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.”

Ceremony honors 2009 Spring AutoCAD competition winners

Experience seems to be a key ingredient to the success of winners of the 2009 Spring AutoCAD competition. They were honored at a ceremony in early December.

Slobodan Urdarevik, the lead lecturer for IME 1420 Engineering Graphics, presented the awards before a Fall 2009 IME 1420 lecture class. The audience included students eligible to compete in the 2009 Fall AutoCAD Contest. “The 2009 Spring competition was very close,” he said. “They all did a very good job.”

Russell Parsons,a sophomore in civil engineering, won first-place. The Rochester Hills, MI, native graduated from Adams High School, where he took two years of high-school, computer-aided design (CAD) classes. He has been busy with coursework.

The second-place winner is Brandon Weeda, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, lives in Kalamazoo but graduated from Plymouth Christian High School in Grand Rapids. His background in graphics includes a semester in an architectural program called SoftPlan 13. He is presently a teaching assistant (TA) in IME 1420. His future plans are open but include an internship.

Third place winner Blair Ward, a sophomore majoring in engineering graphics and design technology (EGR), is from Kalamazoo. The Paw Paw High School graduate had two years experience in AutoCAD and drawing before coming to WMU.

In addition to classes, Ward is also an IME 1420 TA, and he works at Pizza Hut in Paw Paw. He recently joined Engineers Without Borders, which is planning a summer project in Honduras. His future plans include finding an internship before he graduates and eventually finding a job “someplace warm like Georgia.”

Slobodan Urdarevik (right), lead faculty for IME 1420 Engineering Graphics, with
(L to R) Dr. Paul Engelmann, IME chair, and Spring AutoCAD winners Blair Ward (3rd), Brandon Weeda (2nd), and Russell Parsons (1st); Parson’s winning drawing is shown

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. “These students have demonstrated their ability to bring together what they have learned in the classroom and demonstrated their ability to use it.” He encouraged the audience to participate in this semester’s competition. “You all have the same opportunity next week.”

The competition is held at the end of each semester for the more than 300 students enrolled in IME 1420 Engineering Graphics, where students complete about 50 CAD-related 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. For more information about the competition or about CAD drafting at WMU, Email slobodan.urdarevik@wmich.edu

SWE workshop offers Girl Scouts an introduction to engineering

For five hours on a Saturday in November, WMU’s Society of Women Engineers (SWE) presented its annual “Engineer for a Day” workshop at the Parkview Campus. Twenty-eight middle and high school Girl Scouts from the Heart of Michigan Council completed hands-on, problem-solving and learning activities to simulate what engineers do.

SWE members who directed the scout event (L-R), Courtney Heath, Katie Risnes, Lauren Fromm, Lynnette Neil, Fernanda Pereira, Laura Alger, Allison Porrett, Persefoni Lauhon, Kelly McCarthy, and Melinda Katanbafnezhad

For the first activity, “The Leaning Tower of Pasta,” the scouts designed and built structures from spaghetti and marshmallows with the goal to have the structures hold as much weight as possible.
The scouts ventured outdoors to test how adding Mentos to a liter of soda pop can create some spectacular soda spraying.

For the Egg Drop Event, the scouts worked in pairs and used a variety of materials to design, create, and test packaging that would protect a raw egg from breaking when it was dropped from the second floor to the first.  Some packages were more successful than others.

The scouts toured the Parkview Campus and learned why a concrete canoe floats, how a race car is designed and built, and what type of careers are open to those who major in engineering.

Geoff Van Gemert (right), a member of WMU’s Formula SAE team, showcases the 2009 car the team designed and built

Fernanda Pereira, a first-year chemical engineering major from Canton, MI. coordinated the event. At the conclusion of the workshop, SWE President Allison Porrett asked the scouts how many were interested in a career as an engineer, and approximately a third raised their hands.

