Jefferson Science Fellowship

The National Academies is pleased to announce a call for applications for the 2011 Jefferson Science Fellowship (JSF) program. Now in its 8th year, the JSF program is a model for engaging the American academic science, technology, and engineering communities in the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy.

Jefferson Science Fellows spend one year at the U.S. Department of State or U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, DC and may periodically travel to U.S. foreign embassies and/or missions. JSF awards are open to tenured academic scientists, technologists and engineers from U.S. educational institutions. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and will be required to obtain a security clearance.

The online application and instructions can be found on the JSF website:  www.national-academies.org/jsf

2010 EAS Fair to connect job seekers with 40+ employers

More than 40 employers have signed up for the 2010 Engineering and Applied Sciences [EAS] Fair. It’s set for Thurs., Sep. 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Parkview Campus main lobby. The event is free and open to the public. Name tags and a layout to find employers will be available at the sign-in table as early as 8 a.m.

More than 40 employers are signed up to interview at the 2010 EAS Fair. 
Above is Post Foods group that attended the 2009 EAS Career Fair.

Christopher Sell, CEAS career development specialist, is coordinating the day’s event, which annually links internship, co-op and full-time job seekers with local, regional, national and international employers.

Among those who have already signed up are Stryker, Duncan Aviation, Michigan Civil Services Commission, Adecco Technical and Engineering, Consumers Energy, Domtar, GenTex (Zeeland), Halliburton, Innotec, Kellogg’s , Post, Parker Hannifin, Perrigo, Verso Paper, the U.S. Army Healthcare, and many more.

Chris Sell, career development specialist, with EAS flier.

Sell said those seeking jobs, internships, and/or co-operative experiences should dress up. Men should wear ties and a suit coat (if they own one), and women should wear conservatively heeled shoes. “This event requires professional attire and that’s what we are encouraging,” he said.

Job seekers should bring multiple copies of their resume. In addition, those who are aiming at specific companies should do their homework and tailor their resume for that employer and prepare a cover letter for that employer.

Other items that should be considered include a reference page and additional items that are specific to a major. “Some students – like graphics majors – may want to bring an additional portfolio to show examples of their work,” Sell said. To add a really professional touch, Sell recommends students carry their resumes and other materials in a professional, possibly leather-bound portfolio.

According to Sell, even those students not seeking employment at this time – including freshmen – should attend. “This is beneficial for all students: “It offers a great opportunity to network and make connections now and in the future.”

The list of employers can be found at: http://wmich.experience.com/cso/cf_registered_empl oyers?hnd=4616. Additionally, a newspaper tabloid will be distributed in the coming days that will include a list of registered employers. Sell encourages job seekers to review the list of employers and research those of interest ahead of time. All employers registered are identified on the Web site.

This week the CEAS advising office is holding extended drop-in hours for resume reviews on Tues.(9/21) and on Thurs. (9/23) 10-noon and 2-4 p.m. on both days. Call (269) 387-2745 for an appointment.

On Fri. (9/24) Practice Interview Day will be held at Ellsworth Hall, on main campus, next to the Bernhard Center. To sign up, one can go to www.wmich.edu/career, log in to BroncoJOBS, and then under One-Click Searches, self-register at Practice Interview Day.

Follow up interviews will be held on Fri., Oct. 1 – the day after the career fair – at Ellsworth Hall.

IME summer workshops reach out to future engineering students

Summer Camp 2010 Design / Manufacturing

For one week in July, thirteen sixth-through-eighth-grade students attended the “Summer Camp 2010 Design and Manufacturing,” IME’s first outreach program for middle school students. For five days, the students spent seven hours at the Parkview Campus, using the labs and meeting the faculty and college students. 

IME Summer Camp 2010 (L to R) Wil Egresits, Dr. Pavel Ikonomov,
and Ian Chu observe Spencer Fatanelli work on an IME Camp project

Drs. Sam Ramrattan, Jorge Rodriguez, and Pavel Ikonomov – all IME faculty – directed the hands-on workshop that focused on “activities that typically take place when a new product comes out,” Rodriguez said.

