Woodhead Publishing, a Cambridge (England)- based publisher in the area of materials and engineering, has published a new book edited by Secat J.G. Morris Aluminum Professor of Mechanical Engineering Dusan P. Sekulic titled Advances in brazing: Science, technology and applications. The book was a collaborative effort, featuring chapters prepared by experts in the technology of brazing from the United State, Germany, Japan, China and other countries.

Advances in brazing: Science, technology and applications is Sekulic’s fourth book. His previous works include Fundamentals of Heat Exchanger Design (John Wiley), Thermodynamics and the Destruction of Resources (Cambridge University Press) and a Chinese translation of the Fundamentals of Heat Exchanger Design (China Machine Press). His publications seek to develop and utilize thermodynamics and transport phenomena—in particular heat transfer and fluid mechanics—in the fields of design and manufacturing, hence offering a synergy of basic science/engineering disciplines for diverse mechanical engineering technologies broadly implemented in manufacturing.

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The award is named after Milton Shaw, a prominent manufacturing researcher and educator who taught for five decades at MIT, Carnegie Mellon and Arizona State University.

“I used Professor Shaw’s textbook to learn metal machining in the 1970s,” says Jawahir. “He was a role model and mentor to many of us who studied manufacturing and I am very privileged to be offered this prestigious ASME award.”

Jawahir will receive the medal for “significant contributions to the advancement of manufacturing science and engineering through the development of predictive performance models and optimization techniques for machining operations such as turning, milling and drilling; and through the introduction of environmentally benign, sustainable dry, near-dry and cryogenic methodologies” at the ASME 2013 International Conference on Manufacturing Science and Engineering, June 10-14 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis.

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The following winners were announced during the presentation of awards that followed Mr. Polston’s keynote address:

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Frank Woeste Award: Kaitlyn Braun

Outstanding BAE Junior: Matt Fogle

Outstanding BAE Senior: Zeb Vance

Outstanding BAE Teacher: Czarena Crofcheck

Chemical Engineering

AIChE Outstanding Senior Member: Nick Winquist

AIChE Outstanding Junior Member: Lindsay Gray

Omega Chi Epsilon Outstanding Senior Member: David Spencer

Outstanding Junior: Brianna Smith

Outstanding Senior: David Spencer

Outstanding Teacher: Doug Kalika

Civil Engineering

Outstanding Junior: Admin Husic

Outstanding Senior: Allie Perkins

Outstanding University Scholar: Davis Huston

Outstanding Graduate Student: Gabe Dadi

Outstanding Faculty: Brad Davis

College of Engineering Awards

Lou Takacs Engineering Cooperative Education Award: Paul Varnado

College of Engineering Alumni Association Awards

Engineering Alumni Association Leadership Scholarship: Alex Wade

Engineering Alumni Association Senior Leadership Award: Kathryn Gardner

Computer Science

Outstanding Academic Performance: Bradley Elliot/Alex Williams

ACM Outstanding Teacher: Judy Goldsmith

ACM Outstanding Teaching Assistant: R. Paul Mihail/Ismail Abumuhfouz

Thaddeus B. Curtz Memorial Scholarship: Ting Gu

Graduate Center for Biomedical Engineering

Outstanding Teacher: David Puleo

Outstanding Graduate Student: Ran Cheng

Electrical and Computer Engineering

H. Alex Romanowitz Memorial Award: Chris Garnick

Outstanding ECE Senior: Matt Davis

Outstanding ECE Teacher: Stephen Gedney

Robert L. Cosgriff Award: Jason Rexroat

Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding ECE Junior: Charlie Miles

Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding ECE Graduate Student Award: Sean Hamlet

Materials Engineering

ASM International Bluegrass Chapter Scholarships: Wilson Rice, Amber Gay

Outstanding Junior: Cory Parker

Outstanding Senior: William Martin

Outstanding Teacher: Fuqian Yang

Mechanical Engineering

ASME Bluegrass Section Outstanding Scholar: Robert Burgess

Pi Tau Sigma Outstanding Mechanical Engineering Sophomore: Andrew Casciato

Outstanding Junior: Andrew Wilder

Outstanding Senior: Tyler Flynn

Outstanding Graduate Student: Xin Hua

ASME Outstanding Faculty Award: Jesse Hoagg

Outstanding Teaching Award – Lecturer Series: Christine Goble

Mining Engineering

Outstanding Junior: Austin Brock

Outstanding Senior: David Norton

Outstanding Teacher: G.T. Lineberry

Henry Mason Lutes Award for Excellence in Engineering Education: Judy Goldsmith

Tau Beta Pi Awards

Most Outstanding Senior: Adrianne Shearer

Most Outstanding Graduate Student: Stacy Schal

Most Outstanding Staff: Robyn Morefield

Most Outstanding Professor: Jimmy Fox

Outstanding Teacher in Paducah: Jeff Seay

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The donated software includes Virtual.Lab for acoustic simulation needs as well as Imagine.Lab software, which consists of a full suite of tools for modeling hydraulic, pneumatic, electric and mechanical behavior. Because intelligent system integration is driving improved product performance and delivering innovative designs for a variety of industries, UK’s students will gain experience with the same software used by industry leaders to simulate internal combustion engines, transmissions, flight controls and building energy systems.

