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ConocoPhillips Bridge Program
Bridge ProgramThe Texas Tech University College of Engineering is pleased to announce a $500,000 five-year partnership with ConocoPhillips Company. This partnership establishes the ConocoPhillips Academic Success Bridge Program for engineering students at Texas Tech University.

The program will provide study skills training, academic preparation, tutoring, mentoring, scholarships, and other academic support services to entering freshmen engineering students. These resources will excite and encourage students in pursuing careers in engineering and will give them the confidence to succeed. The Bridge Program will also have opportunities to interact with engineers, scientists, and other technical professionals as they look to their own future.

The ConocoPhillips Academic Success Bridge Program aims to increase the enrollment and retention of engineering students including first generation college students, minority students, and/or students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Nationally, only 38 percent of all entering engineering majors complete an engineering degree in six years. At Texas Tech University, the goal is to graduate 50 percent of our entering freshmen within six years. Entering freshmen are most likely to stay in engineering if: they have the tools for academic success and they have a clear vision of the engineering profession and feel a part of the college community.

More information on the "Bridge" program can be found at www.coe.ttu.edu/bridge.

Prism Magazine
Prism Magazine The magazine of the American Society for Engineering Education, Prism Magazine, featured Dean Pamela Eibeck on the cover and in a feature story on the future of women in engineering. The article details the perceptions that high school females have of engineering programs. The full article can be read at http://www.prism-magazine.org/. (Sorry, members only).



Society of Professional Engineers Speaker SeriesSociety of Professional Engineers Speaker Series
The Society of Professional Engineers hosted the Douglas L. Foshee, President of El Paso Exploration on January 16th, 2008. This presentation is part two of a three-part speaker series that SPE is hosting this semester. On December 4th, 2007, Tim Parker, C.E.O. of HighMount began the series with over 300 students attending.


Texas BEST CompetitionTexas BEST Competition
Texas Tech University hosted the Texas B.E.S.T. competition on Novemeber 30th and December 1st. According to the Texas Best website, "Texas Best is one of three regional play-off events for BEST Robotics Inc. (BRI) that concludes an annual fall student team robotics design challenge. Sponsored by Texas Instruments, Texas Tech University, and Raytheon, Texas BEST is a two-day championship for 60 pre-college student teams advancing from local Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology (BEST) competitions in Texas and New Mexico. These top-placing middle school and high school teams met on the Texas Tech campus in December to match their remote-controlled robotic machines in a game of strategy, speed, and skill-and the right to earn top honors in a Best-of-the-BEST showdown!" Over 1050 students toured College of Engineering facilities. Thanks to all that helped.

Faculty Recognition

Andrew JacksonDr. Andrew Jackson, along with Dr. Gregory Harvey, Dr. Todd Anderson, Dr. Ken Rainwater, Dr. Moira Ridley, Dr. Sandy Dasgupta, Dr. Srinath Rajagopalan, Dr. Balaji Rao, Dr. Greta Orris, and Dr. Julio Betancourt recieved a Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Project of the Year award for contributions to U.S. Department of Defense objectives. The award was given at the Partners in Environmental Technology Technical Symposium and Workshop in Washington, D.C. on December 6, 2007. Look for more information about this award in the next Engineering Our Future Magazine.

Susan UrbanDr. Susan Urban joined the Computer Science department as Professor in January.  Her area of research is in Distributed Data Management. Dr. Urban will be joined by her husband, Dr. Joe Urban in May when he begins his responsibilities as Computer Science Department Chair.




Dr. Zhaoyang Fan joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering in January as an Assistant Professor.  Dr. Fan’s research is in solid-state photonics and electronics.   He is part of a team of nanophotonics researchers that includes Dr. Jingyu Lin and Dr. Hongxing Jiang who will join the department in May.

Staff Recognition

Patricia Bela was hired in December to work with Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Marie Byrd, an Administrative Business Assistant, will retire from Electrical and Computer Engineering at the end of January.

Judy Patterson, Senior Academic Program Advisor, and her husband Steve Patterson, Manager of Electrical Technical Operations, have announced their retirement from the Electrial and Computer Engineering department. Judy has officially retired, and Steve will retire soon. Judy worked for Texas Tech for over 25 years, and Steve worked at Texas Tech for over 30 years. We wish Judy and Steve luck in Florida!

