Ahoya April 2018 Newsletter

Marquette and Varian receive $2.5 million NIH grant for CT scan radiation study

Dr. Taly Gilat-Schmidt, associate professor of biomedical engineering, and Dr. Josh Star-Lack, principal scientist of applied research at Varian, have received a $2,482,601 U01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study Computed Tomography radiation dosages in patients. Their research is in collaboration with the Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. The four-year study involving Marquette and Varian, of Palo Alto, California, a leader in designing and manufacturing medical devices for treating cancer, aims to develop and verify a software tool to estimate the radiation dose delivered to a patient’s organs when he or she undergoes a CT examination. Approximately 76 million CT scans are performed in the United States each year and are responsible for half the radiation delivered to patients by medical procedures. However, existing automated tools to measure radiation dosage do not model a patient’s specific anatomy, which can introduce errors in the estimated radiation dose to organs. More on Dr. Gilat-Schmidt’s NIH grant online.

Engineering students complete hands-on capstone project at Modine headquarters in Racine

A collaboration between Modine Manufacturing Co. and the Opus College of Engineering has yielded a more efficient modeling tool for the Racine-based manufacturer to use in its ventilation operations. A team of four engineering students led by Dr. Somesh Roy, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, recently traveled to Racine to take over one of Modine’s wind tunnels. Their goal was to design a way to consistently produce greater efficiency from an industrial heat-and-air unit. More from the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Dr. Brooke Mayer checks in from sabbatical at Arizona State University

Dr. Brooke Mayer, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, shared video from the campus of Arizona State University, where she’s spending the semester as a visiting scholar at the university’s School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. Throughout the semester, she is being trained on laboratory protocols for microbes and working with phosphorous recovery experts to pursue nutrient recovery research opportunities, including identifying and collaborating on research proposals and writing for peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Mayer was named one of the 2017 Way Klingler Young Scholar Award recipients, which grants up to $32,000 to fund a one-semester sabbatical.

Living the entrepreneurial mindset through co-ops

How are Marquette Engineers living the entrepreneurial mindset through their co-op experiences? Katherine Atkinson, entrepreneurial minded co-op project manager, shares the entrepreneurial journey of one student and tips for encouraging this mindset in industry in this video from the annual KEEN Conference.

Awards and accomplishments:

Dr. Brian Schmit elected to AIMBE College of Fellows

• Dr. Brian Schmit, associate dean for research, professor of biomedical engineering, co-director of the Stroke Rehabilitation Center and director of the integrative neural engineering and rehabilitation laboratories, Eng ’88, was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows. Dr. Schmit was nominated, reviewed and elected by peers and members of the College of Fellows for his exemplary leadership in biomedical engineering through contributions to spinal cord injury and stroke rehabilitation research, education and service. Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to a medical and biological engineer, comprising only the top two percent of medical and biological engineers.

  Drs. Kristina Ropella, Opus Dean of the Opus College of Engineering, and Gerald Harris, professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center, are also members of the AIMBE College of Fellows.

• Jess Thayer, student in the Opus College of Engineering, was selected as a Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium 2017-18 Undergraduate Research award recipient. She has been awarded a $4,000 fellowship for the project titled, “Improvement of a Forward Dynamic Predictive Human Gait Model,” which she will complete this summer with Dr. Phil Voglewede, associate professor of mechanical engineering.

Faculty Scholar Development Awards announced

Congratulations to the following faculty members who have received Faculty Scholar Development Awards, which are made possible through endowments to the Opus College of Engineering. Each award is up to $20,000 for a period of one year.

• Dr. Anthony Parolari, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, received the Kozlowski Family Award for “Modeling green infrastructure influence on rainfall derived inflow and infiltration.”

• Dr. Walter McDonald, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, received the Earl B. and Charlotte Nelson Award for “Using Drone Technologies to Develop the Heat Orthoimagery Terrain Temperature Water (HOTT Water) Model.” Dr. Patrick McNamara, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, received the Earl B. and Charlotte Nelson Award for “Quantification of antibiotic resistance genes in drinking water serving vulnerable populations.”

• Drs. Cris Ababei, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, Ron Coutu, V. Clayton Lafferty Endowed Chair in Electrical Engineering, and Jonathan Fleischmann, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received the William and Nancy Stemper Award for “Design and Implementation of Semi-autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Water Quality Monitoring.”

• Dr. Nathan Weise, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, received the Michael J. Wallace Award for “Novel Gallium Nitride Power Converter for Industrial and Transportation Applications.”

• Drs. Somesh Roy and Jonathan Fleischmann, assistant professors in mechanical engineering, received the Michael J. Wallace Award for “Atomistic Modeling of Soot Evolution in Combustion”

• Dr. Simcha Singer, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, received the Michael J. Wallace Award for “Adaptive Surrogate Models for High-Pressure Combustion.”

Alumni, industry invited to attend Design Day 2018

 

The Opus College of Engineering will host its fourth annual Design Day, a celebration of design and innovation in the college, on Friday, May 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Engineering Hall.

Design Day showcases the variety of year-round design activities that allow students to put their knowledge and skills into action to solve real-world problems. On display will be senior, freshman, student-led and course-related design projects. A variety of industry partners will also be in attendance to provide keynote presentations, interact with attendees and share information about their organizations.

All alumni and industry partners are invited to attend. Contact the Office of Industry Relations with any additional questions.

Upcoming events:

Design Day 2018:
Friday, May 4, 2018
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Engineering Hall, 1637 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Seminar Series: Hosted by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Spring 2018

Joint Bioengineering Seminar Series: Hosted by the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
Spring 2018

Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Seminar Series: Hosted by the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
Spring 2018

Engineering on social media — join the conversation!

For the latest real-time updates on the Opus College of Engineering, follow us on social media and be sure to like, comment and share to help spread the word:

• OCOE on Facebook

• OCOE on Twitter

• OCOE on Instagram

• Dr. Kristina Ropella, Opus Dean, on Twitter