From the Dean

Dear CoE Faculty and Staff,

As we have just learned, the Board of Regents has approved the appointment of Alec Gallimore as the next Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering. I wish to offer my heartiest congratulations to Alec! We will be fortunate to have him at the helm, beginning July 1.

The announcement from Provost Pollack reviews Alec’s background and accomplishments. Rather than repeat them, I’d like to offer just a few personal observations. First of all, Alec really is a rocket scientist! He is a highly accomplished aerospace engineer who, for many years, has led the development of propulsion systems that one day will carry a human to Mars. Second, Alec has substantial administrative experience: as an associate dean in the Rackham Graduate School, former Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in CoE, and current Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in CoE. Alec is well prepared to be Dean. Third, and as many of you have experienced, Alec is wonderfully supportive of his colleagues. He works in innovative ways on behalf of others and is admired by faculty, students and staff alike. We all can look forward to the changes and progress we will see under Alec’s leadership.

There will be ample time later in the semester for me to offer goodbyes from my current post. For now, I’ll only say that I’m feeling immense gratitude to have had the opportunity to work with such outstanding people in the Michigan Engineering community. More on that later. For now, cheers to Alec!

Dave

Michigan Engineering is excited to be a part of the campus-wide diversity strategic planning process. We are gathering information about our challenges and generating ideas to help address them.

All faculty, staff and students can easily access the CoE Diversity web page from the homepage. Just click on "About" from the top navigation and then select "Diversity." www.engin.umich.edu/college/about/diversity

The Diversity site includes information about the College’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; resources available; an invitation to join the conversation via a survey; and links to the campus-wide planning process.

Construction and Facilities Updates

Gerstacker Grove

Work continues on the transformation of the Gerstacker Grove. All underground work has been completed. Most of the precast curbs and benches have been installed. In April, the pace of work will increase. Topsoil will be brought in and the concrete sidewalks will be poured. Installation of the brick pavers, trees, bushes and lighting will follow. All finishing touches are to be completed by the end of the summer.

Nuclear Engineering Laboratory

Renovation began on the former Ford Nuclear Reactor site last fall. The majority of the demolition activities have been completed. The emergency exit door on the north side has been installed and windows on the west side are being cut in. Rough plumbing and electrical work is underway, as is steel reinforcement for the concrete floor infill. Concrete has been poured to fill in the old reactor basin. This project is on schedule for a March 2017 completion.

GGB

Phase 3 of this 10-phase renovation project has been completed and occupied. This phase included offices for the ME Chair's suite, Academic Advising and financial operations, as well as major instructional components. These were a new 125 seat classroom, three instructional labs and the ME Findley Learning Center. Phase 6 has been completed and phases 4, 5, 7 and 9 are now underway. Phase 9 is renovation of the first level of the CEE wing. This area will be closed until May. All work in GGB is on schedule for an end of August 2016 completion.

Lay Auto Lab

Renovations for this building are set to begin in May. Work will be completed in four phases and an August 2017 completion is anticipated.

Robotics Institute

The schematic design phase for this building has been completed. The project requires approval of the Regents before moving into the design development stage. CoE is working with U-M administration on the date for the Regental submittal.

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Updates

CRLT-Engin

CRLT-Engin is working with the College to support diversity initiatives for faculty and GSIs. The teaching circle for large engineering courses, now in its seventh offering, has been redesigned to more fully integrate strategies for teaching inclusively. CRLT-Engin facilitated discussions with faculty who teach small courses to exchange best practices for supporting students from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, CRLT-Engin has offered workshops in the winter term for faculty and GSIs on how to strengthen student teams. GSIs also had the opportunity to attend a session on how to teach in ways that improve student retention rates within engineering.

The Engineering Teaching Consultants (ETCs) are experienced GSIs who have received professional development from CRLT-Engin to help consult with GSIs and gather student feedback. ETCs set a record number of services in the fall 2015 term with over 70 midterm student feedback sessions, classroom observations and consultations.

