Biz Times names alumnae Bristoll-Groll and Miller to their 2023 Notable Women in STEM list

Two alumnae from UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science were named to the Biz Times Notable Women in STEM list.

Congratulations to Carrie Bristoll-Groll (‘94, BS Civil Engineering, pictured left), chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Stormwater Solutions Engineering, and Ashley Miller (‘07, MS Industrial Engineering, pictured right), senior industrial engineer at Prolec-GE Waukesha Inc.

Criteria for earning a spot on the list include serving in a senior-level role, demonstrating excellence in one’s field, making a significant contribution to advancing women in STEM professions, and demonstrating the ability to effect change within an organization, industry or community. More.

Guptasarma to speak on “Data Science and Physics: A Curious Case of the Ouroboros”

See our very own associate dean for academic affairs, Dr. P. Neel Guptasarma, present “Data Science and Physics: A Curious Case of the Ouroboros” as part of the NMDSI (Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute) virtual speaker series on Friday, April 7 from 12-12:45 pm CST.

Early on, physicists and astronomers figured out that applying mathematical and statistical methods to large data sets can reveal deep insight not otherwise accessible to the five senses, or to human intuition. Initial developments in data science and data analytics outgrew these techniques developed by physicists to make sense of “big data” from accelerators, observatories, and labs.

Despite such a founding relationship with data science, the emergence of information science, predictive analytics, and neural networks found physicists holding courtside seats, but not jumping all-in. This has shifted significantly over the past decade. The presentation will explore this ouroboros type relationship between physics and modern data science – why physicists didn’t initially jump in, and what has recently changed.

Reserve your spot to see Dr. Guptasarma at this NMDSI virtual speaker series here.

About Dr. Guptasarma

Dr. Guptasarma’s research has resulted in over 135 peer-reviewed publications, including in very high-impact journals, over 90 invited lectures in different countries, and several million dollars in federal funding. The research lab he directs at the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex (KIRC) on UWM’s main campus hosts scientists, Ph.D. candidates, and undergraduates. Dr. Guptasarma loves to teach at all levels. Outside of work, his interests include learning new languages, music, and theater.

Construction Leadership Council student org tour of Couture a priceless experience

Construction Leadership Club at Couture tour

By Chandler Baures, President of Construction Leadership Council (CLC)

Civil engineering students visit a construction job site in Milwaukee to learn about infrastructure.

In February, UWM’s Student Chapter of CLC was given the opportunity to tour the new Couture high-rise along Milwaukee’s beautiful lakefront. Once complete, this 44-story building will become Wisconsin’s tallest residential building and will shape the skyline for generations to come. We had nearly 30 students in attendance, making this the largest CLC event ever hosted by our club! As President of CLC, I was very proud to arrange this tour as it was the project that I worked on during both my co-op and internship with J.H. Findorff, and I will forever be grateful for the experiences that I had and can showcase to others.

Building in the process of being erected.

Students were able to see first-hand what it takes to construct a new high-rise that’s heavy in structural concrete. Findorff is full steam ahead on the transit corridor and tower portions of the project. We were able to look at high-bay formwork, MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) installation and discuss other unique challenges faced with this type of project. The overall goal of this tour was to get students to understand what it takes to physically construct a building of this scale and how different disciplines interact. Our students were left with a priceless experience that will help shape our knowledge and understanding within the construction industry.

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) is a student-led organization that provides civil engineering majors and other interested students with an opportunity to observe and develop their skills with current construction industry leaders.

To connect with CLC, visit their Instagram page or scan the QR code on one of their posters (typically located around the Engineering & Mathematical Sciences building).

Faculty and students create prototype of mobile health clinic for Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin; clinics could roll out in MKE in 2024

At the request of Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, and under the leadership of Ilya Avdeev (top left), a UWM team of engineering, nursing and art students created a full-sized, low-resolution prototype of a mobile health clinic in fall 2022. Avdeev, is director of innovation at the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and affiliated faculty member at the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Kern Institute.

Based on this design, Froedtert & the Medical College plan to roll out two 32’ mobile health clinics in fall 2023 to serve the needs of Black and Latino women in Milwaukee’s northwest and south neighborhoods. Services would include mammography, colon cancer screenings, well-baby checks, and management of chronic conditions including asthma, diabetes and obesity. 

In this article published by the Kern Institute, Avdeev details the process of designing the clinic using a human-centered approach, which involved more than 100 faculty members and students from UWM, community leaders, patients, and clinical and operational staff from Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

CBS58 showcases importance of UWM’s research to MKE

On March 7, CBS58 showcased UWM’s research and its importance to the city in conversations with Andy Graettinger, the associate dean for research, College of Engineering & Applied Science, Jay Kapellusch, professor and chair, rehabilitation sciences & technology, and Chia Vang, vice chancellor of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Watch here.

Toll roads as funding source?

On March 6, Mark Gottlieb, associate director of UWM’s Institute for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation, was a guest on the Wisconsin Public Radio show Central Time. He discussed the pros and cons of toll roads as a funding source. 

Listen here.

UWM professor encourages those in underrepresented groups to consider STEM careers; demand is strong

Wilkistar Otieno, chair and associate professor, industrial & manufacturing engineering, was a guest Feb. 27 on TMJ4’s segment At The Table Monday Night, where the discussion centered on encouraging women and those in other underrepresented groups to consider careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).

Watch

A day in the life of Engineers Without Borders students in Guatemala

Engineers WIthout Borders at UWM work on an environmental engineering project in Guatemala to help residents get cleaner drinking water

By Nathaniel Wurzer, Co-Chair, Engineers Without Borders at UWM

It’s still dark outside, but the day is peaking at the edge of the world. As you get up, the smell of smoke from the fire in the kitchen greets you. You know there is water boiling for coffee & tea and oatmeal with honey, raisins, and fresh bananas. After getting ready for the day, it is time to work. And what a place to work! On a mountain ridge in Guatemala, surrounded by rainforest and farmland, clouds in the valley below, with eagles flying at your eye level and the sun shining down on your shoulders. We have a team that meets with residents, taking a survey with conversation about the work being done, the design team obtains survey data and records as-builts, and another team works on the concrete structures. At the break for lunch, a resident and her children bring a basket of tortillas and chili sauce. It packs a punch!

After lunch, some curious kids come to watch the work. They have slingshots and are happy to teach you how to use them. When the workday is done, everybody plays a game of futbol (soccer). Sports are universal; the language barrier dissapears. Dinner is prepared by the longtime mentor, chef Heckman. He knows what he’s doing, and you can kick back until after-dinner chores. The sunset turns mountains to silhouettes but silence never stays. Gasoline generators have graced even here. The group revisits the events of the day and prepares for the next. Sleep comes easy. 

Engineers Without Borders at UWM

Engineers Without Borders at UW-Milwaukee is an awesome student organization, providing involvement opportunities for students who are seeking experience and want to do something positive. We work to facilitate water infrastructure construction in communities of the Ixil Triangle of Guatemala, create community at UW-Milwaukee, and value connecting individuals across the globe to share experiences. 

Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, or email.

Identifying most common patterns in highway accidents; WisDOT awards Qin $75K to improve data analysis of crashes

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation awarded $75,000 to Xiao Qin for a 10-month project that aims to improve the state’s highway safety by further improving data analysis related to crashes. Qin is a Lawrence E. Sivak ’71 professor of civil & environmental engineering in UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science and director of the university’s Institute for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation.

“Our goal is to identify the most common patterns in crash sequences,” Qin said.

To do this, Md Abu Sayed (PhD Civil & Environmental Engineering ‘22) and Qin will develop an algorithm that automatically extracts data from crash narratives. These narratives are written by law enforcement officers and detail the sequence of driver actions and vehicle movements preceding, during and following a crash. They often include information related to human behavior, which contributes to between 80 and 90 percent of crashes.

“The details found in crash narratives shed light on opportunities for effective safety interventions,” Qin said. The problem, he said, is that such data is not easily captured.

Work builds off nationally-funded, $100K project on crash narratives

The work builds upon Qin’s $100,000 project with WisDOT in 2021, research that was funded through the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration. In that project, Qin and Sayed used technologies (including machine learning, natural language processing and feature extraction) to capture and analyze valuable information from unstructured data, such as crash narratives, that relate to human behavior.

WisDOT awards Qin $75K; team will use popular bicycling apps to ID state’s most dangerous roads for cyclists

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation awarded $75,000 to Xiao Qin for a 10-month project to use crowdsourced data to estimate bicycle volumes on roadways statewide. Qin is a Lawrence E. Sivak ’71 professor of civil & environmental engineering in UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science and director of the university’s Institute for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation.

Wisconsin currently does not have a systematic way to glean bicyclist activity on specific roads, although it is key to improving safety and prioritizing infrastructure improvements.  

Team will use popular apps among cyclists to ID Wisconsin’s most dangerous roads

Working with UWM’s Robert Schneider, professor, urban planning, Qin will use crowdsourced data from popular smartphone apps including Strava and CycleTracks. Cyclists use such apps to map and log their routes and can make the information public.

Qin and Schneider will pair the crowdsourced data with land-use and socio-economic data to develop two tools: a roadway-segment level bicycle volume prediction model and a bicycle ridership map.

By integrating bike data with motor vehicle crash data involving bicycles, bicycle injury risk also will be analyzed and mapped, including the identification of the most dangerous roadway segments for cyclists.

Crowdsourced data could improve safety

Traditional bike data collection methods are expensive, labor intensive and time-consuming, Qin said. By comparison, crowdsourced data collection could provide cost-effective, broad geographic coverage of bicyclists’ activity. It has been used by several other state departments of transportation to analyze bicyclists’ route choice behavior, bicycle count distributions, and bicycle safety, Qin says.

Bicycling has gained popularity in Wisconsin but presents safety concerns for riders on public roadways. Statistics from 2017-2021 show that 1.29% of bicycle crashes are fatal and 10.58% produce serious injuries. Improving safety for non-motorists is one of the top 10 priorities listed in the Wisconsin Strategic Highway Safety Plan, which includes all roadways in the state.