SUMMER 2007
E
Multidisciplinary team to aid
rural emergency responders
adapted from an article by
Tracy Ellig, MSU News Service
A multidisciplinary research team in
MSU’s College of Engineering has received
a $300,000 grant from the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) to study wireless communication networks that could aid
emergency responders in rugged, rural areas.
The grant grew from a request for help
from Wyoming’s Hot Springs County Sheriff’s
Office. In recent years, the county faced several emergencies in mountainous areas where
first responders were unable to communicate
over normal radio frequencies.
The collaborative effort is led by principal
investigators Doug Galarus, MSU’s Western
Transportation Institute; Neil Tang, computer science; and Richard Wolff, Gilhousen
Communications Chair, electrical engineering; and public agencies in northwestern
Wyoming.
They will investigate Mobile Ad-hoc Networks. A MANET is a network of computers
that automatically start communicating when
they enter wireless range.
In the Wyoming example, two or more
emergency vehicles equipped with portable
computers and radio equipment will form a
network, allowing vehicles to “talk” to one
another and share data. If one vehicle is in
contact with dispatch or headquarters, all
network vehicles will be linked to that office.
MANETs remain operable regardless of the
arrival and departure of individual vehicles.
Researchers believe that a MANET may
overcome challenges such as large distances,
difficult terrain, and lack of infrastructure.
By meeting with the county’s public safety
agencies, the team will better understand
emergencies requiring the network and how it
must perform. The team’s computer scientists
will compare these requirements to currently
available technologies and then develop and
test software specifications to fill gaps.
The team plans to field test a system by
early 2008 and get feedback from its users.
The project is nationally significant because
it addresses some problems faced by emergency responders after Hurricane Katrina and
because Hot Springs County’s challenges are
common throughout the West.
ngineering
Montana State University
Published by the MSU College of Engineering for Alumni, Friends and Faculty
[ Montana native breaking ground in MRM research
adapted from an article by Tracy Ellig, MSU News Service
Whitehall native Jennifer Brown has
distinguished herself in the field of magnetic
resonance microscopy at Montana State
University. (MSU Photo by Jay Thane)
Montana native Jennifer Brown and her
parents joke that they don’t know where she
and her big science brain came from, but the
ground-breaking research in magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) that she is doing at
MSU for her doctorate degree is no laughing
matter.
“Jennifer is just a classic Montana student,
hard working and highly ethical,” said her
advisor, Joe Seymour, chemical and biological
engineering.
Although it is similar to its better-known
hospital cousin, magnetic resonance imaging,
or MRI, MRM technology lets researchers
see much smaller things: fluids, gases and
particles moving inside objects down to onetenth of a millimeter in size.
Brown focuses on colloidal suspensions,
tiny particles suspended in fluids.
Colloidal suspensions are everywhere and
understanding them could have far-reaching implications because they include blood,
paint, medicinal lotions, bacteria in the
bloodstream, and sediment in rivers.
In Brown’s research, where tiny, oil-filled
beads are spun in fluids, particles don’t behave
as expected. Rather than evenly dispersing in
the fluid, as theorized, the beads migrate to a
very specific distribution.
Such a surprising result is like watching
runners at the start of the Boston Marathon
immediately clump to one side, leaving the
rest of the race course empty.
It’s an important discovery if you’re trying
to deliver a drug to stop a bacteria or to test
for a disease in a red blood cell. If you miss
the intended target, the whole process fails.
“This is looking at the fundamental nature
of things,” Brown said. “I want to do this
because it’s cool. It’s interesting.”
Keeping it interesting is important to
Brown, who admits that she needed 18
months of recuperation after her undergraduate degree.
“When I came to MSU, I knew I enjoyed
physics, math and chemistry, but engineering
seemed the most practical way to have a job
and enjoy those things,” she said.
2007 College of Engineering Commencement
A ROTC color guard formed by (from left to right) Daniel Newell, Thomas Dowell, Aaron
Dalbey, and Chelsey Darrow opened the 2007 commencement ceremony for Montana State
University’s College of Engineering on May 12. See page 7 for more commencement highlights.
THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
www.coe.montana.edu
Dean
Robert J. Marley
(406) 994-2272 . rmarley@coe.montana.edu
Associate Dean for Research
and Graduate Studies
Anne Camper
(406) 994-2272 . anne_erc.montana.edu
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate
Programs and Diversity
EMPower Director
Heidi Sherick
(406) 994-2272 . hsherick@coe.montana.edu
Senior Director of Development
Linda Wyckoff
(406) 994-2223 . lwyckoff@coe.montana.edu
Assistant Project Director
Hewlett Designing Our Community
Program
Sheree Watson
(406) 994-6723 . swatson@coe.montana.edu
Director of Educational Innovation
and Strategic Projects
Carolyn Plumb
(406) 994-5940 . cplumb@coe.montana.edu
DEPARTMENT HEADS & DIRECTORS
Chemical & Biological Engineering
Ronald Larsen
(406) 994-2221 . ronl@coe.montana.edu
Civil Engineering
Brett Gunnink
(406) 994-2111 . bgunnink@ce.montana.edu
Computer Science
Michael Oudshoorn
(406) 994-4780 . michael@cs.montana.edu
Electrical & Computer Engineering
James N. Peterson
(406) 994-2505 . jpeterson@ece.montana.edu
Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
Christopher H.M. Jenkins
(406) 994-2203 . cjenkins@me.montana.edu
Center for Biofilm Engineering
Phil Stewart
(406) 994-2890 . phil_s@erc.montana.edu
Montana Manufacturing Extension
Center
Steve Holland
(406) 994-3812 . sholland@coe.montana.edu
Western Transportation Institute
Stephen Albert
(406) 994-6114 . stevea@coe.montana.edu
Air Force ROTC
Lt. Col. Martin Balus
(406) 994-4022 . afrotc@montana.edu
Army ROTC
Maj. Ara Megerdichian
(406) 994-4044
2
Letter from the Dean
Dear Friends of the COE,
Members of our faculty,
leadership team, and advisory council recently completed a fifth year review
of the College’s strategic
plan, which was officially
implemented in 2002.
Any form of retrospection
is a healthy exercise for an
organization, particularly
when related to measurDean of the
able
strategic goals. There
College of Engineering
was
wide-spread
agreement
Robert Marley
that we’ve made great
strides in reaching many goals ahead of schedule
and are on course for others. Still some goals
remain a challenge, but on balance our review
was very satisfying.
Also during this review, there was a consensus that, given our recent accomplishments, we
should concentrate on “adding value” to our
curriculum. This simple, succinct phrase captures
what we have been moving towards for several
years, though perhaps with less focus. MSU
has literally been a national leader in teaching
engineering fundamentals, as shown by our
graduates’ FE exam pass rate. However, industry
and educational leaders now recognize the growing importance of our programs’ value-added
aspects. In previous issues of this newsletter, I
have discussed the National Academy of Engineers (NAE) concept of the “engineer of 2020.”
I am proud that MSU was ahead of the curve on
such concepts and that our faculty recognized the
need to enhance the student experience beyond
traditional subjects. Initially under the banner of
“multi-disciplinary design” and later, and more
comprehensively, as “MSU Engineer of 2010”,
we’ve continued to work towards the goal of providing students meaningful experiences beyond
the fundamentals.
Such ideas are catching on at other top engineering schools as well, due to the position of
the NAE and others. Some refer to creating the
“multi-dimensional engineer” or “trans-disciplinary engineer.” I personally appreciate the Boeing
concept in which they expect their engineers to
be “systems integrators.” In general, this means
that they better understand the business environment, technical trade-offs in complex product
or system design, and even that they appreciate
entrepreneurship.
Regardless of the term we use, the theme is
irrefutable — we must educate an engineer who
will succeed in the global economy. Graduating
students well-grounded in the fundamentals is
an important requisite, but the fundamentals
are rapidly becoming a commodity — one that
can be purchased over the Internet (often from
providers overseas) or from technicians using
increasingly sophisticated software.
Now is a particularly relevant time to review
and modify our strategic goals. Again, I’m very
pleased with where we are and am extremely
excited that our faculty are helping lead the way
in adding real value to modern engineering education. Please follow our progress. Our strategic
plan and related documents are available on our
Website. As always, I welcome your valuable
feedback.
