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News

Engineering Our Future Magazine
Engineering Our Future Magazine

Engineering Our Future Now Online

The latest issue of Engineering Our Future Magazine, the college's alumni magazine is now online. The magazine features faculty, staff, student, and alumni stories and news.



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Student News

Beeson Johnson Kahl
Beeson Johnson Kahl

Three Engineering Students Receive SMART Scholarships

Sterling Beeson, a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Jenna Johnson, a student in the Department of Industrial Engineering, and Patrick Kahl, a doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science, have been awarded scholarships from the Department of Defense Science, Mathematics And Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service Program.

The SMART program is an opportunity for students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines to receive a full scholarship and be employed upon degree completion.

Participants in the SMART Scholarship for Service Program receive a scholarship that pays for full tuition and education related fees, a cash award paid at a rate of $25,000 - $41,000, paid summer internships, health insurance reimbursement, book allowance, mentoring, and employment placement after graduation.

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Laity
Laity

Laity Receives Outstanding Student Award, Named Directed Energy Scholar

George Laity, a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was named the recipient of the Tom R. Burkes Award at the 2012 IEEE International Power Modulator and High Voltage Conference in San Diego, Calif. This award was established to recognize contributions by a graduate student in engineering, science, or technology associated with power modulation, power electronics, or repetitive pulsed power.

He was also selected as a 2012-1013 Graduate Directed Energy Scholar by the Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS). This award offers partial scholarships of $10,000 for the school year. Laity was the first student from Texas Tech to receive this scholarship when he received it previously in 2010.

Laity is conducting research this summer as a visiting scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque.

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Lei
Lei

Lei Wins ISRP Paper Award Competition

Zhipeng Lei, a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been named the International Society for Respiratory Protection (ISRP) Americas Section 2012 Student Research Award "Full Paper Award Winner." His paper is titled "Computational Fluid Dynamics-Based Respirator Fit Prediction - A Pilot Study." The paper will be published in the Journal of the International Society for Respiratory Protection.

The ISRP Americas Section sponsored the competition to encourage additional analysis of a National Institute for Occupational Safety Health (NIOSH) survey of approximately 4000 people that collected anthropometric data to update respirator test standards and fit-test panels. The students selected will be presenting their work at the upcoming 16th Biennial ISRP Conference in Boston on September 23–27, 2012.

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Chen
Chen

Chen Receives Outstanding Dissertation Award

Dr. Yingying Chen, a recent graduate with a Doctor of Philosophy in chemical engineering, received first place in the Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering category of the Texas Tech University Graduate School's Outstanding Thesis/Dissertation Awards competition for her dissertation titled "An Analysis of Model Parameter Uncertainty on Online Model-based Applications." The dissertation was nominated by Dr. Karlene Hoo.

Chen's dissertation will be nominated to the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) as part of its annual CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award competition to recognize an outstanding dissertation that represents original work and makes unusually significant contributions to the discipline being considered for that year.

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Faculty News

Kobza
Kobza

Kobza Named Fellow of IIE

Dr. John Kobza, senior associate dean and professor of industrial engineering, has been named a fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). Founded in 1948, IIE is an international, nonprofit association that provides leadership for the application, education, training, research, and development of industrial engineering.

The designation recognizes outstanding leaders of the profession who have made significant, nationally recognized contributions to industrial engineering. A fellow is the highest classification of IIE membership.

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Idesman
Idesman

Idesman Receives Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Award

Dr. Alexander Idesman, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and his doctoral student, Duc Pham, are recipients of a 2012 Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship (AFSFF) Award. Idesman previously received a similar award in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

The AFSFF program offers hands-on exposure to Air Force research challenges through 8- to 12-week research residencies at participating Air Force Research Facilities for full-time science, mathematics, and engineering faculty at U.S. colleges and universities.

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Obituaries

Sweazy
Sweazy

Robert Merrill Sweazy

Robert "Bob" Merrill Sweazy, Ph.D., of Lubbock passed away on July 5, 2012 at the age of 73, in Dallas, of complications following a lung transplant.

He was born in Chanute, Kan., on May 11, 1939, to Fred and Mildred Sweazy. He earned both a bachelor of arts and a master of science in biology and chemistry from Wichita State University and went on to receive a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Oklahoma. Sweazy came to Lubbock in 1970 and began a distinguished career at Texas Tech University. From 1970-1985, his focus was on teaching and research in the engineering field; he served as a professor of civil engineering and as director of the Water Resources Center and received more than $2M in sponsored research awards. In 1985, he became a full-time member of the university's central administration. In 2001, he was appointed Vice President for Research, Technology Transfer and Economic Development for the university, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2005.

He received many academic honors, including being named Engineer of the Year by the South Plains Chapter of TSPE in 1990, being appointed to the Board of Directors for the Texas Board of Professional Engineers by Governor George W. Bush in 2000, and being named Professor and Vice President Emeritus of Texas Tech University in 2007.

