructors. During this
period, Larson worked closely with industry experts to
ensure the curriculum was current.
Carmo, technician for the Electrical Engineering
Department for 25 years, manages department labs and
numerous student personnel. He is known for his attention to detail, prompt response to faculty requests and
College News
the development of
sound policies.
Haas, administrative support and budget analyst for
the Mechanical Engineering Department, handles scores of department accounts, including faculty
professional development accounts
and senior project accounts. She
also serves as co-editor of the department alumni publication, with
responsibility for graphic design,
layout and printing. n
Clockwise from top: Lily Laiho (Biomedical Engineering), Christine
Haas (Mechanical Engineering), John Larson (Mechanical Engineering) and Jaime Carmo (Electrical Engineering) received awards from
the College of Engineering.
Here Comes the Sun (Again)
Cal Poly to design and build a solar-powered house for
the 2015 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon
C
al Poly has been selected to compete in the 2015 U.S.
Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, an awardwinning program that challenges 20 collegiate teams to
design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are
cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive.
The winner of the competition is the team that best
blends affordability, consumer appeal and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum
efficiency.
Besides Cal Poly, other collegiate teams selected for
the competition included Stanford, UC Davis, Sacramento
State, UC Irvine, New York City College of Technology, the
University of Florida, the University of Texas, West Virgina
University and Yale.
“Cal Poly is uniquely qualified to participate in this
project because of its strengths in engineering and architecture and its strong focus on project-based learning,”
said Dean Debra Larson. “The College of Engineering is
contributing a multidisciplinary team of students and four
faculty advisors to work with colleagues from the Architecture Department.
“Team advisors include Kim Shollenberger (Mechanical Engineering), Dale Dolan (Electrical Engineering),
John Clements (Computer Science) and Art MacCarley
(Electrical Engineering and
Bioresources & Agricultural
Engineering). Sandy Stannard (Architecture) serves
as the principal investigator
on the project.”
The Solar Decathlon enhances public understanding of how to save money
at home with clean energy
solutions available today,
and provides students with
training and hands-on experience to prepare them for
Cal Poly’s last Solar Decathlon house was displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2005.
the clean energy workforce.
• Positively impacted nearly 20,000 collegiate particiSince 2002 the Solar
pants.
Decathlon has:
• Supported the Obama Administration’s goal of
• Involved 132 collegiate teams, which pursue a
building a clean energy economy while saving families and
multidisciplinary approach to study the requirements for
businesses money by saving energy.
designing and building energy-efficient, solar-powered
The 20 teams will design, construct and test their
houses.
houses before reassembling them in fall of 2015 at the
• Established a worldwide reputation as a successful
competition site at the Orange County Great Park in
educational program and workforce development opIrvine, Calif. n
portunity.
7
College News
Sustainability
From Page 1
tion and operations.
“The project has the potential to provide students with an exciting opportunity
to explore one of the newest frontiers
of renewable energy sources and to be
a part of some breakthrough solutions,”
said Dolan, who is the technical lead for
Cal Poly.
Cal Poly will lead the CalWave project under the direction of Blakeslee and
project manager Bill Toman, with a team
made funds available to be used for that
purpose — with a focus on sustainability.
Cal Poly has been awarded a couple of
these grants already, and I think support in
this area will only grow.”
In the first phase of their work, Dolan
and Elliot are identifying
faculty and other stakeholders involved in areas related to
sustainable infrastructure or
energy.
“Students, faculty and
industry are all focused on
opportunities in the areas of
sustainability and energy,” said
Dolan, “and this initiative can
serve as a way to facilitate the
integration of these facets into
the curriculum, research program and campus community.”
“Sustainability is not a
new thing for engineers,” said
Elliot. “Solving the world’s
technical problems in a manner Electrical engineering student Colleen Cheung plugs in the
charger for a new Ford Focus Electric donated to Cal Poly.
that most efficiently uses the
resources available — that’s
of industry leaders that includes Burns &
something we’ve always done. This initiative only reinforces what engineering disci- McDonnell, CH2M HILL, the Electric Power
Research Institute, Humboldt State Uniplines variously refer to as holistic design,
versity, Kearns & West, National Renewcritical thinking, whole-systems thinking
able Energy Laboratory, Oceanlinx, Pacific
and life-cycle analysis.”
Marine Renewables, Sandia National
Laboratories, Science Applications InterSea Change in Energy
national Corporation, Scripps Institution
One of the newest and most promising
of Oceanography and Virginia Tech.
renewable energy sources — ocean waves
— is also the most costly, primarily because
the equipment involved must be able to
withstand the marine environment.
“The California coast is ripe for realizing the promise of ocean wave energy,”
said Sam Blakeslee, director of Cal Poly’s
Institute for Advanced Technology and
Public Policy. The institute was recently
awarded a $750,000 grant from the
federal Department of Energy to assess
the feasibility of a grid-connected wave
energy testing facility in California.
The selected site will be called the
California Wave Energy Test Center or
CalWave. The facility would allow equipment prototypes to be tested in a safe and
controlled environment that replicates
conditions at sea.
Cal Poly’s yearlong study will involve
evaluation of two potential sites, including
cost of site development, facility construc-
8
Paving the Way: Ford Focus
Electric and Electric Vehicle
Charging Stations
The recent donation of a 2013 Ford
Focus Electric by the estate of John Lake
provides a “rolling lab” for Cal Poly’s
Electric Vehicle Evaluation and Education
Program.
“The gift expands opportunities for
students to work on state-of-the-art
electric vehicle technology, supports their
research and in-class work, and advances
transportation electrification,” said Dolan,
who runs the program with Cal Poly
Scholar in Residence John Dunning.
A pending proposal could bring 12 electric vehicle charging stations and a DC fast
charger to university parking lots, which
is expected to increase the use of electric
vehicles on campus. n
Taking on Poverty
Multidisciplinary grant to add innovation and
entrepreneurship to student humanitarian projects
C
al Poly will add a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship to
university programs that serve people
living in poverty through a $10,000 Sustainable Vision grant from the National
Collegiate Inventors and Innovators
Alliance (NCIIA).
The multidisciplinary grant proposal
was developed by faculty members
Kathy Chen in the Materials Engineering Department, Sema Alptekin Ervin
Cal Poly student design projects that help
in the Industrial and Manufacturing
impoverished communities like this corn
Engineering Department, and Jonade-kerneler will benefit from a new grant from
than York, a professor in the Orfalea
the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance.
College of Business and co-founder
of Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation &
women painstakingly de-kerneling
Entrepreneurship.
corn, the group devised a low-cost
“Faculty and students alike want to
implement made from locally available
apply their knowledge and education
materials to improve the process and
to assist underprivileged people,” said
Chen. “This grant will enable two note- increase productivity. The NCIIA grant
will enable Cal Poly
worthy student groups
students to investigate
— Engineers Without
“This grant will
other innovative entreBorders (EWB) and Cal
enable two noteworthy preneurship opportuniPoly Entrepreneurties like this.”
ship — to collaborate
student groups —
The NCIIA is part of a
to address poverty and
Engineers Without
cross-university effort
sustainability in tarto incorporate humanigeted communities in
Borders (EWB) and
tarian projects into the
developing countries.”
Cal Poly Entrepreneurship curriculum. “We’ve
EWB has four international engineering
(CPE) — to collaborate found that many
students, especially
projects underway in
impoverished comto address poverty and women and other underrepresented groups,
munities in Nicaragua,
sustainability in targeted are motivated by a
India, Thailand and
humanitarian focus,”
Malawi. Through the
communities in
said Alptekin Ervin.
NCIIA grant, EWB
developing countries.” “When they apply their
teams will assess the
knowledge and skills
needs of those commuKathy Chen
Materials Engineering
to helping others, they
nities and share their
gain valuable educaideas with the campus
tional outcomes.”
community. Based on these assessAccording to Alptekin Ervin, huments, Cal Poly students will have the
manitarian projects inspire students’
opportunity to evaluate and develop
creativity and professional developinnovative enterprise projects that can
ment, preparing them for their senior
raise the standard of living in EWB’s
projects, graduate work and entreprepartner communities.
neurial careers, and also make a real
“The inspiration for this proposed
impact on the world. “Projects like
project comes from a successful
experience of the EWB-India team,” ex- these introduce our students to topics
such as cultural awareness, poverty,
plained Alptekin Ervin. “Although the
economics and sustainability in realteam’s primary goal was to implement
world contexts,” she said. n
a sanitation project, after observing
Student News
Simply Outstanding
Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers honors five Outstanding Women in Engineering recipients for 2013
T
he Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
announced the recipients of the 2013 Outstanding
Women in Engineering Award at this year’s Evening with
Industry held Jan. 30 at the San Luis Obispo Embassy
Suites. In addition, more than $30,000 in scholarships
were awarded.
