New ME lecturer to start this month
Dr. Emmanuel Agba will join the mechanical engineering department as a senior lecturer on February 16, 2009. Agba served for eight years on the faculty of Mississippi State University (MSU), where he taught courses in mechanical design and manufacturing. He started MSU’s Center for Integrated Manufacturing, and he was lead professor for his department’s computer-aided design and manufacturing courses.
In 2000, Agba left academia to join the Ford Motor Company as manufacturing manager of powertrain operations. He was promoted in 2006 to the rank of technical leader. As such, he oversaw Ford’s global effort in virtual manufacturing engineering development and implementation. Agba is a registered professional engineer, a certified Six Sigma black belt, author of 24 conference and journal publications, and inventor of one U.S. patent. During this spring semester, he will be involved with instruction for the laboratory and project components of ME 270, 324, and 415. He will teach a variety of mechanical engineering courses in the general areas of design, CAE, and manufacturing. Feel free to stop by Dr. Agba’s office on the second floor to say hello.
ME graduate program sees 75 percent increase in applicants
As of February 1, 2009, the ME department’s fall 2009 graduate applicant pool reached 283 applications, representing a 75 percent increase over the department’s fall 2008 application pool. This increase is the highest among all graduate programs at Iowa State.
In comparison, the overall increase in graduate applications is 12 percent for the College of Engineering and 7 percent for the entire university. Domestic applications have increased from 13 to 42 applicants and include several strong applicants from Iowa State, UW Platteville, Central College, and Grinnell College.
“These data attest to the fact that more than the economy, it is the impact of recruiting efforts of our office, especially Amy Carver, and the strength and increased visibility of our department’s growing research enterprise that have contributed to our increased pool,” says Sriram Sundararajan, associate chair for graduate studies and research.
Ethanol Producer Magazine features ME professors’ work on biomass gasification
In the March 2009 issue of Ethanol Producer Magazine, the article “ISU to study biomass gasification for ethanol, process heat,” featured the work of Song-Charng Kong, assistant professor, and Robert Brown, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering. Read the story at ethanolproducer.com/article.jsp?article_id=5336.
ME student featured on college’s graduate studies page
Josh Drake, ME doctoral student studying under Professor Ted Heindel, has a profile on the College of Engineering’s graduate studies page. Check it out at www.eng.iastate.edu/grad/profiles/drake.asp.