Sweazy balanced his affinity for academics with a commitment to college athletics. While at Texas Tech, he served as faculty athletic representative for 23 years and as chairman of the Athletic Council for the majority of that time. He was named the Faculty Athletic Representative of the Year by the All-American Football Foundation in 1997. In 2009, the Texas Tech Double T Association awarded him the Coach Dave Brown Award for outstanding contributions to Tech athletics by a non-alumnus. His athletic duties extended beyond the university, as he served on numerous committees for athletic organizations. He held the following notable positions: Southwest Conference President, College Football Association Chairman of the Board, NCAA Eligibility Committee Chairman, and NCAA Division I Vice President. He played an integral role in the merger of the Southwest and Big 8 conferences and then served in various positions within the Big XII Conference. Sweazy was a dedicated member, lifetime elder, and past chairman of the Board of First Christian Church. He served on many committees for the city of Lubbock, including the Parks and Recreation Board and the Community Development Advisory Committee. He and his wife Anne served as co-presidents of the Lubbock Assembly Club and as PTA co-presidents at Honey Elementary, Matthews Junior High and Monterey High School. He was also a member of the Lubbock Club Board of Directors. He is survived by his loving wife of 48 years, Anne Sweazy of Lubbock; his daughter and son-in-law, Suzanne and Cole Dulaney of Dallas; and his brother, Donald Sweazy of Lexington, S.C. A memorial service in celebration of his life was held on Friday, July 13.

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Grants and Contracts

June 14, 2012 – July 16, 2012

Chemical Engineering

  • Drs. Gregory B. McKenna and Brandon L. Weeks were awarded $383,294 by the Office of Naval Research. The title of the proposal was "DURIP: Purchase of a Nanoindentation System for Nanomechanical and Interfacial Measurements on Nantostructured Materials." McKenna is the PI.
  • Dr. Harvinder S. Gill was awarded $215,097 by the National Institutes of Health. The title of the proposal was "Nanoengineered Virus-mimics as Templates for Design of a Universal Influenza A Vaccine."

Civil and Environmental Engineering

  • Dr. Theodore G. Cleveland was awarded $36,698 by the TX Dept of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "TxDOT Revision/Development of DES-601 Basic Hydrology and Hydraulics and DES-602 Urban Storm Drain Design."

Computer Science

  • Dr. Yong Chen was awarded $92,167 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "CSR: Medium: Collaborative Research: Decoupled Execution Paradigm for Data-intensive High-end Computing."
  • Dr. Joseph N. Rushton was awarded $107,648 by DARPA/Kestrel Technology, LLC. The title of the proposal was "Defectory: A Crowd-sourced Program Verifier."
  • Drs. Sunho Lim and Eunseog Youn were awarded $25,000 by the Intel Corporation. The title of the proposal was "Modern Embedded Computing and Its Applications."
  • Dr. Yong Chen was awarded $16,000 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "REU SUPPLEMENT: CSR: Medium: Collaborative Research: Decoupled Execution Paradigm for Data-intensive High-end Computing."

Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation

  • Dr. Moon-Cheol Won was awarded $6,000 by the TX Dept of Transportation. The title of the proposal was "To Help TxDOT Conduct Forensic Evaluations, Conduct Laboratory Test, Field Testing and Compile Information that will Help Improve our Pavement and Save Texas Money."

Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics

  • Dr. Stephen B. Bayne was awarded $2,600 by the U.S. Army Research Office/AAS. The title of the proposal was "Research and Engineering Apprenticeship Program."

Electrical and Computer Engineering

  • Dr. Michael G. Giesselmann was awarded $8,333 by DOE/Univ of Minnesota. The title of the proposal was "ARRA: Revitalize Electric Power Engineering Education by State-of-the-Art Laboratories."
  • Drs. Stephen B. Bayne, Ronald H. Cox, Timothy J. Dallas, Richard O. Gale, Tanja N. Karp, Changzhi Li, Yu-Chun D. Lie, and Brian S. Nutter were awarded $447,553 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "Scholarships in Semiconductor Device Engineering."

Industrial Engineering

  • Dr. Hong-Chao Zhang was awarded $50,764 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "Collaborative Research: Understanding and Optimizing a Supercritical Fluid Process for Recycling of Printed Circuit Boards."

Mechanical Engineering

  • Dr. Jian Sheng was awarded $223,333 by the Gulf of Mexico Rsrch Initiative/UT Austin. The title of the proposal was "Consortium: The Impact of Biological, Physical and Chemical Processes on the Fate of Oil Spills- Bridging Small Scale Processes with Meso-scale Modeling."
  • Dr. Jingjing Qiu was awarded $100,000 by the Amer Chem Soc - Petroleum Research Fund. The title of the proposal was "Graphene-integrated Durable Rubber Sealants for Petroleum Exploration."
  • Dr. Sukalyan Bhattacharya was awarded $99,782 by the National Science Foundation. The title of the proposal was "Radial Migration of Suspended Particles and its Effect on Multispecies Flow Inside a Conduit."
  • Dr. Michelle L. Pantoya was awarded $5,999 by the U.S. Army RDECOM. The title of the proposal was "SUPPLEMENT: High School and Undergraduate Research Experiences: Multiphase Combustion of Metalized Nanocomposite Energetic Materials."

Water Resources Center

  • Drs. Juske Horita and William A. Jackson were awarded $33,500 by the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinators Office/LSU. The title of the proposal was "BP Oil Spill Research."

Whitacre College of Engineering Dean's Office

  • Drs. John R. Chandler, Andrea D. Fontenot, and William M. Marcy were awarded $1,774 by the TX Education Agency. The title of the proposal was "GRI: Texas Tech University T-STEM Center."
Events

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



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