“This workshop helped me decide what I want to do for a career,” said Maddie Dietrich, an eighth grader. “I’m definitely considering engineering.”

SWE’s (L to R in green) Allison Porrett, Laura Alger, and Lauren Fromm lead the final engineering feat: the scouts made their own ice cream treats with milk, sugar, cream flavoring, ice, rock salt, who plastic bags, and a lot of shaking.

Girl Scout leaders who attended the event with their troops were impressed with how the event stimulated the scouts’ problem solving abilities and introduced them to the idea of an engineering career, said Heather Ackman, a representative of Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan.

SWE is planning a workshop for younger Girl Scouts in February 2010.

Tues., Dec. 8, SEDP conference: 89 seniors offer 32 projects

The 45th Conference on Senior Engineering Design Projects (SEDPs) is set for Tues., Dec. 8, at the Parkview Campus; 89 seniors from six departments will present 32 projects from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The 25-minute presentations are scheduled to begin between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.; all projects start exactly on the hour and half hour. No projects are scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. The event (including parking) is free and open to the public.

From the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering (MAE), 23 students are presenting 10 projects in D-109.

MAE: Using parametric solid modeling and CFD simulation software, (L to R) Geoff Van Gemert, Nicholas Haydon, and Michael Nienhuis are designing a gasoline direct-injection fuel system to improve the fuel economy of the WMU Formula SAE vehicle.  The project is being presented at 9:30 a.m. in D-109.

From the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME), 8 projects prepared by 31 seniors are scheduled in D-201.

IME: Eddie Brabandt, a manufacturing technology major, examines improvements that he and teammates Dan Jasperse, Cory Niemi, and Curtis Stack have made in redesigning a hydraulic bike for competition in the next Chainless Challenge.  The project is featured in a presentation at 10:30 a.m. in D-201.

From the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), 16 students are offering 5 projects in D-115.

From the Department of Computer Science (CS), 11 students are scheduled to present five projects in D-208.

Beginning at 9 a.m., 6 students from the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering (CCE) will offer 2 presentations in D¬204/5. Following the CCE presentations, 2 seniors in the Department of Paper Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Imaging will present their projects in the same room.

Sponsors for this semester’s projects include the following: City of Battle Creek Wastewater Division, DENSO Manufacturing Michigan, Inc., Eaton Corporation, Kalamazoo Animal Rescue, Kalamazoo County Road Commission, Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes Warehouse,
Kalamazoo Public Library, Panther Arms, Reflex Industries, Inc., Stryker Medical, Tech Care TronLabs, WMU’s Western Herald, and the WMU School of Music.

 
MAE: Dressed for work in the CEAS Clean Room, Joseph Mowat worked on a project with Tyler Ondracek and Doug Ford.  It involved ferrogels and the study of the characteristics of hydrogels infused with magnetic nanoparticles.  They have potential applications ranging from sensors to targeted drug delivery.  The presentation on the project is at 1 p.m. in D-109.

About 30 faculty and administrators are serving as advisers for one or more projects. Professors chairing the various sessions are Dr. John Polasek (CCE); Dr. John Kapenga (CS); Dr. John Gesink (ECE); Drs. Betsy Aller and Bob White (IME); Drs. Claudia Fajardo, Rameshwar Sharma, and Pnina Ari-Gur (MAE); and Dr. Peter Parker (PCI).

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

IME 1020: offering students professional communication skills the first year

Sometime during their first year of college, most CEAS and aviation students take IME 1020 Technical Communication, a three-credit-hour course that provides a total immersion in professional communication.
According to Tom Swartz, the master faculty specialist who has coordinated IME 1020 since 2003, IME 1020 is offered in about 30 sections to approximately 600 students each year. In addition to the regular classroom sessions, he has also set up E-learning components of the courses.