Among the topics explored were computer-aided design and manufacturing, industrial materials and processes, the application of physics and science in design and manufacturing, and career opportunities.

The students – who came from as far away as New Jersey – spent their mornings designing and their afternoons manufacturing. They took home small replicas of a cannon and personalized desk plaques that they had made in the labs.

Rodriguez has received positive feedback about the camp. The grandmother of one camper said her grandson was exceptionally pleased with what he did and what he learned. “I applaud the IME department, the summer camp faculty and supporting staff,” Evie Asken said in an e-mail. “The organization of each day, the development of project designs and exceptional basic knowledge presented in understandable terms for young folks was terrific. This type of outreach to youth insures the future of your profession and, of course, heralds the reputation of WMU.”

2010 Metal-Casting Workshop

2010 Metal-Casting Workshop: Seated from left Kamaleshwaran
Nagarajan (MFT master's student) and Dr. Sam Ramrattan; Lying on
table- Zack Perk; standing from left Doug Harrett, Chris Warneka,
John Kanzierski, Mike Alquist, Chris Briolat (ME undergraduate
assistant), Jordan Finn, Trevor May, Phillip Verdusco, Aaron
Prater, Ronnie Miller, Andriy Zazulya, and Seth Rachvite

A dozen students – all high-school juniors and seniors, attended the 2011 Summer Metal-Casting Workshop directed by Dr. Sam Ramrattan, an IME professor who has been offering the weeklong, hands-on metal-casting workshop for 11 years. Kamaleshwaran Nagarajan, MFT master’s student, and Chris Briolat, a mechanical engineering undergraduate, assisted him.

As in the past, the students spent a week participating in lectures, discussions, lab work, panels, and projects on metal casting history, methods, and trends. They also visited Eagle Alloy Pacific, a foundry in Muskegon, and enjoyed a college dormitory experience. Most agreed that the most fun was preparing sand castings into which they poured molten metal.

WMU administrators provided information about WMU programs and requirements. A panel of those who work or worked in the metal-casting industry shared their experiences and answered questions about their careers.

This year’s class came to WMU from Bronson, East Jordan, Hamtramck, Homer, Mesick, Portage, and Saginaw and from Cleveland and Defiance, Ohio. The students were selected on the basis of aptitude and sponsored by various chapters of the American Foundry Society and the North American Die Casting Association.

There was no cost to the students, who stayed in WMU dorms and enjoyed campus life. More information about future summer metal-casting workshops is available at sam.ramrattan@wmich.edu

IME presentations earn kudos at annual ASEE conference

Two papers presented by IME students won awards at the Annual North Central Sectional Conference, sponsored by the ASEE North Central Section and held near the end of the Spring 2010 semester at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA.

Sean Derrick

Sean Derrick, a graduate student studying manufacturing engineering, won first place in the “Best Student Paper / Presentation” competition with “Dual Impeller Drive System (D.I.D.S.).” The paper that he presented was co-written with Jeffrey Rauen, who earned a BS in mechanical engineering last spring but who did not attend the conference.

The paper is based on a project the duo presented at the Spring 2009 44th Conference on Senior Engineering Design (SEDP). It details the design, analysis, construction, and testing of a D.I.D.S., which is a  pumping system intended for stealth marine propulsion. The pair came up with the original idea for the project and then designed and built a working prototype in order to prove their concept. The design is now patent pending.

According to Dr. Betsy Aller, an IME faculty member who attended the conference, the ASEE reviewers recommended about 20 papers for inclusion in the competition. She said the list was “painstakingly reviewed down to five” and that Derrick’s paper was the “runaway winner.” “It was described at the conference as being the quality of an MIT graduate project,” she said.

Aller and Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, an IME faculty, advised the original D.I.D.S. project.

Derrick is presently a graduate researcher for the Green Manufacturing Initiative a program established through WMU’s manufacturing research center that offers cooperative green research and development programs of mutual interest to industry. Rauen is completing U.S. Navy officer / nuclear engineering training.