Honors Program

The College of Engineering Honors Program grew to more than 220 students in January 2016, with 40% of students pursuing the Engineering Global Leadership specialization, and 60% of students pursuing design, research, public service and entrepreneurship. EGL students were represented on the first and second place teams at the Tauber Institute for Global Operations Spotlight! event in fall 2015, winning $5,000 and $4,000 scholarships respectively.

Multidisciplinary Design Program

The Multidisciplinary Design Program welcomes the 2016 cohort of students pursuing significant engineering design projects on MDP-organized Partner Sponsored Projects and Faculty (VIP) Research teams. Just over 77% of the students are enrolled in the College of Engineering with the remaining 23% divided between the nine other colleges listed in the above graphic. Seventy-six percent of the students are undergraduates and 24% are master's/MEng students.

International Programs in Engineering

Twenty-seven Michigan Engineers are participating in semester study abroad programs for winter 2016. Locations include: Australia, Germany, France, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

• Meet the Winter 2016 IPE Abroad Bloggers
• Read their stories on the IPE Tumblr Blog
• Follow #UmichEnginAbroad

IPE has launched two new summer programs for 2016, giving CoE students even more avenues to pursue international experiences. Partnering with Nanyang Technical University in Singapore, students will have the opportunity to study entrepreneurship and innovation while learning about Asian cultures. CoE students now have the opportunity to conduct research in English at one of Germany's premier research institutions through our new program at RWTH Aachen in Aachen, Germany.

Program enhancements have been made to three existing programs to expand course options and meet increased student demand. TU Berlin in Germany now has additional student projects and expanded capacity, Universidad de Navarra-TecNun in Spain has expanded to a second program offering to include instruction of ENGR 260, and Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Spain is offering a new course better aligned with U-M’s CEE 265 course.

Applications are now open for all IPE academic spring/summer programs (more than 15 program options). Learn more about IPE’s programs by visiting the website. IPE continues to have walk-in advising Monday-Friday from 1:00-4:30 p.m., no appointment needed. Please continue to refer students to IPE.

Office of Student Affairs Updates

The Engineering Career Resource Center hosted the winter 2016 Engineering Career Fair on January 26-27. The Fair featured 262 companies and almost 1,000 recruiters in attendance to hire Michigan Engineering students for full-time, internship and co-op positions.

Associate Dean for Graduate Education Updates

Michigan Engineering, Rackham Graduate School, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) have partnered to bring prospective students valuable web resources as they explore and apply to graduate school. Our hope is that the NSBE video will inspire more students to consider graduate school and the SHPE/NSBE web pages will assist them in preparing for this journey, including their graduate admissions application. Please feel free to share these links below with prospective students.
gradschool.nsbe.org
http://shpe.org/grad-school

The Graduate Student Community Grant program, now in its second year, has elicited many proposals. The purpose of the program is to foster creative initiatives that will enhance the collaborative spirit among graduate students in the College of Engineering. Twenty proposals were funded, with activities ranging from the creation of a professional development resource library to workshops and social events. Details for each initiative are listed at gscg.engin.umich.edu.

Associate Dean for Research Updates

Federal Budget Update

The FY2016 Omnibus package is overall good news for scientific research. The Omnibus provides nearly $150 billion for research and development, about 8.1% more than FY2015. Major highlights of the legislation include:

• NSF would receive an increase of $119 million (1.6%) over its FY15 level.
• Department of Defense - Basic research (6.1) would receive $2.309 billion, an increase of $31 million (1.4%) above FY2015 levels. DARPA would be funded at $2.891 billion, a decrease of $25 million (0.9%) below FY2015.
• NASA would receive a $1.3 billion (7.1%) increase in funding. Within the agency, the Science Mission Directorate would receive $5.589 billion, an increase of $344 million (6.6%) over FY2015. The Aeronautics Research Directorate would receive $640 million, a cut of $11 million (-1.7%) below FY2015. Space Technology would receive $686.5 million, an increase of $90.5 million (+15.2%) over FY2015, and the Space Grant Program would receive $40 million, flat with FY2015.
• Department of Energy Office of Science would receive $5.35 billion, an increase of $279 million (5.5%) above FY2015. ARPA-E would receive $291 million, an increase of $11 million above FY2015.
• NIH would receive a $2 billion (6.6%) increase in funding.

