Engineers Without Borders Student Chapter’s Experience at the 2018 Engineers Without Borders USA National Conference

Four CETA students who are members of the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Student Chapter here at the University of Hartford had the opportunity to travel to California earlier this month for the 2018 Engineers Without Borders (EWB) USA Conference.

All four students - (pictured left to right) Yasmin Albur, Kaleigh McGuirl, Matthew Garneau, and Griffin Shepherd - pictured in front of one of the EWB Conference banners during the networking corporate event that the conference hosted some of the companies there included ARUP, Pratt and Whitney, ASCE and a few others who are great supporters of Engineers Without Borders. 

These students included Computer Engineering major Kaleigh McGuirl ’19, Civil Engineering major Matthew Garneau ’19, Electrical Engineering major Griffin Shepherd ‘19, and Biomedical Engineering major Yasmin Albur ’21.

Matt, Kaleigh and Yasmin are on the eBoard for the EWB Student Chapter and have the positions of President, Secretary, and Public Relations, respectively. The students have also been on travel teams to India and Griffin, in particular, has also traveled to Kenya with Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering David Pines.

Kaleigh was kind enough to share more about their experience attending the conference.

How did you learn about the conference and what were you hoping to get out of attending?
A conversation between the eBoard and Professor Pines sparked the idea of attending the conference. The EWB Student Chapter found it would be a great opportunity for the students to attend because of the level of networking and resources available at the conference.

“We could potentially meet people to help with projects or provide us with ideas for potential new projects,” said Kaleigh.

The conference would also be a great opportunity for the students to grow their own chapter here at the university based on what other schools are doing. The goal with many student organizations is to continue to grow involvement as students’ move on and graduate. Kaleigh was thrilled to share they were able to bring home some takeaways from other schools to encourage more CETA students to get involved with their organization on campus.

“The conference allowed the students to see how other groups make their decisions for their chapters’ projects (student and professional),” said Kaleigh. “We also could attend many sessions to discuss retention with other student chapters and what their school club does on campus to help keep students interested in our chapter at the University of Hartford.”

How did this conference tie back to your major and what you’ve learned at the University of Hartford?
Being a Computer Engineering major, there were a few topics that Kaleigh thoroughly enjoyed, including the Energy Challenges in the Developing World and Monitoring and Evaluation Techniques for Energy Systems.

“While there were only a few topics that didn’t revolve around civil engineering concepts, it’s still important to understand that if you want to have a pump for a well, for example, you’re still going to need some type of power systems connected to it,” said Kaleigh. “This is where electrical and computer engineers can work together to calculate and develop a system that fits what you’re trying to use the system for.”

Kaleigh was also able to reflect on what else she took from the conference. “I was able to take a look and listen to some of the projects that professional and student chapters have done as well as hear speeches about what it was like when the NGO first began,” said Kaleigh. “It was interesting to hear how many years that some people have been members, giving me a sense of hope that Engineers Without Borders continues to grow as an organization year after year because of its impact on individual lives.”

Would you recommend other CETA students attend this conference and others?
Kaleigh shared she would definitely recommend students from CETA to attend future EWB USA Conferences. It was not only a great experience for the students who went this month, but also allowed their organization, CETA, and the University of Hartford to be represented at the conference. The students connected with many professionals from various industries as well as other students from other colleges and universities who “also shared the same dedication for the work that EWB is capable of accomplishing every year” as Kaleigh described.

“I would recommend students to attend especially if they have the initiative and desire to help on projects in developing worlds,” said Kaleigh. “Next year’s conference is much closer to the university in Pittsburgh, PA.”

Here are some pictures from the event sent in by Kaleigh:

Matthew Garneau, President of the EWB Student Chapter, and Kaleigh McGuirl, Secretary of the EWB Student Chapter, pictured in front of one of the EWB Conference banners. 

Three of the students (Griffin Shepherd, Matthew Garneau, and Kaleigh McGuirl) pictured with other students from various universities around the nation during the conference's corporate networking event (same as the one from Image 2). This conference provided a great networking opportunity to not only meet with professionals but to get to know fellow students from various universities across the nation. 

All four students - (pictured left to right) Kaleigh McGuirl, Matthew Garneau, Griffin Shepherd, and Yasmin Albur - pictured in front of Alcatraz on a boat tour as we were able to explore the city of San Francisco in some downtime from the conference. 

All four students - (pictured left to right) Yasmin Albur, Kaleigh McGuirl, Matthew Garneau, and Griffin Shepherd - pictured on a boat for an audio tour that took us from the Golden Gate bridge to the Bay Bridge and went around the island of Alcatraz as we were able to explore the city of San Francisco in some downtime from the conference. 

Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering Professor Presents at Railways 2018 in Spain

This fall, Professor Ted Sussmann of the Civil, Environmental, and Biomedical Engineering department delivered four presentations, reviewed conference submissions, and co-organized a special session at Railways 2018: the Fourth International Conference on Railway Technology held in Barcelona, Spain.

