Archive for 'Students'
Sustainability master’s helps professional engineers grow in new directions
Posted on 02. May, 2013 by perspective.
As energy & CO2 leader for Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Steve Skarda spends most of his time working on renewable energy issues. But even on his own time, he thinks about sustainability. “It’s a personal passion for me,” he says. “I love it a lot. I took a car and converted it to an [...]
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A hull for Hoofers
Posted on 02. May, 2013 by perspective.
Students in Kuo K. and Cindy F. Wang Professor of Mechanical Engineering Tim Osswald’s Introduction to Composites Processing (ME 601) course are redesigning a BadgerTech boat for the Hoofers Sailing Club as a lesson in the mechanics of composite resins and process optimization. The students, many of them Hoofers sailing enthusiasts themselves, must infuse the [...]
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It ain’t easy being green: Freshmen researchers tackle tough project
Posted on 02. May, 2013 by perspective.
The 14 freshmen had almost no background in engineering—nor had they conducted any research. Yet by the end of their first semester at UW-Madison, they had completed a seemingly daunting project: Coat a small diesel engine with a platinum catalyst, add extra hydrogen to the combustion process, and determine if those changes reduced vehicle emissions. [...]
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A fusion star
Posted on 02. May, 2013 by perspective.
Lauren Garrison is soft-spoken, yet outgoing and a good listener to boot. She is equally comfortable chatting with kids in a grade-school classroom or with elite scientists at an international conference. A trained dancer, she is a crowd leader and a comfortable performer. In life, she seeks opportunities, rather than waiting for them to come [...]
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A blueprint for success: Helping transfer students overcome any obstacle
Posted on 02. May, 2013 by perspective.
Growing up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Daniel Ramirez eyed the circuitry of arcade cabinets with wonder. But turning that ambition into a career as an engineer was a pipe dream. “After high school, I figured that I wasn’t going to be able to afford college,” he says. Instead, he focused on building a family with his [...]
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Virtual internship, real engineering
Posted on 02. May, 2013 by perspective.
Applying the role-playing and problem-solving conventions often employed in video games, a computer simulation called Nephrotex enables engineering undergrads to assume the role of biomedical engineering interns working at a fictional company, giving them an early peek at what it’s like to apply math and science skills to a real-world problem. “It’s about learning to [...]
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Our global footprint
Posted on 01. May, 2013 by perspective.
Bob Lorenz walks eagerly to a favorite spot—a wall of photos of faculty, staff and students associated with Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium (WEMPEC)—in the Mechanical Engineering Building. Among those photos are the faces of international students and visiting scholars, and Lorenz traces invisible lines between himself, former students who have returned as [...]
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Five questions with Frank Pfefferkorn about manufacturing systems education
Posted on 01. May, 2013 by perspective.
Frank Pfefferkorn is an associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Manufacturing Systems Engineering Program at UW-Madison. Q: What is the Manufacturing Systems Engineering program? A: The Manufacturing Systems Engineering (MSE) program is an interdisciplinary master’s degree-granting program that was founded in 1983. The MSE program is part of the College of [...]
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Sharing the Badger pride
Posted on 10. Dec, 2012 by perspective.
By the time you are reading this message, I will have completed a tremendous chapter in my life. I am a December 2012 graduate of the UW-Madison Department of Mechanical Engineering, and I’m very proud to join the ranks of more than 45,000 UW-Madison engineering alumni around the globe. As a four-year member of the [...]
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From canvas to CAD
Posted on 10. Dec, 2012 by perspective.
Memorial gift encourages students to solve problems creatively across disciplines Leonardo Da Vinci had his flying machine. George Dergalis had his spaceship sculpture–a sphere 40 feet tall and 30 feet around, adorned with a domed glass skylight and filled with murals dedicated to the potential impact that space travel and biotechnology could have on human [...]
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The Engineering Summer Program
Posted on 10. Dec, 2012 by perspective.
Building support that lasts a lifetime Although he spent his career traveling all over the world, Kevin Bell says that in some ways, a summer in 1980 spent in Madison felt particularly lonely and foreign—yet overwhelmingly exciting. That summer, on the offhand recommendation of a Washington, D.C., neighbor who had attended the University of Wisconsin [...]
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Dream it, design it, build it
Posted on 10. Dec, 2012 by perspective.
$1.5 million alum gift helps ME department better prepare students for dynamic industry If you ask Mechanical Engineering Professor and Chair Roxann Engelstad how engineering in the 21st century has evolved, her answer is one of both challenge and opportunity. “It moves so fast, it is hard to keep up,” says Engelstad, who holds the [...]
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Wisconsin engineering: Support, retain and grow
Posted on 10. Dec, 2012 by perspective.
When I joined the UW-Madison College of Engineering as dean in 1999, I was determined to address a persistent problem: Too many students who begin undergraduate life aspiring to be engineers end up leaving engineering. As I look back on nearly 14 years of college leadership, I can say confidently that we’re turning that problem [...]
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College of Engineering interdisciplinary degree programs
Posted on 30. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
Environmental Chemistry & Technology Program Marc Anderson (chair) Tel: 608/263-3264 • Fax: 608/262-0454 mcpossin@wisc.edu www.engr.wisc.edu/interd/ect Geological Engineering Program Craig H. Benson (chair) Tel: 608/890-2420 • Fax: 608/890-3718 gle@engr.wisc.edu www.gle.wisc.edu Limnology and Marine Science Program Steve Loheide (chair) Tel: 608/263-3264 • Fax: 608/262-0454 mcpossin@wisc.edu www.engr.wisc.edu/interd/limnology Manufacturing Systems Engineering Program Frank Pfefferkorn (director) Tel: 608/262-0921• Fax: 608/265-4017 [...]
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College of Engineering student achievements
Posted on 30. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
Engineering Professional Development impact In 2011, students who participated in EPD continuing-education courses came from 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and 82 countries around the world. 7–Distance-delivered master’s degrees 11–Certificate series 25–Technical and professional subject areas ranging from the basics to high-level topics 75–Faculty and support staff 800–Course instructors 3,000–Short courses per year [...]
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College of Engineering facts and figures
Posted on 30. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
The UW-Madison College of Engineering is among the most innovative and consistently highly ranked U.S. colleges of engineering. We are internationally renowned for our leading-edge research and widely recognized for our ability to transfer technological advances into real-world applications via myriad partnerships with industry. Through our world-class undergraduate, graduate- and professional-level educational programs, we enable [...]
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After ACL reconstruction, finding small motions that cause big problems
Posted on 30. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
People who tear their anterior cruciate ligament, a ligament in the knee that provides stability to the connection between the tibia and femur, usually must opt for a complete ACL reconstruction with a portion of another ligament. However, about 90 percent of people who undergo reconstructive ACL surgery develop osteoarthritis—knee pain, swelling and stiffness—within 20 [...]
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Nanoscale piezoelectric materials could shake up chemistry
Posted on 30. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
Pollution controls, fuel cells, pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing all rely on catalysts to facilitate the chemical reactions that create useful products from raw material. Although not consumed in those reactions, catalysts can be limited, deactivated or otherwise destroyed in the process. Finding plentiful, durable low-cost catalytic material can create new pathways to sustainable, efficient production [...]
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Through new online master’s degree, sustainability engineers will add value to industry
Posted on 29. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
Geared toward practicing engineers, the new online Master of Engineering in Sustainable Systems Engineering program prepares students to understand and inspire change within their organization relating to complex systems and their effect on the quality of water, land, air, energy, economics and society. “This degree program will provide engineers with the skills to lead change [...]
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Digging into energy from the earth
Posted on 29. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
Drawing on data gathered from a heavily instrumented Adams County, Wisconsin, home, Engineering Professional Development and Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor James Tinjum is seeking to provide scientific support for a deep insulated single-hole (DISH) geothermal heat pump system, a novel heating and cooling method that capitalizes on heat stored in geological structures deep [...]
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In Yosemite meadow, study could spark conversation about restoration
Posted on 29. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
About Yosemite National Park, the famous naturalist and conservationist John Muir once said: “It is by far the grandest of all the special temples of Nature I was ever permitted to enter.” With majestic granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves and a wealth of biological diversity, this 1,169-square-mile wilderness boasts a rich natural [...]
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What proteins say about cell behavior
Posted on 29. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
Understanding how a cell makes a decision in response to a drug or stimuli—to grow, to move, or to die—could give doctors richer insight into why, in many cases, different therapies work for different patients. The key to understanding how cells make these decisions may lie within the network of proteins inside those cells. Using [...]
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Active, engaging education. Anywhere. And right here.
Posted on 28. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
In every building on the College of Engineering campus, there are classrooms and lecture halls packed with students listening to lectures. Yet, increasingly, that very traditional way of learning is not the only way UW-Madison engineering students are learning. “The 50-minute lecture is one of the most inefficient methods for human learning to occur,” says [...]
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Working to be discovered
Posted on 28. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
Co-ops help company find ‘rock stars’ At his first College of Engineering career fair in 2008, Scott Walhovd (CBE ’11) encountered an unusual sight: a corporate booth with no waiting line of hopeful students. The sophomore engineer made a beeline to the open booth and laid the groundwork for his first big work experience, an [...]
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Innovation: Forward thinking
Posted on 27. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will formally recognize 2012-13 as the Year of Innovation. As the engineering dean at a major research university, I recognize the importance of innovation in moving research discoveries into society to improve our quality of life and the economy. Innovation is where great ideas and discoveries are put to work for [...]
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Insights on innovation
Posted on 27. Aug, 2012 by perspective.
UW-Madison is recognizing 2012-13 as the Year of Innovation, offering a chance to reflect on what this concept means to the university and to society. With $136 million in research and more than 100 patent disclosures annually, the College of Engineering has worked to cultivate innovation as standard operating procedure in our classrooms and labs. [...]
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Tom Gerold: Passionate innovation—pesticide, nitinol and a broken leg
Posted on 20. Apr, 2012 by perspective.
“Innovation. The very word evokes mental images of complex turbo-machinery, nanoscale robots and iPads. Our brains are tuned to think of people like Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs and the Wright Brothers when the word reaches our ears. Something innovative is something desired—celebrated even—in our society. Imagine a world where the common cold is a life-threatening [...]
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A global connection: Online engineering master’s programs ranked No. 1
Posted on 20. Apr, 2012 by perspective.
U.S. News and World Report has ranked the University of Wisconsin-Madison No. 1 for its online graduate engineering programs in the categories of teaching practices and student engagement and student services and technology. UW-Madison is one of only three universities that made the U.S. News and World Report honor roll for top-quality online engineering degree [...]
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Airing the dirty laundry
Posted on 20. Apr, 2012 by perspective.
A team of 14 engineering mechanics and astronautics students hopes its experiment through the NASA Microgravity University program will solve one of the more vexing problems—dust—of long-term space travel. “There are two main problems with dust in space,” says Julie Mason, one of the EMA seniors leading the team. “First, if the Apollo astronauts had [...]