Associate Dean for Research Team Update

Please join us in welcoming Richard Vanden Heuval and Joanne Navarre to the ADR team. Rick, previously with the College’s Naval Engineering Education Center, is focused on research development – collaborating with faculty to support proposal and team development to enhance success. Joanne joins the team to provide administrative support.

Center for Engineering Diversity and Outreach

Lyonel Milton is the new Managing Director for the Center for Engineering Diversity and Outreach (CEDO). He replaces Robert Scott, who has served admirably in this role since 2010.

Lyonel returns to the College of Engineering where he started his higher-education career as a program manager within the Multicultural Engineering Program Office (MEPO, the precursor to CEDO). Lyonel was a key leader for the Summer Engineering Academy and led the creation of the ScholarPOWER banquet, which has grown into a signature event for recognizing academic excellence while raising funds for key diversity programs. Seven years ago, Lyonel moved to the School of Education to create the Office of Student Affairs, bringing an integrated approach to student support programs. This experience, coupled with his earlier work in the corporate world, gives Lyonel a unique and broad base of knowledge as he steps into the leadership role for CEDO.

I would like to acknowledge Robert Scott's steadfast leadership of CEDO for the past several years. Robert came to the College after a 32-year career in industry that culminated with becoming the Chief Information Officer for Procter & Gamble. Robert assumed a dual administrative role with the College of Engineering and the Ross School of Business in 2008 as a facilitator for diversity activities in both units, and supported MEPO, the Women In Engineering (WIE) program and CoE's Office of Educational Outreach as a business consultant. Robert moved to a full-time position in CoE in 2010 where he helped establish CEDO by merging MEPO, WIE and the Office of Educational Outreach into a single organization. Robert will continue to work in the College on a number of diversity-related projects.

Please join me in welcoming Lyonel back to the College of Engineering and in congratulating Robert for his great service to the College.

Engineering Education Research Initiative

This year, we are embarking on an exciting new initiative to establish the College of Engineering as a leader in engineering education research (EER). EER is an emerging, interdisciplinary field in which scholars address a variety of issues relevant to engineering education by applying many of the same principles used for conducting scientific research. Rigorous EER is characterized by significant "why" and "how" research questions that have a solid theoretical foundation. Unlike scholarship of teaching and learning where faculty study their own teaching innovations, EER extends beyond the individual classroom. Scholars in EER apply research methodologies that are frequently drawn from education and social science and disseminate findings that can be replicated and generalized to other settings.

We have just hired two tenured/tenure-track faculty members in this field. Dr. Cynthia Finelli is associate professor, with tenure, in EECS. She is a U-M EECS alumna (BSE EE 1988, MSE 1989, PhD EE-Systems 1993), she was associate professor of electrical engineering at Kettering University until 2003, and she returned to U-M in 2003 to direct the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in Engineering. She currently studies student resistance to active learning, faculty adoption of evidence-based teaching practices, and institutional change. She is a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Dr. Shanna Daly has joined the Mechanical Engineering department as an assistant professor. She has a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering (University of Dayton, 2003) and graduate degrees from Purdue University's School of Engineering Education (MS 2006, PhD 2008). She joined U-M as a postdoc in 2008 and has been an assistant research scientist since 2010. She studies design ideation, innovation practices, and deep needs and contexts assessment through the use of design ethnography.

Over the coming year, we will be hiring up to three more EER faculty members in technical departments and will be working with faculty across the university to develop an EER PhD program. Please stay tuned for more updates.

Advancement Updates

Perry J. Samson, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, has endowed the Perry J. Samson Student Support Fund. The Fund provides support to undergraduate students in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering (CLaSP). Uses may include support for: first-generation students, summer field programs (e.g., storm chasing), recruiting and retention, and travel to atmospheric sciences conferences. This gift qualifies for the University's Michigan Matching Initiative for Student Support.

