Features College News Student News Faculty News Alumni NewsDepartment News

• Sustainable infrastructure initiative energizes campus• Stantec gift funds Earn by Doing shop safety position•RonSmithendowsfirst named Cal Poly Scholar

•CalPolySWEhonorsfive outstanding women engineers• Aerospace engineering student selected as NASA ambassador• Cal Poly students recognized by California Legislature

• Steffen Peuker joins Cal Poly as James Bartlett Professor • Saikat Pal joins faculty in biomedical engineering• Sam Vigil honored for paper on greenhouse gases

• Cal Poly announces online graduatecertificateprogram• Center helps creative engineers• Mechanical Engineering offers manufacturing concentration

• Cal Poly - Northrop Grumman Cyber Lab dedicated• Multidisciplinary grant to help student humanitarian projects• Cal Poly announces return to Solar Decathlon competition

Electrical engineering students Colleen Cheung and Jacob Michener test some of the more than 1,000 solar panels donated to Cal Poly by SunPower.

ENGINEERINGENGINEERING

• Michael F. Cannon delivers Fall Commencement keynote• Mechanical engineering grad has the really right stuff • Rory Aronson helps start SLO Makerspace workshop

C o l l e g e o f E n g i n e e r i n g • C a l P o l y S a n L u i s O b i s p o • S p r i n g 2 0 1 4

Advantage

Whether it’s solar panels, ocean energy or electric vehicles, sustainability is making waves in the Col-

lege of Engineering. These and related endeavors are part of a new initiative that is committed to sustainable infrastructure and energy.

The scope is such, in fact, that the initiative is led by not one but two coordinators: Dale Dolan, electrical engineering professor, and Dennis Elliot, Cal Poly’s assistant director of energy, utilities and sustainability.

“Initially, the focus of this initiative was college-wide,” said Debra Larson, dean of the College of Engineering, “and there could be no better fit than Dale Dolan. Through his teaching and research, he is engaged in sustainable energy generation and energy efficiency on a daily basis. Through some serendipitous conversations with Dennis Elliot, however, all of us could suddenly see a larger opportunity. Dennis has vast experience in bringing sustainable energy projects to the campus as a whole. The dual position will produce tremendous synergy, which, in turn, will create unprec-edented opportunities to link classroom curriculum and research with ‘living lab’ facilities.”

And in its expanded context, the effort also aligns with a larger CSU initiative.

“Chancellor Timothy White describes university buildings and infrastructure systems as ‘amazing and untapped resources’ for teaching, research and student projects in a living laboratory,” said Elliot, “and he has

At Cal Poly, sustainability is about more than reducing the university’s energy footprint — it’s also about education,

innovation and collaboration.A gift of more than 1,000 photovoltaic solar panels from

SunPower, for instance, will add to student learning and pro-vide opportunities for student projects in addition to reducing Cal Poly’s energy bill. Valued at almost $500,000, the panels are being used in a variety of ways across campus.

“There are exciting plans to use the panels among a number of departments,” said Dale Dolan, electrical engineering profes-sor and recently appointed co-coordinator of the College of Engineering’s initiative on sustainable infrastructure and energy.

“My electronics class just finished a lab experiment, for instance, measuring IV curves for the SunPower panels,” he said. IV curves refer to the relationship between current (DC)

A Wave of Sustainability

SunPower Gift Promotes Sustainability in the Classroom

Please see SUSTAINABILITY, Page 8Please see SOLAR PANELS, Page 2

College of Engineering’s sustainable infrastructure initiative gains energy

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ENGINEERINGAdvantagen TITLE: Engineering Advantage

n FREQUENCY: Published biannually

n ISSUE NO.: Vol. 11, Issue 2

n PUBLISHER: Cal Poly College of Engineering 1 Grand Avenue San Luis Obispo, CA 93407

n TELEPHONE: 805-756-2131

Invest in the Best

Professor Dale Dolan, second from left, and electrical engineering students test solar panels donated to the College of Engineering by SunPower.

Mechanical engineering student Sean Michel works on the Cal Poly Super-mileage vehicle. For more on the Supermileage Team, see Page 13.

through an electronic device and the DC voltage across its termi-nals, or the current–voltage characteristic.

In the Construction Management Department located in the College of Architecture & Environmental Design, students in specialty contracting have developed a photovoltaic system that they installed at a remote off-the-grid school in Costa Rica. “This is an example of what we intend to develop using the SunPower panels,” said instructor Lonny Simonian. “The student groups will be prefabricating systems for potential installations in Ecuador.”

Other areas on campus will benefit from installation of the panels. According to Jim Dunning, program manager at Cal Poly Technology Park, “We’re planning to work with Construction Management, College of Engineering faculty and students, national and local architects, professional engineers, and solar system component suppliers to develop system engineering requirements and construction plans for installation of the solar system on the Technology Park Building.”

The BioResource & Agricultural Engineering Department (BRAE), meanwhile, plans to deploy panels on the BRAE building and on the Water Research Facility near Poly Canyon Village, as well as in several remote water wells on Cal Poly agricultural land. “With a maximum output potential in full sun of 435 watts each, we have enough to theoretically push 148 kW back to the grid, more than the needs of the entire department, even when the large machine tools are being used in the shops,” said Art Mac-Carley, interim department chair. n

Solar Panels From Page 1

Cal Poly Among Magazine’s List of Public Colleges for ‘Best Value’

Cal Poly has again been named among the Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list of 100 Best Values in Public Colleges for 2014.Cal Poly ranked No. 43 for in-state and No. 34 for out-of-state

for its “high four-year graduation rate, low average student debt at graduation, abundant financial aid, low sticker price and overall great value.”

The Washington, D.C.-based Kiplinger business publication develops its list based on measures of academic quality, including test scores and four-year graduation rates, as well as affordability. More than 600 colleges and universities are examined initially to develop the Top 100 ranking. n

Dedicated on Nov. 1, the Warren J. Baker Center for Science & Mathematics is a six-story, state-of-the-art polytechnic

facility located at the heart of campus. Every Cal Poly student will take a class in the 189,000-square-foot, cutting-edge facility, where ample study spaces facilitate

teamwork and studio classrooms integrate lecture and lab, encouraging students to actively discover science. Be-yond the strictly academic, the Baker Center is designed to be a working model of sustainability and building

performance for tomorrow’s scientists and engineers.

Among the center’s many science-inspired works of art is a statue and bench featuring Albert Einstein. Sandi and Paul Bonderson (B.S., Electronic Engineer-ing, 1975), founding donors of the Baker Center, com-missioned sculptor Gary Lee Price to create the piece. Einstein’s bench, which has quickly become a favorite spot for students to snap a selfie, is not far from the Bonderson Lecture Hall, a 132-seat amphitheater-style space that is the largest of the new center’s labs and classroom facilities. n

3

The Center of Things

Sandi and Paul Bonderson sit with a sculpture of Albert Einstein, not far from the Bonderson Lecture Hall shown below.

At top, electrical engineering student Chanel Crespin checks out the periodic chart of the elements display in the Baker Center lobby. The center has a living roof on the western portion of the fifth floor that is visible from a study lounge.

Cal Poly dedicates the Warren J. Baker Center for Science & Mathematics

When Alfonso Rodriguez (B.S., Civil Engineering,

1984) met over breakfast last fall with College of Engineering Dean Debra Larson, they discovered a shared commitment to safety.

Fostering a culture of safety is one of the college’s strategic goals according to Larson. “As a world-class engineering college with a lab-intensive environment, we have a duty to instill aware-ness of safety and to teach best practices to students, who will carry this knowledge with them into industry,” she said.

Safety is also paramount at Stantec, where Rodriquez serves as vice president. “As one of our core values — we do what is right — we continually look for ways to enhance our safety culture within our workforce and industry,” said Rodriquez. As he and Larson spoke, they developed a donor opportunity focused on safety.

“We launched an Earn by Doing safety tech employment opportunity for students,” explained Larson, “and we’re grateful to Stantec for sponsoring the first safety position with a gift of $5,000.”

The Earn by Doing program sponsors student jobs — like shop techs and, now, safety techs — that hone engineering

skills while providing income for educational expenses. The Stantec Safety Tech will undertake safety inspections of labs and provide safety training, help ensure that protocols are followed when incidents occur, share best practices, create safety-oriented content for lab manuals, and support events, such as the College of Engineering Project Expo.

As part of its partnership, Stantec has offered a chance for the sponsored student to spend time with the company’s national accounts health and safety coordinator, Tony Wong, who provides strategic guidance to the firm’s team members on safety procedures — both in the offices and in the field, working with clients. “We’re excited about assist-ing the college in creating on-campus jobs that give students greater insight to safety practices in the workplace,” said Rodriguez. n

Invest in the Best

Quartus Engineering Helps Set Human Motion Biomechanics Lab Program in MotionA new Cal Poly Engineering initiative in

human motion biomechanics (HMB) got a kick-start from Quartus Engineering with a gift of $25,000.

Under the leadership of professors Steve Klisch in mechanical engineering and Scott Hazelwood in biomedical engi-neering, the HMB Lab program focuses on research in the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of osteoarthritis in human hip and knee joints.

Earlier this year, Klisch acquired a mo-tion analysis system (MAS) for the lab with funds from the Constant J. and Dorothy F. Chrones Endowment. “With the MAS and, now, the Quartus gift, we can launch new

student projects over the next two years,” said Klisch. “Undergraduates will have the opportunity to undertake experimental studies of knee and hip joint biomechan-ics. Our goal is to help prevent or slow the progress of osteoarthritis in high-risk patients.

“We will also be able to integrate the capabilities of the HMB Lab with the Kine-siology Department’s Cycling Biomechan-ics Lab in order to undertake research to optimize human motion biomechanics in performance bicycling,” he said.

Cal Poly alumnus and Quartus engineer Matt Griebel (B.S., Mechanical Engineer-ing, 2010) was happy to hear of his com-

pany’s support for Cal Poly. “I continue to see how well Cal Poly prepared me for a professional career,” he said. “I can’t wait to see the progress and contributions that the HMB team makes to the field of biomechanics.”

In a letter with the gift, Quartus President C. Douglas Botos noted that the company hoped to directly support stu-dent projects. “We feel that the combina-tion of classroom and theoretical learning, along with hands-on laboratory learning and experimentation for undergraduate students, is paramount to success in the workplace,” he said. “Keep up the great work!” n

Cycling biomechanics research by Professor Robert Clark in kinesiology contributes to the multidisci-plinary collaboration with the HMB Lab program.

When she first came to Cal Poly, freshman Kai Ling Liang had no idea that she would be

chosen as the first named Cal Poly Scholar. But the honor now drives her to excel.

Established in 2012-13, the universitywide scholar-ship program is designed to attract high-achieving students from low- income families to Cal Poly. The program now awards scholarships to more than 55 incoming freshmen.

