SWE Creates Tall Agenda for School Year

The University of Arkansas Society of Women Engineers, a group designed for professional development and social activity for women engineers, met last week to discuss the new school year agenda. In the past, SWE hosted events in conjunction with the Girl Scouts, Make a Difference Day, The Boys & Girls Club, and Race for the Cure. The group doesn’t require national membership, but highly encourages it, so that members can add the society to their professional resume. Fees are $20 for the entire year, which ends in July.

2011-12 Events
Members discussed the good experiences of the previous year, and encouraged new members to participate, emphasizing the minimal time and activity commitment. “During the Race for the Cure, you don’t have to run,” said President Jana Hindman. “You can volunteer to hand out t-shirts and other materials, or you can walk the race.”

This year, the group will focus more on Professional Development, including a possible repeat of the previous Alumni Panel, an informal networking dinner between industry specialists and UA engineering students.

The girls expressed an interest in another “What Not To Wear” event, focusing on styles, trends and traditions of professional/business dress for women.

SWE plans to work with the campus Volunteer Action Center, especially during the Make a Difference Day on October 29. “It’s a morning of work, which is not a big commitment, and they give you food,” Hindman said. “This year, we’re going to make water filters.”

Currently…
The first fundraiser of the year is a T-shirt selling campaign. The shirts display the word “engineer” spelled wrong twice and crossed out each time, with “I’m good at math,” as the final line of text. They are sold in green and purple. Contact Jana Hindman (jhindman@uark.edu) or other SWE members if you’re interested in buying one.

A Scull Creek Stream Cleanup will take place at noon on October 9.

The SWE National Conference will take place October 13-15 in Chicago. Only officers attend without cost, but members are encouraged to attend, with a fee of $100 (or $125 if registering on site, not online). Among the biggest attraction to the conference is the career fair, which typically attracts more than 200 valuable, well-known employers.

The Women in Engineering group will team up with SWE for a free networking event on October 25. The groups will meet at Gator Golf event at 6 p.m., and have Jimmy Johns for dinner. Those attending can meet in the Bell Engineering parking lot to carpool.

Resources
SWE President, Jana Hindman emphasized the benefits of using the National SWE website. “It’s a great place for professional development, where you can network with other ladies- people you will work with,” she said. “You can also apply for scholarships there, which are due February 15 this year.” Other SWE members warned that the scholarship application forms take a lot of time to fill out, so members should not wait until the last minute if they’re interested in it.

Keep in Mind
SWE officers are looking for more fundraiser ideas, so stay in touch, voice your opinions and attend meetings when you can. Members are hoping to begin math tutoring for the boys club, and take various field trips to engineering job-related corporations.

EWB Gears Up for a Busy Year

The University of Arkansas chapter of Engineers Without Borders has a lot on their proverbial plate this year! Members met last week to discuss the following year of fundraising, international projects, conferences, and local service opportunities.

About EWB
Engineers Without Borders is a non-profit organization that uses engineering skills to improve quality of life in communities around the world. Their projects range from building water towers in other countries to cleaning creek areas in Washington county. Where they see a need, they step up to help.

“EWB is the touchy, feely side of engineering, if there is one,” said EWB President Jenny Doyle.

2011-2012 Events
This year, UA EWB hopes to establish the student chapter as a long-lasting, effective group in Northwest Arkansas. Members attend two conferences each school year. The national conference will take place in November, and officers strongly encourage students to attend. There, they can take advantage of networking and engineering workshops that help the group projects to go more smoothly.

“At the international conference you get a broader perspective and a chance to see what other universities doing,” Doyle said. “Some are working with women’s organizations and other non-profit organizations."

The group has successfully completed international trips and projects in the past, but this year they plan to adopt an official EWB-USA approved international project.

“We’ll also continue work on our local projects, such as Make a Difference Day (October 29); Regional Conference is November 11-13 and the International Conference will take place in Las Vegas during Spring Break, March 22-25,” Doyle said. “We’re also looking for members to man the booth at the RSO information fair on September 30.”

Join us!
The group is looking for fundraisers, resources and contacts. Members are not required to be engineers because they are looking for all skill sets.

To become an official, national member, visit the national website to pay membership dues (discounted for students). The chapter will meet every other Wednesday at 6 p.m., locations will vary, so they will be posted on Facebook.

Next EWB trip Dec 17-23
Goals for the next international project in Belize are to build a water tower for the community, dig a well, dig trenches and run pipes, continue water quality testing and conduct health surveys. For this reason, members are encouraged to recruit nursing students and other health majors.

Residents “still have to pump their water by hand,” said International Project Chair, Ben Marts. “We eventually want to get running water into homes.”

