IME professor, student garner awards at FEF conference

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IME welcomes Timothy Greene, the new dean

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

IME Faculty Advisor to SWE Coordinates Active Outreach Program

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

Dr. Colleen Phillips

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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