College of Engineering

Students Finish What UT Started During Belize Trip 
From barrier reefs to dense tropical rainforests, the country of Belize offers much to attract the average American. So while it wasn't surprising to see a group of UT students and faculty there during spring break or the second year in a row, their trip was anything but a vacation. "Our group had a physically demanding week, but one that was rewarding both through the results of their efforts and through the culture they experienced," said College of Engineering International Coordinator Judith Mallory.

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CBE Students Score at AIChE Conference
Students from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) earned accolades at the2016 AIChE Southern Regional Conference, held at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Saturday, April 2, 2016. The AIChE Student Chapter also won the bid to host the 2017 conference in March 2017.

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Three New Members Added to MABE Hall of Fame
The Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering (MABE) recently added three new members to its Hall of Fame. Joel Bailey, Howard Chambers, and Kimberly Greene (pictured here with Dr. Matthew Mench and Dean Wayne Davis) joined last year’s inaugural class of four and were honored with a presentation at the department's office in the Nathan W. Dougherty Engineering Building and a dinner at the Foundry.

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MABE Holds 9th Annual Honors Awards Banquet
The Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering (MABE) held its ninth annual Honors Awards Banquet on April 7, 2016, at The Foundry with over 150 people in attendance. Randy Boyd, Tennessee Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, was the guest speaker. Awards were presented to MABE's outstanding students, staff and faculty. 

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High School Students Team with UT, ORNL on New Type of Nail 
Max Lamantia and Devin Schafer, seniors at Central Magnet School in Murfreesboro, came up with the concept of a new type of nail to solve the issue of nails' tendency to work themselves out of wood over time. Dr. Kurt Sickafus and Dr. Tai-Gang Nieh, both of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, served as co-mentors on the project, and Dr. Suresh Babu, joint UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Advanced Manufacturing, assisted with 3D printing of the students' prototype.

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ORNL, UT Team Up on Breakthrough That Could Aid Quantum Computing
Dr. David Mandrus and research professor Dr. Jiaqiang Yan—both of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and joint faculty with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)—along with materials science student Ling Li and physics student Yuen Yiu, joined ORNL researchers in a project using neutrons to uncover novel behavior in materials that holds promise for quantum computing.

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Peroxygen Earns Research Award 
Dr. Ming Qi, a graduate working with the Zawodzinski Group in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, recently won $20,000 in the UT Research Foundation's Venture Challenge. Qi started Peroxygen Systems Inc. shortly after receiving his degree. The company is founded on technology that he developed while attaining his PhD under the guidance of Dr. Thomas Zawodzinski, Governor's Chair Professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, and with strong support from the TN-SCORE (Tennessee EPSCoR) program.

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Guha to Speak in MSE Seminar
Dr. Suchi Guha will speak on "Polarization-induced transport in organic field-effect transistors: the role of ferroelectric dielectrics" at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in Room 307 of the Science and Engineering Research Facility (SERF). The seminar is presented by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE).

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Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering Invites Campus to Attend Senior Design Expo
The Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering will host its first senior design expo at 1:00 p.m. Thursday, April 21, at Thompson-Boling Arena. The department invites the campus community to attend. The expo will give seniors a chance to show off some of what they’ve been working on during their final year as undergraduates.

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St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Symposium 
St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences invites faculty to nominate your students to participate in the inaugural St. Jude National Undergraduate Research Symposium (NURS), scheduled for July 14-17, 2016, at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. This competitive academic and professional development event allows undergraduate students from US institutions to present their own research, in addition to learning about the cutting-edge research and facilities at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Nominees must be US citizens and currently juniors or seniors who are planning to attend graduate school, but have yet to commit to a program. The reference form and reference letter (in pdf format) must be submitted by noon CST on Tuesday, April 26, 2016. The Graduate School will cover symposium-related expenses for students who are invited to attend. 

Nomination form

Epps Receives Funding from NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes 
Thom Epps, a graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will head to Australia this summer to conduct his research, thanks to funding he received by the National Science Foundation’s East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes. Epps’ proposal was one of the 40,000 the foundation receives each year for research, education and training projects, of which only about 11,000 are funded.

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Smith Presents at NCUR 2016
Cary Smith, a senior and incoming graduate student in aerospace engineering, gave a presentation at the 2016 National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at UNC Asheville on Thursday, April 7. Smith's presentation was entitled "Laser Diagnostics of Fuel/Air Ratio Measurement in a High-Pressure Combustion Environment" and covered experiments performed in the MABE Laser Diagnostics Lab during the summer and fall of last year. Several other students from the College of Engineering were also in attendance over the course of the conference.

Volapalooza Seeks Student Volunteers 
Organizers seek staffers for the 2016 Volapalooza. This event is a student-run, end-of-the-year celebration put on by the Center for Student Engagement's Volapalooza Event Planners. Students may sign up to help with the event here. The celebration's main focus is a concert with multiple performers on two stages, and various booths and attractions including a headphone disco, merchandise tents, and food trucks. This year the event will be held 4:30-11:00 p.m. Friday, April 29, World's Fair Park.

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Student Startup Turning Heads by Utilizing Biofuel Waste for Good
A zero-waste manufacturing process has long been a dream for industries, especially in areas where businesses believe their byproducts hold great potential. In the production of biofuels that waste product is known as lignin—a pulpy, fibrous mass remaining after plants are processed. It can utilize as much as 70 percent of the material created by biofuel refining, so any advancement in finding a use for it holds obvious monetary and environmental potential. Enter Tony Bova and Jeff Beegle, a pair of doctoral candidates in the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, which is run jointly by UT and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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Lecture Hall Survey for COE Students
A group of College of Engineering (COE) students is conducting a survey of their fellow COE students for an EF 158 project on COE campus lecture halls. To participate in the survey, click here.

Alternative Breaks Offer Global Opportunity
The College of Engineering office of Global Initiatives offers two upcoming opportunities for international travel and experience. An Alternative Fall Break trip to the Dominican Republic will include a construction service project in the town of La Piedra. An Alternative Winter Break trip to Mexico will center on an orphanage project in the Yucatan Peninsula. For information, contact Judith Mallory at 865-974-9234 or[log in to unmask]" style="color: rgb(255, 130, 0); text-decoration: none;"> [log in to unmask].

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AMCAS Applications Open May 3 
Medical school application submission to the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) opens on May 3, 2016. Students may begin entering data at that time. In addition, AMCAS will begin accepting transcripts at that time. The earliest one can submit the AMCAS 2017 application is June 7, 2016. (The earliest that AMCAS submits application data to medical schools is June 24, 2016). Students applying to medical school should have set up a pre-professional file with Arts & Sciences Advising Services. For information, contact Mary Anne Hoskins at Arts & Sciences advising, 313 Ayres Hall, or at mhoskins@utkedu.

Read AMCAS 2017 Instructions

Graduate Student Research Program Accepting Applications

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science is pleased to announce that the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is now accepting applications for the 2016 Solicitation 1. Applications are due 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. For information, contact the SCGSR program manager, Dr. Ping Ge, at [log in to unmask]. 

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