About the College

August 05, 2009

Dear Idaho Engineering and Computer Science Alumni and Friends,

The College proudly congratulates Professor Dean Edwards, Ph.D., P.E. and his engineering team for entering into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) and Exide Technologies, a global leader in stored electrical-energy solutions, to develop and commercialize improvements on lead-acid battery technology.

This project is part of SRNL's diverse portfolio of research and development programs in support of the nation's energy security, which includes energy storage, hydrogen, nuclear energy , and renewable like wind and biofuels. Dr. Edwards and his team have more than 20 years of experience in academic research and development on enhancing lead-acid battery technology, particularly concerning additives to improve utilization of the active material in the battery.

"Lead-acid batteries are expected to be increasingly viable for supporting the nation's electric grid as well as supporting stand-alone backup power to alternative energy systems (solar and wind)," says Dr. Edwards. "This is because lead-acid batteries are used in a variety of applications where improved battery performance could translate into energy savings."

The College is pleased to announce that Gregory W. Donohoe, Ph.D., P.E., Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, commenced his service last month as the new acting chair of the department of computer science. He succeeds Dr. Mark Manwaring who passed away unexpectedly this past June. Dr. Donohoe's research interests are low-power and reconfigurable computing architectures.

In 1976, Dr. Donohoe received a B.S. from Lake Superior State University in Michigan. He earned his M.S. in 1982 and Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of New Mexico. Greg has over 30 years of experience in research and development in computing systems for digital signal and image processing, seismic event detection, medical imaging, machine vision, and on-board computing for spacecraft. He was senior member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, has held faculty positions at the University of New Mexico and New Mexico Tech, was a deputy research program manager at the Air Force Research Laboratory, and senior scientist at Kestrel Corporation. Greg believes that the secret to a full life is a balance of interests and activities. He and Mary, his wife, particularly enjoy community music. Greg plays upright bass with the Hog Heaven Big Band and other local groups.

Working personally with Washington State University (WSU) Dean of Engineering Candis Claiborn, (who also happens to be our very own UI engineering alumna and chemical engineering advisory board member) the College is excited to announce a new collaboration with WSU to develop dedicated high tech classrooms to link the two engineering programs and save students the time and inconvenience of driving between the two campuses for joint-listed classes. According to Barry Willis, Associate Dean for Outreach in the UI College of Engineering,"We have partnered with the telecommunications organizations at our two institutions and our own Engineering Outreach program to create a high bandwidth solution to link our programs with 'one touch,' high resolution technology. The end result will be greater utilization of our teaching resources, enhanced convenience for our students, and a way to showcase our outstanding engineering faculty."

The 2009 Idaho Junior Engineering, Math and Science (JEMS) summer program was another great success thanks to JEMS Director and Chairman, Department of Civil Engineering, Richard Nielsen, faculty and staff members and a grant from the Federal Highway Administration. The focus this year was alternative energy vehicles. The students attended three classes every day learning how to design and race their own vehicles. The students began with an introduction to engineering taught by Professor Bob Rinker. In this class the students received an overview of information that they would need to successfully build their vehicles, including in-depth instruction on circuits. They also attended a SolidWorks computer modeling class taught by master's graduate student Jennifer Hasenoehrl. The students were also fortunate to take an Alternative Energies course taught by Dr. Aaron Thomas, Director, NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium and NASA Idaho EPSCoR Program, and recipient of National Science Foundation's Presidential Early Career Award. In this class they investigated the alternative energy forms available to them for their cars. The students were then split up into groups of four and each group was assigned a type of alternative energy. They created their vehicles using solar power, steam engines or fuel cells.

The JEMS students were invited to have lunch and tour Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman, join a creek restoration with Palouse Student Sub-unit of the American Fisheries Society and take a tour of Lower Granite Dam. The students visited state-of-the-art labs here at the College, mingled with professors and experienced first-hand just how much our university has to offer them.

After two weeks of hard work, the students were able to race their cars in a competition that were judged on several criteria. Each form of alternative energy raced for the top speed in that category. They also were required to give their cars the correct amount of fuel to bring them as close to the goal of 46.5' as possible. The distance winner was only 2.25" away! To conclude the week the students had a poster fair and vehicle demonstration to show off all their hard work to their parents. This was followed by their presentations and a graduation ceremony.

We are pleased to announce the University of Idaho's nuclear engineering undergraduate scholarship recipients awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Andrew Dahlke, Nicholas Eimers, Peter Wells and Zack Wuthrich won $5,000 scholarships to help pay for college for this year. Thanks to the DOE for being committed to training the next generation of nuclear engineers and for providing these scholarships.

The number of students requesting help to pay for school this year has increased by as much as 13 percent compared to last year as reported by the financial aid directors at the University of Idaho. The College is working very hard to fund those additional needed scholarships.

The College of Engineering Scholarship Endowment Fund is the premier program for endowments to increase and maintain scholarship dollars for students. This past year approximately $561,860 of earnings was distributed to engineering students. An endowment gift continues to help students over time. With an endowment, the principal of the fund is invested. At the end of the fiscal year, a percentage of the interest earned is used for scholarships and the remaining income is reinvested to increase the value of the endowment. The College of Engineering Fund is currently valued at $12.6 million. Our goal is to substantially increase this fund over the next four years. We believe by training the future leaders of engineering, the college effectively contributes to the betterment of society.

Save-the-date and join us on October 2 and 3 in Moscow as NASA astronaut Steve Swanson visits the University and talks about his personal perspective of being an astronaut. During half-time at the Colorado State vs. Idaho football game, Steve will present the UI flag to President Nellis that he carried into space on board the shuttle Discovery last March in honor of his nephew Greg, a graduate student at the university. "He thought it would be nice to take up the UI flag to promote space exploration," said Greg Swanson, a UI electrical engineering graduate student. Greg is a NASA International Year of Astronomy student ambassador.

Steven Ray Swanson is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. Steve has received numerous awards and honors which include the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and the JSC Certificate of Accommodation and many others. Prior to becoming a NASA astronaut, Swanson worked for GTE in Phoenix, Arizona, as a software engineer. Steve has flown 2 shuttle flights, the STS-117 and STS-119 and has logged over 643 hours in space and completed 4 spacewalks totaling 26 hours and 14 minutes. Steve has also served in other roles at NASA, such as a CAPCOM for both International Space Station and Space Shuttle missions.

We wish Edwin Schmeckpeper, Ph.D., P.E., Professor of Civil Engineering, well as he takes a new faculty position at Norwich University in Vermont. Dr. Schmeckpeper will certainly be missed by students, faculty and staff after his service to the University for over 20 years.

A fond farewell is also sent to Kenneth Joseph Hass, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, as he begins his new position as Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.

We are looking forward to the first day of classes for fall session 2010 on August 24, and invite you to stop in and say hello. We are located in the Sheila Janssen and Karl W. Klages Dean's Suite in the Janssen Engineering Building on the southeast corner of Sixth and Line Streets. Hope to see you!

Donald Blackketter
Dean, College of Engineering