A paper by Steven Srivastava, Rob Simmons, and Anson Clawson – all recent WMU alums who have earned BS degrees in engineering technology – was runner-up. "A Sustainable Waste Oil Solution" was based on a project they completed and presented at the Fall 2009 45th SEDP.

For that project, the students assessed waste oil from a food manufacturing process for its potential use as feedstock for biodiesel and designed and built an automated prototype biodiesel reactor, which produces ASTM D6751 standard biodiesel.

ASEE Winners: Dr. Andrew Kline, Rob Simmons, Dr. Betsy Aller, Steven Srivastava, and Anson Clawson

 

Aller and Joe Petro, an IME faculty member, served as advisors for the design project. “The students all did us proud,” Aller said. “We received many compliments from our ASEE colleagues on the quality of WMU students' work, presentations, and professionalism.”

Dr. Andrew Kline, a faculty member in the Department of Paper Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Imaging, also attended the ASEE Conference.

CEAS students earn IME 1420 AutoCAD awards

The three winners of the Fall 2009 AutoCAD competition were honored at a ceremony before an audience of students who were eligible to compete in the Spring 2010 competition.

Slobodan Urdarevik, lead lecturer for IME 1420 Engineering Graphics, presented awards to the three winners of the Fall 2009 AutoCAD competition before students enrolled in the Spring 2010 IME 1420 class.

The AutoCAD competition is held at the end of each semester for the 300 or more students enrolled in IME 1420. For the class, they complete about 50 assignments. For the competition, students create a two-dimensional AutoCAD drawing and a 3D-solid model of a complicated part. They must show all dimensions and all symbols needed for manufacturing.

Urdarevik praised the winners of the last fall’s competition. “This competition was very close,” he said. “All three winners did excellent work.”

Fall 2009 AutoCAD Winners

Slobodan Urdarevik (left), lead faculty for IME 1420 Engineering Graphics, with Fall 09 AutoCAD winners (L to R) Nick Loedeman (1st), Daniel Thomas (2nd), and Jacob Cammenga (3rd) and Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME chair.

First-year mechanical engineering major Nick Loedeman won first-place. He graduated from Mattawan High School, where he took two years of board drafting and one year of CAD related experience. That experience included a month of AutoCAD. For the rest of the year, he studied ProEngineer. He presently belongs to the Society of Automotive Engineers, where he has been putting his education and experience to work on the suspension team of the Formula SAE project. His future plans are open.

The second-place winner is Daniel Thomas, a first-year mechanical engineering major. A Middleville, MI, native, Thomas graduated from Thornapple-Kellogg High School, where he had four years of computer-aided design (CAD) classes. He used his CAD abilities at an internship with Middleville Tool and Die last summer. His goal is to eventually design off-road race cars.

Earning third place is Jacob Cammenga, a first-year aeronautical engineering major and a graduate of Hudsonville High School. He came to WMU with two years of classes in CAD. He hopes to join AIAA and work on the Design, Build, and Fly competition. His future plans include finding an internship to prepare him for a future career at NASA.

All three winners received Best Buy gift cards and engraved plaques, which were donated by Dr. Hooks, Inc., a Kalamazoo-based business.

Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME department chair, congratulated the winners and encouraged the audience members to participate in this semester’s AutoCAD challenge. “These students have earned recognition that demonstrates their ability to apply what they have learned in the classroom,” he said. “You all have the same opportunity next week.”

Mamo wins 2nd TA Award

Eric Mamo,a teaching assistant (TA) for IME 1420 Engineering Graphics, has been voted the “Best TA for Fall 2009.” It is the second
time that the mechanical engineering senior has won the award. He won his first TA award for the Fall 2008 semester.

Selection is determined by a vote by all the TAs who instruct each semester’s more than 300 students in the fine points of AutoCAD and drafting. “I enjoy all aspects of teaching the lab,” he said. He came to WMU from Milford, on a Michigan Builders’ Trade Scholarship.

An avid archery competitor, Mamo organized and actively supported Bronco Archery RSO. In 2007, he achieved the designation of All-American Academic, which means that given his GPA and his placement in archery competitions, he was one of the top American competitors. In Summer 07 he represented WMU at the Collegiate Archery World Championship in Valencia, Venezuela.