“The software will be of enormous benefit to our students in their capstone design projects and other coursework,” said Vibro-Acoustics Consortium director and associate professor David Herrin.

The Vibro-Acoustics Consortium consists of 20 companies who are dedicated to using vibro-acoustic simulation to improve their products.

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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.”

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Grant Boggess, Todd Montgomery and Samuel Potter each received phone calls from UK President Eli Capilouto congratulating them on their accomplishment. While the students had been accepted by institutions with prestigious names such as Johns Hopkins, Georgia Tech, etc., each chose to pursue their undergraduate engineering education at UK. Why? We’ll let them tell you in their own words.

Grant Boggess (undecided)

The biggest reason I chose UK was the money. UK offered a really good education for essentially free compared to over a quarter of a million dollars at some of the more prestigious out of state schools. Money aside, once I got on UK’s campus I absolutely loved it. Everyone on campus is so welcoming. UK bends over to everything in its power to make sure students exceed their own expectations—I am not just one more student in the crowd.

Todd Montgomery (mechanical engineering)

One of the biggest reasons I chose to come to UK was for the undergraduate research program. UK is very welcoming to students who want to take part in one of the many outlets for research. As a student in the MSTC (Math Science and Technology Center) program at my high school, I was allowed to conduct my own research through the Kentucky Young Researcher’s Program at UK during my junior and senior years in high school. That experience really showed me that UK had made a commitment to giving their undergraduate students every opportunity they need to succeed.

Samuel Potter (materials engineering)

I chose materials engineering because of my interest in medical implants. Today, most orthopedic implants are made of stainless steel or titanium. Although these materials do a decent job, they do have their drawbacks. Knowing what I want to do, I was able to determine that UK’s program would get me there. A lot of schools offer degrees in biomedical engineering, but the field is quite broad. Since my interests relate directly to implant materials, a degree in materials engineering seemed perfect.

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For many students, selecting a major is an intimidating proposition. What if I end up disliking what I chose? Will I be doomed to a career in a field I can’t stand or, worse, one that is increasingly obsolete? Such questions are not uncommon and even selecting a highly-marketable major like engineering doesn’t fully resolve the quandary. After all, there are numerous disciplines within the broad field of engineering and even more particularized specializations within each discipline. Should I investigate aerospace applications for engineering or try my hand at new network solutions? It can be overwhelming.

How can students evaluate their numerous options in a way that takes into account their interests, life experiences and educational opportunities? Members of the faculty in the UK College of Engineering have related the various ways in which they discovered what they wanted to immerse themselves in for the rest of their professional lives. We have organized their reflections into five categories.

BE CURIOUS: David Puleo, Director, Center for Biomedical Engineering

For most of his youth, David Puleo wanted to be a surgeon; however, upon entering high school, he realized his strong interest in medicine was matched by an equal fascination with technology and engineering concepts. One day, while reading, he came across the words “biomedical engineering.” Intrigued, he began to conduct research and discovered an organization called the Biomedical Engineering Society. He wrote them, asking, “What is biomedical engineering and where can I study it?” After examining the literature they sent him, Dr. Puleo knew the career path he wanted to take. “Biomedical engineering was the marriage of the medical and the technical that I had wanted,” he says. “And it still offered the potential to go to medical school if I ever desired to pursue it.”

Following your curiosity can lead you into new fields and communities you might not have known existed. With the wealth of information available through internet research, it has never been easier to discover previously unknown career opportunities.

REFLECT ON YOUR BACKGROUND: Nikiforos Stamatiadis, Professor of Civil Engineering

Growing up in Greece, Nikiforos Stamatiadis was fascinated by public transportation. The ability to accommodate large groups of people within a networked infrastructure drew him to study transportation engineering. During his undergraduate studies in Greece, he helped develop efficient bus routes and systems. Upon beginning a graduate program in the United States, he quickly discovered that, broadly speaking, the U.S. doesn’t rely on public transportation. As a result, he shifted his attention to other aspects of transportation engineering, such as driver licensing, driver education and highway safety; those issues, like public transportation, affect thousands of people every day. “At the end of the day, if I design a safe highway that serves the needs of the community, accommodates mobility concerns and is conscientious of our impact upon the environment, I consider that time spent very rewarding.”

