Department of Engineering

News about the Department

The most recent items are listed first. This page was last updated 07/08/2008..

Professors Jane M. Fraser and Neb Jaksic from the Department of Engineering attended the annual conference of the American Society for Engineering Education in Pittsburgh in June. Professor Fraser serves on the ASEE Board of Directors. Professor Jaksic was Program Chair for the Experimentation and Lab-Oriented Studies Division. He also presented two papers, “A Multidisciplinary Laboratory Course: Robotic Design and Programming with Mindstorms,” and “A Nanotechnology Experiment for Undergraduate Engineering Programs: Carbon Nanotube Production Using Electric Discharge Machining.”

The Rocky Mountain Section of the American Society for Engineering Education held its annual conference at CSU-Pueblo April 18-19. Attendees came from the US Air Force Academy, Brigham Young University, Utah Valley State College, Jackson State University, Rose-Hulman Institute, Western Nevada College, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology , and Stranaska Scientific LLC, as well as from CSU-Pueblo. Engineering faculty members presented six papers. The best paper award went to “Rover Design Experience for Engineering Students,” by CSU-Pueblo authors Hüseyin Sarper, Wolfgang Sauer, Sarah Lamphere, Mike Dismuke, Senay Tewelde, and Ian Ebersole. Four of the authors are Engineering students.

On 2 April 2008, Engineering student Josh Matthews described his senior design project at a dinner meeting of the Coalition of Pueblo Engineers. Josh is leading a team that is designing a robotic vehicle.

In March 2008 the Materials Science and Engineering class toured Goodrich including their QC Test Lab, NDE Lab, and R&D Analytical Lab.

BSIE 2001 graduate Joey Talbott was shown in an AP photo concerning the salmonella outbreak in Alamosa. Joey is now a drinking water engineer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

In January 2008, the Department welcomed a new professor, William A Bloxsom. Professor Bloxsom worked most recently as Principal Engineer at Bath Iron Works, where he worked on designs for the latest generation of Navy destroyers. Professor Bloxsom also has extensive experience as a forensic engineer in accident reconstruction, having been a police officer for over 20 years. Professor Bloxsom holds BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Denver, and the PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Professor Bloxsom's areas of expertise are mechanics, vibrations, engineering graphics, and accident reconstruction. He will bring strength in mechanical engineering to our BSE-Mechatronics program.

Engineering students Mike Dismuke and Senay Imam collaborated with Art professor Caroline Peters and others on an interactive, collaborative exhibit "Scene in a Cave."

Mike Dismuke, Senay Imam, and Professor Peters

In January 2008, Dr. Sinkhorn served as a reviewer of National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) proposals. Dr. Sinkhorn is currently principle investigator for the CSU-Pueblo S-STEM grant. The S-STEM program is funded by NSF through the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998.

In December 2007, two teams of students from the Departments of Engineering and Computer Information Systems demonstrated their ability to program Lego Mindstorm robot vehicles to drive along a course, stop, turn and park. Optic sensors in the robot enable it to locate traffic lanes and an ultrasound sensor enable it to detect obstacles in its path. The assignment was a smaller version of the DARPA challenge in which full sized robotic vehicles had to navigate an urban course. The audience for the demonstration included children from the CSU-Pueblo child care center on campus. The teams did their work in a special topics course taught by Professor Jaksic from Engineering and Professor Spencer from Computer Information Systems.

In Fall semester three students completed their senior design projects. Will Johnson built a cost estimator in Excel for Krage Manufacturing for their laser cutting machine. Arian Bonetto designed a layout and plan to move the machine shop at Holcim. Derek Brandon redesigned a jig for making compressed foam building components.

In November, 2007, the Department of Engineering received a grant from Advanced Motion Controls through their University Outreach program. Dr. Jaksic arranged the donation of 15 brushless servo amplifiers, 15 digital servo drives, and 15 servo amplifiers, to be used in mechatronics labs. See http://www.a-m-c.com/content/m101/university.html. We thank AMC for this donation.

During Fall 2007, three teams from EN 475/575, Facility Planning and Design, are working with ICAST (International Center for Appropriate & Sustainable Technology) to evaluate the technical feasibility and economic viability of various solutions for making bio-energy from the over 250 million pounds of manure produced each year from 50,000 head of cattle at the Ordway Cattle Feeders lot. The students, working with Professor Sinkhorn, are investigating directly burning manure for heat and power, converting manure using anaerobic biogas digestion to a gas that can be burned, and gasification or pyrolysis of manure.

Xcel Energy donated $7500 to the Department of Engineering. We are using those funds to connect our solar panels to the Internet. A web page will have current and recent information on the performance of the panels. The information will also be displayed on a flat screen panel in the lobby of the Technology Building. We thank Xcel for this donation and thank Kathy Worthington, Area Manager, Community and Local Government Affairs, for arranging the donation.