CARE is a scholarship established by CoE students for CoE students in need of tuition funding as a result of a sudden financial emergency, such as a death in the family, unexpected medical bills, or a parent's loss of employment. It is one of 84 CoE funds that received support through the University-wide Giving Blueday effort. CARE raised more than $7,000 during Giving Blueday, including matching funds. With other fundraising earlier in the year, CARE also qualified for matching funds from the Office of the Dean to meet the threshold to endow the fund. CARE received the most gifts from students of any student-led effort at the University.

As part of a deliberate leadership transition process, John Balbach has assumed the responsibilities of Executive Director of Advancement, effective February 1. The College and Advancement team will be well served by John's leadership.

Brad Canale will continue to support Advancement, managing a portfolio of donor relationships and serving as Senior Advisor to the Dean.

Among a number of additional internal changes in the Office of Advancement, Melanie Zauel leads the College’s alumni engagement, donor pipeline development, and department liaison programs. She directs the effort to ensure the alumni engagement and annual giving programs are well integrated between Advancement and Communications & Marketing.

Communications & Marketing Updates

Around the world, flooding is becoming a more frequent and pressing problem – as we saw recently in England and as residents in Jakarta, Indonesia experience worsening monsoon flooding. From February 8-12, our own Ben Logan and Marcin Szczepanski followed Frank Sedlar (BSE CE 2013, MSE 2015), who is developing an innovative use of technology that could impact millions of lives in Jakarta. It’s an unprecedented interplay between humans, nature, infrastructure and technology. Through social media, people are participating in the creation of real-time flood maps that help save lives and influence city-wide first responders. Besides being a recent U-M Civil Engineering alumnus, he is a Fulbright scholar.

Follow the live reporting at http://umicheng.in/JakartaStory (the site will launch in the coming days). This Tumblr-driven website will showcase daily blog posts, including video and photos. A feature article in the Michigan Engineer and accompanying multimedia web story will come out in the fall.

Michigan Engineering alumni possess the industry experience, career insight and networking strength that our students find incredibly valuable. In order to establish a rapport between students and alums we must offer opportunities to make these connections. Below are examples of engagement opportunities:

• Face-2-Face Speed Mentoring
• One-on-one long-term mentors
• International mentors
• Conducting mock interviews
• Career panels
• Offering technical expertise and guidance to student groups or teams
• Judging and providing feedback on student design projects
• Sharing your knowledge and experience as a special lecturer
• Providing helpful feedback on resumes
• Creating networking opportunities with prospective employers

If you have opportunities requiring alumni support, contact us at CoE-Volunteers@umich.edu. With your help our students can benefit from the Michigan Engineering Alumni advantage. Learn more

Better Braille display: A story/video package on Brent Gillespie’s effort to develop a full-page Braille e-reader was a viral success in traditional and social media, reaching a potential audience of more than 23 million. Last week, stories ran in MIT Technology Review (which is read by influencers and peer institutions) Engadget, Popular Science, Wired UK, the Daily Mail, Yahoo Tech, and Fox News. A story was tweeted with applause emoji by NY Times technology columnist Nick Bilton and retweeted by Wall Street Journal tech columnist Christopher Mims. On our own Facebook page, the video was watched 300K+ times and shared by more than 5,500.

AI collaboration with IBM: Nicole Casal Moore worked with IBM’s PR team for months to place an exclusive story about our joint conversational computing system in Engadget, one of the Internet’s top tech blogs. The article ran Wednesday.

Light-twisting film for phone-sized cancer detector: Gabe Cherry’s story on Nick Kotov’s latest findings were covered in respected specialized outlets IEEE Spectrum and Photonics.com, in addition to United Press International. Joseph Xu’s photos were used in both places.

The return of the holiday rap – and this time Star Wars-style – was a hit on social and even in traditional media! The Free Press and MLive spotlighted the music video and that, in turn, was covered in ASEE First Bell. On our Facebook page, the rap reached more than 326,000 people. It was viewed 88,500 times and led to more than 5,000 likes, shares and comments.

