For the week of August 13th, 2010

@COE will be published on a weekly basis beginning August 20. The welcome back edition will be sent out on Friday, August 20.

Please send your submissions for @COE to Viriginia Switzer in the Engineering Communications Office at [log in to unmask] by noon on Thursdays.

 

 

Faculty Updates

MSE Professors’ Article is Published in Academic Journal

Dr. Yanwen Zhang and Dr. William Weber, professors in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, were published in the American Physical Society.

Click here to access the article, “Role of energy partitioning on electron-hole recombination, trapping, and detection in silicon detectors.”

The article’s abstract: The dynamics of electron-hole pair creation and transport in a semiconductor control the fundamental signal response for radiation detection. Extensive studies on silicon detectors have led to contradictory interpretations on the origins of the pulse height defect (PHD) and nonlinear response. In this study, recombination and trapping behaviors of a controlled number of electron-hole pairs produced within different volumes along the ion path are investigated, and the pulse height generated is analyzed in terms of energy partitioning. The results clearly demonstrate that a high recombination rate is not observed for heavy ions; moreover, significant trapping associated with the atomic defects produced by individual ions is responsible for the nonlinear response at low energies and PHD at high energies.

 

Student News

Office of Diversity Coordinates High School Introduction Program

A group of Biosystems Engineering (BESS) faculty, staff, and students hosted 22 high school students on Tuesday, August 3 to give them a glimpse of what an engineering education and career might entail. The rising high school juniors and seniors were brought to campus as part of the “High School Introduction to Engineering Systems (HITES)” program coordinated by the Office of Diversity Programs in the College of Engineering. Each year, the College hosts a group of high school students drawn from under-represented groups, and engages this group of prospective future students in a series of enrichment activities designed to showcase UT engineering programs and to challenge these academically-gifted students to prepare themselves to pursue “difference-making” careers. All the participants except two - one from Georgia and one from Missouri - were representing various Tennessee high schools across the state from Chattanooga to Memphis.

Travis Griffin, Director of Diversity Programs in UT’s College of Engineering, said that the high school students were here to “learn about careers in engineering, explore the campus and its available services, tour engineering labs and facilities, compete in engineering challenges, cultivate new friendships, spend a weekend living on a college campus, and get a jumpstart on their academic careers.”

In addition to hearing about careers in biosystems engineering, the high school students engaged in hands-on activities and challenges involving
• Geocaching: a “treasure hunt” using global positioning system (GPS) technology,
• Use of a surveying robot for faster, more efficient land surveying,
• Electric power-assist bicycling, and
• Measurement of flow rates through a complex orifice.

In spite of the heat and humidity, the students stayed focused and fully engaged, and seemed to have a great time. While participating in data collection as part of a flow rate experiment being conducted by graduate student Alex McLemore, one young woman looked up at her team mates with a broad smile and said, “I’m SO going to be an engineer!”

Another of the visiting students clearly showed that she found a connection between the activities of the day and her past studies. As Fred Tompkins was leading the wrap-up session and inviting last-minute inquiries and comments, the question was posed, “Does all this mean that Eli Whitney was a Biosystems Engineer?”

I guess it does!

 

IGRET Student Gains Great Experience

Michelle Everett an IGERT(Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) student in the STAIR (Sustainable Technology through Advanced Interdisciplinary Research) program from the Materials Science and Engineering Department spent twelve weeks this summer interning at the Savannah River National Lab in Aiken, SC.

She worked in the Energy Security division at the Center for Hydrogen Research. Her main task was to develop an environmental sample holder for x-ray diffraction. Metal and chemical hydrides for chemical storage of hydrogen were the materials of interest. These materials are pyrophoric, toxic, and water reactive. The project involved figuring out how to expose the materials to certain environments in a controlled manner in order to study the crystal structures as they change due to the reactions. It was a great experience with a good mix of engineering in the holder design, and science in the reaction pathway determination. Michelle would like to thank the post-docs in her group for their help, and her advisor for allowing her the time to go.

 

Engineering Professional Practice Announcements

PLEASE NOTE: Students receiving engineering co-op or internship offers must go through Engineering Professional Practice if they want recognition for them on their UT transcript. Students receiving offers directly from employers may forward the information to the office and inquire about how to fulfill program requirements and receive credit for their work.

 

Engineering Professional Practice Student Feature

Featured student: Thomas “Sid” Swearingen

Thomas “Sid” Swearingen is a computer engineering major. He worked his first co-op rotation with Georgia-Pacific during the spring 2010 semester.

He said: “I worked in IT, supporting general user questions, as well as several projects. GP Big Island (Virginia) has a relaxed atmosphere that makes it easy to learn and integrate into the mill culture.”

Among the new technical skills Sid said he learned were LAN concepts, and serial to ethernet devices. He considers his improved technical knowledge to be the most valuable benefit he received by accepting the co-op.

A challenge Sid said he had to overcome was “researching a problem I knew very little about,” and his advice to other students considering a co-op with Georgia Pacific is to “find housing early!”

Students may read more about their peers’ co-op/internship experiences by logging into their Engineering Professional Practice profile via www.coop.utk.edu, clicking “Resource Library” (on the left margin) and selecting “Students at Work – In Their Own Words.”

For information on engineering co-op and internship assignments, contact Engineering Professional Practice at [log in to unmask] or 865-974-5323.

 

Upcoming Events

 

Engineering Professional Practice Spotlight

Career Services Announcements

---

Be ready for Fall Recruiting!

Part Time Job Fair	Wednesday, August 25
Engineering Career Success Week	Monday–Friday, September 12–17
Graduate School for Engineers Workshop	Tuesday, September 14
Volunteer & Service Corps Fair	Wednesday, September 15
Logistics Fair (Industrial Engineers invited)	Monday, September 27
Fall Job Fair	Tuesday, September 28

 

---

For more information, visit the Career Services website.

---

If you have submissions for @COE, the college's electronic newsletter, please send them to Virginia Switzer at [log in to unmask] by 12:00 noon on Thursdays.