During fall 2004, we heard from some of our alums…

2004 David Meade, PhD IE, assistant professor in manufacturing engineering at the Muskegon branch campus, WMU.

 

>>> David Meade>>>

He will be teaching computer control of manufacturing. david.meade@wmich.edu

2003 Danielle Durand, BS EGR, associate design engineer, SPX Contech, Portage, MI: danicole79@hotmail.com

2003 Jenni Levandoski, BS EGR, mechanical engineer, J R Automation, Holland, MI. She works a lot and loves her job: jenlin8@aol.com

2001 Michael Lavander, BS in Automotive Engineering Technology, quality engineer, Aisin AW, Plymouth, MI. He’s working on the launch of the Ford Hybrid: mike@mlav.com

2000 Robert Biggins, MS in Manufacturing Engineering, senior manufacturing engineer hydraulics assembly, Robert Bosch Corp., St. Joseph, MI, He’s pursuing a PhD in leadership and organizational analysis: bob.biggins@us.bosch.com

1999 Jeremy K. Lipton, BS in Automotive Engineering, project manager, Roush Industries, Livonia. He married Andrea Cernava (WMU 2000): jlipton@ameritech.net

1999 Erica (Mount) Steinfeldt, BS Engineering Management, senior buyer, Kohler, Sheboygan, WI: erica.steinfeldt@kohler.com

1998 Eddie Gunn III, MS Engineering Management, distribution center group leader, Target Corp. He lives in Easton, PA: egunn30@verizon.net

1997 Erik Grant, BS, program manager, Kautex Textron, Troy, MI: erikmgrant@yahoo.com

1997 Jermaine Thomas, BS Automotive Engineering Technology, engineer at General Motors: jermaine.e.Thomas@gm.com

1996 David Bowl, BS EGR, MSA General Administration, project manager, Ford Motor Co., Livonia, MI: dbowl@ford.com

1994 Tony Gumushian, BS Automotive Engineering Technology, automotive technology coordinator / professor at Prairie State College, Chicago, IL: agumushian@prairiestate.edu

1991 Carlos E. Diaz, MD, BS Automotive Engineering Technology, ophthalmologist, Thurmond Eye Associates: carlosdiaz2020@yahoo.com

1990 Robert Hollen, BS Production Technology, sales representative, Commercial Equipment Company, Grand Rapids, MI: gab24sorno@sbcglobal.net

1989 Tamara Fairbanks, BS EGR, vice-president of marketing and development, Who Moved My Cheese? LLC, Salt Lake City, UT. She says that her degree has served her well and that “life is very good.” tafair@networld.com

1987 Thomas A Kopplin, BS IE, consultant / control sales, KopplinControls, Jackson, MI: tom_kopplin@opexonline.com

>>> Gary Smith >>>

1987 Gary Smith, BS Manufacturing, Q.A. manager of the Hearth Division, DESA Heating, LLC, Bowling Green, KY. He thanks the IME faculty and staff for adding to his workplace qualifications: gary.smith13@allvantage.com

1985 Rick Donia, BS Auto Management & SVC, training coordinator, American Honda Motor, French Camp, CA. He operates NorCal Training Center for Honda/Acura. Rick_donia@ahm.honda.com

1985 Henry L. Upjohn II, BS Manufacturing, CEO Special-Lite, Inc., Decatur, MI

1983 Willymore M. Kisaka, BS Manufacturing Engineering, president, American Lock & Key Co., Vista, CA: williekisaka@yahoo.com

1977/1982 Robert Cooper, BSIE/MSOR, manager of operations planning and research, Yellow Transportation, Overland, KS.: bob.coope@yellowcorp.com

1975 Don Lent, BS Automotive Engineering Management, manager-special markets, Dana - Perfect Circle Division, Muskegon, MI: don.lent@dana.com

1974 John Vereeke, BS Mfg. Engineering, technical analysis/rotating equipment technician, Consumers Energy, West Olive, MI: jhvereeke@cmsenergy.com

1972 Andrew F. Grimm, MS Industrial Sup., retired, lives in Grand Rapids, MI and enjoys traveling in US and in Europe: algrimm@netpenny.net

1971/1973/1977 Keith N. Hood, BSEET, MS Technology, BSEE, engineer, City of Fort Wayne, IN: knhood@aol.com

1969 Dennis Lasanen, BS Manufacturing Management, engineer in the maintenance department, General Motors, Defiance, OH: dflasanen@aol.com

1966 Harold E. Rudlaff, BS Industrial Supervision, retired, Pharmacia/Upjohn, Kalamazoo, MI

1966/1969 D. Dale Stoughton, IS & MBA, retired, lives in Brenham, TX. He works part-time at a local golf course: dalestoughton@aol.com

1958 Maynard R. Martin, BS IE, retired, lives in Kalamazoo, MI: maynardrm@aol.com

IME professor, student garner awards at FEF conference

An IME professor and an IME student earned awards at the Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF) College Industry Conference (CIC) held in Chicago last November.