The banquet was attended by close to 300 students,
faculty, staff and representatives from 27 companies.
The event highlighted students for their accomplishments. In addition to the six Outstanding Women in
Engineering honorees, 31 students received scholarship
awards from Amazon Lab 126, Boeing, Cal Poly SWE,
Chevron, Eaton Corp., Fluor, Lockheed Martin, Mazzetti,
NetApp, Orbital Sciences, Parker Aerospace, Phillips,
Raytheon, Solar Turbines and Tory Bruno (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1985).
The Outstanding Women in Engineering winners
were chosen based on four criteria: faculty recommendations, demonstrated leadership, related work experience and GPA. Each of the winners is actively engaged in
several extracurricular activities. The winners are:
n Kathryn Bohn
A mechanical engineering senior from Citrus Heights,
Calif., Bohn founded an engineering sorority, Alpha
Omega Epsilon, to assist female engineering students in
making professional contacts. Bohn has also presented
research at the California Teaching Symposium and
interned with Eaton Corp. and Phillips.
n Cecilia Cadenas
A computer engineering senior from Rio Vista, Calif.,
Cadenas moved to the U.S. from Mexico 12 years ago.
Cadenas has been an active member and officer in the
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. She traveled
to Malta and Sicily for an interdisciplinary project with
the International Computer Engineering Experience
(ICEX), and she also interned with Raytheon.
n Sara Hellstrom
From Santa Clara, Calif., Hellstrom is completing Cal
Poly’s blended degree program to receive both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in biomedical engineering.
She has interned at Thoratec and Pathwork Diagnostics
and has been on the Dean’s List for 11 quarters. As the
Nicaragua project manager for Engineers Without Borders,
Hellstrom is leading a team of students to improve sanitation conditions in the small community of William Galiano.
to design and produce a solar rechargeable light and cell
phone charger (LunaLight) for use in developing countries. She has held officer positions in Engineers Without
Borders and the Engineering Student Council. She has
interned with Solar Turbines and Parker Aerospace, and
in India with Athena Infonomics and Yieldopia Energy.
n Sara Lillard
An aerospace engineering senior from Littleton,
Colo., Lillard has held officer positions in SWE, Alpha
Omega Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi (national engineering
honor society) and several other organizations. She has
interned at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Eaton
Corp., and worked on two senior design projects: the
Venus and CubeSat project missions. n
Below: The Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers Outstanding Women in Engineering recipients for 2013 included, left
to right: Cecilia Cadenas (Computer Engineering), Gabby Igel
(Industrial Engineering), Sara Hellstrom (Biomedical Engineering), Kathryn Bohn (Mechanical Engineering) and Sara
Lillard (Aerospace Engineering).
n Gabby Igel
An industrial engineering senior from Encinitas,
Calif., Igel is working with an interdisciplinary team
9
Student News
Cal Poly Students
Recognized in
Sacramento
S
eventeen students received special recognition on
the floors of the California State Senate and Assembly
in early February. The leadership group included representatives of Cal Poly student teams that won national
and international competition awards over the past year.
Assembly member Katcho Achadjian presented each
student with a certificate of recognition on behalf of the
state legislature, and students met privately with Senator
Bill Monning before being presented to the Senate.
College of Engineering award winners included:
• Ian Davison (Mechanical Engineering) representing
the Rose Parade Float, which won the Crown City Innovation Award.
• Trevor Goehring (Aerospace Engineering) representing Team Transformers Aviation, which won first
place in the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics (AIAA) Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design
Competition.
• Jessie Klemme (Environmental Engineering), president, Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers, which won
Seventeen Cal Poly students received special recognition on the floor of the California State Assembly in Sacramento.
the national Gold Level Award.
• Ann Livingston-Peters (Civil Engineering) representing the Cal Poly Supermileage Vehicle Team, which
won first place for innovative design at the Shell Ecomarathon.
• Chris Pittner (Environmental Engineering) representing the Cal Poly team that won the International
Environmental Design Contest sponsored by the Institute
for Energy and the Environment/Western Ecological
Research Center. n
CalGeo Club is Breaking New Ground
C
CalGeo officers, from left to right: Max Rossiter, vice president; Keegan Arnt, president; Jim Hanson, faculty
advisor; Zech Alton-Szwabowski, treasurer; Olivia Davis, secretary; Ana Kirichuk, speakers coordinator; and
Quintin Flores, tours coordinator.
10
al Poly CalGeo, the college’s newest club, is a student branch of the
professional chapter of the California
Geotechnical Engineering Association. The club members’ interests are
grounded in one of the oldest forms
of civil engineering: earthenworks.
“Geotechnology engineering
relates to the analysis and design of
earthen structures and interactions
of infrastructure components with
soil and rock,” said Keegan Arnt,
fourth-year civil engineering major
and club president. “The discipline
has existed in some form for millennia — it’s now embracing technological advancements.”
Geotechnical engineers also investigate the behavioral dynamics of
activities as varied as earthquakes,
landslides and fracking, and help
solve logistical challenges such as
how and where to store hazardous
waste, Arnt explained.
“Some new areas of opportunity
in the field include sustainable rehabil-
itation of our infrastructure, managing emerging wastes and byproducts,
and optimizing design strategies
to provide economical solutions to
today’s challenges,” he noted.
The club was started as a result
of several students’ involvement
with the GeoWall competition last
year, in which Cal Poly placed second
regionally and fifth nationally. The
event challenges students to design
a scale retaining wall made of two
types of paper and packaging tape
to hold back hundreds of pounds of
backfill sand.
“We were one of the few undergraduate teams, and also one of
the few teams to do all of our own
testing and designing on campus,”
said Arnt.
“We hope this club can help
convey the possibilities of a geotechnical engineering career and
further strengthen the reputation
of Cal Poly’s civil and environmental
engineering program,” said Arnt. n
Student News
NASA’s Bright Stars
Cal Poly aerospace engineering senior selected for elite
group of student ambassadors for NASA’s virtual community
S
the Langley Aerospace
amantha Rawlins, a Cal
Research Student Scholars
Poly aerospace engineering
Program, one of NASA’s
senior, is among an elite group
most prestigious and sucof interns inducted into NASA’s
cessful student research
Student Ambassadors Virtual
programs. In 2012, she inCommunity (NSAVC).
terned at the NASA PropulRawlins is the first Cal Poly
sion Academy in Huntsville,
student to receive the honor,
Ala., where she joined a
joining 104 other top-performteam made up mostly of
ing interns selected to serve as
college graduates and
2014 Cohort VI student ambasmaster’s-level students.
sadors, representing the sixth
NSAVC is an online netyear of the program.
Aerospace engineering senior
Samantha Rawlins was selected
work designed to elevate
“As a young female engineering student,” said Rawlins, for NASA’s Student Ambassadors the experiences, visibility
Virtual Community.
and contributions of the
“I feel that it’s crucial for other
interns, who are located
young students, particularly
across the U.S.
young girls, to see role models in science,
“I am delighted to welcome these bright
technology, engineering and math fields. I
students to the NASA education family
want to show them that these are areas that
as Cohort VI student ambassadors,” said
are no longer defined by geeky personaliRoosevelt Johnson, NASA’s deputy associties and pocket protectors. Instead, these
ate administrator for education. “They are
fields are filled with people who have a love
in a unique position to inspire their fellow
of solving problems and a desire to advance
students and the public and to help NASA
mankind through technology and science.”
cultivate the next generation of scientists,
The new inductees were nominated by
engineers and explorers.”
NASA managers and mentors based on the
NASA managers and mentors nominated
students’ recent internship performance and
involvement in other NASA-related activities. the new inductees based on their internship performance and involvement in other
In 2013, Rawlins was a summer intern
NASA-related activities. n
at NASA Langley Research Center through
In a Galaxy Close to SLO...
Just for fun, mechanical engineering sophomore Alec Bialek built his own R2-D2, the famous
robot from the 1977 science fiction film “Star Wars.” Complete with all the bells and whistles,
the robot was constructed and programmed in the Mustang ’60 Fabrication Lab by Bialek “with
only a little welding assistance.” Above, Bialek takes his R2-D2 out for a spin near Dexter Lawn.
“As a young female engineering student, I feel that it’s crucial
for other young students, particularly young girls, to see role models in
science, technology, engineering and math fields.”
Samantha Rawlins | Aerospace Engineering
The Art of Digital Media
“Simple” by Kevin Ubay-Ubay
Computer-generated artwork created by graduate computer science students from Cal Poly,
UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz and UCLA were
on display in the Cal Poly University Art Gallery in
March. The show, co-sponsored by the Computer
Science Department, included work of Cal Poly
exhibitors Ian Dunn, Chris Wallis, Forrest Reiling,
Sean Risser and Kevin Ubay-Ubay.