In 2008, Mamo interned with Cornerstone Engineering in Wixom.

For more information about CAD drafting at WMU, e-mail Urdarevik at slobodan.urdarevik@wmich.edu

New 2010 Sunseeker ready for 2010 American Solar Challenge

 
The 2010 Sunseeker Team: front, kneeling, L to R: Jesse Wick, Megan Derwich with duck mascot Arnsie, Courtney Rawlings, Mitch Panek, Andrew Oman, and Madeline McAuley. Standing, L to R: Abe Poot, Joshua Allen, John Kapenga, Nicholas Killoran, Byron Izenbaard, Alex Hoeksema, Brad Bazuin, Kenwood Hoben, Fred Sitkins, and Paul Engelmann

In a ceremony at the CEAS Parkview Campus, the WMU Sunseeker Solar Race Car team unveiled its new version of Sunseeker – the WMU entry in the 1,100-mile 2010 American Solar Challenge (ASC2010) race. WMU will compete with about 17 teams from across the country and from Canada, Taiwan and Germany.

This is the 10th time WMU students have participated in a biennial ASC solar race and is one of only a few teams that have participated in all previous races. The only other Michigan collegiate participant is a team from the University of Michigan.

The challenge officially began on June 12 with Scrutineering at the Motorsport Ranch Cresson, Texas, where cars are inspected to assure conformity to all technical and safety regulations. On June 19, the competitors travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the official race which begins the next day, traverses four states, and ends June 26 in Naperville, Illinois.

The new Sunseeker features state of the art technology. It was designed with a new, more aerodynamic shape (left), outfitted with new solar arrays recycled from prior solar cars, and built and assembled by the 2010 team

Leading the WMU team is Nicholas Killoran, a mechanical engineering senior, who, along with several other team members, spent all their time recently working on the solar car in the Plastics Processing Lab at the Parkview Campus.

According to Abraham Poot, Sunseeker advisor, the team worked around the clock to prepare this year’s entry, which contains an innovative new design.

Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME chair and a major contributor to the Sunseeker project, said the team spent six months grinding the cells off the original vehicle for re-use as solar arrays for the new car. He said they had saved $150,000 by recycling the gallium arsenide solar cells. “This team has been working around the clock for six weeks,” he said. “This team truly understands the concept of Just in Time.”

The ASC competition is organized to promote an understanding of the benefits and promise of solar energy technology. Students are encouraged to be creative and to learn from the hands-on experience.

To find more information about the WMU project, visit the blog at http://sunseeker2010.blogspot.com/

The CEAS issues its own brown and gold coin to make connections

The CEAS Challenge coin: CEAS icon (L:tails) and the WMU seal (R: heads)

The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences has struck its own brown and gold coin to connect with and form bonds among its alums, friends, staff, and faculty.

Last January at the CEAS All-Hands Meeting, all members of the CEAS team received the new CEAS coin, which is approximately 1.75 inches in diameter.

CEAS Dean Tony Vizzini, who came to the CEAS last fall, introduced the CEAS brown and gold coin as a way to make connections. “Make sure you carry the brown and gold coin at all times,” he said. “We want you to show your connectivity to the college.”

The officially dedicated coin’s head is the Western Michigan University seal and CEAS logo is its tail. “Having a coin is a way to show that you belong to what’s on this coin,” Vizzini said. “It’s shiny and it stands out, and you can lay it on your desk.”

Vizzini explained that the idea of having a unique coin to connect a team comes from the military, where challenge coins date back to World War I. Before the US entered that war, a wealthy American Air Force pilot from New Jersey had coins struck for members of his flying squadron. They carried the coins to show their solidarity.

The pilot wore his in a leather sack around his neck. When he was shot down and captured by the Germans, his papers were confiscated, but not his coin. He escaped from the Germans and headed for France, where he was immediately captured by the French who thought he was a German saboteur. He was scheduled to be executed until the French noticed the coin he wore around his neck and recognized the squadron symbol.

