ITAC, funded by $5.7 million federal grant, kicked off Feb. 25
Participants from seven community colleges in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois attended the first Industrial Training Assessment Consortia Kickoff meeting on Feb. 25 in the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center.
UWM received a $5.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to operate the ITAC Program, late last year. The program will provide workers with skills in energy assessment, in the manufacturing sector.
The event started with a welcome speech by Chancellor Mark Mone, Interim Vice Provost of Research Kris O’Connor, followed by Professor Ryo Amano, mechanical engineering, who is the center’s director. Also attending were partners from Focus on Energy, We Energies, and major industries.
March 3-5 workshops focus on how to teach today’s engineering and computer science students
Professor Uriel Cuckierman, an expert in engineering and computer science education, presents a series of workshops for faculty and instructors this week. In the workshops, Cuckierman will offer practical skills related to teaching engineering and computer science to newer generations of students, such as Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
College of Engineering & Applied Science faculty: please consider attending as many workshops as you can to take advantage of training and insights that support the college’s retention efforts.
The sessions below have been added to faculty calendars with the time and location. Look for entries titled “Innovative Approaches to Education in Engineering & Computer Science.” These two-hour workshops are offered in the morning and again in the afternoon on each day.
Today, March 3, 2 p.m., in EMS E250: What does innovation in education have to do with student success?
Tuesday, March 4, 10 a.m., in EMS E250: Rethinking assessments for teaching and learning
Tuesday, March 4, 2 p.m. in EMS 715: Rethinking assessments for teaching and learning
Wednesday, March 5, 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in EMS E250: Open session: Challenges to engineering education (agenda will be set by faculty to assure your topics are addressed)
Cuckierman has consulted on engineering education for decades. He recently won the IFEES – International Federation of Engineering Education Societies 2023 Duncan Fraser Award for Excellence in Engineering Education.
Student Success and Retention Initiative Summary
The Student Success and Retention Initiative was launched in fiscal year 2024 and fiscal year 2025 to help further align financial incentives in retention efforts. One of the key priorities of UWM’s 2030 Action Plan is student success, and UWM seeks to raise graduation rates from 47.6% to 55.1% by fall 2027, as well as close equity gaps in these graduation rates.
If we were to achieve this improvement in graduation rates and hold new student enrollment steady, undergraduate enrollment would increase by ~1,800 students or 10% above current levels. This would not only positively impact our students in many ways, but it would generate approximately $18-20 million annually. See theprogram overview document.
OAIR and BFS calculated the impacts of this initiative in its first year, and seven of nin colleges received distributions due to improvements in retention from fall 2023 to fall 2024.
As many of you may recall, last year, approximately 2,067 students didn’t re-enroll from fall 2023 to spring 2024 despite being eligible to do so, which even conservatively using resident tuition rates amounted to $8 million in foregone revenue to the institution across associate, bachelor, and graduate degree programs. Under the Activity Based Budget Model, in fiscal year 2026, colleges will receive in-year distributions, and so improvements over prior year retention will automatically be rewarded starting in FY26.
Students and faculty took a social break from the serious side of engineering during CEAS E-Week
The lobby area transformed into a party Feb. 13-20 with students, staff and faculty joining in the revelry during the CEAS E-Week festivities for engineering and computer science students. More than 400 engineering students made at least one appearance at the week’s events and many faculty and instructors turned out to socialize and play games.
Beginning with a promotional tour with Pounce Panther on Feb. 13 and two job fairs hosted by the Student Experience and Talent office on Feb. 12 and 13, the fun spilled into this week when the “Heat Transfer Soup & Chili Cookoff” unfolded in the lobby on Feb. 17.