Raytheon Vice Presi-dent Ron Smith (B.S., Electronic Engineering, 1983) is the first donor to establish an endowment to fund a Cal Poly Scholar. In recognition of his generosity, the university

will select one student annually as the Ronald Smith Cal Poly Scholar.

Liang, who imigrated to the U.S. from China when she was 7, is the first in her family to attend college. She chose Cal Poly because of its reputation for excellence and hands-on approach. “For my first class, we hauled out equipment and spent the day surveying,” she said. “I’ve had a great experience at Cal Poly so far — I’m very thankful that it’s giving me a practical view of civil engineering.”

Other Cal Poly Scholar naming opportunities are available to donors who make a $100,000 gift. n

Ron Smith Endows First Named Cal Poly Scholar

Stantec Health & Safety Coordinator Tony Wong, left, and Cal Poly mechanical engineering student David Schaeffer go over safety procedures on a horizontal band saw in the Mustang ’60 shop.

Ron Smith(B.S., Electronic Engineering, 1983)

4

Conversation about Safety Leads to Earn by Doing Gift from Stantec

SUPPORT CAL POLY ENGINEERING NOW — AND AGAIN — WITH A RECURRING GIFT

Make your giving simple and painless. Instead of making a one-time donation, become a recur-ring gift partner, and your predetermined gift amount will be automatically charged to your credit or debit card.

Your recurring gift provides a steady flow of funds that Cal Poly Engineering will use to pro-vide timeless opportunities for students today — and tomorrow.

To set up your recurring gift, go to giving.cal-poly.edu/ and click “Give Online.” Designate the fund, the College of Engineering or a program within the college. Choose the Recurring Gift option listed under Giving Preference. Recur-ring gifts can only be set up with an initial gift charged immediately.

If you have questions or would like to modify or stop your recurring gift at any time, send an email to giving@calpoly.edu or call 805-756-1558.

Invest in the Best

In its first year of full operation, what goes on inside the Gene Haas Laboratory for Robotics and Automation is

a real page-turner. Really. Ask Melinda Phan, a mechani-cal engineering senior and violinist, who’s developing an automated page-turning device for performing musicians — with a little help from the lab’s PCL (programmable control language) programming and a bit of robotics know-how.

The experience is also helping turn a page in her career. In a recent interview at Intuitive Surgical in Sunnyvale, Calif., it was Phan’s experience at Haas Lab that, in large measure, won her a summer internship.

“Through the Haas Lab, classes and my own project, I’ve learned a lot about industrial manufacturing and how to ap-ply those concepts on a smaller scale, which is a little more robotic-like.

“Intuitive Surgical is a robotics company that specializes in minimally invasive surgery. They make robots that help surgeons. When I was describing my project, they were interested in my knowledge of automation processes, espe-cially the robotic aspects.”

Phan leaped at the new technical elective in manufac-turing recently made available to mechanical engineering students.

“I am absolutely glad it’s there. I love the manufacturing side. It’s more people-oriented than mechan-ics and design, and I was looking for that human interaction matching up my technical and mechanical background with people. When I started at Cal Poly I wasn’t aware of biomedical engineering as a major, but I really like the industry. You get a real sense of doing good. I see so many ways I can contribute to that industry as a mechanical engineer.

“What we have in the Haas Lab is more sophisticated than what I’ve seen in industry,” she said. “I was fortunate enough to have interned at another leading biomed company in a manufacturing engineering role, but there was little automation there. The Haas Lab reflects industry trends. Automation is where everything is going — it’s safer, more efficient.”

Instructor Nick Sweeney agrees: “The Haas Lab is

an exciting, hands-on environment for students to fully engage in automated systems and technologies. Our 12 worksta-tions were outfitted with state-of-the-art hardware, software, precision tools and advanced technology, including very sophisticated motion control and visual systems, by industry leaders including Yaskawa America, Rockwell Automation, Keyence and Trust Automation.”

Jose Macedo, chair of the Industrial and Manufacturing Department, marvels how the lab, coupled with its advanced automa-tion class, is acceleratings student learning.

“What amazes me is how quickly and easily our students can develop very

sophisticated applications. They definitely thrive in an environment that’s designed and built for complex applications. The

students are exposed to the latest technology. In most instances the students come in knowing virtually nothing about automation, and over the course of 10 weeks learn how to develop a working system.” n

Haas Lab Student Projects Can Be Real Page Turners

Melinda Phan, a mechanical engineering student, enjoys working with automation technology in the Gene Haas Laboratory.

When it comes to training young, work-ready engineers in the critical

field of cybersecurity, Northrop Grum-man CEO Wes Bush believes Cal Poly “gets it.”

Bush was on campus Jan. 23 for the dedication of the Cal Poly – Northrop Grumman Cyber Lab, a 32-workstation facility that is the centerpiece of the new Cal Poly Cybersecurity Center, a major new educational initiative encompassing a comprehensive and collaborative pro-gram that spans the polytechnic univer-sity and partners with public and private organizations. Bush said programs like Cal Poly’s are crucial in meeting the grow-ing challenges to modern life.

“Cybersecurity isn’t just about nation-al security, it’s about economic security,” he said. “Clearly, there’s a lot of technol-ogy involved in this, but technology is not what makes it happen. It’s people.”

Cal Poly students will now be able to receive intensive training in malware, encryption, cyber attacks and cryptogra-

phy in the new lab. The lab was built with the support of a $150,000 grant from the Northrop Grumman Foundation and is connect-ed to the defense com-pany’s Virtual Cyber Lab in

Virginia. Dale Griffiths, chief scientist at Northrop Grumman’s Intelligence System Division, helped configure the lab, which is equipped with specialized software, hardware and television monitors that rotate 360 degrees.

Supported by gifts from Raytheon, Boeing, Parsons Corp., Pacific Gas & Electric and McAfee Corp., the cyberse-curity program will utilize the new facility for a growing curriculum of undergradu-ate and graduate cybersecurity courses that Cal Poly president Jeffrey D. Armstrong said will allow students to “stay ahead of the curve” on cyber attacks.

“The threats evolve faster than the textbooks,” Arm-strong said. “This opportunity is unprecedented in higher education and particularly unheard-of at the undergradu-ate level. This is much more than a state-of-the-art lab. Cal Poly students will be able to

enter the workforce equipped and ready to handle the challenges they’ll face.”

Computer science student Jessie Pease, president of the university’s White Hat Club, said the lab would help the club fight hacking and “make the Internet a safer place.” Pease, a junior who said her interest in cybersecurity drew her to Cal Poly, said the lab should make her major more popular. “It’s really exciting to see this dream become a reality,” she said. “I’m glad I will be able to take advantage of the new lab.”

Bush, who joked he would “love to hire every one of the students,” said he knew Northrop Grumman will have to compete for them, adding, “This is going to be the place where people come to look for talent.” n

College News

6EPIC

PolyHouse

Industry Partners with Cal Poly on Cybersecurity

Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush, above, chats with engineering students in the new Cal Poly - Northrop Grumman Cyber Lab. Supported by a $150,000 grant from the Northrop Grumman Foundation, the lab was dedicated in January.

The Cal Poly – Northrop Grumman Cyber Lab represents one part of Cal Poly’s ini-

tiative in cybersecurity education. The Cal Poly Cybersecurity Center serves as the nexus for a wide range of activities that in-volve faculty and students collaborating with experts from other universities, private com-panies, government agencies and research labs. Programmatic and strategic direction is provided by the Cybersecurity Council.

The Cybersecurity Council consists of indi-viduals at the highest levels of cyber leader-ship in companies that include:

•Boeing•Good Technology•McAfee•Northrop Grumman•Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)•Parsons•Raytheon•QL+ Both Raytheon and Boeing have been

key supporters of Cal Poly’s initial efforts in cybersecurity; PG&E, Parsons and McAfee have provided recent major gifts to launch the Cybersecurity Council and develop cur-riculum.

Cal Poly Computer Science Chair Ignatios Vakalis and Russ Bik (B.S., Industrial Tech-nology, 1970), a member of the President’s Cabinet and Sun Microsystems’s original vice president of operations, serve as council co-chairs. n

Cal Poly - Northrop Grumman Cyber Lab

Students will be able to study malware, encryption, cyber attacks and other digital-agethreats in new sponsored lab

Recipients of industry-sponsored faculty awards for 2013 included Biomedical Engineering Professor

Lily Laiho and John Larson, instructor in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Jaime Carmo and Christine Haas received Outstanding Staff Awards.

The $1,000 Raytheon Excellence in Teaching and Ap-plied Research Award recognizes Laiho’s contributions, including teaching the mechanical engineering design series in which student team projects have received rec-ognition at a national design competition for assistive technologies. Laiho also serves as the founding direc-tor of interdisciplinary projects, a position in which she

helps manage the spectrum of interdisciplinary project experiences, creates opportunities for projects and collaboration, and fosters connec-tions with external partners.

Active in funded research, Laiho played a key role in creating the master’s degree specializa-tion in stem cell research, a program that spans three colleges and has attracted more than $3 million in external support over the past five years.

Larson received the $3,000 Wingate Foundation HVAC&R (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration) Award, which is presented annually to an outstanding student or staff member in the HVAC&R Program.

Larson was cited for the award for voluntarily devel-oping curriculum and teaching classes without compen-sation on computer-aided design for HVAC&R students. He provided these essential services from 2011 to 2013, when the program lacked instructors. During this period, Larson worked closely with industry experts to ensure the curriculum was current.

Carmo, technician for the Electrical Engineering Department for 25 years, manages department labs and numerous student personnel. He is known for his atten-tion to detail, prompt response to faculty requests and

the development of sound policies.

Haas, administra-tive support and budget analyst for the Mechanical Engineering Depart-ment, handles scores of depart-ment accounts, including faculty professional development accounts and senior project accounts. She also serves as co-editor of the de-partment alumni publication, with responsibility for graphic design, layout and printing. n

Cal Poly has been selected to compete in the 2015 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, an award-

winning program that challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive.

The winner of the competition is the team that best blends affordability, consumer appeal and design excel-lence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency.

Besides Cal Poly, other collegiate teams selected for the competition included Stanford, UC Davis, Sacramento State, UC Irvine, New York City College of Technology, the University of Florida, the University of Texas, West Virgina University and Yale.

“Cal Poly is uniquely qualified to participate in this project because of its strengths in engineering and archi-tecture and its strong focus on project-based learning,” said Dean Debra Larson. “The College of Engineering is contributing a multidisciplinary team of students and four faculty advisors to work with colleagues from the Archi-tecture Department.

“Team advisors include Kim Shollenberger (Mechani-cal Engineering), Dale Dolan (Electrical Engineering), John Clements (Computer Science) and Art MacCarley

(Electrical Engineering and Bioresources & Agricultural Engineering). Sandy Stan-nard (Architecture) serves as the principal investigator on the project.”

The Solar Decathlon en-hances public understand-ing of how to save money at home with clean energy solutions available today, and provides students with training and hands-on expe-rience to prepare them for the clean energy workforce.

Since 2002 the Solar Decathlon has:

• Involved 132 collegiate teams, which pursue a multidisciplinary approach to study the requirements for designing and building energy-efficient, solar-powered houses.

• Established a worldwide reputation as a successful educational program and workforce development op-portunity.

• Positively impacted nearly 20,000 collegiate partici-pants.

• Supported the Obama Administration’s goal of building a clean energy economy while saving families and businesses money by saving energy.

The 20 teams will design, construct and test their houses before reassembling them in fall of 2015 at the competition site at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif.n

Cal Poly’s last Solar Decathlon house was displayed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2005.

College News

7

Clockwise from top: Lily Laiho (Biomedical Engineering), Christine Haas (Mechanical Engineering), John Larson (Mechanical Engineer-ing) and Jaime Carmo (Electrical Engineering) received awards from the College of Engineering.

Here Comes the Sun (Again)Cal Poly to design and build a solar-powered house for the 2015 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

Cal Poly Engineering Presents Industry-Sponsored Faculty and Outstanding Staff Awards

made funds available to be used for that purpose — with a focus on sustainability. Cal Poly has been awarded a couple of these grants already, and I think support in this area will only grow.”

In the first phase of their work, Dolan and Elliot are identifying faculty and other stakehold-ers involved in areas related to sustainable infrastructure or energy.

“Students, faculty and industry are all focused on opportunities in the areas of sustainability and energy,” said Dolan, “and this initiative can serve as a way to facilitate the integration of these facets into the curriculum, research pro-gram and campus community.”

“Sustainability is not a new thing for engineers,” said Elliot. “Solving the world’s technical problems in a manner that most efficiently uses the resources available — that’s something we’ve always done. This initia-tive only reinforces what engineering disci-plines variously refer to as holistic design, critical thinking, whole-systems thinking and life-cycle analysis.”

Sea Change in EnergyOne of the newest and most promising

renewable energy sources — ocean waves — is also the most costly, primarily because the equipment involved must be able to withstand the marine environment.

“The California coast is ripe for real-izing the promise of ocean wave energy,” said Sam Blakeslee, director of Cal Poly’s Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy. The institute was recently awarded a $750,000 grant from the federal Department of Energy to assess the feasibility of a grid-connected wave energy testing facility in California.

The selected site will be called the California Wave Energy Test Center or CalWave. The facility would allow equip-ment prototypes to be tested in a safe and controlled environment that replicates conditions at sea.

Cal Poly’s yearlong study will involve evaluation of two potential sites, including cost of site development, facility construc-

tion and operations. “The project has the potential to pro-

vide students with an exciting opportunity to explore one of the newest frontiers of renewable energy sources and to be a part of some breakthrough solutions,” said Dolan, who is the technical lead for Cal Poly.

Cal Poly will lead the CalWave proj-ect under the direction of Blakeslee and project manager Bill Toman, with a team

of industry leaders that includes Burns & McDonnell, CH2M HILL, the Electric Power Research Institute, Humboldt State Uni-versity, Kearns & West, National Renew-able Energy Laboratory, Oceanlinx, Pacific Marine Renewables, Sandia National Laboratories, Science Applications Inter-national Corporation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Virginia Tech.

Paving the Way: Ford Focus Electric and Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

The recent donation of a 2013 Ford Focus Electric by the estate of John Lake provides a “rolling lab” for Cal Poly’s Electric Vehicle Evaluation and Education Program.

“The gift expands opportunities for students to work on state-of-the-art electric vehicle technology, supports their research and in-class work, and advances transportation electrification,” said Dolan, who runs the program with Cal Poly Scholar in Residence John Dunning.

A pending proposal could bring 12 elec-tric vehicle charging stations and a DC fast charger to university parking lots, which is expected to increase the use of electric vehicles on campus. n

Cal Poly will add a focus on inno-vation and entrepreneurship to

university programs that serve people living in poverty through a $10,000 Sus-tainable Vision grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).

The multidisciplinary grant proposal was developed by faculty members Kathy Chen in the Materials Engineer-ing Department, Sema Alptekin Ervin in the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, and Jona-than York, a professor in the Orfalea College of Business and co-founder of Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

“Faculty and students alike want to apply their knowledge and education to assist underprivileged people,” said Chen. “This grant will enable two note-worthy student groups — Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and Cal Poly Entrepreneur-ship — to collaborate to address poverty and sustainability in tar-geted communities in developing countries.”

EWB has four inter-national engineering projects underway in impoverished com-munities in Nicaragua, India, Thailand and Malawi. Through the NCIIA grant, EWB teams will assess the needs of those commu-nities and share their ideas with the campus community. Based on these assess-ments, Cal Poly students will have the opportunity to evaluate and develop innovative enterprise projects that can raise the standard of living in EWB’s partner communities.

“The inspiration for this proposed project comes from a successful experience of the EWB-India team,” ex-plained Alptekin Ervin. “Although the team’s primary goal was to implement a sanitation project, after observing

women painstakingly de-kerneling corn, the group devised a low-cost implement made from locally available materials to improve the process and increase productivity. The NCIIA grant

will enable Cal Poly students to investigate other innovative entre-preneurship opportuni-ties like this.”

The NCIIA is part of a cross-university effort to incorporate humani-tarian projects into the curriculum. “We’ve found that many students, especially women and other un-derrepresented groups, are motivated by a humanitarian focus,” said Alptekin Ervin. “When they apply their knowledge and skills to helping others, they gain valuable educa-

tional outcomes.” According to Alptekin Ervin, hu-

manitarian projects inspire students’ creativity and professional develop-ment, preparing them for their senior projects, graduate work and entrepre-neurial careers, and also make a real impact on the world. “Projects like these introduce our students to topics such as cultural awareness, poverty, economics and sustainability in real- world contexts,” she said.n

Taking on PovertyMultidisciplinary grant to add innovation and entrepreneurship to student humanitarian projects

Cal Poly student design projects that help impoverished communities like this corn de-kerneler will benefit from a new grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innova-tors Alliance.

Electrical engineering student Colleen Cheung plugs in the charger for a new Ford Focus Electric donated to Cal Poly. “This grant will

enable two noteworthy

student groups —

Engineers Without

Borders (EWB) and

Cal Poly Entrepreneurship

(CPE) — to collaborate

to address poverty and

sustainability in targeted

communities in

developing countries.”Kathy Chen

Materials Engineering

College NewsSustainability From Page 1

8

Student News

Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers honors five Outstanding Women in Engineering recipients for 2013

Simply Outstanding

The Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers (SWE) announced the recipients of the 2013 Outstanding

Women in Engineering Award at this year’s Evening with Industry held Jan. 30 at the San Luis Obispo Embassy Suites. In addition, more than $30,000 in scholarships were awarded.

The banquet was attended by close to 300 students, faculty, staff and representatives from 27 companies. The event highlighted students for their accomplish-ments. In addition to the six Outstanding Women in Engineering honorees, 31 students received scholarship awards from Amazon Lab 126, Boeing, Cal Poly SWE, Chevron, Eaton Corp., Fluor, Lockheed Martin, Mazzetti, NetApp, Orbital Sciences, Parker Aerospace, Phillips, Raytheon, Solar Turbines and Tory Bruno (B.S., Mechani-cal Engineering, 1985).

The Outstanding Women in Engineering winners were chosen based on four criteria: faculty recommen-dations, demonstrated leadership, related work experi-ence and GPA. Each of the winners is actively engaged in several extracurricular activities. The winners are:

n Kathryn Bohn

A mechanical engineering senior from Citrus Heights, Calif., Bohn founded an engineering sorority, Alpha Omega Epsilon, to assist female engineering students in

making professional contacts. Bohn has also presented research at the California Teaching Symposium and interned with Eaton Corp. and Phillips.

nCecilia Cadenas

A computer engineering senior from Rio Vista, Calif., Cadenas moved to the U.S. from Mexico 12 years ago. Cadenas has been an active member and officer in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. She traveled to Malta and Sicily for an interdisciplinary project with the International Computer Engineering Experience (ICEX), and she also interned with Raytheon.

nSara Hellstrom

From Santa Clara, Calif., Hellstrom is completing Cal Poly’s blended degree program to receive both a bach-elor’s and a master’s degree in biomedical engineering. She has interned at Thoratec and Pathwork Diagnostics and has been on the Dean’s List for 11 quarters. As the Nicaragua project manager for Engineers Without Borders, Hellstrom is leading a team of students to improve sanita-tion conditions in the small community of William Galiano.

nGabby Igel

An industrial engineering senior from Encinitas, Calif., Igel is working with an interdisciplinary team

to design and produce a solar rechargeable light and cell phone charger (LunaLight) for use in developing coun-tries. She has held officer positions in Engineers Without Borders and the Engineering Student Council. She has interned with Solar Turbines and Parker Aerospace, and in India with Athena Infonomics and Yieldopia Energy.

nSara Lillard

An aerospace engineering senior from Littleton, Colo., Lillard has held officer positions in SWE, Alpha Omega Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi (national engineering honor society) and several other organizations. She has interned at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Eaton Corp., and worked on two senior design projects: the Venus and CubeSat project missions. n

Below: The Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers Outstand-ing Women in Engineering recipients for 2013 included, left to right: Cecilia Cadenas (Computer Engineering), Gabby Igel (Industrial Engineering), Sara Hellstrom (Biomedical Engi-neering), Kathryn Bohn (Mechanical Engineering) and Sara Lillard (Aerospace Engineering).

9

Seventeen students received special recognition on the floors of the California State Senate and Assembly

in early February. The leadership group included repre-sentatives of Cal Poly student teams that won national and international competition awards over the past year.

Assembly member Katcho Achadjian presented each student with a certificate of recognition on behalf of the state legislature, and students met privately with Senator Bill Monning before being presented to the Senate.

College of Engineering award winners included: • Ian Davison (Mechanical Engineering) representing

the Rose Parade Float, which won the Crown City Innova-tion Award.

• Trevor Goehring (Aerospace Engineering) repre-senting Team Transformers Aviation, which won first place in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design Competition.

• Jessie Klemme (Environmental Engineering), presi-dent, Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers, which won

the national Gold Level Award. • Ann Livingston-Peters (Civil Engineering) repre-

senting the Cal Poly Supermileage Vehicle Team, which won first place for innovative design at the Shell Eco-marathon.

• Chris Pittner (Environmental Engineering) repre-senting the Cal Poly team that won the International Environmental Design Contest sponsored by the Institute for Energy and the Environment/Western Ecological Research Center. n

Seventeen Cal Poly students received special recognition on the floor of the California State Assembly in Sacramento.

Cal Poly CalGeo, the college’s new-est club, is a student branch of the

professional chapter of the California Geotechnical Engineering Associa-tion. The club members’ interests are grounded in one of the oldest forms of civil engineering: earthenworks.

“Geotechnology engineering relates to the analysis and design of earthen structures and interactions of infrastructure components with soil and rock,” said Keegan Arnt, fourth-year civil engineering major and club president. “The discipline has existed in some form for millen-nia — it’s now embracing technologi-cal advancements.”

Geotechnical engineers also in-vestigate the behavioral dynamics of activities as varied as earthquakes, landslides and fracking, and help solve logistical challenges such as how and where to store hazardous waste, Arnt explained.

“Some new areas of opportunity in the field include sustainable rehabil-

itation of our infrastructure, manag-ing emerging wastes and byproducts, and optimizing design strategies to provide economical solutions to today’s challenges,” he noted.

The club was started as a result of several students’ involvement with the GeoWall competition last year, in which Cal Poly placed second regionally and fifth nationally. The event challenges students to design a scale retaining wall made of two types of paper and packaging tape to hold back hundreds of pounds of backfill sand.

“We were one of the few un-dergraduate teams, and also one of the few teams to do all of our own testing and designing on campus,” said Arnt.

“We hope this club can help convey the possibilities of a geo-technical engineering career and further strengthen the reputation of Cal Poly’s civil and environmental engineering program,” said Arnt. n

CalGeo Club is Breaking New Ground

CalGeo officers, from left to right: Max Rossiter, vice president; Keegan Arnt, president; Jim Hanson, faculty advisor; Zech Alton-Szwabowski, treasurer; Olivia Davis, secretary; Ana Kirichuk, speakers coordinator; and Quintin Flores, tours coordinator.

Cal Poly Students Recognized in Sacramento

Student News

10

Samantha Rawlins, a Cal Poly aerospace engineering

senior, is among an elite group of interns inducted into NASA’s Student Ambassadors Virtual Community (NSAVC).

Rawlins is the first Cal Poly student to receive the honor, joining 104 other top-perform-ing interns selected to serve as 2014 Cohort VI student ambas-sadors, representing the sixth year of the program.

“As a young female engi-neering student,” said Rawlins, “I feel that it’s crucial for other young students, particularly young girls, to see role models in science, technology, engineering and math fields. I want to show them that these are areas that are no longer defined by geeky personali-ties and pocket protectors. Instead, these fields are filled with people who have a love of solving problems and a desire to advance mankind through technology and science.”

The new inductees were nominated by NASA managers and mentors based on the students’ recent internship performance and involvement in other NASA-related activities.

In 2013, Rawlins was a summer intern at NASA Langley Research Center through

the Langley Aerospace Research Student Scholars Program, one of NASA’s most prestigious and suc-cessful student research programs. In 2012, she in-terned at the NASA Propul-sion Academy in Huntsville, Ala., where she joined a team made up mostly of college graduates and master’s-level students.

NSAVC is an online net-work designed to elevate the experiences, visibility and contributions of the interns, who are located

across the U.S. “I am delighted to welcome these bright

students to the NASA education family as Cohort VI student ambassadors,” said Roosevelt Johnson, NASA’s deputy associ-ate administrator for education. “They are in a unique position to inspire their fellow students and the public and to help NASA cultivate the next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers.”

NASA managers and mentors nominated the new inductees based on their intern-ship performance and involvement in other NASA-related activities.n

Student News

NASA’s Bright StarsCal Poly aerospace engineering senior selected for elite group of student ambassadors for NASA’s virtual community

In a Galaxy Close to SLO...Just for fun, mechanical engineering sophomore Alec Bialek built his own R2-D2, the famous robot from the 1977 science fiction film “Star Wars.” Complete with all the bells and whistles, the robot was constructed and programmed in the Mustang ’60 Fabrication Lab by Bialek “with only a little welding assistance.” Above, Bialek takes his R2-D2 out for a spin near Dexter Lawn.

Aerospace engineering senior Samantha Rawlins was selected for NASA’s Student Ambassadors Virtual Community.

“As a young female engineering student, I feel that it’s crucial for other young students, particularly young girls, to see role models in

science, technology, engineering and math fields.”Samantha Rawlins | Aerospace Engineering

11

The Art of Digital Media Computer-generated artwork created by grad-uate computer science students from Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz and UCLA were on display in the Cal Poly University Art Gallery in March. The show, co-sponsored by the Computer Science Department, included work of Cal Poly exhibitors Ian Dunn, Chris Wallis, Forrest Reiling, Sean Risser and Kevin Ubay-Ubay. Describing the creative process used on his image at right, Dunn said. “This is based on the Mandelbrot set, an iconic fractal discovered by French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in the early days of computer visualization. It was ren-dered using custom-built software running on one of Cal Poly’s GPU workstations.” “RedBlueJuliaFractal” by Ian Dunn “Simple” by Kevin Ubay-Ubay

12

CENTER SPREAD

Caused primarily by insufficient blood flow due to blockage in a major artery, coronary heart disease is

often treated with invasive bypass surgery. In some lucky patients, however, natural bypasses form around blockages in blood vessels called “collaterals.” The nature of collaterals is the subject of a laser speckle flowmetry project by Cal Poly biomedical engineer-ing student Kenny Gouin.

With image-optimization help from biomedi-cal engineering student Taylor Hinsdale, Gouin is

snapping a series of laser speckle flow photo-graphs of blood vessels in a mouse that model vascular disease involving restricted blood flow to a region of muscle. “One of the goals in cardiovascular regen-

erative medicine is to stimulate the growth and function of collaterals in patients as an alternative to bypass grafting surgery,” said faculty advisor Trevor Cardinal. “Kenny’s project is to evaluate the effectiveness of collaterals in increasing blood flow. The long-term goal would be to determine the condi-tions that are required to make collaterals function or dilate normally.”

Gouin will present the research as a poster at the annual meeting of the Microcircula-tory Society in San Diego in late April. n

Cal Poly’s Concrete Canoe Team will go for its 17th victory in 18 tries at the

American Society of Civil Engineers Pa-cific Southwest Conference in April with a canoe called “Ambrosia.” The canoe, built with a new honey-combed mesh process, is designed with a SLO-grown agriculture theme. Team members for 2014 include civil engineering students Sean Pringle, Derek Carpenter, Raymond Qi, Mark Mueller, Chris Kehoe, Kristen Nugent, Ryan Morse and Susie White. n

Biomedical engineering stu-dents Kenny Gouin, left, and Taylor Hinsdale examine blood vessels in a mouse model of vascular disease. Below: A montage of fluorescent-stained blood flow in a muscle micro-vessel network. Brighter red indicates more blood flow.

Student News

Concrete Canoe Team Aims to Harvest Another Victory

Civil engineering student Derek Carpenter, who serves as proj-ect manager for the Cal Poly Concrete Canoe Team, dusts the bottom of the Ambrosia for sealing in the image at top, and, below, sets up the agriculture-themed display base.

Members of Cal Poly’s Steel Bridge Team carry their new bridge across Engineering Plaza after practice for the American Society of Civil Engineers Pacific Southwest Conference in April. The team includes civil engineering students Alan Blevins, Tyler von Iderstein, Drew Glover, Logan McNeil and Kevin Raives. The bridge, which weighs about 90 pounds, is designed to support 2,400 pounds.

Cal Poly Steel Bridge

13

CENTER SPREAD

At right, the multidisci-plinary Cal Poly Supermile-age Vehicle Team includes Finley Marbury (Materials Engineering), Shota Wata-nabe (Aerospace Engineer-ing) and Lucas Rybarczyk (Mechanical Engineering). The smiling trio was charged with dismantling the wooden framework for the molds. At left, mechani-cal engineering student Sean Michel works on the carbon fiber shell of the Supermile-age vehicle. n

The Aero Hangar Shop was humming in March with hundreds of engineering students working on projects. Both the Cal Poly Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) and Supermileage teams were busy working weekends for big competitions in April. The HPV Team will compete in the Amer-ican Society of Mechanical Engineers International Human Powered Vehicle Challenge on April 25-27 in San Jose. On the same weekend, the Supermile-age Team will compete in the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas competition in Houston, Texas. At right, HPV team members pose after sanding molds for the carbon fiber shell.

Student NewsPrepping for BattleCal Poly’s Human Powered Vehicle and Supermileage teams gear up for competition

Working in the Bonderson Projects Center, mechanical engineering students Trent Hellmann, left, and Will Hilgenberg put together the two halves of the carbon fiber shell for the Cal Poly Human Powered Vehicle.

14

Department News

Preparing Cal Poly Engineer-

ing students for careers

in the space industry is the goal of a new

online program from Extended

Education. (Photos Space Systems/Loral)

Snapshot from Space A camera aboard Cal Poly’s IPEX satellite snapped this view of the Australian coast on Dec. 6, 2013, one day after its launch from the Space Launch Complex 3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. IPEX, short for Intelligent Payload Experiment, is the eighth CubeSat developed by Cal Poly and was sponsored by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The 10x10 cm, solar-powered CubeSat was designed to test onboard instru-ment processing for a proposed NASA CubeSat mission carrying a hyper-spectral infrared imaging instrument. Meanwhile back on earth, Aerospace Engineering Professor Jordi Puig-Suari, right, explained the details of IPEX and the CubeSat program to KSBY-TV reporter Connie Tran during an interview at the Cal Poly earth station in Building 192. n

Space Systems Technology

The new online offering from Extended Education prepares engineers to work

in key areas of spacecraft technology.According to Eric Mehiel, chair of the

Aerospace Engineering Department, the goal of the program is to educate working engineers with a system-level awareness in the complex technologies of space-based systems.

“These complicated systems require a multidisciplinary team of engineers to develop, deploy and operate,” he said. “The particular technologies involved also require engineers with a broad knowledge

base. Understanding the interaction of the functional units and technologies is exceedingly important.”

The certificate program takes advan-tage of Cal Poly faculty expertise in areas such as spacecraft attitude control, model-ing and simulation for systems engineer-ing, astrodynamics, systems integration engineering, advanced product develop-ment and materials, and more.

Students in the Space Systems Technol-ogy program will learn about all major functional units of a space-based system from spacecraft dynamics to software ar-chitecture. The certificate is designed with the non-aerospace engineer in mind, but is open to all those working in the industry.

For more information about the pro-gram see spacesystems.calpoly.edu. n

Cal Poly offers graduate certificate to help prepare engineers for space industry

Thanks to the new Center for Expressive Technologies (CET), Cal Poly engineers with a creative bent — and art-

ists with technological talent — will have new opportunities for interdisciplinary projects that focus on creative expres-sion, technical innovation and community engagement.

Initiated by faculty associated with the Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies Program (LAES) and approved by President Jeffrey D. Armstrong last fall, the new center engages students in projects that connect technology and

engineering to the arts and humanities. “The center’s mission is broad and it

encompasses a lot of different activities — everything from the development of computer games and storytelling applications to the creation of expressive environments and inter-active theater work,” said Elizabeth Lowham, CET director.

One such environment was Area 55: Be Scared, an event last fall at Los Osos Middle School (LOMS). CET supported the design, creation and operation of Area 55, which chal-lenged Cal Poly and middle school students to

transform the campus into a fictional universe invaded by genetically engineered organisms.

LAES and architecture students participated in a month-long design/build process to create the centerpiece of the Area 55 experience. The student teams provided designs for the 6,000-square-foot area that included sound and light, creative direction, documentation and media. The winning design focused on labs and a nesting area created by the ge-netically engineered organisms after a mysterious crash. A

separate group of students worked with professor Michael Haungs (Computer Science and LAES) to design a prequel experience through PolyXpress, a web app that allows participants to create and share location-based, multimedia stories on mobile devices.

Cal Poly senior Ethan Lockwood commented, “Work-ing with LOMS and its students as a real-world client and partner — as part of a large interdisciplinary Cal Poly team — pushed our endurance but also enhanced our creativity and problem-solving capabilities.”

During 2013-14, CET is also supporting student projects in conjunction with the San Luis Obispo Mini Maker Faire, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, a Des/Dev Hackathon and Re/Collecting.

“We’re constantly seeking great opportunities for stu-dents and faculty from across the university to explore the interactions between expression and technology in ways that provide real-world experiences and skills,” Lowham said. n

Photo: LAES student Jack Bowen oversees the construction of the genetically engineered organisms’ crash site and nesting area for Area 55.

Center for Creative Technologies connects engineering with humanities

Creative Engineers Need Apply

15

Department News

A new manufacturing concentration in the Mechanical Engineering Depart-

ment (ME) equips students to incorporate manufacturability concerns into product and component design decisions.

“We want to increase students’ knowl-edge of manufacturing methods, so they practice ‘design for manufacturing’ best practices,” said Industrial and Manufac-turing Professor Dan Waldorf. “This new concentration will make our graduates even more productive because they will engineer products and systems that have the highest quality and lowest cost.”

Offered for the first time this year, the goals of the concentration include the ability to design processes, plan and interpret pro-duction testing, and demonstrate hands-on knowledge of manufacturing practices.

Members of both the Mechanical Engi-neering and the Industrial & Manufactur-ing Engineering Industrial Advisory Boards voiced strong support for the program. The industry partners indicated that manufactur-ing concentration graduates would be in high demand as employees.

“Especially in small companies, engi-neers often perform both the product

design/development role, and the manufac-turing engineer role,” explained Waldorf. “ME graduates from the manufacturing concentration will be uniquely suited for this career path.

“They will also have the background to move into manufacturing tool design ca-reers. Moreover, manufacturability is one of the most important criteria driving product design. By completing the manufacturing concentration, ME students will have the specialized skills to be manufacturing-savvy design engineers,” he added. n

Cal Poly’s College of Engineering an-nounced the establishment of the

Systems Integration Engineering (SIE) program, a new online graduate program designed for working engineers aspiring to take on additional technical responsi-bility and leadership.

“Students obtaining the 13-academic-unit graduate certificate in SIE will develop a holistic view of systems development and integration from a multidisciplinary per-spective,” said Kurt Colvin, program director. “Approach-ing systems, products and services from the top down is often a different perspec-tive for engineers working in domain-specific disciplines, such as mechanical engineer-ing and aerospace engineering.”

The program begins with a two-day, on-site orientation at Cal Poly, where enrollees meet fellow students, staff and faculty; review the program’s learning objectives; and complete distance educa-tion technology training — the learning management system and online collabo-

ration platform used in the course. SIE’s main curriculum consists of

three, 10-week graduate-level courses delivered fully online during Cal Poly’s fall, winter and spring academic quar-ters. Course content will be accessible

online anytime through Cal Poly’s learning management system, PolyLearn, while synchronous class meetings will be held live using the university’s online collabora-tion platform.

“The goal of the SIE pro-gram is to prepare discipline-specific, working engineers for additional responsibility and leadership positions in socio-technical organiza-tions,” said Colvin. “We expect those who complete

the certificate to have broad knowledge in many diverse, technical disciplines that will allow them to integrate system elements into a set of solutions that sat-isfy customer needs within budget and schedule constraints.”

For program details and to apply, go to: sie.calpoly.edu. n

Mechanical Engineering Manufactures a New Concentration

Cal Poly Announces Online Graduate Certificate for Engineering Professionals

“Students obtaining the

13-academic-unit graduate

certificate in SIE will develop a holistic

view of systems development and integration from a multidisciplinary

perspective.”

Mechanical engineering student Andrew Wood works in the Mustang ’60 Project Shop.

As the demand for downtown living escalates, cities are growing both skyward and below the ground.

Urban deep space is the new frontier — and for an urban excavation of unprecedented scale, few projects can match the Transbay Transit Center (TTC) in San Francisco.

Over the past three years the massive “big dig” near First and Mission Streets has provided several civil engineering undergraduate and graduate students a big picture of the distinct challenges of underground

construction projects in heavily built, highly seismic areas.

One of the largest transportation projects in the nation, the TTC is the future hub of 11 transit systems including Bay Area Rapid Transit, the Muni, a regional Caltrain commuter rail and California High Speed Rail. It is the center-piece of an overall vision that includes the city’s new tallest building, the 1,070-foot Trans-bay Transit Tower.

The enormity of the plan can be seen in the TTC’s monumental footprint — 185 feet wide, 60 feet deep and more than 1,500 feet long — in the heart of San Francisco’s financial district.

“The excavation is unprecedented in scale on the West Coast,” said Robb Moss, Cal Poly civil engineering associate professor. Moss was part of a team funded by the National

Science Foundation to study performance of deep and wide excavation in congested urban areas. The team included students and researchers from Cal Poly, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Berkeley, University of Texas at Austin and industry partner ARUP North America Ltd.

“Cal Poly’s research contribution — collecting real-time data on soil conditions and behavior — was critical,” said Moss. “Our research, like the excavation itself, has had to be conducted with minimal disruption to surrounding infrastruc-ture and economic activity. Add to that, San Francisco is a city that’s non-stop. As my colleague says, ‘It’s like conducting open heart surgery on a patient running a marathon.’”

“Every year I have had one or two graduate and under-graduate students involved on the team. Recent Cal Poly

team members included Justin Martos (B.S./M.S., Civil & Environmental Engineering, 2012), Jason Auyeung (B.S., Civil Engineering, 2013), and graduate student Jasper Jacobs.

“By measuring and monitoring the changes in soil stiffness due to the massive excavation the students and I produced data beyond what’s currently available,” said Moss. “In the process, they had a front-row seat to a transformative project that will create a world-class transportation system.

“Demand for underground space is only going to grow — it’s a key to sustainable urban living. This research project is a wonderful example of how real-life experiences are preparing our students for the future,” Moss said.

See transbaycenter.org for more on the Transbay Transit Center. n

To the Very Core: San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Project is Real World — and Real Deep

Project News

16

The Transbay Transit Center features levels for trains and buses and is topped by a 5-acre park. At left, Cal Poly civil engineering student Jason Auyeung unloads geophysical testing equipment used to study real-time changes in soil stiffness in the massive excavation.

Methanol, “multi-fuels” and elec-tricity-powered motorcycle projects were on display in professor Art Mac-Carley’s “Alternative Fuel Vehicles” (EE/BRAE 434) class during winter quarter. Supported by a $3,500 grant from Chevron, the class had projects that ranged from a solar-powered centrifuge that cleans kitchen grease for use as recycled fuel to a battery-swap system for an electric van. At right, electrical engineering student Antonio Rodriguez demonstrates the centrifuge.

Fuels Rush In: Class Studies Alternatives

Melfred Borzall, a Santa Maria company, has a plan to increase throughput, develop shorter lead

times and manufacture the highest-quality horizontal directional drilling parts on the market. They invested in a robotic welding cell and called in a Cal Poly indus-trial engineering senior project team to help assess the most efficient ways to use it.

Seniors Brandon Fiorucci, Marc Jones and Kyle Robertson worked closely with Melfred Borzall engi-neers, including Tom Rockwell and Eric Melsheimer. Melsheimer is the grandson of the company found-er, Fred Melsheimer, and son of alumnus Richard Melsheimer (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1961), company president. Faculty advisors included Kurt Colvin and Liz Schlemer, industrial and manufacturing engineering professors.

“We started our project by shadowing the company engineers to understand the flow of material through-out the factory and the various processes to create a finished product,” Jones explained. “We then began working with the robotic welding cell and assisted Mr. Rockwell in designing experiments on the different robot weld settings that tested for penetration depth, arc, impurities and quality of weld.”

The Cal Poly students focused on welding Melfred Borzall’s highest-volume product, the Steep Taper Ultra Bit 3.

“Part of the manufacturing process involves em-bedding tungsten carbide into the welds to prolong the life of the blade, during which the highly expensive material falls all over the floor,” said Jones. “We came up with a carbide recovery system that we built and installed with Mr. Rockwell.”

Because the installation of the robotic welding cell altered the layout of the warehouse, the project team was also charged with designing storage areas for work in progress (WIP). To save floor space in the limited area, the team designed a stand to hold the cell fixtures

above the WIP. They also calculated the most efficient and convenient layout for pallets of customer orders.

The final phase of the project will include time stud-ies on the robot’s entire welding process and providing a cost analysis on the manual welding vs. robotic weld-ing process in order to provide the company with an analysis of return on investment, payback period and other financial metrics.

“We appreciate the opportunity to work with Cal Poly students,” said Eric Melsheimer. “Brandon, Marc and Kyle have brought technical expertise, fresh perspectives and a willingness to get their hands dirty. We are looking forward to seeing the results of their project.” n

Working as a research assistant with Professor Russell Westphal on the

Boundary Layer Data System (BLDS) proj-ect was a “huge confidence builder” for mechanical engineering undergraduate Rachael Schelley.

Schelley recently assembled, pro-grammed and tested the BLDS-Rake, a new version of the Cal Poly BLDS, a small autonomous instrument that measures the air flow within the boundary layer near a surface on a full-scale operating aircraft or vehicle. Boundry layer mea-surements are important in the determi-nation of an aircraft’s overall resistance or drag caused by friction as it moves through the air.

“Rachael’s instrument allows for measurement of 16 separate pressures from probes located within a boundary layer,” said Weshphal. “This system al-lows for much more rapid measurement of the near‐surface flow than had been

possible with the previous approach that employed a single probe that used a mo-torized stage to make measurements at successive locations.”

BLDS-Rake was extensively evaluated in the Cal Poly 2x2-foot wind tunnel and under simulated altitude conditions in the Cal Poly thermal-vacuum chamber. It was subsequently installed and flown success-fully on a subsonic aircraft for in‐flight boundary layer measurements. Other students involved in the BLDS-Rake proj-ect include Brittany Kinkade and Spencer Lillywhite. BLDS team consultant Don Frame completed the electronic design and assembly.

The BLDS-Rake project was completed with sponsorship from the Lockheed Martin Professor endowment. The BLDS development effort, undertaken with extensive support and collaboration from Northrop Grumman, has led to applica-tions in eight flight test programs on five

different subsonic aircraft and ground‐based measurements in wind tunnels and on vehicles.

“My initial learning curve with the project was steep,” commented Schelley. “But it was really interesting to go from

theory to actual practice, and because of the variety of skills and issues involved, I know that I can adapt in a professional environment. The work confirmed that fluids and aircraft are areas I want to pursue.”n

Robot Control

Let It Flow: Research Project Measures the Air Flowing Over Aircraft Surfaces

Project News

17

Holding Melfred Borzall’s Steep Taper Ultra Bit 3s in the company’s Santa Maria warehouse are, left to right, Cal Poly engineering students Kyle Robertson, Marc Jones and Brandon Fiorucci. Pictured at the far left is Melfred Borzall engineer Eric Garcia, and at right, Tom Rockwell and Eric Melsheimer.

Santa Maria drill manufacturer enlists Cal Poly engineers to help maximize robotic welder efficiency

Rachael Schelley (Mechanical Engineering) uses a wind tunnel to test air flow over aircraft surfaces.

n Aerospace EngineeringEric Mehiel, chair, co-authored “Mod-eling and Simulation of Autonomous Thermal Soaring with Horizon Simulation Framework” presented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronau-tics (AIAA) Conference on Modeling and Simulation Technologies in National Harbor, Md.

n Biomedical & General EngineeringKristen Cardinal has coordinated MED-ITEC projects with Edwards Lifesciences for seven years. MEDITEC is the Cal Poly consortium that connects biomedical engineering students with projects generated by top biomedical companies. Edwards has funded $350,000 in projects

to date, supporting five to 10 student and team projects a year. This year, Cardinal is faculty advisor to eight such projects, which include students major-ing in biomedical engineering, mechani-cal engineering, general engineering and industrial and manufacturing engineer-ing. The students will present their final projects to Edwards engineers and managers.

18

Faculty News

n Dean’s Office

Debra Larson, dean, and co-authors Ron McKean, interim associate dean of operations at Ferris State University’s College of Engineering Technology, and Steven Cramer, associate dean of engineering at the University of Wis-consin, Madison, published “Learning Outcomes: Less is More” (ASEE Prism Magazine, Vol. 23, no. 6, pg. 54, Febru-ary 2014). The article advocates stream-lining ABET’s Criterion 3.

n n n

Rakesh Goel, associate dean, was elected a fellow of the Structural Engi-neering Institute (SEI). The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) SEI Fellowship recognizes a select group of distinguished SEI members as leaders and mentors in the structural engineer-ing profession. Goel was appointed chair of the Dynamic Effects Technical Administrative Committee of the ASCE SEI. In this position, he provides leader-ship to three committees and several subcommittees with focus on seismic, blast, shock, impact and multi-hazard mitigation.

n Multidisciplinary

Scott Hazelwood (Biomedical Engineering) and Steve Klisch (Mechani-cal Engineering) published “Integrating qPLM and Biomechanical Test Data with an Anisotropic Fiber Distribution Model and Predictions of TGF‐β1 and IGF-1 Regulation of Articular Cartilage Fiber Modulus” with mechanical en-gineering students Mike Stender and Kevin Yamauchi; colleagues Chris Raub, Reza Shirazi and Robert Sah from UC Davis; and Pasquale Vena from Politec-nico di Milano. The article appeared in Biomechanics and Modeling in Mecha-nobiology (Vol.12, no. 6; pp. 1073-1088, 2013).

FacultyNotes

When Cal Poly industrial and manufacturing engineering instructor Rod Hoadley was

looking to design a more space‐efficient bicycle rack about 12 years ago, he hit on a simple solu-tion: Two is better than one.

“Our bike racks have two tiers, so there are no handlebar conflicts,” said Hoadley, founder of Peak Racks in San Luis Obispo. “The verti-cally staggered design eliminates handlebar tangles and achieves tight density parking. That makes them popular for city sidewalks, in small garages or anywhere space is at a premium.”

Hoadley, an avid cyclist who learned to weld as a Cal Poly engineering technology student in the early 1990s, said his patented bike racks are now all over campus and downtown San Luis Obispo.

“I can lock up on one of our racks at Campus Market or by my office and then ride downtown to Linnaea’s for coffee and park at another of our racks,” Hoadley said. “They are especially popular on college campuses. We’ve sold racks to universities across the country — from the University of Florida and Vanderbilt to Texas A&M and UC Santa Barbara.”

Hoadley, who employs dozens of Cal Poly

students during Peak Racks’ more intense spring-to-summer manufacturing season, said his innovative two-tiered system also allows for easier locking. “The bigger guys don’t have to bend down quite so far, and there’s a little more there to put a lock on,” he said. “We wanted to make cycling fun for everyone and finding accessible parking and racks that are easy to attach a lock to makes that possible.”

For more on Peak Racks, see www.peak-racks.com. n

Rack ’emEngineering instructor’s unique bicycle rack design may be two times better

Rod Hoadley, an instructor for the Cal Poly Industrial & Manufacturing Department and founder of Peak Racks, parks his bicycle in front of Linnaea’s Cafe in San Luis Obispo. Peak Racks can be found all over downtown and the Cal Poly campus, above left.

As a research associate at Stanford, Saikat Pal

developed predictive and personalized methods for diagnosis of musculoskel-etal disorders. “I discovered new relationships between quadriceps muscle activation imbalance and joint mal-alignment in patients with knee pain, and developed computational models to study the underlying mecha-nisms,” he said.

Pal joined Cal Poly this winter — he teaches in biomedical engineering, where he brings his passion for devel-oping technology to improve lives and reduce health care costs. His research interests are in the areas of neuromuscu-

loskeletal biomechanics, medi-cal device design, biomedical imaging, statistical analysis in design and design for extreme affordability.

“I am working on compu-tational algorithms to analyze the terabytes of data we are generating every day in health care, often referred to as Big Data,” he said. “These data will be instrumental in uncov-ering the mysteries of many diseases, streamlining treat-

ment pathways and shaping policies in the 21st century.”

Pal earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in computer engineering and mechanical engineering from the University of Denver.n

New Faculty Member Believes in Predictive, Personalized and Preemptive Health Care

Saikat PalBiomedical Engineering

19

Faculty News

n n n

Trevor Cardinal co-authored “Smooth Muscle Cell Dysfunction Reduces Func-tional Vasodilation in Pre-existing and Newly Formed Arterial Collaterals” with Ryan Gallagher (B.S./M.S., Biomedical Engineering, 2012), and current B.S./M.S. students Sara Hellstrom, Joshua Cutts, and Jennifer Go. Cardinal presented the abstract at the Microcirculatory Society fall meeting in Hyannis, Mass.

n Civil & Environmental Engineering

Tryg Lundquist gave talks on the biofuel potential of waste-grown algae and improved wastewater treatment sus-tainability using microalgae at the Algae Biomass Summit in Orlando, Fla., and at WEFTEC, the water quality event™ confer-ence sponsored by the Water Environ-ment Federation in Chicago.

n Computer Science & Software Engineering Foaad Khosmood co-authored “The Global Game Jam as a Venue for Teach-ing and Learning” presented at the 26th Computing and Information Technology Research and Education New Zealand (CITRENZ) Conference in Hamilton, New

Zealand. The paper won the 2013 CITRENZ Award for Collaborative Research. Khosmood was named the first senior research fellow at Cal Poly’s new Institute for Technology and Public Policy (IATPP). Alexander Dekhtyar and Franz Kurfess were named faculty scholars for the institute. Khosmood co-organized the 6th an-nual Global Game Jam (GGJ), the world’s largest game development activity, involving more than 480 locations in 72 countries. Local participation was hosted by the Cal Poly Game Development club (CPGD). Forty participants from Cal Poly created 10 games. 2014 games made at Cal Poly can be viewed from the GGJ web-site: globalgamejam.org.

n n n

Zoe Wood co-authored “Surface Re-construction of Ancient Water Storage Systems: An Approach for Sparse 3D Sonar Scans and Fused Stereo Image,” published in Proceedings of Interna-tional Conference on Computer Graphics Theory and Applications (GRAPP) held in Lisbon, Portugal. She gave a presenta-tion at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Minneapolis on “The Blessings of a Broken Robot: Valuable Lessons for Computer Scientists about International Engineering, Field Research and Outreach.” Wood and computer science instructor

Environmental Engineering Profes-sor Sam Vigil, a fellow of the Air

and Waste Management Association (A&WMA), received the Best Paper Award at the A&WMA Regional Special-ty Conference on Sustainable Resources and Air Quality Management in Yilan, Taiwan.

The conference was the first joint meeting of the China, Hong Kong and Taiwan Sections of the A&WMA. Vigil was one of four American engineers to present at the event. His paper ad-dressed “Remote Sensing of Greenhouse Gases from Landfills,” research that Vigil has undertaken on ground- and aircraft- based greenhouse gas monitoring.

The practical application of his research proved valuable in early March when Vigil participated in a Remote Air

Sensing Campaign at the Cal Poly Dairy. Coordinated with Cal Poly Farm

Operations, the College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences and the Cal Poly Dairy Science Department, the effort included researchers from NASA God-dard Space Flight Center and Bubbleol-ogy Research International. Vigil said the researchers employed new sampling in-struments on the ground and in a NASA AlphaJet flying overhead that measured the amount of methane and CO2 in the air above the working dairy.

“The Cal Poly Dairy is a unique site for this research because it is isolated from other methane sources,” Vigil said. “NASA and private resources were sup-plied at no cost to Cal Poly and the data collected will be used for peer-reviewed papers.” n

Vigil Honored for Paper on Sensing Greenhouse Gases and Takes Part in Study at Cal Poly Dairy

Environmental Engineering Professor Sam Vigil, above, and Cal Poly research assistant Neal Adler look at methane and carbon dioxide readings during aRemote Air Sensing Campaign at the Cal Poly Dairy.

Julie Workman also conducted a work-shop at the conference on “Computation-al Art Using Processing for CS0.” In conjunction with Kari Friedman, president of the Computer Science Industrial Advisory Board (CSC-IAB), Wood launched the CSC-IAB mentoring program, which matches female students with board members.

n Electrical Engineering

Dennis Derickson, chair, and graduate student Desmond Talkington pre-sented “O-Band (1310 nm) Vernier-Tuned Distributed Bragg Reflector (VT‐DBR) Laser Device Characterization for Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)” at the 2014 SPIE Biomedical Optics Conference in San Francisco. The paper discussed a new technology laser that promises higher performance solutions for tissue imaging.

n n n

Taufik was invited to participate in the Indonesia Summit 2014 organized by the Economist and held in Jakarta, Indone-sia. He served as a panelist in a session on “Eastern Indonesia” to discuss rural electrification using his research work on DC House technology that he is develop-ing at Cal Poly. He published “Rural Electrification: The DC House Solution” in Powering Up: Perspectives on Indonesia’s Energy Future published online by the Economist (www.conomistinsights.com/energy/analysis/powering).

n Materials Engineering

Kathy Chen, chair, was named a fellow of the Alpha Sigma Mu (AΣMu) Materials Honor Society at the MS&T Conference in Montreal. She presented “Living in a Material World: Materials Engineering as a General Education course on Technol-ogy” at the Materials Research Society (MRS) fall meeting in Boston, Mass. She joined members of the Materials Engi-neering Student Society at TMS (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society) An-nual Meeting in San Diego, where she also hosted a materials engineering alumni dinner. Chen led numerous outreach efforts:

The Materials Engineering Department was selected as one of 75 NOVA Making Stuff outreach sites for Engineers Week during which Cal Poly materials engineer-ing students made pinewood derby cars with the Oceano Boys & Girls Club.As a project in a materials engineering freshman course, students held a Ma-terials Mini Maker Faire at the Los Osos Middle School. Chen also facilitated the College of Engineering’s co-sponsorship of the SLO Mini Maker Faire.

n n n

Trevor Harding was selected by the National Science Foundation to partici-pate in an IdeasLab in Leesburg, Va. that addresses the problem of social inequity in the access to and use of new technol-ogy. A methodology developed in the UK, the IdeasLab is a novel approach to brainstorming transformative strategies for addressing significant social prob-lems.

n Mechanical Engineering

Mohammad Noori was invited to become a founding member of the U.S. Advisory Board, Indo-U.S. Collaboration for Engi-neering Education (IUCEE). The goal of the IUCEE is to improve the quality and global relevance of engineering educa-tion and research in India. Noori was also invited to become a founding advisory council member for the New Engineering University, a practical, private engineer-ing school founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Scott Kauffman. Noori co-authored “Precautions to Consider in Using Wavelet Transforma-tion for Damage Detection Analysis of Plates” published in Smart Structures and Systems (Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 63-81, 2013) and “A Finite Element Model Based on Coupled Refined High‐Order Global‐Local Theory for Static Electromechani-cal Analysis of Embedded Shear Mode Piezoelectric Sandwich Composite Beams with Various Widths” published in Thin-Walled Structures (Vol. 72, pp. 139-13, 2013). He co-authored “Wavelet-Based Techniques for Structural Health Monitoring,” a chapter in Health Assess-ment of Engineered Structures (World Scientific, ed. Achintya Haldar, Chapter 7, pp. 179-199, 2013). n

20

Faculty News Steffen Peuker Joins Cal Poly as the James L. Bartlett Jr. Endowed Professor

Steffen Peuker’s interest in enhanc-

ing student success through project- based learning makes him a natural fit at Cal Poly. He joined the Mechanical Engineer-ing Department in winter 2014 as the James L. Bartlett Jr. Endowed Professor.

“My current research emphasis is on the scholarship of teaching and learn-ing,” said Peuker, who has work underway in the implementation of team-based learning in engineering courses. He is also investigating whether first‐year engineering students have higher rates of academic success when they design their own individually tailored learning process.

“I am interested in incorporating ac-tive learning into heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R) courses,” added Peuker. “Cal Poly offers a unique opportunity to further expand my research in this area as a result of its HVAC&R concentration and stellar laboratories. Plus, Cal Poly’s relationship with the HVAC&R industry allows me to actively pursue industry-relevant student and research projects.”

Peuker has a bachelor’s degree from

Hochschule Mannheim University of Applied Sciences. He earned a master’s degree and doctorate in mechanical sci-ence and engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

About the James L. Bartlett Jr. En-dowed Professorship

The Brown Family Foundation estab-lished the James L. Bartlett Jr. Profes-sorship to promote multidisciplinary project‐based learning. James L. Bartlett Jr., mentor to Ross Brown, is an engineer-entrepreneur, who transformed technical expertise and business experience into pioneering developments in a wide range of technical fields, the founding of six busi-nesses and a remarkable career. n

Helene Finger Honored by Cuesta CollegeHelene Finger, director of Cal Poly’s

Women’s Engineering Program, is one of four recipients of the 37th Women of Distinction awards spon-sored by Cuesta College and Women’s Legacy Fund of the Community Foun-dation of San Luis Obispo County. The award honors women from throughout the Central Coast for their professional and civic contributions.

Finger was recognized with the Progress for Women Award for her directorship of the Women’s Engineer-ing Program, a position she has held for 15 years. She also serves as faculty advi-sor to the Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and she received the Outstanding SWE Counselor Award at the 2013 SWE national convention.

Under her men-torship, the Cal Poly chapter has received the na-tional Gold Level Outstanding Col-legiate Section Award for the last three years and 10 times since 2002.

A Cal Poly alum-na, she earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1988 and her master’s in civil and environmental engineering in 1989. Finger has taught in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department since 1997.n

Helene Finger Civil & Environmental

Engineering

Steffen Peuker, the James L. Bartlett Jr. Endowed Professor, will teach and conduct research in the HVAC&R lab.

Kurt Colvin, associate professor of industrial and manufacturing engi-

neering, remembers Tres Clements (B.S. Manufacturing Engineering, 2007) as a remarkable student from day one.

“I first encountered Tres when he was a freshman in my IME 144 manufactur-ing and design course. In the first class of the quarter, I outlined what would be covered. Afterward, he came up and said, ‘I’ve done all that. When can I start using the CNC machines on my own projects?’ He was, in effect, asking for nothing less than to take on one of Cal Poly’s most advanced manufacturing areas.

“Tres is fearless — not at all shy about taking on very demanding engineering projects if he finds them interesting. And I think that’s why he later clicked with the legendary Burt Rutan (B.S., Aerospace Engineering, 1965),” said Colvin.

Aviation interests and a talent for making things have figured prominently in Clements’ life from an early age.

“I got my first hot air balloon license before my driver’s license,” recalled Cle-ments.

“At Cal Poly, I was involved with the flight simulation, mo-tion simulation and lots of club activities. I bought a Cessna 150 at Cal Poly’s public surplus auction and earned my pilot’s license here.”

Following graduation, Clements worked at AeroMech, a manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles.

“There, I was more of a design engi-neer than a manufacturing engineer,” said Clements, “taking projects from concept to completion. It expanded my sense of what I could do and my interest in seeing what else was out there.”

For some time Clements had been an avid follower of Rutan’s work in Mojave Desert, Calif. That’s where the visionary

designer was developing aerospace and new-concept aircraft — most famously the Voyager and, later, SpaceShipOne. The Voyager, the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, was produced by Burt Rutan and his brother Dick Rutan at the Rutan Aircraft Factory. SpaceShipOne, the world’s first privately built manned spacecraft to reach space, came out of Scaled Composites, the experi-mental aircraft company founded by Burt Rutan in 1982.

“I caught the tail end of Burt’s time at Scaled,” said Clements. “It was a tremen-

dous experience working on projects with him. His passion, his excitement, is unmatched — as is his ability to motivate people. Like many innovators, he under-stood his own strengths and weaknesses, and he surrounded himself with individu-als who brought diverse and complemen-tary skills — and then he brought out their best. He was also remarkable for how fast he made things happen. With Burt, we built prototypes, start to finish, in months not years. Throughout his career, he produced a plane a year. It was a culture based on visionary concepts,

breakthrough design and speed.“It was so impressive to see how hard

Burt worked. Even on the last project I worked with him on, I couldn’t beat him to work, and he wasn’t leaving if I was still there.”

It was a unique experience and rela-tionship that led to Clements inheriting the Boomerang, an asymmetric twin-engine aircraft that some consider to be Rutan’s most unconventional work — and one the maverick designer considers his best general aviation aircraft design.

“He didn’t want to sell or donate it, he wanted to keep it flying, and I was in the right place at the right time,” said Clements. “Burt technically still owns it. The agree-ment is that I operate it as if I own it. I’ve as-sumed all its expenses and have done quite a

bit of work on it. It has its own website at rutanboomerang.com.”

When Rutan sold Scaled Composites to Northrop Grumman in 2007, it gave Clements an opportunity to work for yet another innovation and engineering trailblazer, though this was a giant of a different scale.

“Just the sheer size of Northrop Grum-man made for a significant cultural shift,” said Clements. “I was going from a small, no-rules operation to assimilating into

2000sAndrea Gardiner (B.S., Environmental Engineering, 2001)

Cal Poly Alumna Enrolled in Ph.D. Program at Vanderbilt

Andrea Gardiner is working toward her doctorate in environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University. She is focusing on projects related to nuclear environ-mental engineering, including fuel cycle evaluation decision framework. She also works for Barge, Waggoner, Sumner, and Cannon as a staff engineer.

n n n

Mark Paddon and Aaron Rivera(B.S., Computer Science, 2012)

New App for Hearst Castle

Cal Poly grads have made taking a tour at Hearst Castle as easy as taking along your smart phone. They developed an app for mobile devices that makes it easy to explore and educate yourself at the same time. Your phone keeps track of where you are, and what notable pieces of his-tory you’re approaching on your stroll.http://bit.ly/19FMGGI

n n n

Aaron Peckham (B.S./M.S., Computer Science, 2005)

Cal Poly Computer Science Grad Turned Modest Website into the Internet’s Lexicon of Slang

Aaron Peckham started Urban Dictionary in 1999 when he was a freshman at Cal Poly — and he’s now mulling the crowd-sourced dictionary’s next phase. http://bit.ly/JDWDuK

Alumni i n t h e n e w s

21

Faculty NewsAlumni NewsTres Clements: Prototype Maker Not Your Prototypical Engineer

Cal Poly manufacturing engineering graduate Tres Clements is now working in prototyping at specialty photographic equipment manuafacturer Really Right Stuff in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Continued on Page 23

See CLEMENTS, Page 22

“Tres is fearless — not at all shy about taking on very demanding engineering projects if he

finds them interesting. And I think that’s why he later clicked with the legendary Burt Rutan.”

Kurt Colvin | Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering

Clements From Page 21

Rory Aronson (B.S. Mechanical Engi-neering, 2013) is busy making things.

“That’s what a facility like this is for,” said Aronson about the just-opened SLO MakerSpace that he helped found in San Luis Obispo.

Makerspaces are, in effect, “a commu-nity center with tools” where members — typically a mix of artists, crafters, inven-tors, innovators, do-it-yourselfers — can meet, collaborate and socialize. Over the past 10 years, makerspaces have sprung up in large urban cities and small towns as people rediscover the simple joy of making things.

SLO MakerSpace, which is fairly typical of the genre, is a 3,300-square-foot facil-ity in a small industrial area. Its eclectic inventory of tools, equipment, classes and resources reflect a mix of traditional arts and crafts and 21st century technology and industrial design: 3-D printers, laser cut-ters and computer-aided design machines seem right at home with classic handtools, sewing machines, routers and saws.

Aronson first heard about the maker-space concept last summer at Cal Poly’s SLO HotHouse, an incubator program for entrepreneurs.

“I immediately turned around and said, ‘Hey, I’d love to be involved because it sounds really fun, a concept that I person-ally would utilize and a resource I want to be available in this community.’ That got me on the ground floor, and here we are, a year later, and SLO MakerSpace is open for business.”

In fact, Aronson recently left his shop management position at SLO MakerSpace because he, too, is opening a business called FarmBot — in a space he’s renting right upstairs. It’s one of several spaces available to startup ventures like his.

The arrangement enables him to remain on the board of directors and continue to teach classes as a volunteer. “Essentially I will be running FarmBot proj-ect out of SLO MakerSpace and be working

there full time, but for myself,” he said.Aronson explained that the move was

the result of his being accepted into a fellowship program by the Shuttleworth Foundation. He will be working under a $123,000 grant for full year and hopes to bring FarmBot to market in that time.

“I had an idea for a new type of trac-tor, a new type of agriculture system. The result was FarmBot, an open-source, scalable, automated precision-farming

machine,” Aronson said.“Think of it like a giant 3-D printer, but

instead of wielding a plastic extruder, its tools are seed injectors, watering nozzles, plowers, sensors and more. Because it’s computer controlled, and each plant is sowed and tended to individually, it’s a precision-farming machine.”

Aronson also considers himself part of the open-source movement.

“FarmBot is my first major contribu-tion in that area. Everything about it will be open source — from the hardware design and software source code to the public plant data.”

Since September, when he published an online white paper about FarmBot, Aronson has been building an interdisci-plinary, international team of software engineers, mechanical engineers, graphic designers and agricultural specialists to

develop the project. He’s exploring partner-ship possibilities with the BioResource & Agricultural Engi-neering Department and the Strawberry Sustainability Research

and Education Center.“After graduation last spring, I real-

ized I had my degree, I could go anywhere — and entrepreneurship was definitely something I wanted to pursue,” Aronson said. “I consider myself a social entrepre-neur, and I intend to use business, engi-neering and design to tackle some of the biggest challenge we face today. FarmBot is a step in that direction.” n

Alumni News

22

one of the world’s largest companies. But it was also an amazing job. I was assuming whole new levels of responsibility, includ-ing serving as lead engineer for one of the largest projects Scaled was working on at the time.”

At about the same time, Clements mar-ried a Cal Poly graduate, and they found their paths leading them back to San Luis Obispo. Their return to the area coincided with the expansion of Really Right Stuff, a local company that takes “Made in America” pride in its locally manufactured, high-end camera support gear — from tripods to clamps, brackets and iPhone cases. The company, which started out in a garage, now resides in a sleek, modern, 90,000-square-foot facility across from the county’s regional airport.

The new space, which features the company’s first in‐house prototyping shop, presented a ground‐floor opportunity that intrigued Clements. “That,” he laughed, “and the view of the airport it would give me — the Boomerang and my Piper Pacer airplane are in a hangar there, not far from Kurt Colvin’s.

“I arrived at a time when Really Right Stuff was looking for someone who would be all about prototypes, and I’ve found that I thrive on the design and manufactur-ing involved.

“For the first time, my work is much more aligned with what Cal Poly taught me. I learned how to machine when I was in high school, and it’s stuck with me. Not that Cal Poly makes machinists — and I’m not one — but I’m being one here in the sense that I can design the part and I can make the part. That’s the biggest key to prototyping, and it’s why it’s such a good fit for me.

“If I hadn’t done everything else, I wouldn’t appreciate this job as fully as I do. The mix of design and prototyping involves me fully in the design cycle, which I really enjoy.

“I work directly with Joe and Joan Johnson, the owners. With only about 22 employees, it’s much more like a family operation. We’re all working toward the same goal — perfection.”

For more on Really Right Stuff, see: www.reallyrightstuff.com n

Making ItMechanical engineering grad Rory Aronson helps found SLO MakerSpace community workshop

“I had an idea for a new type of tractor, a new type of agriculture system. The result was FarmBot, an open-source, scalable, automated

precision-farming machine.”

Mechanical engineer-ing graduate Rory Aronson displays a robotic arm project being worked on at SLO Maker-Space, a new community workshop he helped found in San Luis Obispo. Aronson is developing a robotic farm machine at the shop.

Michael F. Cannon, founder and president of Cannon, a multidis-ciplinary engineering consulting firm in San Luis Obispo, spoke on the importance of teamwork, hard work and Cal Poly’s Learn by Doing philosophy as the keynote speaker at Fall Commencement. The 1983 civil engineering graduate has remained close to his alma mater, serving as a Founders Circle member of the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and an Industrial Advisory Board member for the Civil & Environmental Engineering Depart-ment.

Cannon DeliversSupport to Cal Poly

Alumni News

23

an MBA with a finance concentration and real estate specialization from the Univer-sity of Texas at Austin in 1999.

n n n

Craig M. Murray (M.S., Civil & Environmental Engineering, 1996)

Local Official Named Special District General Manager of the Year

The Santa Barbara County Chapter of the California Special District’s Association selected Craig Murray of the Carpinteria Sanitary District as its General Manager of the Year for 2013. Murray joined the district as its general manager in 2004; he is a registered professional engineer.http://bit.ly/MRllJ9

n n n

David Woodard (B.S., Environmental Engineering, 1991)

Cal Poly Alum Named New Manager at East Bay Municipal Utility District

David Woodard recently took a new position as the manager of workplace health and safety for the East Bay

Municipal Utility District in Oakland, Calif.

1970sDavid Caneer (B.S., Transportation Engineering, 1977)

Caneer Named ASCE Fellow

David Caneer, P.E., QSD/QSP, F.ASCE, a senior supervising civil engineer with Parsons Brinckerhoff in San Francisco, has been recognized as an American Society of Civil Engineers Fellow (F.ASCE). His election to F.ASCE is based on his more than 36 years of continuous service to the public and the civil engineering profes-sion on more than 200 site development, transportation and public works projects across seven states.

n n n

Russell M. Cummings (B.S., Aeronautical Engineering, 1977; M.S., Engineering, 1985)

Cummings Promoted at the U.S. Air Force Academy

Russell M. Cummings was named head of the Department of Aeronautics at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. He also co-authored the sixth edition of “Aerodynamics for Engineers” pub-

lished by Pearson/Prentice Hall. Cummings taught in Cal Poly’s Aerospace Engineering Department from 1978-2005.

1960sJohn S. Mattis (B.S., Mechanical Engineering, 1962)

Mattis Enjoying Retirement

After retiring in 2001 from a 40-year career in engineering at Raychem Corp. and Tyco Intl., John Mattis remains active in the field. He currently has applications for 30 patents. In his leisure, Mattis is dedicated to duplicate bridge, as well as biking, hiking and being a regular at the gym with his wife, Linda. “And I still downhill ski,” he noted.

1950sAlvin Trivelpiece (B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1953)

Trivelpiece Oral History Featured

A summary of an oral history of Alvin Triv-elpiece, when he was director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1980-2000), was featured in the Oak Ridger. bit.ly/1pBKQLn n

Jackie Yee(B.S., Civil Engineering, 2000)

California Community Hikes Recycled Water Usage

Jaclyn Yee, an associate civil engineer in Dublin, Calif., was featured as the cover story of PM Engineer Magazine for lead-ing a major project as the local water

district expanded its recycled water system to retrofit potable water irrigation at the city’s parks and schools. http://bit.ly/P65jwU

1990sJonathan Moss Becker (B.S., Electrical Engineering, 1999)

Becker Passes Engineering Doctorate Prospectus Exam

Jonathan Becker passed the electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. prospec-tus exam at Carnegie Mellon University in October. His doctoral degree will be awarded following the defense of his thesis, “Dynamic Beamforming Optimi-zation for Anti‐Jamming and Hardware Fault Recovery.”

n n n

John Cole (B.S., Environmental Engineering, 1992)

Novogradac Elevates Four to Partner

San Francisco-based accounting and con-sulting group Novogradac has welcomed John Cole of the Austin office to the partnership. Cole oversees the govern-ment consulting and valuation advisory services group. In addition to his bach-elor’s degree from Cal Poly, he earned

Alumni in the news

California Polytechnic State University College of Engineering

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COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING ceng.calpoly.eduDean’s Office (805) 756-2131Debra Larson, Dean dslarson@calpoly.edu Fred DePiero, Associate Dean fdepiero@calpoly.eduRakesh Goel, Associate Dean rgoel@calpoly.eduCollege AdvancementRichard LeRoy, Asst. Dean (805) 756-7108 rleroy@calpoly.eduAmanda Oeser, Dir. of Development (805) 756-5711 aoeser@calpoly.eduCasey apRoberts, Corporate Partnerships (805) 756-6040 caprober@calpoly.eduBrenda Flood, Admin. Support (805) 756-5374 bflood@calpoly.eduCollege Publications & Communications (805) 756-6402Amy Hewes, Director ahewes@calpoly.eduMiles Clark, Web Administrator (805) 756-6582 mmclark@calpoly.eduGalen Ricard, Writer (805) 756-6623 gricard@calpoly.eduEngineering Advising (805) 756-1461Kim Marsalek, Coordinator kmarsale@calpoly.eduMulticultural Engineering Program (805) 756-1433Maria Manzano, Coordinator msmanzan@calpoly.eduWomen in Engineering Program (805) 756-2350Helene Finger, Director hfinger@calpoly.eduDEPARTMENTSAerospace Engineering (805) 756-2562Eric Mehiel, Chair emehiel@calpoly.eduBiomedical & General Engineering (805) 756-6400Lanny Griffin, Chair lgriffin@calpoly.eduCivil/Environmental Engineering (805) 756-2947Daniel Jansen, Chair djansen@calpoly.eduComputer Engineering (805) 756-1229John Oliver, Director jyoliver@calpoly.eduComputer Science/Software Engineering (805) 756-2824Ignatios Vakalis, Chair ivakalis@calpoly.eduElectrical Engineering (805) 756-2781Dennis Derickson, Chair ddericks@calpoly.eduIndustrial & Manufacturing Engineering (805) 756-2341Jose Macedo, Chair jmacedo@calpoly.eduMaterials Engineering (805) 756-2568Kathy Chen, Chair kcchen@calpoly.eduMechanical Engineering (805) 756-1334Andrew Davol, Chair adavol@calpoly.eduFire Protection Engineering (805) 756-7834Fred Mowrer, Director fmowrer@calpoly.edu

Engineering Advantage is a biannual publication of the College of Engineering, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Editorial Staff: Amy Hewes | Publications Director

• Galen Ricard | Staff Writer • Dennis Steers | Photography & Design

CO

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RY Join us for the

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

PROJECT EXPO Saturday, May 31 • 1 – 5 p.m.Featuring more than 200 individual and team projects, the event represents the culmination of one to two years of student-led project inno-vation. It’s an ideal time to interact with project spon-sors, faculty and especially students.

n SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 1 - 2 p.m. Outstanding Graduation Senior Awards 2 - 5 p.m. Project Exhibition

n CONTACT n RSVP 805-756-2131 http://bit.ly/1hiwRZ3

To learn how you can work with student teams or sponsor projects, contact Associate Dean Rakesh Goel at rgoel@calpoly.edu.