OU Engineering

By Karen Kelly CoE External Relations Coordinator Pictured are senior computer science students (from the left) Caleb Eggensperger from Cabot, Ark.; computer science professor and team coach, Rex Page; Peter Reid from Sherwood, Ore. and Allen Smith from Austin, Texas. It's a first place win for the first time for these senior computer science majors. Team "OU A" competed in the 2010 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) South Central USA regional programming contest. The competition consisted of 71 teams from Okla., Texas and La. Director of OU's School of Computer Science, Sridhar Radhakrishnan, said, "Our team was the only one to solve all eight problems. We still would have won without the final problem as we had the least completion time." Team "OU A" has been invited to compete in the ACM International Contest in Cairo, February 27 to March 4. Click here to view the competition scoreboard.

By April Wilkerson The Journal Record Posted: Monday, November 1, 2010 Donna Shirley at her Tulsa home. Shirley was a pioneer in the United States’ space exploration, managing the Mars Exploration Program in the 1990s and helping put Pathfinder, Sojourner and other probes into space. (Rip Stell) TULSA – As the manager of the Mars Exploration Program in the 1990s, Donna Shirley learned a thing or two about leading highly intelligent people charged with sending groundbreaking technology into outer space. Today, Shirley has turned that experience into a book, Managing Creativity, and she operates a consulting firm to guide others on managing creative teams. Shirley, who lives in Tulsa, has been part of America’s and Oklahoma’s seminal moments in aerospace engineering and aerospace education, and she continues to leverage her experience and wit to make a difference. “A lot of people think creativity is about coming up with this great idea; that’s only part of it,” Shirley said. “You have ...

October 26, 2010 Contact: Jana Smith, Director Strategic Communications for R&D University of Oklahoma 405-325-1322; jana.smith@ou.edu Norman, Okla.—A University of Oklahoma research team recently received a $2.9 million grant from the Department of Energy Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research to establish a new Center for Interfacial Reaction Engineering, which will focus on applications of biofuel and fossil fuel upgrading using a revolutionary concept developed at OU. Daniel Resasco, OU professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, will direct activities of the multi-institutional project, which includes team members Jeffrey Harwell and Friederike Jentoft, OU professors with expertise in colloidal chemistry and catalysis; Sanwu Wang, University of Tulsa professor with expertise in theoretical modeling of interfaces; and Khaled Gasem, Oklahoma State University professor with expertise in thermodynamic properties. According to Resasco...

FROM STAFF REPORTS Oklahoman Published: October 26, 2010 NORMAN — Oklahoma native William Pogue, an astronaut who spent 84 days orbiting Earth aboard Skylab, will give a free public chat at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the National Weather Center, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., on University of Oklahoma's south research campus. Pogue will share his experiences as an astronaut and answer questions. Pogue was command module pilot for Skylab 4, the third and final manned flight to the Skylab space station. He spent 84 days orbiting Earth and made two spacewalks that totaled 13 hours, 31 minutes. He also will present a $10,000 Astronaut Scholarship to OU senior Heather Hollen during his visit. The Astronaut Scholarship is the nation's largest scholarship awarded to science and engineering undergraduate students based solely on merit.

OU Daily By Elizabeth Oberg/Contributing Writer Monday, October 18, 2010 A panel of five jurors participated in OU’s WaTER Symposium to discuss key issues about solving the world’s major water problems on Friday. Estimating more than 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation, the World Health Organization also estimates more than 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. The WaTER Center’s mission is “to help solve drinking water and sanitation challenges for impoverished regions in developing countries through innovative teaching and research initiatives,” according to its brochure. “The only way to tackle a tough problem is to jump in and take it on one thing at a time. It can be done but it’s going to take all of us to contribute to the cause,” said Randy Kolar, associative director of the WaTER Center. Most of the symposium focused on the five panelists addressing the issues of the global water and sanitation crisis and the work they do, along with discussing ...

