Greetings, all!
In the last newsletter, I mentioned that this next newsletter would come out after Spring Break, but I have to admit I didn’t foresee how things would change in a few short weeks. Most of you are working at home most, if not all the time, the students didn’t get to come back, the campus is nearly empty (I guess that parking problem went away for a while!), all our classes are now online, and our lives and personal interactions have been curtailed in a very sudden and unexpected way. This is hard, for all of us and for our students… but we’ll get through it.
I have been so thoroughly impressed by how well everyone in the College has stepped up and risen to the occasion. You all have pulled together and made this transition work. I’m humbled by your efforts and by your professionalism, every one of you. Thank you for being the superlative CEAS Team that we needed you to be, and still need you to be. None of us knows how long this will go on, but it *
will* end, probably not suddenly but gradually. And when it’s over, we’ll be able to look back and be proud of how we handled it. Some people say that “adversity builds character,” but the variation on that which I think is more accurate is that “adversity reveals character.” And this crisis has revealed to me that you all have exemplary character. I’m impressed.
I’m thankful that, as I write this, we still have not had a confirmed COVID-19-related death in Wyoming. I believe we are the only state that can say that. I’m very concerned for our community businesses, many of whom have either closed or are struggling to keep going with take-out, delivery, and so forth. If you can safely give them some business, please do. Becky and I try to order take-out, and buy gift cards, from as many of them as we can.
This is an “interesting time” to have agreed to be the Dean of the College, but while it’s stressful and involves far too many Zoom calls, status reports, updates, and so forth, it’s also been unexpectedly rewarding, when I see how you have all shown just how good you can be in a crisis. Keep up the great work you’re doing. We’ll get through this together.
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Doing Our Part to Stay Safe and Stop the Spread of COVID-19
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The College of Engineering and Applied Science is doing its part to make sure faculty, staff and students stay safe at this time. As the university keeps us updated on the latest developments of this illness, we thought it would be fun to see how everyone in CEAS is coping with working remotely while helping to reduce the spread of this illness.
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Ann Jones from Career Services, is using Skype for Business to work from her remote station at home. Tyler, can you hear me, can you see me....
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Leslie Gallagher from Advising has her "desk" set up at home. Of course the Chaplin, the dog is confused as to why his humans have been home all week.
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Looks like Kevin Kilty, Mechanical Engineering is set up with his coffee and looks like his assistant has stopped by for an important meeting.
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Marvin Perry, Engineering Sr. CEAS Shop, is all set up to enjoy a little work and a lot of sun from his window. Looks like the perfect place to work, Marvin.
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Steve Salmans, Facilities Manager is all set to go from his home office. I don't know that couch in the back ground looks like a good place for an afternoon siesta Steve.
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Natellie Jenkins family is spreading a little joy to the children in their neighbor hood by joining other families with a "Bear Hunt." Children look for the bears as they enjoy a little time out of the house walking around their neighborhood.
Thanks for sharing this idea Natellie.
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Mike Borowczak is set to go at his work space. Looks like a nice view out that window with plenty of sunshine to soak up.
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Just a friendly reminder to Faculty and Staff. The Engineering Building and the EERB are closed to the public and you may need to have your University ID in order to access the building. If you have any issues with access, please email Steve Salmans at ssalmans@uwyo.edu or Jeanne at jmoede@uwyo.edu.
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Megan Barber from the Dean's office has two new assistants that seem to be exhausted from their new daily duties. Watching mom work all day is exhausting....
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Vic Bershinsky from Electrical & Computer Engineering says he heard the corona virus can't swim.
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Wash your hands to:
Ragtime Cowboy Joe
"He always sings raggy music to the cattle as he swings back and forward in the saddle,
On a horse - a pretty good horse! He's got a syncopated gaiter, and you ought to hear the meter
to the roar of his repeater; how they run - yes run! - when they hear that he's 'a-comin',
cause the western folks all know, he's a high-falootin', rootin, tootin', son of a gun from ol' Wyoming, Ragtime Cowboy, Talk about your Cowboy, Ragtime Cowboy Joe."
C-O-W-B-O-Y-S,
COWBOYS, COWBOYS, COWBOYS
"He always sings raggy music to the cattle as he swings back and forward in the saddle,
On a horse - a pretty good horse! He's got a syncopated gaiter, and you ought to hear the meter
to the roar of his repeater; how they run - yes run! - when they hear that he's 'a-comin',
cause the western folks all know, he's a high-falootin', rootin, tootin', son of a gun from ol' Wyoming, Ragtime Cowboy, Talk about your Cowboy, Ragtime Cowboy Joe."
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Welcome to Amy Reed who has joined the Mechanical Engineering Department as their Office Associate, Sr. Please stop in and welcome Amy to our team
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Molly DeLau has joined Chemical Engineering as their new Office Associate, Sr. Please welcome Molly to the College.
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Atmospheric Science has a new member, Nikki Stotler has joined the team as their Business Manager, Executive. Please stop in and welcome Nikki to the CEAS team.
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Our sympathy goes out to Suresh Muknahallipatna from Electrical and Computer engineering, on the recent loss of his mother in India. Suresh you are in our thoughts during this hard time.
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Tau Beta Pi Banquet
Friday, April 17
6:00 PM- 9:00 PM.
Gateway Center
Cancelled
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Virtual Convocation and Commencement ceremonies coming soon. Watch for details.
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UW Researcher Studies Near-Surface Wind Effects on Landscape Evolution
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The accurate characterization of near-surface winds is critical to understanding past and modern climate. Dust lifted by these winds has the potential to modify surface and atmospheric conditions, according to a University of Wyoming researcher who was part of a study on the subject.
“This study demonstrates an intricate coupling between land surface changes and wind speeds. Specifically, the wind acts to erode sandy deserts,” says Zachary Lebo, a UW assistant professor of
atmospheric science
. “As a result, the surface transitions from a sandy surface to one composed of large rocks that tend to be darker and, thus, absorb more sunlight or decrease the albedo on the surface. This causes the ground to warm.”
Surface albedo is the fraction of sunlight reflected off a surface, Lebo says. For example, snow has a really high albedo because it reflects a lot of light from the sun. On the other hand, asphalt has a very low albedo because it reflects very little light and, thus, absorbs a lot of sunlight, which causes it to be quite warm in many instances.
“Why is this important? Temperature gradients can ultimately impact wind speeds,” Lebo continues. “So, changing the temperature over the desert changes the temperature gradient, which changes the wind speeds -- in this case causing them to increase.”
Jordan Abell, a graduate student at Columbia University, was the paper’s lead author. Other contributors to the paper included researchers from Clemson University, the University of Arizona and Lanzhou University in Lanzhou, China.
Numerical simulations were conducted for the period Feb. 1-June 1, 2011. The simulations spanned the climatological peak in wind speeds in the Turpan-Hami depression, located along the western fringe of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China, which was the focus region for this study.
Lebo and Alex Pullen, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at Clemson University, discussed the potential for surface wind speeds to have increased over the region of interest, due to the erosion of the sandy land, thus darkening of the surface. This led to the hypothesis that recent increases in wind speeds in the Turpan-Hami depression were related to the darkening of the surface from erosion and, thus, increased temperature gradients.
Lebo says the Weather Resource and Forecasting model, which produced controlled simulations, performed “quite well” in replicating the surface winds at most observation stations in the western part of the Gobi Desert.
“My role was developing a model configuration that could test the hypothesis as well as running the simulations,” Lebo explains. “I worked very closely with the lead author with regard to interpreting and analyzing the results as well as the model-observation comparison.”
The study’s results show that altered surface thermal properties -- through the winnowing of fine-grained sediments and formation of low-albedo gravel-mantled surfaces -- lead to an increase in near-surface winds by up to 25 percent. Paradoxically, wind erosion leads to faster winds regionally.
The East Asian dust-producing regions are located upwind of a prominent high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll area in the North Pacific where the productivity of photosynthetic organisms is limited.
“This work, albeit focused on a single basin in western China, has implications that may extend to other similar sandy deserts around the world, including the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula,” Lebo says. “Another real-world implication of the wind-albedo-wind impacts is on the supply of nutrients from dust around the world. Dust from sandy deserts, such as the Gobi, provide key nutrients for plant growth that extend far beyond the deserts themselves. The ever-evolving surface, impact on winds and subsequent feedback on dust emissions could affect nutrient supplies downwind.”
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Atmospheric Science Awards
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Congratulations to Bob Capella and Ethan Collins on their awards at the 100th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society. Bob received first place in the poster presentation category for his poster titled, "
High-Resolution Rapid Refresh Model-Based Climatology and Analysis of Snow Squall Characteristics in the High Plains and Mountain West” and Ethan received second place in the oral presentation category for his talk titled, "Verification of Wind Forecasts from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh”
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CEAS K-12 Outreach
Engineers Week
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It has been an amazing month for CEAS K-12 Outreach.
The Wyoming State TEAMS competition was a great success. Teams from Douglas, Big Piney, Burns and Torrington competed three areas, essay, multiple choice and a design and build challenge. Thanks to the ambassadors. Jorden Schulte, Gareth Flowers, Bridger Helm, Zander Kurnizki, Courtney Smith, Anthony Ludwar, Britney Thompson, and Sara Bashir for leading campus tours before the competition and judging the design and build portion. Results from the contest have not been released yet.
Sara Bashir and Bridger Helm traveled to Arapahoe School to facilitate the Engineers week lesson with 46 students in 3 classes with funding awarded to the CEAS from the DiscoverE.
Gareth Flowers, Zander Kurnizki, and Sara Bashir traveled to Lander Middle school to facilitate a two day engineering project in the 6
th, 7
th and 8
th grade classrooms. The focus of all three hands-on learning activities centered around the engineering design process. With the 8
th graders, Gareth focused on how chemical engineers experiment with chemicals left over from everyday human activities to solve problems like energy production and pollution reduction. With the 7
th graders, Zander worked with
Teams build a 3-D model of a watershed, including topographical features like mountains and valleys. They then experimented to see where the water goes when "rain" falls on it, and what happens when the rain falls on a source of pollution in the watershed. With the 6
th
graders, Sara discussed how the engineering design process is used in the biomedical field, and the students created 3D models of plant and animal cells using every day analogies.
The Wyoming State Mathcounts competition was held on March 7. The top three teams were Lander Middle School (1
st), Rock Springs Junior High School (2
nd), and Laramie Middle School (3
rd). The K-12 Outreach Ambassadors, including Anthony Ludwar, Aisha Balogun, Courtney Smith, Sara Bashir, Gareth Flowers, Zander Kurnizki, Britney Thompson, and Geetu Babu, ran registration, proctored tests, served as graders, worked the countdown round, and photographed the event.
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Tau Beta Pi Award Winners From CEAS
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Tau Beta Pi Banquet 2020 has been cancelled due to the Corona virus but we want to recognize College of Engineering Faculty and Staff that have been selected as Outstanding Contributors to our college.
Please join us in congratulating the following recipients. Outstanding Job all. Congratulations.
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Congratulations to Charlotte While, Atmospheric Science, on receiving Tau Beta Pi Outstanding Staff Award for 2020.
Congratulations on this great accomplishment!
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Congratulations
to Laurie Bonini, Advising Manager, for being the recipient of the CEAS Outstanding Staff Award for 2020.
Congratulations on this great accomplishment!
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Congratulations to Robert Kubichek for being the recipient of the Tau Beta Pi Outstanding Faculty Award for 2020.
Congratulations on this great accomplishment!
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Maohong Fan, Petroleum Engineering is the winner of the Outstanding Graduate Research and Teaching Aware for 2020.
Congratulations, Maohong on your award.
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Shawn Griffiths and team win Best Paper Award
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Congratulations to Shawn Griffiths, Civil and Architectural Engineering and co-authors on being awarded the 2020 ASEE-SE Thomas C. Evans Best Paper.
The paper titled:
Bias and Precision in Instructor Grading of Concept Inventories in Geotechnical Engineering Courses”
126
th
ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition
Authors:
Dr. Simon Thomas Ghanat P.E., The Citadel
Dr. James Kaklamanos, Merrimack College
Dr. Tanya Kunberger P.E., Florida Gulf Coast University
Dr. Corrie Walton-Macaulay Ph.D., P.E., Saint Martin’s University
Dr. Suresh Immanuel P.E., University of Evansville
Dr. David A. Saftner, University of Minnesota Duluth
Dr. Brock E. Barry P.E., U.S. Military Academy
Dr. Shawn Griffiths, University of Wyoming
Dr. Craig M. Shillaber, Northeastern University
Dr. Chris Swan, Tufts University
Congratulations on this team for a great paper.
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Denzer Receives Architectural Engineering Education Award
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Congratulations to Tony Denzer who has been chosen as the Architectural Engineering Institute’s 2019 AEI Outstanding Architectural Engineering Educator Award Winner. Tony will be recognized at the next AEI Awards Banquet in Cincinnati, OH.
In a letter from Scott Campbell, the AEI Board of Governors thanked Tony for his skill, passion, dedication, and excellence in teaching in the field of Architectural Engineering as well as his accomplishments in creating the Construction Management program at the University of Wyoming. Scott said Tony’s efforts will have long-lasting impact in the development our future leaders.
Congratulations again to Tony for receiving this award.
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Update on the search for a new Dean of College of Engineering and Applied Science.
A search committee was convened early January to launch the process. Ivan Gaetz, UW Dean of Libraries, is the committee Chair with other members being representatives from industry and CEAS departments:
Vladimir Alvarado, Mike Borowczak, Anthony Denzer, Ray Stuart Fertig III, Jeffrey R. French, Lamia Goual, Ann Jones, Suresh Muknahallipatna, Nancy Peck, John Small (UW Foundation), Joe Leimkuhler (Beacon Offshore, Louisiana), Joe McGinley (Diagnostic Radiology, Casper), and Bruce Pivic (Infinity Power and Controls, Rock Springs), with Rochelle Hayes and Melanie Drever providing Admin Support.
After vetting several search firms, the committee selected the Parker Executive Search Firm to head the process. Two representatives of the Firm visited campus March 5 to meet with various UW groups and stakeholders to outline the process and obtain perspectives and views on what UW should look for in a new Dean. A DRAFT Job Description was distributed to the Committee and other UW Leaders for their input.
The dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science search has been postponed until further notice
.
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Borowczak Chosen Summer Visiting Faculty Program
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"Mike applied and was selected for Idaho National Lab's CAES Summer Visiting Faculty Program he seeks to develop mutually beneficial collaborative externally funded projects. In addition Mike is the PI on two grants (NSA and NSF funded) that offering three weeks of professional development for teachers across the state. If you know a
K-12 teacher interested in getting paid to participate in CS and/or Cybersecurity PD have them reach out to Mike or visit
http://uwyo.edu/WyCS for more information."
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CANCELED: 2020 UWEFE COMBAT Color Fun Run hosted by Students Supporting Veterans @ UW
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Students Supporting Veterans at the University of Wyoming, a Student Veterans Organization, must unfortunately cancel the 5th COMBAT Color Laramie.
The UWEFE COMBAT Color is a 3 mile run or 1.5 mile walk and a game of color tag that combines physical fitness, fun, and celebrating our veterans and their sacrifices. It is a fun run that combines camouflage and “battles” of color, with runners and volunteers “battling” along the run by throwing handfuls of color (cornstarch dyed with food coloring) at each other. The run is organized by Students Supporting Veterans and proceeds from the event fund the Connor Montgomery Cloud Memorial Scholarship for Veterans right here at the University of Wyoming.
Students Supporting Veterans thanks our sponsors for their generous support: the University of Wyoming Engineering Fund for Enrichment, Associated Students, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and Dr. Cameron H. G. Wright.
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February Inspirational Phone Background
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Click the button below to download and save this inspirational image to your phone!
"you get in life what you have the courage to ask for."
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