Momentum 2008 Spring

Engineering with a Global Impact

inside this issue:build it and they will flyjourneys of perseverancefinding the tangent of the tangostaying out of the gutter

SPRIN

G 20

08

Greetings!

As part of the Bagley College of Engineering (BCoE) extended community, you – our students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends – play a critical role as represen-tatives of the college. We appreciate your outreach efforts in linking the college to the world around us.

This point is evident in the story about three men, all who attended Mississippi State at different times, who were brought together through the BCoE alumni network. This valuable Mississippi State relationship brought these three entrepre-neurs together to create something remarkable. I invite you to read their story of innovation and invention titled “Build it and they will fly--safely.”

As the college strives to be recognized among the best, it must continue to encour-age a student community that values diversity and is willing to transcend bound-aries. In our corporate global economy, companies value and hire graduates who are willing to work outside the borders of the United States. Brian Coffman, a me-chanical engineering graduate, studied abroad when he was a student and moved to China after completing his degree. Read how he is making an impact on the world around him in the story, “Cultural experiences open a graduate’s mind.”

These Momentum stories are good examples that demonstrate what is possible if you are willing to push yourself beyond your own comfort zone. As you work to make a difference in your neighborhoods, communities and state, we appreciate your time and efforts as ambassadors for the college. Together we are successfully promoting the value of a BCoE education and are setting an example for all future students.

Best Regards,

Glenn Steele, Ph.D., P.E.Interim DeanJames Worth Bagley College of Engineering

As you work to make

a difference in your

neighborhoods,

communities and

state, we appreciate

your time and efforts

as ambassadors for

the college. Together

we are successfully

promoting the value

of a BCoE education

and are setting an

example for all future

students.

table of contentsEditors

Kay Jones

WritersSusan Lassetter

Diane L. Godwin

Ar t DirectionHeather M. Rowe

PhotographersMegan Bean

Kristen HinesDiane L. Godwin

Susan LassetterHeather M. Rowe

Advisory BoardW. Glenn Steele

Donna ReeseRoger King

Tommy StevensonRobert GreenBennett Evans

Subscription, Inquiries &

Address Changes:Momentum

PO Box 9544Miss. State, MS 39762

orpublications@

bagley.msstate.edu

Subscribe toour monthly

podcasts & electronic newlsetters by

sending an email [email protected]

www.bagley.msstate.edu

10Journeys of perseverance

Cover: Jairo Diaz, Ph.D, works as a CEE post doctorate researcher. Here he is working with graduate students John Ramirez, Hunter Johnson and Richie McComas calculating how much water industry systems pull from the rivers, how many pollutants are in the water, and designing tools that will help protect the ecosystem.

04Engineers learn to stay out of the gutter

07Build it and they will fly — safely

10Journeys of perseverance

15Cultural experiences open graduate’s mind

18CSI Bagley

20Finding the tangent of the tango

22Pond scum turns into a beautiful ‘green’ energy resource

24Easing transitions through empowered students

25Remember the student, alumnus, businessman, and friend

26Keeping up with changing needs

28Distinguished Fellows

30Movers & Shakers

32Development Notes

SPRING 2008

Strikes can come in many forms, from those that mean “you’re out,” to those that bring production to a halt. However, a third type begins with a thud, ends with a clatter and unlike a union strike, it can be settled in a back alley–a bowling alley, that is. For one group of Bagley College of Engineering students, those strikes are their goal as they bowl over stress, boredom and their competition one pin at a time.

Engineers learn to stay out of the gutterBy Susan Lassetter

4 Momentum Spring 08 www.bagley.msstate.edu

“I think engineers do well bowling because we learn through clear and utter frustration,” ex-plained Mark Dyess, a graduate student. “Much like experiments, in bowling, you take a shot and if it doesn’t work, you start to think what is the problem and how to adjust for success. As engi-neers, that’s just how we work, where as it would just make other people mad.”

In addition to his mechanical engineering stud-ies, Dyess serves as captain of “Strike Force,” a four-person bowling team comprised entirely of aerospace and mechanical engineering students. A match made in Hull Hall, Dyess, Marty Brennan, Sam Curtis, and James Styers were all neighbors in the honors dorm and shared a fondness for lunch-n-bowl at the local alley. As the group began play-ing together, it didn’t take long for their skill to shine through, a team to take shape, and the local college night league to come calling.

“Some of our other friends were in the league and explained that it met once a week and was pretty fun,” Brennan, an aerospace engineering major, noted. “Once we started participating, it was nice. It really helps get you through the week and it gives you something to look forward to on Wednesday nights.”

Though the weekly matches act as a stress reliever and offer each team member a break from their demanding course loads, they find that bowling is not entirely devoid of science and theory. In ad-dition to overcoming the handicap system, which helps less experienced players be competitive, there are specific spins, angles and oil patterns on the lanes that have to be considered during a match.

“Most people don’t know that lanes have specific oil patterns that are different through each al-

“Much like experiments, in

bowling, you take a shot and if it doesn’t

work, you start to think what is the

problem and how to adjust for success,”

says Dyess.

Bagley College of Engineering Momentum 5

ley. It is different each week and affects how the ball moves down the lane,” Styers, a mechanical engineering major, said. “In league play, you are given 15 minutes to practice, which is important. It gives us time to account for the variables and adjust our styles.”

Naturally inclined to analytical thinking, the team’s ability to apply engineering principles to the game gives them an edge over the competi-tion. Although Brennan notes that over-thinking the situation is always a possibility, the team enjoys the slight crossover between recreation and research as bowling allows them to flex their problem-solving muscles.

“Bowling is a lot like a real-world engineering application. You have an uncontrolled problem, like the condition of the lane, and a time limit for solving it. You have to think on your feet and weigh your options for getting the most pins down,” Brennan said. “Like with engineering problems, there are various solutions for getting the pins down, but you have to decide which is most effective at the time.”

Every bowler on the team has his own method for beginning a frame. Whether it be his approach to the lane, or the way he holds the ball, some things remain constant throughout the game. However, once some of the pins have been knocked down, mathematics, strategy and theories of motion take over.

“The real math problems start after you have decided how to adjust for the conditions and roll your first ball,” Curtis, an aerospace engineering major, said. “If you leave pins standing after your first frame, you have to do a quick engineering problem in your head, figuring out what angle and spin to put on the ball to make one pin knock down another across the lane. That’s really where our engineering backgrounds pay off.”

As a team, “Strike Force” now has one of the lowest handicaps in the college night league, and while that makes it hard to become champions at the end of the semester, it doesn’t make the game any less fun for the four friends. They explain that after so many years of competing they see themselves more as advisers, especially now, hav-ing recently recruited another all-engineer team to the lanes. For them, it is not about being fiercely competitive; it’s a game for building friendships, facing a challenge and just having a good time.

“The way we work together as a team, critique each other and strategize comes a lot from our experiences in engineering classes, but the cama-raderie it builds also makes bowling nights fun,” Styers said. “As an engineer or as a bowling team member, you have to work as part of a team to be successful, but when you are, your abilities shine through.”


This story of aviation shares similarities with the famous movie “Field of Dreams.” The flick stars Kevin Costner whose character hears 1920s White Sox baseball star “Shoeless Joe” Jackson whisper from the heavens, “If you build it, he will come.” Both are stories about having faith, believing and the triumph of hope, only this story doesn’t begin in a cornfield out in the middle of Iowa. It takes place at an airport that is located behind an 11-year-old boy’s backyard. It was the perfect playground for Chuck Dixon and his friends who used to sneak out and play in the World War II fighters and bombers.