During Fall 2007, as part of the Colorado Space Grant activities at CSU-Pueblo directed by Professor Sarper, two student teams of undergraduate and graduate students, each led by an experienced rover designer, are working to design a robotic rover (team A) and a landing system (Lander and parachute, team B). The work is expected to last until April. The goal is to design and build an autonomous rover that will be released from the Lander which will parachute down. We will begin with dropping the combined vehicle from the top of the Technology building, then the Library. We plan to eventually drop it off a hired private aircraft. The ultimate goal is to launch it as a payload to near space onboard the Edge of Space Science (EOSS) high altitude balloon flight in April 2008.

Professor Sinkhorn hosted a reception on 13 September 2007 for the new STEM Scholars, who are each receiving up to $5,000 per year (funded by the National Science Foundation) to support their education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors. Speakers at the reception included Provost Meyer. There are five Engineering students in the cohort of 19 students.

On 10 September 2007, MISE student Xiao Wang presented his Master's thesis "Adaptation of the Meta-RaPS Meta-Heuristic To A Multi-Objective Environment." His advisor was Professor Sinkhorn. Xiao is continuing his education as a PhD student at SUNY, Buffalo.

Enrollment in the Department of Engineering continues to grow. The new BSE-Mechatronics program is attracting students from across the country and the growth extends to the BSIE degree. Also, fourteen students started the MSISE program.

In August 2007, the Department welcomed a new professor, Ding Yuan. Professor Yuan spent the last year as a Postdoctoral Fellow doing research involving high precision control at New Jersey Institute of Technology where she completed her PhD in electrical engineering in 2006. Her dissertation was “Matched Feedforward/Model Reference Control on High Speed/High Precision Robotic Systems.” She also holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Automation from Dalian University of Technology, PR China. We are very excited to have Professor Yuan join us. She will be a key person in our continued development of the BSE-Mechatronics program. Her research is in real time control, servo control and instrumentation, and robotic systems.

In August 2007, Professor Jaksic returned from his successful one-year sabbatical, during which he submitted two patent applications.

In August 2007, Aeroflex in Colorado Springs donated an Amray Model 1610 scanning electron microscope to the Department. This equipment will be important in supporting research in nanotechnology. We are very grateful to Gerald Matia, Manager, Analytical Services, Aeroflex, for arranging this donation and for his help as we set up and learn to use the microscope.

Dr. Sarper presented the following papr: Sarper, H., W. Sauer, I. Ebersole, S. Lamphere, M. Dismuke, S. Tewelde, A. Harrington, B. Wallin, and C. Cook. “Two Educational Rovers for the 30^th Anniversary of the Viking Landers.” Tenth Annual Mars Society Convention, Los Angeles, CA, 2007.

Professor DePalma and Professor Jaksic attended NI Week 2007 in Austin, TX, in August. This annual meeting of engineers, scientists, and educators explores advanced engineering uses of National Instrument equipment and software, especially LabVIEW. Professor Jaksic's paper, with graduate student Melinda Szabo, “Design of an Atomic Force Microscope Using NI ELVIS and LabVIEW,” was recognized as a Virtual Instrumentation Applications Paper Contest, Design R&D Category Finalist. The paper was selected by a panel of judges among 60 entries from both industry and academia worldwide.

During the summer of 2007, Professor DePalma continued his work in Houston with a NASA team that has developed a new real-time heart monitor. He also attended an IEEE workshop July 13-14 in Dallas, Teaching In-Service Program, where he learned about hands-on engineering demonstrations that can be used in K-12 education.

In June 2007, Professor Fraser and Professor Jaksic attend the annual conference of the American Society for Engineering Education. Professor Fraser serves on the ASEE Board of Directors. Professor Jaksic presented the following paper: N. Jaksic and D. Spencer, “An Introduction to Mechatronics Experiment: LEGO Mindstorms NXT Urban Challenge,” 2007 ASEE Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI, June 24-27, 2007.

In May 2007 we updated the controller on our Spectralight mill and installed MasterCAM software.

Prof. DePalma was one of several inventors honored by NASA at a lunch held May 7, 2007 in Houston. He was honored for his work with a team that "developed software that probes the high-frequency electrical activity of the heart for hidden signs of an attack or disease." The Houston Chronicle quoted Prof. DePalma as saying "This has been incredibly gratifying as well as a lot of fun."

Prof. Jaksic presented the following paper: N. Jaksic and D. Spencer, “Mini Urban Challenge using LEGO Mindstorms NXT Autonomous Robots,” Robotica 2007, The 7th Conference on Mobile Robots and Competitions, Paderne, Algarve, Portugal, April 27, 2007.

