June 2012 Noteworthy

Student Accomplishment

  • Simon R. Bolding, MNE graduate student, is the recipient of a three-year annual $50,000 Fellowship award from the U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP). He was also selected as a recipient of a 2012-2013 ANS Graduate Scholarship Award for a student entering the field of nuclear science and engineering.

  • Vahid Rahmani, BAE doctoral student, was awarded first place in the 2012 Interdisciplinary Research Award session of the 2012 K-State Research Forum.

  • Christopher Dolezal, BAE, is the recipient of the K-State Alumni Association Anderson Senior Award for Outstanding Academics.

  • DeeAnn Turpin, BAE, has received a scholarship from the ASABE Quad City Section.

  • Dillon Cowing, CE, was selected by the Kansas Chapter of the American Public Works Association to receive a $1000 scholarship.

  • Eric Grusenmeyer, ARE, has been selected by ACEC National as the winner of the $2,500 CASE Scholarship.

  • Trevor Kaufmann, CE, was selected by the American Council of Engineering Companies to receive the $5,000 Life/Health Trust Scholarship.

  • The ASCE Student Chapter was ranked among the top third of all 223 ASCE student chapters and international student groups

  • Ranjit Godavarthy, CE graduate student, placed 2nd in the student poster competition at the Missouri Valley Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (MOVITE) spring meeting

  • Jordan Bever, IMSE, has been awarded the Material Handling Education Foundation Conveyor and Sortation Systems Honor Scholarship.

  • Brian Moore, Mohammed Obeidat and ZhenZhen Shi, IMSE graduate students, presented their research at the IEE Annual IE Conference and Expo.

  • Brandon Mais, IMSE and K-State IIE student chapter president, was an invited speaker at the “Best Practices” session for IIE student chapters at the IEE Annual IE Conference and Expo. K-State’s chapter received a Gold Award for the fourth consecutive year.

  • Six K-State students are participating in the AMI summer intern program, assisting staff with client projects, using the opportunities to apply classroom knowledge to actual projects.

Student Accomplishment: Team Success

  • The SAE Formula student design team placed 33rd in the autocross runs at the FSAE competition. Team adviser is David Pacey, MNE professor.

  • The BAE quarter-scale tractor team took 2nd place at the 2012 ASABE Annual International Meeting competition. The X team, composed of freshmen and sophomores, took 1st place with their tractor. A group of six BAE faculty, staff and alumni serve as team advisers. Read more.

  • The SAE aero design team placed 4th at the 2012 Aero Design West event and 6th at the Aero Design East event. Team adviser is Terry Beck, MNE professor.

  • The Mini Baja student design team finished 25th at the 2012 Baja SAE competition. Team adviser is Greg Spaulding, MNE asst. professor.

Faculty Recognition

  • Robert Stokes, CE, was selected to receive the 2012 Larry and Laurel Erickson Public Service Award from the College of Engineering.

  • David Ben-Arieh, IMSE, presented two workshops at the 17th annual American Telemedicine Association convention. His topics included human factors in telemedicine and modeling the telemedicine processes.

  • Behrooz Mirafzal, ECE, was awarded an NSF EPSCoR First Award grant for his proposal "Integrated Micro-Boost Inverter for Photovoltaic Energy Conversion Applications."

  • MNE will receive $136,000 for research reactor upgrades from the U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP). Jeff Geuther, nuclear reactor facility manager, said the K-State reactor facility will receive the funding for control rod drives and airborne contaminant monitoring systems.

  • Yacoub Najjar, CE, received the 2012 Commerce Bank Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching from Kansas State University.

Programs, centers, and institutes

  • The Center for Sustainable Energy hosted a symposium for experts in the fields of agriculture, energy, food production, environment and socio-economics. Participants included Oak Ridge National Laboratory, John Deere; Archer Daniels Midland Co., BNSF Railway, DuPont, and others.