Monthly Archives: June 2013

SCE Caps Off Academic Year with Picnic

Celebrating the end of our academic year, our SCE family shared memorable moments and success stories at the 4th annual SCE picnic at Taliaferro Park on June 13, 2013. SCE faculty, staff, alumni board members, industry supporters and program advisory board members and our UMKC collaborators and supporters enjoyed the beautiful weather while renewing connections with each other. All agreed it has been a great year for SCE as we have engaged with our students, community and each other! We were also very proud to welcome and visit with the teachers attending the ASM Materials Camp for Teachers at SCE. Our cooks, SCE faculty Mark McClernon, Jerry Place and Jerry Richardson, made sure the 120 in attendance had as many brats and burgers as they wanted. They even discovered a better way to cook the veggie burgers – steamed on the grill – delicious.

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UMKC Baja Buggy Team Comes Home Ready to Burn Rubber Next Year

Baja-Buggy_Cover

The UMKC Baja Buggy Team proudly took “The Duke” on the road to the April 18-21 Baja SAE Tennessee Tech and June 6-9 Baja SAE Rochester racing competitions. Our UMKC Baja team finished in the top 50 of the endurance race at Rochester and were especially proud that the buggy remained in working order over the 4 hour course. Drivers for the Rochester competition were: 1) John Smith for the Acceleration event; 2) Jared Kleinowski for the Hill Climb event; 3) Michael Snowden for the Maneuverability event; 4) Cody Wallingford for the Suspension and Traction event; and 5) Cody Wallingford and Levon Pogosov for the Endurance Event.

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Veterans In STEM Important Goal for SCE and Dean Kevin Truman

KCUR-FM Central Standard discussed the UMKC Veterans in STEM program with Dean Kevin Truman during the June 12 radio segment. Coordinated by the UMKC School of Computing and Engineering and the UMKC Institute for Human Development, Veterans in STEM is provided by KC BANCS, an NSF funded project and includes free academic supports for veterans. For more details, see UMKC Today article, UMKC Program Helps Veterans Get a STEM Education.

A Place To Chill – SCE Student Lounge Features Dylan Stanfield’s Design

With the addition of a new and extensive wall etching, SCE’s new student lounge re-opened this week after being closed for two weeks. The etching, designed by SCE student Dylan Stanfield, reflects SCE’s programs and clearly designates the lounge for UMKC SCE students. The fourth floor Flarsheim Hall student lounge, which opened in Fall 2012, has been undergoing refinements during its first year as students identified ways to improve its “chill factor.” SCE Student Affairs Director Whitney Molloy worked with UMKC’s Campus Facilities Management and Student Affairs Administrative Assistant Jodi Vinnage to create the lounge in response to SCE students identifying it as a priority. During Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 the space was filled with students. Continue reading →

2013 SCE Alumni Golf Tournament Raises Scholarship Funds Despite Challenging Weather

SCE alumni and supporters participated in our annual SCE Alumni Golf Tournament on June 5, 2013 at the Deer Creek Golf Course to raise funds for SCE scholarships. The rain storm earlier in the morning created a few challenges for the afternoon golfers including a bridge washing out making the 4th tee inaccessible and giant, muddy water splashes as carts pushed through low lying water. Twelve teams braved the course and were rewarded with delightfully cool, yet comfortable, weather and a great show from Deer Creek’s fast, gushing waters and even some rapids due to heavy rains much of the week prior to the event. The day concluded with a clubhouse dinner and presentations. Continue reading →

UMKC EWB Students Commit to Building Bridge in Vallecito, Panama

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) student chapter has committed to building a foot bridge in Vallecito, Panama starting 2013-2014. In Fall 2012, the EWB student chapter decided it was time to depart from the Dominican Republic, where it had been working with the support of the EWB Kansas City (KC) professional chapter since 2009, because the projects left to be completed were beyond the scope of the students. Over the next two years, only EWB KC professional chapter members will travel to the Dominican to finalize the program. Thus the UMKC EWB student chapter members starting looking for a new program. While there were lots of opportunities in Africa, SCE students decided to stay in the America’s due to logistical costs. After reviewing options, it was decided that Panama would be a good place to pursue a new program as EWB-Panama needed help with building footbridges. Incentives for choosing Panama included one of the EWB mentors being a native of Panama with her mother living in Panama City and a member of EWB-Panama.

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Kaustubh Dhondge Receives 1st Place Outstanding Graduate Poster Presentation Award at GPN 2013 Annual Meeting

SCE’s Kaustubh Dhondge showcased his research paper, FUEL: Fast, Ubiquitous, Easy-to-use, and Low-cost Authentication for Smartphones, a “scheme for authenticating users by leveraging existing ambient light sensors on smartphones”, at the May 29-31, 2013 GPN (Great Plains Network) 2013 Annual Meeting. His research, conducted with Hyungbae Park and his advisor Dr. Baek-Young Choi, has resulted in a prototype that “utilizes a light sensor available on smartphones and a low-cost hardware token in order to authenticate a user of a smartphone to unlock it or to allow access to web and cloud services.” Continue reading →

SCE Outreach Activities in KC Continue to Grow

SCE knows that the future of our nation will be significantly determined by the state of our technologies and our computing and engineering capability. To this end, SCE faculty, staff and students are working with area schools, community and professional organizations and K-12 STEM outreach programs to increase our region’s STEM pipeline and ultimately the number of STEM professionals for America.

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SCE faculty Bob Cotter and Judy Mullins Retirements Announced

The retirements of Computer Science Electrical Engineering (CSEE) Department Associate Teaching Professors Bob Cotter and Judy Mullins were announced at a reception honoring them both on May 16. Both Bob and Judy are outstanding instructors and caring mentors to their students. SCE knows they will be sorely missed next year by our students, faculty and staff. We wish them both awesome retirements with much happiness and good health!

ASCE President Elect Visits SCE

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) President Elect Randall (Randy) Over, P.E., F.ASCE visited SCE on May 15, 2013. Annually, the ASCE President Elect travels to Kansas City to meet with and address the Greater Kansas City ASCE Section, and while in KC, often stops by UMKC’s School of Computing and Engineering to meet with faculty, students and the dean. According to the ASCE profile, ASCE is America’s oldest engineering society and represents more than 140,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Continue reading →