Describing the creative process used on his
image at right, Dunn said. “This is based on the
Mandelbrot set, an iconic fractal discovered by
French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in the
early days of computer visualization. It was rendered using custom-built software running on one
of Cal Poly’s GPU workstations.”
“RedBlueJuliaFractal” by Ian Dunn
11
Student News
Concrete Canoe Team Aims
to Harvest Another Victory
C
Biomedical engineering students Kenny Gouin, left, and
Taylor Hinsdale examine blood
vessels in a mouse model of
vascular disease. Below: A
montage of fluorescent-stained
blood flow in a muscle microvessel network. Brighter red
indicates more blood flow.
C
12
aused primarily by insufficient blood flow due to
blockage in a major artery, coronary heart disease is
often treated with invasive bypass surgery. In some lucky
patients, however, natural bypasses form around
blockages in blood vessels called “collaterals.” The
nature of collaterals is the subject of a laser speckle
flowmetry project by Cal Poly biomedical engineering student Kenny Gouin.
With image-optimization help from biomedical engineering student Taylor Hinsdale, Gouin is
snapping a series of laser speckle flow photographs of blood vessels in a mouse that model
vascular disease involving restricted blood flow
to a region of muscle.
“One of the goals in cardiovascular regenerative medicine is to stimulate the growth
and function of collaterals in patients as an
alternative to bypass grafting surgery,” said
faculty advisor Trevor Cardinal. “Kenny’s
project is to evaluate the effectiveness of
collaterals in increasing blood flow. The longterm goal would be to determine the conditions that are required to make collaterals
function or dilate normally.”
Gouin will present the research as a
poster at the annual meeting of the Microcirculatory Society in San Diego in late April. n
Civil engineering student Derek Carpenter, who serves as project manager for the Cal Poly Concrete Canoe Team, dusts the
bottom of the Ambrosia for sealing in the image at top, and,
below, sets up the agriculture-themed display base.
al Poly’s Concrete Canoe Team will
go for its 17th victory in 18 tries at the
American Society of Civil Engineers Pacific Southwest Conference in April with a
canoe called “Ambrosia.” The canoe, built
with a new honey-combed mesh process,
is designed with a SLO-grown agriculture
theme. Team members for 2014 include civil
engineering students Sean Pringle, Derek
Carpenter, Raymond Qi, Mark Mueller, Chris
Kehoe, Kristen Nugent, Ryan Morse and
Susie White. n
Cal Poly Steel Bridge
Members of Cal Poly’s Steel Bridge Team carry their new bridge across
Engineering Plaza after practice for the American Society of Civil Engineers
Pacific Southwest Conference in April. The team includes civil engineering
students Alan Blevins, Tyler von Iderstein, Drew Glover, Logan McNeil and
Kevin Raives. The bridge, which weighs about 90 pounds, is designed to
support 2,400 pounds.
Student News
Prepping
for Battle
Cal Poly’s
Human Powered
Vehicle and
Supermileage
teams gear up
for competition
The Aero Hangar Shop
was humming in March with
hundreds of engineering
students working on projects.
Both the Cal Poly Human
Powered Vehicle (HPV) and
Supermileage teams were busy
working weekends for big
competitions in April. The HPV
Team will compete in the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers International Human
Powered Vehicle Challenge on
April 25-27 in San Jose. On the
same weekend, the Supermileage Team will compete in the
Shell Eco-Marathon Americas
competition in Houston, Texas.
At right, HPV team members
pose after sanding molds for
the carbon fiber shell.
Working in the
Bonderson
Projects Center,
mechanical
engineering
students Trent
Hellmann,
left, and Will
Hilgenberg put
together the
two halves of
the carbon fiber
shell for the
Cal Poly Human
Powered
Vehicle.
At right, the multidisciplinary Cal Poly Supermileage Vehicle Team includes
Finley Marbury (Materials
Engineering), Shota Watanabe (Aerospace Engineering) and Lucas Rybarczyk
(Mechanical Engineering).
The smiling trio was charged
with dismantling the wooden
framework for
the molds. At left, mechanical engineering student Sean
Michel works on the carbon
fiber shell of the Supermileage vehicle. n
13
Department News
Preparing Cal
Poly Engineering students
for careers
in the space
industry is the
goal of a new
online program
from Extended
Education.
(Photos Space
Systems/Loral)
Space Systems Technology
Cal Poly offers graduate
certificate to help prepare
engineers for space industry
T
he new online offering from Extended
Education prepares engineers to work
in key areas of spacecraft technology.
According to Eric Mehiel, chair of the
Aerospace Engineering Department, the
goal of the program is to educate working
engineers with a system-level awareness
in the complex technologies of spacebased systems.
“These complicated systems require
a multidisciplinary team of engineers to
develop, deploy and operate,” he said.
“The particular technologies involved also
require engineers with a broad knowledge
base. Understanding the interaction of
the functional units and technologies is
exceedingly important.”
The certificate program takes advantage of Cal Poly faculty expertise in areas
such as spacecraft attitude control, modeling and simulation for systems engineering, astrodynamics, systems integration
engineering, advanced product development and materials, and more.
Students in the Space Systems Technology program will learn about all major
functional units of a space-based system
from spacecraft dynamics to software architecture. The certificate is designed with
the non-aerospace engineer in mind, but is
open to all those working in the industry.
For more information about the program see spacesystems.calpoly.edu. n
Snapshot from Space
14
A camera aboard Cal Poly’s IPEX satellite snapped this
view of the Australian coast on Dec. 6, 2013, one day after its
launch from the Space Launch Complex 3E at Vandenberg Air
Force Base, Calif.
IPEX, short for Intelligent Payload Experiment, is the eighth
CubeSat developed by Cal Poly and was sponsored by NASA’s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The 10x10 cm, solar-powered
CubeSat was designed
to test onboard instrument processing for a
proposed NASA CubeSat
mission carrying a hyperspectral infrared imaging
instrument.
Meanwhile back
on earth, Aerospace
Engineering Professor
Jordi Puig-Suari, right,
explained the details of
IPEX and the CubeSat
program to KSBY-TV
reporter Connie Tran
during an interview at the
Cal Poly earth station in
Building 192. n
Creative Engineers Need Apply
Department News
Center for Creative Technologies connects engineering with humanities
T
hanks to the new Center for Expressive Technologies
(CET), Cal Poly engineers with a creative bent — and artists with technological talent — will have new opportunities
for interdisciplinary projects that focus on creative expression, technical innovation and community engagement.
Initiated by faculty associated with the Liberal Arts and
Engineering Studies Program (LAES) and approved by
President Jeffrey D. Armstrong last fall, the new center
engages students in projects that connect technology and
engineering to the arts and humanities.
“The center’s mission is broad and it
encompasses a lot of different activities —
everything from the development of computer
games and storytelling applications to the
creation of expressive environments and interactive theater work,” said Elizabeth Lowham,
CET director.
One such environment was Area 55: Be
Scared, an event last fall at Los Osos Middle
School (LOMS). CET supported the design,
creation and operation of Area 55, which challenged Cal Poly and middle school students to
transform the campus into a fictional universe invaded by
genetically engineered organisms.
LAES and architecture students participated in a monthlong design/build process to create the centerpiece of the
Area 55 experience. The student teams provided designs for
the 6,000-square-foot area that included sound and light,
creative direction, documentation and media. The winning
design focused on labs and a nesting area created by the genetically engineered organisms after a mysterious crash. A
Photo: LAES student Jack Bowen oversees the construction of
the genetically engineered organisms’ crash site and nesting
area for Area 55.
Cal Poly Announces Online Graduate
Certificate for Engineering Professionals
Mechanical Engineering
Manufactures a New
Concentration
C
A
new manufacturing concentration in
the Mechanical Engineering Department (ME) equips students to incorporate
manufacturability concerns into product and
component design decisions.
“We want to increase students’ knowledge of manufacturing methods, so they
practice ‘design for manufacturing’ best
practices,” said Industrial and Manufacturing Professor Dan Waldorf. “This new
concentration will make our graduates even
more productive because they will engineer
products and systems that have the highest
quality and lowest cost.”
Offered for the first time this year, the
goals of the concentration include the ability
to design processes, plan and interpret production testing, and demonstrate hands-on
knowledge of manufacturing practices.
Members of both the Mechanical Engineering and the Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Industrial Advisory Boards
voiced strong support for the program. The
industry partners indicated that manufacturing concentration graduates would be in
high demand as employees.
“Especially in small companies, engineers often perform both the product
separate group of students worked with professor Michael
Haungs (Computer Science and LAES) to design a prequel
experience through PolyXpress, a web app that allows
participants to create and share location-based, multimedia
stories on mobile devices.
Cal Poly senior Ethan Lockwood commented, “Working with LOMS and its students as a real-world client and
partner — as part of a large interdisciplinary Cal Poly team
— pushed our endurance but also enhanced our creativity
and problem-solving capabilities.”
