College of Engineering News • Iowa State University

Romal joins ISU CCEE as environmental engineering laboratory and safety manager

August 17, 2018 • Kate Tindall

John Romal is the environmental lab and safety manager at Iowa State University’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (ISU CCEE). In his current duties, Romal is responsible for research and teaching laboratory operations, including sample preparation for undergraduate students, equipment maintenance, user supervision and training, safety inspections and general operations. He also collaborates … Continue reading Romal joins ISU CCEE as environmental engineering laboratory and safety manager

Abdelkhalik, Kim, Lee join Aerospace Engineering faculty

August 16, 2018 • John Burnett-Larkins

Teaching and research expertise in several important areas will be enhanced in the Iowa State University Department of Aerospace Engineering with the arrival of three new faculty members. Ossama Abdelkhalik comes to the department as an associate professor from Michigan Technological University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering & Engineering Mechanics. His research specialties include space trajectory design, spacecraft dynamics and control, … Continue reading Abdelkhalik, Kim, Lee join Aerospace Engineering faculty

ECpE’s Vaswani receives NSF grant for high-dimensional structured data recovery

August 15, 2018 • Sarah Hays

Whether you watch videos on a small phone screen or a large TV, minuscule structures and movements placed within each video allow it to run. Namrata Vaswani, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE) at Iowa State University, along with Chinmay Hegde, ECpE assistant professor, recently received a nearly half million three-year grant … Continue reading ECpE’s Vaswani receives NSF grant for high-dimensional structured data recovery

IE student’s summer involved singing in Norway and engineering in Virginia

August 15, 2018 • Nick Fetty

One industrial engineering student was busy this summer with two of his biggest passions: music and engineering. Samuel Low, a senior in industrial engineering (I.E.), started his summer off by touring Norway with the Iowa State Singers, a 72-member mixed choral ensemble consisting of students from various majors across campus. The group visited a handful … Continue reading IE student’s summer involved singing in Norway and engineering in Virginia

Mickelson and Maier elected Fellows of the ASABE

August 14, 2018 • Elaine Phompheng

Steve Mickelson, chair of agricultural and biosystems engineering and Charles R. and Jane F. Olsen Professor, and Dirk Maier, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, have been elected Fellows of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

ME’s Gomes organizes USDA symposium

August 14, 2018 • Nick Fetty

A mechanical engineering faculty member is part of a symposium that will focus on nanotechnology in food manufacturing. Carmen Gomes, an associate professor of ME, has helped to organize a symposium entitled Convergence of (nano)Technology and Food Manufacturing (CoNFoMA). The event, which will take place Sept. 8 and 9 on the University of Minnesota campus … Continue reading ME’s Gomes organizes USDA symposium

1910 surveying notebook shows Iowa State’s campus through the eyes — and feet — of ECpE alum

August 13, 2018 • Kristin Clague

“Sept. 7, 1910. Hot! C.E. McCune, Surveyor.” These handwritten words, from page seven of a century-old Keuffel & Esser Co. Field Book 360, provide a small glimpse of one day in Ames, Iowa, according to Iowa State University 1911 electrical engineering graduate Charles E. McCune. McCune’s 1910 notebook was found at a library book sale … Continue reading 1910 surveying notebook shows Iowa State’s campus through the eyes — and feet — of ECpE alum

TEM image by MSE’s Xialoi Tan on MRS Bulletin cover

August 13, 2018 • Breehan Gerleman

Xiaoli Tan, professor of materials science and engineering, produced the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of a lead-free peirzoceramics on the cover of the August 2018 issue of MRS Bulletin.

ME alum named to Board of Directors for Leggett & Platt

August 10, 2018 • Nick Fetty

A mechanical engineering alum has been named to the governing board for a Missouri-based manufacturing company. Srikanth Padmanabhan (PhDME’91) has been appointed to the Board of Directors for Leggett & Platt, “a 135-year-old diversified manufacturer that designs and produces engineered products found in most homes and automobiles.” The company consists of “14 business units, 22,000 employee-partners, and … Continue reading ME alum named to Board of Directors for Leggett & Platt

ABE’s Banadda awarded Vatican research award

August 9, 2018 • Breehan Gerleman

Noble Banadda, affiliate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, has been awarded the 2018 Pius XI Medal by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican. The award recognizes Banadda, who is also chair of the Department of Agricultural and Biogystems Engineering at Markerere University in Uganda, for his outstanding scientific research.

Iowa State ECpE faculty gives seminar at Mobile Data Management conference in Denmark

August 8, 2018 • Kristin Clague

On June 27, Iowa State University Associate Professor Goce Trajcevski delivered a seminar titled “Targets and Shapes Tracking” in Aalborg, Denmark. Trajcevski, of ISU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, presented with Northwestern University Professor Emeritus Peter Scheuermann at the 19th Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Mobile Data Management. The … Continue reading Iowa State ECpE faculty gives seminar at Mobile Data Management conference in Denmark

ABE collaborates with Georgian Technical University

August 7, 2018 • bbeach

ABE’s Steve Mickelson and Ardith Maney, along with the Rector of the Georgian Technical University, Archil Prangishvili and Dr. Lali Gogeliani, met on July 31, 2018 with the Minister of Education and Science, Mikheil Chkhenkeli, in Tbilisi, Georgia. The purpose of the meeting was to brief Minister Chkhenkeli on the joint activities of Georgian Technical … Continue reading ABE collaborates with Georgian Technical University

ECpE engineer published for Alzheimer’s-testing device

August 7, 2018 • Sarah Hays

Alzheimer’s disease is a prominent concern, present in the lives of millions. Currently, the main diagnostic methods for treating this disease are neuroimaging techniques, which include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography. But these methods suffer from their high cost, requirement of skilled personnel to operate and long turnaround … Continue reading ECpE engineer published for Alzheimer’s-testing device

ISU ECpE graduate and WWII Tuskegee Airmen pilot passes away at 99

August 5, 2018 • Kristin Clague 1 Comment

Robert Martin, graduate of Iowa State University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, passed away in July at age 99. Martin, a native of Dubuque, Iowa, was an ISU electrical engineering student when he applied to join the U.S. Army Air Corps and eventually was enrolled in the military’s new Black Pilot Program. Martin served in … Continue reading ISU ECpE graduate and WWII Tuskegee Airmen pilot passes away at 99

Materials science discovery paves way to new coatings and surface treatments

August 3, 2018 • Alli Weaver

Shan Jiang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, has led his research team to a pioneering discovery in Janus particles that could impact the research and development of surface coatings, cosmetics, 3-D printing, drug formulation and more.The resulting research article has been chosen as a back-cover feature in Soft Matter journal.