Highlights for 2001-2002

CE

·        The ASCE Student Chapter competed in the 2002 Carolinas Conference and finished in third place overall from a field of 10 schools.  Again, the chapter was recognized as one of the top 10 ASCE student chapters in the country (out of approx. 250).

·         Jennifer Manning won the Daniel W. Mead paper competition at the ASCE Carolina's Conference and will compete at the 150th ASCE Anniversary National Student Conference being held at the University of Wisconsin–Madison; the paper topic “The Evolution of Engineering Ethics During the Last 150 Years.”

·         The Permission to Plan an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Infrastructure and Environmental Systems was approved in       Chapel Hill.

·       Drs. Young and Hauser took the lead developing a proposal for a Center for Disaster Management and Civil Preparedness with a close partnership with ALERT.

·         The Global Institute for Energy and Environmental Systems (GIEES) has also been approved.

·         Two new faculty members were recruited: Dr. Weggel (Ph.D., Univ. of TX-Austin), Dr. Anderson (Ph.D. Univ. of FL).

ECE

·         Dr. Rafic Makki won the prestigious First Citizen Bank Scholar Medal.

·         Mr. Norbert Ulshoefer received the Cameron Advisory Board Masters Thesis Research Award.

·         Enrollment in the new BS in Computer Engineering has rapidly grown to 205.

·      Dr. Stroud authored the monograph A Designer’s Guide to Built-In-Self-Test published by Kluwer Academic Publishers.

·       Three new faculty members were recruited: Drs. Mukherjee (Ph.D., UC-Santa Barbara), Stokes (Ph.D., RPI) and Howitt (Ph.D., UC-Davis)

ET

·         Dr. Falih Ahmad received the John H. Maxheim Faculty Fellowship.

·         The new internet-based distance education in ELET has a retention rate greater than 50%.

·         The ELET pilot distance education project which began in 1997 had a graduation rate of more than 75% by fall

       2001; a rate far higher than national averages for such programs.

·         A new chair, Dr. Anthony Brizendine (Ph.D. UWV), was recruited and begins in July.  Dr. Brizendine is a nationally recognized leader in engineering technology education and serves on the Executive Committee for ABET/TAC.

·       Two new ET faculty members were recruited: Dr. Greg Watkins (Ph.D., UNC Charlotte) and Dr. Bruce Gehring (Ph.D., Colorado State)

ME

·      The Human Powered Vehicle Team (HPV) won 2^nd place overall with a 1^st place in design and a 2^nd place in women’s sprint.

·         The Formula SAE team won 5^th overall from over 110 teams competing nationally.

·         ICAR team won the Collegiate Championship for a fifth time, were the points champion in the semi-pro division of the Winter Shootout at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and finished tenth from a field of 90 competitors in the Summer Shootout 2001.

·         Mr. John Slater won the Old Guard Competition at the regional ASME meeting and will compete nationally.

·         ME captured both COE teaching awards. Drs. Robin Coger & Stuart Smith received the undergraduate and graduate teaching awards, respectively.

·         One new faculty member was recruited: Dr. Mike Rogers (Ph.D. Northwestern)

OSDS

·         Completed plans for a new Freshman Learning Community and began enrolling students for fall 2002 (waiting list

      only)

·         Planned a new Leadership Academy to begin 2002-03.

·      Planned and organized the first annual COE Ethics Seminar, modeled after the Barnhardt Ethics Seminar and supported by the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics.

·         Planned and executed the first annual Celebration of Student Achievement to recognize outstanding students.

 

Research

·       Over 60 journal articles and 56 conference papers were published this past year. Research funding was in excess of $3.5 million.

·         Drs. Coger & Lee received a Bioengineering Research Partnership Grant from NIH for $2M.

·         Drs. Stroud and Emmert received the best paper award at the 2001 Automatic Test Conference.

·        Dr. Ed Morse is hosting an ASPE conference on “Tolerance Modeling and Analysis” this summer.

·        Dr. Hocken gave an invited ICPE lecture on “Frontiers in Precision Control” in Yokohama, Japan.

 

International Programs

·      Three students from COE participated in an exchange program in Limoges, France, one ET went to Bethune, France, and several other COE students went to Cantabria, Spain.  Six French students from Limoges and Bethune studied in Charlotte this year.

·         Professors Kane and Hilger supervised the third group of CE students in the Santander Summer Design Studio at the University of Cantabria in Spain.  Dr. Bowen visited Limoges to help develop a summer environmental lab experience for COE students in France.

Assessment – The COE came through SACS with flying colors; no suggestions or recommendations were directed at the college. The Strategic Planning and Assessment Resource Team (SPART) developed and implemented Focus Area Improvement Teams (FAIT) to continuously improve the curriculum in each department. Program Objective Evaluation (PROBE) teams were also formed in each department to develop comprehensive evaluation matrices and recommendations for each unit.

Mosaic – COE Computer Services did a major upgrade to Windows XP, created two new multimedia classrooms, obtained a major grant from Sun Microsystems for high-performance engineering computing and upgraded 45 older systems.

Graduates 2000-2001
	B.S.	M.S.	Ph.D.
TOTAL	269	82	6