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“I am grateful to our faculty volunteers and student organizations like Kappa Delta Sorority and Society of Women Engineers (SWE) who work hard to make sure GEMS is a rewarding experience for the girls,” said Vicki Cooper, who coordinated the event. “They generously sacrifice their time to teach and inspire girls who could become future engineers.”

The girls began the day listening to former UK president Lee Todd share his story about developing a childhood interest in engineering as the result of a similar outreach program.  To emphasize his point, Todd displayed the project he created when he was a boy as he recounted his career.

Following the keynote address, the attendees participated in three interactive sessions led by College of Engineering faculty and graduate students. Challenged by event coordinators to present STEM education in ways that compel students to want to know more, faculty members Bruce Walcott, Debby Keen, Kimberly Ward Anderson, Nancy Miller, Chuck May, Christine Trinkle and Czarena Crofcheck engaged students through hands-on demonstrations, games and experiments. Walcott, who is involved with several such outreach programs, is encouraged by how programs like GEMS benefit Kentucky.

“It is critical to the economic future success of the Commonwealth of Kentucky that the UK College of Engineering continues to conduct outreach programs such as our Girls Enjoying Math and Science (GEMS) Day. This program promotes engineering and math and science to young women at a time when our State and Nation needs more women entering the engineering workforce. Our partnership with the Girls Scouts and Susan Miller makes an ideal platform to promote the importance of the STEM education disciplines to young women.”

IEEE UK Student Branch Counselor Regina Hannemann was pleased with the teams’ performance as well as the role the competition plays in enhancing student learning.

“Many of the UK students learned a lot about algorithms and problem solving during this marathon while having a fun time with their friends,” she said.

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Of the seven students who took part in VisU, five worked on an ambitious project called “InfoForest.” The goal of InfoForest is to give ancient manuscripts new life by allowing anyone to analyze digitally replicated versions. At the forefront of InfoForest is the “Chad Gospels,” a volume of ancient biblical texts copied from the Latin Vulgate and dating to the eighth century. The lone surviving volume of the Chad Gospels is housed in Lichfield Cathedral, Staffordshire, England; however, using scanned images of the documents, VisU researchers specializing in classical literature, data visualization, programming languages, browsers and mobile devices have succeeded in paving the way for future users to perform visually interesting, detailed research on the Gospels, regardless of what device they use.

“The goal was to make InfoForest easily replicable and dynamic,” said Becky Hogan of Taylor University. “Like the name, InfoForest, we anticipate frequently adding to the ways in which we can visually present the manuscripts.”

In addition to Hogan, UK students Bonnie Lewis and John Broadbent contributed to InfoForest, along with Puerto Rican students Krystel Marquez and Eric Santos.

“I have never worked with a better or more talented group of people,” said Broadbent at the close of his presentation.

Prior to the group’s report, VisU’s other two students from Puerto Rico described their research efforts and accomplishments. Jean-Karlo Accetta gave a demonstration on the future possibilities of computer interfaces using a Microsoft Kinect to move through his slides. Following Accetta, Karlo Luis Martinez Martos took those in attendance through his research into warping images onto non-flat surfaces.

Computer science professor, Brent Seales, is the faculty mentor for the VisU program. The program was created in 2010 following nearly 10 years of partnering with the University of Puerto Rico to provide research experiences for undergraduate students in the computer science program.

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Dr. Syed Nasar

Dr. Syed A. Nasar, Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at the University of Kentucky, passed away on Sunday, January 29, 2012 after a long illness. 

Dr. Nasar was widely considered the world’s leading authority on electric machinery. His pioneering contributions to education, research, development, and design greatly influenced the field for more than 50 years. He is best known for his research in linear electric machines and novel rotary motors. Dr. Nasar also made significant contributions to the understanding of the edge-effect phenomenon in linear machines. Applications of his work ranged from artificial heart pump drives to transportation systems and electromagnetic launchers.

Syed Abu Nasar was born in Gorakhpur, India on December 25, 1932. He earned his M.S. from Texas A&M University in 1957 and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1963. Both degrees were in electrical engineering.

After a brief tenure at Gonzaga University, he joined the University of Kentucky in 1968 as an associate professor of electrical engineering.  By 1970, he was promoted to full professor. Over the years, he served the EE department in numerous leadership roles beginning as Director of Graduate Studies (1981 – 1988) and culminating as department chair (1989 to 1997). In recognition of his research activities, he was named a University Research Professor for the 1979-80 academic year.  At the time of his retirement in 2002, he held the James R. Boyd Professorship of Electrical Engineering. 