How Safe it is to Feel Safe

Inspired by City & Colour's Day Old Hate and Thought Catalog's "Things You Need When You're Sad," I've formed a short list of my favorite, most comforting things.

The drawer
One of the most important rules of comfort I learned from my sister. Have an entire drawer stuffed full of pajamas and other worn-down materials. This way, the need for comfort is resolved quickly. No more searching for that lavender shirt you bought while sixteen, washed extensively like the smooth rocks at the bottom of river basins, material worn so thin that it tears each time you put it on. Guys seem to point out that women are always touching fabric while shopping. That’s right, we are. At the end of the day, we want something that makes us feel good all over, especially if our job/friends/etc hasn’t.

Latest James Bond movie
Is in my DVD player at all times, reserved for my worst days. It’s a cheap trick, watching an on-screen crush. And no, I don’t happen to know in which chapter Daniel Craig steps slowly out of the ocean.

“Same time, same place”
There’s something inherently comforting about meeting a reliable friend so frequently that you don’t bother with changing your environment. This works for you both, and it will always be a priority.

Pumpkin Spice Chai
If your idea of a good weekend night is crashing through the new John Grisham at Arsaga’s instead of wearing a glitter top and slamming shots with rowdy friends, then spice chai is the way to go. For trifecta, add the chilled air of the first day of autumn and an old, well-worn beige cardigan.

Weathered Books
Love the ancient musty smell of old books, and the feel of well-read books…the ones with the broken spine, the dog-earred pages, which have are covered in coffee stains. I once knew someone who would read books so carefully, not even opening it up all the way. Once finished with it, you'd never knew anyone had read it—which is great if they borrowed your paperback. But as for my books, I like to remember that week that I got to know Zee, Elspeth, Martin or whoever. I like returning to my favorite pages, feeling as if I’ve been welcomed back, not approaching the unfamiliar.

Reruns and/or Watching the Same Movies Over & Over
Somewhere along the way, I developed this habit of watching a movie (typically an okaaay movie, nothing that I’d be able to justify to anyone) many, many times. Somedays, home means wearing fuzzy slippers and knowing that George will screw something up and Kramer will profit from it. Other days, it's knowing that there is someone (Monica) who has worse OCD than me and that Chandler always has worse days than me.

What are some of your most comforting things?

Meet the Professor: Dr. Ed Clausen

Dr. Ed Clausen, professor of chemical engineering and associate department head, began teaching at the University of Arkansas in 1981, following his time as an assistant professor at Tennessee Tech University.

Inroduction to engineering
A number of people, family, teachers and advisors, influenced his decision to become an engineer. As a sophomore in high school, he knew what career he wanted to pursue.

“By that time, I was pretty sure I would be an engineer,” he said. “My uncle was a mechanical engineer and my brother-in-law was an electrical engineer.” His dad also expressed an interest and approval in the profession.

“I didn’t sit down and talk with them about it…it just seemed like something I would want to do.”

Clausen’s high school math and physics teacher attended the University of Missouri-Rolla, where Clausen would later earn his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate. “He had studied electrical engineering and that was all he talked about,” he said. “So I put this together,” all the positive experiences of engineering that surrounded him, to which he added a growing interest in chemistry.

Influential Engineer
Although many people impacted Clausen’s career, “my influential mentor was probably my grad advisor, Jim Gaddy,” he said.

“He was the professor that I conducted research with…the one that convinced me to get my Ph.D., and the one that convinced me, after four years (of teaching at Tennessee Tech,) to come to the U of A,” Clausen said.

University of Arkansas Experience
Clausen has taught at the University of Arkansas for thirty years, which gives him a unique vantage point as a professor.

“The thing about teaching in the same place for a long time is that it never bothered me to teach students so much younger than me,” he said. “It never bothered me to teach second generation students. What bothered me was when some of my students began retiring.”

Clausen enjoys the freedom and connectivity that the University of Arkansas offers as a research institution.

“My teaching experience at Tennessee Tech was vastly different from teaching at the University of Arkansas,” he said. “I taught at Tennessee Tech for four years, which has a huge emphasis on turning out undergraduates, but little focus on research.”

During the summer, Clausen participates in outreach projects that expose younger students to science, engineering and math through hands-on activities. In one of these programs, he works directly with middle school, junior high and high school students. “These programs are a lot of fun and are different from university classroom instruction,” he said.

“When the students are interested too, it’s neat.”

Off the Clock
“I watch a lot of sports,” he said. “Everything Razorbacks, of course; I cheer for anyone playing the University of Texas; in baseball, the Cardinals and in football, anyone playing the Dallas Cowboys.”

Meet the Professor: Dr. Sreekala Bajwa

Dr. Sreekala Gopalapillai Bajwa, professor of biological engineering, has taught at the University of Arkansas since 2001. She earned a doctorate in agricultural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Influence
Bajwa grew up in India, where education was a cultural priority. In some way, she always expected to become a doctor or an engineer, which began with her love for math and science. Among the most influential people in her career was a middle school math teacher. “I don’t know how he did it, but he made it look simple,” she said. The teacher helped her make the connection between mere interest and a career, showing her that she demonstrated talent for it, and pushing her to do her best.

Both of Bajwa’s sisters are in math and science, and they both influenced and inspired her. “One of my sisters says that math may be the king of science, but without physics, math would have no application,” she said. “That really stuck with me.”

University of Arkansas experience
Bajwa chose the University of Arkansas because she wanted to raise her family in a smaller town. “My husband was working in Chicago when I started here, but I didn’t want to raise a family in Chicago,” she said. They also came here because they saw an opportunity for growth, with several new faculty members and a strong vision.

Upon her arrival to the University of Arkansas, Bajwa sensed a need for research in biocomposite materials, and made it a focus of hers. “I use waste stream from agricultural processing operations such as cotton ginning as fillers in thermoplastic composites. These composites typically contain 50 percent or more plant fibers,” she said.

The resulting composite materials can be used as replacement for wood in non-structural building applications where the materials will be exposed to extreme conditions, such as decking, landscaping products, window and door components, and flooring. This takes the waste out of the environment and embeds it into a completely recyclable product.

She also conducts research on mitigation of air pollutants emitted from chicken houses. “The research in this area has big consequences because the state has a big poultry industry,” she said.

Bajwa says she is happy in her current line of work. “The thing I’m especially proud of here is how many undergraduates are involved in the lab,” she said. “I have 5-10 working in my lab, and some have published their work. These students are very focused, and know what they want to do with their education.”

Off the Clock
Bajwa spends her non-working hours with her family, who like to bike and walk the trails together, and spend time at the local library. “The time outside of the office, my time with my family is number one.”

Meet the Professor: Dr. Julie Carrier

Dr. Julie Carrier, professor of biological engineering, has taught at the University of Arkansas since 2000, following her time at the University of Saskatchewan.

Education

Carrier earned a bachelor’s of science in agricultural engineering; a master’s of science and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from McGill University in Quebec, Canada.

“I was interested in systems, and I liked the thoroughness of engineering,” she said.

Like many students, Carrier explored a few areas of study before settling on the best fit. She began as an engineering major, switched to landscape architecture, but returned to engineering swiftly, valuing the black-and-white results, the concrete data of it.

No matter what, “I made sure always to do the best at whatever I was doing,” she said, to ensure that she would have more opportunities.

Carrier pursued research interests in biochemistry, a great background for biological engineering.

“In the early 1980s, it was really novel to double engineering with biochemistry work…but I enjoyed it, so I did it.”

It wasn’t until later that she came to the world of biological engineering, when doing doctoral work on fermentation and plant tissue culture while interfacing with biologists and engineers.

A Transformation

The dynamic of earning an engineering education significantly improved since Carrier’s college years in the early 80s. That female students were a rarity of engineering programs was a gross understatement. In a 180 member class, Carrier was one of only two female students.

“It was a different time for women engineers back then. It was not a traditional path for a woman’s education,” she said.

As the campus coordinator for the Society of Women Engineers, Carrier has had the privilege of creating a comfortable learning atmosphere, which has brought many women into successful careers.

“It’s important for girls to be in this field of sustainability and engineering. They have a lot to contribute and it’s a great job for a female,” she said.

Sustainability research has expanded significantly giving her a unique perspective, having seen earlier proposed solutions to environmental conflicts.

“One of my professors said the solution to pollution is dilution. Just add more water to it, and the pollution will go away,” she said, in a manner of disbelief.

“Now, we have more (environmental) problems than ever. There are many more people on earth, so there is a tighter use of land, a competition for resources, globalization, and we have to make the most out of what we have. These are complex problems.”

Problems, she says, that biological engineers are working to find solutions for.

Influential engineer

Carrier was strongly influenced by her grandpa. “He was a mechanical engineer at a textile mill,” she said. “He designed a lot and impacted the company so much at that when he retired, they had to hire three engineers to replace him.”

In addition to being an exemplar engineer, Carrier’s grandfather “made me pass my dynamics course,” she said, chuckling.

University of Arkansas experience

Carrier, like Marty Matlock, Lalit Verma and Scott Osborn who followed later, came to the University of Arkansas upon the promise of a true biological engineering program, which was under the supervision of Dr. Carl Griffis and Dr. Walker at the time.

After the hurdle of moving a family of five from Canada to America, Carrier became a valued researcher and integral part of the innovative biological engineering department.

Research

Carrier works with Charles “Chuck” West, professor of environmental sciences and Ed Clausen, professor of chemical engineering.

“In our labs, we take plants and release their sugars, which are then used to produce biofuels and other bioproducts,” she said. “We try to release the sugars as delicately as possible so that inhibitors to other steps of the process are not created.”

Off the Clock

When Carrier is not working at the biological and agricultural labs, teaching, or advising students, she likes to walk her dogs, spend time with her family and go skiing as often as possible.

“I love to spend time with my family,” she said. “I also love to ski. I grew up in Canada and was a ski racer from the age of 12-19. I ski as often as I can, which is difficult to do when you’re living in Arkansas.”

Meet the Professor: Dr. Jamie Hestekin

Jamie Hestekin, professor of chemical engineering, began teaching at the University of Arkansas in August of 2006.

Education
An interest in the environmental matters steered Hestekin to the world of engineering.

“Back then, the issue was greenhouse gases…and I wanted to make a difference in the world,” so engineering was the best channel for that career path, he said. “Since then, much of my research has been environment related.”

Influential researcher
Hestekin’s first impression of a successful engineer was a family friend.

“My dad’s business partner was a civil engineer that was bright and personable,” he said, which sparked his interest in the topic.

Hestekin earned his bachelor’s of science in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in Duluth and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky.

“My PhD advisor was a major influence. He was very good to students, students came first all the time.”

Now that he’s the professor, Hestekin tries to emulate his advisor’s teaching style.
“I like it better when my students are recognized, more than when I’m recognized,” he said.

University of Arkansas experience
“When we came to visit, we liked it,” he said. “They were doing lots of things here.
“The Honors College was doing a great job of getting undergraduates in the lab. And we thought, ‘that’s where it’s at.’”

In college, Hestekin gained perspective on national scientific research standards and found the University of Arkansas a respectable competitor.

“The students here are good, they are driven,” Hestekin said. So far, he has enjoyed his time as teacher, especially because he agrees with the philosophy: “Teach First.” He is an active researcher, but manages the balance as a teacher that truly cares about the quality of education and quality of life that his students have.

At the University of Arkansas, “our department provides practical knowledge, great problem solving skills and our project building—I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.

“The building of projects is challenging, and we do it well.”

Research
Jamie Hestekin’s research has gained a unique amount of attention in 2011, when he and an undergraduate team of chemical engineering researchers began converting algae to butanol and won the PBS Planet Forward competition “Innovator of the Year.” From June 2011-June 2012, PBS will track the progress of his research through the creation of videos and other web content available to the public.

“The experience with PBS Planet Forward has brought some interesting connections,” Hestekin said. “We get people that want to make butanol in their backyard, without using our equipment.”

Instead of seeming frustrated by this, he welcomes the challenge, because the nature of a research team is to solve complex problems.

The nationally-publicized project has brought an almost unwanted amount of attention upon Hestekin.

“We tried to get the group to pass as the Innovator of the Year, but they said the innovator must be a single person,” he said.

But overall the publicity has been good, bringing them in touch with more potential undergraduate researchers, and generating a publication of the social media impact on the research project, based on the massive response in the contest.

“Before (Planet Forward), if you googled my name, maybe 10 hits about research would pop up. Now, it’s 500-600, or more,” Hestekin said.

The next step in his research is to streamline the cost of the more expensive parts for the butanol conversion. “We want to get it competitive in the process. The idea is to get the cost reduced to the same as ethanol and replace ethanol within ten years.”

Off the clock
In his free time, Hestekin takes care of his two-year-old daughter, plays tennis with his students, travels extensively and plays the piano.

“I enjoy playing piano, and thought of making a career of it once,” he said. “My daughter likes to play the piano when I’m playing. She (dictates) the songs that I play, because she has her favorites.”

Jamie and his wife Christa, who is also a chemical engineering professor at the University of Arkansas, like to hang out with students. They play tennis with them, travel together and host parties for them.

PBS Planet Forward campaign keeps him travelling, but that hasn’t slowed the frequency of other trips.

“We love to travel. The last non-Planet Forward trip we took was to Europe, in Venice and Barcelona,” he said. “I do a lot of traveling for Planet Forward, and the last trips we took with students were to Hawaii and Singapore.”

For more information about Hestekin’s research, follow the University of Arkansas College of Engineering on Facebook or planetforward.org, for regular links to research videos on the algae-to-butanol project, like these:

http://planetforward.org/productions/innovator-update-jamie-hestekin/

http://planetforward.org/members/jhestekin/profile/

http://planetforward.org/productions/innovator-jamie-hestekin/

Links to his publications can be found on his research website, http://comp.uark.edu/~jhesteki