During 2013-14, CET is also supporting student projects
in conjunction with the San Luis Obispo Mini Maker Faire,
the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, a Des/Dev
Hackathon and Re/Collecting.
“We’re constantly seeking great opportunities for students and faculty from across the university to explore the
interactions between expression and technology in ways that
provide real-world experiences and skills,” Lowham said. n
Mechanical engineering student Andrew Wood
works in the Mustang ’60 Project Shop.
design/development role, and the manufacturing engineer role,” explained Waldorf.
“ME graduates from the manufacturing
concentration will be uniquely suited for this
career path.
“They will also have the background to
move into manufacturing tool design careers. Moreover, manufacturability is one of
the most important criteria driving product
design. By completing the manufacturing
concentration, ME students will have the
specialized skills to be manufacturing-savvy
design engineers,” he added. n
ration platform used in the course.
al Poly’s College of Engineering anSIE’s main curriculum consists of
nounced the establishment of the
three, 10-week graduate-level courses
Systems Integration Engineering (SIE)
program, a new online graduate program delivered fully online during Cal Poly’s
fall, winter and spring academic quardesigned for working engineers aspiring
ters. Course content will be accessible
to take on additional technical responsionline anytime through Cal
bility and leadership.
“Students
Poly’s learning management
“Students obtaining the
system, PolyLearn, while
13-academic-unit graduate
obtaining the
synchronous class meetings
certificate in SIE will develop
13-academic-unit
will be held live using the
a holistic view of systems
graduate
university’s online collaboradevelopment and integration
certificate in SIE
tion platform.
from a multidisciplinary perwill develop a holistic
“The goal of the SIE prospective,” said Kurt Colvin,
gram
is to prepare disciplineprogram director. “Approachview of systems
specific,
working engineers
ing systems, products and
development and
for additional responsibility
services from the top down
integration from a
and leadership positions in
is often a different perspecmultidisciplinary
socio-technical organizative for engineers working in
perspective.”
tions,” said Colvin. “We
domain-specific disciplines,
expect those who complete
such as mechanical engineerthe certificate to have broad knowledge
ing and aerospace engineering.”
in many diverse, technical disciplines
The program begins with a two-day,
that will allow them to integrate system
on-site orientation at Cal Poly, where
elements into a set of solutions that satenrollees meet fellow students, staff and
isfy customer needs within budget and
faculty; review the program’s learning
schedule constraints.”
objectives; and complete distance educaFor program details and to apply, go
tion technology training — the learning
to: sie.calpoly.edu. n
management system and online collabo-
15
Project News
To the Very Core:
San Francisco’s
Transbay Transit
Project is Real World
— and Real Deep
A
s the demand for downtown living escalates, cities
are growing both skyward and below the ground.
Urban deep space is the new frontier — and for an
urban excavation of unprecedented scale, few projects
can match the Transbay Transit Center (TTC) in San
Francisco.
Over the past three years the massive “big dig”
near First and Mission Streets has provided several civil
engineering undergraduate and graduate students a
big picture of the distinct challenges of underground
construction projects
in heavily built, highly
seismic areas.
One of the largest
transportation projects in
the nation, the TTC is the
future hub of 11 transit
The Transbay Transit Center features levels for trains and buses and is topped by a 5-acre park. At left, Cal Poly civil engineering student
systems including Bay
Jason Auyeung unloads geophysical testing equipment used to study real-time changes in soil stiffness in the massive excavation.
Area Rapid Transit, the
Science Foundation to study performance of deep and wide
team members included Justin Martos (B.S./M.S., Civil &
Muni, a regional Caltrain
excavation in congested urban areas. The team included
Environmental Engineering, 2012), Jason Auyeung (B.S., Civil
commuter rail and California
Engineering, 2013), and graduate student Jasper Jacobs.
High Speed Rail. It is the center- students and researchers from Cal Poly, University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin
“By measuring and monitoring the changes in soil stiffness
piece of an overall vision that
and industry partner ARUP North America Ltd.
due to the massive excavation the students and I produced
includes the city’s new tallest
“Cal Poly’s research contribution — collecting real-time
data beyond what’s currently available,” said Moss. “In the
building, the 1,070-foot Transdata on soil conditions and behavior — was critical,” said
process, they had a front-row seat to a transformative project
bay Transit Tower.
Moss. “Our research, like the excavation itself, has had to be
that will create a world-class transportation system.
The enormity of the plan
conducted with minimal disruption to surrounding infrastruc“Demand for underground space is only going to grow —
can be seen in the TTC’s monumental footprint — 185 feet
ture and economic activity. Add to that, San Francisco is a city it’s a key to sustainable urban living. This research project is a
wide, 60 feet deep and more than 1,500 feet long — in the
that’s non-stop. As my colleague says, ‘It’s like conducting
wonderful example of how real-life experiences are preparing
heart of San Francisco’s financial district.
open heart surgery on a patient running a marathon.’”
our students for the future,” Moss said.
“The excavation is unprecedented in scale on the West
“Every year I have had one or two graduate and underSee transbaycenter.org for more on the Transbay Transit
Coast,” said Robb Moss, Cal Poly civil engineering associate
graduate students involved on the team. Recent Cal Poly
Center. n
professor. Moss was part of a team funded by the National
Fuels Rush In: Class
Studies Alternatives
16
Methanol, “multi-fuels” and electricity-powered motorcycle projects
were on display in professor Art MacCarley’s “Alternative Fuel Vehicles”
(EE/BRAE 434) class during winter
quarter. Supported by a $3,500 grant
from Chevron, the class had projects
that ranged from a solar-powered
centrifuge that cleans kitchen grease
for use as recycled fuel to a batteryswap system for an electric van. At
right, electrical engineering student
Antonio Rodriguez demonstrates the
centrifuge.
Project News
Robot Control
Holding Melfred
Borzall’s Steep Taper
Ultra Bit 3s in the
company’s Santa
Maria warehouse are,
left to right, Cal Poly
engineering students
Kyle Robertson, Marc
Jones and Brandon
Fiorucci. Pictured at
the far left is Melfred
Borzall engineer Eric
Garcia, and at right,
Tom Rockwell and Eric
Melsheimer.
Santa Maria drill manufacturer
enlists Cal Poly engineers to help
maximize robotic welder efficiency
M
elfred Borzall, a Santa Maria company, has a plan
to increase throughput, develop shorter lead
times and manufacture the highest-quality horizontal
directional drilling parts on the market. They invested
in a robotic welding cell and called in a Cal Poly industrial engineering senior project team to help assess the
most efficient ways to use it.
Seniors Brandon Fiorucci, Marc Jones and Kyle
Robertson worked closely with Melfred Borzall engineers, including Tom Rockwell and Eric Melsheimer.
Melsheimer is the grandson of the company founder, Fred Melsheimer, and son of alumnus Richard
Melsheimer (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1961),
company president. Faculty advisors included Kurt
Colvin and Liz Schlemer, industrial and manufacturing
engineering professors.
“We started our project by shadowing the company
engineers to understand the flow of material throughout the factory and the various processes to create a
finished product,” Jones explained. “We then began
working with the robotic welding cell and assisted Mr.
Rockwell in designing experiments on the different
robot weld settings that tested for penetration depth,
arc, impurities and quality of weld.”
The Cal Poly students focused on welding Melfred
Borzall’s highest-volume product, the Steep Taper
Ultra Bit 3.
“Part of the manufacturing process involves embedding tungsten carbide into the welds to prolong
the life of the blade, during which the highly expensive
material falls all over the floor,” said Jones. “We came
up with a carbide recovery system that we built and
installed with Mr. Rockwell.”
Because the installation of the robotic welding cell
altered the layout of the warehouse, the project team
was also charged with designing storage areas for work
in progress (WIP). To save floor space in the limited
area, the team designed a stand to hold the cell fixtures
above the WIP. They also calculated the most efficient
and convenient layout for pallets of customer orders.
The final phase of the project will include time studies on the robot’s entire welding process and providing
a cost analysis on the manual welding vs. robotic welding process in order to provide the company with an
analysis of return on investment, payback period and
other financial metrics.
“We appreciate the opportunity to work with
Cal Poly students,” said Eric Melsheimer. “Brandon,
Marc and Kyle have brought technical expertise, fresh
perspectives and a willingness to get their hands dirty.
We are looking forward to seeing the results of their
project.” n
Let It Flow: Research Project Measures
the Air Flowing Over Aircraft Surfaces
W
orking as a research assistant with
Professor Russell Westphal on the
Boundary Layer Data System (BLDS) project was a “huge confidence builder” for
mechanical engineering undergraduate
Rachael Schelley.
Schelley recently assembled, programmed and tested the BLDS-Rake, a
new version of the Cal Poly BLDS, a small
autonomous instrument that measures
the air flow within the boundary layer
near a surface on a full-scale operating
aircraft or vehicle. Boundry layer measurements are important in the determination of an aircraft’s overall resistance
or drag caused by friction as it moves
through the air.
