2012 Engineering Achievements
* Kansas State University was one of just 11 universities nationally this year with five or more recipients of scholarships through the prestigious IEEE Power and Energy Society Scholarship Plus Initiative program. The initiative recognizes undergraduate students majoring in electrical engineering who are high achievers with strong GPAs and distinctive extracurricular commitments, and who are committed to exploring the power and energy field. Electrical engineering majors receiving the scholarships, which are worth $2,000 in the first and second years and $3,000 the third year, are Shae Pelkowski, Taylor Barber, Jesus Sanchez, Joshua Loyd and William Duren, sophomore. As recipients they also get to take part in career experience opportunities for up to two years. December 2012
* KOIN, the Kansas Opportunity Innovation Network, an economic development project developed by the Advanced Manufacturing Institute, was honored at the University Economic Development Association's 2012 annual conference in Chattanooga, Tenn., with the Award of Excellence in the leadership and collaboration category and also received the Judge's Award -- a new award recognizing work that is a marquee example of university-based economic development. KOIN helps rural and distressed Kansas companies and communities innovate and compete in the marketplace. November 2012
* The College of Engineering's student design-build teams and commercial construction team earned top four finishes at the 20th annual Construction Management Student Competition for Region IV of the Associated Schools of Construction. The event was in Nebraska City, Neb., Oct. 24-27, and included 26 teams from seven states. The design-build teams earned second- and third-place finishes in the design-build division, while the commercial construction team finished fourth in its division. The design-build team was coached by Ray Buyle, assistant professor of architectural engineering and construction management, while the construction management team was coached by Eric Bartholomew, also an assistant professor of architectural engineering and construction management. November 2012
* Chevron Phillips Chemical made a gift of $25,000 to the College of Engineering and to career and employment services. The gift to the Corporate Partner Program at career and employment services will help fund student career workshops and the updating of technology and software resources. Chevron Phillips' support of the College of Engineering will impact many programs, including the multicultural engineering program, Scholars Assisting Scholars tutoring program, chemical engineering's mentoring program called CHUMS, mechanical engineering scholarships, the robotic competition team, and the student professional chapters of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and IEEE. November 2012
* A K-State team of computing and information science students won the $10,000 first prize at Code Rush 2012, the Kansas City area's only professional code competition event. The team had to solve code problems to earn points toward prizes. The competition was hosted by Perceptive Software. October 2012
* Simon Ou, associate professor of computing and information sciences, is developing hacker detection tools in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard Co., or HP, as part of the HP Labs Innovation Research Program. Kansas State University was one of only 46 universities in the world to receive the 2012 award from HP. Ou received nearly $75,000 to fund his project, "A New Approach to Rigorous Risk Analytics using Attack Graphs." It's the third consecutive year he has been selected for the program, making his combined total for the award more than $220,000. September 2012
* Cybersecurity researchers at Kansas State University are securing their status as leaders in their field thanks to a strong month of project funding. In August the National Science Foundation awarded more than $3 million in funding to support three projects in the department of computing and information sciences. The projects will help protect digital information and boost the nation's cybersecurity workforce. September 2012
* Kansas State University's student chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers has been awarded the organization's 2012 Gold Award. This is the fifth consecutive year the chapter has received this distinction, which recognizes the top student chapters in the nation. September 2012
* The BNSF Railway Foundation's made a commitment of $337,500 to Kansas State University to support universitywide programs as well as initiatives in the College of Engineering. This gift enhances the long-standing relationship between BNSF and the university by bringing its total giving to more than $1 million. Among the initiatives supported by BNSF are the career and employment services' corporate partner program; BNSF high school outreach program; engineering student competition teams, open house student awards and student professional society chapter events and projects; and the Women in Engineering program. September 2012
* Evan Myers, senior in architectural engineering, received a $5,000 American Institute of Steel Construction Education Foundation Scholarship. It was one of nine awarded by the foundation for the 2012-2013 school year. It's the second year in a row that a Kansas State University student has received a foundation scholarship, which is open to full-time students -- in civil or architectural engineering and enrolled in an accredited U.S. university program. September 2012