Sincerely,
Robert Marley, Dean
Designing Our Community visits Boys and Girls Club
MET senior Tashina Tibbitts
guides students at the Southwest
Montana Boys and Girls Club as they
position sugar cubes. Tibbitts and her
teammates, students in the Designing
Our Community (DOC) program,
presented the activity in fall 2006 to
help children learn how buildings react
to an earthquake depending upon
proximity to the epicenter.
Designing and presenting the activity
was an assignment for a service-learning
course piloted by the DOC program for
Native American students during the
spring semester 2006.
MSU Recognition & Awards
Seven COE employees
cited for excellence
The College of Engineering
recognized contributions from
faculty and staff members at its
annual awards banquet May 9th.
ROTC Air Force, ROTC Army,
and the COE each selected one
recipient to receive an Excellence
in Teaching Award. For the 200607 academic year, the recipients
were Capt. Daniel Meier, ROTC
Air Force; SFC Jeffrey Lanpher,
ROTC Army; and Paul Schillings, Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering.
The COE awarded two Classified Excellence in Service Awards,
one to Jeannette Radcliffe, Computer Science, and the other to
William VanHorn, AFROTC.
Hunter Lloyd, Computer
Science, earned the Excellence
in Outreach Award and Joseph
Shaw, Electrical and Computer
Engineering, received the Excellence in Research Award.
MSU honors Holland and Shaw
Steve Holland, director of the Montana
Manufacturing Extension Center, is one
of two 2007 recipients of MSU’s Provost’s
Excellence in Outreach Award.
Since Holland’s appointment in 2000, the
MMEC has helped create 262 new manufacturing jobs in Montana and retain another
349 during a national decline in manufacturing. The MMEC is recognized among top
performers of the 59 centers in the national
Manufacturing Extension Partnership system. Over the past two years, the National
Institute of Standards and Technology has
awarded MMEC eight consecutive perfect
scores on impact measures.
Steve Shaw, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, received
MSU’s Meritorious Technology/Science
Award. It recognizes an MSU faculty
member who has made at least one significant technological or scientific contribution
that could be or has been transferred to the
private sector.
Two technologies that Shaw developed are
being patented by MSU and transferred to
the private sector. Since 2002 when Shaw
came to MSU, his work on fuel cells has
garnered roughly $2 million in research
funding.
College of Engineering students
recognized as Women of
Achievement of Engineering
(left to right): Sydney Arthur,
Amanda Andrikopoulos, and
Kathryn Hoyt.
Eight COE seniors and their
mentors recognized at banquet
Eight COE students were among 42 of
MSU’s top seniors recognized at the 25th
annual Awards for Excellence Banquet on
February 13. The MSU Alumni Association
and the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce
sponsor the event.
Students are nominated by faculty in their
college or department. Eligible seniors must
have earned a 3.5 grade point average on a
4.0 scale and demonstrated campus leadership and community service. Each recipient
selects a mentor to be honored at the event.
Following are the award winners from
COE and their respective mentors: Amanda
Andrikopoulos, industrial engineering,
(Heidi Sherick, COE Dean’s Office); Drew
Harris, civil engineering, (Sandy Bowers,
mathematical sciences); Andrew Lingley, electrical engineering, (Todd Kaiser,
electrical and computer engineering); Keely
Obert, civil engineering, (Jerry Stephens,
civil engineering); Daniel Ross, chemical
and biological engineering, (Max Deibert,
chemical and biological engineering); Jorgen
Rufner, chemical and biological engineering, (Max Deibert, chemical and biological engineering); Cody Stocks, industrial
engineering, (Paul Schillings, mechanical
and industrial engineering); Marcus Zoeller,
computer science, (John Paxton, computer
science).
Lake receives Parkins Award
Ian Lake is the recipient of the William E.
Parkins Engineering-Physics Award at MSU,
which he will use in the 2007-08 academic
year. The Parkins award is intended to encourage students to study across disciplines
and is awarded to the MSU student with the
top grade point average in engineering, math
and physics courses.
Lake is a double major in Computer Science and Physics. Lake carries a 3.96 gpa
and is a member of MSU’s Honors Program.
Faculty members say he is a responsible, mature, organized, conscientious and academically-gifted student who gets along well with
others. For his independent study in CS,
Lake designed an ambitious project in which
he created an online social/dating venue.
