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Category Archives: Announcements
Advanced manufacturing focus of June 10-14 conference
Featuring a broad swath of leading-edge research from around the world, an advanced manufacturing research conference June 10-14, 2013, will draw nearly 500 academic, industrial and governmental participants to the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in Madison.
Hosted by UW-Madison, the event couples the 41st North American Manufacturing Research Conference, sponsored by the North American Manufacturing Research Institute within the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and the 2013 Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference, sponsored by ASME International.
“If you want ideas about things you might be able to implement or use in three to five years, this is a great place,” says Frank Pfefferkorn, a UW-Madison associate professor of mechanical engineering who is among the event organizers. “If you want to talk with the engineers developing these new ideas, then you definitely want to be at this conference.”
For more information, continue reading here. To register for the conference or workshops, go to go.wisc.edu/namrc. Early registration for the conference ends May 10.
Nuclear Arms Expert and Negotiator George Bunn Dies
George Bunn
Former UW-Madison Law School Dean and nuclear arms expert and negotiator George Bunn (BSEE, ’46) died of spinal cancer in Palo Alto, Calif., April 21.
He served at the UW Law School from 1969 to 1986 and was dean from 1972 to 1975.
Read more…
Posted in Announcements
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President Honors Two Badger Engineers
Mike Arnold
Congratulations are in order for Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Mike Arnold who has been awarded the country’s highest honor for scientists at the beginning of their research careers. Arnold is among 94 researchers named by President Obama to receive a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Since 1996, the annual PECASE awards have honored the most promising researchers in the Unites States, nominated by nine federal departments and agencies. Though at the start of their careers, these scientists and engineers have already demonstrated exceptional research and promise.
Arnold’s work is motivated by society’s rapidly growing energy consumption due to the expansion of the worldwide industrial economy, as well as the continued demand for smaller, faster, more sensitive and economical electronic and optoelectronic materials and devices. He was nominated by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Sam Zelinka
Also receiving the award is U.S. Forest Service Materials Researcher Samuel L. Zelinka who earned his BS, MS and PhD from the UW-Madison Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2005, 2006 and 2009. Zelinka explores corrosion of metal fasteners in wood, electrical properties of wood, and does fundamental research on wood-moisture relations. He was nominated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Posted in Announcements, Focus on Alumni, Newsmakers
Tagged achievement, Arnold, materials science and engineering, Obama, PECASE, Zelinka
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Homecoming and Engineers’ Day
This year’s Engineers’ Day will be held on Friday, October 14. The day begins with a continental breakfast at 8:00 a.m. in the lobby of Engineering Hall and seminars starting at 8:45 a.m. in Room 1800 Engineering Hall. The evening reception, banquet and awards ceremony will be held at the Monona Terrace Convention Center beginning at 5:30 p.m. Visit the Engineers’ Day website for more information and to register for the events.
National Science Olympiad Comes to Madison
More than 6,000 students, educators and parents from around the country will visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison May 18-21, 2011, for the 27th annual Science Olympiad National Tournament, one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious competitions of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
The UW-Madison Engineering Campus will be in center stage for the tournament, as well as the two latest campus jewels: the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery and the new Union South.
Please consider getting involved in this landmark event, either by attending or volunteering. More than a dozen spectator events will be part of the 2011 competition, including a new “Sumo Bots” robotics exhibition. Science Olympiad is a great opportunity to introduce children to the diversity of science and engineering. Read the full story here.
Posted in Announcements, Focus on Alumni, Get Involved
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Three Engineering Alums Named to WAA’s ‘Forward Under 40′
Three of the 13 UW-Madison alumni recognized in the 2011 “Forward Under 40″ awards, which recognize early-career achievement, are Badger engineers. Sponsored by the Wisconsin Alumni Association, “Forward Under 40” shines a light on alumni who are making a difference both professionally and in the lives of others. Included in this year’s winners are 1997 Chemical and Biological Engineering alumnus Dalia Mogahed, a Senior Analyst and Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies; 1996 Mechanical Engineering alumnus Anthony Eggert, the Deputy Secretary for Energy Policy at the California EPA; and 2009 Master of Engineering Professional Practice alumnus Rudy Quiles, a Civilian Affairs Officer with the United States Marine Corps.
Posted in Announcements, Focus on Alumni, Newsmakers
Tagged achievement, awards, early career, engineering alumni, Forward Under 40, UW-Madison alumni, Wisconsin Alumni Association
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Medical, Aviation Ideas Triumph at 2011 Innovation Days
From more effective life-saving stents to more efficient controls for small aircraft, UW-Madison engineering students put their ingenuity on display at the 2011 Innovation Days, which just concluded with the announcement of winners of more than $27,000 in prizes. An idea for an electronically controlled arterial stent that can be deployed more precisely by surgeons won the $10,000 Schoofs Prize for Creativity. An idea for a flight training instrument that better simulates airplane balance and control for pilots won the $2,500 Tong Prototype Prize. Read more about all of today’s winners.
Posted in Announcements, Newsmakers
Tagged competition, creativity, engineering, entrepreneurship, innovation, UW-Madison
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Clean Vehicle Researchers Get New Wheels: A Ford F150
A Monroe steel manufacturer is helping UW-Madison advance clean vehicle technology with a new Ford F-150 pickup truck that will be transformed into an experimental electric vehicle.
Engineers at Orchid International in Monroe will work with a team of graduate students and professors in electrical and computer engineering to convert the truck.
Read the full story by the Wisconsin State Journal and our original news release.
Posted in Announcements, Newsmakers
Tagged battery research, clean engines, electric cars, hybrid vehicles, sustainability
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Engineering PhD alum named ‘Wisconsin Professor of the Year’
Kenneth Walz, a 2006 PhD graduate of the Environmental Chemistry and Technology program in the UW-Madison
Dr. Kenneth Walz
Walz teaches chemistry and engineering at Madison Area Technical College and leads a consortium for education in renewable energy technology. He also is an adjunct professor in UW-Madison civil and environmental engineering and at UW-Stevens Point.
Walz was one of 38 exemplary teachers chosen nationwide by CASE from more than 300 nominees.
“I’m so honored to receive this award, but really the ultimate measure of my success is the ability of my students to achieve their goals and realize their dreams after they have left my classroom,” says Walz.
Posted in Announcements, Focus on Alumni, Newsmakers
Tagged alumni, education, engineering, renewable energy, UW-Madison
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Exploring Engineering: Connecting with Campus Early, and Often
Seven years ago, Racine Starbuck Middle School counselor Clarence Allen caught wind of Camp Badger, a weeklong summer engineering program at UW-Madison. For nearly a dozen years, this unique “week as an engineering student” has been integral to UW-College of Engineering efforts to interest young students in science, technology, engineering and math.
Allen’s students were oblivious, and he wanted to change that. “I was doing career development, and the students asked me, ‘What’s the point of math?’” he says. “I began to search for ways to show students that math is important—and that you can apply it.”
So Allen, a UW-Madison alum, called Engineering Professional Development Professor Phil O’Leary, whose department administers the camp, to ask if he could bring some students to Madison to learn about Camp Badger. “Allen felt he needed to do something extra to encourage the students to be interested in coming to Madison,” says O’Leary. “He put together this program where they have to earn their way to coming on this trip by doing special homework. Their parents attend a meeting, and then after the trip here, the students do follow-up homework.” (more…)
Posted in Announcements, Get Involved, Newsmakers
Tagged diversity, engineering, STEM, youth
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