The Odegard Monthly
April 20, 2011
Vol. 18, No.1
Dean’s Office
Congratulations to the following faculty on their recent promotion and/or being awarded
tenure effective August 16, 2011.
Tina Anderson, Aviation has been promoted to Associate Professor and awarded
tenure.
Elizabeth Bjerke, Aviation has been awarded tenure.
Xiquan Dong, Atmospheric Science has been promoted to Professor.
Paul Drechsel, Aviation has been promoted to Associate Professor and awarded
tenure.
Jim Higgins, Aviation has been awarded tenure.
Kim Kenville, Aviation has been promoted to Professor.
Leslie Martin, Aviation has been awarded tenure.
Congratulations to Drs. Ron Marsh and Kurt Zhang (School of Medicine) on being awarded
the first joint Seed Grant Award between the School of Medicine and the Odegard
School. The title of their seed grant is “Fast Assembly of RNA-Seq Short Reads Using
GPU Parallel Programming”. They will begin the project in June 2011.
A special denim day was held on April 5 for survivors of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.
Japanese students from Tokai University raised $570 and the employees of the Odegard
School raised $553! Thanks to everyone for their generosity.
Atmospheric Science
Drs. Baike Xi and Xiquan Dong received research funding of $70K from the Department of
Energy (DOE) to support DOE ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement) infrastructure
team during April 2011 through April 2012.
Dr. Xiquan Dong and his graduate students, Zhe Feng and Katie Giannecchini, presented
one oral talk and three posters at San Antonio, Texas during the DOE Atmospheric
System Research Science Team Meeting in March.
The UND Citation research aircraft is starting a NASA-sponsored field campaign in
Oklahoma to measure cloud and precipitation characteristics around thunderstorms. These
measurements are in support of pre-launch instrument validation for the NASA GPM
satellite. The Citation crew is Wayne Schindler (pilot), Jonathan Sepulveda (co-pilot),
Andrea Neumann (flight science engineer), Aaron Ness (instrument technician), and Mike
Poellot (flight scientist). The aircraft will be based in Ponca City, OK, until June 3. Tony
Grainger will be replacing Mike about mid-May).
Aviation
Leslie Martin and Nicholas Kwilinski (a Commercial Aviation undergraduate student)
attended the annual Sun’N Fun Airshow in Lakeland, FL to conduct research for the
Weather Technology in the Cockpit project. Despite being caught in a tornado, Leslie and
Nick were able to talk with many pilots of varying backgrounds about what they are
currently using and what they would like to use for weather technology in the cockpit.
They were also able to talk about their research project with various aviation vendors and
have made many great connections for the next phase of the WTIC project, which deals
with the use of mobile devices to access weather in flight.
Tina Anderson and Beth Bjerke attended the National Training Aircraft Symposium
(NTAS) at Embry-Riddle in Daytona Beach, FL. They presented on a panel discussing new
legislation concerning First Officer Qualifications. They spoke on the educator’s role in
developing First Officer Competencies.
Computer Science
A team from UND Aerospace, including Dr. Ron Marsh and Dr. Hassan Reza, were in
Arlington, VA the week of February 22-25 for a DOD Sense and Avoid (SAA) Science
Research Panel discussion.
The Department of Computer Science sponsored a First Lego League team for the first
time this year. Two of our graduate students, Sue LaPlante and Narda Hamilton, worked
with a team of five elementary students to show off their science, engineering, and
technology skills in a competition at the Memorial Union with 30 other teams. The
NYOshies won a trophy for the “Rising Star Award.” We’d like to thank Narda and Sue for
taking many of their personal hours to work with the students.
Tom Stokke is running a robotics club at Kelly Elementary School to interest students in
Computer Science at a young age. He is working with 25 fifth grade students teaching
them to program robots to do various motions: backing up, going forward, avoiding
obstacles, and reacting to the environment. Tom’s next group will be the fourth graders
whom he will work with for the next six weeks. The students love the chance to program
the robots!
