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Students Win "Novel Design" Category at Sandia National Laboratories MEMS Contest Texas Tech students won the "Novel Design" Category for the third straight year at the Sandia National Laboratories MEMS Student Design Contest. Teams from Texas Tech have been winners in the competition in six of the last eight years. Student researchers presented their microelectromechanical system (MEMS) designs to the scrutiny of Sandia engineers. MEMS are a class of microscale devices that are being used in a wide range of commercial applications. Sandia National Labs hosts an annual MEMS design competition for their University Alliance member universities. Texas Tech won the Novel Design category for a microscale rheometer that is 1.2 mm x 2.0 mm. Rheometers are used to measure material properties. The microscale device incorporates an electrothermally actuated microstage and an integrated capacitance measurement structure to allow more efficient and effective quantification of biological materials and technologically relevant thin films. The Texas Tech MEMS group, led by Dr. Tim Dallas, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, teamed up with Dr. Gordon Christopher, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and his research group to produce the winning design. The students that contributed to the design submission included electrical and computer engineering students Gautham Ramachandran and Ashwin Vijayasai, as well as mechanical engineering student Zhenhuan Zhang. 
Texas Tech Hosts Robotics Competition for Elementary and Middle School Students More than 500 robots motored onto the Texas Tech University campus on April 21. Get Excited About Robotics (GEAR), a nonprofit volunteer organization, invites elementary and middle school students to compete in an eight-week challenge that involves programming LEGO robots to do a series of tasks. "Their goal is to inspire future generations to consider a career in engineering, science or technology," said Dr. Tanja Karp, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Karp has organized the competition since 2006, when it was merely a trial run held at Harwell Elementary School. It has grown since then. For the past five years, Texas Tech has served as a local GEAR hub for the competition in Lubbock. The theme this year was "Power Up," in response to corporate sponsors, Halliburton and Alpha Industries. More than 500 students from 50 schools around the Lubbock area and across the South Plains participated. "Through participation and LEGO Mindstorms NXT kits, the students learn robot design and programming, problem solving, the application of math and physics," Karp said. One of the student mentors who assisted was Megan Nicole Conway, a junior mechanical engineering major from Plano. Conway said she is happy to share her love of science with children who may one day follow her into the engineering field. "I got involved through a service learning course and mentor for an hour a week at the schools," she said. "It's fun to see them get excited when a robot does what they want it to on this eight-foot-by-eight-foot field." 
Disser Named McAuley Distinguished Engineering Student Daniel Disser has been named the recipient of the McAuley Distinguished Engineering Student Award for 2012. He will graduate with a 3.8 GPA in May 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in petroleum engineering. Disser is currently the president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the college's largest student organization. He has worked to increase the number of community service events that SPE participates in from four to six per semester and has implemented a mentoring program for underclassmen. He previously served as the external vice president of SPE and is a member of the American Association of Drilling Engineers and Ducks Unlimited. Before coming to Texas Tech, Disser completed a Bachelor of Science in corporate communications at The University of Texas at Austin. After completing his degree, he went to work at an oil and gas company in Conroe, Texas. He enjoyed the technical aspects of his job so much that he decided return to school to pursue a degree in petroleum engineering at Texas Tech. He has accepted a job after graduation with Anadarko in The Woodlands, Texas. He will start work as a drilling engineer at the Eagle Ford Shale play designing well plans and monitoring drilling activities.
Cortinas Named Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Abel Cortinas, a senior chemical engineering major, was chosen as the 2012 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher by the Texas Tech Center for Undergraduate Research. He was selected because of his involvement, outstanding potential, and great service and representation of Texas Tech. The award was given on May 18 at the Texas Tech Undergraduate Research Award Ceremony in conjunction with his presentation at the Board of Regents meeting. Cortinas was nominated by his research advisor Dr. Micah Green, an assistant professor of chemical engineering.
NSBE Named Organization of the Year The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) was named the Organization of the Year in the departmental category of the Texas Tech Student Organization Recognition Awards. The award recognizes the paramount achievement of a registered student organization over the year that causes the organization to stand out as compared to other organizations. Texas Tech's annual Student Organization Recognition Awards were announced at the university's Arbor Day ceremonies.
Talley Named to Capital One Academic All-District Softball Team Brittany Talley, a sophomore chemical engineering major, is a pitcher on the Texas Tech softball team. One of Texas Tech's top two pitchers this year, she is maintaining a 3.87 grade-point average and has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District team by the College Sports Information Directors of America. A sophomore from Little Elm, Texas, a suburb in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, Talley has been instrumental in Texas Tech's success this season as she reached the 10-win mark for the second-straight year. Talley pitched a one-hit shutout of No. 9 Missouri in mid-April to help lead the Red Raiders to three straight victories over top-10 opponents. She is already among the career leaders in Texas Tech history for wins, earned run average, and strikeouts. 
Students Place at IEEE Regional Competition The Texas Tech student section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) attended the 2012 IEEE Region 5 Annual Business Meeting & Student Contests in Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 20-21, 2012. Students participated in the Student Paper Contest, the Ethics Contest, and the Design Contest. Scott Clark and Chris Lutrick won third place in the Student Paper Contest with their lab 5 project "High-Power Pulsed RF Source Array Control Unit." Mitchell Kelly and Logan Walker took second place in the Design Contest.  Engineering Faculty and Staff Awards Dinner The college hosted the Engineering Faculty and Staff Awards Dinner on May 7, 2012.
