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News

Department Hosts Petroleum Engineering Campaign Victory Reception

The Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering hosted a Petroleum Engineering Campaign Victory Reception on Friday, October 11, 2013 to recognize the completion of its fundraising campaign.

From 2007 through 2013, the campaign, chaired by petroleum engineering alums Scott Hickman and Alan Smith, raised more than $50 million for the department and the new Petroleum Engineering Building.

Benefiting students, faculty, and industry, the campaign's impact will be significant, as gifts have been given to fund scholarships, graduate fellowships, research grants, equipment purchases, construction of the new building, and many other important projects for the department.

Petroleum Engineering Campaign Victory Reception
Petroleum Engineering Campaign Victory Reception
Pantoya
Pantoya

Pantoya Writes Third Children's Book

Dr. Michelle Pantoya, professor of mechanical engineering at Texas Tech, and her co-author Dr. Emily Hunt, now an engineering professor at West Texas A&M University and Texas Tech alumna, have written another child’s book teaching basic problem-solving skills by using engineering concepts and vocabulary. They worked with early childhood literacy experts and science museums to develop their most recent title, “Designing Dandelions: An Engineering Everything Adventure.”

The book tells the story of two young space aliens from the planet Exergy, who have crash-landed on Earth and must apply the engineering design process to get themselves back home. The book aims to teach children the relationship between science and engineering and introduce them to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts.

“I’m very excited to bring engineering to young children and start to inspire the future generations that will impact our world,” Pantoya said.

“Designing Dandelions” is the third book published by the author pair and their first to be published by Texas Tech University Press. Their previous titles, “Engineering Elephants” and “Pride by Design,” also have engineering themes.

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Hewett Namin
Hewett Namin

Department Hosts Summer Cybersecurity Workshop

The Texas Tech Department of Computer Science, in conjunction with Angelo State University, has received a $385,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to address cybersecurity workforce needs by reaching out to community and private colleges in the West Texas area.

In August, about 15 community and private college faculty members came to the Texas Tech campus for a one-week summer workshop to learn how to integrate the latest cybersecurity information and research into their own curricula or to create new courses. A second workshop with 15 more community and private college faculty members will be held during summer 2014. Dr. Akbar Siami-Namin, assistant professor of computer science, and Dr. Rattikorn Hewett, department chair and professor of computer science, from Texas Tech, Dr. James Phelps and Dr. Fred Wilson from Angelo State University, and Dr. Hamed Mohsenian-Rad from the University of California at Riverside, presented material to the participants.

“By giving faculty at the region’s community and private colleges more training, we hope to increase the knowledge that is passed on to students and better prepare them for the job market,” said Namin, principal investigator on the NSF grant.

“Cybersecurity is a new field that is evolving quickly,” said Namin. “We realized that community college faculty and students may not have access to the latest research and thinking on cybersecurity. Our goal is to transmit as much of that knowledge as possible so that teachers can expand their courses, and students can be better prepared for the job market.”

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Student News
Awe Fyfe
Awe Fyfe

Awe and Fyfe Engineer Victory on the Football Field

Fyfe Kicks off Against TCU
Fyfe Kicks Off Against TCU

As the Red Raiders take the football field each week, two Whitacre College of Engineering students play a key role in the team's performance. Micah Awe, a petroleum engineering major, and Kramer Fyfe, a mechanical engineering major, are representing the college well on the field.

Awe, a linebacker, played 13 games in the 2012-2013 season and had 12 tackles, the most tackles in the season for a true freshman. Originally from Lagos, Nigeria, he attended high school in Arlington, Texas. So far this season, he has played in six games and has 31 tackles and one sack.

Fyfe, a member of the Academic All-Big 12 First Team last year, played in 13 games and kicked off 79 times for 4,694 yards during the 2012-2013 season. Graduating high school in Austin, Texas, and taking the field as a college athlete for the first time last year, he says, "It felt like a dream, you trust your preparation and you forget about everything else." This season, he has kicked off 31 times for a total of 1872 yards.

As the kicker for the Red Raiders, Fyfe uses mechanical engineering principles during the game; he studies the wind patterns using fluids and kinematics theories to decide how he will kick the ball. He admits though, his biggest challenge is being productive with his time in balancing his studies and football. His success as an athlete and as a mechanical engineering student is attributed to an excellent planning and time distribution. He also finds time to relax and enjoys hobbies such as painting and flying airplanes. Fyfe encourages students to study engineering, saying, “Anything you set your mind on, you can do, just be intentional and prioritize your time.”

