OU Engineering

 October 6, 2008 Mouhammad Al-Akkow, left, and Adam McDonald put the hood on a small helicopter. (Photo by Kirby Lee Davis) TULSA – The mechanics differ little from the remote-control helicopter Adam McDonald flew as a teenager. But snap on a neural network software package, camera, radar or identification tag reader, and that yard-long chopper becomes a front-line defense tool for safeguarding the nation’s ports. Researchers from the University of Oklahoma demonstrated such a helicopter Friday at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa with Autonomous Aerial Robotic Systems of Goodlettsville, Tenn.Associate professor Sesh Commuri from the OU School of Electrical and Computer Engineering wheeled out a different robot built from a small all-terrain vehicle, capable of electronically monitoring shipyards, warehouses and other cargo areas. The devices offered the most colorful demonstration of how a group of professors and students at the landlocked Norman university may soon play a huge role in determ

 Zach Moorhead, a mechanical engineering sophomore works on the Dyno machine, which measures car engine power, for the Sooner Racing Team's car Saturday morning in Felgar Hall. Photo by Michelle Gray Jamie Hughes/The Daily Monday, October 6, 2008 Many students fetch coffee and run errands as interns to gain experience for their resumes, but members of the Sooner Racing Team actually build and race competition racecars. The team competes in Formula SAE, a student design competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers International. Students design, build and race a prototype race car from the ground up, and in return, receive feedback from specialists in the automotive industry. “We do all the design, manufacturing, assembly and fundraising,” said Dave Collins, captain of the Sooner Racing Team. “We do anything a professional racing team does.” Formula SAE is often a college requirement for those hoping to work as designers or engineers at most major auto manufacturing

 When engineering students and faculty look at the new Engineering Practice Facility rising from the ground across from Sarkeys Energy Center, they see an opportunity where one day classroom knowledge will take on real world challenges. When Kelly Rawl Guziejka and family look at the facility, they see “Dad’s building.” In 2006, ExxonMobil honored its former CEO Lawrence G. Rawl with a $5 million gift to the University of Oklahoma Foundation for the nation’s first engineering practice facility. The ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility will offer 41,000 square-feet to engineering students of all disciplines, including five bay areas where they can design and build projects. Rawl, himself a 1952 OU petroleum engineering graduate, served as chairman of the board and CEO of Exxon Corporation from 1987 until his retirement in 1993. He died in 2005, at the age of 76. Now the Rawl family has added its own gift of $350,000 to the facility to inspire young engineers before

 John Woodson is spending his summer thinking about what most other people around the nation are thinking: the price of oil and its effect on the bottom line. The big difference is Woodson is focusing on this subject on behalf of one of the largest chemical companies in the world. Woodson, a chemical engineering senior, is doing a summer internship at Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. As a sales and marketing intern at the company's Texas headquarters, Woodson is studying various markets to determine how John Woodson poses outside Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. Woodson, a chemical engineering senior is doing a summer internship with the company. oil and gas prices are going to change. "I am working to develop a list of key metrics of the primary cost drivers for each product such as crude oil so that it is easier for CPChem to determine how the market is going to look," Woodson said. "I am analyzing the rise in energy prices so we can make sure that our prices adjust acco

 Seven people have been selected for induction into the 81st class of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. They will join 621 people who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame since 1928. “Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is the highest honor Oklahomans can receive for their contributions to and representation of the state,” said Shannon L. Nance, president of the Oklahoma Heritage Association and the Gaylord-Pickens Museum in Oklahoma City. The 2008 nominees are: Bill W. Burgess Jr., Lawton; Shawnee native Robert H. Henry, Oklahoma City; Donna Nigh, Oklahoma City; Ronald J. Norick, Oklahoma City; Carl R. Renfro, Ponca City; Charles C. Stephenson, Tulsa; and Jordan J.N. Tang of Oklahoma City. Bill W. Burgess Jr. Burgess is chairman of the board of Vortex, the senior partner of Burgess & Hightower Law Firm and chairman emeritus of Techrizon, which he has developed into the largest Oklahomaowned software engineering company. Burgess was appointed to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher

 Oklahoma secured land for the world’s largest stand of switchgrass devoted to cellulosic ethanol production. Acknowledging concerns over ethanol production impacting food prices, Oklahoma advances switchgrass, a different type of energy crop, which has higher energy output than corn and does not compete with human or animal food sources. The Oklahoma Bioenergy Center (OBC), a state-initiative championed by Gov. Brad Henry, secured land to enable the planting of more than 1,100 acres of production-scale demonstration fields for cellulosic energy crops, such as switchgrass and sorghum to contribute to the United States’ bioenergy effort. Planting will take place within the next 45 days. The critical piece of this effort is 1,000 acres of switchgrass which will be planted near Guymon, Okla. in the state’s panhandle. This switchgrass field will be the first of its size anywhere in the world focused on biomass production. Additional acreage of sorghum and switchgrass will be planted near C