Grants and Contracts

Chemical Engineering

  • Dr. Gregory McKenna was awarded $18,000.00 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The title of the proposal was "JPS - Physics."
  • Dr. Brandon Weeks and Dr. Gregory McKenna were awarded $107,000.00 by the Office of Naval Research. The title of the proposal was "Nanoscale Features in the Mechano-Chemistry of Energetic Materials: Novel Thermal and Force Scanning Probe Measurements." Dr. Brandon Weeks is the PI.
  • Dr. Brandon Weeks is a co-investigator of a $90,286.00 award from the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU Site: Micro and Nano Device Engineering." Dr. Timothy Dallas is the PI.
  • Dr. Gregory McKenna was awarded $111,000.00 by the U.S. Army Research Office. The title of the proposal was "Robust Polymer Films: Nanoscale Stiffening as a Route to Strong Materials."

Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Dr. Clifford Fedler was awarded $57,567.00 by the TX On-Site Wastewater Treatment Research Council. The title of the proposal was "Manual for Designing Surface Application of OSSF Wastewater Effluent."
Computer Science
  • Dr. Michael Sobolewski was awarded $27,372.00 by the Community Foundation of Abilene. The title of the proposal was "Sensor Service Oriented Metacomputing Environments."
Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics
  • Dr. James Dickens and Dr. John Mankowski were awarded $82,874.00 by AFOSR/University of Texas Austin. The title of the proposal was "Advanced Railgun Materials Development."
  • Dr. James Dickens was awarded $40,000.00 by the Lockheed Martin Corporation. The title of the proposal was "Novel Transmitter Support."
Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Dr. Hamed Sari-Sarraf was awarded $10,340.00 by Novartis. The title of the proposal was "Customized Visualization and Delineation Toolbox for Medical Images."
  • Dr. Hamed Sari-Sarraf is a co-investigator of a $35,313.00 award from Cotton Incorporated. The title of the proposal was "Data Mining in the Cotton Fiber Quality Databases."
  • Dr. Hamed Sari-Sarraf is a co-investigator of an $85,795.00 award from Cotton Incorporated. The title of the proposal was "Feasibility Study: Evaluation of Sensing Devices for Fabric Shrinkage and Fabric
    Smoothness."
  • Dr. Timothy Dallas, Dr. Richard Gale, and Dr. Ayrton Bernussi are co-investigators of a $90,286.00 award from the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU Site: Micro and Nano Device Engineering." Dr. Timothy Dallas is the PI.
  • Dr. Hamed Sari-Sarraf is a co-investigator of an $76,276.00 award from Cotton Incorporated. The title of the proposal was "Real-Time Cotton Fiber Characterization."
  • Dr. Hamed Sari-Sarraf was awarded $92,000.00 by the National Library of Medicine. The title of the proposal was "Segmenting Biomedical Images for Indexing: Interactive Texture and Refined Shape Methods."
Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Dr. Sunanda Mitra and Dr. Brian Nutter were awarded $99,900 from NIH-National Library of Medicine. The title of the proposal is “Automated Content-Based Image Retrieval and Display for High Resolution Medical Images.”
  • Dr. Brian Nutter, Dr. Mary Baker, and Dr. Mohammad Saed were awarded $19,200 from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The title of the proposal is “Curricular Development, Multidisciplinary Team Internship and Undergraduate Peer-Mentors for West Texas Students.”
Industrial Engineering
  • Dr. Timothy Matis and Dr. James Simonton were awarded $12,000.00 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "Center for Engineering and Distribution CeLDi: An NSF I/UCRC at Texas Tech University -- REU Supplement."
  • Dr. Hong Chao Zhang was awarded $25,000.00 by Image Microsystems. The title of the proposal was "Collaboration Research on PCB Recycling with Image Microsystems."
Mechanical Engineering
  • Dr. Valery Levitas and Dr. Michelle Pantoya were awarded $150,000.00 by the Office of Naval Research. The title of the proposal was "Fundamental Understanding and Improvement of Energetic Reactions of Aluminum
    Particles with Oxidizers and Metals." Dr. Valery Levitas is the PI.
  • Dr. Jordan Berg is a co-investigator of a $90,286.00 award from the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU Site: Micro and Nano Device Engineering." Dr. Timothy Dallas is the PI.
Water Resources Center
  • Dr. Kenneth Rainwater, Dr. Ernest Fish (NatRes), and Dr. Richard Zartman (PlSoiSci) were awarded $150,000.00 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The title of the proposal was "Evaluation of the State of Texas' Brush Control Program: Monitoring Needs and Potential Water Enhancement." Dr. Kenneth Rainwater is the PI.