Dr. Sam Ramrattan - a specialist in material and process and a FEF Key Professor, received the American Foundry Society AFS/FEF Board Award.

The conference also honored Ryan Schwark, a senior in the manufacturing engineering technology program, with the $1,500 AFS-Saginaw Valley Scholarship, which was based on his work experience, his GPA, his career objectives, and two letters of recommendations.

Other scholarships Schwark has earned include an $800 FEF in Spring 2003, a $400 AFS Central Chapter in Fall 2004, and a $500 College of Engineering and Applied Sciences in Fall 2004.

Originally from Three Oaks, Schwark maintains a 3.6 GPA and is set to earn a BS in April 2005. Before enrolling at WMU, he obtained an Associate of Applied Science in Plastics Technology from Lake

Honored as a Key Professor at the November FEF CIC Convention, IME’s Dr. Sam Ramrattan (left) works with students in the WMU metal casting lab

Ryan Schwark , a senior in the IME manufacturing engineering program, won a $1,500 scholarship at the FEF CIC Convention held in Chicago last November. He has also won several other scholarships

Michigan College, in Benton Harbor, where he graduated with honors.

He is currently interviewing in the metal casting industry, and he hopes to remain in the Great Lakes region after graduation.

Four other WMU delegates to the conference were Michael Booms, Michael Farney, Daniel Galleher, and Jason Karbowski. Their expenses were paid by the metal casting industry through the FEF.

The FEF CIC conference provided FEF board members, university officials, professors, and top students delegates from across North America with the opportunity to meet metal casting industry executives from 36 participating companies and to gain an up-close and personal look at the industry. Also, $64,000 in special scholarships and awards was given to the FEF accredited schools at this conference alone.

Ramrattan said that WMU is “proud to be a part of this exciting FEF CIC event, which actively reaches out to engineering colleges and universities in North America.” WMU is one of only 25 in the world to be accredited in this Foundation. Nearly 75% of FEF registered students and scholarship students were placed in metal casting jobs this past year!

IME welcomes Timothy Greene, the new dean

Dr. Timothy J. Greene, who has accepted the post of Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and his wife, Nancy, were welcomed last week at the Parkview Campus.

Currently the assistant vice president for research and academic affairs at the University of Alabama, Greene told the WMU engineering staff and faculty that his present goals for the college are aligned with those of President Judith Bailey and Provost Linda Delene: to fight for state funding, to increase enrollment, and to double externally funded research by 2008.

The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences welcomed Dr. Timothy Greene and his wife, Nancy

To those goals, Greene added that “high quality instruction would be maintained” even as the new research was added.

An industrial engineer whose background includes not only academic but also industrial experience, Greene has been approved as a tenured faculty member of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.

IME Chair Paul Engelmann (right) presents an ergonomically designed snow shovel to new CEAS Dean Tim Greene, who comes to WMU from the University of Alabama.

IME Chair Paul Engelmann presented Greene with an ergonomically designed snow shovel as a “welcome to Michigan.”

Before joining the University of Alabama five years ago, Greene spent eight years at Oklahoma State University, where he spent four years as the head of the School of Industrial Engineering and Management and four years as the associate dean of research.

Prior to Oklahoma, Greene spent nine years on the faculty at Virginia Tech.

As a corporate consultant, Greene has worked with clients such as Brunswick Corp., Ingersoll Rand, Union Carbide, Federal Mogul, and IBM.

Greene earned three degrees at Purdue University: a bachelor’s in aeronautical and astronautical engineering and master’s and doctoral degrees in industrial engineering.

The new CEAS dean is a senior member and fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, where he served as national president; a senior member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers; and a member of Tau Beta Pi, Alpha Pi Mu, and Sigma Xi honor societies.

His other credentials include serving as an onsite evaluator for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

Greene will assume the new dean position in April when he replaces Dr. Michael Atkins, who is retiring after serving as dean since 2002 and as a member of the engineering faculty since 1971.

IME Faculty Advisor to SWE Coordinates Active Outreach Program

When she’s not involved in teaching or doing research, Dr. Colleen Phillips, an assistant professor in the IME department, serves as an advisor to WMU’s student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE – pronounced Swee). With her guidance the group has become extremely involved in outreach activities.

Dr. Colleen Phillips

SWE recently began its second year as sponsor for a FIRST Lego League (FLL) team at Portage Central Middle School. SWE members are assisting a dozen 10-to 14-year-olds in designing and building a small robot that can complete nine tasks. The robot must be able to shoot baskets, serve dinner at a small table, push chairs in at a table, climb stairs, retrieve eye glasses, move a CD into storage, and change a sign based on the sign’s color. “That final task involves artificial intelligence,” Phillips said.

Pfizer Inc. and Eaton Corporation have provided funds for the FLL competition robot.

SWE has many other activities planned. Three years ago, SWE began offering an annual Saturday workshop in February so that over 100 upper elementary school Girl Scouts could earn a “Making it Matter” engineering badge.

Because of the popularity of the workshop, Phillips said that SWE might offer two sessions this year. “We turned people away last year,” she said. Several of last year’s popular activities are also being repeated this year. These include a “Tea and Engineering” workshop for young girls and their mothers held last year at Kalamazoo Public School’s Woodward School for Technology and Research.

“Tea & Engineering” was offered last year at Woodward Elementary

Last year the first annual “Engineer for a Day” challenge pitted area high school teams against each other in a daylong event in which the teams were challenged to solve several physics-type problems.

SWE President Carla Siler (left) reviews the FIRST Lego League robot-building tasks with Portage Central Middle School students at the team’s first meeting in September. They are examining the competition board

SWE also plans to sponsor activities at this year’s WMU homecoming and recently sponsored a dinner table event for the college’s corporate sponsors.

While predominantly female, this year’s SWE membership includes four guys. Membership in the student chapter is free, but to qualify for scholarships and conferences, students must be official members, which costs $20 per year

Phillips earned her bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees at Purdue University. Her Ph.D. is in industrial engineering; her educational specialty and area of expertise is human factors and artificial intelligence. She came to WMU in 1999 from Louisiana Tech

IME Senior Earns Presidential Scholar Award

 

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Presidential Scholar Courtney Miller (center) is congratulated by WMU President Dr. Judith Bailey, and Faculty Senate President Dr. Peter Krawutschke

Courtney Miller, who graduates at the end of this month with a BS in Engineering (Industrial), was recently named the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Presidential Scholar. The honor is bestowed on the best scholars in each department in the university. Candidates are nominated by the faculty in their departments.

Her being chosen was based on a 3.96 grade point average, extensive involvement in professional organizations, and a proven track record of success. As part of the award, Presidential Scholars identify the faculty members who have been most influential in their careers. Courtney named Dr. Bob White and Dr. Tycho Fredericks.

In addition to serving as Alpha Pi Mu Engineering Honors Fraternity president and Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) treasurer, Courtney is also a member of the Society of Women Engineers, Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Fraternity), and Alpha Lambda Delta Honors Fraternity. Her numerous scholarships include the GE Women’s Network, the WMU Medallion, and the Russell L. Ligon Memorial Daughters of the American Revolution.

A 2000 graduate of Romeo High School, Courtney knew as a WMU freshman that she wanted to be an industrial engineer. “What I wanted was to go into ergonomics,” she said. “Once I got into the program, I realized that I liked a lot more than ergonomics.”

While she was in high school, Courtney was introduced to ergonomics and engineering at Women in Engineering Seminars sponsored by The Cranbrook Institute of Science Seminars. She initially chose ergonomics because she wanted to help people. “It’s engineering, but it’s not paper and pencil engineering,” she said. “It’s people engineering, and that’s what I wanted to do.”

Courtney was accepted in engineering programs at WMU and at the University of Michigan. She chose WMU because “Western was a lot more personable,” she said. “I knew I wouldn’t feel like a number and I liked the interaction with the professors.”

After graduation, Courtney, who passed the Fundamentals of Engineering exam last fall, assumes a position at TRW Occupant Safety in Washington, Michigan, where she worked as an intern last year. TRW makes steering wheels, airbags, and seatbelts. “I loved my internship,” she said. “I love getting involved in the whole process from designing to implementing.”

In her free time, Courtney enjoys volleyball, camping, and spending time with family and friends.

IME Seniors Set Record on State Engineering Exam

Dr. Bob White (left) and the Fall 2003 IME 416 class
that recently set a pass record for the professional state exam

Industrial engineering seniors have set a new record in terms of passing the professional national engineering exam administered by the State of Michigan. Of the 21 seniors who took Dr. Bob White’s IME 416 Operations Control class last fall, 18 recently passed the eight-hour Fundamentals of Engineering exam. This exam is prepared by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) and administered nationally.

White explained that the test is the first of a two-part professional engineering registration process required by the State of Michigan to become a registered professional engineer in Michigan. The second part of the exam is taken after the engineering graduates have had at least four years of field experience, and it tests their professional practice.

White has been teaching IME 416, which is offered only during the fall semester, since 1981. Students have been required to take the state exam since 1998. During that six-year time period, he said the class has “typically outperformed the national average,” but this year’s rate is the best so far.

The students’ 86 percent pass rate surpasses the 67 percent national average for students at all colleges. It is also better than the 74 percent pass rate of Doctoral I schools, which include the top-of-the-research-pyramid schools like Harvard and Yale. It is also well above the 50 percent average pass rate of colleges that are ranked in the Carnegie research doctoral-intensive schools, the group to which WMU belongs.

“We did much better than either the national average or the average of any of the groups that we compare ourselves to,” White said.

White is a full professor and a 31-year veteran of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, A Plainwell native, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at WMU and his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at Iowa State University.

IME Student Earns $5,000 Plastics Scholarship

Kamal Kumar Anand – winner of $5,000
SPE thremoforming scholarship

An IME graduate has earned a $5,000 Thermoforming Division Memorial Scholarship from the Society of Plastics Engineering (SPE) Foundation.

Kamal Kumar Anand, who needs one more semester to complete the work needed to earn a master’s degree in Manufacturing Engineering (ME), has been a graduate assistant in the plastics lab for the past year.

“I taught classes for two semesters, but now I’m looking after the lab,” he said. “The move to the new campus has left a lot of things to be set.”

After completing the master’s program, Anand plans to begin work on a Ph.D. His goal for a future career is to work with plastics. “I just want to work a lot in plastics,” he said. “And I like to work on projects.”

Before coming to WMU, he earned a diploma in tool engineering from Bangatore and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Chennai. He also worked for over three years in plastics in India. “I’ve worked a lot in plastics injection molding and in thermoforming dies,” he said.

Anand came to WMU in August 2002 from Tirupathi, a town in southern India. He chose WMU after visiting the IME website and contacting Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME chair and the architect of IME’s plastics program.

“Even before coming here I was in contact with Dr. Engelmann, so I came to know that the plastics’ lab here is very good,” he said.

This is the second time Anand had applied for the scholarship, which is awarded to only two qualified applicants. He said the application process was fairly easy. “They just wanted to know if I am working with plastics, and if I have considerable experience in plastics, and if I’m taking classes in plastics,” he said.

Anand expressed his appreciation for the support of everyone. “I especially want to thank Dr. Engelmann,” he said.

IME Professor Appointed Journal Editor

Dr. David Lyth, in his Parkview Campus office, reviews
articles as the new editor of the quarterly Quality Engineering

Dr. David Lyth has been named the editor of Quality Engineering (QE), a quarterly journal devoted to articles dealing with actual quality problems and their solutions.

Lyth replaces Frank Kaplan, 84, who established the journal.  His new responsibilities include previewing approximately 15 articles per month to determine those that are sent to the editorial review board. 

“The message (of an article) should be what the problem was, how it was solved, and what the results were,” he said. “It’s a very practitioner-oriented journal.”

QE is co-published by American Society for Quality Control (ASQ) and Marcel Dekker.

Each issue contains about a dozen articles and two columns, one on standards and another by the editor-in-chief

Lyth, who joined the IME faculty in 1987 after earning a Ph.D. in production and operations management at Michigan State University, was promoted to professor in 1998.  He has been on the editorial board for QE since its inception.

ASQ publishes four journals dealing with quality: Quality Management Journal, Quality Engineering, Journal of Quality Technology, and Technometrics.