Notes from Engineering
News from the Faculty
Dean of the School of Engineering Andrew B. Williams co-facilitated the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) Leaders Orientation sponsored by the Kern Family Foundation. As a KEEN partner campus, The Citadel School of Engineering faculty participate in entrepreneurial mindset development training, workshops and curriculum innovation activities to make engineering education more engaging and effective.
Mechanical Engineering Instructor Jonathan Crosmer recently co-published a paper entitled, “Spatio-temporal dynamics of an acoustically forced cryogenic coaxial jet injector.” The study focuses on the application of dynamical systems theory to characterize the local susceptibility of a nonreacting, cryogenic, coaxial-jet, rocket injector to transverse acoustics. The physical publication will be available in January 2024.
Assistant Professor Dimitra Michalaka is on sabbatical and currently serving as a visiting professor in the Netherlands at Delft University of Technology within the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management. She is immersed in a European higher education learning environment, collaborating with TU Delft faculty and sharing her scholarly work on transportation engineering, safety and health impacts on mobility research at The Citadel.
Assistant Professor Mostafa Batouli, Associate Professor Kweku Brown, Department Head and Professor Jeff Davis, Assistant Professor Stephanie Laughton, Assistant Professor John Ryan and Associate Professor Timothy Wood participated in an American Society of Civil Engineers Eastern Branch meeting in Buyer Auditorium.
Professor Tim Mays and Assistant Professor John Ryan have been awarded a four-year grant to develop seismic design specifications for bridges through South Carolina Department of Transportation research funding. The Citadel will work with the University of South Carolina and Clemson University to create a seismic design manual that will update bridge design methods and procedures using the latest seismic design research and knowledge of structural bridge design parameters. Findings will have a significant impact on statewide bridge design and related construction costs through an update of performance criteria, resulting in better resource allocation for higher levels of seismic design effort along essential routes and structures. The Citadel has been awarded $200,000 of the $2 million grant.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering hosted an ABET accreditation visit for the new program in computer engineering. Department Head and Professor Mark McKinney and Professor Ron Hayne worked with stakeholders across campus and in industry to prepare for and host the ABET team.
In the Field
On Sept. 30, officers of The Citadel chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) attended an IEEE conference at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. While there they networked with IEEE members and students from colleges all over the Southeast. Student participants were Cadets Caitlyn Tyson, Nicholas Lenon, Anthony Cole and veteran student Erika Hernandez.
This past spring, the American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter once again hosted the Carolinas Conference in Charleston. Central to the success of the event was Cadet Mary Coastal Watkins, the ASCE student chapter president for 2023. Watkins is the first female ASCE president in the club’s 90-year history.
Engineering students toured the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s ship Thomas Jefferson. The tour gave students who are studying surveying an opportunity to learn about equipment and procedures used to collect hydrographic survey data and post-processing software used to create high quality underwater mapping, essential for the maritime community. They learned about the dedication of NOAA officers and civilians serving on the ship and reflected on the distinguished career of Rear Admiral Richard T. Brennan, director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, ’92, a civil engineering graduate and revered leader who served NOAA until his passing in 2021.
Assistant Professor John Ryan organized and led a site visit for 12 cadets at a new building construction site on King Street on Sept. 9. Students focused on construction practices with an emphasis on site crane, shoring and safety considerations. Ryan led another site visit on Oct. 3 to the Hugh Leatherman Terminal, including a walking tour of the massive ship-to-shore cranes, as well as a site visit to tour the scaffolding for a façade construction at the Legacy Apartments construction project in Mount Pleasant on Oct. 24.
Assistant Professor Mostafa Batouli led seniors on a visit to the Frampton Construction headquarters on Leadership Day. The Frampton leadership team shared their experience as a rapidly growing company and gave career advice to students.
Celebrating scholarship recipients
The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department celebrated some of its scholarship recipients on Oct. 17. At a catered lunch, students learned about various departmental scholarships, including the Louis and Christiane Coisson scholarship, the Johnston W. Peeples scholarship, the Bernard Gordon scholarship and the Dal Y. Ingersoll scholarship.
Associate Professor Kweku Brown, Assistant Professor Stephanie Laughton and Professor Ronald Welch hosted the Coastal Chapter of South Carolina Society of Professional Land Surveyors annual student engagement and scholarship ceremony on Oct. 23. Professional land surveyors interacted with students to help bridge the gap between classroom learning and professional practice. Two students, Jesse McClure in the day program and Natalie Mueller in the evening program, received scholarships from the chapter.
Cadets in the classroom
Electrical and Computer Engineering senior design students participated in a Shark Tank-style event on Sept. 14. Led by Professor Sylmarie Dávila-Montero, six teams presented their work to faculty, staff and students. Their projects are designed with real customers in mind and vary from an automatic pet door to a self-scoring dart board. Some of the participants included Gavin Branyon, Daniel Dockins, Shamar Goodridge, Hunter Hamilton, Aekchanin Iamborisut, Tyler Kidwell, Noah H Kiger, Robert Perrecone, Jesse Rog, Brandon Smith, Allen Szczepek, Joshua Tolbert, Chase Wright and Riley Huckaby.
The Electrical and Computer Engineering Department hosted its first Lunch and Learn session of the semester. Lunch and Learn is a weekly program where all ECE students meet to work on assignments and study together. Upperclassmen are encouraged to assist freshman and sophomores with foundational material while enjoying lunch provided by the department. Through the Lunch and Learn program, the ECE department hopes to foster collaboration and student-led academic experiences.
Associate Professor Timothy Wood led students in a statics exam review on Sept. 18. Students finalized their mastery of vector algebra and particle equilibrium by working example problems together and explaining the solutions to one another. On Oct. 23, Wood led Reading and Board Game Day where engineering students learned the value of reading by playing games like Ticket to Ride and Kingdomino.