“Rachael’s instrument allows for
measurement of 16 separate pressures
from probes located within a boundary
layer,” said Weshphal. “This system allows for much more rapid measurement
of the near‐surface flow than had been
possible with the previous approach that
employed a single probe that used a motorized stage to make measurements at
successive locations.”
BLDS‐Rake was extensively evaluated
in the Cal Poly 2x2-foot wind tunnel and
under simulated altitude conditions in the
Cal Poly thermal‐vacuum chamber. It was
subsequently installed and flown successfully on a subsonic aircraft for in‐flight
boundary layer measurements. Other
students involved in the BLDS‐Rake project include Brittany Kinkade and Spencer
Lillywhite. BLDS team consultant Don
Frame completed the electronic design
and assembly.
The BLDS‐Rake project was completed
with sponsorship from the Lockheed
Martin Professor endowment. The BLDS
development effort, undertaken with
extensive support and collaboration from
Northrop Grumman, has led to applications in eight flight test programs on five
Rachael Schelley (Mechanical Engineering) uses a wind tunnel to test air flow over aircraft surfaces.
different subsonic aircraft and ground‐
based measurements in wind tunnels and
on vehicles.
“My initial learning curve with the
project was steep,” commented Schelley.
“But it was really interesting to go from
theory to actual practice, and because of
the variety of skills and issues involved,
I know that I can adapt in a professional
environment. The work confirmed that
fluids and aircraft are areas I want to
pursue.” n
17
Faculty News
Faculty
Notes
n Dean’s Office
Debra Larson, dean, and co-authors
Ron McKean, interim associate dean of
operations at Ferris State University’s
College of Engineering Technology,
and Steven Cramer, associate dean of
engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, published “Learning
Outcomes: Less is More” (ASEE Prism
Magazine, Vol. 23, no. 6, pg. 54, February 2014). The article advocates streamlining ABET’s Criterion 3.
nnn
Rakesh Goel, associate dean, was
elected a fellow of the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI). The American
Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) SEI
Fellowship recognizes a select group of
distinguished SEI members as leaders
and mentors in the structural engineering profession. Goel was appointed
chair of the Dynamic Effects Technical
Administrative Committee of the ASCE
SEI. In this position, he provides leadership to three committees and several
subcommittees with focus on seismic,
blast, shock, impact and multi-hazard
mitigation.
n Multidisciplinary
Scott Hazelwood (Biomedical
Engineering) and Steve Klisch (Mechanical Engineering) published “Integrating
qPLM and Biomechanical Test Data
with an Anisotropic Fiber Distribution
Model and Predictions of TGF-β1 and
IGF-1 Regulation of Articular Cartilage
Fiber Modulus” with mechanical engineering students Mike Stender and
Kevin Yamauchi; colleagues Chris Raub,
Reza Shirazi and Robert Sah from UC
Davis; and Pasquale Vena from Politecnico di Milano. The article appeared in
Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology (Vol.12, no. 6; pp. 1073-1088,
2013).
18
Rack ’em
Engineering instructor’s
unique bicycle rack design
may be two times better
W
hen Cal Poly industrial and manufacturing
engineering instructor Rod Hoadley was
looking to design a more space-efficient bicycle
rack about 12 years ago, he hit on a simple solution: Two is better than one.
“Our bike racks have two tiers, so there are
no handlebar conflicts,” said Hoadley, founder
of Peak Racks in San Luis Obispo. “The vertically staggered design eliminates handlebar
tangles and achieves tight density parking. That
makes them popular for city sidewalks, in small
garages or anywhere space is at a premium.”
Hoadley, an avid cyclist who learned to weld
as a Cal Poly engineering technology student in
the early 1990s, said his patented bike racks are
now all over campus and downtown San Luis
Obispo.
“I can lock up on one of our racks at Campus
Market or by my office and then ride downtown
to Linnaea’s for coffee and park at another of
our racks,” Hoadley said. “They are especially
popular on college campuses. We’ve sold racks
to universities across the country — from the
University of Florida and Vanderbilt to Texas
A&M and UC Santa Barbara.”
Hoadley, who employs dozens of Cal Poly
n Aerospace Engineering
Eric Mehiel, chair, co-authored “Modeling and Simulation of Autonomous
Thermal Soaring with Horizon Simulation
Framework” presented at the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Conference on Modeling
and Simulation Technologies in National
Harbor, Md.
students during Peak Racks’ more intense
spring-to-summer manufacturing season, said
his innovative two-tiered system also allows
for easier locking. “The bigger guys don’t have
to bend down quite so far, and there’s a little
more there to put a lock on,” he said. “We
wanted to make cycling fun for everyone and
finding accessible parking and racks that are
easy to attach a lock to makes that possible.”
For more on Peak Racks, see www.peakracks.com. n
n Biomedical &
General Engineering
Kristen Cardinal has coordinated MEDITEC projects with Edwards Lifesciences
for seven years. MEDITEC is the Cal Poly
consortium that connects biomedical
engineering students with projects
generated by top biomedical companies.
Edwards has funded $350,000 in projects
Rod Hoadley, an instructor
for the Cal Poly Industrial &
Manufacturing Department
and founder of Peak Racks,
parks his bicycle in front of
Linnaea’s Cafe in San Luis
Obispo. Peak Racks can be
found all over downtown
and the Cal Poly campus,
above left.
to date, supporting five to 10 student
and team projects a year. This year,
Cardinal is faculty advisor to eight such
projects, which include students majoring in biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, general engineering and
industrial and manufacturing engineering. The students will present their
final projects to Edwards engineers and
managers.
Faculty News
New Faculty Member Believes in Predictive,
Personalized and Preemptive Health Care
A
loskeletal biomechanics, medis a research associate
cal device design, biomedical
at Stanford, Saikat Pal
imaging, statistical analysis in
developed predictive and
design and design for extreme
personalized methods for
affordability.
diagnosis of musculoskel“I am working on compuetal disorders. “I discovered
tational algorithms to analyze
new relationships between
the terabytes of data we are
quadriceps muscle activation
generating every day in health
imbalance and joint malcare, often referred to as Big
alignment in patients with
Data,” he said. “These data
knee pain, and developed
Saikat Pal
will be instrumental in uncovcomputational models to
Biomedical
ering the mysteries of many
study the underlying mechaEngineering
diseases, streamlining treatnisms,” he said.
ment pathways and shaping policies in
Pal joined Cal Poly this winter — he
the 21st century.”
teaches in biomedical engineering,
where he brings his passion for develPal earned his bachelor’s, master’s
oping technology to improve lives and
and doctorate degrees in computer
reduce health care costs. His research
engineering and mechanical engineering
interests are in the areas of neuromuscu- from the University of Denver. n
nnn
Trevor Cardinal co-authored “Smooth
Muscle Cell Dysfunction Reduces Functional Vasodilation in Pre-existing and
Newly Formed Arterial Collaterals” with
Ryan Gallagher (B.S./M.S., Biomedical
Engineering, 2012), and current B.S./M.S.
students Sara Hellstrom, Joshua Cutts,
and Jennifer Go. Cardinal presented the
abstract at the Microcirculatory Society
fall meeting in Hyannis, Mass.
n Civil & Environmental
Engineering
Tryg Lundquist gave talks on the biofuel
potential of waste-grown algae and
improved wastewater treatment sustainability using microalgae at the Algae
Biomass Summit in Orlando, Fla., and at
WEFTEC, the water quality event™ conference sponsored by the Water Environment Federation in Chicago.
n Computer Science
& Software Engineering
Foaad Khosmood co-authored “The
Global Game Jam as a Venue for Teaching and Learning” presented at the 26th
Computing and Information Technology
Research and Education New Zealand
(CITRENZ) Conference in Hamilton, New
Zealand. The paper won the 2013 CITRENZ
Award for Collaborative Research.
Khosmood was named the first
senior research fellow at Cal Poly’s new
Institute for Technology and Public Policy
(IATPP). Alexander Dekhtyar and Franz
Kurfess were named faculty scholars for
the institute.
Khosmood co-organized the 6th annual Global Game Jam (GGJ), the world’s
largest game development activity,
involving more than 480 locations in 72
countries. Local participation was hosted
by the Cal Poly Game Development club
(CPGD). Forty participants from Cal Poly
created 10 games. 2014 games made at
Cal Poly can be viewed from the GGJ website: globalgamejam.org.
nnn
Zoe Wood co-authored “Surface Reconstruction of Ancient Water Storage
Systems: An Approach for Sparse 3D
Sonar Scans and Fused Stereo Image,”
published in Proceedings of International Conference on Computer Graphics
Theory and Applications (GRAPP) held
in Lisbon, Portugal. She gave a presentation at the Grace Hopper Celebration
of Women in Computing in Minneapolis
on “The Blessings of a Broken Robot:
Valuable Lessons for Computer Scientists
about International Engineering, Field
Research and Outreach.”