Dr. Ron Marsh did a recruiting trip to Fertile-Beltrami High School on February 17th. He
was able to talk to a number of high school students about the many job opportunities in
the computer science field.
Dr. Tom O’Neil and Tom Stokke took a trip to Tri-County High School for a presentation
to the technology class. They informed students about our program and the differences
between the Bachelor of Science and the Bachelor of Arts. They were able to point out
the many uses of programming in the students’ daily lives, as well as other interesting
facts about Computer Science.
Upsilon Pi Epsilon held initiation on Wednesday, March 23rd for twenty new members. UPE
is the international honor society for Computing and Information disciplines. The mission
of UPE is to recognize academic excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels
and to encourage contributions to the enhancement of knowledge through the promotion of
the computing and information disciplines.
Cory Bowers, one of our students majoring in Computer Science, participated in the 25th
Annual Ronald E. McNair Commemorative Celebration and 10th National Research
Symposium at North Carolina A&T State University from January 26th-28th. The
symposium is designed to commemorate the life and accomplishments of the late Dr.
Ronald E. McNair, an alumnus of North Carolina A&T State University. The Symposium, an
integral component of the Celebration, provided undergraduate and faculty scholars the
opportunity to present research findings, hear and view cutting edge research findings;
engage in meaningful dialogues; and network with other scholars and graduate school
representatives. Cory presented a poster titled, “Internet Security Practices at the
University of North Dakota.”
Tom Stokke attended the 42nd Assoc. of Computing Machinery Technical Symposium on
Computer Science Education in Dallas, TX from March 9-12th.
Bradley K. Jensen, Ph.D., Principal Academic Relationship Manager, Microsoft Corporation;
Don Morton, Site Leader, Microsoft Fargo; Shawn Hanson, UND Computer Science
alumnus, and Jacqueline Crowhurst , UND Computer Science alumnus, visited the
Department of Computer Science March 31st and April 1st. They met with faculty to
discuss further collaboration with Microsoft and visited several classrooms to talk to
students about internships, coops, and job opportunities within Microsoft. Bradley and
Don also met with Dean Bruce Smith to discuss options available to both Microsoft and the
College. Dr. Joey Benoit joined Don Morton to discuss the possibility of a new graduate
program. They will meet again this summer. Bradley also offered to come back in May to
do workshops on Azure Cloud Computing and Windows Phone 7. ACM and ACM-W will
sponsor the workshops.
Fourteen graduate and undergraduate students traveled to the College of St. Scholastica
in Duluth, MN for the Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium. Four of the
students presented papers and the others were part of three teams who competed for
prizes in the programming competition. The team of Eric Huhtala, Grant Hadlich, and
Sanchit Goyal achieved a tie for second place in the competition. Congratulations to them!
Tom Stokke will have the cScibot Robot Camps and Alice Animation Camps this summer
again. The age range has been expanded slightly and more sections have been added for
both camps. Online registration is available at
http://conted.und.edu/secure/summercamp/ or you may contact the Department of
Computer Science for a brochure.
Earth System Science and Policy
The Earth System Science and Policy Department coordinated hands-on activities for 160
middle- and high-school students from throughout North Dakota on April 7, 2011. The
students were visiting UND to participate in the state Science and Engineering Fair.
Activities were offered in several Aerospace departments, including Aviation, Space
Studies, Atmospheric Sciences, and Earth System Science and Policy. Many individuals
from these departments volunteered to help make the visit a success.