“The planes were parked there to train aviation mechanics at the local high school during the war and a while after the war. Since most of the air-craft were still in assembled condition, my friends and I sat in the airplanes and imagined being fighter and bomber pilots,” said Dixon.

It was there in his childhood home of White-haven, Tenn., now a suburb of Memphis, that Dixon discovered his passion for aviation. It was an experience that inspired Dixon to excel as an honor student in high school, but when it came to college, the sky wasn’t the limit for Dixon; it was money.

“At age 17 I joined the Naval Air Reserve because my family could not help me go to college, and scholarships at the time were limited,” recalled Dixon.

For two-and-a-half years Dixon served in the Korean War as an aircraft mechanic and taxi pilot. During that time, he was working with young Navy officers who held higher ranks because of their college education, designators that motivated Dixon. His ambition and experience, combined with his knowledge from high school aeronautic classes, helped Dixon advance rapidly in rank.

“One of my Navy friends had attended Missis-sippi State and knew that the university had an aerospace engineering program,” explained Dixon. “He knew of my desire to attend college and encouraged me to apply.”

Planning to use the GI Bill to pay for tuition, Dixon enrolled at Mississippi State in 1952. Out-of-state tuition costs were consuming most of the GI funds; as a result, Dixon and his wife struggled financially. Recognizing that Dixon was an excellent student with naval aeronautical experience, Dr. August Raspet, founder of the aerophysics lab (later named the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory), gave Dixon a part-time job, recommended him for a scholarship and worked with former aerospace professor Edwards to lower tuition costs.

“I gained some very practical experience in the RFRL that helped me get a better job with Doug-las Aircraft when I graduated,” said Dixon. “Cali-fornia was the place where aviation flourished in the 1950s, and my job was designing aircraft for the Navy.”

The nature of the aeronautical business is that engineers gain more well-rounded experiences by working for different companies, a needed factor for promotion within their field. After eight years of building his reputation, Dixon learned that his former professor and director of the Missis-sippi State Raspet Flight Research Lab (RFRL), Dr. Joe Cornish, was working as a manager of the research department at Lockheed Aircraft Co. Cornish recruited Dixon to the Marietta, Ga.-based company.

“I actually wrote to him and explained my interests. Before I knew it, I was transferred to the Lockheed Aircraft Co.,” stated Dixon. “At that point I had come full circle, because I was

Build it and they will fly—safelyBy Diane L. Godwin

Vortex Lift Vectors atBeginning of Roll


involved in several cooperative efforts with the RFRL while working in Lockheed’s research department.”

With more than 25 years in the business, Dixon decided to take early retirement; however, his golden years proved to him that he was still “plane” crazy—as in aeronautics. He was enam-ored with those machines that fly in the sky. The time off gave him an opportunity to think about a way to prevent planes from getting caught in vortices during their landing approach. When a plane gets caught in a vortex it spins out of control and then stalls. Dixon had a near-death experience 30 years ago when he, along with five other Lockheed Georgia scientists, were on their return flight from Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The group was aboard a small twin-engine plane returning to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Ga.

“We flew into the vortex wake of a Lockheed C-5 as we were landing. The airplane rolled almost 90 degrees when we were only about 20 feet off the runway. Fortunately, the pilot recovered in time to land safely,” sighed Dixon, who is a pilot him-self. “Needless to say, we all went back to work determined to learn more about vortex flow. Some worked on methods of eliminating the trailing vortex, but I went to work trying to find ways to make the vortex work for us.

After many years of studying vortices, Dixon ap-plied for and won a Department of Defense Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract that provided the foundation for him to start his own company, Consulting Aviation Services. The money from that and another contract helped him devise his invention of the VC Eaglets using computer software designed by his company. The reliable computerized simulation predicted and concluded that Dixon’s VC Eaglets invention would work on small commuter aircraft.

“VC Eaglets are sting-ray-shaped, ‘leading-edge’ devices that are placed on the wings of the air-plane to prevent and tame the stall of small twin engine airplanes,” explained Dixon. “For military aviation, there are many cargo and utility aircraft that cannot operate at full potential because their stall characteristics are dangerous. With VC Eaglets, the stall is controllable and the planes’ performance can be improved.”

The problem was Dixon’s VC Eaglets existed only in virtual reality. He needed to find someone who could fabricate and build the invention into tan-

gible and reliable devices—taking the VC Eaglets from computer simulated tests to actual flight tests. That is when Dixon remembered he had met Aaron Harcrow, a Bagley College of Engineering aerospace graduate. He met Harcrow through mutual associates during their time at Lockheed. After Dixon’s retirement, the two stayed in touch through their local chapter’s American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) meetings.

“When I was ready to build the VC Eaglets, Aaron worked for Millennium Dynamics, and I contracted with them to fabricate the VC Eaglets,” expressed Dixon. “Aaron actually made them from composites that he learned to create based on his experience in working with the RFRL at Missis-sippi State.”

RFRL has helped several companies and govern-mental agencies research and develop innovative aircraft, as well as having served as a small business incubator for aerospace companies. For instance, part of the facility was built for Honda to design, build and flight test their prototype of a twin-en-gine business jet. Aurora Flight Sciences estab-lished their Mississippi operations initially at the Bryan Field facility. They graduated from RFRL to their own facility at the GTR Airport and currently are expanding. Two other companies currently are in residence—GE Aviation and Stark Aerospace. While the Raspet Flight Research Lab is very advantageous to companies and agencies, it also is a huge benefit to students in the BCoE.

“The Raspet Flight Research Lab is a unique and valuable asset to MSU, unmatched by any other university in the United States. It has the full complement of tools and equipment to fabricate state-of-the-art, full-sized aircraft,” clarified Har-crow. “Perhaps less well documented, but of great importance, is the quality and success of engineers in the industry who pass through the RFRL as student workers or research engineers on their way to greatness.”

Harcrow, a multi-disciplined engineer, has won many SBIR contracts for developing his own ideas in aviation. However, he added that his RFRL experience successfully launched him into the aeronautics field by giving him a broader under-standing of the complete product development cycle.

“When I examined the computer assisted draw-ing (CAD) models of Chuck’s design, I knew the Eaglets would be very important to the industry because of the increased safety of flight that they


can potentially provide to thousands of aircraft,” explained Harcrow. “My first step was devising a plan of how the Eaglets could be fabricated to produce a finished product that would meet the requirements of aerodynamic loading and installa-tion on the flight test aircraft.”

With the devices designed, Dixon and Harcrow’s next assignment was to find a pilot and place to perform a flight test. Once again, the Mississippi State Raspet Flight Research Lab proved to be an invaluable asset.

“I didn’t meet Sean Roberts when he was director of the RFRL, but I knew about him through other MSU contacts. In conversations with directors of the Civil Air Patrol, they recommended that I contact Sean who had conducted flight tests for them,” explained Dixon. “When I called Sean, it didn’t take long before we knew we had a mutual interest in Mississippi State.”

After Sean Roberts left the RFRL, he started his own company, Flight Research Inc., and the non-profit affiliate, the National Test Pilot School (NTPS). The organizations test new and modi-fied aircraft for Federal Aviation Administration certification, as well as weapons, sensor and decoy systems for major aerospace industries. The school and company offer state-of-the art facilities located at the Civilian Flight Test Center in Mojave, Calif.