Dr. Sauer presented the following paper: Sarper, Hüseyin, S. Dede, R. Malhotra, N. Jaksic, D. Lehmpul, H. Carrasco, W. Sauer, and P. Wallace. “Use of Biomass and Fly Ash in Briquette Production for Power Plant.” Proceedings of the 15^th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, Berlin, Germany 2007.

Jude DePalma attended the 32 Annual International Society for Computerized Electrocardiography Conference April 21-26 in Cancun, Mexico. He co-presented a poster presentation entitled “Cardiac repolarization abnormalities and potential evidence for loss of cardiac sodium currents on ECGs of patients with Chagas’ heart disease”. In attendance were some of the leading researchers in the world in the field of electrocardiography.

Jude DePalma attended the IEEE Region 5 conference in Fayetteville, Arkansas on April 19-20, 2007. Mechatronics students Josh Matthews, Brett Ford and Trent Swanson attended to observe the student robotics contest. The contest involved designing a robot(s) to pick up three pop cans which were painted red, green, and yellow and place them on the same specified color location on the course. The student gained many ideas for competing in the competition next year as well as learning about the other student competitions, the paper contest and the hardware design competition. The students came back excited about the IEEE and getting other students involved in the organization.

In April 2007, Professor Jaksic had a paper published in the proceedings of a robotics conference, cosponsored by IEEE: N. Jaksic and D. Spencer, “Mini Urban Challenge using LEGO Mindstorms NXT Autonomous Robots,” Robotica 2007, The 7th Conference on Mobile Robots and Competitions, Paderne, Algarve, Portugal, April 27, 2007.

In Spring 2007, six students completed their senior design projects. John Lavender completed several projects for the CSU-Pueblo safety office, including checking all fire extinguishers on campus and creating a process for their regular inspection. Kevin Marino determined the electrical usage for certain processes at Rocky Mountain Steel. For the Bessemer Historical Society, Robert Morrell documented changes in the manufacturing processes used historically at the Pueblo rail mail. Whitney Rux, Mark Koshak, Adolfo Ontiveros, and Muayed Sharshani, completed manufacturing diagrams for a small company, RuxWorks.

In Spring 2007, Prof. Sarper worked with two student teams who built robots and participated in the Colorado Robot Challenge Event at the Sand Dunes on April 7, 2007. The Great Sand Dunes National Park is used because it has a Martian like environment; in fact, the Viking lander was tested there 30 years ago before being sent to Mars. Undergraduates Corbin Cook, Mike Dismuke, Ian Ebersole, Alex Harrington, and Bruce Wallin built the robots along with two graduate students. On April 20, 2007, one of the teams (Ian Ebersole and Alex Harrington) presented their work at the Colorado Space Grant Consortium Technical paper competition at the University of Colorado-Boulder. The work was sponsored by the Colorado Space Grant Consortium.

In her role as Zone IV Chair for the American Society of Engineering Education, in April 2007 Prof. Fraser attended the annual meetings of the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, and Rocky Mountain sections. At each meeting she was a member of a panel discussion on research in engineering education.

On Saturday, April 28, 2007, the Department of Engineering held the seventh annual Science Day for students from the Pueblo Area Boys and Girls Clubs. Over 60 students (including students from Rocky Ford and from John Neumann School) participated in hands on demonstrations (including rockets, robotics, and electricity) in the morning and competed in an egg drop contest in the afternoon. The event was organized by Becky Medina from the Boys and Girls Clubs and by Professors DePalma and Fraser.

Colorado State University-Pueblo, in conjunction with Smart Growth Advocates (SGA), EcoSol, TC Associates, Aquila and the Southeastern Colorado Renewable Energy Society symbolically made the “switch” to renewable energy as part of the dedication of new solar photovoltaic panels south of the University’s Technology Building at on Thursday, April 26. Aquila graciously created a switch that will represent the start of a renewable energy commitment at the University.

Photo credit - Vickie Massam

Solar panels, two arrays with a total of 36 modules rated at 6.12 KW, are located on the south side of CSU-Pueblo’s Technology Building, adjacent to the Buell Communications Center (KTSC-TV). An educational kiosk, adjacent to the solar panels, provides general information on solar photovoltaic technology.

On Wednesday, April 4, 2007, the Pueblo Technology Alliance and the Department of Engineering offered a Smart Energy Summit Systems. “Smart Energy” describes an intelligent energy production and consumption system. Distributed energy production from the sun and wind, an energy grid designed to allow energy to flow to where it is needed, and design of buildings and consumer products to reduce energy consumption will combine to significantly lessen dependence on nonrenewable energy sources. Speakers included Carol Tombari, Manager, Stakeholder Relations, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO; Mike Bowman, 25 by ’25, Wray, CO; Craig Eliot, Sustainable Building Concepts, Pueblo, CO; Angela Crooks, Program, Manager, Governor's Office of Energy Management and Conservation, Denver, CO; and Vickie Massam, Smart Growth Advocates, Pueblo, CO

On March 28, 2007, Professor Jaksic delivered a presentation to about 25 nanotechnology educators:

N. Jaksic, “Nanotechnology in Manufacturing Processes Laboratory: Production of Carbon Nanotubes Using Arc-Discharge Method,” The 3^rd International Seminar on Teaching Nanoscience with Scanning Probe Microscopy, Chicago, IL, March 28, 2007.