Wind Science and Engineering Research Center
  • Dr. Andrew Swift, Dr. Jamie Chapman, Dr. Bradley Ewing, Dr. Andrew Jackson, Dr. Robert McComb, Dr. Audra Morse, Dr. Kenneth Rainwater, and Dr. John Schroeder were awarded $1,800.00 by the U.S. Department of Energy. The title of the proposal was "Great Plains Wind Power Test Facility." Dr. Andrew Swift is the PI.
  • Dr. Ernst Kiesling was awarded $86,980.00 by the National Storm Shelter Association. The title of the proposal was "Limited Management Services."
  • Dr. John Schroeder (AtmosSci) was awarded $3,966.00 by the Golden Spread Electric Coop. The title of the proposal was "West Texas Mesonet - File Development."

Publications and
Conference Presentations

Bai, Y., Kim, S. H., and Burkett, W. R., “Enhancing the Capability of Rapid Bridge Replacement after Extreme Events,” Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 14, No. 4, 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0969-9988.

Student Paper Competition Finalist “Impact of Power Cell Design on RF Performance of CE and CB SiGe Power HBTs”, G. Qin, Z. Ma,, J. Lopez, and D.Y.C. Lie”, accepted and to be presented to IEEE Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems (SiRF’08), January 23-25, Orlando, FL, USA (2008)

“A Fully-Integrated Highly-Efficient RF Class E SiGe Power Amplifier with an Envelope-Tracking Technique for EDGE Applications”, D.Y.C. Lie, J. D. Popp, F. Wang, D. Kimball, and L.E. Larson, Proc. IEEE Sixth Dallas Circuits and Systems Workshop (DCAS‘07), pp. 39-42, Nov. 15-16, Dallas (2007)

Invited paper: “The Design of Highly Efficient Monolithic Class E SiGe Power Amplifiers”, D.Y.C. Lie, J. Lopez, Proc. The 7th International Conference on ASIC (ASICON), Guilin, China, Oct. 26-29 (2007)

“The Design of Nonlinear Oscillator Array for Active Antenna”, J. Cothern, J. Neff, B.E. Meadows, T. Heath, D.Y.C. Lie, Proc. International Conference on Applications in Nonlinear Dynamics (ICAND’07), Poipu Beach, Koloa (Kauai), Hawaii, September 24-27 (2007)

“Highly Efficient Class E SiGe Power Amplifier Design for Wireless Sensor Network Applications”, D.Y.C. Lie, J. Lopez, and J. F. Rowland, Proc. IEEE Bipolar/BICMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting (BCTM), pp. 160-163, Boston, MA, Sept. 30–Oct. 2 (2007)

Student Accomplishments

SPIRIT ScholarsThe ConocoPhillips SPIRIT Scholars program provides educational opportunities and long-term professional development for qualified students. SPIRIT is an acronym for Safety, People, Integrity, Responsibility, Innovation, and Teamwork. The SPIRIT scholarship is for students majoring in engineering, geosciences, and business administration. Its primary objective is to prepare students for success in the modern business world by providing them with leadership and public service opportunities throughout their college career. ConocoPhillips is initiating the SPIRIT scholars program at Texas Tech and Kansas State this year, making a total of eight universities. Texas Tech is honored to be one of the universities included in the ConocoPhillips SPIRIT scholars program.

The ConocoPhillips SPIRIT Scholars for 2007-2008 are Aaron Birtell, Ross Brown, Jordan Cox, Nikki Davis, Noah Ellis, Tracy Giles, David Hart, Trevor Jordan, Meredith Macha, Joseph Patterson, Conrad Puls, Katherine Sperry, Michael Sprouse and Dylan Vennes.

Events

Spring 08 Job FairSpring 2008 COE Job Fair
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Lubbock Civic Center
Student Walk-thru: 9 am – 4 pm
Please plan to join us for the employer lunch from 11:30 – 2:00 in the Civic Center Banquet Hall.

Engineering Week
February 18-23, 2008
Many exciting activies planned by Engineering Student Organizations

Iron Ring Ceremony
Friday, Feb 22nd
Lubbock Country Club
5:30 pm (by invitation)

Honors Convocation
Saturday, Feb 23rd
Student Union Ballroom
9:00 am Breakfast (by invitation)
9:30 am Ceremony

Is your news listed here?

If not, submit it through your department’s editor:

Chemical - Hudson, Jan
Civil and Environmental - Andrews, Glenna
Computer Science - Digby, Mysti
Electrical and Computer - Willingham, Sandi
Engineering Technology - Reigner, Mary
Industrial - Wilson, Terry
Mechanical - Hernandez, Carmen
Petroleum - Blackmon, Joan

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