ED Eckel (standing), the science/engineering librarian for the University,
shows IME 1020 students how to use library databases

According to Swartz, the IME 1020 program was initiated in the early 1970s when WMU experimented with eliminating the requirement for a first-year English writing class to encourage writing across the curriculum. “Those at the engineering college said CEAS students should have a technical writing course,” he said. “Later when the University decided that English composition should again be required, the [engineering] college decided to keep the new technical writing course.”

At the heart of the IME 1020 curriculum is the requirement that students research, write, document, and produce a formal 12-to 17-page research paper that uses current, high quality resources and focuses on an engineering topic. Students follow a research process that includes choosing and limiting a topic, learning about scholarly research, and collecting the best current information on the topic.

The process requires several standardized assignments: a topic proposal, a bibliography of sources, an outline, and an abstract. Students use the American Psychological Association (APA) documentation style, and present the results in a written report and in an oral presentation to the class.

Ed Eckel, the science/engineering librarian for the University, along with many others at Waldo Library, offers ongoing support to the IME 1020 course. They provide IME 1020 students with a focused course guide on the library’s Web site with direct links to the sources that help them with their assignments.

The WMU library also provides a student-oriented self-paced electronic research review, recently upgraded and called Research Path. In its six modules students receive a complete overview of the major steps involved in the research process. Students are then quizzed on the module material, and the results of the quizzes can be electronically forwarded to the instructors.

IME 1020 students learn to write an assess procedural instructions.  First-year students Michelle Repka (left) and Katie Stickels read instructions written by another IME 1020 team to create a K’Nex item.

IME 1020 students work in teams to learn how to write good instructions. Each team designs a three-dimensional K’Nex object and writes instructions to make the object. Other teams assess the instructions.

Other course requirements include learning formats for business letters, memos, and e-mail, preparing a career assessment of a chosen major, and registering for WMU’s career Web site. Students also study ethics, standards for source material, and the use of visuals. Assignments are word-processed and must feature complete sentences and standard grammar, spelling, and mechanics.

IME 1020 instructors work closely with the CEAS STEP program to help first-year students connect with the University. New lifelong learning components of the course encourage students to explore professional societies and attend and write reflections on special WMU events. “We read and assess a lot of student papers,” said Troy Place, a faculty specialist who teaches three sections of IME 1020 each semester.

Swartz says all IME 1020 instructors adhere to a tradition of maintaining high academic standards and expecting professional behavior from students. “To prepare for professional careers, students need to have WOVEn communication skills – Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic,” he said. He continually updates a study guide with pertinent assignment information for students, and he provides an electronic course template for IME 1020 instructors.

2009 EAS career fair set to connect job seekers with employers

More than 55 employers have signed up for the 2009 Engineering and Applied Sciences [EAS] Career Day. It’s set for Thurs., Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Parkview Campus. 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.

Nicole Maggio, career advisor for CEAS and assistant director for Career and Student Employment Services, is coordinating the day and several related events to link internship, co-op and full-time job seekers with local, regional, national and international employers.

Post Foods, LLC, is sponsoring this year’s fair. The Battle Creek company has been making cereal and related products since 1895 and has been an active partner with the University. “Post has been very supportive of our [CEAS] engineering students,” Maggio said.

Post Foods is the 2009 EAS Career Fair sponsor.  In this photo from our archives, CEAS Post interns Josh Wiese (left) and Alex Hiday, who are now CEAS alumns, discussed employment activities with  job seekers at last year’s EAS Career Fair.

New to this year’s career fair are formal presentations by several employers every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Maggio said the concept has been introduced to encourage freshmen and sophomores to engage earlier in the career development process. “This may help introduce opportunities to students in a way that they can build up to networking with the representatives,” she said.

In addition to Post Foods, representatives from Kohler, Amway, Stryker, Sircon, Parker Hannifin and more will share information about and prospects for employment at their respective companies.
On Fri., Oct. 23, follow-up campus interviews are planned by 14 of the 55 companies featured at the career fair.