When his story checked out that he was an American flying with the British, the French gave him a bottle of wine instead of executing him. “The coin saved his life, and he was benefitted by receiving an adult beverage,” Vizzini told the audience. “So carrying the coin could save your life, and it could also get you an adult beverage.”

The members of the flying squad agreed to carry their coins at all times and to challenge others to do the same. If a coin-carrying member challenged another to show his coin, the other had to either show the coin or buy the challenger a drink. If the challenge was met, then the challenger had to buy the drink.

“I carry mine all the time,” Vizzini said. “We want all of us here and all of our alums and friends to carry their coins all the time.”
The new coins were handed to each Spring 2010 CEAS graduate in a handshake. “When you hand it to someone, give it to them in your palm,” Vizzini said. “It’s a way of connecting.”

To get the coins to all CEAS alums, Vizzini told the CEAS faculty, administrators, and staff, “If you meet an alum who doesn’t have one of our coins, give him yours and we’ll give you another one.”

The coin was designed by Laura Decker, CEAS finance analyst.

IME honors the 2010 top scholars at Clausing luncheon

From left, Erik Kostandyan, IEND; Joseph Mydosh, MFT; Joseph Adams, EDT; Brandon Gorton, UEM; James Burns, IEE; Courtney Rawlings, MNEM; Christopher Lininger, ENMM; and Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME chair

IME’s top students were honored in April at the 57th Annual Student Recognition Luncheon provided by Clausing Industrial Inc.

The 2010 IME Outstanding Student Awards included four undergraduate seniors, five graduate students, and three service award winners.

Joseph Mydosh, manufacturing technology (MFT), and James Burns, industrial and entrepreneurial engineering (IEE), earned both IME and CEAS dean’s awards in their respective majors.

Brandon Gorton won the IME award in engineering management (UEM), and Joseph Adams won the IME award in engineering design technology (EDT)

Graduate students honored as outstanding students were Christopher Lininger, engineering management (ENMM); Courtney Rawlings, manufacturing (MNEM); Trent Kenworthy, industrial engineering (IENM); Kari Frikken, operations research (OPRM); and Erik Kostandyan, IME’s top industrial engineering Ph.D. student (IEND).

Outstanding Service Awards were presented to Madeline McAuley, a manufacturing grad student for her continuing work on the IME blog and Web site; John Jacobs, an electrical engineering student who has served in the IME office for the last two years; and Norman Douglas, a recently retired lab instructor.

Also lauded were IME’s presidential scholar, Matthew Scarbrough, a UEM senior and the CEAS dean’s outstanding UEM student; Christopher Reniger, the dean’s outstanding EGR student; and a number of scholarship and award winners.

IME Chair Paul Engelmann praised the award winners and the faculty who support them and acknowledged the officers and advisors of seven student societies.

Engelmann challenged the winners, society officers, and other future leaders to envision every decision they make as keys to who they will become.

The event was organized by Tom Swartz, IME Scholarship and Awards Committee chair, and Drs. Steven Butt, Kailash Bafna, and Jorge Rodriguez.

Klaz Welch, Mary Fosburg, and John Jacobs, IME office administrators, were acknowledged for their support in organizing the luncheon.

More 2010 Student Awards and Scholarships

Grad Research Awards
Ashley Hovenkamp / Erik Kostandyan

Clausing Industrial Scholarship (2009)
Devon Talcott

E-week Scholarship
Brandon Gorton

Herbert Ellinger Scholarship
Jordan Avery / Adam Blake

FEF/CIC Scholarship
Scott Horton

SME Roscoe Douglass Scholarships
Edward Brabandt / Adam Blake / Jordan Kimble / Madeline McAuley / Joshua Wiese

IME Undergraduate Scholarships
Brandon De Young / Eric Nederhoed / Lynnette Neil

Saginaw Valley AFS Scholarship
Jordan Kimble

Kellogg’s IE Scholarships
James Burns / Carlee McClintic

IME 1420 TA Awards
David Schmidt (S 09) / Eric Mamo (F 08)

IME 1420 AutoCAD Contest Winners
Russell Parsons (S 09) / Karl Waltzer (F 08)

ASEE North Central Paper Competition
First place: Sean Derrick & Jeff Rauen
Third place: Steven Srivastava, Anson Clawson, Matt Otis, & Robert Simmons

SEDP to showcase 73 engineering design projects on Tues., Apr. 20

The 46th Conference on Senior Engineering Design Projects (SEDP) is set for Tues., April 20, at the Parkview Campus. The event will showcase 73 capstone projects by 209 graduating seniors.