Faculty News
Castillo Chaudhuri
Castillo Chaudhuri

Castillo and Chaudhuri Named ASME Fellows

Dr. Luciano Castillo, Don Kay and Clay Cash Foundation Engineering Chair in Wind Energy and professor of mechanical engineering, and Dr. Jharna Chaudhuri, mechanical engineering department chair and professor of mechanical engineering, have been elected as fellows of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

There are more than 124,000 ASME members, and less than three percent of the total membership of the organization have been elevated to the level of fellow. Fellows have earned a membership grade of distinction and have been responsible for significant engineering achievements.

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McKenna Simon
McKenna Simon

McKenna and Simon Named Scientists of the Year

Dr. Greg McKenna, John R. Bradford Chair in Engineering and Horn Professor, and Dr. Sindee L. Simon, Whitacre Department Chair and Horn Professor, have been selected to receive the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Lubbock Chapter Scientists of the Year Award for 2013.

The ARCS Foundation, Inc. is a national volunteer women's organization dedicated to providing financial support to academically outstanding students majoring in the fields of natural science, medicine, and engineering. This academic year the local chapter has awarded thirteen scholarships to students enrolled at Texas Tech, the TTUHSC, and Lubbock Christian University.

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Grants and Contracts

September 17, 2013 – October 17, 2013

Investigator(s) Agency Title Amount
Chemical Engineering
Dr. Brandon L. Weeks Air Force Research Laboratory Characterizing Energetic Material Response to Microwave Energy $39,600
Dr. Siva A. Vanapalli National Science Foundation I-Corps: Development and Commercial Feasibility of a Microfluidic Drug Discovery Kit $50,000
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Dr. Stephen M. Morse,
Dr. Douglas A. Smith, and
Dr. Delong Zuo
Anonymous Sponsor - Industrial (NWI) Extension for Investigating Wind-Induced Vibration of a Tubular Steel Arm on a Transmission Tower $12,020
Dr. Priyantha W. Jayawickrama,
Dr. William D. Lawson, and
Dr. Hoyoung Seo
POSCO Engineering and Construction Cold Regions Engineering: Geotechnical Challenges and Solutions $24,800
Dr. William A. Jackson UTC Aerospace Systems ICES Organizational Support $5,000
Dr. Clifford B. Fedler TX Commission on Environmental Quality Wichita Falls Air Monitoring (FY14) $15,525
Computer Science
Dr. Sunho Lim Air Force Research Laboratory Detection of Selective Forwarding Attacks in Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks $6,955
Dr. Yong Chen National Science Foundation Planning Grant: I/UCRC for Center for Cloud and Autonomic Computing Site at Texas Tech University (CAC@TTU) $1,455
Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation
Dr. William A. Jackson,
Dr. William D. Lawson,
Dr. Daan Liang,
Dr. Audra N. Morse,
Dr. Kenneth A. Rainwater,
Dr. Sanjaya P. Senadheera,
and Dr. Weile Yan
TX Dept of Transportation 0-6793 TxDOT Snow and Ice for Texas Roads - MOD 2 Field Trial $99,757
Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics
Dr. James C. Dickens,
Dr. John J. Mankowski, and
Dr. Andreas A. Neuber
U.S. Army/Lockheed Martin Corporation Compact Hard Tube Vircator System $240,000
Dr. James C. Dickens,
Dr. John J. Mankowski, and
Dr. Andreas A. Neuber
U.S. Army/ARC Technology Haptic Feedback, Phase II $170,196
Dr. James C. Dickens,
Dr. John J. Mankowski, and
Dr. Andreas A. Neuber
Lockheed Martin Corporation Low Frequency/High Frequency Testing $44,220
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr. Mohammad A. Saed Air Force Research Laboratory Characterizing Energetic Material Response to Microwave Energy $39,600
Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Michelle L. Pantoya Air Force Research Laboratory Characterizing Energetic Material Response to Microwave Energy $40,800
Dr. James Yang National Ins of Occupational Safety & Health Computer-aided Predictive Models for Respirator Fit and Comfort-Phase III $24,999
Dr. Michelle L. Pantoya National Science Foundation Effective Practices Integrating Engineering & Literacy in the Early Years $194,636
Dr. Sivapathasu A. Parameswaran Gyro Technologies Limited Feasibility Study of GVT Developed by GTL $4,980
Dr. Juan G. Araya and
Dr. Luciano Castillo
National Science Foundation Symposium on Frontiers of Fluid Dynamics-A Legacy $15,000
Dr. Vittal S. Rao Ball Aerospace Corporation Cyber Physical Systems $39,000
Water Resources Center
Dr. Weile Yan National Science Foundation Reactions at Iron-enriched Mineral Interfaces and Implications for Catalytic Oxidation of Aqueous Contaminants $146,250
Events

See a full listing of the college's events on the Engineering Master Calendar.

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