May 2018 Five10 Report

Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Engineering students are competing against peers from San Luis Obispo in the THRIVE-X Challenge for a $10,000 First Prize while tackling one of the biggest problems in agriculture—how to solve the shortage of labor affecting the harvest of crops. .

Dayanne Mirra, currently pursuing a master’s degree in civil engineering, has won a scholarship from the Concrete Masonry Association of California and Nevada. The award was increased from the standard amount due to her exceptional application. .

Pavithra Nagarajan '20 (bioengineering) received an SCU Diversity Works Award presented to 5 students who thoughtfully articulated how diversity and inclusion is shaping their journey and values, and their commitment to making an impact in their future path and career. .

National Society of Black Engineers: Congratulations to our NSBE student organization recently named their region's Best Small Chapter! SCU NSBE fosters an environment of academic success, camaraderie, and professionalism to motivate members to reach their career and educational goals. .

Senior Design Students Abroad: Three student teams spent Spring Break implementing their projects in Nicaragua (Frugal Clay Tile Extruder), Tanzania (Rainwater Catchment System), and Uganda (Climate Smart Farming System). See these and other Senior Design presentations at the .

Solar Regatta Team: SCU engineering students are pitting their solar-powered catamaran against entries from other universities in the 7th Annual California Solar Regatta, May 5. Taylor Mau (electrical engineering and computer engineering) and James Wang (electrical engineering) co-lead the team. Details.

Undergraduates Kimberley Gonzalez, Muna Sinada, Naeem Turner-Bandele, and Jennifer Yarp, wrote a paper with Professors Ruth Davis and Sarah Kate Wilson, "Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering: A Collaboration with the Students," that was  presented at the first annual Conference of CoNECD.

James Wang '19 (electrical engineering and environmental science) was named a Udall Scholar, awarded to college sophomores and juniors for leadership, public service, and commitment to issues related to Native American nations or to the environment.

Ahmed Amer (computer engineering) will co-chair the International Conference on Massive Storage Systems and Technology (MSST) 34th meeting at SCU May 15-16. Large-scale storage systems designers, implementers, and researchers will share best practices and discuss building and securing some of the world's largest storage systems.

Bonita Banducci (engineering adjunct lecturer) has been invited to participate in the Climate Smart San José Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Compact, bringing leaders together to accelerate measurable progress in achieving the targets identified in the Climate Smart San José plan.

Behnam Dezfouli (computer engineering) has been appointed as an associate editor of IEEE Communications Letters journal, which publishes letters on the frontiers of research within the Field of Interest of the IEEE Communications Society.

Silvia Figueira (computer engineering, ) has been invited to be a Contributing Editor for Engineering For Change’s News and Insights.

Maryam Khanbaghi (electrical engineering) and colleagues have a new patent granted March 8, 2018: "Dual loop control of ceramic precursor extrusion batch," Dennis M Brown, Maryam Khanbaghi, Robert John Locker, Wenbin Qiu, Kenneth Charles Sariego, Conor James Walsh. US Patent 20120226375.

Christopher Kitts (mechanical engineering, ) received a new $8,000 grant from the California Space Grant Consortium, "Development of a UAV Field Operations Program for Education and Research,” supplementing other funded efforts to enhance UAV education, field capability, and research infrastructure.

Tokunbo Ogunfunmi (electrical engineering) is serving as General Chair of the IEEE 2018 Conference on Signal Processing Systems (SIPS), Oct. 21-24, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Frank S. Greene, Jr., Ph.D. '70 (electrical engineering): Palo Alto School Board has renamed Jordan Middle School in honor of Frank S. Greene, Jr. (1938-2009), celebrating a man who was a pioneering African American engineer, entrepreneur, investor, and Silicon Valley leader. .

Engineering Faculty Awards: Congratulations to Prashanth Asuri, Teacher of the Year; On Shun Pak, Researcher of the Year; Paul Semenza, Adjunct Lecturer of the Year; and Robert Marks, Gerald E. Markle Award for Teaching Excellence in Applied Mathematics and Engineering. Read more about these outstanding members of our community .

Senior Design Conference May 10: Join us for the 48th annual showcase of engineering seniors' work, Thursday, May 10. Stop in for a few minutes or stay all afternoon as students present capstone projects. All are invited! See the schedule and project abstracts here.

Want more news? Here's a at our Spring 2018 Engineering News coming your way next week. Learn more about some of our senior design projects and an exciting new collaboration with the City of San José.