“I was interested in Chuck’s patented invention because we at NTPS had lost a twin-engine Der-ringer D-1 aircraft and crew due to a stall and departure from controlled flight, which developed into an unrecoverable spin,” said Roberts. “The installation of the VC Eaglets on the wings of the

Derringer significantly improved its stall handling. This proved that the Eaglets could improve the stall handling of many general aviation aircraft, which would decrease the accident rate caused by stall, spin departures.”

The state of Georgia, where Dixon currently resides, celebrated 100 years of aviation last year. The date was October 1907 when Benn Epps, an 18-year-old pilot, took flight using a 15-horse-power motorcycle to power his plane. A century later proved to be perfect timing for the Georgia Aerospace Innovation Center to award Dixon the Benn T. Epps Aviation trophy for an outstanding aerospace invention.

Currently, Dixon, Harcrow and Roberts continue to test the Eaglets on the Derringer and they are waiting certification by the FAA. So far, Dixon has received a patent on the VC Eaglet concept and three more related to vortex flow. All three are working together to get the VC Eaglets on the market.

“Networking was very crucial in this instance for bringing together the basic resources needed: design, fabrication and flight testing. The common thread that helped bind it together was the RFRL, and this also provided an element necessary in any joint venture—trust,” commented Harcrow. “We knew that we could count on each other to provide the necessary services because of our affili-ation with MSU/RFRL.”

“Aaron actually made them from composites that he learned to create based on his experience in working with the RFRL at Mississippi State,” said Dixon.



When Jairo Diaz said good-bye to his wife and two toddler boys, he knew he wouldn’t live with his family for another seven years.

Diaz, a dedicated father and husband, was willing to make this sacrifice in order to create a better quality of life for his family. His story of com-ing to America actually starts three years earlier, when Diaz was teaching courses related to water resources as an instructor at a community college in Colombia, South America. It was his first job after receiving his bachelor’s degree in agricul-ture engineering at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Diaz was thankful to have the job; however, the salary was low and the chances for promotion were very limited.

“Political corruption at that time was really high in my country. If you were in the right political group, you could reach some high profile positions, regardless of your background,” explained Diaz.

Faced with having to raise his family in poverty, Diaz decided to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Puerto Rico, hoping the advanced degree would offer more opportunities in his beloved country. For two years he applied and was accepted into their graduate program; however, the school would not offer Diaz financial assistance.

Unlike America, Diaz’s country didn’t offer stu-dent loan programs that were federally subsidized with low interest rates. Asking his parents for money wasn’t an option. They ran a family market out of their home that generated just enough money to sustain them. Despite fighting the mixed emotions of receiving acceptance letters

with no offers of scholarship money, Diaz kept submitting his application.

Finally, Diaz said his persistence paid off, “I re-ceived a letter from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. Luis Perez-Alegria, the director of the agriculture and engineering department wrote me and offered me a scholarship. I was elated, and then so upset because I received the letter two weeks after the semester had already started.”

In the late 1990s, the Internet and e-mail hadn’t yet evolved in Colombia, so, naturally, all corre-spondence to Diaz from the University of Puerto Rico were letters delivered through each country’s postal system.

“The envelope postage was dated December 20, and I didn’t receive it until a month later,” exclaimed Diaz. “Fortunately the director called me and said,‘Jairo, where are you? You should have started the semester two weeks ago.’”

The letter arriving late created a host of obstacles for Diaz. First was a visa, which Diaz needed to apply for, as well as a passport. The process takes at least two weeks.

“The director asked his assistant, Maribel Rodri-guez, to help me expedite my visa by calling the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia. They in turn called and advised me to travel to the embassy

Journeys of perseveranceBy Diane L. Godwin


in Bogotá immediately to apply and pick up my visa,” said an exasperated Diaz.

Bogotá is a 12-hour, mountainous car drive from Diaz’s home in Buga, Colombia. Owning no vehicle, he boarded a dilapidated, rusty, old bus destined for Bogotá. Fifteen hours later, his persis-tence paid off.

“Within two days I received my visa and passport, as well as moved to the University of Puerto Rico. I started the semester two-and-a-half weeks late. Everything was good,” said Diaz.

Making up the work for the classes he missed was no easy feat. The classes were taught in Spanish, Diaz’s native language, but the books were printed in English and Diaz didn’t know much about the English language.

“So, there I was reading the books in English, and then trying to translate it to Spanish, and then attempting to understand my translations of the material I was supposed to be learning,” sighed Diaz. “Actually my first class in water biology was taught by a professor from North America. He asked me where I was from and I told him Co-lombia and he said, ‘Yeah, I can tell, your English isn’t very good and my class is taught in English.’”

Diaz laughed while nodding his head and said he remembers carrying an English translation dictionary wherever he went. Despite the language barrier, through this class Diaz discovered he lovedenvironmental engineering. He finally changed

from agriculture to civil and environmental engineering after he was recruited to collect water samples from a variety of field collection sites. They were testing for a research project that involved measuring water nutrients and sediments in the mountain central region of Puerto Rico.

“Three years later I had all the research data col-lected. I made the decision to write my thesis in English. I didn’t realize it at the time, but writing my thesis in English gave me the option of pursu-ing my doctoral degree in America,” reflected Diaz.

Diaz explained what happened after submitting his first draft to his adviser, “He dropped it on the table and told me my thesis didn’t make sense because I couldn’t express my thoughts in English. He said there was no way he was going to take the time to edit and correct it.”

Diaz panicked and began confiding his worries to his classmates. That is when he found an agri-culture and biological professor, Javier Huertas, who was willing to help him re-write his thesis in English.

“One problem I discovered is that sentence struc-ture in Spanish is much longer than in English, so this professor taught me how to write shorter sentences,” said Diaz.

After finishing the 100-page document, Diaz’s adviser from Penn State University encouraged him to pursue his doctorate in the U.S.

“Within two days

I received my visa

and passport, as well

as moved to the Uni-

versity of Puerto Rico.

I started the semester

two-and-a-half weeks

late. Everything was

good,” said Diaz.


“There were two tests I had to take. The first was English as a Foreign Language, the TOEFL, and the second was the Graduate Records Examina-tion, the GRE,” said Diaz. “During this entire time I’m trying to learn and improve my English. I realized I didn’t have a great grasp of it, but I took the TOEFL anyway, and I didn’t pass. Then I took the GRE and it was tougher than the TOEFL.”

A discouraged Diaz informed his adviser. Luckily for Diaz, the professor from Penn State knew another way around the system. He advised Diaz to contact several American universities and ask to be admitted “conditionally” meaning he would have one semester to prove he could excel in doctorate-level courses.

“I contacted William Kingery, a professor in plant and soil sciences at Mississippi State. He was willing to give me a chance,” explained Diaz. “My first semester I took some courses in English, a technical writing course and two water resource classes offered by the civil and environ-mental engineering department.”

That is when Diaz met Drs. William McAnally and James Martin. He recalled sitting down with them and explaining his educational background and experience.

“That first meeting, I was so nervous, I realized that if I didn’t sell myself, my experience and my abilities, I would end up back in Puerto Rico or Colombia,” recalled Diaz. “Fortunately, Drs. McAnally and Martin were very kind. They took the time to discuss my goals for the future, as well as my work and academic experience.”

McAnally, an associate professor in civil and en-vironmental engineering, spent 30 years working for the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg. His story is similar to Diaz’s in that he, too, was an older student who had a family to support. As a managing engineer at age 50, he had developed a very successful career and realized, as he was mentoring novice engineers, how rewarding it was to see them flourish and grow. That is when he decided he wanted to become a professor after he retired. The corps gave him a year to pursue his doctorate and offered flexible hours so he could finish his dissertation. Five years ago McAnally retired on a Friday and began teaching at the Bagley College of Engineering on a Mon-day. McAnally said when he met Diaz and real-ized his potential, it was time to pay it forward.