Pounce Panther takes a selfie with a friend on his tour of the building Feb. 13.Pounce gets a lesson from members of the tutoring center while drumming up excitement for E-Week.A great crowd showed up for the “Heat Transfer Soup & Chili Cookoff.”Associate Professor Ben Church, materials science & engineering, shows off his Cuban Picadillo.It took three people — Bessie Francis (from left), Mr. Khan and Madiha Ahmed to man the table from industrial engineering which offered five different entries. A student is deep in thought, hoping to beat her opponent in checkers.There’s something cathartic about making slime – and lots of colors to choose from!Ping-pong challenges included both the competitive and the laid back.The diners have voted and Nathan Salowitz accepted the Heat Transfer Soup & Chili Cookoff award for the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
The 21 offerings provided something for everyone: Some of the entries were flaming hot chili (computer science), turkey chili (career services), Cuban Picadillo (materials science & engineering), vegetarian chili (associate deans), leek and potato soup (marketing), tomato soup (mechanical engineering), and Arabian lentil soup (industrial engineering). There was even homemade hummus (mechanical engineering).
Games and free lunches took center stage Feb. 18-20 with friendly rivalries, some between faculty and students, in ping-pong, air hockey, bean bag toss, giant checkers, Jenga and giant Connect Four.
Meanwhile, student orgs gave demonstrations and activities filled in after lunches in the Kulwicki Garage. Students enjoyed everything from slime-making, hosted by the Society of Women Engineers, to international trivia, hosted by the Arab American Association of Engineers & Architects.
Thank you to the organizers of this year’s E-Week: Steven Anderson, Michelle Boehm, Avie Judes, Sean Lybeck-Smoak, Lisa McGovern, and Juli Pickering.
Workshops help you reach and engage younger generations of engineering and computer science students
Uriel Cuckierman, an expert in engineering and computer science education from the National Technological University of Argentina, will present a series of four workshops for faculty and instructors beginning Friday, Feb. 28. The workshops will focus on practical skills related to teaching engineering and computer science to newer generations of students, such as Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
CEAS faculty are encouraged to attend as many workshops as they can to take advantage of training and insights that support the college’s retention efforts.
The last three workshops are two-hour sessions that will be offered in the morning and again in the afternoon on each day. All are held in Conference room 715:
Friday, Feb. 28, from 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Monday, March 3
Tuesday, March 4
Wednesday, March 5
The sessions below have been added to faculty calendars with the time and location. Please click RSVP on your Outlook calendar invite. Look for entries titled “Introductory Workshop: Innovative Approaches to Education in Engineering & Computer Science.”
If you have not received a calendar invite, please contact Associate Dean Prasenjit Guptasarma at pg@uwm.edu.
Attendees will receive a small grant for supplies or travel.
$500: Attend and complete all four workshops, Feb. 28-March 5
$300: Attend and complete any two workshops, Feb. 28-March 5.
Attendance can also be used to count toward professional training as part of our annual reviews.
New Civil Engineering internship course enables students to earn credits toward their master’s degree while gaining industry experience
A new graduate internship class, Civ Eng 921, allows non-thesis master’s degree students to earn up to six “on-the-job” credits towards their 31-credit degree.
This course is the first of its kind at the college, enabling Civil Engineering master’s students to gain credit for the graduate internships they secure, while also earning during the course of the internship.
“Industry is very interested in this program and the course because it enables students to pursue a higher-level degree in a shorter duration,” said Clayton Cloutier, chair of the Civil & Environmental Engineering Industrial Advisory Council and adjunct instructor in the department. All 12 companies represented on the department’s Industry Advisory Council have endorsed the program.
The internship experience gives students the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge gained in the classroom to real-world engineering projects through supervised learning, further preparing them for successful careers.
“The employer has more incentive to hire a student who’s participating in this program because it provides them with more time to work with the student and train them,” he said. “A lot of employers also provide tuition reimbursement of some capacity, so reducing the number of credits the student needs to take would also reduce the amount the employer would have to help pay for.”
Accelerated Graduate Degree another way to speed Civil Engineering master’s
Students earning their bachelor’s degree at UWM can further reduce their time to earning a master’s degree by also participating in UWM’s Accelerated Graduate Degree (AGD) program. The AGD program enables students to take up to six graduate credits while completing their bachelor’s degree. These credits can satisfy both their bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, at the undergraduate tuition rate, saving time and money.