Three COE seniors recognized
as Women of Achievement
Three women from the College of Engineering were among 12 seniors selected as
Women of Achievement by MSU’s Women’s
Center: Amanda Andrikopoulos, Billings,
Industrial Engineering and Honors, Sydney
Arthur, Bozeman, civil engineering and minor in media and theater arts, and Kathryn
Hoyt, Bellingham, Wash., chemical and
biological engineering and minor in Native
American studies. All three expect to graduate in December. (See photo above.)
Micron scholarships support
12 students attending the COE
The Micron Technology Foundation, Inc.,
provides scholarships to 12 scholars in the
COE each academic year. Recipients for
2007-08 follow. Computer Science – recipients in their senior year are Jared Hedegaard and Ryan Heimbuch, and those in
their junior year are Kelvin Bateman, Jesse
Pitstick, Randall Reynolds, and Cassie
Reynolds.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
– recipients in their senior year are Orion
Bukantis, Stasha Patrick, and Patrick
Kujawa, and those in their junior year are
Ambrose McJunkin, Zachary Stordahl,
and Andrew Teh.
Hoyt one of 12 in nation
to receive Udall internship
Kathryn Hoyt, chemical and biological
engineering, has received one of 12 Morris
Udall Native American congressional internships. Each summer the Morris K. Udall
Foundation chooses Native Americans or
Alaska Native students or recent graduates
for a 10-week internship in Washington,
D.C., based on their college status and
demonstrated interest in fields related to
tribal public policy. Hoyt has been funded
by an Idea Network of Biomedical Research
Excellence (INBRE) undergraduate scholarship to conduct research in MSU’s Center
for Biofilm Engineering based in the COE.
3
Ortiz’s E-Week address urges women: ask questions,
follow passions and build communication skills
“What do a bomb
maker, interpreter
and educator have
in common?”
asked Rebecca
Ortiz, ChE ’99,
associate for Booz
Allen Hamilton,
a global strategy
and technology
consulting firm.
Rebecca Ortiz
High school and
college students interested in an engineering
career and their supporters gathered to hear
Ortiz’s keynote speech for the Cargill Women
in Engineering Dinner held at Montana State
University on Feb. 22, 2007. The annual
event is sponsored by Cargill and MSU’s College of Engineering.
Ortiz recalled having been impressed by
a chemical engineer who was one of several
guest lecturers who visited her introduction
to engineering class. He, in particular, stood
out for Ortiz because he had what seemed
like the ideal job and an incredible work-life
balance. She had imagined that he had set the
grade curves and was among the top ranks in
all of his college classes. Although Ortiz had
been inspired, she remembers thinking that
his career and lifestyle were out of her reach.
According to Ortiz, she was an average
student. She said that one professor routinely
drew bombs on her exams because he thought
that her recommendations were more likely
to cause an explosion than solve problems.
Now, less than a decade after graduating from
MSU with a bachelor’s degree in chemical
engineering, she, too, has a rewarding career
that has given her flexibility, a satisfying life
balance and exciting opportunities.
Ironically, Ortiz’s first assignment with
the United States Air Force was to join an
explosives team. After a Cargill internship
4
]
of a Saturday morning learning about
Bio Science Laboratories Inc. from a
stranger. She had seen the man through
a window and, after keeping her hair
appointment that had brought her there,
decided to ask him about the company.
When Ortiz asked what it would take to
get a job there, he introduced himself as
the company’s CEO, and told Ortiz that
she could start work on the following
Monday.
Ortiz also advised students to “Think
about your passions; ...about how they’ll
be useful in your engineering career.”
She said that she had taken French
and undergraduate research at MSU’s Center
for Biofilm Engineering, Ortiz found that she
wanted a research and development job. But,
she found most companies unwilling to hire
her for such jobs with just a bachelor’s degree.
The U.S. Air Force, however, was willing to
place her on an experienced explosives team.
Although some of her co-workers had 50
years of experience and names that she had
seen in textbooks, she earned their respect
and contributed to the team’s success. She
realized that, as an engineer, she had been
trained in a very
specific way to solve
problems and to think
outside the box.
