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For the week of June 17, 2011
@COE will be published on a biweekly basis for the remainder of the summer; the next edition will be sent out Friday, July 8, due to the holiday weekend.
Please send submissions for @COE to Julie Stansberry in the Engineering Communications Office at [log in to unmask] by noon on Thursdays.
Student News
MSE Graduate Student Recognized by the American Crystallographic Association Powder Diffraction Special Interest Group
Kevin Rhodes, a graduate student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was selected as one of the Margaret C. Etter Student Lecture Award recipients based on his abstract submission to the 2011 annual meeting of the American Crystallographic Association. Rhodes' oral presentation, "In situ XRD of Li(Mn1.5Ni0.5)O4 Cathodes for Lithium Ion Batteries During Formation and Operation Cycles," was presented at the Materials for a Sustainable Future session jointly sponsored by the Materials, Powder Diffraction and Neutron Special Interest Groups.
Graduate Research Project Participation Needed
A qualitative research project regarding international scholars publishing in English is being conducted by a graduate student in the Department of English. The views, opinions and experiences of UT's international graduate students working in the College of Engineering would greatly enhance this research.
The involvement of participants includes a 1-hour interview about their experiences learning to write in English and for publication. The interview will be held in the library media center and will be recorded, transcribed and analyzed by the researcher. A follow-up session with the participant will then be conducted in which findings will be shared. Participation in this project is completely voluntary, and at any point, the participant may ask to withdraw for any reason. Refreshments are provided during the interview and follow-up session.
Further information about the project is availabe upon request by contacting Kip Nichols in the Department of English at [log in to unmask].
Faculty and Staff News
Professor, Director of Engineering Fundamentals Wins Award for Outstanding Paper
Dr. Richard Bennett, professor and director of Engineering Fundamentals, won an award for Outstanding Paper at the 11th North American Masonry Conference, which was held June 6-8 in Minneapolis, Minn. The paper was titled, “Allowable Stress Recalibration in the 2011 TMS 402 Code.” The paper covered a major change to structural masonry design provisions. Bennett was the primary author, with co-authors being Edwin Huston (Smith and Huston, Inc.), David McLean (Washington State University) and Diane Throop (International Masonry Institute).
MSE Professor Elected Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America
Dr. Veerle Keppens, associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has been elected a Fellow of the Acousitcal Society of America "for the application of ultrasonics to condensed matter physics." Keppens will be featured in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
The Acoustical Society of America is dedicated to increasing and diffusing the knowledge of acoustics and its practical applications.
Graduate Research Project Participation Needed
A graduate student in the Department of Anthropology is collaborating on a research project for Tata Consultancy Services to understand the "Employee-Employer" relationship from the perspective of the employee (using a psychological contract approach).
Tata Consultancy Services is one of the top 10 Information Technology consulting firms globally with a workforce of around 20,000 people working in more than 50 countries. The present research is concerned with multinational business with locations in the U.S. and India.
If you have worked in the U.S. after completing your bachelor's degree (including working for UTK), you may participate in the research project by filling out a survey (divided in two parts) located at the following websites:
Part A: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YNGCZMV
Part B: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YFDWF2C
It should take about 15 minutes to complete both surveys. Although the survey asks for your name and email address, you may leave both fields blank if you wish.
If you have questions about the survey or research project, please contact Gabriela Maldonado at [log in to unmask].
Engineering Professional Practice Announcement
Stay up-to-date with Engineering Professional Practice information and events by clicking the “Like” button on the program’s new Facebook page, following the program on Twitter, visiting its website at www.coop.utk.edu or calling 865-974-5323.
Students, please note: If you receive a co-op or internship offer, please contact Engineering Professional Practice for help with paperwork and any preparations you may need – [log in to unmask], 865-974-5323 or 310 Perkins Hall.
Engineering Professional Practice Student Feature
Featured student: Michael Kerksick
Our featured student this week is Michael Kerksick, a mechanical engineering major who has completed the spring semester and is currently working the summer semester as a test engineer at Nevada Automotive Test Center (NATC) in Carson City, Nev.
“I was assigned to the Vehicle Performance Engineering (VPE) group whose main operations consisted of assessing the performance of vehicles," Kerksick said. "My responsibilities were very diverse but mainly consisted of supporting and conducting tests. I did everything from working on vehicles to documenting tests, analyzing data and working on final reports.”
One of the many challenges he overcame during his work assignment involved communication: “NATC was contracted for a project in which a part of the test involved fuel economy and mission profile testing at the same time, essentially killing two birds with one stone. There was a lack of communication as far as acquiring data for both tests at the same time,” Kerksick said. “My supervisor and I were tasked with analyzing the data, which proved to be very difficult due to a lack of information. We worked through it by putting many hours into the project while looking at the data manually. The main lesson I learned from this was how important communication is, especially during such a large project.”
Kerksick's advice for a co-op applicant considering this employer is to “be ready to get your hands dirty and work hard, as you'll have your hands in a bit of everything."
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 internships, contact Engineering Professional Practice at [log in to unmask] or 865-974-5323.
Advising Announcements
Students Now Can Apply to Graduate Through MyUTK
All students who have not already applied to graduate in Summer 2011, Fall 2011 or Spring 2012 can now apply for graduation online through MyUTK. It is very important that students' profile information is up-to-date before they submit a graduation application. This information includes the student's degree, major, concentration, minor and catalog year.
Students can apply for graduation by going to the "UTK Student Academic Links" inside MyUTK. Before submitting their graduation application, they should view their information in MyUTK from the "View Your Profile" tab. If the student's profile information is not correct, the following staff should be contacted to update the profile:
Undergraduate students should contact their college advising center, academic department or dean's office to have the correct information entered into the system. Undergraduate students who have other questions can contact the Office of the University Registrar at 974-2101.
Graduate students should contact the Graduate School at [log in to unmask] or 974-2475 for information on changing academic programs.
Announcement from the Office of the University Registrar Regarding Expected Graduation Date
The Office of the University Registrar has received many phone calls and emails from distressed students (and staff) who fear that listed expected graduation dates will trump students' actual graduation date. This is not the case. Every student enrolled at UTK must have an expected graduation date documented in order for the National Student Clearinghouse to accept enrollment data from us. If you find an expected graduation date posted that is beyond your actual graduation date, there is no need for alarm. You will graduate according to your application (and depending upon degree requirement satisfaction), and this date does not affect your ultimate goal of graduation.
If you have futher questions, please call 974-4471.
If you have submissions for @COE, the college's electronic newsletter, please send them to Julie Stansberry at [log in to unmask] by noon on Thursdays.