The Spring edition of Engineering News is available now! Read all the latest news on senior design, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, faculty research, faculty awards, and more. Find it here.

The 51st Annual Senior Design Conference is virtual this year, Thursday, May 13, 2:15 p.m. PDT, and everyone is invited! Plan to join us as more than 80 student teams present their capstone work. This year's projects run the gamut from biowearables to agribots, and from safe drinking water to cybersecurity. Find a schedule and project abstracts in the  and find more information here.

Steven Bucher '21 (computer science and engineering), who admits to being highly risk-averse by nature, shares how his SCU courses, experiences, and introduction to the "entrepreneurial mindset" have taught him "the importance of taking risk and how to grow a tolerance for it," in this article from the Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

ENGR 110 students Oliver Jaros and Jeffrey Lin built a 6-tiered garden room outside of the African American Cultural Services Center in San Jose.  The garden will be planted with healthy foods to combat “food apartheid,” the limited food choices in underserved neighborhoods. They were assisted in the final construction by many AACS volunteers. The parts were manufactured at Maker Nexus, that trained and supported the students. 

Humanitarian Engineering: Working with the Frugal Innovation Hub and Engineering World Health, eight SCU undergraduate and graduate engineering students and peers from the College of Arts and Sciences presented at the Unity for Sight’s Global Health and Innovation Conference (GHIC). GHIC is the world’s largest global health conference and the largest social entrepreneurship conference.

Daniel Mendoza '21 (electrical and computer engineering) is profiled in "Hitting the Road," an article in which he shares thoughts about his journey at SCU, as an engineering student and as a leader in groups such as Latinx Student Union and Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers. Find the article here.

Mohammad Ayoubi (mechanical engineering) received in-kind donations of $280K from Sentek Dynamics, Crystal Instruments, and PCB Piezotronics in order to establish a research laboratory in the areas of structural dynamics, shock, and vibrations. Many standard tests including thermal, humidity, sinusoidal, and random vibration of mechanical, electronic and electrical components can be performed in this new laboratory.

Allan Báez, Director of Programs and Partnerships for the Frugal Innovation Hub, has been invited by the Javeriana University of Bogota, Colombia, to teach an 18-hour workshop this summer on Frugal Innovation to graduate students of their Department of Business and Innovation. 

Ruth Davis (computer science and engineering) was part of a SWE Virtual Congressional Outreach delegation that met recently with senators and representatives to lobby for legislation and support for STEM issues and minority participation in the profession and education.

Laura Doyle (civil, environmental, and sustainable engineering) presented the closing keynote address for the Tech Museum's Youth Climate Action Summit Mar. 27. She spoke about Engineering for Humanity and how her work with the Frugal Innovation Hub addresses climate justice. The event was organized and led by high school students. 

Yi Fang (computer science and engineering) received a new grant of $48,664 as the PI from Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) with the project "Document Parsing and Segment-based Semantic Representation for Semantic Search." Additionally, as PI he was also awarded a new grant of $31,503 from DOCOMO Innovations, Inc., with the project "Deep Learning for Recommendation Systems."

Chris Kitts (mechanical engineering, Robotics Systems Lab) was a panelist at the 2021 Salinas Valley AgTech Summit,  held virtually March 18-19 with an attendance of approximately 750. Kitts' panel covered ag-related technology development in the university environment as well as educational approaches to addressing skills/knowledge for workers dealing with new "smart technologies."

Nam Ling (computer science and engineering) served as Guest Editor for the International Journal of Web and Grid Services, special issue on "Web Of Things and its Intelligent Data Processing Services," Vol. 17, No. 1, InderScience Publishers, 2021. The special issue focuses on covering the most recent research results on Web of Things (WoT) and its intelligent data processing services. Find it here.  

Godfrey Mungal's (mechanical engineering) published work has been cited over 10,000 times on Google Scholar with an h-index of 52 (52 papers cited at least 52 times) and an i-10 index of 120 (120 papers cited at least 10 times)! He is in excellent company: Edwin Maurer (civil, environmental, and sustainable engineering) is in the 12,900 citation range and is cited about 1,000 times per year; and Professor Emeritus Dragoslav Siljak  is over 15,000!

Tonya Nilsson (civil, environmental, and sustainable engineering) has been elected as the Vice Chair/Program Chair for the Civil Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education. She was also recently selected to take on a leadership role for the 2021 ASCE ExCEEd Teaching Workshops. These are national workshops that have introduced over 1000 civil engineering instructors to best practices in engineering education. 

Nikita Bhatnagar '17, MS '18 (bioengineering) was the featured speaker at the Biomedical Engineering Society meeting, "Career Advice with Nikita Bhatnagar." Nikita completed the 5-year BS/MS program and is now a Senior Regulatory Affairs Associate at Alector, and is a member of EPPIC Global, a life science mentoring organization She shared how her association with EPPIC has accelerated her career.

Maria Bualat, MSEE '92 was featured in Stanford University's alumni magazine for her work as chief of the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA's Ames Research Center. Bualat and her team designed a trio of autonomous, collaborative flying robots that monitor the environment inside the International Space Station, help the astronauts conduct their research, and more. Find the article here. 

A new minor in Construction Management! SCU's new Construction Management minor helps students from engineering, business, environmental sciences, and other disciplines prepare for exciting and fulfilling careers within the multi-faceted construction industry. Support from one of the Bay Area's largest contractors makes it more accessible for underrepresented Broncos. More here.

The School of Engineering Advisory Board hosted the first session in our new "Engineering Connections" Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Speaker Series: “The Importance of Networking and Building Your Personal Support System” earlier this month. Panelists included Marcy Alstott, MBA '86, Kathy Chou, Mariah Manzano '20, and Waguih Ishak. Leila Scola '21 moderated. Watch it here.

The Robotic Systems Laboratory has opened a new 5,000 sq. ft. off-campus lab space in a warehouse behind SCU's Stephen Schott Stadium. This space, funded by external grants, is being used to support approximately $2.5M of newer, externally funded R&D projects in the areas of marine robotics and agricultural robotics. Approximately 35 students, staff, and faculty are working out of this new space for the spring quarter.

Engineering Outreach: The School of Engineering held our first successful virtual Spring Engineering Education Days (SEEDs) program earlier this month. Averaging 45-50 underrepresented, low-income, first-generation 10th and 11th grade students on three consecutive Sundays, participants enjoyed engineering department workshops, a Senior Design Showcase, and Student Panel discussion. 

Thank you to our many alumni/ae and friends who contributed so generously to our success during SCU's recent Day of Giving—we had a record-breaking day! Especially in turbulent times like these, your support means so much. If you missed the chance to give on the big day, it's not too late! Give to your favorite SCU Engineering program or fund here.