The PowerpointP presentation was published on the Seminar’s CD. The seminar was organized in conjunction with the annual American Chemistry Society (ACS) Conference.

On February 17, 2007, Prof. DePalma was one of four Pueblo residents honored for his achievements by the Dante Alighieri Society at Carnevale 2007.

On February 16, 2007, the Department held meetings of the BSE-Mechatronics Advisory Board and the BSIE Advisory Board. The Boards described topics that graduating engineers are expected to know.

On February 9, 2007, CSU-Pueblo graduate Mohammad Kaddoura spoke to engineering students about his experiences working for a Seattle restaurant consulting firm, Starbucks, and T-Mobile. He stressed the importance of networking and demonstrated the use of LinkedIn, which he called "Facebook for professionals."

On February 1, 2007, Prof. Neb Jaksic spoke in the CSU-Pueblo Physics Seminar series on “Nanotechnology at CSU-Pueblo: A Novel Method for Synthesis of Carbon Nanotubes.” This new method of synthesizing carbon nanotubes in large quantities using electric discharge machines was invented at CSU-Pueblo.

In Spring 2007, Prof. Sarper and students from EN 441 Engineering of Manufacturing Processes toured two plants in Pueblo to reinforce learning the materials. The plants were PermaCast (permanent mold foundry) and Kurt Manufacturing (machining plant for GM, Toyota, and Trane). The class was able to see many of the processes covered in lectures, text, and labs. Students were required to write a two-page summary of their observations.

Prof. DePalma attended the Regional Future City Competition in Denver on January 27, 2007, as engineering mentor for Trinity Lutheran School. Trinity Lutheran finished in 5th place and received numerous other special awards.

During Spring 2007 Senior Industrial Engineering student Robert Morrell worked with the Bessemer Historical Society. He reviewed engineering drawings and other archive documents to develop material that the Society could use for interactive exhibits about engineering. Robert was a long-time employee at the steel mill so brought personal knowledge as well as engineering understanding.

On January 24, the Engineering faculty members hosted all Engineering students at a Spring Welcome Back Pizza Lunch in the Technology Building.

Prof. Keith Sinkhorn worked with James Malm, CSU-Pueblo dean of continuing education; CSU-Pueblo engineering technology faculty members Sylvester Kalevela and Michael Mincic; and business faculty and adjunct professors Rita Friberg and Allan McConnell, to create a four-hour instructional video aimed at helping small and disadvantaged businesses compete for government contracts. The project was funded by the T-REX Project and Southeast Corridor Constructors.

In December 2006, the Department held a meeting of its Community College Advisory Board. Dr. Peter Jeschofnig presented material about the online physics courses available from CCCOnline.

During Fall 2006, Industrial Engineering seniors Matt Nowack and Kendra Stone completed a senior project for Parkview Hospital. They examined the needs of bariatric (obese) patients, analyzed current data to make a forecast, and made recommendations for equipment for the Hospital.

In Fall 2006, Prof. Fraser and students from EN 215 Introduction to Industrial Engineering toured the Mission Foods plant in Pueblo.

As reported in The Pueblo Chieftain on November 18, Professor Sarper addressed the Pueblo Technology Alliance on November 17, 2006, about projects he is working on with students to explore the use of renewable energy sources at CSU-Pueblo. He described a photovoltaic system that will be installed to generate power for the Technology Building and a project to recycle fly ash from Aquila's Canon City power plant. Wind power is also being explored.

With his colleagues Todd Schlegel and Saeed Moradi, Professor Jude L. DePalma has been awarded a patent for a "Real-time, high frequency QRS electrocardiograph," as developed at NASA. The patent states: "Real time cardiac electrical data are received from a patient, manipulated to determine various useful aspects of the ECG signal, and displayed in real time in a useful form on a computer screen or monitor." The patent can be viewed at: http://tinyurl.com/y85zam

On September 12, 2006, Professor Fraser spoke to the University Retirees Association of Pueblo about the engineering department. She highlighted the new BS in Engineering with Mechatronics specialization.