While they don’t have to be taken together, students who enroll in the Graduate Internship program and the Accelerated Graduate Degree program can earn their master’s degree in as little as a year, with significant savings. Either way, both programs speed students’ time to graduation, saving time and money. Interested students and employers can learn more about the program here or email Clayton Cloutier at cloutie5@uwm.edu.
Dean visits Wisconsin legislators in Washington, D.C.
While attending the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Public Policy Colloquium in Washington, D.C. in February, Dean Brett Peters and UWM’s Chief Government Relations Officer Keri Duce had the opportunity to meet with Wisconsin Congressional Representatives Derrick Van Orden and Gwen Moore.
Their goal was to promote higher education and critical federal support for the college’s programs, highlighting additional opportunities for investment.
In addition, they met with the staff members of Sen. Ron Johnson, and Representatives Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman, Mark Pocan, Bryan Steil and Tony Wied.
UWM’s Keri Duce (left) and Dean Brett Peters have a chat with Congresswoman Gwen Moore.
Topics discussed included potential investments to the medium-voltage power lab and the structures lab at UWM, the importance of federal funding, and the research strengths of the college, said Duce.
Peters answered a variety of questions regarding the many ways UWM prepares competitive and highly skilled engineers and computer scientists for the Wisconsin workforce. He also touted the research expertise of the college’s faculty which both advances technology and enhances the competitiveness of Wisconsin industry.
Students in the Rohatgi lab take honors at AFS regional conference
Students of Professor Pradeep Rohatgi, materials science & engineering, put their achievement on display at the annual American Foundry Society’s Regional Conference Feb. 5 in Brookfield. The lab members won both graduate scholarships and undergraduate Alec Buhler took the top prize in the event’s Regional Invitational Casting Competition.
Swaroop Kumar Behera and Dave Palmer, both PhD candidates, have been selected as recipients of the George J. Barker Memorial Research Scholarship. This national award supports graduate-level education in fields beneficial to the cast metals industry, with a particular emphasis on students associated with American Foundry Society chapters in Wisconsin.
Behera and Palmer were two of the ten scholarships awarded nationwide.
Undergraduate Alec Buhler, competed in the Open Category of the competition. He developed a low-cost method for preparing high-temperature tensile testing samples, using computer simulation, 3D printing, and investment casting. The technique creates a mold capable of producing ready-to-test samples with minimal finishing operations.
The judging panel was unanimous in its choice for the top award. David Weiss (CEO, Vision Materials), Mike Kamin (Vice President, Carpenter Brothers), and several other industry professionals praised UWM’s efforts, highlighting the project’s potential to contribute to the future standardization of investment-cast tensile test bars.
The prize money benefited the UWM AFS student organization chapter.
Recent graduate’s data science research extracts health status from a handshake
You could describe Cameron Lee’s recent undergraduate research as “gripping.”
Lee (’24 BS Data Science) took the top prize at the campuswide undergraduate research poster competition last year for her project examining grip strength as a potential indicator of age-related frailty and overall health.
By applying machine learning algorithms, Lee analyzed factors like age, height, race, and sex to uncover meaningful patterns in grip strength data. Her findings aim to help doctors better understand patient health and create more personalized treatment plans.
The joint BS in Data Science program is a collaboration between the College of Engineering & Applied Science and the College of Letters & Science. Read more about her project and what comes next for Lee here.
Slavens honored with government’s highest award for early career scientists and engineers
Brooke Slavens, Richard and Joanne Grigg Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award is highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their career.
Slavens was nominated by the National Institutes of Health for her pioneering research on shoulder pain experienced by both pediatric and adult manual wheelchair users. In addition to wheelchair mobility, Slavens’ expertise includes upper extremity modeling and rehabilitation engineering. Read more.
