Van Hoogstraten wins first prize in national foundry research competition

Student accepts FEF award with two other people at podium

UWM mechanical engineering junior Jenna Van Hoogstraten took home first prize at a national competition showcasing original casting research.

The competition—the International Journal of Metalcasting’s-Foundry Education Foundation Student Research Competition—was part of the American Foundry Society’s Metalcasting Congress, held April 26 in Cleveland.

Van Hoogstraten also was awarded a $2,000 cash prize for her groundbreaking study, which focused on the effect of cooling rates on the microstructure and physical properties of hypereutectic Al-Ce alloys. The research garnered a lot of interest at the conference, which brought together professionals from around the world to explore the latest trends and advancements shaping the metalcasting industry.

Van Hoogstraten conducted her research in UWM’s Foundry lab under the supervision of Pradeep Rohatgi, UWM distinguished professor in materials science & engineering, biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, and Swaroop Behera, a doctoral student in the Materials Science & Engineering Department. This research was funded by UWM’s Support for Undergraduate Fellows Program.

In addition to this award, she has also received Foundry Education Foundation Scholarships throughout her time at UWM.

Her study has been accepted for publication by the International Journal of Metalcasting and will be included in AFS Transactions, an AFS publication.

At UWM, Hoosgtraten presented her research at the campuswide Undergraduate Research Symposium in late April and took home one of 23 Outstanding Presentation awards.

2 engineering students, 5 faculty members excel at UWM Undergraduate Research Symposium

Over 250 UWM undergraduates presented the outcomes from their research collaborations with faculty and staff mentors via poster and oral presentations on April 28. Awards were given for Outstanding Presentations and UWM Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year.

Two students from UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science took home Outstanding Presentation awards. Congratulations to the following students and their faculty mentors:

  • Jenna Van Hoogstraten, mechanical engineering. Faculty mentor: Pradeep Rohatgi, UWM distinguished professor in materials science & engineering, biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering
  • Seth Krebs, mechanical engineering. Faculty mentor: Woo Jin Chang, associate professor, mechanical and biomedical engineering

UWM students nominated 18 faculty and staff for the Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year award, including three from the college. Congratulations to:

  • Xiaoli Ma, assistant professor, materials science and engineering
  • Chanyeop Park, assistant professor, electrical engineering
  • Priyatha Premnath, assistant professor, biomedical engineering.

Winners announced for college’s 2023 Student Research Poster Competition

Congratulations to the winners–and their faculty advisors—of the 2023 Student Research Poster Competition. This year’s competition drew 65 graduate and undergraduate poster submissions from students who worked with 34 different research advisors across all seven departments of UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science. Sixty-nine people (industry employees and faculty members) volunteered as judges.  

Graduate Awards
First Place: Abul Borkot Md Rafiqul Hasan, Mechanical Engineering
Research Advisor: Krishna Pillai, Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Second Place: Rawan Aqel, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Research Advisor: Rani Elhajjar, Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering

Third Place: Mohsen Sabbaghi, Electrical Engineering
Research Advisor: George Hanson, Professor Emerit, Electrical Engineering

Undergraduate Awards
First Place: Sonia Bendre, Electrical Engineering
Research Advisor: Rob Cuzner, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science

Second Place: Weiling Xia, Materials Science & Engineering
Research Advisor: Xiaoli Ma, Assistant Professor, Materials Science & Engineering

Third Place: Ian Smith, Mechanical Engineering
Faculty advisor: William Musinski, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering

Mike Krauski Memorial Award
Walaa Saadeh, Mechanical Engineering
Research Advisor: Ryoichi Amano, Richard and Joanne Grigg Faculty Fellow and Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Thank you to our generous sponsors and to the 26 faculty, staff and students who helped staff the event and together made this exciting competition possible.

More.

@TheTable: How racing legend Alan Kulwicki’s mechanical engineering degree changed the game

Nathan Salowitz, associate professor, mechanical engineering, was a guest on a TMJ4 segment on April 25, where he discussed how the late NASCAR Hall of Fame member Alan Kulwicki (’77 Mechanical Engineering) used his UWM degree to change the game on the racetrack.

Kulwicki’s legacy lives on at UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science, Salowitz said, through a scholarship fund that Kulwicki’s family established in his name.

Watch

29 MPS students introduced to the field of biomechanics at UWM

In April, Brooke Slavens, associate professor, mechanical engineering, hosted 29 MPS students—from Golda Meir—in her Mobility Lab, where she introduced them to the scientific field of biomechanics. The students were on a STEM-related field trip spurred by National Biomechanics Day, a world-wide celebration of biomechanics in its many forms for high school students and teachers. The event was supported by a grant from The Biomechanics Initiative, Inc.
 