In keeping with the Star Wars theme for the end of last semester, MconneX's Chillin' with Chewie series also did well. In five episodes, Chewie interviews good-sport experts about how far we are from real Star Wars tech. Timed to the release Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the videos reached hundreds of thousands on Facebook and other channels. The one starring Alec Gallimore landed on popular tech blog Gizmodo, where it reached an additional 15,000 people. Gotta love this headline: Watch Chewie interview a rocket scientist about advanced propulsion systems.

Center for Entrepreneurship Updates

The Entrepreneurs Leadership Program Kicks-Off!

In December 2015, the Center for Entrepreneurship team welcomed 20 carefully selected students into the inaugural cohort of the Entrepreneurship Leadership Program (ELP). This program is designed to take an elite group of students, identified by faculty, alumni and staff as having high potential, passion and talent in entrepreneurship, through a year-long entrepreneurial focused leadership training experience. See the ELP 2016 cohort here!

The students started their coursework this January, which covers fundamental topics in innovative leadership, team building, project management, idea activation and more, taught by seasoned entrepreneurial mentors and alumni. Following this semester, students will join a growing startup in Michigan or the Bay Area for a paid summer internship experience. Students will graduate from the program having gained robust experiences and a specific skillset that enables them to be active, entrepreneurial-minded leaders in their future careers.

CFE Launches Pilot of Transportation-Focused Incubator: TechLab at Mcity

This winter, the Center for Entrepreneurship in partnership with the U-M Mobility Transformation Center launched the pilot of a new startup incubator, TechLab at MCity. TechLab brings ventures with emerging driverless and connected vehicle technology to Michigan to get direct access to the expert faculty, top student talent and cutting-edge resources in engineering at the University and Mcity. Teams also will be connected to the dense network of investors, industry mentors and venture capitalists specializing in transportation innovation in Southeast Michigan.

The first startup admitted to the pilot, ZenDrive, comes to U-M from the Bay Area. Their technology uses smartphone sensors to measure driver behavior and patterns in order to improve driver safety in a connected or autonomous vehicle future. The founders of ZenDrive will kick off the program with a team of engineering student interns who will receive academic credit for participating in the program, as well as U-M researcher support and office space. ZenDrive’s CEO, Jonathan Matus says this is the best next step for his team: "We picked TechLab because of U-M’s pool of talented engineers and researchers, as well as the unrivaled connected-car and autonomous-vehicle testing ground at Mcity."

As entrepreneurship becomes increasingly popular on college campuses across the country, new programs, classes, and opportunities at CFE are constantly in the works to ensure that our students and faculty are getting the world's best resources and experiences to successfully pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions.

In November, The Princeton Review ranked the University of Michigan #7 in the nation for undergraduate education and #4 in the nation for graduate education. The undergraduate ranking was the highest jump in entrepreneurship rankings history. Princeton Review attributes the increase to the comprehensive offerings from CFE: "At the University of Michigan, its Center for Entrepreneurship gives students one-on-one access to entrepreneurs, innovation training, and "Startup Treks" to entrepreneurial businesses in other cities."

In this past year alone, CFE's enrollment in our new STEM-focused graduate program has increased by 150 percent, undergraduate enrollment grew by 32 percent, co-curricular participation expanded by 30 percent and the number of commercialization training programs run by CFE increased by 40 percent. With the launch of the new ELP undergraduate program, a new transportation-focused incubator, a graduate certificate aimed to launch in the upcoming semester, and plans to add new cities to our startup treks, CFE will continue to meet the increasing demand for entrepreneurial education and experiences.

View the full press release here: http://www.princetonreview.com/press/top-entrepreneurial-press-release

New Industry Director Ray Muscat (BSE IOE 1978) is a longtime friend of the Tauber Institute, in addition to being a U-M alum. Ray is Chair of the U-M IOE Academic Advisory Board, has served on the Michigan Engineering Alumni Board, and has lectured and consulted on the application of lean principles at U-M and elsewhere. Learn moreabout Ray’s distinguished corporate career, which includes global experience in automotive, defense electronics, aerospace and office furniture industries.

