“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.”

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.

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.”

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.

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.

Thursday, August 2 marked the conclusion of a summer’s worth of research for students enrolled in the UK College of Engineering’s Research Experience for Undergraduates program in bioactive interfaces and devices. To concisely summarize their weeks of intense work, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, students designed research posters which were displayed in the Raymond Student Commons of the Ralph G. Anderson building. Judges and other interested guests engaged REU participants in discussions about their research, with the judges determining competition winners of various categories later in the program.

In the Poster Competition, David Spencer and Alexandra Tsoras tied for first place with Joshua Borrajo coming in second and Nkolika Egbukichi third. Additional awards handed out went to Lindsay Gray for Best Oral Presentation and Stella Shin for Best Blog Award. 

Prior to the award announcements, Carey Smith, CEO of Lexington-based Big Ass Fans, gave the keynote address to those in attendance. The awards were presented by REU program directors Kimberly Ward Anderson and Zach Hilt.

UK’s REU program brings students from all over the country to work with expert faculty covering several different disciplines. This year’s participants were:

Naveed Bakh (Vanderbilt University), Joshua Borrajo (University of California – Berkeley), Benjamin Brummel (University of South Carolina), Stefani Cleaver (DePauw University), Nkolika Egbukichi (Portland State Univerisity), Kiva Forsmark (University of Minnesota – Twin Cities), Lindsay Gray, Sarah Negaard, David Spencer, Alexandra Tsoras (all from the University of Kentucky), Casey Kukielski (Clemson University), Thao Ngo (Arizona State University), Pablo Palomino (University of Florida), Harrison Sapper (Vassar College), and Stella Shin (University of Arizona).

Faculty advisors included chemical engineering professors Tom Dziubla, Kimberly Ward Anderson, Steve Rankin, Dibakar Bhattacharyya, Brad Berron, Zach Hilt and Barbara Knutson; materials engineering professors Bruce Hinds and Rich Eitel; biomedical engineering professors David Puleo and Hainsworth Shin, pharmaceutical sciences professors Brad Anderson, Younsoo Bae, and Heidi Mansour and mechanical engineering professor Christine Trinkle.

Whether analyzing Toyota’s supply chain management, culture, history or philosophy, authors have long been intrigued by the inner workings of the internationally successful automotive manufacturer. Some, like University of Michigan industrial engineering professor Jeffrey Liker’s 2003 volume The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer, have become celebrated best-sellers. Despite the acclaim, former President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky Fujio Cho felt something was missing from the popular literature.

“Cho-san was not happy with the books written about Toyota because they were all beautifying. The authors had no direct experience with the Toyota Production System (TPS), so they could not convey the essence of it,” says Kozo Saito, Director of UK’s IR4TD where the Lean Systems Program houses. “Because we have had direct experience with TPS, Cho-san considered us “owners” he could trust to capture that essence.”

Saito’s recently released book Seeds of Collaboration: Seeking the Essence of the Toyota Production System attempts to communicate the heart of TPS in a way its creators would recognize and affirm. The book, dedicated to Mr. Cho in commemoration of his 52 years at the Toyota Motor Corporation, marks the first time Toyota has ever officially collaborated on a publication with someone outside the company. Akinori Saito, President of Toyota Production System Support Center, Inc., (TSSC) and Vice President of Operations Management Development Division (OMDD), supplied contributions for Toyota, as did several others.* 

“This Lean Program was initiated by Cho-san,” Kozo Saito explains. “Without him, we would not be here so we wanted to thank him for his help.”

The limited first printing of Seeds of Collaboration underscores Saito’s desire to create a book that reflects the philosophy of TPS—inside and out. Larkspur Press in Monterey, Ky., binds each volume by hand and envelops them in an intricate, yet elegant, cover. Approximately 100 copies have been produced thus far.

“This first printing is not for the masses,” clarifies Saito. Each book is expensive, but very special. The people at Larkspur put their minds and hearts into each one, working by hand. Whoever holds this book sees and feels its uniqueness. That is how we see TPS—each employee, each customer, is unique and worthy of respect. We believe that if we wrote about TPS, the actual book should reflect what we believe.”

