MSU uses grant to improve search & rescue missions with humans and robots

EAST LANSING — Equipped with a $750,000 grant, Michigan State University researchers hope to save more lives with more efficient underwater search-and-rescue missions through the joint efforts of humans and robots.

Smart hearing aids: MSU researchers helping filter out unwanted noise

EAST LANSING — For hearing aid users, a conversation in a busy restaurant often includes a menu of unwelcome sounds. Turn the hearing aid up and the unfiltered environment becomes a symphony of unwanted voices and annoying disturbances.

A team of electrical engineers and computer scientists at Michigan State University has put together a machine learning-based solution to end this common headache, and in real-time.

MSU’s Anthony receives $500,000 NSF CAREER Award

EAST LANSING — Rebecca Anthony, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Michigan State University College of Engineering, has been awarded a five-year, $500,000 NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award to research nanostructure manufacturing that will make LED lights more efficient and versatile.

Federal Grant Helps OU Engineering Students

ROCHESTER HILLS — A $599,980 “Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics” grant from the National Science Foundation is helping Oakland University students pursue their career and educational goals in the fields of industrial and systems engineering and mechanical engineering.

OU received the grant four years ago to fund its product lifecycle management scholarship program, and the first group of PLM scholarship students are now graduating and beginning their engineering careers.

“The PLM scholarship program is more than just financial help,” said Russell Bauer, an ISE major currently working at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. “It allows students to network and communicate with established professors within their fields. These professors can then assist students with projects, contacts, and most importantly, finding job experience.”

The PLM scholarship program provides scholarships to 32 academically talented, financially challenged students in ISE or mechanical engineering programs at Oakland University.

“Being just shy of the Presidential scholarship requirements at OU, the PLM scholarship has been instrumental in me balancing funding for my education and relieving some of the financial stress, allowing me to focus on excelling with my schoolwork,” Bauer said. “Over my four years at OU, I have received $4,300 a year from the scholarship, but the most valuable asset is still the connections I’ve made, which have led to job offers.”

According to the NSF, another goal of the PLM scholarship program is to enable students to graduate in four years with a Bachelor of Science degree, and upon graduation, be capable of entering the high technology workforce or continuing their education at the graduate level.

As part of the program, students are organized in cohorts and assigned faculty and industrial mentors, who assist the students in obtaining summer internships.

“We are extremely grateful to the National Science Foundation for awarding us this grant,” said Robert Van Til, Pawley Professor of Lean Studies and chair of the ISE department. “We are enjoying working with our PLM scholarship students to help them through our engineering programs. “Several of the students have told me that the scholarship has been very important in allowing them to enroll in, and remain at, Oakland University. It is exciting to see the first group of PLM scholarship students graduating and starting their careers in engineering. They have been highly sought after by several companies. Next year is the final year of the program, so unfortunately we are not awarding any new scholarships.”

For Bauer, the PLM scholarship program has already provided him with the connections needed to find his “dream job.”

“I am currently working at FCA on advancing technologies such as motion capture and virtual reality, to speed up the new vehicle launch process,” he said. “The ergonomics side of ISE has introduced me to the motion capture side of work, while the PLM side of ISE has given me a lean manufacturing knowledge set which is sought after in the industry.”

For more information on Oakland University’s engineering programs, visit http://www.oakland.edu/secs.

Oakland University is a doctoral research university located on 1,443 acres in Rochester Hills and Auburn Hills. The university has 132 bachelor’s degree programs and 138 graduate degree and certificate programs. Academics include programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business Administration, School of Education and Human Services, School of Engineering and Computer Science, School of Health Sciences, School of Medicine and School of Nursing.

Three LTU students named national University Innovation Fellows

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Three Lawrence Technological University students have been named among 169 University Innovation Fellows, a National Science Foundation project led by Stanford University’s design program.

The global UIF program trains student leaders to create new opportunities for their peers to engage with innovation, entrepreneurship, design thinking and creativity as part of their college experience.

The LTU students are Steven Graczyk of Troy, Ashley Jordan of Macomb Township, and Sarah Makki of Dearborn Heights. Graczyk is majoring in mechanical engineering with an additional Entrepreneurial Skills Certificate. Jordan is majoring in mechanical engineering, while Makki is majoring in robotics engineering. All are sophomores. They are LTU’s second cohort of Innovation Fellows.

Ashley Jordan

Steven Graczyk

Sarah Makki

University Innovation Fellows are a national community of students leading a movement to ensure that all students gain the necessary attitudes, skills and knowledge required to compete in the economy of the future. They create new opportunities that help their peers develop an entrepreneurial mindset, build creative confidence, seize opportunities, define problems and address global challenges.

As part of their acceptance into the program, the new LTU Fellows developed a plan to boost entrepreneurship and innovation education at Lawrence Tech and the community. The group’s plan includes entrepreneurship outreach to K-8 students through organizations like Girls Who Code and Girl Scouts, as well as through middle schools. They also propose an innovation and entrepreneurship summer camp at LTU for students from LTU and elsewhere, as well as creating a mobile “maker lab” for the LTU campus. Finally, they propose a year-long innovation speaker series at LTU.

The students said they were attracted to the program for the off-campus experiences it offers. “It’s an experience you couldn’t get in any classroom,” said Makki. Added Graczyk: “This (UIF) program teaches you many unconventional ways of thinking that I can apply both inside and outside the classroom.” Jordan said she said she liked how the program inspired students to put their ideas on innovation into practice.

The program was created by Stanford under a five-year National Science Foundation grant. It is managed by Stanford’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (http://dschool.stanford.edu/)

With the addition of the latest cohort, the program has now trained 776 students at 164 colleges and universities. UIF program leaders train candidate Fellows during an intensive six-week period to conduct in-depth analyses of their campus’ innovation status and provide them with tools and resources.

After training, the Fellows receive year-round mentorship, connect with one another online, and attend national conferences and events. In March 2017, Fellows have the opportunity to participate in the Silicon Valley Meetup, which brings together all Fellows trained in fall 2016 and spring 2017. During this gathering, Fellows will take part in workshops and exercises at Stanford, Google and other Silicon Valley organizations, with topics including movement building, innovation spaces, design of learning experiences, and new models for change in higher education.

For more information, visit universityinnovationfellows.org.

Lawrence Technological University, http://www.ltu.edu, is a private university founded in 1932 that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 100 universities for the salaries of its graduates, and U.S. News and World Report lists it in the top tier of best Midwestern universities. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.

NSF Grant Helps Strapped MSU Engineering Students

EAST LANSING — A $1 million National Science Foundation grant will help second- and third-year engineering students with financial needs continue on their paths to graduation.

Attracting talented students into science, technology, engineering and math, the so-called STEM disciplines, does little good if financial strains derail a student’s plans midway to graduation.

The NSF grant to the Michigan State University Colleges of Engineering and Education will help students persist through the financial and academic challenges facing them.

Eligible MSU engineering students will receive $8,000 per year in tuition and targeted support services during their second and third years of college. In total, the funds will support four cohorts of nine students each.

MSU Prof Gets $500,000 NSF CAREER Award for Battery Research

EAST LANSING — Lithium-ion batteries have dominated the portable electronics market, but their large-scale use in transportation markets could be hindered by the shrinking availability of materials.

The element sodium is 1,000 times more readily available than lithium. A new grant from the National Science Foundation to Michigan State University will explore if sodium-based batteries could replace the more popular lithium-ion batteries as a sustainable power source.

$600,000 NSF grant to continue Research Experiences for Teachers at MSU

EAST LANSING — Teachers will be students again at Michigan State University thanks to a three-year, $600,000 National Science Foundation grant that will extend MSU’s Research Experiences for Teachers.

RET is part of MSU’s outreach in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and is led by Wen Li, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, Drew Kim, assistant to the dean for recruitment, scholarship, and K-12 outreach in the MSU College of Engineering,  and Xiaobo Tan, MSU Foundation Professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Michigan Tech, MSU, UM Chosen For Women’s IT Program

HOUGHTON — Michigan Technological University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan have been selected for the National Center of Women and Information Technology Pacesetters program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Google and Qualcomm.

Pacesetters is a 2-year program under which participating institutions develop aggressive and measurable goals for increasing the number of women in the American computing and technology workforce.

Michigan currently has more than 16,000 job openings in computing, according to code.org, a nonprofit founded to improve access to computer science for women and underrepresented minorities.

With three universities chosen and a community college partnership, Michigan is one of the three best-represented states in Pacesetters.

Michigan Tech Moving Up In Research Spending

HOUGHTON — The National Science Foundation has released its annual research spending report, and Michigan Technological University moved up in the rankings.

Of 634 institutions that received research funding in 2014, Tech received $68.5 million, ranking 163rd overall nationwide. The university ranked 117th among public institutions.

Mechanical engineering research at Tech received $13.1 million in research funding, 19th in the nation. Atmospheric science — a new interdisciplinary category — received $3.1 million and ranked 34th.