Wood and computer science instructor
Environmental
Engineering
Professor
Sam Vigil,
above, and
Cal Poly
research
assistant
Neal Adler
look at
methane
and carbon
dioxide
readings
during a
Remote Air
Sensing
Campaign
at the Cal
Poly Dairy.
Vigil Honored for Paper on Sensing Greenhouse
Gases and Takes Part in Study at Cal Poly Dairy
E
nvironmental Engineering Professor Sam Vigil, a fellow of the Air
and Waste Management Association
(A&WMA), received the Best Paper
Award at the A&WMA Regional Specialty Conference on Sustainable Resources
and Air Quality Management in Yilan,
Taiwan.
The conference was the first joint
meeting of the China, Hong Kong and
Taiwan Sections of the A&WMA. Vigil
was one of four American engineers
to present at the event. His paper addressed “Remote Sensing of Greenhouse
Gases from Landfills,” research that Vigil
has undertaken on ground- and aircraftbased greenhouse gas monitoring.
The practical application of his
research proved valuable in early March
when Vigil participated in a Remote Air
Sensing Campaign at the Cal Poly Dairy.
Coordinated with Cal Poly Farm
Operations, the College of Agriculture &
Environmental Sciences and the Cal Poly
Dairy Science Department, the effort
included researchers from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Bubbleology Research International. Vigil said the
researchers employed new sampling instruments on the ground and in a NASA
AlphaJet flying overhead that measured
the amount of methane and CO2 in the
air above the working dairy.
“The Cal Poly Dairy is a unique site
for this research because it is isolated
from other methane sources,” Vigil said.
“NASA and private resources were supplied at no cost to Cal Poly and the data
collected will be used for peer-reviewed
papers.” n
19
Steffen Peuker Joins Cal Poly as the
James L. Bartlett Jr. Endowed Professor
Faculty News
Julie Workman also conducted a workshop at the conference on “Computational Art Using Processing for CS0.”
In conjunction with Kari Friedman,
president of the Computer Science
Industrial Advisory Board (CSC-IAB),
Wood launched the CSC-IAB mentoring
program, which matches female students
with board members.
n Electrical Engineering
Dennis Derickson, chair, and graduate
student Desmond Talkington presented “O-Band (1310 nm) Vernier-Tuned
Distributed Bragg Reflector (VT-DBR)
Laser Device Characterization for Optical
Coherence Tomography (OCT)” at the
2014 SPIE Biomedical Optics Conference
in San Francisco. The paper discussed
a new technology laser that promises
higher performance solutions for tissue
imaging.
nnn
Taufik was invited to participate in the
Indonesia Summit 2014 organized by the
Economist and held in Jakarta, Indonesia. He served as a panelist in a session
on “Eastern Indonesia” to discuss rural
electrification using his research work on
DC House technology that he is developing at Cal Poly.
He published “Rural Electrification:
The DC House Solution” in Powering
Up: Perspectives on Indonesia’s Energy
Future published online by the Economist
(www.conomistinsights.com/energy/
analysis/powering).
n Materials Engineering
Kathy Chen, chair, was named a fellow
of the Alpha Sigma Mu (AΣMu) Materials
Honor Society at the MS&T Conference
in Montreal. She presented “Living in a
Material World: Materials Engineering as
a General Education course on Technology” at the Materials Research Society
(MRS) fall meeting in Boston, Mass. She
joined members of the Materials Engineering Student Society at TMS (The
Minerals, Metals & Materials Society) Annual Meeting in San Diego, where she also
hosted a materials engineering alumni
dinner.
Chen led numerous outreach efforts:
20
The Materials Engineering Department
was selected as one of 75 NOVA Making
Stuff outreach sites for Engineers Week
during which Cal Poly materials engineering students made pinewood derby cars
with the Oceano Boys & Girls Club.
As a project in a materials engineering
freshman course, students held a Materials Mini Maker Faire at the Los Osos
Middle School. Chen also facilitated the
College of Engineering’s co-sponsorship
of the SLO Mini Maker Faire.
nnn
Trevor Harding was selected by the
National Science Foundation to participate in an IdeasLab in Leesburg, Va. that
addresses the problem of social inequity
in the access to and use of new technology. A methodology developed in the
UK, the IdeasLab is a novel approach to
brainstorming transformative strategies
for addressing significant social problems.
n Mechanical Engineering
Mohammad Noori was invited to become
a founding member of the U.S. Advisory
Board, Indo-U.S. Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE). The goal of
the IUCEE is to improve the quality and
global relevance of engineering education and research in India. Noori was also
invited to become a founding advisory
council member for the New Engineering
University, a practical, private engineering school founded by Silicon Valley
entrepreneur, Scott Kauffman.
Noori co-authored “Precautions to
Consider in Using Wavelet Transformation for Damage Detection Analysis of
Plates” published in Smart Structures
and Systems (Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 63-81,
2013) and “A Finite Element Model Based
on Coupled Refined High-Order GlobalLocal Theory for Static Electromechanical Analysis of Embedded Shear Mode
Piezoelectric Sandwich Composite
Beams with Various Widths” published
in Thin-Walled Structures (Vol. 72, pp.
139-13, 2013). He co-authored “WaveletBased Techniques for Structural Health
Monitoring,” a chapter in Health Assessment of Engineered Structures (World
Scientific, ed. Achintya Haldar, Chapter 7,
pp. 179-199, 2013). n
S
teffen Peuker’s
interest in enhancing student success
through projectbased learning makes
him a natural fit at Cal
Poly. He joined the
Mechanical Engineering Department in
winter 2014 as the
James L. Bartlett Jr.
Endowed Professor.
“My current
research emphasis is
on the scholarship of
teaching and learning,” said Peuker, who Steffen Peuker, the James L. Bartlett Jr. Endowed Professor, will
has work underway in teach and conduct research in the HVAC&R lab.
the implementation
Hochschule Mannheim University of
of team-based learning in engineering
Applied Sciences. He earned a master’s
courses. He is also investigating whether
degree and doctorate in mechanical scifirst-year engineering students have
ence and engineering from the University
higher rates of academic success when
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
they design their own individually tailored
learning process.
About the James L. Bartlett Jr. En“I am interested in incorporating acdowed Professorship
tive learning into heating, ventilation, air
The Brown Family Foundation estabconditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R)
lished the James L. Bartlett Jr. Profescourses,” added Peuker. “Cal Poly offers
sorship to promote multidisciplinary
a unique opportunity to further expand
project-based learning. James L. Bartlett
my research in this area as a result of
Jr., mentor to Ross Brown, is an engineerits HVAC&R concentration and stellar
entrepreneur, who transformed technical
laboratories. Plus, Cal Poly’s relationship
expertise and business experience into
with the HVAC&R industry allows me to
pioneering developments in a wide range
actively pursue industry-relevant student
of technical fields, the founding of six busiand research projects.”
nesses and a remarkable career. n
Peuker has a bachelor’s degree from
Helene Finger Honored by Cuesta College
H
elene Finger, director of Cal Poly’s
Women’s Engineering Program,
is one of four recipients of the 37th
Women of Distinction awards sponsored by Cuesta College and Women’s
Legacy Fund of the Community Foundation of San Luis Obispo County. The
award honors women from throughout
the Central Coast for their professional
and civic contributions.
Finger was recognized with the
Progress for Women Award for her
directorship of the Women’s Engineering Program, a position she has held for
15 years. She also serves as faculty advisor to the Cal Poly Society of Women
Engineers (SWE), and she received the
Outstanding SWE Counselor Award
at the 2013 SWE national convention.
Under her mentorship, the Cal
Poly chapter has
received the national Gold Level
Outstanding Collegiate Section
Award for the
last three years
and 10 times
since 2002.