* The student robotics team won its sixth consecutive championship in the student robotics competition sponsored by the American Society of Biological and Agricultural Engineers. The university has never lost the international competition in which students must design a solution to a common agricultural issue. August 2012
* The fountain wars team earned a second-place finish at the 2012 competition conducted in Dallas at the international meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Fountain wars is a hands-on, real-time design competition where students design and model a fountain to complete technical tasks. August 2012
* Bryan Rogler, a May 2012 bachelor's graduate in mechanical engineering, is the university's 22nd Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Fellowship recipient. Rogler was one of 51 students nationwide to receive the $5,000 fellowship. Winners are selected based on the applicant's promise of success in graduate or professional study determined by academic achievement, service and leadership experience, career goals, and acceptance at an approved graduate or professional program. Rogler will pursue a master's in aeronautics and astronautics, with a focus on guidance and control, at Stanford University in the fall. July 2012
* Jordan Bever, senior in the industrial and manufacturing systems engineering department's concurrent bachelor's and master's program, received the Conveyor and Sortation Systems Honor Scholarship from the Material Handling Education Foundation. Bever is one of 28 students nationwide to receive an award from the foundation. The scholarship recognizes superior academic achievements. She is the department's 32nd student to receive an award from the foundation. June 2012
* The Powercat Tractors Quarter-Scale Design Team took second place at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers' 15th annual International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition. It is the 13th time in the past 14 years that the team has finished in the top three for the competition. June 2012
* Kimberly Kramer was named president-elect of the Structural Engineers Association of Kansas and Missouri for 2012-2013. June 2012
* The graduate programs in the College of Engineering are ranked among the nation's top 100 by U.S. News and World Report. The graduate engineering program was ranking 93rd. Among its graduate programs, biological and agricultural engineering was the highest ranked at 16th. May 2012
* Three construction science and management and management students have earned $2,500 scholarships from the Associated General Contractors Research and Education Foundation. Taylor Robillard received the Associated General Contractors Partnering Scholarship; Andrew Gilmore, the James D. Pitcock Jr. Scholarship; and Josiah Wegener, the Build American Scholarship. May 2012
* A student engineering competition team won two out of five categories -- the most by any school -- at the recent American Society of Civil Engineers' Charles Pankow Foundation Architectural Engineering Student Competition. The K-State team was tops in the electrical category and the construction category for ingenuity, innovativeness and originality of work. May 2012
* Eric Grusenmeyer, senior in architectural engineering, is the winner of the Council of American Structural Engineers Scholarship from the American Council of Engineering Companies. The $2,500 scholarship is only available for students pursuing a master's degree in structural engineering. Applicants are judged based on grades, work experience, extracurricular activities, recommendations and the application essay. May 2012
* Anil Pahwa, professor of electrical and computer engineering, received the IEEE Power and Energy Society's Douglas M. Staszesky Distribution Automation Award. The national honor is given to those with significant contributions to the field of distribution automation. May 2012
* Two construction science students – Ryan Lund and Brian Schrotenboer – received scholarships from the Builders' Association, a trade organization that serves the commercial construction industry in Kansas and Missouri. Lund, received the Firebaugh Construction Inc. Scholarship, while Schrotenboer received the James L. "Skip" Hutton Jr. Scholarship. March 2012
* The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, also known as ASHRAE, awarded scholarships to Patrick McGrail and Cody Knuth, both seniors in architectural engineering. McGrail received the $10,000 Willis H. Carrier Scholarship, the society's highest honor, while Knuth received the $3,000 Duane Hanson Scholarship. The scholarships were awarded for leadership, academics and potential service in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration industry. February 2012
* Noel Schulz, K-State's first lady and Paslay professor of electrical and computer engineering, has begun serving a two-year term as president of the IEEE Power and Energy Society. The worldwide, nonprofit association has more than 28,000 members engaged in the electric power energy industry. January 2012
* A new designation earned by the university and the department of architectural engineering and construction science is providing students with scholarship opportunities. The Robert J. Besal Lighting Education Fund designated the university as a qualified Besal campus for its extensive offering of course work related to lighting and lighting systems design. The designation allows lighting students to be eligible for scholarships that have totaled nearly $600,000 since the inception of the fund in 1983. January 2012
* Sigifredo Castro Diaz, a bioprocessing engineer at the Advanced Manufacturing Institute, was named by the Ad Astra Kansas Initiative as one of the top 150 scientists ever to work in Kansas throughout its 150 years of statehood. January 2012
