Engineering News

Sarah Walter, a junior in mechanical engineering, has been selected by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to participate in the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) program this summer. While in Washington D.C., Walter will research energy issues and write a technical paper to be published at the SAE World Congress in Detroit in April 2006. The WISE program is ranked as one of the best internship opportunities in the United States by the Princeton Review. (News Release)

The Iowa State steel bridge team, co-chaired by civil engineering majors Ben Woline and Tyler McArthur, placed third at regional competition in Hilton Coliseum on March 5. The team now advances to nationals in Orlando, Florida, Memorial Day weekend, May 28–30.



	Iowa State’s remarkable tornado simulator is capturing more media attention this spring, according to Partha Sarkar, AerE associate professor and director of the wind engineering and testing laboratory. National Geographic Explorer, a documentary TV series that airs on MSNBC, will film the simulator March 30–31 as part of a feature on tornadoes and the science behind efforts to understand them. In addition, Tim Samaras, an engineer and storm chaser from Denver, who was featured last year for his work measuring the lowest pressure under a tornado in South Dakota, will be here to test his newest probe in the lab before trying it in the field. Sarah Walter, a junior in mechanical engineering, has been selected by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to participate in the Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) program this summer. While in Washington D.C., Walter will research energy issues and write a technical paper to be published at the SAE World Congress in Detroit in April 2006. The WISE program is ranked as one of the best internship opportunities in the United States by the Princeton Review. (News Release) The Iowa State steel bridge team, co-chaired by civil engineering majors Ben Woline and Tyler McArthur, placed third at regional competition in Hilton Coliseum on March 5. The team now advances to nationals in Orlando, Florida, Memorial Day weekend, May 28–30.		The Marston Club and Patent Dinner planned for April 14 will recognize College of Engineering faculty members who received patents in 2004 and the four alumni selected to receive the 2005 Professional Progress in Engineering Award (PPEA). Patent recipients are: Tim Ellis, Srinivas Garimella, Joseph Gray, Karl Gschneidner, Feyzi Inanc, David Jiles, Surya Mallapragada, Tom McGee (2), Manjit Misra, Vitalij Pecharsky (3), John Roberts, Arun Somani, and Tom Wheelock. PPEA recipients are: Daniel Branagan, PhDMSE’95, founder and chief technical officer, the NanoSteel Company in Idaho Falls, Idaho, recognized for his outstanding scientific research on rapid solidification and nanoscale materials processing and for extraordinary contributions to technological development; Scott deBoer, MSPhys’91/PhDEE’95, engineering manager of R&D at Micron Technology Inc., Boise, Idaho, who led the company’s development of both current generation and next-generation memory technology and has received more than 100 patents; Agustin Irizarry-Rivera, PhDEE’96, associate professor, electrical engineering, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, PI or co-PI on more than $1.1 million in grants including a highly visible and innovative project that is part of an NSF initiative on electric power network efficiency and security; and Shelli Kay Starrett, PhDEE’94, associate professor, electrical and computer engineering, Kansas State University, who helped launch a highly successful nationwide MS degree program with focus on power engineering and a recipient of an NSF CAREER award. E-News is distributed by Engineering Communications and Marketing. If you have questions or news items to suggest, please contact Mary Jo Glanville at mglanvil@iastate.edu or call 4-8787.