Helene Finger
A Cal Poly alum- Civil & Environmental
Engineering
na, she earned
her bachelor’s
degree in civil engineering in 1988 and
her master’s in civil and environmental
engineering in 1989. Finger has taught
in the Civil & Environmental Engineering
Department since 1997. n
Alumni
in the news
2000s
Andrea Gardiner
(B.S., Environmental Engineering, 2001)
Cal Poly Alumna Enrolled in
Ph.D. Program at Vanderbilt
Andrea Gardiner is working toward her
doctorate in environmental engineering
at Vanderbilt University. She is focusing
on projects related to nuclear environmental engineering, including fuel cycle
evaluation decision framework. She also
works for Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, and
Cannon as a staff engineer.
nnn
Mark Paddon and Aaron Rivera
(B.S., Computer Science, 2012)
New App for Hearst Castle
Cal Poly grads have made taking a tour
at Hearst Castle as easy as taking along
your smart phone. They developed an app
for mobile devices that makes it easy to
explore and educate yourself at the same
time. Your phone keeps track of where
you are, and what notable pieces of history you’re approaching on your stroll.
http://bit.ly/19FMGGI
nnn
Aaron Peckham
(B.S./M.S., Computer Science, 2005)
Cal Poly Computer
Science Grad Turned
Modest Website into the
Internet’s Lexicon of Slang
Aaron Peckham started Urban Dictionary
in 1999 when he was a freshman at Cal
Poly — and he’s now mulling the crowdsourced dictionary’s next phase.
http://bit.ly/JDWDuK
Continued on Page 23
Tres Clements:
Prototype
Maker Not Your
Prototypical
Engineer
K
Faculty
Alumni News
Cal Poly
manufacturing
engineering
graduate
Tres Clements
is now working
in prototyping
at specialty
photographic
equipment
manuafacturer
Really Right Stuff
in San Luis
Obispo, Calif.
urt Colvin, associate professor of
industrial and manufacturing engineering, remembers Tres Clements (B.S.
Manufacturing Engineering, 2007) as a
remarkable student from day one.
“I first encountered Tres when he was
a freshman in my IME 144 manufacturing and design course. In the first class
of the quarter, I outlined what would be
covered. Afterward, he came up and said,
‘I’ve done all that. When can I start using
the CNC machines on my own projects?’
breakthrough design and speed.
designer was developing aerospace and
He was, in effect, asking for nothing less
“It was so impressive to see how hard
new-concept aircraft — most famously
than to take on one of Cal Poly’s most
Burt worked. Even on the last project I
the Voyager and, later, SpaceShipOne. The
advanced manufacturing areas.
worked with him on, I couldn’t beat him
Voyager, the first plane to fly around the
“Tres is fearless — not at all shy about
to work, and he wasn’t leaving if I was still
world without stopping or refueling, was
taking on very demanding engineering
there.”
produced by Burt Rutan and his brother
projects if he finds them interesting. And
It was a unique experience and relaDick Rutan at the Rutan Aircraft Factory.
I think that’s why he later clicked with the
tionship that led to Clements inheriting
SpaceShipOne, the world’s first privately
legendary Burt Rutan (B.S., Aerospace
the Boomerang, an asymmetric twinbuilt manned spacecraft to reach space,
Engineering, 1965),” said Colvin.
engine aircraft that some consider to be
came out of Scaled Composites, the experiAviation interests and a talent for
Rutan’s most unconventional work — and
mental aircraft company founded by Burt
making things have figured prominently
one the maverick designer considers his
Rutan in 1982.
in Clements’ life from an early age.
best general aviation aircraft design.
“I caught the tail end of Burt’s time at
“I got my first hot
“He didn’t want to sell or donate it,
Scaled,” said Clements. “It was a tremenair balloon license
he wanted to keep it
before my driver’s
“Tres is fearless — not at all shy about taking on flying, and I was in the
license,” recalled Cleright place at the right
ments.
very demanding engineering projects if he
time,” said Clements.
“At Cal Poly, I was
“Burt technically still
finds them interesting. And I think that’s why
involved with the
owns it. The agreeflight simulation, moment is that I operate
he
later
clicked
with
the
legendary
Burt
Rutan.”
tion simulation and
it as if I own it. I’ve asKurt Colvin | Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
lots of club activities.
sumed all its expenses
I bought a Cessna 150
and have done quite a
at Cal Poly’s public surplus auction and
dous experience working on projects
bit of work on it. It has its own website at
earned my pilot’s license here.”
with him. His passion, his excitement, is
rutanboomerang.com.”
Following graduation, Clements
unmatched — as is his ability to motivate
When Rutan sold Scaled Composites
worked at AeroMech, a manufacturer of
people. Like many innovators, he underto Northrop Grumman in 2007, it gave
unmanned aerial vehicles.
stood his own strengths and weaknesses, Clements an opportunity to work for
“There, I was more of a design engiand he surrounded himself with individuyet another innovation and engineering
neer than a manufacturing engineer,”
als who brought diverse and complementrailblazer, though this was a giant of a
said Clements, “taking projects from
tary skills — and then he brought out
different scale.
concept to completion. It expanded my
their best. He was also remarkable for
“Just the sheer size of Northrop Grumsense of what I could do and my interest
how fast he made things happen. With
man made for a significant cultural shift,”
in seeing what else was out there.”
Burt, we built prototypes, start to finish,
said Clements. “I was going from a small,
For some time Clements had been an
in months not years. Throughout his
no-rules operation to assimilating into
avid follower of Rutan’s work in Mojave
career, he produced a plane a year. It was
See CLEMENTS, Page 22
Desert, Calif. That’s where the visionary
a culture based on visionary concepts,
21
Alumni News
Clements
From Page 21
one of the world’s largest companies. But
it was also an amazing job. I was assuming
whole new levels of responsibility, including serving as lead engineer for one of the
largest projects Scaled was working on at
the time.”
At about the same time, Clements married a Cal Poly graduate, and they found
their paths leading them back to San Luis
Obispo. Their return to the area coincided
with the expansion of Really Right Stuff,
a local company that takes “Made in
America” pride in its locally manufactured,
high-end camera support gear — from
tripods to clamps, brackets and iPhone
cases. The company, which started out in
a garage, now resides in a sleek, modern,
90,000-square-foot facility across from the
county’s regional airport.
The new space, which features the
company’s first in-house prototyping shop,
presented a ground-floor opportunity that
intrigued Clements. “That,” he laughed,
“and the view of the airport it would give
me — the Boomerang and my Piper Pacer
airplane are in a hangar there, not far from
Kurt Colvin’s.
“I arrived at a time when Really Right
Stuff was looking for someone who would
be all about prototypes, and I’ve found
that I thrive on the design and manufacturing involved.
“For the first time, my work is much
more aligned with what Cal Poly taught
me. I learned how to machine when I was
in high school, and it’s stuck with me. Not
that Cal Poly makes machinists — and I’m
not one — but I’m being one here in the
sense that I can design the part and I can
make the part. That’s the biggest key to
prototyping, and it’s why it’s such a good
fit for me.
“If I hadn’t done everything else, I
wouldn’t appreciate this job as fully as I do.
The mix of design and prototyping involves
me fully in the design cycle, which I really
enjoy.
“I work directly with Joe and Joan
Johnson, the owners. With only about 22
employees, it’s much more like a family
operation. We’re all working toward the
same goal — perfection.”
For more on Really Right Stuff, see:
www.reallyrightstuff.com n
22
Making It
Mechanical engineering
grad Rory Aronson helps
found SLO MakerSpace
community workshop
R
Mechanical
ory Aronson (B.S. Mechanical Engiengineerneering, 2013) is busy making things.
ing graduate
“That’s what a facility like this is for,”
Rory Aronson
said Aronson about the just-opened SLO
displays a
robotic arm
MakerSpace that he helped found in San
project being
Luis Obispo.
worked on at
Makerspaces are, in effect, “a commuSLO Makernity center with tools” where members —
Space, a new
typically a mix of artists, crafters, invencommunity
workshop he
tors, innovators, do-it-yourselfers — can
helped found
meet, collaborate and socialize. Over the
in San Luis
past 10 years, makerspaces have sprung
Obispo.
up in large urban cities and small towns as
Aronson is
people rediscover the simple joy of making
developing a
robotic farm
things.
machine at
SLO MakerSpace, which is fairly typical
the shop.
of the genre, is a 3,300-square-foot facility in a small industrial area. Its eclectic
inventory of tools, equipment, classes and
resources reflect a mix of traditional arts
and crafts and 21st century technology and
industrial design: 3-D printers, laser cutters and computer-aided design machines
there full time, but for myself,” he said.
“FarmBot is my first major contribuseem right at home with classic handtools,
Aronson explained that the move was
tion in that area. Everything about it will
sewing machines, routers and saws.
the result of his being accepted into a
be open source — from the hardware
Aronson first heard about the makerfellowship program by the Shuttleworth
design and software source code to the
space concept last summer at Cal Poly’s
Foundation. He will be working under a
public plant data.”