Special session RW2018-6 titled “Track Structure and its Components: Advanced Materials, Design, Monitoring and Maintenance” was organized with colleagues at the University of Birmingham, UK, University of Wollongong, Australia and Nippon Koei Co. Japan. Professor Sussmann delivered presentations titled:
1.       Examples of Track Performance Effects Related to Excessive Track Deflection
2.       Long-Term Monitoring of Fouled Ballast Sites
3.       Applying Track Design Models to the Assessment of Track Performance and Remaining Life
4.       Ballast Behavior under Passenger and Freight Traffic

During the visit to Barcelona, Dr. Sussmann visited La Sagrada Familia.

Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia under construction 1882-present.

Featured Freshmen Project at CETA Design Expo Next Month: Robot Design Challenge

Robotics continues to grow in popularity with many CETA students, and we are excited to see some of the featured projects at this year's Design Expo for the Robot Design Challenge.

ES 143: Engineering and Design is described as the "Introduction to the fundamentals of engineering, the engineering profession and engineering design with emphasis on guided design and problem-solving methodologies. Students will undertake practice-oriented group design projects."

As part of the design challenge, each team must propose, build, and demonstrate a final robot project that shows new knowledge and skills pertaining to their robot kit. New knowledge and skills may be in for form of the following:

• Implementation of two new sensors
• Novel application of an existing sensor
• Advanced programming techniques beyond the code given in the manual

The designs will be evaluated based on the following criteria, which will be used by judges to evaluate the final product and to choose the winning designs/products:

1. Performance (Successful completion of the intended task.)
2. Creativity (How creative is the final product?)
3. Level of Difficulty (How complex is the new sensor/coding/ knowledge?)
4. Presentation: Poster (Does the poster clearly illustrate the goal of the project?)
5. Presentation: Oral (Are the students well-prepared and rehearsed?)

Our students truly have a hands-on experience inside and outside the classroom. Students are able to use the equipment provided within the classroom to master their skills. Below are two photos from the CETA robotics lab, including CETA's very own robotics mascot, Baxter.

Please join us for the CETA Design Expo — Fall 2018 event in the Sport Center, Instramural Gym at the University of Hartford. Come to see all the happenings and accomplishments of the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture.

CETA Winners Within the Fall 2018 Award Recipients by the CT Space Grant Consortium

Two faculty members in Mechanical Engineering, Paul Slaboch and Kamau Wright, were each awarded a Faculty Research Grant from the CT Space Grant Consortium. The grants are for $10k with a matching budget from the university of $10k for a total budget of $20k each.

Also, we had a student in our dept, Patrick Dubiel, who won an undergraduate student research fellowship. This is a $5k award for Patrick to complete his research project.

Congratulations Paul, Kamau, and Patrick!

Learn more about their awards here: http://ctspacegrant.org/5833/fall-2018-award-recipients

CETA Civil Engineering Seniors Visit Local Water Treatment Plant for Class

On Friday, November 9, our civil engineering seniors toured the Hartford MDC - The Metropolitan District's Reservoir 6 water treatment plant as part of their Water Quality Engineering class with Professor Todd Brown.

During the tour and during the next few weeks of lecture, students learn how to engineer systems that clean and disinfect water supplies for public drinking water systems.

Architecture Students Visit Country Carpenters Post and Beam Buildings Inc. in Hebron, CT

Architecture undergraduate students taking AET 364 in Fall 2018 visited Country Carpenters Post & Beam Buildings Inc in Hebron, Connecticut on November 6, 2018, to learn about design and fabrication of structural timber structures.

The company specializes in design and construction of post and beam country barns, carriage houses, garden sheds among others. The timber products used for the construction of various projects are pre-engineered, pre-cut, color-coded with beam building kits which can be shipped to different locations in the United States and other parts of the world. Assistant Professor Timothy Adekunle supervised the tour. The site visit is part of the initiatives taken to support architecture students and help them gain additional knowledge in design of timber structures.

The facility tour to the company was led by the leadership team of Country Carpenters Inc. and included a tour of the design and manufacturing facility, including the yard to see completed barns and houses as well as the blacksmith section. The construction approach used by the company is very creative that it can produce the pieces for a heavy timber frame within a reasonable time.  The firm's goal is to help people build beautiful country places, and the company has been in operation since 1974. Additional information about the company can be found here.

First-Year Graduate Architecture Students Visit Mosque for Project

First-year graduate architecture students and design studio Professor Michael J. Crosbie recently visited mosques as part of research for a design studio project to design an Islamic Center for Greater Montreal on a site in Canada.

Earlier this month, the six students and Crosbie attended a prayer service at the Berlin Mosque in Connecticut. Over the weekend, the students and Crosbie traveled to conduct site research in Montreal. While in the city, they visited the Islamic Centre of Quebec and had a chance to spend time with Imam Syed Fida Bukhari to discuss mosque design and the history of the building (which is the oldest purpose-built mosque in the province).

Pictured in front of the Berlin mosque are students Damoy Porteous, John Turner, Adriana Ricciardi, Theo Bading, Clara Gerlach, and Samir Djeddar. The students are pictured inside the Berlin mosque with Crosbie, in front of the qibla wall, which orients toward Mecca, the direction in which Muslims pray. The students are also shown visiting with Imam Bukhari at the Islamic Centre of Quebec.