“James Martin and I leveled with Jairo. We told him, ‘Here is what is expected, and it’s not an easy curriculum. There are going to be some challenges ahead if you decide to commit to this program,’” said McAnally. “All of our students are exceptional, but the strongest differential that makes Jairo stand out from the rest is his persistence—a challenge never stops him.”

Diaz began the program and excelled so well as a doctoral student that he received a graduate stipend. Graduate stipends are a salary that help students sustain themselves while in college. Although very welcomed, the pay alone is a challenge, because it barely covers the cost of living. However, Diaz used his graduate stipend to support himself here and sent money home to support his parents, wife and sons. McAnally states Diaz’s way of budgeting is an example of just how frugal people can live.

“It’s really rewarding to see Diaz flourish, and at the same time it is a humbling experience and a challenge for me as a professor,” expressed McAnally. “We have an obligation to make this work and program worthwhile, so particpants’ sacrifices pay off for them.”

Diaz graduated with his doctoral degree this past summer and is now working as a post-doctorate researcher with McAnally and Martin.

“We have four major projects we are working on that are sponsored by the Northern Gulf Institute, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and NASA. They are focused on providing dependable research information and tools for water resource engineers, so they can do a better job of managing and protecting our watersheds,” explained McAnally.

Diaz is managing these research projects. He is in charge of calculating how much water industry systems pull from the rivers, how many pollut-ants are in the water, and designing tools that will help protect the ecosystem, while still pro-viding water for all the needs. The area of study is the Mobile Basin watershed, which includes rivers and their surroundings in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia.

“It was a win-win situation to hire Jairo as a post-doc,” said McAnally. “We needed some-one extremely intelligent, someone with a high work ethic and someone with field experience to oversee some of these projects. His skills help

“That first meeting,

I was so nervous,

I realized that if I

didn’t sell myself, my

experience and my

abilities, I would end

up back in Puerto

Rico or Colombia,”

recalled Diaz.


maintain continuity, as a result we can keep these projects moving forward to completion. It’s a win for Jairo because his goal is to become a faculty member and this gives him a chance to work on research and, at the same time, teach some courses.”

The salary from the post-doctorate position al-lowed Diaz, after seven years, to finally move his wife and one of his sons to Starkville.

“I don’t have words to describe how Drs. McAnal-ly and Martin impacted my life,” expressed Jairo. “They have given me so many opportunities to achieve my dreams and to have the money to bring my family here to America.”

The best way Diaz could demonstrate his grati-tude was to help his best friend, who also wanted to enroll in Mississippi State’s civil and environ-mental engineering program. John Ramirez was a graduate student at the University of Puerto Rico. Like Diaz, he, too, worked before going back to school—for eight years.

“After I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, I went to work as a researcher at the Colombian Corporation of Agricultural Research, (COR-POICA),” said Ramirez. “I co-authored five publications to educate farmers on how to prevent soil erosion by managing water resources as they irrigate their land.”

Working three jobs, seven days a week, Ramirez grew tired and decided to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Puerto Rico. When he gradu-ated, he and his wife moved to Florida, where they took English as a Second Language classes.

“In order to make a living while we were in Florida, the UCEDA Institute helped me find work at a warehouse,” explained Ramirez. “Although my education and skills were nothing related and above the level required for the job, I was grateful for the paycheck. It was a great opportunity to immerse myself into the local community, so I could practice English.”

Ramirez met Diaz at the University of Puerto Rico when Diaz was finishing his second year of gradu-ate school. Both students worked on the same university water research projects.

Ramirez laughs as he recalled meeting Diaz for the first time, ”It was my first day on campus and I didn’t know my way around yet. Jairo was standing in the hallway and I asked him directions

to my adviser’s office. At the time he was wearing a beard, which made him look a lot older, plus his mannerisms were proper and professional, so I formed the impression that Jairo was a professor.”

That chance meeting was the beginning of a friendship that has impacted both men’s lives in ways they never imagined.

“I was convinced I wanted to study for my Ph.D. with an emphasis in water resources, but I did not know where that would be,” said Ramirez. “When we were in Florida, Jairo called me and encouraged me to apply at Mississippi State. In fact, he set up a meeting for me to meet with Drs. McAnally and Martin.”

Ramirez said at first he was reluctant to study at Mississippi State. He thought the focus of the research within the civil and environmental en-gineering department were not in the areas of his interest. Jairo broke his misconceptions.

“I had a very different concept of Mississippi, it was quite different than what I’m actually experi-encing,” described Ramirez. “The state is beauti-ful, the people are open and very kind, and as a result, my wife and I have been accepted into the community.”

Since Diaz has convinced his friend to study civil and environmental engineering at the Bagley College of Engineering, both have tried to recruit other friends and family by spreading the word in Puerto Rico and Colombia.

“It’s such an affirmation of our program that the two of them would recommend it to their friends and family,” said McAnally. “Jairo and John are very successful in the program and they know us well, warts and all, and I’m really appreciative of their efforts.”

As a result of Diaz’s and Ramirez’s international relationships, the civil and environmental en-gineering program hopes to develop collabora-tions with the University of Puerto Rico and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, so more students can have the same opportunities as their predecessors.

“I was lucky and met good people that were willing to help me. If I can help someone else, I don’t have a problem spreading the word about an excellent program,” concluded Jairo.

Today, his students call him Dr. Jairo Diaz.


With one of the world’s fastest growing technolog-ical economies, China often enters the media spot-light. However, between its industrial advances, product safety recalls and Olympic preparations, the headlines are as varied as the country’s exten-sive history. China holds a level of mysteriousness for many outsiders, leaving them to reconcile their fascination with the country’s culture with the contradicting images plastered across newspapers’ front pages. For some, like mechanical engineering graduate Brian Coffman, it takes firsthand experi-ence to gain insight into this different culture.

“I had always been intrigued by Chinese culture, so I decided to study abroad there the summer before my senior year,” Coffman explained. “Liv-ing there showed me a life very different from my

own. It opened my eyes and broke my ethnocen-tric worldview. I saw people in need and opportu-nities to help and grow as a person. I realized I had a lot to learn from the rest of the world that I could not easily experience in the States.”

After returning to Mississippi State’s campus to complete his degree, Coffman began actively searching for opportunities to return to Asia. Al-though he had seen a demand in China for West-ern engineers, he lacked the business experience that most jobs required. However, his persistence and determination helped him stay in the hunt, and after searching for more than a year, he was contacted by a company looking to hire a young engineer.

Cultural experiences open graduate’s mind By Susan Lassetter


“This manufacturing company in China was specifically looking for an engineer who wanted to work in the challenging environment there,” Coffman said. “After a long process of interviews and training, I was accepted for the position. That meant after my graduation, I was able to move to Suzhou, China, and begin my next adventure in life.”

Having traveled in China before, Coffman thought he knew what to expect when he returned to start his job, but the rural Chinese life he lived during his first visit did not fully prepare him for his new life and career. His earlier experiences left him without many modern conveniences and Western foods, while his new home of Suzhou is one of the fastest growing high-tech industrial cities in the world, and boasts a population of nearly six million. Although the streets are lined with Western businesses, like common American restaurants, he is reminded daily that he is in a new culture.

“The language barrier is a common frustration when working in a new, foreign environment,” Coffman noted. “I took a few courses in Chinese, but it equates to the conversational ability of a 2-year-old. Unable to say even the most common daily phrase, I am humbled every time I open my mouth.”