 
CEAS seniors (from left) Marcus Marzetti, Brad Hovarth, and Dustin Walker are preparing a mock up of a threewheeled urban electric vehicle, which they designed using CAD programs. Faculty advisers are Dr. Pavel Ikonomov and David Middleton. The SEDP will be presented a 9 a.m. in D-201.

The event (including parking) is free and open to the public. No reservations are required. High school and community college teachers are encouraged to bring students to the conference.

 
Posing with the remote-controlled model aircraft they designed, built, and tested for an AIAA competition are (from left), CEAS seniors Nick McDermott, Alex Satonik, and Matt Aven. The project’s faculty adviser is Dr. Kapseong Ro. The SEDP will be presented at 9 a.m. in D-109.

The 25-minute presentations begin on the hour and half hour. No projects are presented from noon to 1 p.m. Here is an overall schedule with start times:

Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering (MAE): 3 concurrent sessions:

10 projects in D-109 from 9 to 3
9 projects in D-210 from 9 to 2:30
8 projects in D-212 from 9 to 2

Department of Paper Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Imaging (PCI):

12 projects in D-208 from 9 to 4

Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME):

10 projects in D-201 from 8 to 2

Department of Civil and Construction Engineering (CCE):

9 projects in Room D-115 from 8:30 to 2

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE):

9 projects in D-204/05 from 9 to 2:30

Department of Computer Science (CS):

6 projects in D-202 from 9 to noon

 
CEAS seniors (from left) Tim Gaston, Chris Reniger , and Matt Kunesh pose with testing equipment they designed and fabricated to improve and standardize testing of resin-coated sand systems in the foundry industry. The faculty adviser is Dr. Sam Ramrattan The SEDP will be presented at 8:30 a.m. in D-201.

More than 37 area companies, businesses, and organizations sponsored one or more projects, and more than 60 faculty and administrators are serving as advisers for one or more projects.

For more information, call Tamara Bergman at (269) 276-3248 or check out the project details at
http://www.wmich.edu/engineer/senior-design-conference.htm

Engineers’ Week serves up food, fun, and a glimpse into the future

The 31st Annual Engineers’ Week (EW), held last month, served up a glimpse into futuristic travel on the Hydrogen Super Highway at the event’s annual dinner, where five scholarships were awarded to CEAS students. The weeklong EW events included a variety of educational and fun activities offered at the CEAS.

Justin Eric Sutton, founder and managing partner of the Interstate Traveler Company, presented “The Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Super Highway,” an overview of his company’s modular maglev rail system. Its exterior is laminated with solar panels that power the system’s hydrogen fuel cells and produce numerous other benefits, including clean water.

Five CEAS students won scholarships.

Scholarship winners from left: Allison Porrett, Rochelle Hawes, Brandon Gorton, Christa Ickowski, Kristen Bellmer

Kristen Bellmer, a junior from Mason whose major is chemical engineering in energy management, won a $500 IEEE scholarship. An honors student who is presently working for Bronco Biofuels, she’s a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Alpha Lambda, and AIChE, and serves as corresponding secretary of Tau Beta Pi. She also plays intramural soccer.

Brandon Gorton, an engineering management senior from St. Joseph, won a $500 SPE Scholarship. He is active in several honors and professional organizations including Alpha Lambda Delta, Epsilon Eta Mu, Tau Alpha Pi, and ASEM.

Earning one of two $500 Eaton Scholarships was Rochelle Hawes, a junior majoring in chemical engineering in life science from Battle Creek. She is involved in several societies, Phi Kappa Phi, and SWE, and was recently invited to join Tau Beta Pi.