You are invited to the College of Engineering’s Open House of the ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility. Come see for yourself what all the excitement is about! WHEN: Saturday, September 18 10:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Student team members will be on hand to show off their projects and answer questions including Sooner Racing, Baja Off-Road, Sooner Powered Vehicle and the Naval Electric Drag Boat, to name a few. By Tara Malone The ExxonMobil Lawrence G . Rawl Engineering Practice Facility may only have opened earlier this year, but this state-of-the-art structure is already playing a key role in the lives of University of Oklahoma engineering students. Named for former Exxon chairman Lawrence G. Rawl, the building features five first-floor practice bays that allow students to gain hands-on experience in engineering. Four of the bays are open to the second floor. One of the one-story bays is designed to provide students with an enclosed space for projec...

Engineering Women in Leadership Seminar Series SO NOW YOU’RE AN ENGINEER! by Freda Webb Friday, September 10, 2010 Presentation: 11:00 am – Noon followed by Lunch & Discussion: Noon – 1:00 pm ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility, Room 200 Limited seating available, so RSVP early to tdsmith@ou.edu . Deadline for RSVPs is by Monday, September 6th, before midnight! Freda Webb, P.E., B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 1979, M.S. in Petroleum Engineering, University of Southern California, 1997. Freda began her oil and gas career in 1977 working for Cities Service in the Oklahoma City Field as a roustabout. Cities Service was acquired by OXY and Freda stayed with OXY until 1998, working in Oklahoma City, Okla., Tulsa, Okla., Bakersfield, Calif., and Houston, Texas. She then joined Southwestern Energy in Houston and moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 2001. In 2002, she joined a long-time friend at Greenstar Energy as Vice President of Acq...

Spencer Popp/The Daily Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Fresh off a summer of competition in California and Germany, the Sooner Racing team is gearing up for another year atop the national rankings of the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers. The team builds a new car to race in the summer competitions throughout each school year, team captain Thomas Ingram said. Ingram, mechanical engineering junior, said the car is like a miniature race car. “We are limited to motorcycle engines, so we have to design everything around the engine and size it all proportionally,” he said. Ingram said the team is in the design phase, with plans to finish research and other necessary tests by November. The car will be completed to make test runs in the Lloyd Noble Center parking lot by April, he said. “We design all the vehicle dynamics, engine packaging, a full [computer aided design] model and get all of our components of what we want done designed,” Ingram said. “We do all the research at the beg...

By Doris Wedge The Norman Transcript August 30, 2010 NORMAN — An e-mail to an instructor at Michigan Technological University opened a door to an opportunity for Brent Van Rite on the OU campus, an opportunity which will lead to a doctorate and might play a big role in the treatment of solid tumor cancers. Van Rite was nearing graduation from MTU with a degree in bio-medical engineering when his path took an unexpected turn. “I was on the wait list at two pharmacy schools,” Van Rite recalls, and he had nothing to lose in responding to the e-mail from Dr. Roger Harrison at the University of Oklahoma. The professor of chemical, biological and materials engineering was looking for a student who would be interested in entering a doctoral program. Harrison had a “carrot” to offer the right applicant: the chance to work with the professor as a graduate assistant in his research project looking for a breakthrough in the treatment of solid tumor cancers. Van Rite had taken a course that had to...

University of Oklahoma researchers Muralee Muraleetharan, left, and Charbel Khoury discuss an earthquake study in Miami, Okla. Gary Crow, for The Oklahoman BY SHEILA STOGSDILL Published: August 19, 2010 MIAMI, OK — Pipes that represent bridge pilings will be "shaken" next month in northeast Oklahoma during an earthquake simulation project designed to improve bridge building in quake-prone areas. University of Oklahoma researchers Muralee Muraleetharan, left, and Charbel Khoury discuss an earthquake study in Miami, Okla. Gary Crow, for The Oklahoman Ottawa County is not prone to earthquakes, but the soft clay soil found there is similar to the soil in San Francisco — and in areas of Missouri and Arkansas affected by the New Madrid fault line — said K.K. "Muralee" Muraleetharan, a University of Oklahoma researcher who is leading the five-university study. A "hydraulic actuator" will be used to shake giant pipes buried near the Neosho River Bridge on t...