Faculty members were recognized for awards from the university and the college. Faculty members were also recognized who received promotion or tenure. Faculty Promotion and Tenure Recognition
University Teaching Awards
College Teaching Awards
University Research Award
College Research Awards
Yang Receives Teetor Educational Award from SAE Dr. James Yang, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has been named a recipient of the 2012 SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award from SAE International. The award is in recognition of his outstanding contributions to SAE's engineering education initiatives. Reflecting the firm belief of its donor that young engineering educators are the most effective link between engineering students and their future careers, the SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Fund's major program is focused on younger engineering educators. Its objective is to provide an engineering atmosphere that these teachers can meet and exchange views with practicing engineers. The program accomplishes this by underwriting the costs of annually bringing engineering educators to the SAE World Congress & Exposition in Detroit, Michigan, or the SAE AeroTech meeting held every other year. These events attract more than 45,000 engineers who share common interests in research, design, development, production, and utilization of land, sea, air, and space vehicles.
Bayne Named Outstanding Organization Advisor Dr. Stephen Bayne, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was named the Outstanding Organization Advisor in the departmental category of the Texas Tech Student Organization Recognition Awards for his work with the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). The award recognizes the advisor whose ability to support, educate, and encourage the student organization goes above and beyond the expected norm. Texas Tech's annual Student Organization Recognition Awards were announced at the university's Arbor Day ceremonies.
Lie Partners with Texas Instruments on Fall Detection Device Dr. Donald Lie, Keh-Shew Lu Regents Chair and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Texas Tech and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Surgery at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, is collaborating with Texas Instruments (TI) on a research study aimed at the early detection and prevention of falls in elderly people. His device, a fall detection sensor that could significantly reduce falls in the geriatric population in the future, is featured in a TI question and answer blog. Read more about this device at the TI E2E™ Community. 
Orval Leroy Lewis Awards At the Engineering Faculty and Staff Awards Dinner on May 7, 2012, Misty Digby, unit coordinator in the Department of Computer Science, and Jamie Perez, unit coordinator in the Dean's Office, were awarded the Orval Leroy Lewis Award. The awards are in recognition of employees who demonstrate positive and friendly attitudes toward faculty, students, and colleagues, and commit personal energy over and above that required by the job description. 
Guthikonda Named Most Valuable Professional by UCTA Gopal K. Guthikonda, P.E., a 1983 Texas Tech graduate with a Master of Science in civil engineering, received the 2012 Most Valuable Professional Award from the Underground Construction Technology Association and Underground Construction Magazine. He earned the distinction of at a special ceremony held during the annual Underground Construction Technology International Conference & Exhibition at the Hilton Pavilion in San Antonio, on Jan. 24. Guthikonda was recognized as a driving force in providing engineering support for the execution of the water and wastewater improvements in Austin, Texas, and for the implementation of the city's Water and Wastewater Capital Improvement Program. He also was the program manager for the $400 million Austin Clean Water Program, a wastewater pipeline replacement and rehabilitation program initiated by the city of Austin to meet a federal mandate. Guthikonda played a leading role in the follow-up organization and the deployment of Austin Water's Capacity/Management/Operations/Maintenance program, which has become a model for Texas and North America. As assistant director of the Engineering Services Program with the Austin Water Utility, in Austin, Texas, he is responsible for providing engineering support functions for the execution of all of Austin's water and wastewater improvements.
Harkins Wins ACEC Texas Gold Medal Award and National Recognition Award Dr. Victoria Richards Harkins, P.E., D.WRE, a 1995 Texas Tech graduate with a Master of Science in civil engineering and a 1998 graduate with a Doctor of Philosophy in civil engineering, was awarded the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Texas Gold Medal Award and an ACEC National Recognition Award. The ACEC Excellence Awards Competition honors and recognizes outstanding achievements within the engineering community. The award was given for a project titled "Hamilton Pool and its Receiving Watershed Restoration Project" in the Texas Hill Country area at Hamilton Pool, a natural pool on Hamilton Creek, maintained by Travis County Parks. In 2007, the discharge of silt from an upstream development impacted the water quality of Hamilton and Davis Creeks and the Hamilton Pool. Harkins designed and recommended a restoration plan for the direct removal of silt and invasive plant vegetation from six miles of Davis and Hamilton Creeks. More than 6,500 cubic yards of silt were removed. She then designed a pump and treat on-site system to remove over nine feet of silt from the Hamilton Pool. Harkins is president of Harkins Engineering, Inc., a firm that provides environmental, municipal and civil engineering consulting services to governmental and private corporation clients.
Hearn Receives Student Academic Citizenship Award Stephanie Hearn, a 2011 Texas Tech graduate with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering, was awarded the Texas Tech Parent Association Student Academic Citizenship Award for her leadership role in the Society of Women Engineers student association and as conference chair for the SWE Region C Conference that was held in Lubbock in January 2012.  April 20, 2012 – May 14, 2012 Chemical Engineering
Computer Science
Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation
Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
 See a full listing of the college's events on the Engineering Master Calendar. Follow the College on Facebook and Twitter Keep up with news and events within the Whitacre College of Engineering by following the college on Facebook or Twitter. Updates are posted regularly. |
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