For Coffman, finding success in this foreign environment requires flexibility and perseverance, traits he must employ daily as he encounters new things, both at work and socially. Personally, his fond memories of the Chinese buffet in Starkville, don’t compare to the common, traditional Chinese delicacies of chicken feet, pig stomach and fish head soup that he now encounters while dining. Professionally, he has found that the engineering principles and theories he learned at MSU translate into the different culture; however, the manufacturing processes rely on very different practices.

“With a new culture comes a different way of doing things. Engineering standards are the same, but daily work practices aren’t,” Coffman stated. “I have heard of all these large-scale quality issues with Chinese-made products, and now have seen many firsthand. There is a common phrase here that I have heard in reference to product quality: 差不多. Roughly translated, it means ‘it’s almost right.’”

He explains that while American companies ad-here to strict quality controls, no matter how cost-ly, Chinese companies strive to be the lowest cost supplier even if they have to sacrifice the integrity of the product. Understanding that issues like this often come down to cultural practices, Coffman is grateful that his company seeks to instill a higher level of personal ethics in its employees. The guidance of his Chinese co-workers and room-mates has enabled him to gain insight into many of these nuances and stave off complete confusion when interacting with local Chinese residents as he shows them lean engineering practices at work or meets them on the street.

“My free time is filled with local excursions and learning. My Chinese friends are all patient teachers and help me understand things I could never learn on my own,” Coffman said. “Although I have many local friends, a typical weekend includes trips with friends from other nations. I help a Malaysian friend teach English and regu-larly grab dinner with people from India, France, Australia, and Britain. Although different from a typical weekend in Starkville, I love the diversity and international flavor here.”

Looking back, Coffman can appreciate how his time at Mississippi State helped him gain an ap-preciation for other cultures. He is grateful for the way people and activities on campus opened his eyes to other parts of the world, and in part, led him to an adventurous new life of personal growth and helping others help themselves.

“I loved the atmosphere around State because there are so many diverse people from around the U.S. and the world,” Coffman noted. “If you look, you can find interesting people, events and activities all over campus. Although it took effort on my part, it helped me learn to appreciate other cultures, learn about other people and, ultimately, myself. Meeting international students is some-thing I encourage native students to do. It takes work on everyone’s part, but in the end both sides gain a worthwhile experience and friendship.”

Photos on page 15 were taken by and are courtesy of Brian Coffman.


Modern Chinese dictionaries •contain more than 80,000 Chinese characters.

Although China is known for •its high-tech industry, most homes do not have personal computers or Internet access. Personal electronics are also less common, but business environments are often state-of-the-art.

When eating fish, you never •turn it over yourself. It is a bad omen.

The number “514” is con-•sidered unlucky and must be avoided at all costs. On the other hand, “8” is very lucky and embraced by society.

Never stick your chopsticks •into a bowl of rice and leave them sticking out. It is symbolic of death.

Most Chinese people are un-•familiar with fortune cookies, which were actually invented in America.

Coffman assisting the line operators inspect one of the final products (copper ball anodes) before it is packaged.


“Everybody has a computer these days and courts are looking to those computers more and more frequently for evidence in everything from identity theft cases, where information is stored on a computer, to divorce cases, where one party might have been communicating with an extra-marital partner via the Internet,” explained Dr. Dave Dampier, director of the Southeast Region Forensics Training Center.

Although the field of computer forensics has been around for many years, the immense popularity of shows like CBS’ “CSI” or Dateline NBC’s “How to Catch a Predator” has brought the science into the limelight. It seems crime shows, whether based in fact or fiction, have captured the nation’s attention, making people more aware of computer crimes and causing MSU’s computer forensics class to become one of the most popular courses in the computer science and engineering depart-ment.

“With the popularity of so many crime shows featuring computer forensics, people are eager to study the field, so this class always fills up,” ex-plained Kendall Blaylock, the computer forensics laboratory administrator. “All of this television exposure is helping the field to grow, and in this science there are still a lot of things, both techni-cally and legally, that need to be figured out.”

While actors in Hollywood are learning to per-form the emerging roles of evidence examiners on television, computer science and engineering students in Starkville are taking on new roles of their own. As opposed to appearing as diligent note takers in lecture-based classes, the computer forensics class lets students play many parts. First, they perform as criminals, generating evidence for specific crimes involving identity theft, child pornography or embezzlement.

“If you want to uncover crimes, you have to know how criminals hide from authorities. Basically, you have to think like a criminal to catch a criminal,” explained James Sakalaukus, a computer engineer-ing major. “So for the first few weeks in class, we worked in groups to generate the evidence that other groups would be collecting during the crime scene take-downs in Meridian.”

Concluding their stint as “criminals,” the students took on new roles as law enforcement officers during crime scene take-downs at Naval Air Sta-tion Meridian’s mock city. There, class instructors planted evidence in various “crime scenes” and pretended to be criminals caught in the act. The students then worked in groups to bust down doors, seize evidence and arrest and interrogate the suspects.

The hammer of justice now has extra strength behind it thanks to the BCoE’s efforts in training the next generation of crime scene investigators. Like something straight from television, students in computer forensics learn how to gather, analyze and present evi-dence in court, becoming part of one of the fastest growing areas in forensics investigation.

CSI BagleyBy Susan Lassetter


“The purpose of the exercises in Meridian was to expose the students to what law enforcement investigators do. In reality, forensics investigators may not be the ones breaking down the doors, but they could be called in to identify what is important and what can be gathered in terms of evidence,” Dampier said.

Dampier noted that among all of the exercises, it was the mock trials that followed the collection and analysis of data that were most beneficial. These scenarios really put students into the role of computer forensics experts. The “trials” placed students in front of a jury, comprised of students from Jackson State’s computer forensics program, and a real judge from MSU’s Stennis Institute of Government. While testifying, the classmates had to educate the audience while undergoing questioning from lawyers from the University of Mississippi School of Law, who grilled them on everything from evidence collection to their expe-rience levels and procedures of analyzing evidence.

“I think this whole experience, with busting into crime scenes and going to court in front of real lawyers, is probably the biggest adrenaline rush I have had in quite some time,” explained Terrance Shannon, a computer engineering student. “This was vastly different from other computer classes

I have taken. Plus, in class, not only have we learned how to analyze seized data, but we also now have a better working knowledge of how information is stored on digital devices.”

Shannon, along with most of his classmates, can’t help but smile when discussing his experiences in the computer forensics class, especially when the topic is getting to “arrest” the teaching assistants. Although their experiences in the class sound like intense scenes from the NBC series “Law and Or-der,” the students were grateful for the opportuni-ties. While the course was a welcome break from typical classes, it showed them an entirely new world of professional opportunities in engineer-ing, and they eagerly await the chance to continue their education in the field.

“This class was a great experience because not only do you learn, but you get to actually complete the investigation. Having participated in something like this will help make graduates more market-able,” explained Marc Parisi, a graduate student in computer science. “It is a tremendous course for anyone interested in law enforcement or computer science, because if you want to catch a criminal, you have to understand the changes in technology that this class teaches.”


Finding the tangent of the tango By Susan Lassetter

“One of the instructors is an engineer so he will use engineering terms to explain things and reach out to the other BCoE students in the class, putting dance into a form that really clicks with us,”said Spann.

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“I personally think of my dance steps in terms of mathematical timing, strategic placement and vectors of movement. It must be the engi-neer in me,” explained Harry Lam, a graduate student in industrial and systems engineering. “I know dance is an art, but I can’t help but apply some science to it.”