Tauber Deliverables: Optimized Productivity, Safety and Savings

Following the San Bruno, CA, gas pipeline explosion, PG&E made major advancements in revamping its pipeline maintenance and operations. As part of the effort to continue improvement, PG&E charged its 2015 Tauber team to evaluate corrosion workflow. One aspect of the students' reorganization freed approximately 1,200 hours per supervisor annually. This time could now be better spent on critical field crew management.

Read how the team delivered a pilot program that forecasts nearly $2.7 million in savings for PG&E.

Disrupting the Competitive Landscape Through Operations

Tauber's 9th Annual Global Operations Conference addressed how savvy leaders are "Disrupting the Competitive Landscape through Operations." Featured speakers included GE Aviation Leader of Additive Technologies Greg Morris and LLamasoft Co-Founder and Executive Vice President Toby Brzoznowski. Read highlights of the GOC keynote addresses and panel discussions.

2015 Spotlight! Team Project Showcase Scholarship Competition!

The 35 teams, composed of 89 students and supported by 54 faculty advisors at 23 sponsoring companies with locations around the world, worked in sectors including manufacturing and supply chain, health care, energy, retail, technology and logistics to uncover solutions to operations-related challenges.

First place, Whirlpool Corporation
Second place, BorgWarner Turbo Systems
Third place, Ford Motor Company

The 2015 Tauber Team Projects will result in $500 million in savings according to sponsoring company calculations, an average of $14.3 million per project over 3 years.

Access Spotlight! 2015 Guidebook for project details
Read about Spotlight! 2015 Competition Results
View Spotlight! 2015 Competition Photos

2015 1st place team: Whirlpool

Faculty Honors and Awards

Faculty Appointments to Named Professorships, Collegiate Professorships and Named Department Chairs

We are pleased to congratulate the following faculty members on their recent appointments.

• Michael Cafarella, Morris Wellman Faculty Development Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
• Steve Ceccio, ABS Professor of Marine and Offshore Design Performance
• Jeff Fessler, William L. Root Collegiate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Alec Gallimore, Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Professor of Engineering
• Kim Hayes, Donald Malloure Department Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Arthur J. Decker Collegiate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Honglak Lee, Morris Wellman Faculty Development Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
• Eric Michielssen, Louise Ganiard Johnson Professor of Engineering
• Khalil Najafi, Peter and Evelyn Fuss Chair of the Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Huei Peng, Roger L. McCarthy Professor of Mechanical Engineering
• Jing Sun, Michael G. Parsons Collegiate Professor of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering
• Michael Thouless, Janine Johnson Weins Professor of Engineering
• Pascal Van Hentenryck, Seth Bonder Collegiate Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering
• Michael Wellman, Lynn A. Conway Collegiate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering

Thurnau Professors

Please join me in congratulating the following faculty members who were just named Arthur F. Thurnau Professors.

• Aline Cotel (CEE)
• Joanna Millunchick (MSE)
• Kathleen Sienko (ME, BME)

Junior Faculty Awards

Congratulations to these junior faculty members on their recent honors.

• Laura Balzano (ECE), Intel Early Career Faculty Honor Program Award
• Neil Dasgupta (ME), AFOSR Young Investigator Award
• Xianzhe Jia (CLASP), NASA Early Career Fellowship
• Mariel Lavieri (IOE), NSF CAREER Award
• Somin Lee (ECE), AFOSR Young Investigator Award
• Jason Mars (CSE), NSF CAREER Award
• Necmiye Ozay (ECE), NSF CAREER Award
• Mina Rais-Zadeh (ECE), 2015 IEEE Early Career Sensors Council Technical Achievement Award

New Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty

We are pleased to welcome the following new tenured and tenure-track faculty members who joined the College on January 1.

Computer Science and Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Materials Science and Engineering

Mechanical Engineering

Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences