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THE HEART OF THE MATTERStudent Research at St. Thomas

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA 2018

EngineerSt. Thomas

THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMASAn aerial photo of the St. Paul campus with the Minneapolis skyline in the distance. Photo by Mike Ekern ‘02

GETTING TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER

We are building something truly special here in Minnesota. Today, nearly one in six students who study at St. Thomas are in the School of Engineering, and our enrollments continue to climb in our graduate and undergraduate programs. This year, we are excited by the launch of our civil engineering program and the construction of the $2 million microgrid renewable energy research and testing facility.

St. Thomas engineering fosters a different type of educational experience. We know that excellence in design and discovery requires equal if not more reliance on the skills developed in liberal arts education than on a student’s extensive technical training. Impactful engineers in the 21st century will be those with well-developed right-brain thinking skills.

As you read this issue, you’ll learn about another great aspect of engineering at St. Thomas: the

abundant opportunities for students to do research with faculty. Nearly half of our undergraduate students complete a research project with faculty outside of the classroom. From biomedical applications to advanced composite materials, students work jointly with faculty on new discoveries in the lab, adding an invaluable dimension to their educational experience.

As we look to the future, plans are underway to expand our facilities with a new building. We are grateful for the vitality of the Minneapolis- St. Paul metro area’s manufacturing and technical community that supports our work. The connection we have with industry forms an integral part of our DNA. This year we have over 30 projects with industry partners in our Engineering Senior Design Clinic. There are few other communities in the country that could so energetically support the growth of our unique brand of engineering.

Dr. Don WeinkaufDean, School of Engineering

UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING ENROLLMENT 2000–2018

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St. Thomas Engineer 2018 Page 1

Our St. Thomas Engineer magazine is just a snapshot of what is going on here. I encourage you to drop us a line, follow us on LinkedIn or just plan a visit. We would love to give you a sense of the energy of our students, our faculty and the business community that surrounds us.

Cheers, Don

Published by the University of St. Thomas

School of Engineering2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105

(651) [email protected]/engineering

The University of St. Thomas is accredited by the Higher Learning

Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Engineering Communications Director

Susan Zarambo

EditorPatricia Petersen

Art Director and DesignerSara Klomp

PhotographersMark Brown

Mike Ekern ’02

ContributorsAmy Carlson Gustafson

Tiffany LingJordan Osterman ’11Brittany Stojsavljevic

Don Weinkauf

Front cover: Students and their professor

created a prototype of a left ventricle and an

implantable medical device that may replace the need

for pacemaker batteries. Photo by Mike Ekern ’02

Back cover:Photo by Mike Ekern ’02

Dean’s Message 1

The Heart of the Matter 4

Sensing a Better Way to Do Autism Research 8

New Civil Engineering Major Takes Off 9

Moving Robotics Forward One Step at a Time 10

Solving Design Problems for Industry Partners 14

Discussing ‘All Things Data’ 20

KEEN Workshop: Listening, Curiosity, Empathy 23

Peace Engineering Minor Connects Students With the Community 24

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EngineerSPRING 2018

St. Thomas Engineer 2018 Page 2 stthomas.edu/engineering

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The University of St. Thomas is an equal opportunity educator and employer. St. Thomas does not unlawfully discriminate, in any of its programs or activities, on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, family status, disability, age, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, member-ship or activity in a local commission, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. stthomas.edu/eostatement.

ST. THOMAS

HONORING INNOVATION Much of the success of our Graduate Programs in Software is due to our ability to be nimble and innovative.

Our 116 percent growth over the last 10 years or 77 percent growth in the last five, is due to the leadership of Dr. Bhabani Misra, associate dean at the School of Engineering who received the prestigious Tekne Lifetime

Achievement Award from the Minnesota High Tech Association last fall. The award is given to individuals who have made lasting contributions to technology innovation in Minnesota.

Misra joins a very distinguished group of former awardees, including Seymour Cray from Cray Research, Earl Bakken from Medtronic and William Norris from Control Data Corp. Misra has been instrumental in

the innovation and transformation of cutting-edge programs that have produced more than 4,000 master’s degree students in the fields of software engineering and data science.

Tekne Award

St. Thomas Engineer 2018 Page 5

THE HEART OF THE MATTERSTUDENT RESEARCH AT ST. THOMAS

stthomas.edu/engineering

St. Thomas offers undergraduate students the op-portunity to do research with faculty, to connect per-sonally with professors and to not be “just a number” in the classroom. One of the most common benefits students cite about their St. Thomas education is the ability to connect with faculty members, which supports students’ academic work and personal growth.

In the School of Engineering, faculty collaborate with students at the undergraduate and graduate level. Their research often leads to innovative solutions.

School of Engineering Professor Cheol-Hong Min said that during his two-plus years at St. Thomas, he has seen the immense value of students contributing to ongoing research at the university.

“It’s just a tremendous help,” he said. “They learn the process of how we actually work and do research, and do engineering at companies. We work with the stu-dents, guiding them through the whole process. As a result, they become better engineers. As they go out and research different types of products or implement-ing things, they also bring new information back to us.”

Here is just some of the student research happening at the School of Engineering:

By Patricia PetersenPhotos by Mike Ekern ’02 and Mark Brown

It’s time for a better transformer Lindsey Bollig stands by the 3-D printer she created with help from Professor Brittany Nelson-Cheeseman. They are exploring how the unique design capabilities of 3-D printing could lead to more efficient transform-ers. Higher efficiency transformers would mean less wasted energy in an electrical system.

Farmbot to the rescue Professor Cheol-Hong Min and computer engineering student Peter Farley watch Andrew Ryan adjust the Farmbot he helped build. Attached to an arm over a bed of lettuce in the Biology Department Greenhouse, the Farmbot is an automated tool guided by a GPS. The project is a collaboration of several St. Thomas academic de-partments, including engineering, chemistry, biology and graduate software.

Fabricating compliant mechanismsProfessor Sarah Baxter, left, and mechanical engineering major Anna Schellpfeffer worked to-gether on fabricating compliant mechanisms using 3-D printing techniques. Schellpfeffer was able to fabricate many designs. She also was funded by a Collabora-tive Inquiry Grant to investigate a more novel solution to a mathe-matical model used to predict the configurations of simple frame compliant mechanisms.

St. Thomas Engineer 2018 Page 7Page 6 stthomas.edu/engineering

Can you see what I hear?Engineering students worked on a project that turns sound into a visual display with their Profes-sor AnnMarie Thomas. Here, the Cantus Vocal Ensemble performs and their vocals are displayed visually above them.

What’s the weather like today?Zachary Emond, a mechanical engineering student, stands near the weather station project he is working on with Professor Greg Mowry.

Sticky solutions for sorghumIn Mali, West Africa, turning sor-ghum sap (see photo) into a sellable syrup is a challenge. Professor Camille George and Professor Greg Mowry have worked with students to find a way to use solar energy to remove water from the syrup to make it usable.

Revolutionizing how pacemakers are poweredProfessor Tom Secord (front) and his students created an implantable medical device that may replace the need for pacemaker batteries. The team tested the device on an epoxy model of a left ventricle, which Secord is holding, made from a 3D-printed mold. Student researchers are, from the left, Austin Lorch, Amanda Tenhoff and Milad Audi. ■


The School of Engineering began offering civil engineering as an undergraduate major last fall and has since founded the St. Thomas student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Lauren Bearrood, Thomas Negaard and Alex Reyes are projected to be the university’s first graduates in May 2019.

Civil engineering joins computer,

Undergraduate students often contribute to research projects at St. Thomas; for engineering senior John Fetzner, the research he’s conducting has great per-sonal meaning. Last year, Fetzner approached Dr. Cheol-Hong Min because he was interested in Min’s research topic: Developing an audio and motion-sensor system for children with autism that can objectively measure what emo-tions they’re expressing.

“Most of my family, including me, have moderate to severe hearing loss. … Even though it’s a different disability for me, this project has the same goal: working to help with communication,” Fetzner said.

The project is an extension of one Min started in graduate school,

SENSING A BETTER WAY TO DO AUTISM RESEARCH

and is built on feedback from doc-tors and parents. Many of them have discussed the difficulty of tracking treatment progress based only on the subjective evaluations of parents, caretakers or teachers. Min is developing a system that uses sensors to track the behaviors and motions of nonverbal children with autism. The sound and video can then be analyzed and aligned with knowledge of what emotions are being communicated, resulting in an objective viewpoint of behav-ior to inform treatment.

“The ultimate goal is also real-time feedback,” Min said. “A phone or wearable device could provide an alert [of what emotions they’re expressing]. Say, when a child is making noise, a device would alert the parent to know they’re not happy. Otherwise you have to be with the child 24/7,” Min said.

Something as complex as creating an emotional map requires the development of an accurate algorithm, which is what Fetzner worked on full time last summer. He examined video and audio of children with autism, and with each example, he increased the accuracy of the algorithm.

“It is satisfying to see [Min’s] algorithm work for detecting stimming [repeated physical

movements associated with people with autism] without human intervention. The goal is to eventu-ally not only use the recognition of the stimming to determine if it’s a positive or negative emotion, but potentially break those out into different emotions such as angry or sad, or with the positive side to happy and satisfied,” Fetzner said.

The research fit perfectly with the goals he wants to pursue: helping people and improving communi-cation.

“I’ve always hoped I could go into the medical field or something similar where I’m developing solu-tions to help make people’s lives easier,” Fetzner said. ■

MORE THAN

3.5 MILLION

AMERICANS LIVE WITH AN AUTISM SPECTRUM

DISORDER

NEW CIVIL ENGINEERING MAJOR IS BUILDING

electrical and mechanical engi-neering as major options in the School of Engineering, which has grown by nearly 80 percent in credits generated over the past decade.

New faculty members Drs. Rita Lederle and Travis Welt join Dr. Deb Besser, civil engineering’s first department chair, as the pro-gram’s founding teaching core. ■

ST. THOMAS IS THEONLY PRIVATE SCHOOL

IN MINNESOTA OFFERING A B.S. IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

By Jordan Osterman ’11

John Fetzner ’18

St. Thomas civil engineering students tour Allianz Field, the future stadium of the major league soccer teamMinnesota United FC.


Dr. Aaron Ames ’01 is an expert on the leading edge of robotics, op-erating a lab out of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and collaborating with organiza-tions such as NASA, Disney and Amazon.

His current work with the DURUS project focuses on creating robot-ics that mimic human walking. He comes at his work from a math perspective, creating theories that inform bipedal robots.

“It’s incredibly rewarding when you see a robot move according to something you came up with in your head,” said Ames, who ma-jored in mathematics and mechan-ical engineering at St. Thomas.

When Ames entered St. Thomas, Associate Professor of Engineering Jeff Jalkio helped hone Ames’ interest in engineer-ing. Jalkio had donated some robots that Ames ultimately used to start a robotics lab at the university. Professor of Mathematics Cheri Shakiban helped Ames land a summer research project, which turned into a conference presentation and, later, a book chapter.

Ames said that support made a big difference in his acceptance to University of California, Berkeley.

There, Ames found himself going toe to toe with those he described as the “best of the best,” students who were coming from the top of their classes at Harvard and MIT.

Ames did his postdoctorate at Caltech, a school he loved because it blended the positive aspects he enjoyed from St. Thomas and Berkeley.

He took his first teaching job at Texas A&M; it was there Ames worked with NASA. He worked on Valkyrie, a humanoid robot designed to operate in degraded or damaged human-engineered environments.

Ames began working on the DURUS project at that point, which won high accolades at the DARPA Robotics Challenge. “Humans … walk by falling forward intentionally, constantly catching ourselves by taking steps,” Ames said. “DURUS walks the same way, thanks to software controls that provide a realistic level of confidence that the robot can walk continuously without falling over.”

At that point, Ames had moved to Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).

But then Caltech came knocking, and Ames headed there in 2017, bringing his Advanced Mechanical Experimental Robotics (AMBER) Lab with him.

Another St. Thomas graduate, Rachel Gehlhar ’16, joined his team there. Since her sophomore year at St. Thomas, she knew that she wanted to join Ames’ lab.

At Caltech, Gehlhar is leading the prosthetics team, which is working on a leg device that would allow amputees to walk more robust-ly and adapt more easily. She is focusing on incorporating more sensors into the ankle and knee, so the prosthetic can have new be-haviors and adapt to terrain. While Gehlhar loves the work itself, she says she also enjoys that this pros-thetic has the potential to directly impact its user.

“We think about the human component in that work: How is the user going to be experiencing this? How can we take their needs and meet them with this technical field?” she said.

While Gehlhar works on this proj-ect, Ames’ lab has no shortage of possible collaborations, including one with the Jet Propulsion Lab for the Mars 2020 mission. ■

In his AMBER Lab at Caltech, Aaron Ames ’01 and his graduate student Rachel Gelhar ’16 are creating robotics that mimic human walking. Photo provided by Caltech.

MOVING ROBOTICS FORWARD ONE STEP AT A TIME By Brittany Stojsavljevic


Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome

STUDY ABROAD!Engineering is a global profession, and St. Thomas is adding new opportunities for students to immerse themselves in cultures abroad.

St. Thomas is offering a global summer option in Jordan for the Senior Design Clinic, where student teams will collaborate with community leaders while developing a working prototype.

Also, St. Thomas is working with German universities to provide a five-year option for students to spend one semester at a partner university and a second semester interning at a global engineering company in Germany.

Ongoing international engineering opportunities include: January Term, summer, semester and year-long programs.

As an Ashoka Changemaker Campus, St. Thomas offers students many ways to contribute to social innovation and global sustainability.

45% OF OUR ENGINEERING

STUDENTS STUDY ABROADThe Treasury in Petra, Jordan

Measuring Magnetic Responses

Name: Mike Patton ’18

Hometown: St. Paul, Minnesota

Major: Mechanical engineering

Minor: Materials science and engineering

Why St. Thomas? “Small class sizes.”

Why engineering? “My favorite classes in high school were physics and auto mechanics. I like the creative side of engineering.”

Best thing about the engineering program: “The hands-on labs and how supportive the faculty are.”

Next event I’m excited to attend: “In April I am attending the Materials Research Society Conference in Phoenix, and I’m excited about starting my Ph.D. program in materials science at UW-Madison in the fall.

My research: “I didn’t see myself as a researcher. I went to a research workshop given by Dr. David Forliti and it opened up the idea to me. Under the mentorship of Dr. Brittany Nelson-Cheeseman, I received the St. Thomas Young Scholars Grant last summer to research the magnetic responses of 3-D printed magnetic structures. The filament that I used was a PLA and iron composite which gave rise to magnetic properties. I 3-D printed different-shaped samples to look at how the geometrical shape affected the magnetic response and analyzed the magnetic response.”

I’d love to have lunch with: Albert Einstein, Elon Musk and Prince.

Favorite St. Thomas class: “Materials Science. Dr. Brittany Nelson-Cheeseman is awesome the way she related the structural characteristics of material and how things work. I also liked taking philosophy as how that plays back into engineering.”

Where you’ll find me on a Sunday afternoon: “Homework and football.”

Something people don’t know about me: “I like making music. I’ve been playing piano since junior high.” ■

STUDENT PROFILE


The Engineering Senior Design Clinic challenges students to create novel solutions to design and engineering problems posed by local industrial partners. This two-semester course is a critical component of the St. Thomas en-gineering curriculum as it requires student teams to engage hands-on with real-world design problems and to gain skills in professional-ism, communication and project management as they partner with their sponsoring company.

The clinic is a unique educational experience for these young engi-neers. Projects are selected from a broad range of industrial partners, from multinational corporations looking for fresh ideas to entrepre-neurial ventures hoping to take a prototype to the next level.

Student teams undertake each project, with a mix of electrical, mechanical and computer engi-neering students appropriate for the project content. It’s an excep-

tional opportunity for students to experience how multidisciplinary teams collaboratively solve prob-lems in the real world.

One of the most valuable lessons students learn is how to tackle problems that do not have obvious solutions. Unlike textbook ques-tions, which often have a single correct approach and answers, real-world problems possess a high degree of ambiguity. Students must brainstorm potential answers and apply engineering rigor and sound judgment to select one that will best fulfill the unique design parameters for their projects.

In the first semester, each project kicks off with a company tour and detailed look at the engineer-ing problem. The team works in collaboration with the sponsor to define customer requirements, thoroughly research the problem and evaluate potential design solutions. Students formally present their work to the compa-

ny once each semester and solicit constructive feedback; this open communication channel is key to student learning and helps the team identify and mitigate project risks. During the following se-mester, teams apply engineering principles to refine the design, seek further feedback from the industry partner, and construct and refine operational prototypes. Gradu-ating seniors then highlight their work at a formal design show.

Other critical skills that students hone in Senior Design Clinic include project management and professional communication; these skills are necessary to create plans for meeting the project deliverables in the available time and effectively communicating the design ideas and final solution to their sponsor.

The Senior Design Clinic industry partnerships provide invaluable networking opportunities for St. Thomas students. Creating connections with local profession-als through projects frequently leads to patent disclosures, recom-mendations and job offers. In addition, many of the industry sponsors are St. Thomas alumni, attesting to the strength of the alumni network and support they provide engineering students.

Medibotics LLC, a Minnesota- based start-up company, has tasked our senior design students with designing eye-glasses with embedded EEG sensors that can capture brain activity. Traditional EEG measure-ment devices are bulky, not mobile, and not aesthetically pleasing. The goal of this project is to demonstrate that this technology can fit into a less- obtrusive wearable that would still provide accurate data.

Medibotics has been working since 2009 to conceptualize and develop devices that incorporate medical devices into wearable technolo-gy. Medibotics owns a growing portfolio of intellectual property. Robert A. Connor, Ph.D., and CEO of Medibotics, has been named one of Minnesota’s top inventors in Twin Cities Business Magazine.

The St. Thomas team is develop-ing a prototype with 3-D printed glasses and embedded sensors. They plan to perform tests on the device to show that a user can control an actuator on a computer program with brain waves. With further development, this technol-ogy could be used in mobile EEG applications, such as in the health,

If you are interested in learning more about how your company can

get involved, contact us at [email protected]

or (651) 962-5750.

SOLVING DESIGN PROBLEMS FOR INDUSTRY PARTNERS

By Tiffany Ling Photos by Mike Ekern ’02

SENIOR DESIGN: GLASSES CAPTURE BRAIN ACTIVITY

fitness, medical and entertainment industries.

Team members are, from the left, Michael VanDeVoorde (mechan-ical engineering major, computer and information science minor), Noe Martinez Alquicira (electrical

engineering major, physics minor), Jean-Claude Sessou (electrical engineering major) and Emily Whitwam (mechanical engineer-ing major, material science and engineering minor).

SENIOR DESIGNSENIOR DESIGN


Industry Sponsors Include:

One senior design team is work-ing with Target to create a system for remote monitoring tempera-ture and humidity in the interior of Target’s store delivery trailers. The system will alert Target staff when environmental conditions exceed OSHA safety guidelines during summer months. This will allow Target to take action to im-prove worker safety.

Target Corp. is a general merchan-dise retailer that employs 323,000 people and is headquartered in Minneapolis. It sells products on-line and in more than 1,800 stores across the United States. Typical Target Corp. supply chain ware-houses have up to 100 shipping dock doors where team members move cartons of products. During the summer, temperature and humidity values can soar, leading to unsafe work conditions. Cur-rently, overall building conditions

SENIOR DESIGN: THERMAL MAPPING AND REMOTE MONITORING

are monitored, but a system does not exist that monitors conditions within each trailer. Since safety is a primary objective for Target, a solution is needed that monitors local conditions within each trailer to ensure a safe workplace.

The St. Thomas team is working to conduct a thermal study of the interior of a docked trailer to determine the optimal placement of temperature and humidity sensors. The complete system will alert workers when local condi-tions exceed some limits.

Team members are, from the left, John Wuollet (electrical engineer-ing major), Joshua Peine (mechanical engineering major, Catholic studies minor), Kohl Ordahl (mechanical engineering major) and Sherif Saleh (mechanical engineering major).

SENIOR DESIGNSENIOR DESIGN


Researching Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Name: Michael “Mack” Mack ’18

Hometown: Las Vegas

Major: Electrical engineering. Minor: Physics

Why engineering? “I have a background in electronics. I want to be an engineer to make the world a better place through problem-solving and innovation.”

My research: Developing a wearable device that identifies wrist positions that aggravate carpal tunnel syndrome and help prevent the worsening of its associated symptoms.

Why St. Thomas? “I transferred from North Hennepin Community College. I chose St. Thomas over other engineering schools because I have questions and basically no one in 300-person classes ask questions. I wasn’t sure I could go to St. Thomas, as I thought that I wouldn’t want the debt that comes with a private school, but through meeting with financial aid and the veteran’s office, I will graduate with zero debt.”

I’d love to have lunch with: Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein.

Favorite St. Thomas class: “It’s hard to pick just one – Microprocessor Design, Modern Physics or Optics.”

Something people wouldn’t know about me: “I’m not from Minnesota, and I have served two active duty enlistments in the Navy.”

Where you’ll find me on a Sunday afternoon: “When I am not working on my Senior Design Project, I am spending time with my wife or researching new technologies.” ■

STUDENT PROFILE

EARN A STEM ENGINEERING EDUCATION CERTIFICATE ONLINE

MICROGRID IS TAKING SHAPEThe construction of the microgrid renewable energy research and testing facility is starting to take shape at the University of St. Thomas. The switchgear, SEL relays and 50 kW Enersys battery systems have been installed. In the next few months, the solar PV,

diesel genset and wind emulator will be installed. Grid connection with Xcel Energy is scheduled for the end of the year. The microgrid construction is possible thanks to the Xcel Energy Renewable Development Fund. ■

The STEM Engineering Education Graduate Certificate now is being offered online to better fit the needs of educators. The certificate is designed for P-12 educators who want hands-on experience in STEM education with engineering. This certificate has been

designed with an emphasis on how to apply the materi-al in P-12 classrooms. The graduate courses are taught by St. Thomas School of Engineering faculty. For more information and how to apply without a fee, please visit www.stthomas.edu/cee/graduate. ■

Busbars of the circuit breaker panels for the St. Thomas microgrid


Dr. Manjeet Rege, a professor in Graduate Programs in Software (GPS), co-hosts a podcast with GPS data science student Dan Yarmoluk, who has an MBA and works as a director of business development in IoT and analytics at ATEK Access Technologies. “All Things Data” now has more than 700,000 listens.

The podcast brings together leading data scientists, technologists, busi-ness-model experts and futurists to discuss how to use and deploy data science, develop data-driven strategies and enable digital trans-formation. The idea is to embrace nuance and complexity and have “yes, but …” moments to provide insight and guidance. The ability to discuss hard science is needed, yet balancing it with business or social value is the sweet spot for domain experts in technology and industry.

Data science and analytics guests have included: Sean Owen, director of Data Science, Cloudera; Jagan-nath Rao, vice president of Digital Factory Division and IoT, Siemens; Dr. Tim Chou, Stanford lecturer, author and board member of Tera-data, Blackbaud; Angela Zutavern, author “The Mathematical Corpo-ration” and vice president, Booz Allen Hamilton; Daniel Elizade, TechProductManagement; Dr. Kirk Borne, former NASA physicist, chief data scientist, Booz Allen Hamilton; Dr. Sreekar Krishna, data science managing director, KPMG; Dr. Louis Rosenberg, CEO, Unanimous A.I.; and Dr. Nagaraj Srinivasan, senior vice president, Halliburton IoT. ■

Student Dan Yarmoluk, left, and Graduate Software Professor Manjeet Rege collaborate on a Podcast called “All Things Data.”

DISCUSSING ‘ALL THINGS DATA’

St. Thomas President Julie Sullivan greets Hugh Schilling.

THE HUGH K. SCHILLING MACHINING AND MANUFACTURING LAB

GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE NOW AVAILABLEGraduate Programs in Software has created a new graduate certif-icate in Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is designed for professionals who need to handle the growing demands in analyzing digital infor-mation for predicting, visualizing and implementing cutting-edge AI techniques such as artificial neural networks and deep learning. People interested in this certificate who have a bachelor’s degree in any discipline can apply now to start this summer or fall. Courses are offered on either weeknights or alternating Saturdays. ■

Hugh K. Schilling and his company, Horton Worldwide, made a generous gift to endow the Hugh K. Schilling Machining and Manufacturing Lab at the School of Engineering in December 2017.

This gift makes it possible to expand the lab space, sup-port faculty and replace equipment in the years ahead.

Horton Worldwide was founded in 1951 and is the world’s leading provider of premium engine-cooling solutions for OEM applications and the aftermarket. Horton employs one of the engine cooling industry’s largest teams of engineers, designers and technicians. We are grateful to Hugh K. Schilling and Horton World-wide for making this lab possible. ■


Standing in a circle in the Facilities and Design Center, a group of mostly sophomores was improvis-ing and building off each another’s ideas – one student declared herself a basketball hoop, the next a net, followed by a ball, then a player. The key was to communicate on the fly while working as a team.

This wasn’t an acting class. This Compleat Engineer Boot Camp was funded by the Kern Family Founda-tion’s KEEN Network, whose goal is to transform engineering education. The network is a collaboration among faculty at 30 engineering schools throughout the country.

KEEN WORKSHOP: LISTENING, CURIOSITY, EMPATHY

“Listening, being curious about other people, empathy toward others – these are traits not associated with a typical engineering education,” School of Engineering Dean Don Weinkauf said. “What we’re trying to do is build those other components into our curriculum.”

Eighteen engineering majors partic-ipated in the two-week boot camp in January to work on empathy, story-telling, listening and improvisational skills. School of Engineering faculty member Dr. Doug Dunston led the course.

Mechanical engineering major Paige Huschka, observed, “One thing that

stuck with me is people tend to go straight to the problem and solve it right away. Now, I’m better at step-ping back and looking at the empathy parts of it and asking, ‘How is this problem affecting everyone else?’ before jumping right into solving it.”

Junior Keoni Mortenson reflected on what he learned from boot camp: “The biggest thing I’ve discovered is we’re not the only team that goes into a project,” said the computer engi-neering major. “There are also people who are part of this team who are the stakeholders and clients. It helped me communicate more effectively with the different aspects of this team.” ■

A medical device company founded by Roy Martin ’79 and business partner Chris Pulling won the grand prize and $80,000 in MN Cup, the nation’s largest statewide entrepreneurial contest.

Their company, MicroOptx, works to halt the progression of glaucoma, the world’s leading cause of blindness. The business won in the life science/health IT division.

MicroOptx grew out of another of Martin and Pulling’s business endeavors, Integra, which is also a medical device company. When they sold Integra in 2012, they decided to work on a project with Dr. J. David Brown, an experienced glaucoma surgeon. He had created the Brown Glaucoma Implant, which stops vision loss by reduc-ing pressure on the optic nerve and redirecting fluid to the eye’s surface. With the help of finance partner Keith Bares, MicroOptx launched in 2015 to bring the implant from conception to market. It is about to begin testing in humans.

ALUMNUS’ COMPANY TAKES GRAND PRIZE IN MN CUP

“It’s exciting to create a business, create jobs and bring technologies that help people,” said Martin, who also is an adjunct faculty member in the graduate regulatory science program in the School of Engineering. ■

INDUSTRY LEADERS JOIN STRATEGIC ADVISORY BOARDTo stay innovative, Graduate Programs in Software stays ahead of trends and anticipates technology needs in the workplace. Its Strategic Advisory Board provides counsel on current industry trends that impact the curriculum or programs. The Board has been instrumental in launching the data science program

and the artificial intelligence gradu-ate certificate. Recently, the following members joined the board: Kerri Athmann, CIO of Cargill, North America and Latin American Re-gions; Linglong He, CIO of Quicken Loans; Partha Mishra, president of Optum; and Mike Ryan, department chair of IT, Mayo Clinic. ■

By Amy Carlson GustafsonPhoto by Mike Ekern ’02

OUR M.S. IN

DATA SCIENCE GREW

1,264% IN 4 YEARS


CAMILLE GEORGE

Dr. Camille George, associate dean of engineering, pioneered peace engineering at St. Thomas. A member of Engineers Without Borders and Engineers for a Sustainable World, she has led projects in which students helped women’s cooperatives in Haiti harvest breadfruit to use as a flour substitute and has investigated how to make the production of shea butter in Mali more efficient.

She and her students have produced a manual shredding device, a labor-reducing mixer, a low-power cooling system and a solar-powered water pasteurization system. Each project has used engineering to empower impoverished women and enable them to profit from their countries’ natural resources. ■

The University of St. Thomas has added a new peace engineering minor to continue to meet the growing needs of the engineering field. Peace engineering helps students develop skill sets to look at engineering projects from an intersectional perspective and to provide innovative and sustainable solutions. Student Bridget Carey will be the first student to graduate with this new minor.

“In the past, engineering has been considered a technical profession, and we didn’t ask some of the bigger, holistic questions,” said Camille George, associate dean of engineering. “Engineering affects every person. Many items that influence your life were designed by engineers – your car, your fridge, your phone. How do you engineer across cul-tures, economic boundaries, resources to capital, and understand reasons why people are in different places than you are in your life?”

Engineers will partner with the Justice and Peace Studies Department to consider how engineering projects can be affected by these social disparities, and then to empower those experiencing injustice. This may mean tackling projects related to energy and water resources, using technology to aid in areas of conflict or natural disaster, advocating for public safety in engineering decisions, and developing agricultural tools to fight poverty and hunger.

In doing so, George believes engineers’ abilities to be empathetic, think critically and solve problems will be improved.

While the minor is a way of formalizing St. Thomas’ commitment to peace engineering, the university has a long history of projects done in the vein of peace engineering. Past projects have included improv-ing methods for drying breadfruit in several developing nations and designing a solar-powered picnic table for the city of Elk River.

George believes collaboration and continued community partnerships are vital to the minor. In a pilot program for the minor, students this summer will travel to Jordan to brainstorm how to more effectively dry yogurt that is sold as a starter for many dishes in the region.

“Changemaking is important to teach our students – that everyone can contribute to making a new world,” George said. ■

PEACE ENGINEERING MINOR CONNECTS STUDENTS WITH THE COMMUNITY

By Brittany StojsavljevicPhoto by Mike Ekern ’02

School of Engineering2115 Summit Avenue, OSS 100St. Paul, Minnesota 55105-1096

GamechangerThe St. Thomas School of Engineering is ranked 10th in the country for highest number of women tenure-track faculty.* Here, Professor Brittany Nelson-Cheeseman points out a concept during an EngineeringGraphics and Design class. *Source: Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Tech Colleges

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