Although typically considered too analytical to partake in uninhibited, creative expression, such as ballroom dancing, Lam and several other engineers are active members in MSU’s Ballroom Dance Club. Founded four years ago, by electrical and computer engineering professor Erdem Topsakal, the club boasts over 100 members from many of Mississippi State’s diverse academic programs. While graphic design and English majors may seem more of a natural fit in the organization, it is the pres-ence of engineers that can be felt throughout the club, including the classes with ballroom instructor and biological engineering major, Michael O’Neal.

“When you study engineering, or any other science, you learn the step-by-step scientific method used to solve problems,” O’Neal said. “I approach dancing in much the same way; I do it step-by-step. I separate everything, from foot movements to arm positions, into a category and look at each part individually and differently.”

Sharing instructing duties with a student from a more artistic field, O’Neal notices differences in their teaching styles. While he provides me-thodical and technical directions to the class, his counterpart is more likely to “freestyle” and get creative with the movements. These varied styles help every member of the organi-zation feel at ease, and allows the engineers to integrate their own lingo in the classes.

“When I started taking the beginner class, the instructors really broke things down which made it easier to enjoy the class,” said Laurin Spann, a civil engineering major. “Plus, one of the instructors is an engineer so he will use engineering terms to explain things and reach out to the other BCoE students in the class, putting dance into a form that really clicks with us.”

Among the things that keep engineering majors a step ahead of the other budding Fred Astaires, is their familiarity with angles, timing diagrams, physics, and their attention to detail. For many engineers, like mechanical

engineering major Preston Cauley, the inter-mingling of scientific knowledge and artistic style provides the opportunity to consolidate seemingly opposing sides of their personalities to become more well-rounded people.

“Dancing requires that you use both right- and left-brain thinking consistently,” Cauley explained. “It’s nice to have that outlet for creative thinking and it is a big difference. Without using both our creative and scientific sides, we might go crazy.”

Aside from providing an outlet for creative thought, the engineering students in the club have noted several other benefits to participat-ing in ballroom dance. Spann, Cauley and Lam all have experienced personal growth by immersing themselves in other artistic opportunities on campus, such as philosophy clubs or special events. However, another civil engineering major, Hope Askew, has discov-ered a more practical benefit.

“While interviewing for co-op positions recently, an interviewer took notice of my list of extracurricular activities,” Askew said. “He was impressed to see that I have an interest in ballroom dancing and believed that it showed maturity for a college student to participate in something as refined as classical forms of dance. It really made an impression on that recruiter.”

Although each student has experienced his or her own personal benefits from dancing, all ac-knowledge that the club has opened their eyes to a new way of thinking and can appreciate the edge this gives them in their engineering studies. As much as their engineering back-grounds help them master fancy footwork, dancing can help them gain their footing in a successful engineering career.

“A lot of times, engineering can be a stressful field, but I believe being able to step away and enjoy something artistic like dancing will help any engineer get a different perspective on a problem,” O’Neal said. “Developing a second way of looking at a problem can help an engi-neer offer a better solution for a problem than if they just spent all of their time focusing on science and math.”

Can someone find the tangent of the tango, the sine of swing, or the formula of the fox trot? Well, engineering students at Mississippi State can certainly get close. By applying sys-tematic and scientific methods to ballroom dancing, engineering majors in the Bagley College of Engineering have found a way to merge right- and left-brain thinking to help expand their minds.


Pond scum turns into a

beautiful ‘green’ energy resource

By Diane L. Godwin


The green, slurpy, slimy, grimy gook that grows on ponds slips slowly through Mathew Young and Mitch Wall’s fingers. The undergraduate chemical engineering majors are working on groundbreak-ing research that uses oil from this goo, commonly known as algae, to make biofuel that may be pumped into your fuel tank some day.

That’s right, pond scum is what Bill Elmore, Hunter Henry Chairholder and a Bagley College of Engineering chemical engineering professor, calls micro-algae. More specifically, a particular type under study at the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering is called “Botryococcus braunii.” It has been making headlines as the next answer for solving the world’s energy problem.

Young laughed as he tried to pronounce and spell the name “Botryococcus braunii.” “That’s the first step in being a part of this research project, being able to pronounce its name, let alone spell it,” said Young. “Actually when you look at it in a test tube, it looks like any ordinary green sludge or a slime mold of some kind.”

The microscopic organisms can accumulate high levels of oils in their cells; thus when touching some types of micro-algae, they can feel a bit greasy or oily.

“That’s the attraction--their high oil accumulation. Potentially, up to 80 percent or more of their body weight can comprise an oil that can be processed into biofuel,” explained Elmore. Elmore is the faculty adviser for the BCoE American Institute of Chemical Engineers student chapter. That is where he met chemical engineer-ing students Wall and Young and recruited both to work on his research.

“The next thing we knew, we were involved in working in Elmore’s lab using the bio-reactors to grow algae microorganisms,” said the two students.

Many other BCoE peer institutions and corpora-tions across the globe are spending billions trying to concoct just the right food source and nurtur-ing environment to make these microorganisms grow into bountiful algae at a controllable rate. The problem is that they’re somewhat tempera-mental and there are many pieces necessary for solving the puzzle of producing fuel from micro-algae.

“The problem is we can’t predict when and how much of it will grow at certain times. We’re try-ing to figure out how to control the growth rate, the growing environment and the right mix of nutrients to produce the amount and quality we need as a society to viably use it,” explained Young and Wall.

There are other sources that exist, such as soybean, corn and canola oil for producing biofuel. The problem with using these sources is the removal of highly valuable products from the food supply, and the fact that, even if all these sources were converted to fuels, they would not begin to meet the demand currently being met by petroleum resources. Elmore’s current focus is on using secondarily treated wastewater as a nutrient rich source for growing micro-algae.

“We’re trying to integrate the technology of grow-ing micro-algae with other technologies being studied here by leading researchers in this field of biofuels production,” said Elmore. “The idea is to build an integrated system that can effectively remove carbon dioxide (a primary greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere while producing a competi-tive biofuel from non-food sources.”

Elmore added that his research is still in the very early stages and hopes it will complement other more advanced projects, which utilize additional oil-related microorganisms used in biocrude production.

“Successfully creating an integrated process for combining micro-algae with other microorgan-isms offers a significant potential for converting ‘waste-reduction processes’ into alternative energy resources,” noted Elmore.

The idea not only seems worthwhile for the consumer and the environment, but it is beneficial for students learning laboratory processes and procedures.

“It’s advantageous for us to work on this project as undergraduates because our names could poten-tially be included within the research publication,” expressed Wall and Young. “This research really opened our eyes. We’re studying to be chemical engineers and we only thought about chemicals—things that are completely inorganic. Now we’re thinking about living organisms and the chemis-try behind them, and it is a completely different perspective.”

“The next thing

we knew, we were

involved in working

in Elmore’s lab using

the bio-reactors to

grow algae microor-

ganisms,” said the

two students.


It may take a village to raise a child, but the Bagley College of Engineering has a whole community to help advance its students. More specifically, students have the Engineering Living and Learning Community to help ease their transition into col-lege and give them a head start over their peers.

“Engineering is one of the main focuses at MSU, so it can be stressful for an incoming freshman like myself. The BCoE is trying to make it easier for us,” explained computer engineering major Chris Myers. “I can see how living in this hall has made my transition into computer engineering easier.”