Students looking for full-or part-time, intern, or co-op positions are encouraged to dress appropriately and to bring copies of their resumes and notepads to collect information. “We’re encouraging students to wear formal professional business suits,” Maggio said.

Maggio 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. Employers have until the day before the event to sign up. “As they register, the employers are added to our Web site in real-time,” Maggio said. To view registered employers and/or to register as an employer, one can log on to www.wmich.edu/career and click on Broncojobs.

Two workshops offered students career fair preparation ideas. “The sessions focused on cover letter and resume development, professional dress expectations, and interview tips,” Maggio said. The informal workshops included group exercises.”

Assistance in resume preparation is also available during drop-in office hours in the Advising Suite at Parkview: Tuesday and Thursday – 12:30­ 3:30 p.m. Additional hours are available on the main campus. Students can also call (269) 387-2745 for an appointment.

Maggio, who is coordinating the annual event for the first time, credited several registered student organizations and student assistants for their support. These include AICHE, SPE, SME, GAS, Alyssa Schafer, CEAS peer educator, Danielle Boyd, engineering employer student coordinator, and Jasen Ratajczak, CEAS industry research educator. For more info, call (269) 387-2745 or go to www.wmich.edu/career

STEP begins fifth year welcoming new students to the CEAS

CEAS welcomed 391 incoming students at the Summer Orientation. According to Dr. Edmund Tsang, CEAS Associate Dean, about 85% of those students have been placed in STEP Learning Communities. STEP is an acronym for the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math] Talent Expansion Program. The five-year-old program has been providing a comprehensive first-year experience to increase retention and graduation of majors in STEM fields.

 
At the STEP Kickoff, first-year students enjoyed hamburgers, bratwurst, and an opportunity to check out student projects in the works for this year.  In the foreground is the SAE Baja car, a new project. Other featured projects were the Formula SAE car, the Sunseeker solar car, the “Black Pearl” concrete canoe, and several tables that provided information about student organizations.

To connect first-year CEAS students with the college experience, Tsang organizes the freshmen into learning communities. The students in each learning community share at least three classes and are assigned to cohort groups of about 20 students. Each cohort is led by a CEAS faculty or administrative mentor with access to organized activities.

This year’s orientation events included CEAS Fall Welcome, Pizza with the Profs, and a STEP Kickoff picnic in the Valley pond area.

The Welcome offered incoming students an up-close experience with more than 30 Parkview Campus labs and activities. Students made paper, played red-button computer games, built spaghetti bridges, made plastic WMU license plates, and checked out a variety of vehicle, fuel cell, robotics, and simulation labs.

At the CEAS Fall Welcome, Mike Hoonhorst, a Ph.D. student in industrial engineering, explains chair research to first-year students.  Other CEAS faculty, administrators, and students shared their research in fuel cells, CAD, robotics, vehicle systems, and simulation software.  Students also examined a variety of CEAS labs and services.

Pizza with the Profs brought students and their professors together informally for lunch after a formal matriculation ceremony. Following the pizza lunch, the students participated in an interactive Academic Etiquette workshop and were assigned to send their IME 1020 Technical Communication instructors a professionally drafted e-mail.

The Kickoff provided another opportunity for students to meet and greet CEAS faculty, administrators, and students and to learn about CEAS while they enjoyed hamburgers and brats.

 
Following “Pizza with the Profs”, Dr. Edumnd Tsang (standing on left), CEAS associate dean and STEP director, works with first-year CEAS students on an Academic Etiquette Competition

New to STEP this year is an engineering mathematics course, funded by an NSF Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement: Phase 3 grant and headed by Tsang and Drs. Ikhlas Abdel-Qader and James Kamman, faculty in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering respectively.

The Early Intervention Initiative in IME 1020 Technical Communication is being continued under the direction of Tom Swartz, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering faculty and IME 1020 coordinator. STEP is also pilot testing computer software designed by two computer science seniors to take attendance in IME 1420 Engineering Graphics.

