Sandra (Albertson) Larson (BSCE’88, BSBiology’75) has played an integral role in building partnerships between Iowa State University (ISU) and the Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT). Born in Kirksville, Mo., Larson has spent most of her life in Iowa. She grew up in Ames, and then enrolled at ISU in 1971 – in biology …Continue reading “Civil engineering alumna builds integral Iowa DOT-Iowa State University partnerships”
Chemical and biological engineering department hires assistant professor researching low cost solar cells. While he was earning his Ph.D., Matthew Panthani found a new way to use spray paint – to advance solar cell research. His interest in solar cell accessibility has continued since graduate school. He’s looking forward to making solar cells inexpensive and …Continue reading “Matthew Panthani: A love for science and engineering since day one”
On the 8 July, a delegation from the Iowa State University in the USA visited the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław. The delegation, made up of Professor Jacek Koziel and Professor Jodi Sterle, along with coordinators for international cooperation, Jodi Cornell and Shannon Miner, visited to draw up a programme of intensive …Continue reading “ISU delegation visit to University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław, Poland”
An Chen grew up in Jiangsu Province, China, where much construction and expansion took place. He recognized the abundance of civil engineers, managers, technicians, and other labor who worked together to make urban construction possible. Chen, a new assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering (CCEE) at Iowa State University, built upon these experiences …Continue reading “An Chen to bring environment, energy efficiency research to structural engineering”
Luke and Adam Upah work together at Honda after graduating from mechanical engineering in 2008 and 2013 The Upah brothers grew up in Tama, Iowa, racing and riding dirt bikes and ATVs. Over 20 years later, the duo still lives and races together, but now they work together at Honda off-road power sports research and …Continue reading “Two brothers: One major, one company”
The way Larry Covington describes it, there was nothing really wrong with the safety record at Barilla America, but things in 2013 just didn’t seem to be getting any better. “Our safety record for the most part was performing at good levels,” Covington, senior plant manager at the pasta maker’s Ames plant, recalled. “We had only …Continue reading “Safety culture assessment by Keren saves Barilla money via better understanding of employee attitudes”
Omar Smadi, a new associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering (CCEE) at Iowa State University, builds upon a lifelong passion for transportation research. Smadi’s expertise is transportation infrastructure asset management and safety. Everything from pavements to bridges to road signs, his research uses data-based decision making to monitor components of America’s highway system. …Continue reading “Smadi brings national partnerships, teaching passion to Iowa State transportation engineering”
After losing four members from last season’s top-25 team, it would be easy to assume that rebuilding team chemistry for the ISU women’s golf team would take some time. Despite the new roster, incoming freshmen M.J. Kamin and Nattapan “New” Siritrai are already fitting in like seasoned veterans after a week on campus. Kamin, who …Continue reading “Freshman student engineer finds her perfect fit in ISU women’s golf”
Peter Savolainen, a new associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at Iowa State University, is inspired by new challenges traffic safety and traffic operations bring. Savolainen joined Iowa State in August 2014. “I was attracted to the Institute for Transportation (InTrans) and its reputation as a national leader in transportation research,” he said. …Continue reading “New Iowa State engineering professor nationally acclaimed for traffic safety research, teaching”
Written by Breehan Gerleman Lucchesi, U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, Public Affairs Pat Thiel has been named the 2014 winner of the AVS Medard W. Welch Award, which recognizes outstanding research in the fields of materials, interfaces and processing. Thiel, who is a faculty scientist at the U.S. Department of Ames Laboratory and a Distinguished …Continue reading “Ames Laboratory’s Thiel winner of 2014 Welch Award”
A German mechanical engineer is using his background in computer vision and object tracking to design software programs that may one day materialize lifelike 3-D models. Is the table in front of you a real or digital copy? Right now, you might be looking at a four-legged, rectangular figure made of wood and metal. You …Continue reading “Bringing virtual reality into the real world”
In Ho Cho, a new assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at Iowa State University, saw a future in earthquake engineering through virtual reality video games. In particular, puzzle building games he played in high school inspired his future research, which combines structural engineering and computational science. “While playing puzzle games, I video-taped …Continue reading “New Iowa State civil engineering professor promotes big data-seismic engineering research”
Nine engineering students learn about the human-centered design process in Central America “The opportunity was great, and I would go back in a heartbeat,” said Michelle Bruns, senior in mechanical engineering, about a recent trip to Nicaragua. Nine students from Iowa State’s mechanical engineering department, as well as Luther College’s biology department, relocated to San …Continue reading “Mechanical engineering department teaches course in Nicaragua”