In addition to being a prolific researcher, Dr. Nasar was an outstanding educator. He guided the M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations of more than 40 students who have gone on to distinguish themselves in industry, academia and government.  He also hosted numerous visiting researchers and post-doctoral visitors from around the world.  He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the international journal Electric Machines and Power Systems, through which he established and maintained a forum for dissemination of information for the electrical machine community. Dr. Nasar authored or co-authored more than 100 journal papers, 50   talks and 33 books, which have been translated into eight languages.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) bestowed upon Dr. Nasar the prestigious Nikola Tesla Award recognizing the individual who has made outstanding contributions to the generation and use of electric power.  He was recognized “For leadership in the research, development, and design of linear and rotating machines, and contributions to electrical engineering education.” In addition, he was named a Life Fellow of the IEEE “for contributions to the understanding of electromechanical systems, and in particular, to linear electric motors”.  He was active on national and international steering committees abd working groups and as a reviewer for IEEE.  Dr. Nasar was also a Fellow of the IEE (United Kingdom) and a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Sigma Xi.

The National Science Foundation continuously supported his research program for 35 years and he received research grants from NASA, General Electric, and The Ford Motor Company. He was the holder of five U.S. and international patents. His knowledge and expertise led more than 60 companies and organizations to seek him out as a consultant. 

Dr. Nasar and his late wife, Sara, were well known for their generosity to community programs and charitable organizations.  They were actively involved with the UK International Hospitality Program. Over the years, they served as a host family to dozens of international students, opening their home and welcoming them to the UK community.

When asked about Dr. Nasar’s impact on the college, Dr. Thomas Lester, Dean of the College of Engineering, said “Dr. Nasar is the father of the modern Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UK.  He had an unequaled eye for quality in the faculty members he hired and mentored.  His significant research and the publications of his work set a standard for others in the department to emulate.”

Dr. Lee T. Todd, UK President Emeritus, remembers Dr. Nasar’s impact in a more personal sense, as a key mentor for a young engineering professor, “Dr. Nasar took me under his wing when I was a young Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at UK. Even though he was not the Department Chair at the time, he strongly urged me to submit my tenure case after only a few years on the faculty. He was concerned that no EE Professor had gained tenure in the previous seven or eight years. As a result of his guidance, support and encouragement I received tenure that year. He kept track of me throughout my business career and wrote me encouraging notes frequently as well as during my term as President of UK. His tremendous research record set him apart as an outstanding faculty member. He was someone I greatly admired and someone I was very fortunate to have as a mentor during my career. “

Dr. Nasar is survived by his two daughters Naheed (Francis) Bleecker of Brookfield, WI and Sajida Syed of Cary, NC and four grandchildren; Yusuf, Safeeyah and Aliyah Quereshi and Rabiya Syed.  

The students selected are: junior Nick Aerni; senior Michael Ard; senior Joseph Kaseta; senior Jordan Laycock; and sophomore Seth Hendrix.

The PES Scholarship Plus Initiative™ recognizes undergraduate students who have declared a major in electrical and computer engineering, are high achievers with strong GPAs with distinctive extracurricular commitments and are committed to exploring the power and energy field.

Each scholarship recipient receives $2,000 as well as a certificate commemorating their award.

IEEEXtreme is an innovative global online competition in which a team of IEEE Student Branch members compete in a 24-hour time span to test their collective coding expertise simultaneously against other student programmers around the world.

All UK teams had at least 2 problems correctly submitted, ranging in the upper third of all teams worldwide.  The three best teams scored on place 167 (Team AlpherBeterGammer), place 105 (Team SoccerMoms) place 90 (Team ZarroBugs)

For the competition, teams had to solve 15 problems. The problems were released at different times starting with the first one at 8pm on Friday and the last one being released around 5 pm on Saturday.  

The other UK teams were theDontCares, AbstractDistract, and Photographers.

Among those in attendance were College of Engineering Dean Tom Lester, UK President Eli Capilouto, lead donor Davis Marksbury, former UK President Lee T. Todd, Jr., Lexington Mayor Jim Gray, donors James Hardymon and James McDonald, and representatives from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

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