Fiscal Affairs
Dotty Arnold is planning to retire on April 29th. She started at UND Aerospace in July
1988 after being employed for a year at the Chester Fritz Box Office. This place grabbed
her heart and she never let go. She was originally hired as an Account Technician to work
closely with student flight accounts and has most recently been the coordinator of the
laptop program. She has truly enjoyed all the people she has worked with over the years
and has a special bond with most of the students. The students have kept her busy which
in turn has kept her spirit and attitude so bubbly. “There is something about working with
students…they keep you feeling young”, said Dotty. Dotty is looking forward to spending
more time with her 5 kids, and bonding with her 11 grandkids and 2 great grandkids. When
she is not busy with her family she will be volunteering, finishing house projects and
traveling. Her husband (Skip) would like to join her in retirement once he sells, “Hitch-nGo”. They don’t want to be “hitched” to anything and want the freedom to “go”
whenever…which Dotty mentioned will be often. We wish Dotty the very best and thank
her for her twenty –three years of service to UND Aerospace!
*Please join us for a retirement reception in Dotty’s honor to be held in the Odegard Hall
employee lounge at 2:00pm on Wednesday, April 27th. Cake and refreshments will be
served.
Congratulations also to Dotty on the birth of her new grandson Max! Max Joshua
Coulombe was born on April 15th at 5:11pm, weighed 7 lb. 7 oz. and was 19 ½ “ long. 
Flight Operations
Frank Argenziano and Paul Snyder have successfully completed the MITRE Aviation
Institute Safety Management System (SMS) course and workshop conducted in Tampa,
Florida on March 17 & 18, 2011. Frank, Paul and a committee of faculty and staff are
currently working on developing a UND AEROSPACE Safety Management System. SMS
introduces an evolutionary process in system safety and safety management. SMS is a
structured process that obligates organizations to manage safety with the same level of
priority that other core business processes are managed. For additional information on
SMS contact Frank Argenziano or Paul Snyder.
On Saturday April 16, at Clifford Hall, UND Aerospace hosted the National FAA Safety
Stand Down, titled Stand Up To Error & Stand Down For Safety. This program, presented
in cooperation with the regional and national FAASTeam, focused on reducing general
aviation accidents through outreach, education, and engaging the GA community to
transform the safety culture. The program included presentations presented by four of
our academic instructors; Positive Flight Attitude: Keeping the Standards High, John
Bridewell; Going Beyond Preflight: Perfecting Your Preflight Inspection, Mark Dusenbury;
Enroute Cruise: Are You on Cruise Control, Gary Ullrich; and Maneuvering Flight: Slow,
Steady and Sure, Joe Vacek.
Congratulations to the Records Department on being the winner in the National Wear Red
Day and Work Well photo contest for the Coolest Digitally Enhanced Photo category! Joi
Roland was the official photographer and designer of the photo. Good job!!
*Please note – there will be a retirement reception for Sharon Gustafson, Records Dept.
on Thursday, May 5 at 2:00pm on 5th Floor.
Flight Operations – Maintenance
Chad Everson, Avionics, recently completed a 2-week Bell Helicopter 206B Field
Maintenance course and a 1-week 206 Electrical Maintenance course in Fort Worth, TX.
In March, Scott Baker, Quality Assurance Technician, and Steve Carpenter, Turbine MX
Manager, completed the Beechcraft Wing Structure Inspection Training course at the
2011 Minnesota Aviation Maintenance Technician Conference in Minneapolis.
Joel Robberstad, Avionics, attended Garmin G1000 Training (GPS – integrated avionics
system for aircraft) in Olathe, KS in February.
Kirk Peterson, Avionics, attended Citation Training at Flight Safety in Wichita, KS in
February also.
We would like to welcome Kurt Wieland, who has joined our MX department as a full-time
Aircraft Technician. Kurt comes to us from Dynamic Aviation in Bridgewater, VA.