When connecting your experience to possible career options, don’t overlook your childhood, adolescence, geographical location, hobbies, etc. They may provide clues as to what subjects naturally keep you interested.

ACCUMULATE EXPERIENCES: Christine Trinkle, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Christine Trinkle obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering right here at UK, but it wasn’t until she was pursuing her Ph.D at Cal-Berkeley that she began to see the shape of her future research. She recalls, “When I went to Berkeley, my interest wasn’t on the biological side, but one day I decided to grab some coffee and head to a talk with some friends. It was on the interface between the mechanical engineering side and the needs in the medical, pharmaceutical and biological areas. I remember sitting in this talk and thinking, ‘This is amazing! This is such an interesting and unique part of mechanical engineering that I had never seen before and had never guessed was there.’”

Attending lectures, visiting trade shows and taking advantage of student travel opportunities to annual conferences is a great way to accumulate experiences, some of which will influence your course of study and future vocational choices.

SEEK OUT PROFESSORS WHO LOVE THEIR WORK: Braden Lusk, Assistant Professor of Mining Engineering

Like most young boys, Braden Lusk enjoyed setting off fireworks and creating small explosions, but never planned on becoming a professional blaster until he sat in professor Paul Worsey’s blasting seminar while an undergraduate student at Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri S&T). Lusk recalls: “Paul came in and played a video called ‘Dance of the Detonators.’ It was nothing but mine blasts set to classical music. The whole time, he was in the back of the room, laughing like he had never seen it before, and I thought, ‘Man, this is crazy…I’ve got to do this!’” As a result, Lusk began taking as many of Dr. Worsey’s classes as he could.

Most professors relish the chance to work with students on research—especially undergraduate students. Take advantage of office hours and other opportunities to connect with professors. The satisfaction they find in their research may become infectious.

SEIZE OPPORTUNITIES: Thomas Novak, Alliance Coal Chair Professor of Mining Engineering

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Tom Novak was recruited by the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Pittsburgh, where he first began to research mine safety. While with the Bureau, an unforeseen opening emerged. “The Bureau of Mines offered a program where I could earn a graduate degree while working for them. I already had an electrical engineering background, so I got a master’s degree in mining engineering from the University of Pittsburgh,” he recalls. After that, the educational opportunities continued to present themselves. “Once I had my master’s degree, Penn State contacted me about being an instructor of their mining technology courses. In return, I got time off to pursue my Ph.D. coursework and research. I jumped at that chance.”

Novak chuckles when he thinks about his diverse professional experience. “There’s really no such thing as long-range planning,” he says. “If, when I was in high school, you would have told me I would be a university professor for over 30 years, I would have said you were nuts! But I took advantage of opportunities when they were there.”

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Four speakers, Melody Burkhart, Anastasia Kruse, Wes Brooks and Kassy Lum, took the podium to share what Dean Lester meant to them as an educator, leader and friend. Whether humorous anecdotes or tales about Lester’s influence and support, the portrait emerged of a man whose personable demeanor, in Lum’s words, “wiped out fears and formalities.”

Brooks recounted a time when he greeted Dean Lester while walking to Starbucks for coffee. The dean invited Brooks to walk with him and ended up buying his coffee.

“Things like that really showed me your character and that you value people,” Brooks told the dean in his speech.

After the speeches, the ESC unveiled a plaque commemorating Lester, which now hangs alongside the other historic plaques on the south side of the Raymond Student Commons. Lester responded by thanking the ESC and recognizing the support of his wife, Frances, who had joined him for the event. ESC representative Sam Meffert, who emceed the celebration, invited those in attendance to stay for refreshments.

Lester will remain on the faculty as a professor of mechanical engineering. John Y. Walz, head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Tech, will assume the responsibilities of dean September 1.

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Top Five Responsibilities of a Dean

What, exactly, does the dean of the College of Engineering do? Dean Lester summarizes:

#1: Every dean has a responsibility to provide an outstanding educational experience for the students in the college. That responsibility transcends everything else. The dean is responsible for putting pieces in place that give students a chance to learn the disciplines taught by the college. A big part of that is…

#2: …recruiting, developing and retaining an outstanding faculty. Faculty are the core of everything.

#3: Recruiting, developing and retaining an outstanding staff. We tend to overlook staff, but they are the foot soldiers upon which the college marches. Staff members have a tremendous responsibility at this school to keep student records intact, keep classrooms and laboratories functional, make sure there is a safe environment and more. The College of Engineering is fortunate to have a staff that has been around for a long time and experiences little turnover.

#4: Ensuring there is a growing student body populated with excellent students. It goes without saying that you have to have students to teach, so it is incumbent upon the dean to work with the university on the recruitment, retention and graduation of students.