Myers is one of many students taking part in the fledgling program, which groups freshmen engineering majors from all eight departments onto one floor of Hull Hall in the heart of MSU’s campus. Along with the freshmen, the commu-nity, which is jointly sponsored by the housing and resident life department, also hosts several mentors who are engineering upperclassmen. This affords all students, from freshmen to seniors, he unique opportunity to live together in an en-gineering-specific community. The situation helps the students benefit from each others’ experiences and knowledge.

“When I was a freshman, it was more difficult to get help. There was a learning center, but you had to be there during specific hours, depending on what subject you needed help with, and you usually didn’t know the person helping you,” said L&LC mentor Chris Dailey. “With us, it is easier for the freshmen to ask for help. Since we live with them, they know us and we are pretty much always there when they have questions.”

A senior in electrical engineering, Dailey explains that the mentors are familiar with the trials that new students face on campus and are able to draw from their own experiences when offering assistance. The mentors all work together to help encourage and support the freshmen, so that one day they can be the “big dawgs” on campus.

“Our goal is to help the freshmen keep their grades up, understand their class work and stay in school,” Dailey noted. “We also try to get them involved in some of our activities. Several freshmen have gotten involved with different BCoE student teams, and throughout the year, we have worked to help everyone fit in and feel involved.”

Easing transitions through empowered studentsBy Susan Lassetter


Understanding that the community is as much a social experiment as an educational one, the men-tors also help the freshmen in social endeavors. Throughout the year, the group works to experi-ence all of what MSU and Starkville have to offer while building relationships that will help carry them through their academic and, eventually, professional engineering careers.

“I knew participating in the learning community would be great for me since I didn’t know anyone when I came to MSU,” explained Katelan Dueitt, a freshman in biological engineering. “I absolutely love the community, and have made so many friends through it. Since we are all engineers, we get along really well and there is always someone available to help with study sessions. It has been a great experience. I wish they had a program for sophomores so I could do it next year, but eventu-ally I hope to get the opportunity to be a mentor.”

Dave Swalm was a good friend, loyal Bulldog and a person with a big heart whose generosity gave many a better quality of life. The 1955 chemical engineering graduate became a highly successful engineer who founded the Texas Olefins Co. and Texas Petrochemical Corp. He contributed much of his suc-cess to his education and gave liberally of his time, talents and treasures to the school system in his hometown of Brookhaven, Mississippi State and many charitable organizations in the state of Texas.

“Dave touched and enriched the lives of all who he met and will be remembered for his wise counsel and tireless dedication to planning a bright future for the university and for the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering,” said Mark White, director of the chemical engineering department.

Swalm endowed several scholarship funds totaling more than $5 million to encourage Brookhaven students to study chemi-cal engineering and other technical degrees at Mississippi State. In addition, he provided extensive financial support for MSU faculty, restoration and renovation of campus buildings, and a new chemical engineering building.

“Many chemical engineering graduates will remember Dave as the man who helped to pay for their education through the Swalm Scholars program,” said White. “Through his gener-osity, a large number of chemical engineering students were able to complete their education and enter the work force as Mississippi State graduates.”

Swalm always believed in a life dedicated to philanthropy and helping others in need. All of us here at the Bagley College of Engineering will miss our dear friend Dave Swalm. Students, alumni, faculty, and staff proudly carry his spirit, legacy and memory into the future.

Dave C. Swalm: November 8, 1932 – April 14, 2008

“We also try to get freshmen

involved in some of our activties.

Several freshmen have gotten

involved with different BCoE student

teams, and throughout the year,

we have worked to help everyone fit

in and feel involved,” noted Dailey.

Remembering the student, alumnus,businessman, and friend.


The phrase keeping up with the Joneses takes on an entirely new meaning when applied to electrical and computer engineering (ECE) education. It becomes more a challenge of keeping up with the joules, volts and hertz required to operate and create new tech-nology. More specifically, success in engineering education requires institutions to keep up with the ever-changing technology that students need to be familiar with in order to become successful professional engineers.

As a Fellow and president-elect of the American Society for Engineering Education, Dr. Sarah Rajala is no stranger to the needs of faculty and students in a successful engineering program. After becoming head of the department of electrical and computer engineering in Mississippi State’s Bagley College of Engineering (BCoE) it became her mission to ensure that all ECE students at MSU have access to the best opportunities, resources and tools necessary to complete their degrees.

Working with the ECE advisory board, Rajala developed a vision for what the college could ac-complish with a little support. They recognized that fundraising opportunities, such as endowed professorships, fellowships and scholarships are important, but equally necessary in an effective pro-gram is having the resources to develop and support laboratory experiences for students. Keeping this in mind, the group decided to work to establish en-dowments for senior design and ECE laboratories.

The laboratory endowment will work to create a pool from which ECE departmental laborato-ries can obtain support for any education needs, research materials or equipment. For senior design, a class that requires students to apply their ac-cumulated knowledge to a real-world problem, an endowment will provide support for the classes’ varying projects each semester. The funding could help cover the costs of materials, equipment and new technology, allowing senior ECE students to develop and work on better, more substantial proj-ects without straining already tight budgets.

Thanks to supportive alumni, these endowments have become a reality for ECE. The department is working to grow them even further in an effort to ensure that the BCoE and the ECE will continue to offer the highest quality education to students, producing the highest quality professional engi-neers for future generations. For more information about helping ECE keep up with the ever-changing technology and opportunities in its area, contact the ECE office at 662-325-3912, or e-mail Rajala at [email protected].

Keeping up with changing needs

By Susan Lassetter


Alumnus lays out design for successStudents in the electrical and computer en-gineering (ECE) senior design course have received creative freedom in the form of an alumnus-sponsored endowment. Through a donation to the ECE department, 1981 graduate Danny Windham is helping give future engineers the power to generate new, innovative ideas that put their knowledge to the test in this capstone course.

“Many students don’t have the means to take on senior design projects that come with a price tag for materials and equip-ment. Yet, the senior design project is the culmination of four years of engineering education and a chance for students to get some real-world, hands-on experience,” Windham explained. “I hope this endow-ment will allow deserving students to tackle

challenging projects that otherwise would not have been feasible.”

Windham, now chief executive officer of Digium in Huntsville, Ala., vividly remem-bers his own senior design project. It in-volved creating a device that could enhance signals produced by electric instruments. This project offered his project partner and him a fun way to test their design capabili-ties. Although budget limitations placed restraints on their ideas, nothing could con-tain their sense of pride over turning their idea into something tangible.

“Looking back now, the project seems pretty rudimentary, but it really helped me to pull together a number of theoretical concepts into something we could see, touch and feel,” Windham said. “After our presenta-tion, we were able to hook it up to my guitar and have fun with it.”

He recalls seeing the senior design class as the pinnacle of his time at Mississippi State. It provided him with the necessary hands-on experience to help him begin a successful career. Since earning his degree, Wind-ham helped co-found Processing Telecom Technologies and served as president and chief operating officer of ADTRAN Inc. for several years. Through all of his successes, he never has underestimated the impact MSU and the electrical and computer engineering department have had on his life.

“I feel a sense of allegiance to the ECE department and the professors who are working to extend its reputation nationally,” Windham noted. “This endowment allows me to give back in some small way, recog-nizing all the doors my degree has opened for me.”

Alumnus fulfills goal to aid engineering educationEverette Ramage knew that enrolling at Mississippi State would provide him the best engineering education the state of Mis-sissippi had to offer. Now, nearly 40 years after earning his degree, he knows that he is in a position to repay the Bagley College of Engineering for the jump-start it gave him on his career, and to help continue its tradi-tion of excellence in engineering education.