Meredith Moriak/The Daily Thursday, August 19, 2010 More than two dozen freshmen and transfer students participate in event to promote female engineering careers. Growing up around airplanes and getting her pilots license early in life convinced freshman Katie Gayon aerospace engineering is the major for her. On Wednesday, the Keller, Texas, native wore a bracelet and a necklace adorning airplane charms as she played icebreakers, heard speakers and talked with upperclassmen engineers at the inaugural College of Engineering Women’s Welcome. Gayon and 28 other women entering OU’s engineering program participated in a two-day event open to all female freshmen and transfer students. Attendees heard from multiple women engineers, participated in team building activities, mingled with college faculty and staff and talked with upperclassmen about eve...

Daily Sparks Tribune By Cortney Maddock August 11, 2010 RENO — A slight breeze blew through northern Nevada on Tuesday morning, but by mid-afternoon the breeze had grown into gusts. Those invisible forces of nature are what NV Energy is hoping to harness with the help of area homeowners, business owners and land owners. During the Nevada Wind Conference held Tuesday sponsored by NV Energy, renewable energy resources and projects — such as wind turbine installations — were discussed in terms of affordability and sustainability. Karl Walquist, a spokesperson for NV Energy, said more than 90 people attended the event seeking information about wind power. He added that the power company has seen an increase in the number of people wanting to install solar panels or wind turbines. “There has been an increase in applications from year to year, especially in solar, since the program started in 2004,” Walquist said about the RenewableGenerations program, which helps offset the cost of installa...

By April Wilkerson April is a reporter in Oklahoma City. Contact her at 278-2849. Posted: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Hank Grant, Ph.D., director of The Wireless EMC Center at the University of Oklahoma, demonstrates a testing process for medical devices and wireless technology. (Maike Sabolich) NORMAN – The number of cell phones, wireless systems and emitters operating at any given moment is staggering. But it’s the interaction of those devices – such as a cell phone frequency with a piece of medical equipment or a defibrillator – that will keep a University of Oklahoma center busy for years to come. The Center for the Study of Wireless Electromagnetic Compatibility at OU was formed in 1994 at the request of the cell phone industry, said Hank Grant, Ph.D., director of the center and OU industrial engineering professor. Cell phone technology was just taking off and there were early problems between cell phones and pacemakers. In the years since, the center’s work has spanned automotives...

From the Institute of Industrial Engineers Web site - the Global Association of Productivity and Efficiency Professionals When paleontologists from the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History decided to display the bones of a juvenile apatosaurus, they ran into a problem. They only had 15 percent of the bones required to form a display skeleton of the dinosaur. It is not unusual to find so few bones, but it does pose a challenge. In order to create molds of the complete dinosaur, each individual bone needed to be sculpted from clay by referencing similar bones, images of bones, and domain knowledge. This can be a very time consuming project that requires many volunteers and scientists. Fortunately the University of Oklahoma paleontologists met with the engineers at the Center for Shape Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (SEAM) at the university. SEAM was founded by OU School of Industrial Engineering faculty members Shivakumar Raman, an IIE fellow, and Binil Starly to provide...

Two University of Oklahoma graduates took center stage at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today to ring the Opening Bell that signifies the start of trading. J. Mike Stice and Robert S. Purgason, both Chemical Engineering graduates at OU, rang the opening bell in celebration of the successful completion of Chesapeake Midstream Partners’ (NYSE: CHKM) recent initial public offering. Mike serves as CEO and Bob is COO of the newly formed company. Chesapeake Midstream Partners is a 50/50 joint venture with Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). Headquartered in Oklahoma City, Chesapeake Midstream Partners owns, operates, develops and acquires natural gas gathering systems and other midstream energy assets. J. Mike Stice is pictured in the center in the red tie; Robert S. Purgason is standing to the left.

OM STAFF REPORTS Oklahoman Published: July 15, 2010 NORMAN — Forty-eight high school students and 11 teachers explored space this week from the University of Oklahoma campus, and it was free of charge. OU: Katrina Hammonds puts data from an experiment into a computer as high school students participate in an engineering workshop at the University of Oklahoma's Devon Energy Hall in Norman. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman The Summer Engineering Academy, a National Science Foundation education program organized locally by the OU College of Engineering, was Monday through Wednesday, primarily in the various laboratories of the new Devon Energy Hall. Students participated in workshops relating to aerospace engineering, solar energy and the greenhouse effect. The first part for teachers only was last week at OU. Teachers then applied their new methods for teaching science, math and engineering this week with the students. Students gained hands-on learning experiences with the...

