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From the Dean

Dear CoE Faculty and Staff,

Please enjoy this latest account of some of the notable activities in the College of Engineering. It seems like Commencement was just yesterday and yet we are deep into June! I hope you are having a productive summer, a time when many of us can try to catch up in the workplace and undertake some new initiatives while we have fewer students on campus. Speaking of students, we have recruited the best undergraduate and graduate classes ever, so there is a lot to look forward to in the fall. And, our faculty recruiting also has been truly impressive, so we will have many new colleagues joining us.

Best wishes for a pleasant summer with family and friends.

Regards,

Dave

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CoE Commencement

CoE Commencement was held on Saturday, May 4. The Communications & Marketing office developed a video highlighting the day. I hope you will take time to watch the video and see the excitement of our graduates. It is through your hard work day in and day out that this is possible. http://youtu.be/mb2ZxYKQxEM

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Student and Educational Programs Updates

Record Participation in Summer International Programs

A record number of CoE students are studying abroad this summer through programs managed by International Programs in Engineering (IPE). Two hundred thirty-seven CoE students are participating in IPE academic programs in Africa, Asia and Europe, a 60% increase from last year. New opportunities for summer 2013 include:

• Appropriate Technologies and Ghanaian Culture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Kumasi, Ghana. Co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs)
• Coursework in Engineering, Business and Liberal Arts, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong)
• Graduate-Level Research Projects and Introduction to Japanese Language, Nagoya University (Japan)

In addition, more than 150 CoE students will engage in co-curricular projects abroad this summer. These experiences will include service learning programs, team competitions and multidisciplinary design projects.

Thanks to everyone who is helping CoE students to seek an international experience as a critical expected element of a Michigan Engineering education. Please refer students to IPE for more information.

All Students Required to Register for International Travel

It’s time to capture all global student experiences in the M-Compass registration system. All students (undergraduate and graduate) are required to register each time they travel internationally for University-related reasons. Registries may be created retroactively if a student did not register for a trip earlier this year. The link to the registries and FAQs can be found on the International Programs in Engineering (IPE) website. Questions should be directed to Miranda Roberts (robertmk@umich.edu) in the IPE office.

Cross-Department Capstone Design Pilot

In the continuing effort to increase multidisciplinary experiences for undergraduate students, the Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP) implemented a cross-department capstone design pilot project. Professors Albert Shih, Alan Taub, Max Shtein, Harvey Bell, and Brian Gilchrist jointly organized the experience for Winter Term 2013, bringing together students to work across classes on four multidisciplinary design projects:

• Portable Patient Bioimpedance Sensor – Development of a Wearable and Wireless Sensor for Mobile Vital Sign Monitoring (U-M Department of Emergency Medicine)
• MPRC – Cubesat for Targeted Asteroid Simulation (Planetary Resources, Inc.)
• Outside the Lines – Movement and Embodiment of Bedridden Patients with Control Interface (UM School of Nursing and Hospital)
• MyStep – Enhanced Recumbent Trainer (NuStep)

The goal is to build upon this effort, likely with a fully combined class in Winter Term 2014, possibly with additional departments involved.

Student’s Employment Information and Salaries Needed

The Engineering Career Resource Center (ECRC) is completing its annual survey of students. The survey focuses on internships, co-ops and post-graduation plans, including salary information. Please send student information to the ECRC and encourage students to complete the appropriate survey on the ECRC website. Information is maintained in a secure database, kept confidential and only reported in aggregate. View results of surveys in the ECRC Annual Report. The Annual Report is used for many purposes including recruiting students to the CoE, helping students choose a major and enabling students to compare job offers.

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Graduate Education Updates

2013 PhD Class

A second straight, record-breaking PhD class has enrolled. As of June 1, 209 new PhD students have enrolled for fall 2013, averaging a 3.75 cumulative undergraduate GPA with 58% domestic, 27% female and 20% underrepresented minority students (as a percentage of the domestic population.) Five years prior, the class averaged a 3.64 GPA with 52% domestic, 18% female and 8% URM students.

Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP)

In the summer of 2010, the Office of Graduate Education (OGE) began coordinating all CoE participation in the Rackham SROP program. Since that time, 62 prospective PhD students have participated, averaging a 3.8 GPA. Of these students, 48 have applied to our graduate programs, with 43 admitted and 23 enrolling, including 11 students for this fall. OGE staff work closely with CoE faculty and graduate chairs to achieve these results.

Master’s Fellowships

The College has begun to offer some partial Master’s Fellowships for fall 2013 students. The Office of the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education and a faculty selection committee designed and implemented a simplified process similar to the Rackham Merit Fellowship program. Fifty new master’s students have enrolled from this fellowship program. The cohort includes 100% domestic, 43% female, 32% underrepresented minority and 30% in-state residency students.

Beyster Graduate Fellowship

Katherine Becker has been chosen as the 2013-2014 fellow for the J. Robert Beyster Computational Innovation Graduate Fellows Program. Katherine is a PhD candidate in Professor John Kieffer’s research group in the Materials Science and Engineering department. The J. Robert Beyster Computational Innovation Graduate Fellows Program was established by four-time alum Dr. J. Robert Beyster (BSE Engineering Math 1945, BSE Engineering Physics 1945, MS Physics 1947, PhD Physics 1950) and Betty, his wife, to acknowledge that PhD students are “the originators and carriers of innovative ideas and solutions from the University to the world,” and to emphasize the pivotal role that high-performance computing must play in solving our societal challenges.

Bosch Sustainability Fellowship

College of Engineering student Michael Hand has been chosen as the first annual Bosch Sustainability Fellowship recipient. Michael is a PhD candidate in electrical engineering-systems. He is a research assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and is advised by Professor Anna Stefanopoulou. This new endowed graduate fellowship was created by the Bosch Community Fund.

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Center for Entrepreneurship Updates

$500,000 Gift from Weather Underground Aids Entrepreneurial Experience

University of Michigan spinoff Weather Underground has provided a $500,000 gift to the Center for Entrepreneurship to endow support for its annual Bay Area entrepreneurial experience. In recognition of this gift, the trip will be named the Weather Underground Startup Trek.

Robotic Helicopter Technology Wins Top Prize at Michigan Clean Energy Venture Challenge

A team of U-M graduate students won the $50,000 top prize in the Michigan Clean Energy Venture Challenge for their unmanned-aerial-vehicle technology. SkySpecs LLC is developing small, robotic, four-propeller helicopters that could remotely gather inspection data from hard-to-reach or hazardous places in infrastructure such as bridges and wind turbines. Established by U-M and DTE Energy, and administered by CFE, the annual competition encourages student technologists from colleges and universities across Michigan to transform clean-tech ideas into viable ventures.

Entrepreneurial Experiences Expand to Include Boston

May 6-7, CFE took nine student startup teams to Boston for a two-day exploration of the local startup scene. Students had the opportunity to tour innovative large companies and accelerators, pitch their ideas to a panel of judges, network with U-M alums, and meet one-on-one with industry experts.

Dean of U-M Medical School Joins CFE Advisory Board

The Dean of the U-M Medical School and Lyle C. Roll Professor of Medicine, James O. Woolliscroft has joined the Center for Entrepreneurship advisory board. According to Thomas Zurbuchen, associate dean for entrepreneurial programs, a significant fraction of CoE research is collaborative with the Medical School, and together, the two schools are responsible for over 80% of the University’s IP portfolio. Said Zurbuchen, “Dean Woolliscroft’s presence on the CFE Board will only enhance this collaboration as we seek to scale up the entrepreneurial impact of U-M research.”

Michigan I-Corps Program Launches

A new training and acceleration program is increasing the entrepreneurial outcomes and economic impact of research conducted in Michigan. Administered by the Center for Entrepreneurship and sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Michigan I-Corps is modeled after the National I-Corps program. Michigan I-Corps offers intensive seven-week workshops designed to help researchers from across the state discover potential markets for their technologies and assess the business opportunities associated with them.