The team wanted
to make explosives
coated with metal
parts to gain advantages of smaller weapons
without sacrificing
impact. Using TNT
was not an option
because of its environmental hazards. Ortiz
researched how variPanelists provide advice in a question and answer session. From left:
ous industries apply
Nicole Steinmetz, NorthWestern Energy; Kristie Simpson, Dynojet
coatings and found a
Research, Inc.; Libby Miller, Naval Undersea Warfare Center; Rebecca
sprayer that pharmaceutical companies use Ortiz, Booz Allen Hamilton; Sarah Codd, MSU, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; and Carina Beck, MSU Career
to coat medications.
Services and Student Employment.
The team retrofitted the equipment
throughout college and has always listed her
and used it. “Be willing to look beyond the
language skills on her résumé, even when
surface,” Ortiz advised.
others doubted its value. She proved its worth
Ortiz also stressed the value of asking
when, in her current job, she spent six weeks
questions. She credits her willingness to ask
in Paris. She acted as an interpreter for an inquestions for rewarding experiences that
telligence branch of the Air Force that needed
range from leading campus ministries at
someone to discuss military weapons systems
the University of Utah in her final year in
with French military leaders.
college to landing a job that hadn’t existed
Ortiz’s final, strong recommendation was
before, on a whim, she spent nearly an hour
to consciously build communications skills.
She encouraged students to volunteer to be
a spokesperson for groups, “Join ToastmasMiddle school students
ters and become comfortable with public
anticipate what will happen
speaking, even if it means first learning to be
when Jacob Warner, CET,
comfortable speaking to an audience of 12.”
tests their pasta bridges during
Ortiz concluded by answering her opening
the 2007 Engineerathon.
riddle. She is the bomb maker, interpreter
In recognition of National
and educator, despite her assertion that she
Engineers Week, the COE
was a “very average engineering student.”
hosted a week of outreach
Ortiz’s address was followed by a discusevents. The events are designed
sion
in which participants asked questions
to increase awareness of,
of
accomplished
women representing career
and stimulate interest in,
development, industry-related engineering
engineering concepts and
and academia.
professions.
Faculty & Staff Spotlight
Codd earns second prestigious NSF individual award
Congratulations and thank you
Sarah Codd, mechanical and industrial engineering, received
a $400,000 CAREER award from the National Science
Foundation (NSF). The five-year grant is one of NSF’s most
prestigious awards to support early career development activities of teacher-scholars. Codd works primarily in the COE’s
Magnetic Resonance Microscopy (MRM) Laboratory. With
MRM, researchers can see fluids and gases behave at a scale
smaller than the width of a human hair. Laws of physics as most people know
them change at this scale. Water can flow against gravity and molecules can
stretch. Although the MRM lab is housed in the COE, collaborations reach
across campus, the nation and world. Codd applies her expertise to fuel cells,
medical catheters, and the cleanup of contaminated soil and water. With some of
the funds, Codd will create a course offering an overview of techniques available
for engineers exploring the physical world at a very small scale. This is the second
major NSF award to an individual that Codd has received in the past three years.
She received a $387,000 NSF Advance Fellowship in 2004.
The following people have retired or will soon
retire from the COE: Anne DeFrance, adjunct
assistant professor in computer science; Lyman
Fellows and Pat Vowell, expert machinists in
technical services; Jim Peterson, department head
of electrical and computer engineering; and Paul
Schillings, associate professor in mechanical and
industrial engineering.
Worrest wins MEP’s Practitioner of the Year Award
Research Grants
Kreg Worrest, Montana Manufacturing Engineering Center
(MMEC) field engineer, was presented with the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Practitioner of the Year
Award. The award is presented at the National Institute of
Standards and Technology’s annual MEP national conference. Nominations can be made by NIST MEP staff and
stakeholders. In 2007 there were 21 nominees from 58
centers across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Worrest was honored for trailblazing in quality, generating impacts for
clients, and teaching other practitioners. His innovative approaches to mapping the
quality stream and workforce training were recognized as significant contributions
to the broader body of knowledge throughout the profession. MMEC is a manufacturing outreach center at MSU’s College of Engineering.
Grant for MilTech to help
speed technology to military
The Montana Manufacturing
Extension Center (MMEC) has
received $785,000 in federal funding
for MilTech. MilTech, a partnership
between MMEC and the United
States Department of Defense under
its TechLink program, aids the transfer
of new technology from small manufacturers to the U.S. military. MilTech
was recently cited by the Government
Accountability Office as one of just five
federal programs that specifically provide services to small manufacturers.