Space Studies
Santhosh Seelan and Suezette Rene Bieri attended the National Space Grant Directors’
Meeting in Washington, D.C. on March 2-5. Pablo de Leon gave a presentation to the group
called “It All Started with Space Grant” explaining that the initial funds from Space Grant
garnered additional grants from other sources with the end result being the Human
Spaceflight Laboratory and the Spaceflight Simulator Facility. What started as a
$100,000 grant from Space Grant has grown to about a million dollar research effort with
de Leon and his students collaborating with private companies and with various NASA
Space Centers. His talk was very well received since North Dakota is the only Space Grant
state that is designing and building space suits. While in D.C. Seelan and Bieri visited
North Dakota’s Congressional delegation and thanked them for their previous support of
Space Grant. Representative Berg, Senator Hoeven and Senator Conrad were each
presented with a box of chippers from Widman’s!
Tim Holland, graduate student, has accepted a 2011 summer internship from the NASA
Robotics Academy at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Nicole Thom, graduate student, has accepted a 2011 summer internship at the NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center Lunar and Planetary Science Academy at Greenbelt,
Maryland.
Paul Hardersen is serving on a NASA New Frontiers Phase A Review Panel that is
evaluating three missions proposals for NASA. That appointment began in early February
and will run through early May.
Late in March, Pablo de Leon traveled to Antarctica with the NDX-1 (the Mars space suit)
to determine if the suit and its newly designed gloves allowed for efficient and
comfortable collection of soil samples. Accompanying de Leon was Jon Rask, senior
scientist at Ames Research Center and a graduate of the Department of Space Studies.
All science objectives were successfully achieved during the testing which was conducted
at the Argentine Air Force’s Marambio Antarctic Base.
At the Graduate School Scholarly Forum in March, the following Space Studies students
gave oral presentations: Elizabeth Howell and Randall Lilko.
At the Graduate School Scholarly Forum in March, the following Space Studies students
gave poster presentations: Kajli Agrawal; Christopher Church; Tim Holland; and Matt Voigt.
Suezette Rene Bieri gave two pre-service workshops late in March to soon-to-be student
teachers in the Department of Elementary Education at UND. The topic for both
workshops was space science.
Dr. Remy Dehaan, Associate Head, School of Environmental Sciences & Senior Lecturer,
(Spatial Science), Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia, will be visiting the
Department of Space Studies for two months. While here, he will be working with Dr.
Santhosh Seelan on UAS based remote sensing project ideas and proposals, and also
shopping around for an aircraft and sensors for use in a project in Australia.
The Department of Space Studies was well represented at the Lunar and Planetary Space
Conference held in Houston in mid-March. Attending were: Professor Mike Gaffey;
Associate Professor, Paul Hardersen; Research Assistant Professor, Vishnu Reddy; Post
Doctoral Researcher, Sherry Fieber-Beyer; and graduate students Jessica Blagen, Joshua
Nelson, Caitlin Nolby, Eric O’Dea, Will Swearson, Nicole Thom and Martin Hines. Gaffey,
Fieber-Beyer and Nelson gave poster presentations. Reddy and Thom gave papers.
Vadim Rygalov and graduate student Joshua Nelson have been notified that their proposal
to conduct a series of tests on low pressure environment micro-climate control from May
15-June 31 at the Space Life Science Lab at Kennedy Space Center has been accepted.
James Casler attended the annual conference of the North Dakota Society of Professional
Engineers, held at the Doublewood Inn, Fargo on April 12 and 13. Conference presentations
included discussions related to the North Dakota flood issues, bridge design and
construction, nanotechnology, and energy transmission, among others.
In mid-March, Dr. Ron Fevig visited the Southwest Research Institute Planetary Science
Directorate and the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. He met with a number of
individuals who are heavily involved in asteroid and comet research and spacecraft design.
Dr. Fevig expects fruitful collaborative endeavors to result from this visit.
On April 8, Dr. Ron Fevig received a $22,968 seed grant from ND NASA EPSCoR for his
proposal entitled “Near-Earth Object Space Mission Design.” Over the next year he will
use these to funds to develop mission architectures for reconnaissance spacecraft that
visit asteroids and comets, especially those that pose a threat to Earth. This research will
evolve into spacecraft design projects that target extramural funding sources.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Bob Concannon has been flying flood missions with CBP, using synthetic aperture radar to
collect data to help in the flood fight.