 The video game technology that seems to have kidnapped our children is opening a new avenue to learning in the 21st century. By Bill Moakley Because of the University of Oklahoma K20 Center for Educational and Community Renewal, your child may be playing video games in the classroom. You should be thankful. The center, part of OU's College of Education, is the engine behind a unique video game-based approach to getting Oklahoma eighth- and ninth-grade students excited about learning. Far from handing students an Xbox and the latest versions of Madden 2007 or Guitar Hero, the center has developed its own game-based learning experience. The K20 Center’s game encompasses math, science, language arts, social studies, technology and a host of other disciplines students must master to compete in the digitally driven, globally competitive workplace they will step into when they step out of the classroom. Funded by a STAR Schools Grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the introducti

 A longtime Cheyenne business leader, whose generosity to the community lives on even after her death in 2001, continues her tradition of philanthropy with a $250,000 bequest to the OU College of Engineering. The Nettie Vincent Boggs Testamentary Trust has established a professorship in engineering at the University of Oklahoma in honor of Boggs’ son, John Vincent “Vince” Boggs. Gifted both academically and musically, Vince earned three degrees at the University, including a PhD in nuclear engineering, before his death in a motorcycle accident in 1971. “Supporting education was very important to Nettie,” said Janith Moore, trustee of the Nettie Boggs Trust. “I think she felt that providing for the education of others was a meaningful way to honor Vince and keep his memory alive. The youngest of eight children, Nettie Ellen Vincent Boggs was born in Texas in 1911 and moved to Cheyenne as a child. She spent nearly all of her 90 years in Cheyenne. A bright and inquisitive student, she exc

AT&T announced a $1 million contribution to the University of Oklahoma Foundation to support a program aimed at enhancing the educational experience of new engineering students, many of whom are minorities. Don Cain, president of AT&T Oklahoma, and Tom Landers, dean of the OU College of Engineering, made the announcement on campus on February 13th. "To continue to prosper and succeed, Oklahoma needs more Oklahomans to attend college, earn a degree and choose to live and work in our great state," Cain said. "We hope this program will help more students persevere with their course work, graduate and then use their talents and knowledge to make Oklahoma an even better place to live and work."  The AT&T contribution establishes an endowment for the newly named AT&T Summer Bridge Program. The program offers a group of freshman engineering students a three-week summer program before the start of the fall semester. Participants will be given intensive acade

 Thomas L. Landers, Ph.D., P.E. Dean Look at Oklahoma’s leading and emerging industries and you’ll see the need for growing a strong engineering workforce. Campus career fairs attract diverse companies, all competing to hire engineers. The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission forecasts average annual engineering job openings will approach 500 per year through 2014 across all sectors, with biomedical, environmental and software engineering cited among Oklahoma’s top growth occupations. A recent survey of Oklahoma’s aerospace sector by the Governor’s Council for Workforce and Economic Development projected a shortage of over 600 engineers. We sometimes hear claims that America’s engineering workforce demands will be met by immigration and deferred retirements. These claims overlook some important realities. Many of our engineering jobs relate to national security and require U.S. citizenship. Retirement-eligible engineers offer valuable experience, but industry also requires entry-lev

 Oklahomans nervously awaited the release of the BCS standings on Dec. 2. OU still had a shot at the BCS title game. Unfortunately for Oklahoma, the Sooners were shipped out to the Fiesta Bowl, while Louisiana State went on to defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes in the title game. What few knew was that an invitation to the BCS title game had arrived in Norman. It came without fanfare or revelry. It was accepted humbly and quietly. Kevin Blake and Tyler Lane, the tech team of OU’s instant replay program, received their profession’s top honor when the Big 12 conference sent them to work the BCS title game, according to conference officials. “They have demonstrated the utmost level of professionalism,” said Walt Anderson, coordinator of Football Officials for the Big 12 Conference. “When we were awarded the National Championship, we knew we had to have our best people when that much is on the line.” Prior to receiving the invitation for the big dance this year, Lane said the OU crew successfu

 Three Dimensional Projected Images a Step Closer 3DIcon Corporation, a development-stage technology company, today announced that its primary research team at the University of Oklahoma (OU) has reached two critical milestones in the development of its CSpace™ (static volume display) technology. CSpace™ uses a clear, non-moving, volumetric projection medium into which light-emitting up-conversion nano-materials have been suspended. The ultimate goal of the CSpace™ research is to create a three-dimensional image by projecting precisely coordinated laser beams into the medium containing nano-materials, exciting the nano-materials to display the three primary colors of red, green, and blue and to create a full-color volumetric image. The materials development team, led by Dr. Gerard Newman, co-principal investigator of the 3DIcon Sponsored Research Agreement (SRA) and head of the materials research team for CSpace™, has achieved two critical technical milestones: (1) synthesized unique n

 Daniel Resasco donned protective eyeglasses and walked into the laboratory of SouthWest NanoTechnologies on Monday morning to show off the process by which carbon nanotubes are made. Technicians were monitoring "reactors" in which the company's patented catalytic process creates tiny carbon nanotubes that are finding their way into a multitude of consumer and medical products. Carbon nanotubes are expected to be widely used in various composite applications because of their strength and light weight, as well as their ability to conduct electricity. Resasco invented the process that creates the single-wall carbon nanotubes that sell for $500 per gram. He was honored earlier this month by Small Times magazine as one of five finalists for its Innovator of the Year award. As his "CoMoCAT" catalytic process created nanotubes in nearby reactors, Resasco provided a glimpse into how the tiny technology will be used in the future. "They will be used in thin film tr