LyondellBasell supports ME undergraduate program

David O’Brien and representatives of LyondellBasell presented the department with a gift of $15,000 for the Black-Hilstrom Excellence Fund on September 23, 2008.

ME department awarded P&S Retention and Recruitment Grant
On October 13, 2008, the Department of Mechanical Engineering received a $1,000 Retention and Recruitment Grant. These grants are awarded to professional and scientific employees who plan to address goals within Iowa State’s strategic plan related to recruiting and retaining students.

The grant will be used to develop the department’s outreach. Janelle Miranda, program assistant for undergraduate education, and Amy Carver, program assistant for graduate education, will be selecting faculty and students from Iowa State’s ME department to present the department’s education and research opportunities to potential feeder schools. These relationships will play a significant role in the department’s future growth. Miranda, the primary contact for the grant, collaborated with Doug Beck, academic adviser and director of the Kiewit Mechanical Engineering Student Services Center; Mary Bilstad, program coordinator; and Carver to compile the grant application. This is the second grant Miranda has been awarded since joining the mechanical engineering department.

Valery Levitas paper published in important journal
Recent research on nucleation theory conducted by Valery Levitas, Schafer 2050 Challenge Professor at Iowa State University, could soon draw worldwide attention. This welcome recognition comes from a paper he recently had published in Physical Review Letters (PRL), the world’s foremost physics journal, providing rapid publication of short reports of significant fundamental research. Read the entire story at www.me.iastate.edu/news-events-amp-seminars/news-article/article/2164/983.html.

ME Honors and Awards Reception
On October 8, 2008, the department hosted a reception to honor the achievements of faculty and staff. Among recognizing several faculty and staff members, Jonathan Wickert, department chair and Larry and Pam Pithan Professor of Mechanical Engineering, acknowledged two named faculty positions by presenting plaques to Valery Levitas, Shafer 2050 Challenge Professor, and Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, William March Scholar in Mechanical Engineering.

Funding award
Shankar Subramaniam, ME, and Rodney Fox, CBE, received a $145,500 award for “Development, Verification, and Validation of Multiphase Models for Polydisperse Flow” from the University of Colorado.

Events
Upcoming Technology, Globalization and Culture speakers

• Michael J. Mack, Jr., senior vice president and chief financial officer of Deere & Company, will present “Globalization, Technology, and Culture at John Deere” on October 28, 2008.
• Robert Reich, professor of public policy for the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, will present “Capitalism and Democracy” on November 4, 2008.
  
• Jim Waters, vice president of the Caterpillar Production System Division at Caterpillar, Inc., will present a talk (topic still to be determined) on November 11, 2008.

The presentations will be in the Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium, Howe Hall, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Course instructors James Bernard and Mark Rectanus are opening the course Web site and the auditorium classroom to anybody who wants to learn more about globalization and the issues swirling around it. For a complete schedule of speakers and more information, visit the course Web site at www.ede.iastate.edu/TGC/TGC/Technology-Globalization- Culture.html.