Research team granted
$1.14 million by NASA
MSU researchers received $1.14
million from NASA to study aerosols and water vapor in the atmosphere. Kevin Repasky
and Joseph Shaw, faculty in electrical and
computer engineering, are working on the remote-sensing project with graduate students
and physics faculty members. The team will
design and build two devices and will buy,
install and maintain two others. Their
data will inform climate modeling
and help scientists understand the
way that aerosols, which may cause a
cooling effect, and greenhouse gases
that cause warming interact.
Engineers to help predict
spread of contaminants
Book synthesizes biofilm research
and includes CD packed with tools
In the book “Fundamentals of Biofilm
Research” co-authors Drs. Zbigniew Lewandowski, professor of civil engineering, and
Haluk Beyenal, assistant professor of chemical
engineering and bioengineering at Washington
State University, offer a system of compatible
tools and measurements for conducting biofilm
studies and consistently interpreting their results.
The comprehensive book draws upon more than
20 years of extensive testing and refinement. Visit
the Center for Biofilm Engineering’s website for
details: www.erc.montana.edu.
IRA rollover: Benefit MSU and you!
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA)
provides certain individual traditional IRA and
Roth IRA owners a remarkable opportunity to
support MSU in a very tax-savvy way. Until
December 31, 2007, IRA owners who are at least
70 ½ years old in the year 2007 may transfer up
to $100,000 in IRA assets directly to MSU. Such
a charitable rollover under the PPA is entirely
tax-free, constitutes an annual required distribution, and reduces any potential estate tax. For
more information on how you (and MSU!) can
benefit from the PPA, call the MSU Foundation
Office of Planned Giving at (406) 994-2053 or
(800) 457-1696.
Faculty members and codirectors of the Magnetic
Resonance Microscopy Laboratory,
Joe Seymour, chemical and biological
engineering, and Sarah Codd, mechanical
and industrial engineering, received a
three year award of $348,460 from the
Department of Energy.
The researchers will study the impact of the
motion of molecules at the pore scale (<1 mm)
of porous media, like rocks and dirt, on interactions between the environmental chemistry
and biological activity.
The data will be used to model the transport of environmental contaminants and
their biological sequestration at large scales
(~100 m) relevant to environmental remediation. In this way models of how contaminants
are transported in the earth’s subsurface will
be based on the pore scale physics, chemistry
and biology, providing the potential to quantitatively predict contaminant spreading.
Other sponsored research grants
Eli Cuelho; Western Transportation Institute; $706,022; U.S. Department of Transportation; Cold region, rural transportation
research testbed in Lewistown, Mont.
Vic Cundy and Kevin Amende; mechanical and industrial engineering, $438,698;
AAON, Inc.; support for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning laboratory.
Richard Wolff and Yikun Huang; electrical and computer engineering; $215,683;
National Science Foundation; REU Site:
Wireless communications for rural and
remote areas.
5
Engineering
DESIGN FAIR
TOP: Nina Smith, EE, along with her partners Reid Roper, EE (left), and John
Allison, EE (far right), talk to Perry Moore (center) of Boeing about their wireless
communications project, a welder’s helmet that can deliver job-related information.
BELOW, LEFT: Dominik Fry, ME, demonstrates a pizza sauce applicator. Fry
and his partner, Jon Keeth, ME, designed and built the device for a restaurateur
who owns a chain of pizzerias. The equipment, built with food-grade components,
is expected to reduce training time and increase efficiency.
BELOW, RIGHT: Ed Adams, professor of civil engineering, left, admires the
Fast Cat, MSU’s human powered vehicle. Team members shown (left to right) are
Evan Cosgriff, Ryan Rasmussen, and Brandon Rivera. Members Jen Munsell,
Adam Johnson; Jon Blenkush; Kevin Prokop; and Richie Liebscher are not
pictured. In April the team finished in fifth-place overall among 24 teams in the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers Western Division Human Powered
Vehicle contest.
LEFT: Seniors majoring in mechanical engineering
and mechanical engineering technology pose in caps
supplied by their sponsor, an entrepreneur who sells
fire starters. The prototype applies paraffin to corn
cobs, saving the sponsor nearly a full day of labor
per batch and applying paraffin more uniformly.
