Iowa State engineers win R&D 100 Awards

van Leeuwen		Bryden

Hans van Leeuwen, professor of civil and construction engineering, and Mark Bryden, director of Ames Lab's Simulation, Modeling, and Decision Science program and an associate professor of mechanical engineering, are among researchers at Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory who have won 2009 R&D 100 Awards. Announced on Monday, July 20, the awards salute the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year. The Chicago Tribune has called the R&D 100 Awards the "Oscars of Invention."

Van Leeuwen led an interdisciplinary team of 10 Iowa State researchers in their work to use a microscopic fungus to produce biodiesel from plant processing wastes. Other team members from the College of Engineering are David Grewell and Tae Hyun Kim, assistant professors of agricultural and biosystems engineering (ABE); Priyanka Chand, ABE PhD candidate; and Melissa Montalbo-Lomboy, ABE postdoctoral research associate. Bryden and Doug McCorkle (MSME'02, PhDME'08), an associate scientist with Ames Lab and Iowa State's Virtual Reality Applications Center, developed the Virtual Engineering Process Simulation Interface (VE-PSI), a software application that will help engineers design the next generation of highly efficient and low-emission power plants. (News release)

Enrollment trends upward

The College of Engineering is one of two Iowa State colleges that expects an enrollment increase for first-year and transfer students for fall of 2009, according to Joel Johnson, director of engineering student programs and services. July projections for the incoming class range from 1,510 to 1,540 students compared to 1,418 who enrolled in fall of 2008. The ethnic and gender admissions reports are also positive, showing increases of 52 ethnic minority and 19 female students who had accepted admission as of July 1. (News release)

Iowa State's external funding hits record $305.2 million in FY2009

The College of Engineering helped Iowa State set a record $305.2 million in external funding during fiscal year 2009. Projects included $3.25 million from the National Science Foundation to support establishment of an NSF Engineering Research Center for Biorenewable Chemicals based at Iowa State; $2.75 million from the National Academy of Sciences for geotechnical research to facilitate rapid highway renewal; $2.55 million from ConocoPhillips for biofuels research; and $2.37 million from the Iowa Office of Energy Independence to study and develop a clean gasification system for renewable power, energy, and ethanol from biomass. (News release)

Four faculty receive NSF CAREER Awards

Aliprantis	Cochran	Lin	Zou

Reaching an important milestone in their careers, four assistant professors in the college have been awarded 2009 CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The faculty honored with this highly competitive award--Dionysios Aliprantis, electrical and computer engineering; Eric Cochran, chemical and biological engineering; Zhiqun Lin, materials science and engineering; and Qingze Zou, mechanical engineering--will each receive approximately $400,000 over five years in support of their respective research and educational efforts. These researchers are addressing a range of engineering challenges. Aliprantis' research is aimed at optimizing electrical machine performance, Cochran is investigating a new class of polymer composites, Lin is developing a new paradigm for creating hierarchical structures, and Zou is working to overcome limitations in a scanning probe microscope so it can characterize soft materials such as DNA. (News release)

Engineering Iowa State's solar house

Tim Lentz, a mechanical engineering graduate student from Dubuque, is the project engineer for Iowa State's Solar Decathlon Team, which is designing and building an energy-efficient solar-powered house for the U.S. Department of Energy competition this fall in Washington, D.C. With the architectural design complete and construction well under way, Lentz is up next with the engineering--installing delicate photovoltaic and evacuated-tube solar collectors and plumbing and wiring. Lentz is no rookie. He coordinated the design of the engineering systems and knows them inside and out. (Read more)

New chairs in CBE and ME

Mallapragada

Surya K. Mallapragada, professor of chemical and biological engineering (CBE) and the Richard Stanley Chair in Interdisciplinary Engineering, has been named chair of CBE effective August 16. A member of the Iowa State faculty since 1996, Mallapragada is also fieldwork proposal leader for bioinspired materials at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory. Mallapragada is an elected fellow in two organizations--the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Other honors include the Iowa State Foundation Mid-Career Excellence in Research Award, Big 12 Rising Star Award, and being named as one of the World's Top 100 Young Innovators by MIT's Technology Review. Mallapragada succeeds James C. Hill, who has served as department chair since 2005.

	Heindel

Ted Heindel, professor and associate chair for academic affairs for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, assumed the role of interim chair of mechanical engineering on July 1. Heindel is the director of the Experimental Multiphase Flow Laboratory. He was recently awarded the Bergles Professorship in Thermal Science and has been twice selected by graduating seniors as mechanical engineering's Professor of the Year. Heindel will hold this appointment until the next permanent chair is in place. An open search for the chair position will begin in the fall. Heindel succeeds Jonathan Wickert, who is now dean of the College of Engineering.

Chris Chu wins IBM Faculty Award

Figuring out how to meet the computing challenges of the future is a tough task for engineers, and it requires researching and developing solutions no one has tried before. One Iowa State computer engineer, Associate Professor Chris Chu, is conducting innovative research to improve integrated circuit designs used in computers and other electronic devices. The research is supported by a 2009 IBM Faculty Award Chu received this summer. (News release)

Grad student awarded Carver Scholarship Prize

Mark Mba Wright, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering with a chemical engineering minor, has been awarded the 2009 George Washington Carver Scholarship Prize for Outstanding Student Achievement in Biorenewables. This is the second year the Bioeconomy Institute and the Biotechnology Industry Organization have awarded the $4,000 prize recognizing the research contributions of a student in Iowa State's biorenewable resources and technologies graduate program. (Featured news)

ABE faculty and students recognized at international meeting

Agricultural and biosystems engineering (ABE) faculty members and students received numerous honors at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) annual international meeting held in Reno, Nevada, in June. The faculty awards recognized outstanding service, dedicated leadership, and exemplary contributions. Agricultural engineering senior Gayle Bishop, from West Union, Iowa, won first place in the K. K. Barnes Student Paper Competition, and two of the student clubs also won top awards. (News release)

News and Media Spotlights

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Iowa State gets virtual reality platform partner: In the news

Information security takes center stage: Video spotlight

Two minutes with Song Zhang, ME assistant professor: Video spotlight

See Iowa State robotics research on the Science Channel: Media spotlight