CSU-Pueblo will receive $500,000 over the next four years to provide scholarships to students in science and technology fields in an effort to help them finish their degrees on time. Professor Keith Sinkhorn of the Department of Engineering is the Principal Investigator. The University received notice that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has approved its S-STEM proposal (Scholarships for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to fund 20-25 scholarships of up to $5,000 each to financially needy and academically capable students majoring in the STEM disciplines. The available majors from the participating STEM disciplines at CSU-Pueblo are biology, chemistry, civil engineering technology, computer information systems, engineering-mechatronics, industrial engineering, mathematics, and physics.

The proposed project builds on a prior scholarship program funded in 2000 by NSF through the CSEMS (Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarship) program. The experience of the previously funded program led to the development of two new program features. First, the newly proposed program will begin funding students upon admission as first-year students, where the previous CSEMS program was designed to fund only junior and senior-level students. Secondly, the use of an interdisciplinary cohort will allow students to naturally associate as S-STEM scholars and professionals in training. The interdisciplinary cohort will provide active learning academic and career enrichment opportunities including:

• A university orientation and social event targeted primarily at the families of first generation S-STEM scholars
• A series of career exploration and enrichment activities such as guest speakers, tours, and seminars
• Scholarly, career, and support opportunities such as undergraduate research, career internships, mentoring by faculty or industry representatives, and tutoring of other students.

On September 7, the Engineering faculty members hosted all Engineering students at a Fall Kickoff Pizza Lunch in the Technology Building.

Professor Jaksic presented a paper at the June 2006 meeting of the American Society for Engineering Education. His paper won the Best Paper Award for the Division of Experimentation and Laboratory Oriented Studies.

Jaksic, Nebojsa. "A Nanotechnology Experiment: Design of Low Cost Scanning Tunneling Microscopes."

Professor Fraser also presented a paper at the same conference:

Fraser, Jane M., and Alejandro Teran. “Benchmarking International IE Programs”

Professor Fraser joined the Board of Directors of the American Society for Engineering Education for a two year term (2005-2007). She will serve as chair of Zone IV, the western United States.

Professor Fraser is serving as a Program Evaluator for general engineering programs for ABET, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.

During summer 2006, Professor DePalma continued his work in Houston with a NASA team that has developed a new real-time heart monitor.

Professor Jaksic presented three papers at the Industrial Engineering Research Conference in Orlando, Florida, in May 2006.

Jaksic, Nebojsa, Jane Fraser, Hector Carrasco, Huseyin Sarper, Jude DePalma and E. Keith Sinkhorn. "Synergy between Industrial Engineering and Mechatronics Curricula at Colorado State University - Pueblo."
Jaksic, Nebojsa, Bradley Unruh and Gajendiran Mohandass. "Health Risks in Multiwall Carbon Nanotube Production Using Arc Discharge in Liquid Nitrogen."
Jaksic, Nebojsa. "A Design-Based Nanotechnology Course for Undergraduate Industrial Engineering Students."

Dr. Sinkhorn also presented a paper at the same conference:

Sinkhorn, E. Keith. "The Savings Priority Rule in the Meta-RaPS Traveling Salesman Problem Solution."

During 2005-2006, Professors Carrasco and Sarper completed a DOE funded project (worth $98,000) “Developing Engineered Fuel (Briquettes) Using Flyash and Biomass.” The objective of this research was to explore the feasibility of producing engineered fuels from a combination of renewable and non renewable energy sources. The components are flyash (containing coal fines) and locally available biomass waste. The constraints were such that no other binder additives were to be added. It was shown that this idea was feasible from chemical and materials points of view. A current master’s thesis is analyzing if the idea is economically feasible or not.

Dr Jaksic presented a paper at the Materials Research Symposium (Published in their proceedings Vol. 931), April 17-21 in San Francisco, CA:

Nebojsa Jaksic, "Nanoscience, Nanoengineering and Nanotechnology Education at Colorado State University - Pueblo."

On 12 April, 2006, the CSU-Pueblo departments of Biology, Chemistry, Civil Engineering Technology, Computer Information Systems, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics submitted the proposal "Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at Colorado State University - Pueblo" to the National Science Foundation for consideration under the Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program. If funded, the grant will provide up to $425,000 in scholarship funds to a cohort of 20-25 students for four years in participating STEM discipline majors. These students will form an interdisciplinary cohort during their academic careers supported by local industry, including the Transportation Technology Center, STORServer, Inc., and Goodrich Corporation. Keith Sinkhorn led the development of the proposal, with contributions from University faculty and staff including John Borton, Paul Chacon, Jane Fraser, David Lehmpuhl, Michelle Gjerde, Sharon Hatton-Montoya, Sandy Lundahl, Janna McLean, Jeff Piquette, and Brenda Trujillo.

Prof. Fraser is serving as an Ambassador for the Latino Chamber of Commerce, representing the Chamber at events such as ribbon cuttings.

Prof. Fraser was on sabbatical Spring semester 2006 during which she wrote an online textbook, Introduction to Industrial Engineering, available at www.introtoie.com.

Prof. Hüseyin Sarper of the Department of Engineering (on behalf of the Organizing Committee for the Core Technologies for Space Systems Conference and the Colorado Space Grant Consortium at the Colorado State University – Pueblo) has completed collecting posters from the middle school students in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Trinidad. The posters depict the future lunar settlements on the Moon. This contest should provide an excellent opportunity for students to exhibit their ability to research and explain the result of the research in a creative and entertaining manner. The conference board will pick the top 10 posters and give cash awards to top five. In addition, one low-income family student will be sent to Kansas Space Camp. The contest was announced in September. All eligible posters will be displayed at the Pueblo Mall during the engineering week design contest in March. The poster competition is titled: LUNAR SETTLEMENTS – Back to the MOON to STAY Poster Contest (2005).

The Department of Engineering is updating some of its labs as part of its introduction of a new degree program, the BS in Engineering with specialization in Mechatronics. The new lab will allows teams of students to gather data in real time from test circuits implemented with NI ELVIS (Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite); the students will use the software NI LabVIEW to analyze the data.

The Department of Engineering introduced hands on labs in the Introduction to Engineering course in Fall 2005. Students in the course used MultiSim to create and test a 3-bit even parity generator for communication, used exponential smoothing to forecast demand for textbooks based on historical data, built and programmed Lego robots, used Excel to perform Monte-Carlo simulation to estimate probability of success (or the reliability) of a Mars landing mission, and rolled dice to learn how to detect difference (which dice are loaded) in a random environment.

Undergraduate and graduate students are working together in 2005-2006 on research. Prof. Jaksic is working with students in research on nanotechnology, including the manufacture of a scanning tunneling microscope and the production of carbon nanotubes. Prof. Sarper is working with students on projects related to space exploration and a project to generate energy from biomass waste. These research projects are supported by funds from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology.

During 2005-2006, the Department of Engineering is hosting lunches for counselors from local high schools to discuss opportunities for their students to study engineering at CSU-Pueblo. In November and December 2005, we hosted lunches for Centennial High and East High counselors.

On December 9, 2005, the Department of Engineering hosted the second annual meeting of its Community College Advisory Board. The Board discussed the new BS in Engineering degree (with specialization in mechatronics) and revised the Department’s Transfer Guide, including a listing of courses prospective engineering students can take at Colorado Community Colleges to meet requirements for the BSE and the BS in Industrial Engineering.

On October 21, 2005, Engineering student Ray Roman represented the Department at a Career Fair at Freed Middle School.

On October 25, 2005, Dwight Gentry of INROADS/Colorado, Inc., visited Department of Engineering to recruit industrial engineering students for summer intern positions in Denver.

On October 25, 2005, Prof. Fraser and the students in EN 215 (Introduction to Industrial and Systems Engineering) visited Krage Manufacturing, where they met with Sam Krage and James Velasquez to hear about and see the application of industrial engineering in a small manufacturing plant.

On October 21, 2005, Prof. DePalma attended an IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems society meeting in Colorado Springs. The subject of the meeting was the Near Space Unmanned Air Vehicle project by the UCCS student branch of the IEEE.

The Department of Engineering received two grants from the Student Technology Fee. The first, for $19,999 will purchase a Computer Machining Center. CEEPS and other research sources are supplementing the grant to enable purchase of an automatic tool changer. The second grant, for $2,995, will support purchase of the computer program LabVIEW for use in Engineering classes. LabVIEW is software that helps design test, measurement, and control systems. Both successful grants were written by Dr. Neb Jaksic.

On October 17, 2005, Prof. Jaksic attended the 1^st Nanoscience and Applications Conference at the NIST campus in Boulder, Colorado.

Prof. Fraser was a member of the organizing committee for the 4^th Annual Southern Colorado Technology Summit, sponsored by the Pueblo Technology Alliance and held at Pueblo Community College on October 19, 2005.

Prof. DePalma mentored a team from Trinity Lutheran School in Pueblo for the Future City competition. The regional final was held in January 2005 at Mile High Stadium in Denver. Dr. DePalma also mentored a Destination Imagination team of 3^rd graders from Belmont Elementary School in Pueblo. Their competition was April 9, at Massari Arena.

Dr. DePalma attended a conference on digital signal processing in Taos, NM, in July 2004 and a workshop on using Xilinx for digital signal processing in Albuquerque, NM, in August 2004. Through his attendance at the Xilinx workshop, the department received a donation of Xilinx software and two different Xilinx development boards. The software was installed in the lab in T-141 and it and one of the development boards were used in two different classes in spring semester 2005: EN 291 and CENT 354.

During Spring semester 2005, the Department offered three special topics classes. Professor Bill Brown of the Physics Department taught EN 291 – Gateway to Space Students learned the basics of atmospheric and space sciences, space exploration, spacecraft design, rocketry, and orbits. In teams, students designed and built a mini-satellite that was launched on a high altitude balloon. Students also learned about current research in space through lectures transmitted from Lockheed Martin, Ball Aerospace, and other space related companies. Professor Jaksic taught EN 491 – Nanotechnology, using support from the National Science Foundation. This course exposed students to nanotechnology and nano-science, including phenomena such as tunneling, nano-scale physics and chemistry, molecular engineering, nano-manipulation, nanolithography, nano-devices, and carbon nanotubes. Laboratory exercises included the operation of a scanning probe microscope and building and testing a scanning tunneling microscope. Professor DePalma taught EN 591 – DSP (Digital Signal Processing). The course is an introduction to topics in digital signal processing which the engineer may encounter in data collection, industrial controls, and other areas. Students gained an understanding of linear systems, the principles of sampling of analog signals, Discrete Fourier Transforms, digital filters, and various techniques for spectral analysis.

Engineering students Brandon Martinez and Rosa Munoz, biology student Matt Garcia, and Professor Sarper are working on a project involving the design and testing of a small biosphere, as part of CSU-Pueblo’s participation in the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. Human travel to places like Mars will be easier if we set up a permanent outpost there. Creating a biosphere would enable the outpost to grow its own food supply. The students have researched previous biospheres, learned about the engineering and biology necessary to achieve a sustainable biosphere, and have designed a small biosphere, which they are now building and testing.

Effective Fall 2004, Professor N. Jaksic received tenure.

In Fall 2004, one lab in Technology Building (room 142) was designated for nanotechnology research.

In November 2004, Atilhan Manay (MSISE Summer 2002) was granted a patent for a new boiler design.

Prof. Sarper served on the organizing committee for the Core Technologies for Space Systems, an annual conference in Colorado Springs, CO, held November 8-10, 2004. Prof. Sarper was in charge of the Student Science, Technology and Engineering Panel Discussion.

On November 12, 2004, the Department hosted the first meeting of its Community College Advisory Board. Representatives from Arapahoe Community College, Lamar Community College, Pikes Peak Community College, Pueblo Community College, and Trinidad State Junior College discussed how to help community college students transfer to the BSIEN program, especially how to help students choose appropriate courses to take at the community college.

On November 11, 2004, the EN 215 class toured Timberline Steel in the Pueblo industrial park, learning about the physical processes, material handling, and production scheduling involved in the operations.

On November 10, 2004, the Department participated in the CSU-Pueblo Graduate School Fair to help potential students learn about opportunities for graduate work.

Prof. Jane Fraser talked about engineering and college to a pre-college 7^th grade class at Risley Middle School on September 17, 2004.

In 2004-05 Prof. Neb Jaksic, Director of the MSISE program, is chairing the CSU-Pueblo Graduate Studies Board. He is also Secretary of the CSU-Pueblo Senate. Prof. Jude DePalma is a member of the CSU-Pueblo Senate and CSU-Pueblo representative to the state-wide Colorado Faculty Advisory Committee. Prof. Keith Sinkhorn is Parliamentarian for the CSU-Pueblo Senate.

Prof. Neb Jaksic meets regularly with the Nanotechnology Research Team, including 1 undergraduate student and 5 graduate students: Vishnu Pisipaty, Sevci Dincer, Sarah Lamphere, Vera Dobryanskia, Gajandiran Mohandes, Arian Bonetti.

During 2004-2005, Prof. Hüseyin Sarper is conducting a project entitled “Statistical Analysis and State of Health Pilot Study to Develop Diagnostic Procedures for Rail Vehicle Performance,” funded by the Transportation Technology Center, Inc., in Pueblo. The initiative is focused on the benefits of automated data analysis in improving rail vehicle performance and coincides well with the rail industry’s Advanced Technology Safety Initiative.

Through the work of Prof. Neb Jaksic, the Department of Engineering hosted a three-day workshop (August 8-10) on Nanotechnology in Undergraduate Education. A group of National Science Foundation supported university professors from around the country (Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Georgia and Colorado) learned how to apply educational assessment techniques and principles specially tailored for nanotechnology. Dr. Glenn Nyre from Westat Corp. was the conductor of the workshop. Guest Speakers included, Dr. Louis Hornyak from Colorado Nanotechnology Initiative, Dr. Hector Carrasco, Dean of the College of Education, Engineering and Professional Studies, Dr. Jane Fraser, Chair of the Engineering Department and Dr. Melvin Druelinger, Director of Research and Sponsored Programs.

The 2004 Rocky Mountain Discrete Math Days conference took place August 2-3 at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Invited speakers included Brooks Reid (Cal State University, San Marcos), Ann Trenk (Wellesley), and Bryan Shader (University of Wyoming). Attendees hailed from across the front range, including five representatives from CSU-Pueblo. CSU-Pueblo engineering faculty member Keith Sinkhorn led the session "The Activity on Node Approach to Graph Theoretic Operational Problems," and recent MSISE graduate Pavitree Vutra-Uckra led the session "Application of Sample Average Approximation to the Shortest Path Problem."

Prof. Jane M. Fraser organized the 2004 Co-AMP Summer Bridge Program, which was held July 25-29. Twelve students spent a week on campus, preparing to start at the university in the fall. The program is targeted at minority students, intending to major in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. The students took a mini-math class, learned about their own learning styles, toured Cheyenne Mountain to learn about technical careers, and lived in the dorms for a week.

Professor Jane M. Fraser attended the American Society for Engineering Education annual conference in Salt Lake City June 20-23. She presented a paper, co-authored with Prof. Ron Darby, on “Automotive Industry Management.” The paper appears in the annual conference proceedings.

During the summer of 2004, engineering students worked at UPS in Denver, Western Forge and Schlage Lock in Colorado Springs, Bechtel in Pueblo and San Francisco, and Eaton in Pueblo.

In Spring 2004 visiting assistant professor E. Keith Sinkhorn was offered and accepted a tenure-track position with the Department as assistant professor.

In May 2004, MSISE students participated in the XVIII Annual International Occupational and Ergonomic Safety Conference in Houston. MSISE student Michael Griffin presented “An Ergonomic Study of a MMH [Manual Material Handling] Task in an Industrial Kitchen,” with co-authors MSISE student Pavitree Vutra-Uckra and adjunct professor Dr. J.P. Purswell. MBA student Chris Stern presented a paper with co-author MSISE student Liran Peleg.

Prof. Jane M. Fraser was the keynote speaker at the Risley Middle School 8^th grade graduation ceremonies May 26, 2004. She spoke about the importance of studying mathematics in high school.

Prof. Hüseyin Sarper attended the annual meeting of the Institute of Industrial Engineers in Houston May 15-17, 2004.

The fourth annual Science Day for Pueblo area Boys and Girls Clubs was held Saturday, April 17, 2004. Prof. Jane Fraser, Becky Medina from the Pueblo Boys and Girls Clubs, and engineering student Ray Roman organized the day. Approximately 80 students from Pueblo, Avondale, and Rocky Ford viewed the Chemistry Magic Show, presented by Chemistry Professor Roger Saul, and participated in an egg drop contest.

On April 15, 2004, CSU-Pueblo graduate Mohammad Kaddoura spoke to engineering students about his experiences working for a Seattle restaurant consulting firm and for Starbucks. He stressed the importance of quality, the need for teamwork, the laboratory and on-site testing done by Starbucks, and the importance of presentation skills for career success.

On April 16, 2004, Prof. Keith Sinkhorn hosted a visit by Prof. G. Don Taylor, Mary Lee and George F. Duthie Chair in Engineering Logistics, and Director, Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution, at the University of Louisville. Prof. Taylor spoke about the importance of logistics, changes in logistics due to Internet, technology such as RFID, and the importance of applied OR and simulation as tools for industrial engineers.

On April 8, 2004, Prof. Jude DePalma was featured in an article in the Pueblo Chieftain. The article described Prof. DePalma’s involvement with a NASA team that has developed a new real-time heart monitor. To read the article, click here (http://www.chieftain.com/life/1081440437/2). His work was also reported in a NASA Tech Brief article: http://www.nasatech.com/Briefs/July03/MSC23154.html. The technical report on the article is:

Schlegel, Todd T. , Kulecz, Walter B. , DePalma, Jude L. , Feiveson, Alan H. , Wilson, John S. , Rahman, M. Atiar , and Bungo, Michael W. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 79(3), March 2004, pages 339-353. See http://www.mayo.edu/proceedings/2004/mar/mar2004.html

In March 2004, Prof. Neb Jaksic was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to introduce a new undergraduate course in nanotechnology. Nanotechnology involves engineering at the molecular level. Students will use a scanning probe microscope, will participate in nano-science laboratories, and will be involved in research on nanotechnology. The emphasis of the program is on the development of affordable nanotechnology instruments.

In spring and summer 2004, Dr. Jane M. Fraser was one of six faculty across the nation leading the revision of Industrial Engineering Terminology for the American National Standards Institute. Prof. Fraser chaired the committee to revise the Management Systems section.

Prof. Sarper served on the 2003 organizing committee for the Core Technologies for Space Systems, an annual conference in Colorado Springs, CO.

Prof. Sarper served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Pueblo City-County Library.

Prof. DePalma was promoted to Associate Professor and tenured effective Fall 2003. Prof. Jaksic was promoted to Associate Professor effective Fall 2003.