UMKC SCE Alumna Taya Upkes was featured in Tuesday’s July 24 Kansas City Star article, Engineering challenges: Keep female graduates, stoke interest among girls. The article focuses on the opportunities for female engineering graduates and the unfortunate nationwide trend of fewer women choosing engineering as a career. Laura Loyacono, Director of the Kansas City based KC STEM Alliance, said that “the perception that engineering is for boys only remains a big deterrent”. The KC STEM Alliance was funded and supported one year ago by the Kauffman Foundation. Kevin Truman, Dean of the UMKC School of Computing and Engineering, was instrumental in obtaining the KC STEM Alliance grant and currently serves as the chair of its board of directors.
Tag Archives: Taya Upkes
SCE students mentored award winning First Lego League teams
The Rock’n Robo Rabbits, a First Lego League team of homeschool students from the Learn Science and Math Club, earned the first place inspiration award at the First Lego League world competition held in St. Louis on April 28th. SCE mechanical engineering student Taya Upkes and SCE computer science student Sarah Withee mentored both the Rock’n Robo Rabbits and the ShawdowKnights during 2011-2012. Together Taya and Sarah logged over 150 hours mentoring the teams as they built and programmed their robots. Both teams competed in the December 2011 local qualifier competition winning awards and earned the right to compete at the January 2012 regional competition. The Rock’n Robo Rabbits won the Chairman’s award at the regionals and then the First Place Inspiration Award for extraordinary outreach and community service efforts at the April 2012 world competition. The ShadowKnights placed in the top twelve at regionals.
Outstanding Students & Teams honored at SCE’s Spring Awards
SCE honored our outstanding students and student teams at the UMKC SCE Spring Awards Reception held on April 26, 2012. Outstanding student awards were announced for a junior, senior, masters and I.Ph.D student in each of SCE’s degree programs. Outstanding students are selected by their department’s faculty. Selection is based on GPA and the student’s contributions in terms of participation and leadership in SCE student organizations and teams. Student competition teams receiving awards included the ASCE Steel Bridge Team who earned first place at the 2012 regional competition, the ACM Programming Team who won 3rd place at the 2012 Central Plains Conference Programming Competition, the IEEE Robotics Team who won 4th place in circuit design at their regional competition and the SAE Baja Buggy Team who qualified for the next competition level. Congratulations to the all our Spring Award recipients!
Also honored were Good Teaching Award Recipients Jerry Richardson of SCE’s Civil and Mechanical Engineering Department and Brian Hare of SCE’s Computer Science Electrical Engineering Department for their excellence in teaching.
Greg King 2011-2012 Faculty LEAP Award Recipient
Congratulations to Greg King, Assistant Professor in SCE’s Civil and Mechanical Engineering Department, and winner of the annual Leadership Excellence Achievement Program (LEAP) Award which was established by the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers Western Chapter (MSPE WC) in 2005. The LEAP award recognizes annually the SCE faculty, as determined by MSPE student chapter members via secret ballot, who has “demonstrated mentoring abilities that encourage students to seek leadership excellence in the engineering profession.” In addition to the faculty LEAP award, student LEAP awards are earned annually by the two MSPE student chapter students that write the best 300 – 1,000 word essays on engineering ethics. This year the question addressed in the student essays was based this scenario “Engineer A works for Company X which is owned by Engineer B. Company X is currently experiencing financial problems and Engineer B recently created another company, Company Y. Engineer A has learned that Engineer B recently advised clients of Company X to remit payments for work performed by Company X and its employees to Company Y” and the question posed was “What are Engineer A’s ethical obligations under the circumstances?” This year’s student winners are Taya Upkes and Sean Rivers.
Dr. Greg King, Taya Upkes & Sean Rivers were honored at the March 22, 2012 dinner/presentation that our UMKC MSPE student chapter hosted for the MSPE WC. Speaking at the dinner was UMKC SCE’s Dr. Larry Drbal who gave an amazing presentation on the Fukushima tragedy. In addition, the LEAP award winners were featured on the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers Western Chapter (MSPE WC) webpage and their names will be added to the LEAP Award Recipient plaque housed in Flarsheim Hall. The UMKC MSPE student chapter has benefited greatly from MSPE WC’s mentorship and support and thanks them for their sponsorship of the LEAP award.
Sean Rivers and Taya Upkes 2011-2012 Student LEAP Award Recipient
Congratulations to Sean Rivers and Taya Upkes! They are UMKC SCE’s 2011-2012 Student Leadership Excellence Achievement Program (LEAP) Award winners and are featured on the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers Western Chapter (MSPE WC) webpage! Each year, the student LEAP award is earned by the two MSPE student chapter students that write the best 300 – 1,000 word essays on engineering ethics. This year the question addressed in the student essays was based this scenario “Engineer A works for Company X which is owned by Engineer B. Company X is currently experiencing financial problems and Engineer B recently created another company, Company Y. Engineer A has learned that Engineer B recently advised clients of Company X to remit payments for work performed by Company X and its employees to Company Y” and the question posed was “What are Engineer A’s ethical obligations under the circumstances?”
Taya & Sean were honored at the March 22, 2012 dinner/presentation that our UMKC MSPE student chapter hosted for the MSPE WC. Their names will be added to the LEAP Award Recipient plaque housed in Flarsheim Hall. Included with each award is a $50.00 gift certificate. The annual LEAP Award was established by the MSPE WC in 2005.
In addition, to the two student LEAP award winners, one SCE faculty each year is the recipient of the faculty Leadership Excellence Achievement Program (LEAP) award. The UMKC School of Computing and Engineering faculty 2011-2012 LEAP award winner is Greg King, Assistant Professor in SCE’s Civil and Mechanical Engineering Department. . He was awarded the LEAP Award by the student members of the MSPE/NSPE. The faculty LEAP Award recognizes one SCE faculty per year for “demonstrated mentoring abilities that encourage students to seek leadership excellence in the engineering profession.”
Luncheon Honors SCE Scholarship Donors!
The 2011 SCE Scholarship Luncheon brought together SCE’s scholarship donors and student scholars currently benefiting from our donor sponsored scholarships. Connecting our donors and students gave our scholarship recipients the opportunity to express their appreciation to their donors. Donors learned firsthand how their support helps our SCE computer science and engineering students and the impact it has on their scholarship students’ lives and careers. Two student speakers, Riddhiman Das and Taya Upkes, captured the hearts of all attending with their personal stories of how their scholarship changed their lives. Donor Debby Dilks talked about her personal reasons for supporting students via scholarship, including how her own father’s struggle to obtain an education and her mother’s dedication to women’s intellectual equity underlined and motivated her family’s endowment of two scholarships.
SCE was proud to recognize six new or newly endowed scholarships this year, four of which were newly endowed in 2011! They are the 1) Ankit Agarwal Computer Science Scholarship Fund; 2) Dr. C. Quinton Bowles Memorial Scholarship Endowment; 3) Black & Veatch Scholarship; 4) Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship; 5) SCE Alumni Scholarship Fund and 6) Sprint Scholarship. Three of the four newly endowed scholarship donors were present and recognized for their generosity and commitment to our computer science and engineering students. Minda Mason, Director of Major Gifts for SCE, emphasized that 70% of our SCE students qualify for some sort of scholarship support and that our SCE scholarship recipients are frequently our campus leaders , serving in key roles in student government, participating in community service and raising the level of academic performance in our classrooms.
It is with great appreciation that Dean Kevin Truman and Chancellor Leo Morton thank all of our scholarship donors!
SCE students have Pizza with the President!
On September 29, 2011 SCE students enjoyed a Pizza with the President Info Session with the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) President Christopher Stone, P.E., F.NSPE. Students learned why Professional Engineering (P.E.) licensure is important and how it extends careers by broadening the responsibilities and leadership opportunities for engineers that achieve P.E. licensure. For the past 7 years the incoming NSPE president has included a morning at SCE as part of the NSPE president’s annual visit to Kansas City, the 4th largest engineering hub in the nation.
The meet and greet with President Chris Stone, P.E. and his delegation, prior to the info session, was attended by SCE Dean Kevin Truman, NSPE/MSPE student chapter President Jason Painter, Webmaster Taya Upkes, Treasurer Michael “Tyler” Martin, and faculty advisors Dr. Khosrow Sohraby, P.E. and Dr. Jesse Sherwood, P.E. A visit to Linda Hall Library, considered by many to be the world’s greatest private, not-for-profit science, engineering and technology library, and just one block from SCE’s Flarsheim Hall was also arranged. The UMKC MSPE/NSPE student chapter is affiliated to NSPE on the national level and is locally mentored and provided sponsorship by the Western Chapter of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers here in Kansas City.
Taya Upkes & Zane Potts 2011 Student LEAP Award recipients!
Congratulations to Taya Upkes and Zane Potts! They are UMKC SCE’s 2011 Student 2011 Leadership Excellence Achievement Program (LEAP) Award winners and are featured on the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers Western Chapter (MSPE WC) webpage! Each year, the student LEAP award is earned by the two MSPE student chapter students that write the best 300 – 1,000 word essays on engineering ethics. This year the question addressed in the student essays was based on a provided scenario and the question posed was “Was it unethical for Engineer A to make minor changes to design documents prepared and revised by Engineer B without consulting with Engineer B?“
Taya & Zane will be honored at the March 24, 2011 dinner/presentation that our UMKC MSPE student chapter is hosting for the MSPE WC. Their names will be added to the LEAP Award Recipient plaque housed in Flarsheim Hall. Included with each award is a $50.00 gift certificate. The annual LEAP Award was established by the MSPE WC in 2005.
In addition, to the two student LEAP award winners, one SCE faculty each year is the recipient of the faculty Leadership Excellence Achievement Program (LEAP) award. The UMKC School of Computing and Engineering faculty 2011 LEAP award winner is Dr. Daniel Leon-Salas. He was awarded the LEAP Award by the student members of the MSPE/NSPE. The faculty LEAP Award recognizes one SCE faculty per year for “demonstrated mentoring abilities that encourage students to seek leadership excellence in the engineering profession.”
Our UMKC MSPE student chapter has benefited greatly from MSPE WC’s mentorship and support and are very proud to host their March 24th dinner!