On March 4th Mike Nelson and Jeremy Smith spoke to the West Central Inc. sponsored
agronomy conference in Fargo about practical applications of UAS crop imagery and the
use of the CropCam UAS.
March 6th-9th Zach Waller and Jeremy Duke set up a booth at the ND Aviation Symposium
in Minot, ND. Mike Nelson was a guest speaker and panelist with Johnny Walker on the
subject of the UAS flight in North Dakota airspace.
On March 8th and 9th UAS hosted the Spanish Air Force representative Major Miguel
Perez-Cabrera. This will help place UND on the international list for UAS training.
The UAS Summit 5 is in the planning stages and is set for June 2-3 at the Alerus.
UNDAF
The Professor from Tokai University wrote the following letter to UND in appreciation of
the Japan denim day:
My name is Osamu Aizawa. I came here to supervise Tokai Students who come from
Japan to receive flight training at UND. Thank you very much for UND Special
Denim Day activity yesterday. As one of Japanese people and on behalf of Tokai
Students I appreciate your warm heart and concern about Japanese people.
We are encouraged very much. We feel happy to be with UND. In Japan they are
fighting with disaster as best as they can. I wish days of peace to come soon.
Thank you again for your help and donation.
May God bless you all.
Best regards,
Tokai professor Osamu Aizawa
Tokai University had a class of 21 students complete their training and return to Japan
over the last two months. A new Tokai University class of 22 students arrived on April 6
to begin their 16 month training.
Another class of 58 students from Air China is scheduled to arrive the end of April to
begin their training.
Kyle Wanner – Student Services Representative, has been hired as the ND Aeronautics
Commission Airport Planner II. Kyle will begin his new position in Bismarck in May. We
wish Kyle the best of luck on his new position!
A Crosby, ND businessman and longtime aviator Gary Hanisch recently helped UND by
donating a Beechcraft Bonanza F-33 for use as transport. The aircraft is valued at
$175,000. “This is really great for us because it means we’re able to provide air service
for the University without taking any aircraft out of training service” said Josh
Christianson, who accepted the donation from Mr. Hanisch on behalf of the Odegard
School. Gary was a personal friend of the late John Odegard and said he’s closely followed
the successes of the Odegard School. Diane Odegard was on hand when Mr. Hanisch and
his wife Helen came to officially donate their airplane to the University.
Above and Beyond
February and March nominees were ~
Lesli Riskey, Flight Operations – setting up lunch for Congressman Berg’s visit on short
notice.
Brent Idland and Ken Kaver, Maintenance – fixing aircraft N598ND, discovering bad
magneto pick-up. This saved UND about $22k. Great troubleshooting skills!
Dotty Arnold, Fiscal Affairs – clearing up a paperwork logjam that has kept one of the
Atmospheric Science grad students from getting paid.
Chris Brown and Robin Cook, Line – during the worst weather conditions, Chris and Robin
are always here to support the movement of aircraft with a smile on their faces. Thanks
for making our day brighter 
Deanna Osowski, ATC – helping Barb complete her key inventory.
Jeni Stroh, UNDAF – helping Barb complete her key inventory.
Kelly Sander, Flight Operations – helping Barb complete her key inventory.
Barb Sandvig, Aviation – assisting Kelly with key inventory.
Sheri Sponsler, Maintenance – assisting Kelly with key inventory.
Lori Potter, ASN – assisting Kelly with key inventory.
Steve Carpenter, Maintenance – in the event of monitoring Brent while being in the call
of duty working on helo’s. Good job Steve.
Mike Poellot, Xiquan Dong, Al Borho, Nicole Lunzman and Matt Clegg, Atmospheric
Science – covering Fred’s classes when he had to be gone for a funeral.
Gary Ullrich, Aviation – Gary is always the first to respond and be willing to have a
prospective student sit in his class.