SLO HotHouse, an incubator program for
$123,000 grant for full year and hopes to
Since September, when he published
entrepreneurs.
bring FarmBot to market in that time.
an online white paper about FarmBot,
“I immediately turned around and said,
“I had an idea for a new type of tracAronson has been building an interdisci‘Hey, I’d love to be involved because it
tor, a new type of agriculture system.
plinary, international team of software
sounds really fun, a concept that I personThe result was FarmBot, an open-source,
engineers, mechanical engineers, graphic
ally would utilize and a resource I want
scalable, automated precision-farming
designers and agricultural specialists to
to be available in this
develop the project.
community.’ That got me
He’s exploring partner“I had an idea for a new type of tractor,
on the ground floor, and
ship possibilities with
a new type of agriculture system. The result was the BioResource &
here we are, a year later,
and SLO MakerSpace is
Agricultural EngiFarmBot, an open-source, scalable, automated
open for business.”
neering Department
In fact, Aronson
and the Strawberry
precision-farming machine.”
recently left his shop
Sustainability Research
management position at SLO MakerSpace
and Education Center.
machine,” Aronson said.
because he, too, is opening a business
“After graduation last spring, I real“Think of it like a giant 3-D printer, but
called FarmBot — in a space he’s renting
ized I had my degree, I could go anywhere
instead of wielding a plastic extruder, its
right upstairs. It’s one of several spaces
tools are seed injectors, watering nozzles, — and entrepreneurship was definitely
available to startup ventures like his.
something I wanted to pursue,” Aronson
plowers, sensors and more. Because it’s
The arrangement enables him to
said. “I consider myself a social entreprecomputer controlled, and each plant is
remain on the board of directors and
neur, and I intend to use business, engisowed and tended to individually, it’s a
continue to teach classes as a volunteer.
neering and design to tackle some of the
precision-farming machine.”
“Essentially I will be running FarmBot projAronson also considers himself part of biggest challenge we face today. FarmBot
ect out of SLO MakerSpace and be working the open-source movement.
is a step in that direction.” n
Alumni in the news
Jackie Yee
(B.S., Civil Engineering, 2000)
California Community Hikes
Recycled Water Usage
Jaclyn Yee, an associate civil engineer in
Dublin, Calif., was featured as the cover
story of PM Engineer Magazine for leading a major project as the local water
district expanded
its recycled water
system to retrofit
potable water
irrigation at the
city’s parks
and schools.
http://bit.ly/
P65jwU
1990s
Jonathan Moss Becker
(B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1999)
Becker Passes Engineering
Doctorate Prospectus Exam
Jonathan Becker passed the electrical
and computer engineering Ph.D. prospectus exam at Carnegie Mellon University
in October. His doctoral degree will be
awarded following the defense of his
thesis, “Dynamic Beamforming Optimization for Anti-Jamming and Hardware
Fault Recovery.”
nnn
Michael F. Cannon,
founder and president
of Cannon, a multidisciplinary engineering
consulting firm in San
Luis Obispo, spoke
on the importance of
teamwork, hard work
and Cal Poly’s Learn by
Doing philosophy as the
keynote speaker at Fall
Commencement. The
1983 civil engineering
graduate has remained
close to his alma mater,
serving as a Founders
Circle member of the
Center for Innovation &
Entrepreneurship and
an Industrial Advisory
Board member for the
Civil & Environmental
Engineering Department.
an MBA with a finance concentration and
real estate specialization from the University of Texas at Austin in 1999.
nnn
Craig M. Murray
(M.S., Civil & Environmental
Engineering, 1996)
Local Official Named
Special District General
Manager of the Year
The Santa Barbara County Chapter of the
California Special District’s Association
selected Craig Murray of the Carpinteria
Sanitary District as its General Manager
of the Year for 2013. Murray joined the
district as its general manager in 2004; he
is a registered professional engineer.
http://bit.ly/MRllJ9
John Cole
(B.S., Environmental Engineering, 1992)
Alumni News
Cannon
Delivers
Support
to Cal Poly
nnn
Novogradac Elevates
Four to Partner
David Woodard
San Francisco-based accounting and consulting group Novogradac has welcomed
John Cole of the Austin office to the
partnership. Cole oversees the government consulting and valuation advisory
services group. In addition to his bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly, he earned
Cal Poly Alum Named New
Manager at East Bay
Municipal Utility District
(B.S., Environmental Engineering, 1991)
David Woodard recently took a new
position as the manager of workplace
health and safety for the East Bay
Municipal Utility District in Oakland, Calif.
1970s
lished by Pearson/Prentice Hall. Cummings
taught in Cal Poly’s Aerospace Engineering
Department from 1978-2005.
(B.S., Transportation Engineering, 1977)
1960s
Caneer Named ASCE Fellow
John S. Mattis
David Caneer
David Caneer, P.E., QSD/QSP, F.ASCE, a
senior supervising civil engineer with
Parsons Brinckerhoff in San Francisco, has
been recognized as an American Society
of Civil Engineers Fellow (F.ASCE). His
election to F.ASCE is based on his more
than 36 years of continuous service to the
public and the civil engineering profession on more than 200 site development,
transportation and public works projects
across seven states.
nnn
Russell M. Cummings
(B.S., Aeronautical Engineering, 1977;
M.S., Engineering, 1985)
(B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1962)
Mattis Enjoying Retirement
After retiring in 2001 from a 40-year
career in engineering at Raychem Corp.
and Tyco Intl., John Mattis remains active
in the field. He currently has applications
for 30 patents. In his leisure, Mattis is
dedicated to duplicate bridge, as well
as biking, hiking and being a regular at
the gym with his wife, Linda. “And I still
downhill ski,” he noted.
1950s
Alvin Trivelpiece
Cummings Promoted at the
U.S. Air Force Academy
(B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1953)
Russell M. Cummings was named head of
the Department of Aeronautics at the U.S.
Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs,
Colo. He also co-authored the sixth edition
of “Aerodynamics for Engineers” pub-
A summary of an oral history of Alvin Trivelpiece, when he was director of the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory (1980-2000),
was featured in the Oak Ridger.
bit.ly/1pBKQLn n
Trivelpiece Oral History Featured
23
California Polytechnic State University
College of Engineering
1 Grand Ave.
San Luis Obispo, CA
93407-0350
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
Join us for the
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
PROJECT EXPO
Saturday, May 31 • 1 – 5 p.m.
Featuring
more than 200
individual and
team projects,
the event
represents the
culmination
of one to
two years of
student-led
project innovation. It’s an
ideal time to
interact with
project sponsors, faculty and especially students.
n SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
1 - 2 p.m. Outstanding Graduation Senior Awards
2 - 5 p.m. Project Exhibition
n CONTACT
n RSVP
805-756-2131http://bit.ly/1hiwRZ3
To learn how you can work with student teams or sponsor projects, contact
Associate Dean Rakesh Goel at rgoel@calpoly.edu.
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING DIRECTORY
Parents please note: If your son or daughter
is no longer at this address, please report
his or her current address to the
College of Engineering
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ceng.calpoly.edu
Dean’s Office
(805) 756-2131
Debra Larson, Dean
dslarson@calpoly.edu
Fred DePiero, Associate Dean
fdepiero@calpoly.edu
rgoel@calpoly.edu
Rakesh Goel, Associate Dean
College Advancement
Richard LeRoy, Asst. Dean
(805) 756-7108
rleroy@calpoly.edu
Amanda Oeser, Dir. of Development
(805) 756-5711
aoeser@calpoly.edu
Casey apRoberts, Corporate Partnerships (805) 756-6040 caprober@calpoly.edu
Brenda Flood, Admin. Support (805) 756-5374 bflood@calpoly.edu
College Publications & Communications (805) 756-6402
Amy Hewes, Director
ahewes@calpoly.edu
Miles Clark, Web Administrator
(805) 756-6582 mmclark@calpoly.edu
(805) 756-6623 gricard@calpoly.edu
Galen Ricard, Writer Engineering Advising
(805) 756-1461
Kim Marsalek, Coordinator
kmarsale@calpoly.edu
(805) 756-1433
Multicultural Engineering Program
Maria Manzano, Coordinator
msmanzan@calpoly.edu
Women in Engineering Program (805) 756-2350
hfinger@calpoly.edu
Helene Finger, Director DEPARTMENTS
Aerospace Engineering
(805) 756-2562
Eric Mehiel, Chair
emehiel@calpoly.edu
Biomedical & General Engineering
(805) 756-6400
Lanny Griffin, Chair
lgriffin@calpoly.edu
Civil/Environmental Engineering
(805) 756-2947
Daniel Jansen, Chair
djansen@calpoly.edu
Computer Engineering (805) 756-1229
John Oliver, Director
jyoliver@calpoly.edu
Computer Science/Software Engineering (805) 756-2824
Ignatios Vakalis, Chair
ivakalis@calpoly.edu
Electrical Engineering (805) 756-2781
Dennis Derickson, Chair
ddericks@calpoly.edu
Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering (805) 756-2341
Jose Macedo, Chair
jmacedo@calpoly.edu
Materials Engineering (805) 756-2568
Kathy Chen, Chair
kcchen@calpoly.edu
Mechanical Engineering (805) 756-1334
Andrew Davol, Chair
adavol@calpoly.edu
Fire Protection Engineering
(805) 756-7834
Fred Mowrer, Director
fmowrer@calpoly.edu
Engineering Advantage is a biannual publication of the College of Engineering,
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Editorial Staff: Amy Hewes | Publications Director
• Galen Ricard | Staff Writer • Dennis Steers | Photography & Design