Contact: Jana Smith, Director of Strategic Communications for R&D University of Oklahoma 405-325-1322 or jana.smith@ou.edu Norman, Okla.—A University of Oklahoma researcher is developing a novel therapy for Alzheimer’s disease using “biopharmaceutical proteases” to attack the toxic plaque that builds up in the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient—an approach that he predicts will be lower in cost and higher in effectiveness than current therapies. Peter J. Heinzelman, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical, Biological and Mechanical Engineering, recently received a $75,000 grant from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology to pursue this research, which includes the development of a library of biopharmaceutical proteases for public use. Heinzelman’s previous research led to the idea that proteases, or proteins that degrade other proteins, would be more effective as a therapy for Alzheimer’s disease than existing approaches. The brain is surrounde...

Big 12 javelin champion is Oklahoma's first ever three-time Academic All-American. June 24, 2010 http://www.soonersports.com NORMAN, Okla. — Amy Backel placed her name on a distinctive list in Oklahoma athletics history Thursday. So distinctive, Backel is the only name on the list as she became Oklahoma’s first ever, male or female, three-time ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-American as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The announcement comes just under two weeks after Backel, a civil engineering major, earned her second All-America honor in the javelin, an event she captured the 2010 Big 12 Championship in. The Academic All-America honor is the latest in a long line of accomplishments for Backel, both on and off the competitive field. The senior from Dillsburg, Pa., was named the 2010 OU College of Engineering Outstanding Senior in Civil Engineering and has been named to the Academic All-Big 12 first team all four years of her athletic care...

OU civil engineering students weather delays to build a 270-foot pedestrian bridge and pier at Norman's Morgan Park, OU's largest student-led project of its kind. By James S. Tyree | Newsok.com | Published: June 1, 2010 NORMAN — The University of Oklahoma's school year ended two weeks ago, but several civil engineering students continued working on a project this week that will enhance a Norman neighborhood. University of Oklahoma civil engineering students build a 270-foot pedestrian bridge and fishing pier at Morgan Park on Thursday. The students completed a 270-foot pedestrian bridge and fishing pier over a large pond at William Morgan Park on Thursday, just in time for the Memorial Day weekend. The park is in a neighborhood just east of 36th Avenue NW and north of Robinson Street. Chris Ramseyer, an OU assistant professor of civil engineering, said the project's planning and construction was unprecedented for the students involved. "This is the largest project...

View video of Dr. David Sabatini, University of Oklahoma 2010 Oklahoma Medal for Excellence in College/University Teaching. OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence announced today the winners of its Oklahoma Medal for Excellence awards honoring five outstanding educators in Oklahoma’s public schools. The prestigious awards were presented at the foundation’s 24th annual Academic Awards Banquet on May 22 at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel and Convention Center. Each of the five winners received a $5,000 cash prize and a glass “Roots and Wings” sculpture, designed by the late Oklahoma artist Ron Roberts and produced by Jim Triffo of Oklahoma City. Medals are awarded annually to outstanding Oklahoma teachers, one each at the elementary, secondary, community college/regional university and research university levels. In addition, the foundation will present a Medal for Excellence to an exceptional administrator from the elementary or secondary level. This year’s recipients of the...

Published March 11, 2010 Dionne Buxton/The Daily Give a Bolivian family a pack of water — $5. Clean their entire irrigation system from 800 years of silver contamination — priceless. The OU Engineers Without Borders chapter is planning a trip to Potosi, Bolivia, to help improve the region’s water system, said Robert Knox, adviser to the organization. “Engineers Without Borders is a nationwide organization,” Knox said. “Our purpose is to take knowledge to these under-developed counties, and help with problems of water and sanitation.” Engineers Without Borders is an organization that partners with disadvantaged communities to improve quality of life, while at the same time developing internationally responsible engineering students. “We apply engineering skills first hand to innovative projects,” said Diana Lucero, architectural engineering junior and organization president. The group will travel to Bolivia to install open limestone channels, which will remove iron ...