The book’s structure is another indication that Saito and his fellow contributors never intended to follow in previous Toyota biographers’ footsteps. After giving an overview of the company icons responsible for designing, implementing and stewarding TPS over the past 50+ years, Saito devotes 50 pages to a collection of quotations from the masters called the “Collection of Goroku.”

“The Goroku are sayings given at various times by the three founders that we collected. By putting the original sayings in the book, we are inviting the reader to interpret wisdom that has endured over time and through many changes and apply it,” says Saito.

For example, one saying, attributed to Mr. Cho himself, reads, “When I hear that a production line never stops and there are no mistakes or problems, I would say that is because they have not challenged themselves” (p. 49). Another declares, “There are no useless workers. It is always possible to develop a worker and find the job that the worker can do very well,” (p. 62).

“The Goroku may not be popular among readers looking for a quick plan or a pat on the back,” Saito laughs. “They make you think and they may make you uncomfortable. In the end, we didn’t write this for the reader as much as we wrote it to convey truths that will be accessible to those who want to know and practice them.”

The Goroku are instrumental in expressing a philosophy that often appears counterintuitive to a workforce molded by Western culture. For instance:

• Within TPS, a lack of problems, rather than the presence of problems, indicates a breakdown in the system because identifying and solving problems is how the system improves.
• Jidoka—one of the two pillars of TPS—insists on respect for all people. While most corporations would echo the same, TPS relies on its employees for solutions to problem—with executives often seeking detailed input from assembly line workers—rather than throwing money at problems or looking to outside consultants. “The prevailing mindset is that you cannot trust your employees and need to manage everything they do,” says Saito. “But if we provide a safe, secure, better environment for people to grow and become creative, the company benefits from accessing their talent and ideas. It doesn’t cost much at all, but few companies think this way.”
• Whereas most manufacturers build margins to account for errors and defects, TPS strives to cultivate systems that catch defects on the spot and “immediately implement countermeasures that prevent reoccurrence” (p. 53). Why sweat the occasional reject? Saito explains, “We want workers to imagine a mother taking her kids to school in a vehicle that is safe and dependable in every imaginable condition. That kind of vision not only pushes them to eliminate defects, but also helps them connect their work to a larger personal vision regarding their place in the world.”

The final section of Seeds of Collaboration contains interviews with American manufacturers who personally learned TPS under Mr. Cho as well as instructors in the Lean Systems Program here at UK. The interviews are included because TPS is a product of Japanese culture and it is difficult to apply it within a different culture. Rather, integrating it takes many years of patient adjusting. This, too, flows from Jidoka—respect for people—allowing culture change to take place organically instead of attempting to re-wire employees’ heads.

Unlike the myriad of books geared toward smarter manufacturing for a larger profit, the principles of the Toyota Production System extend beyond making vehicles. Whether reading the Goroku or reflecting on ways in which TPS challenges “business as usual” in the U.S., readers are encouraged to ponder their own life and mission. At its root, Seeds of Collaboration doesn’t attempt to impart information as much as it endeavors to foster personal growth and human potential—one of the many ways in which the book faithfully espouses the essence of the Toyota Production System.

*Contributors to Seeds of Collaboration:

Rich Alloo: Project General Manager at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Fujio Cho: Chairman of the Board, Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan.

Bill Cooper: Technical staff member at University of Kentucky’s IR4TD Lean Systems Program.

Bob Gregory: Technical writer at University of Kentucky.

Ken Kreafle: Former Toyota executive in residence at University of Kentucky. General Manager at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing  North America, Inc.

M. Abbot Maginnis: Technical staff member at University of Kentucky’s IR4TD Lean Systems Program.

Dave Parsley: Technical staff member at University of Kentucky’s IR4TD Lean Program.

Mark Pittman: Business Manager and University of Kentucky’s IR4TD industry liaison.

Akinori Saito: President of Toyota Production System Support Center, Inc., and Vice President of Operations Management Development Division.

Kozo Saito: Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Director of IR4TD at University of Kentucky.

Noriko Sasaki-Spiegel: Specialist, Toyota Production System Support Center, Inc.

Kazuhiro Sekiya: Executive Technical Advisor, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

Glenn Uminger: Toyota’s executive in residence at University of Kentucky. Director of UK’s Lean System program. Project General Manager at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.

John Valentine: Professor, Department of Philosophy, Shawnee State University.

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David Ratterman is a Life Member of the UK Alumni Association, and has been active in the Greater Louisville UK Alumni Club for the past 25 years. He has served three terms on the UK Alumni Association Board of Directors, and has participated in a variety of leadership positions with the association, most notably championing the goal of diversity. He has chaired the Diversity/Group Development, Communications and Great Teacher/Scholarships committees. He currently is chairman of the Nominating for Board Committee and is serving on the Diversity Task Force.

Ratterman has been an active member of the University of Kentucky Advocacy Network since the group’s inception. He has been involved with student recruitment, special events and diversity activities all while serving on the Greater Louisville UK Alumni Club Board of Directors. Additionally, he is a UK Fellow.
 

An accomplished construction law attorney, he is a partner with Stites and Harbison PLLC. He serves on a variety of professional committees and organizations, including as secretary and general counsel to the American Institute of Steel Construction. He is also a retired U.S. Navy commander, and a member of the Louisville Rotary Club and the Cathedral of the Assumption.  Ratterman received a bachelor’s degree from UK in mechanical engineering in 1968 and did graduate work at UK in 1970. He also holds degrees from the University of Louisville and the University of Dayton.    

Dhir is regarded as one of the world’s foremost authorities on heat transfer, as well as engineering education. A recipient of numerous awards, Dhir was inducted into the University of Kentucky’s Engineering Hall of Distinction in 2004.

A joint appointment between the two departments, while rare, is evidence of growing collaboration between the College of Engineering and the College of Medicine. While his teaching responsibilities are fulfilled within the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Wenk meets with cardiac surgeons, pathologists, radiologists and other doctors specializing in muscle mechanics to better apply computational mechanics to heart disease–the leading cause of death in the United States for men and women according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

While working for an exhaust manufacturer in Detroit as part of a co-operative education assignment for Purdue University, Dr. Wenk obtained a glimpse of where he wanted to take his graduate studies. “During my co-op experience, I got my first look at the finite element method. I was intrigued by the many ways it could be used and wanted to not just be able to use it, but understand everything about it,” he explains.

Dr. Wenk chose the University of California-Berkeley because they were, and continue to be, strong in computational mechanics. There, he immersed himself in the finite element method, applying it to biomedical projects. He devised numerical models of arteries, then, continued with more models of the vascular system. “I’ve always been fascinated by the human body,” Dr. Wenk says. “If the wall of a pipe is deemed too thin, engineers can always thicken it to ensure it doesn’t fail under high pressure; but the pipe itself doesn’t do anything in response to the pressure. In the human body, systems actively respond to stimuli and perform certain actions. For example, if the pressure is too high in your arteries, your body will produce new cells to thicken the wall. As an engineer, I have to recognize that the body itself is an active agent and tap into what it naturally does in order to generate accurate models.”

During his post-doctoral work, Dr. Wenk moved away from the vascular system and began to focus on the heart. “As an engineer, I look at the heart and say, ‘This is a pump. It is taking fluid and circulating it by contracting.’ Using the finite element method, I can approach the heart similar to how I might approach modeling a car or a bridge. The reason is that the heart obeys the laws of physics just like everything else. The basic principles of solid mechanics aren’t any different just because the heart is composed of tissue; therefore, I take fundamental engineering tools and create models that allow us to predict what kinds of surgical treatments will be the most effective,” he says. His hope is that in the near future cardiac patients will receive treatment plans specifically based on computational models of their own heart made possible by imaging data.

In addition to his interesting and exciting research, Dr. Wenk is becoming acclimated to a new state, new university and new job. His wife, Dr. Christine Trinkle, also teaches in the mechanical engineering department, specializing in micro-fluidics and micro-scale design and fabrication. For leisure, he enjoys biking, hiking and camping. “I’m a big outdoors guy. This is a beautiful area and I’m looking forward to visiting a few of central Kentucky’s hiking staples like Red River Gorge and Natural Bridge State Park,” he says. “Plus, I’m glad to be back where there is seasonal change! Coming from the San Francisco Bay area, I’m glad to see fall colors again.”