Left to right: Brandon Cox, MET; Lance
Johnson, MET; Wes Horton, MET; Casey
Reichenberg, ME; and Lee Nathan, ME.
CONGRATULATIONS
Bobcat Motorsports, MSU’s student chapter
of the Society of Automotive Engineers, placed
20th overall among 80 teams in the 2007 SAE
Formula West competition — an amazing feat in
its second competition! Get details online at
www.montana.edu/bobcatmotorsports
6
RightNow Technologies’ CEO delivers Charge to the Class
BELOW: Robert J. Marley (right), Dean of Montana State
University’s College of Engineering, presents an autographed
photo by Gordon Wiltsie to Greg Gianforte (center and left),
president and chief executive officer of RightNow Technologies,
as Michael Oudshoorn, head of Computer Science, looks on.
MSU conferred an honorary doctorate in Computer Science
upon Gianforte during the main ceremony. He was the featured
speaker at the main ceremony and gave the Charge to the Class
during the COE’s ceremony on May 12.
COE students retain edge
over peers taking FE Exam
In October 2006, COE seniors outperformed all peer groups nationwide on the
discipline-specific Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exams. The eight-hour exam is
the first step toward professional licensure.
COE seniors across all engineering disciplines
achieved an 85% pass rate, surpassing the aggregate national pass rate of 74%. MSU COE
is among the 10% of programs that requires
all graduating seniors take the exam.
CS students’ test scores are
well above national median
Visit COE Web site for more on Commencement 2007
Visit www.coe.montana.edu/commencement.html for these commencement items:
• biography of the guest speaker, Greg Gianfonte, President and CEO of RightNow
Technologies, Inc., who presented the Charge to the Class.
• Commencement 2007 photo gallery
Engineering Advisory Council steers COE’s strategic planning
The 2007 Engineering Advisory Council
meeting on May 3 and 4 drew 17 members
to guide the COE’s strategic plan for the next
three to five years.
This year’s agenda linked last year’s theme
of the Engineer of 2020 to the close of one
strategic plan cycle and the launch of the next.
The EAC, with the dean’s office staff,
faculty members, and department heads, identified six skill sets that the COE will strive to
help students attain prior to graduating.
Montana State University’s COE graduates
who step forward to lead teams immersed in
global operations must excel in areas beyond
engineering fundamentals. COE administrators and the EAC agree that they must also be
able to (1) design systems and solve complex
problems; (2) recognize the global and societal
relevance of problems and potential solutions; (3) apply creativity and innovation; (4)
work within business constraints; (5) manage
projects successfully; and (6) collaborate with
people trained in other disciplines.
Current EAC members include Lindsay
Anderson, ’83 ChE, The Boeing Co.;
Norman H. Asbjornson, P.E., ’60 ME, ’04
HDR, AAON, Inc.; David A. Bartle, ’78 EE,
’80 M.S.-EE, Marvell Technologies; David
Bartz, ‘85 MET, Spirit AeroSystems, Inc.;
Klein Gilhousen, ’01 HDR, Qualcomm
Inc.; Kerry Hanson, ’74 EE, Spacelift
Range Systems, ITT; George Keremedjiev,
American Computer Museum; Bill Law,
’73 EE, ’74 M.S.-EE, Tektronix Inc., MAPL
Engineering; Malcolm “Mack” Long, ‘86
BuMgmt, ‘92 CET, JTL Group, Inc.; Allan
J. McDonald, ’59 ChE, ’86 HDR, Thiokol
Propulsion (retired); Margaret Mitchell, ‘88
CSci, American Express; Perry J. Moore, ’81
ME, The Boeing Co.; Chris Nelson, Zoot
Enterprises; Ryan Parker, Intel Corp.; John
David Pickering, Sr., Technical Systems
Integrators, LLC; Steven M. Quist, ’68 ME,
Blackmore Peak Partners; Rod Ray, Bend
Research, Inc.; Michael P. Sanderson, ’94
CE, ’96 M.S.-CE, Engineering, Inc.; Jean
Sweeney, ’76 ChE, 3M; Robert Testut,
Advanced Acoustic Concepts; and Robert
O. Warrington, ‘75 Ph.D.-ME, Michigan
Technological University. [Note: only MSU
degrees are listed and they are Bachelor of
Science degrees unless otherwise noted.]