Tsang began the STEP project in 2004 with an NSF grant that ends this month. The STEP project is being continued through 2009-2010 with funds provided by Provost Tim Greene. “Provost Greene also said he will put into the Office of Academic Affairs planning to support our retention efforts,” Tsang said. “Our collaboration with Residence Life will continue to allow us to leverage their resources to build on our efforts.”

New CEAS dean returns to Michigan roots

Dr. Anthony (Tony) Vizzini took the reins at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences this summer. The new dean comes to WMU from Mississippi State University where he had served as department head of Aerospace Engineering since 2003 when he earned the Bill and Carolyn Cobb Chair of Engineering. He comes to WMU with outstanding credentials.

From 1986 to 2003, Vizzini had been a member of the aerospace engineering faculty at University of Maryland where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in composite structures and manufacturing and in aircraft structures. He also researched the integrity of composite structures and low-cost manufacture of composites.

After growing up in Allen Park, MI, Vizzini earned four degrees at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): a BS in mathematics and BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in aeronautics and astronautics. In 2006 he became a registered Professional Engineer in Mechanical Engineering in the State of Mississippi. He is now tenured in the CEAS Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering.

Vizzini’s primary interests include response and failure of composite structures, particularly in energy absorption and crashworthiness, in tailoring techniques to improve structural integrity, and in damage tolerance of sandwich structures. Additionally, he is interested in manufacturing methods for polymer-based structural components including affordable manufacturing and manufacturing for automotive and space applications, system design and mission planning of unmanned aircraft.

He was awarded the A. James Clark School of Engineering Poole & Kent Company Teaching Award for Senior Faculty, May 1998. Two years later, he was selected Professor of the Year, by the University of Maryland AIAA and SGT Student Chapters.

Vizzini’s honors include being an Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a fellow for the American Society for Composites (ASC). In September 2008 he served as general chair of the ASC 23rd Technical Conference. He was voted ASC vice president (president elect) for 2008-2009.

He is also a member of Tau Beta Pi (engineering), Sigma Gamma Tau (aerospace), and Phi Beta Kappa (arts & sciences) honor societies. Vizzini has been active in the Society for the Advancement of Material and Pro¬cess Engineering (SAMPE) and is presently serving as International Vice President of SAMPE’s Executive Cabinet.

He was also the founding faculty advisor for chapters at Mississippi State University (2003-2009) and at University of Maryland (1990-2003). He has also served SAMPE in numerous other positions, including technical co-chair in 2007.

Among his other credits, Vizzini has been the editor of several professional journals. He is presently an associate editor of the Journal of Advanced Materials, 2002. He also served five years on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Composite Materials, two years on the editorial advisory board of AIAA Education Series, and eight years as an associate editor of the Journal of the American Helicopter Society.

He is presently a reviewer for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), a position he has held since 2004.

His wife, Patty, is originally from Birmingham, MI, and their three children – Anthony, Katrina, and Sean – are currently enrolled at Mississippi State University. Anthony and Katrina are pursuing degrees in aerospace engineering and Sean is pursuing a degree in computer science.

CEAS projects showcased at 2009 WMU Day in Lansing

Late last spring, about 700 WMU supporters traveled to Lansing for the second annual WMU Day. Several CEAS projects were among the more than 30 showcased at the event aimed at introducing legislators to WMU. Here are some photos submitted by Abe Poot and the PCI department. In addition to those pictured on this e-news, the CEAS also featured Dr. John Patten and his plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

Concrete Canoe: WMU American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) students Allison Doty, Adam Eaton, Ryan Stoughton, and Mike Romkema brought Black Pearl – this year’s entry in the North Central concrete canoe competition.