#5: Developing financial and physical infrastructure. Once the above pieces are in place, you have to have the financial and physical infrastructure to tie it all together. That takes money, obviously. So a dean works with the university and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, doing a lot of missionary work outside the college to explain the importance of engineering to the state and the state’s economy. A dean also tries to convince the president, the provost, the vice-president of research and the Board of Trustees of the same thing because there are 18 deans on this campus, all of whom have needs that far outstrip the ability of the campus to manage them with the financial resources the campus has. So, the dean is responsible for, if you will, polishing the image of the college inside and outside the university and trying to secure adequate funding to run the program. Increasingly, a dean needs to spend time raising private funds because there simply isn’t going to be enough money coming from the state due to its budget constraints.

Related to this part of the job is the responsibility to raise money for scholarships—especially at UK, whose students frequently come from families of modest means. Students at UK have had their tuition increased every year over the last 10 years. As a result, the dean also has the responsibility for raising money for scholarships to defray some of the cost of the education.

On August 31, the longest-tenured dean in the College of Engineering’s history, Thomas W. Lester, will walk into his third floor office in the Ralph G. Anderson building for the last time. Lester is stepping down as dean, a decision he announced to the College of Engineering faculty more than a year earlier. Following the Labor Day holiday weekend, John Y. Walz, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Tech will take over for Lester, who will remain on the faculty as a professor of mechanical engineering.

Most of the today’s underclassmen hadn’t been born when Dean Lester left Louisiana State University for UK in 1990. Several of the facilities that play a prominent role in the college’s educational and research efforts didn’t exist and Dean Lester has seen two different presidents each spend a decade at the helm of Kentucky’s flagship institution. So when we asked him to cull through his experiences and share the top five things he learned while dean, we knew we were making a big ask.

Ever the engineer, Dean Lester was willing to tackle the assignment. As a result, we are grateful to Dean Lester and proud to disclose his reflections on the top five things he learned during his 22 years as dean of the College of Engineering.

Top Five Things Dr. Lester Learned During His Tenure as Dean

#1: It takes patience to change the culture.

We have 158 faculty members in the College of Engineering. They are all very bright people who are also very opinionated as to where the college should be going. So a dean can’t go in and start forcing change. A dean has to listen; in fact, the biggest thing a dean needs to be able to do is listen to the faculty, chairs, staff and students, articulate the direction he or she thinks the college should take and then, very patiently, coax people along that direction. You certainly can’t come in with edicts from on high and tell everyone where they are going to go. You have to work with them, involving them in the process.

#2: Always find the good in every individual.

Not every individual is going to be a Nobel Prize winner or a Lutes Award winner (given for outstanding teaching); however, every faculty member here was hired with the expectation that they could succeed at the University of Kentucky. The extent to which one can engage faculty members to further the mission of the college is a measure of how good of an administrator one is. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, “You go to war with the army you’ve got.” Likewise, you go to school with the faculty you’ve got. That means you need to make the best possible use of the talent among your faculty and staff.

#3: Our alumni are awesome.

Nobody who has not been in my position can appreciate the love and the passion that our alumni have for UK and the College of Engineering. They are proud of this college and talk with sincerity about how much it has meant to their professional and personal lives. They talk with appreciation about what faculty members did during their time on campus that kept them from floundering and/or helped them succeed. It has been an enormously gratifying experience to listen to those stories and meet people willing to help the institution—not only financially, but also with their time and effort to assist with student recruitment.

#4: UK is profoundly important to the state of Kentucky.

One reason I came to UK was that I felt this institution had an ability to influence the state’s direction in economic development, medicine, technology, etc. That belief has only been reinforced during my 22 years here. This university is central to the welfare of the state of Kentucky. It is awe-inspiring to travel around the state and listen to people talk about how much they depend upon the university. Whether they went to UK or not, they have an admiration for the university, as well as high expectations that it will make life better for their children—better than life has been for them.

#5: I was more expendable than you think.

If the dean has done his or her job in assembling the faculty, staff, facilities, infrastructure and processes used to make sure things run well, it is amazing how well the place runs without the intervention of the dean. I learned this when my wife, Susan, was terminally ill with cancer. Then-president Lee Todd and then-provost Mike Neitzel encouraged me to make caring for my wife my primary responsibility, an offer for which I was extraordinarily grateful. So, there were six months toward the end of her life where I was a part-time dean and probably wasn’t very effective in anything I did—for obvious reasons. In spite of that, the college operated as well as it always had. We continued with our mission of educating students and, after I had walked through that nightmare and was back in my office, it was like I had never left. Why? Because the staff and faculty went about their business day after day, passionately educating students, pursuing knowledge through research and working with various agencies and companies outside the university to help stimulate economic development.

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