CFE Partners with eCommission to Host Month of Entrepreneurship on Campus

With the goal of getting more students “fired up” about entrepreneurship, the U-M Entrepreneurship Commission, a collaboration of 18 entrepreneurship-minded student organizations, and CFE came together to organize and celebrate the first Month of Entrepreneurship at U-M. The “month” – actually a season – kicked off in late February with the MHacks programming contest, the largest event of its kind in the nation, and continued into April with more than 30 events across campus.

Aileen Huang-Saad Named Outstanding Student Organization Advisor

Aileen Huang-Saad, CFE associate director of academic programs, was named Outstanding Student Organization Advisor for her work with M-HEAL (Michigan Health Engineered for All Lives), a group dedicated to developing sustainable solutions to healthcare challenges in low-resource settings.

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Strategic Plan Updates

MconneX

MconneX is now webcasting special lectures throughout the College in an ongoing effort to engage alumni, students and faculty. In the last four months, MconneX has engaged nearly 500 webcast participants. Each webcast is saved as a lecture on-demand on the MconneX website. If you have special lectures in your department that you would like webcast to alums, students and other faculty, please contact Sandra Hines, the MconneX project manager at hinesone@umich.edu.

MCubed

MCubed, the revolutionary campus-wide seed funding program, is now nearing the end of its funding phase. Launched and based in CoE, MCubed has triggered cutting-edge, high-risk projects from collaborators in 24 participating units, including all U-M schools and colleges. Specifically in the CoE:

• Engineering faculty are involved in 88 of the 208 cubes currently funded.
• 124 CoE tokens have been used to form these cubes.
• At present, CoE still has funds for 76 tokens.

For instructions on activating funding, visit the MCubed website.

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Staff Update

Mike Nazareth Receives President’s Staff Innovation Award

Mike Nazareth has received the 2013 President’s Staff Innovation Award, a new award program recognizing one individual staff member and one team whose big ideas and “outside of the Cube” thinking help make the University a better place. Mike’s innovations of PhD application fee waivers, institutional name exchanges and graduate student recruiting survey metrics yielded the most academically qualified and diverse PhD class in College of Engineering history. President Coleman presented the award to Mike at a ceremony on June 5.
http://hr.umich.edu/piaward/winners.html

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Faculty Updates

Ron Larson and Panos Papalambros Selected to Receive Distinguished University Professorships

Ron Larson, George Granger Brown Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Panos Papalambros, Donald C. Graham Professor of Engineering, have been selected to receive Distinguished University Professorships, pending Regental approval. Appointment to a Distinguished University Professorship is one of the highest honors the University can bestow upon an eminent member of the faculty.

Fawwaz Ulaby Selected to Receive Henry Russel Lectureship

Fawwaz Ulaby, Emmett Leith Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, has been selected to receive the 2014 Henry Russel Lectureship. The Russel Lecture is the highest honor the University bestows upon a senior member of its faculty. While the primary criterion for the award is exceptional scholarship, those chosen to hold the Lectureship are expected to be outstanding citizens of the University who have amassed exemplary records of teaching, mentoring and service.

Tom Wenisch Selected to Receive Henry Russel Award

Tom Wenisch, CSE, has been selected to receive a 2014 Henry Russel Award. This award, which recognizes both exceptional scholarship and conspicuous ability as a teacher, is one of the highest honors the University bestows upon members of its faculty who are in the early stages of their careers.

Michael Combi Selected to Receive Collegiate Research Professorship

Michael Combi, AOSS, has been selected to receive the 2013 Collegiate Research Professorship by the Office of the Vice President for Research. This honor recognizes Professor Combi’s extraordinary contributions in research, education and service and, in particular, his strong international reputation and connections beyond the University.

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New Faculty

We are pleased to welcome the following new research faculty members who have joined the College: