OU Engineering

Susan Walden was presented the WEPAN Inclusive Culture and Equity Award at the April 2019 WEPAN Annual Conference in Crystal City, VA. This prestigious recognition celebrates exemplary leadership in implementing programs that promote positive change to the climate and culture for women in engineering fields for serving as a model for others. Walden is the founding director of the Research Institute for STEM Education (RISE) and an associate research professor in the Dean's office of the Gallogly College of Engineering of the University of Oklahoma. She holds a core affiliate appointment in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at OU. Walden is a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education where she serves as chair-designate for the ASEE Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, an ASEE presidential appointment. She assumes the role of chair of that organization-wide committee in June 2019. As the director of the Research Institute for ST...

NORMAN—A University of Oklahoma assistant professor, Bin Wang, is the recipient of a five-year, $750,869 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science as part of the DOE Early Career Research Program. DOE selected Wang, an early career researcher in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, Gallogly College of Engineering, for the award on computational modeling of complex chemical systems to understand the basic science behind and enable chemical and energy transformation with high efficiency and selectivity. In the chemical industry, controlling selectivity of a chemical conversion process is important because the presence of multiple products may complicate the separation process leading to intensive energy cost. Dissipation of energy drives chemical transformation in a catalysis process, such as refinery and ammonia synthesis. In most cases, however, it is challenging to control the flow of thermal energy into a specific location, such as a pa...

The OK Catalyst Researchers program provides training and resources on how to start a business for   graduate students, post-docs, and faculty conducting research in STEM-related fields   from Oklahoma universities. There will be lectures from subject matter experts every week and a chance to   win up to $3,000 . Applicants should have an interest in entrepreneurship and product development and propose an innovative project in a STEM-related field. Benefits include: Understanding of basic principles of entrepreneurship  Access to Oklahoma experts and resources for small businesses Refined value proposition for your product/service Assistance with business model canvas and pitch deck Compete to win up to   $3,000  If interested in applying, please visit our website at   okcatalyst.com/researchers .   Applications are due 11:59 pm on Monday, May 6 th . FAQ : Who is eligible for the program? ...

Garg recognized for project exploring thermal conductivity University of Oklahoma professor Jivtesh Garg recently won the prestigious National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program Award for his research on the design of advanced composite materials for thermal management and energy conversion. Garg is an aerospace and mechanical engineering researcher in the Gallogly College of Engineering. His research aims to develop materials with more efficient heat dissipation, with applications in a wide array of industries.  “Increasing transistor density in electronics has led to increasing heat fluxes,” Garg explains. “By developing high thermal conductivity polymers and semiconductors, we can lower temperatures, which improves reliability and performance in an array of electronic technologies.”  The new materials also would be beneficial to the automotive and aerospace industries. Replacing metals with Garg’s polymers would enhance fuel efficienc...

Crawler Transporter (CT-1) inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, (VAB) HB-2 Jesse Berdis earned a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering in the School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science in 2011 and a master's degree in civil engineering in 2013. Berdis explains how his OU Engineering experience prepared him for his position as a structural engineer for NASA at the Florida Kennedy Space Center. Astronaut Training "The most pronounced skill that OU engineering provided was teaching me to learn how to learn. Of course, OU provided the technical essentials required to receive an engineering degree in structure; how to identify W-sections in the AISC code book, or how to determine the edge thickness of concrete when rebar is present, I learned how to calculate the required pre-tensioned stress and camber in pre-stressed concrete forms, and the recommended ratio of concrete mixtures in different applications. I had the foundation o...

Martha Gebeyehu, coordinator for Ethiopia’s Water Expertise and Training Centre, was recently named the recipient of the 2019 International Water Prize. A panel of water experts from around the world selected Gebeyehu for her ongoing commitment to empowering and training people to manage their own water and sanitation.  “Martha is serving some of the world’s poorest in some of the most rural and remote regions of Ethiopia,” said Shauna Curry, chief executive officer of the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology. “Her belief in the power of people to bring change to their own homes led to her work in the area of household water treatment. This quickly broadened to the entire area of water, sanitation and hygiene with low-cost technology that people can implement themselves.”  While pursuing a master’s degree in business administration, Gebeyehu became the first water quality analyst for the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church Development Commission implementing ...

University of Oklahoma researcher Steven Crossley and his team have devised a novel method to determine the cause of catalytic activity. NORMAN – Catalytic research led by University of Oklahoma researcher Steven Crossley has developed a new and more definitive way to determine the active site in a complex catalyst. His team’s research was recently published in Nature Communications . Catalysts consisting of metal particles supported on reducible oxides show promising performance for a variety of current and emerging industrial reactions, such as the production of renewable fuels and chemicals. Although the beneficial results of the new materials are evident, identifying the cause of the activity of the catalyst can be challenging. Catalysts often are discovered and optimized by trial and error, making it difficult to decouple the numerous possibilities. This can lead to decisions based on speculative or indirect evidence. “When placing the metal on the active support, the catalytic a...