RoboBronco: Manthiramurthy Paramasivam “talks” to RoboBronco.  Dr. Tarun Gupta, and IME professor and a team brought RoboBronco, a six-foot tall robot with a friendly horse face, to WMU Day.  Gupta mentored two robotics teams of area high school students, Quantum Ninjas #1677 and FLEET (Future Leaders Exploring Engineering & Technology) #2767, in the 2009 FIRST competition.

 FSAE car: The WMU Formula racing team of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) brought this year’s entry in the 2009 Formula SAE Michigan Competition.  The WMU team successfully completed all events at the competition, which requires teams to design and build a formula-style race car.

CAPE: Presenting examples of printed electronics from the new Center for the Advancement of Printed Electronics (CAPE): front (L to R): Dr. Margaret Joyce, Dr. Massood Atashbar, and Sara Lara; back (L to R): Dr. Erika Hrehorova, Dr. Marian Rebros, Michael Joyce, Dr. Dan Fleming.  Dr. Joungmin Cho is missing from photo

Flying Machines: Dr. Kapseong Ro led the development of a plane with solar panel wings (in front of the van) and teamed up with Dr. Jun-Seok Oh and a team to develop the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for traffic and emergency surveillance that is on top of the van.  Team members DaeWoon Park and Taeseung Kuk also participated.

 Sunseeker 05: WMU’s solar car team reviewed features of Sunseeker 05 while solar car adviser Abraham Poot photographically documented CEAS projects.

“Dr. Sam” offers a decade of hands-on metal-casting outreach

Every summer for the last decade, Dr. Sam Ramrattan, an IME professor, has been offering a weeklong, hands-on metal-casting workshop for high school students. At the 2009 workshop held last month, 10 students from the U.S. and Canada spent a week as college metal-casting students.

One element that makes the workshop fun is the hands-on aspect. “Dr. Sam,” as many refer to him, had students do real metal-casting work in the Metal Casting Laboratory at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences’ Parkview Campus.

The students made molds, melted metal, and poured. “It’s a fun way to learn about metal casting,” said Luke Gossen, a Plymouth, Minnesota, junior.

Dr. Sam Ramrattan (left) oversees the students as they prepare
the molds that they will test with molten metal.

Ramrattan is a technical advisor to the American Foundrymen's Society and a Key Professor for the Foundry Educational Foundation. He offers the summer hands-on workshop to identify and promote the variety of viable metal-casting careers available today. It is open to up to 15 area tenth-through-twelfth-grade students.

In addition to the lab work, the workshop offered lectures and discussions on metal casting history, methods, and trends. Students examined metal casting from the perspectives of manufacturing (molding, melting, filling, and finishing), engineering, quality control, purchasing, marketing, and sales. They also networked with metal casters at area foundries.

Students attending this year’s metal casting workshop donned safety
apparel to pour molten aluminum into sand molds they
prepared. Dr. Sam Ramrattan (left) oversees the process.

Jordan Kimble, a senior in the manufacturing technology program and IME’s 2009 top manufacturing engineering senior, assisted in the workshop. He will represent IME at the upcoming Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF) conference.

WMU administrators provided the students with materials about programs and requirements at WMU. Students also reviewed career opportunities with a panel of industrial professionals and FEF.

The workshop included visits to area foundries to see real-world technology. Their tours included A.C. Foundry, Battle Creek, MI, and Metals Technologies’ Three Rivers Gray Iron Plant. The students also enjoyed activities in the Kalamazoo / Portage area.

Students who attended the program were selected on the basis of aptitude for math and science and were sponsored by various chapters of the American Foundry Society (AFS) and the North American Die Casting Association (NADCA). There was no cost to the students, who stayed in WMU dorms and enjoyed campus life.

In a thank-you note to Ramrattan following the workshop, Joshua Jarvis-Peters from Ontario, Canada, praised the workshop. “I wish it had been longer,” he said.

WMU’s metal-casting program is over 100 years old. The most recent accreditation began in 1992. Contact Dr. Sam for more information on WMU metal casting or on the summer workshop, at sam.ramrattan@wmich.edu