The other $500 Eaton scholarship was awarded to Christa Ickowski, a junior majoring in imaging from Grand Rapids. The honors college member also belongs to Peace Jam Mentors RSO and Alpha Lambda Delta honors society.

Allison Porrett, a civil engineering senior from Port Huron, won the $500 ASMI Scholarship. She is presently president of SWE, vice president of ITE Institute of Transportation Engineers, an active member of the ASCE concrete canoe team, and a Tau Beta Pi member. She was a member of WMU’s marching band and was crowned Miss Kalamazoo County 2008 in the Miss America pageant.

In addition to educational tours and lab programs at the CEAS, this year’s EW event featured a week of fun activities that included dodge ball, tricycle races, a trivia challenge, a quarter-roll war (distance one can be rolled) and quarter wars (collections to determine the best department). Dr. Tony Vizzini, CEAS dean, and Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME chair, volunteered as targets for a pie-throwing event to raise funds for Haiti.

CEAS Dean Tony Vizzini (left) and IME Chair Paul Engelmann earned funds for Haiti; everyone had fun.

Engineers Week is held annually to celebrate the engineering profession. In addition to WMU, the 2010 EW was sponsored by several South-western Michigan engineering societies: AIAA, AIChE, ASCE, ASHRAE, ASME, AFE, ASPE, IEEE, MSPE, SPE, SAE, SME, and the ASM International. WMU’s CEAS covered the dinner cost for high-school students and for first-year CEAS students.

The EW committee, chaired by Mike Schwartz of Prein & Newhof, included several from CEAS: Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, Dr. Bade Shrestha, Scot Conant, Johanna Wells, Nicole Maggio, Jenni Soetaert, and Michael Romkema.

Other EW committee members were Dave Caldwell (DENSO), John Lobo (Eaton), Pradip Sagdeo (AIAA), Tim Mitchell (SME), and David Anderson (VBISD).

CEAS students earn scholarships at FEF CIC Conference

CEAS engineering and technology students were among 17 students nationwide who divvied up a total of $35,000 in scholarships at the 62nd Annual Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF) 2009 College Industry Conference (CIC) held late last fall in Chicago.

Attending the 2009 62nd Annual Foundry Educational Foundation College Industry Conference are (front): Dr. Sam Ramrattan (left) and Scott Horton; back (L-R): Jacob Fowler, Jordan Kimble, and Matt Roobol.

The two-day FEF conference is held annually to celebrate the metal-casting industry and provide networking and educational opportunities for students and the industry. More than 225 industry executives, key professors, and university administrators attended the event.

WMU’s delegation was led by Dr. Sam Ramrattan,a Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering professor who specializes in metal-casting and who serves as a Key Professor for the FEF. Four CEAS students attended the event.

Jacob Fowler, a senior in MFT, represented WMU as a delegate at the conference, which limits the number of student delegates from each participating university to a select few.

Jordan Kimble, a senior in the manufacturing technology (MFT) program, won the American Foundry Society (AFS) Saginaw Valley Scholarship established to further the national outreach of this Michigan chapter.

Scott Horton, a senior with an engineering graphics and design major and minors in math and cast metals, won the Robert W. Reesman Memorial Scholarship, established in honor of the FEF president when he died shortly after the 1996 CIC.

With his passion for design and simulation of metal cast processes, Horton was impressed by the conference. One of his more memorable experiences was dining with Kohler representatives who were very interested in his die-casting skills. “I was one of a select few who were invited to attend the dinner,” he said. “It was amazing to meet so many other people with the same cast-metals’ passion that I have.”

Matt Roobol, senior in mechanical engineering, won the Modern Casting Scholarship, which was established in 1997 as a part of FEF’s 50th anniversary celebration. This endowment is comprised of advertising proceeds received by Modern Casting from advertising space bought by companies, congratulating FEF's first 50 years in the September, 1997 special training & education issue.

Roobol and Ramrattan were featured in a photo in the January 2010 issue of Modern Casting. Check out the story on pages13-14.

Roobol called the conference “a great experience” and cited both the dinner and the scholarship. “I really enjoyed having dinner with MetalTek reps and other student delegates,” he said, “and the scholarship means a great deal to me.”