To view presentations made during the
2007 EAC meeting, visit the COE website at
www.coe.montana.edu/eac2007.html.
In Spring Semester 2007, for the first time,
all students graduating from MSU with a
bachelor’s degree in Computer Science took
the Major Field Test in Computer Science. It
is a national test for graduating seniors created
by the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N.J. All of MSU’s seniors graduating in
CS will now be required to take the test.
MSU students who took the test achieved a
median score of 162, meaning that half scored
above 162 and the other half scored below it.
This score is much higher than 147.8%, the
national median for the same session.
MSU median scores also exceed the national median for all three subareas of the test.
Those scores follow, with MSU scores first
and national scores in parentheses: Programming, 71 (56); Discrete Structures and Algorithms, 49 (33); and Systems, 52 (43).
ITE student chapter sets record
with $100,000 endowment
MSU’s student chapter of the Institute of
Transportation Engineers has spent five years
raising $100,000 to create an endowment
for travel to professional conferences. It is
the largest amount ever raised for a perpetual
endowment by MSU students.
The endowment’s interest earnings will
provide $4,000 to $5,000 annually and will
supplement travel funds the ITE chapter
receives from MSU’s Western Transportation
Institute. WTI also provides research positions and fellowships to graduate and undergraduate students interested in transportation.
Former students say that professional
conferences are an under-appreciated way of
advancing a career. Meagan Powers, chapter
secretary in 2003-04, reports that almost all
students who were active in the chapter at
that time were hired by firms that they had
met through ITE.
The MSU student chapter, which was
named best in the nation in 1999, 2000 and
2003, was the first to have been so named for
two consecutive years.
7
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Office of the Dean
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212 Roberts Hall
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Bozeman, MT 59717-3820
SUMMER 2007
COE
The latest College of Engineering news is online.
Visit www.coe.montana.edu
Whitt, first head of Industrial Engineering at MSU, dies at age 98
Sidney A. Whitt
1908-2007
Although Sidney Whitt was born in 1908 in
Russia and lived in Pennsylvania, Alabama, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New York, he and his
wife Millicent chose to retire in Bozeman.
Whitt was just 16 in 1924 when he and his
family arrived in the United States, having fled
Russia after the Russian revolution in 1923.
Because his family had lost everything in Russia,
he immediately began an apprenticeship as a
mechanic when they arrived in Philadelphia.
8
In 1928 Whitt took a step toward his lifelong
goal of becoming a military engineer when he
entered the University of Alabama.
After graduating in 1933 with high honors in
mechanical and military engineering, he applied
his nationwide Tau Beta Pi Engineering Fellowship to earning a master’s degree in mechanical
engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He later earned a doctorate degree
from New York University.
Whitt supported United States military
endeavors during World War II as a chief design
engineer at a manufacturer in Buffalo, N.Y. One
of his inventions, the first successful aluminum
supercharger intercooler, let B-24 military planes
fly above 35,000 feet. In 1942 he was designated
a key civilian employee in the defense industry.
Whitt moved to Bozeman with his wife and
two sons in 1949. He was the first department
head of Montana State University’s Industrial
Engineering Department from 1949 to 1968,
later joined the faculty at the State University
of New York (SUNY), and, beginning in 1972,
served as SUNY’s first dean of the School of
Environmental and Resource Engineering until
retiring in 1976.
Whitt shared his love for outdoor activities,
such as hunting and hiking, with Millicent, his
wife of 63 years, until her passing in 1996. He
was 97 when he killed his last deer and lamented
in the month prior to his passing that he had
been unable to fill his 2006 deer tag.
Whitt was a strong proponent of education and valued an engineer’s ability to benefit
humanity. Although he was 98 years old when
he wrote his final holiday letter to friends and
family in December 2006, he wrote of his efforts
to “enhance the young engineer’s education.” He
had been writing a memoir with hopes of inspiring young people to study engineering.
His dedication to humanity was evident from
his January 2005 holiday greeting in which he
wrote, “...on final analysis there is no substitute
for peace and the time it provides for deep
analysis and subsequent action for the good of
mankind.”
Sidney Whitt passed away in Bozeman on
Jan. 25, 2007, just shy of his 99th birthday. He
had suffered a heart attack earlier that morning.