The following people helped lead and run various hands-on demonstrations and activities: Alyssa Schnorenberg, associate director of the Mobility Lab and a scientist in the Mechanical Engineering Department; postdoc fellow Maja Gorsic; and graduate students from the REHAB student organization—Caleb Cordes, Grace Fasipe and Maddy Mach.

13 students inducted into Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society

The UWM Chapter of Tau Beta Pi, Wisconsin Gamma held their joint initiation ceremony with Marquette University and Milwaukee School of Engineering April 22 at Marquette University.

Congratulations to the following students from UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science who were initiated into Tau Beta Pi:

Nemanja Asanin
Nicholas Birschbach
Sydney Block
Corey Huffman
Brian Liebau
Noah Nettesheim
Caitlynn Owens
Jacob Pavletich
Kaveri Salunke
Keizan Sato
Jose Trujillo Parra
Grant Woodruff
Plaski Vue

Officers include: Marina Slawinski, president; Abhiroop Reddy Tokala, secretary; and Kevin Monahan, treasurer. 

The faculty advisor is Kevin J. Renken, associate professor, mechanical engineering.

About Tau Beta Pi

Tau Beta Pi is the only engineering honor society representing the entire engineering profession. It is the nation’s second-oldest honor society, founded at Lehigh University in 1885 to mark in a fitting manner those who have conferred honor upon their alma mater by distinguished scholarship and exemplary character as students in engineering, or by their attainments as alumni in the field of engineering, and to foster a spirit of liberal culture in engineering colleges. There are now collegiate chapters at 261 U.S. colleges and universities, 81alumni chapters in 16 districts across the country, and a total initiated membership of over 630,000.

Qu helps lead nation’s EV battery revolution: DOE awards him $900K to help develop next generation of energy storage

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), awarded UWM’s Deyang Qu $900,000 in April to develop high energy density, all solid-state lithium batteries, which are considered to be the next generation of energy storage. 

Qu is a distinguished professor and the Johnson Controls Endowed Professor in Energy Storage in UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science.

The three-year grant comes from the prestigious Battery500 Consortium, a public-private team of battery experts—led by PNNL—that is collaborating to develop electric vehicle batteries that are more reliable, higher performing, safer, and less expensive than current batteries. Battery500’s focus is on lithium metal batteries. Two researchers on the team have won Nobel Prizes in chemistry for their contributions to developing lithium-ion batteries, the world’s most powerful battery and a rechargeable energy source. 

Now, researchers are aiming to create a battery that holds twice as much energy.  

“Developing batteries with higher energy density is key to the battery revolution and society’s decreasing reliance on fossil fuels,” said Qu, who applies his knowledge of chemistry and technology to advance electrification. “Solid-state batteries increase the capacity of electric vehicle batteries.”  

Qu’s battery research backed by $7.7 million of grants 

Since joining the college in 2015, Qu has procured more than $7.7 million of external grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy and companies including Johnson Controls (now Clarios).

The DOE awarded him $1.25 million to research the roadblock to producing higher-density energy storage in lithium batteries: dendrite growth.  

His other awards include $2 million to research lithium-sulfur batteries and $650,000 to study all solid-state lithium-ion batteries.  

Students solve real-world problems in senior design classes: UWM engineering students create solution that saves company $840,000 per year

Students working with a person at AAA Sales

UWM industrial engineering students recently developed a way to save a Milwaukee-area company $840,000 annually. 

Last fall, in their senior design class, undergraduates Easton Dobson, Colin Haagensen and Ryan O’Day were charged by Oak Creek-based AAA Sales & Engineering with improving the company’s inventory traceability. Industry mentor Steve Coolidge estimates that the students’ solution will save the company $840,000 annually. More. 

This isn’t the first time that UWM engineering students helped a company solve a problem. Last year, a group of mechanical engineering students created a system that is saving a Saukville specialty steel manufacturer more than $43,000 annually. More.

Salowitz discusses Kulwicki’s scientific approach to NASCAR racing with WUWM

Nathan Salowitz, associate professor, mechanical engineering, was a guest on UWM’s Lake Effect Show for the segment “Celebrating the auto racing legacy of Wisconsin-born, Alan Kulwicki,” which aired April 11. According to Salowitz, Kulwicki’s intimate understanding of mechanical design and physics gave him an edge in racing that few other drivers could match.

Listen or read

Levon Van Der Geest named finalist in Kulwicki Driver Development Program

Congratulations to engineering undergraduate Levon Van Der Geest, who was selected as one of seven finalists in the eighth annual Kulwicki Driver Development Program from a national applicant pool of 54.

The program honors the legacy of UWM alumnus and NASCAR Hall of Famer Alan Kulwicki (BSE ’77) and helps young stock-car drivers pursue their dreams.

Finalists receive a stipend of $7,777 (a nod to Kulwicki’s car number, 7) and assistance in marketing, publicity, sponsor development and industry networking. The winner will earn $54,439.

Read more in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.