Joe Masucci, Dean’s Office – helping Leslie clean the student organization office.
Andy Paluch, Aviation – helping Leslie clean the student organization office.
Mark Johnson, Aviation – covering Leslie’s Avit 415 class when she was traveling.
Warren Jensen, Aviation – teaching a two week session on simulations in Leslie’s Avit 491
class. The students really enjoyed it!
Leo Saucedo, Flight Operations – taking time on his day off to help Dawn gather
information needed to fulfill a request from the President’s Office & sticking around to
make sure she had everything. Also for dealing with her many return calls to make sure
she had the information correct. Thanks!
Rhonda Schmidt, UNDAF – getting information Dawn needed ASAP & walking it over for a
project Dawn was working on for the President’s Office.
Adam Johnson and Andrew Britton, Flight Operations – attending a middle school career
fair.
Ron Fevig, Space Studies – getting information for Suezette about Ames Research
Center which was needed by University Relations for a press release.
Kathy Borgen, Space Studies – doing a “rush job” to get material ready for Santhosh and
Suezette to take to the Legislature.
Becky Mann and Sandy Gust, Fiscal Affairs – helping to provide reimbursement for a
FIRST robotics team.
Bev Fetter, Space Studies – making truly wonderful cupcakes for Suezette’s birthday.
Leo Saucedo, Flight Operations – dropping everything to respond to a request for
information.
Dawn Seaver, Fiscal Affairs – dropping everything to respond to a request for
information.
Kelly Koss, Student Services – picking up the slack in Student Services during spring
break. She chose to work rather than depart for spring break. Her help was definitely
appreciated!
John Bridewell, Aviation – providing significant help, time and materials for Ernie’s
preparations for teaching Avit 244 this Spring semester.
Chris Naas and Elliot Bowman, Dean’s Office – for helping with Gary Bartelson’s Jr.
Achievement tour. He just received thank you cards from the kids and they had a blast!
Patrick Johnson, ATC – for helping with Gary Bartelson’s Jr. Achievement tour. He just
received thank you cards from the kids and they had a blast!
Suezette Bieri, Space Studies - for helping with Gary Bartelson’s Jr. Achievement tour.
He just received thank you cards from the kids and they had a blast!
Jeremy Smith, Santhosh Seelan and Bev Fetter, Space Studies – re-designing the
Space Studies website.
Tim Holland, Space Studies – loading a very heavy box of space science materials into
Suezette’s car.
Erik Johnson and Seth Hardley, Flight Operations – attending a middle school career
fair.
Derek Stinchfield, Atmospheric Science – for great support (and quick problem solving!)
for Gretchen’s group’s research cluster.
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 22 – Good Friday Holiday
April 25 – Easter Monday (Student Holiday – no classes)
April 27 – Retirement Reception for Dotty Arnold, 2pm, Odegard Hall Employee Lounge
April 28-29 – SAMA Conference
April 30-May 1 – Parent’s Weekend
April 30 – Scholarship Ceremony and Banquet
May 4 – Employee picnic at the new airport hangar, 11:30am-1:00pm
May 5 – Retirement Reception for Sharon Gustafson, 2pm, 5th floor Flight Operations
May 6 – Reading & Review Day
May 9-13 – Finals
May 14 –Spring Commencement. Odegard School graduation open house at the Alerus
before the ceremony from 12-1pm in the Eagle Room
May 16 – Summer Session classes begin
May 17 – Grades due at noon
May 23 – Last day to add a full term course
May 30 – Memorial Day Holiday
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STUDENT AEROSTOP
Welcomes Parents & Guests
to
UND Aerospace PARENT WEEKEND
Student AeroStop in Ryan Hall
OPEN SATURDAY, April 30, 2011
9am to 2pm
Your “UND AEROSPACE” merchandise HEADQUARTERS
The Odegard Monthly typed by Debbie Landeis
Feel free to submit items at any time for inclusion in the next edition.