Published February 16, 2010 Casey Wilson/The Daily Representatives from OU and ExxonMobil dedicated the ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility on Monday. OU President David Boren said the new facility will only reach its full potential with students’ innovation and inventions. “As great as the physical faculties may be, it will not greatly add to the benefit of our society; it’s what goes on inside it,” Boren said. “It’s the vitality of what goes on inside it.” Donald Humphreys, senior vice president and treasurer of ExxonMobil Corporation, said the company has a long history of a great partnership with OU, and it relies on engineers for almost every part of its business. “Today, I think it’s clear that our highly technological society depends enormously on good engineering and good engineers for prosperity and progress,” Humphreys said. With a facility that is the first of its kind, OU is serious about prepari...

On April 18th, the University of Oklahoma College of Engineering will be watching as one of their own attempts to capture the crown in this year’s Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bethany Gerber, an undergraduate industrial engineering student at OU, will represent her hometown of Winfield, Kansas in the Miss USA pageant. After being named Miss Kansas USA 2010, she decided to take a semester off in preparation for the April pageant and to spend some time in giving back to her community and state. “I was Sooner born and Sooner bred,” said Bethany Gerber when asked why she chose the University of Oklahoma. Another reason for attending OU is her strong connection to family, which just so happens to consist of many OU alums. She is very close to her brother, Beau, who is also a student at OU. In fact, she cites him as one of the main reasons she came to Norman. Although her brother lives in Norman and attends OU, most of her classmates from high school went to colleges in Kansa...

Written by Audrey Harris The Oklahoma Daily Wednesday, January 27, 2010 A Norman computer company’s expansion will create about 75 new jobs, possibly opening doors for OU students in the future. Hitachi Computer Products will expand its facility by more than 200,000 square feet, according to a Hitachi press release. Gary Riggs, Hitachi spokesman, said the expansion will cost around $15 million. According to the release, Hitachi cited the Norman Economic Development Coalition and the State of Oklahoma as major factors in the expansion. Hitachi stated its support through the Oklahoma Economic Development Pooled Finance Program made the project possible. “[Hitachi] told us the potential the program had and we were able to help them figure out how to do it using the programs that were available in the state,” said Don Wood, Norman Economic Development Coalition executive director. Wood said the majority of jobs created by the expansion will be in warehouse distribution. “There are college ...

Published January 27, 2010 Norman Transcript 'Three Cups of Tea' author coming to OU Greg Mortenson, best-selling author of "Three Cups of Tea," will give a free public lecture 4 p.m. April 21 at the Lloyd Noble Center, hosted by the OU College of Engineering to mark the school's 100th anniversary. For more than 16 years, Mortenson and the nonprofit organization he heads, Central Asia Institute, have worked to promote peace by establishing more than 130 schools --which all include girls-- in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the book, Mortenson, along with journalist David Oliver Relin, recount Mortenson's failed attempt to climb K2, the world's second highest mountain located in Pakistan, to establish schools in some of the most remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Here, Mortenson combined his knowledge of third-world, developing countries, to replace bombs with pencils and bring peace through education to these remote communities. Morte...

Originally Published By: The Oklahoma Daily on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Devon Energy Hall, the new engineering facility on the OU campus, will be dedicated in a public ceremony scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26. Speakers will include OU President David Boren; Larry Nichols, chairman, co-founder and CEO of Devon Energy Corp.; OU College of Engineering Dean Tom Landers; Devon intern and petroleum engineering senior Adela Porter; and Outstanding Senior Man and industrial engineering student David Stubsten. “By partnering with the University of Oklahoma to build Devon Energy Hall, we are investing in the future engineers of our state,” Nichols said in a statement released by OU Public Affairs. “This facility will provide the tools necessary to develop a pipeline of engineers to help our industry produce the natural gas and oil needed to fuel our nation.” Construction costs of the 103,000-square-foot facility are estimated at $30 million. “Devon Energy is one of the most constructive c...