Three Iowa State University Cyclone Engineers have been selected for 2019 National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER). CAREER awards are the NSF’s most prestigious awards given to early-career faculty. The program aims to build a firm foundation for leadership in integrating research and education. Leifur Leifsson, assistant professor of aerospace engineering, Matthew Panthani, assistant professor chemical and biological engineering, and Soumik Sarkar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, join 11 other active CAREER awards in the College of Engineering.
Alex King, Iowa State professor of materials science and engineering, is the recipient of the 2019 Acta Materialia Hollomon Award for Materials and Society. The award recognizes King’s outstanding leadership in promoting the understanding of material science’s significant impact on society.
Iowa State is home to a new National Science Foundation traineeship program preparing the next generation of food-energy-water (FEW) systems innovators. Open to both masters and Ph.D. students, the DataFEWSion program offers a unique focus on data-rich systems modeling at the intersection of energy transformation, water management, and cropping and livestock systems.
Cyclone Engineers are staying at the forefront of emerging, cross-disciplinary areas of research with the help of a new faculty-led lecture series. Launched last fall, Iowa State engineering faculty, post docs and grad students are coming together to exchange expertise focused on fast-moving areas of engineering.
HNI Corporation of Muscatine, Iowa, has announced a $1 million commitment to Iowa State University that will enhance the educational experience on campus and help prepare leaders for tomorrow’s innovative, interdisciplinary workplace. HNI’s gift will support construction of the Student Innovation Center on the west side of campus. Funded through the Iowa Legislature and private gifts, the center will be a flagship facility reflecting and elevating Iowa State’s commitment to innovation, entrepreneurship and experiential education. Construction began in March 2017, with completion anticipated for January 2020.
Monica Lamm, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, has been appointed one of the first faculty fellows in the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT). She will expand CELT’s faculty programming, including the development of a Teaching and Learning Academy for new faculty members and leadership of the Teaching Partners program.
Two chemical and biological engineering graduate students have been honored for research and teaching excellence. Anuraag Boddupalli received the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering’s Research Excellence Award and Teaching Excellence Award, recognizing both his outstanding success in research work and in engaging CBE students. Fatima Enam is the department’s nominee for the Iowa State University Brown Graduate Fellowship, a fellowship offered by Iowa State’s Office of the Vice President for Research.
Iowa State University’s Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Team (Micro-g NExT) has been selected to advance to Phase II of the NASA design competition. Micro-g NExT challenges undergraduate students to design, build and test a tool or device that addresses a real-life space exploration challenge. Iowa State’s team has been selected to conduct test operations in the simulated microgravity environment at the NASA Johnson Space Center Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.
The president of Sukup Manufacturing Co. in Sheffield, Iowa, has been appointed to a faculty position in the Iowa State University Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE). Charles Sukup, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural engineering from Iowa State in 1976 and 1982, began a five-year, part-time appointment this fall.
Sean Rollag, a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering, won first place in the graduate research poster competition at the TCS 2018 conference on thermal and catalytic sciences. Rollag’s poster shows the physical changes in the structure of biomass during thermal deconstruction.
World War II servicemen studying mechanical and agricultural engineering will be honored at Iowa State’s Gold Star Hall ceremony at 3:15 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12 in the Memorial Union Great Hall. William Howard Butler, who studied ag engineering in the 1940s and died in China in 1945, and Richard Wayne Suesens, who came to Iowa State to study mechanical engineering in 1937 and was killed in action during the Battle of Midway in 1942, will be remembered during the Gold Star Hall ceremony, part of a week of events on campus dedicated to honoring veterans.
Adjunct professor of materials science and engineering Iver Anderson was recently inducted into the Michigan Tech Academy of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. Anderson, who is also a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, was honored for his extraordinary contributions to the materials discipline, the educational activities he coordinates at the national level, and his ongoing support of the department. Among his many accomplishments, Anderson is best known as the inventor of a lead-free solder used in 70 percent of electronic devices in the world.
The Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering is a winner of the Iowa State University Alumni Association’s Impact Award, honoring “individuals, businesses, organizations, or units whose programs or accomplishments brought broad recognition to the university and increased the involvement of ISU constituents.”
Four Cyclone Engineers and one engineering department will receive college and Iowa State University Alumni Association awards at the ISUAA 2018 Honors and Awards Ceremony. Tim Anderson (’73 chem engr) will be awarded the Anson Marston Medal, Jim Fay (’74 chem engr) and Amzi Yahya (MS ’85, PhD ’88 agri engr) will receive Professional Achievement Citations in Engineering and John Kevern (PhD ’08 civil engr) will receive a Young Alumni Award from the College of Engineering. The ISU Alumni Association’s Impact Award will go to the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.
Matt Darr, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, has been named administrative leader of Iowa State University’s BioCentury Research Farm and Precision Agriculture and Industry Partnership Fellow.