“After graduating and going to work with individuals from different institutions across the country, I realized that my education from MSU was as good as any. That gave me a sense of pride in MSU and, at the same time, created a feeling of indebted-ness,” Ramage explained. “I always knew that when I had the opportunity, I wanted to help MSU, which is why I am helping with this laboratory endowment.”

Through an endowment for the department of electrical and computer engineering, Ramage is helping ensure that future BCoE students will have access to the equipment and tools necessary for a well-rounded edu-cation. He understands that to be competi-tive, engineers have to integrate theoretical knowledge with a working technical tool set, but keeping up with changing technology takes vigilance and financial support.

“When I was in college, you could tell an engineering student because they carried a slide-rule, but that is not the case anymore,” Ramage said. “My objective in making this donation is to help the department continue to do for current and future students what it did for me in the past, which is providing a well-rounded education to prepare students for a stellar career.”

Having worked with three different compa-nies prior to his retirement from ADTRAN

Inc., where he served as vice president for the engineering enterprise division, Ramage has spent his career furthering the electrical engineering profession. From attending col-lege before the time of personal computers to seeing microprocessors and software tech-nology come into favor, he has witnessed many shifts within the field. However, through it all, his Mississippi State degree has given him a sense of pride for all that it instilled in him.

“As an alumnus, I want to do anything I can to perpetuate the success of the BCoE and maintain its tradition ofproviding quality education,” Ramage noted. “By making this donation for lab equipment and facilities, I know I am helping provide faculty the tools necessary to find that success.”


Frederick BuieB.S., M.S. Industrial Engineering

Fred Buie is president and owner of Key-stone Electrical Manufacturing Company in Des Moines, Iowa. Serving electric utilities throughout the nation, the com-pany manufactures elements used in the generation, transmission and distribution of electric power.

Buie’s professional career includes thirty years of assignments in manufacturing and engineering management across seven industries and eight geographic locations. He began with the General Electric (GE) Company where he held project engineer-ing and production supervisory positions. He later spent two years in the consulting business and joined McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company as a manufacturing methods engineer.

After rejoining GE, he held positions as a functional manager of teams engaged in activities from the development of com-posite materials, to quality engineering, materials systems and product design. In 1998 Buie left GE, where he was serving as a plant manager, to purchase Keystone Electrical Manufacturing Co.

Buie earned his degrees in industrial engineering from MSU. In addition to his service on the Engineering Advisory Committee, he currently serves on the board of directors for the Iowa Association of Business & Industry, YMCA, Center for Industrial Research and Service at Iowa State University, and the Architects, Contractors, and Engineers Mentorship Program. He is married to the former Valeska Lemon, a fellow MSU graduate. They have three children; MSU graduate F. Vinson, Alexander and Vanessa.

Allen ButlerB.S. Biological Engineering

Dr. Allen Butler enrolled at MSU in the fall of 1991 with two goals: to receive an engineering degree and further his educa-tion in medical school. Four years later, he realized both dreams when he graduated with honors in biological engineering and earned a scholarship to Tulane University School of Medicine.

While at Tulane, Butler used his engi-neering background to secure research positions at Tulane and Louisiana State University. As a medical student, he co-authored over $3 million in research grants and multiple peer-reviewed articles on orthopedics. After receiving his medi-cal degree, he was asked to stay at Tulane for residency training. He completed a research fellowship in adult reconstruc-tive surgery in 2002 while continuing to publish articles and book chapters in the orthopedic sub-specialty of joint replacement.

In 2005, the American Orthopedic As-sociation named Butler a future leader in orthopedics. He also was named chief of Tulane Orthopedic Service at Charity Hospital. When Hurricane Katrina struck, he rode out the storm in his call room, spending five days evacuating patients from both Charity and Tulane Hospitals, including two ventilator dependant, premature infants that were brought to safety in a canoe.

He returned to Starkville in 2006 where he began private practice in orthopedic surgery. He continues to work closely with the biological engineering program in the BCoE as an adjunct professor and a member of the advisory board.

Randy J. ClevelandB.S. Petroleum Engineering

As the U.S. production manager for Exx-onMobil Corporation, Randy Cleveland has been responsible for the company’s upstream-operated production since 2006. A native of Union, Miss., he earned his petroleum engineering degree in 1983. While at State, he was active in several honors organizations and was named to the Mississippi State Engineering Student Hall of Fame.

He joined Exxon’s New Orleans office in 1984 where he held a variety of technical and planning assignments in their Gulf Coast regional operations. In 1994, he moved to Houston, Texas to oversee the company’s onshore operations in Texas and Oklahoma.

In 1997, he became the business devel-opment manager for Exxon’s pipeline company and served on the board of directors. In 1997, he returned to New Orleans as technical manager of Exxon’s operations for the Gulf Coast and offshore California.

In 2001, Cleveland moved to Scotland where he managed operations for Exxon-Mobil’s assets in the North Sea region. In 2003, he was based in London where he assumed responsibility for the company’s non-operated business in the United Kingdom and Netherlands.

Cleveland is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and is active in several charities and the local community. He and his wife, Nina, reside in The Woodlands, Texas.

Elliott DubuissonB.S. Civil Engineering

Elliott Dubuisson began his career in New Orleans after earning his civil engineering degree at Mississippi State in 1968. He has since worked worldwide implement-ing projects for Texaco.

Dubuisson’s early role as a structural engi-neer transitioned to project management responsibilities for design and construc-tion of several international drilling and production platforms and pipelines. For more than ten years, he served in Texaco’s corporate engineering department in New Orleans and Houston, Texas. There he was responsible for the overview of world-wide offshore field developments.

Between1994 and 1998, Dubuisson man-aged planning and evaluation of prospec-tive ventures located in the Russian arctic region and the deep water sector west of the Shetland Islands, United Kingdom. Assignments as general project manager for an oil field in Bohai Bay, China and development director for a field located in Kazakhstan followed his European experiences. The Kazakhstan project was the biggest internationally funded venture at the time.

Dubuisson is a licensed professional engi-neer and currently serves on MSU’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Advisory

Board; chairing the peer review subcom-mittee, which helps develop facility requirements for the new $24 million civil and environmental engineering complex.

A native of Picayune, Miss., he resides in Starkville with his wife, Tani. They have two children, Jenny and Mark, and one grandson, Sam.

Rob HunterM.S. Mechanical Engineering

After graduating in mechanical engineer-ing at Mississippi State, Rob Hunter received his doctorate of law from Cornell University. In 1976, he joined the Alabama law firm of Lange, Simpson, Robinson & Somerville (LSRS), where he used both his engineering and legal backgrounds to defend manufacturers in product liability litigation for 23 years.

Following his years with LSRS, he ac-cepted the position of general counsel for Altec, Inc. and its subsidiaries. In addition to successful defenses in trials around the country, his career in private practice was marked by other notable achievements. He has represented the last five governors of Alabama and was nominated by former President George Bush to serve as a federal judge.

Hunter has successfully defended the state before both the Alabama and United States Supreme Courts. While in private practice, he was lead counsel for the state of Alabama in its long running higher education desegregation case and later resumed that position at the request of the governor.

Hunter serves on the boards of directors for the Defense Research Institute and Lawyers for Civil Justice. He is actively involved with the President’s Export Counsel, the Business Roundtable, and the National Association of Manufactur-ers.

Outside of his professional endeavors, Hunter sits on advisory boards for the Bagley College of Engineering and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Distinguished FellowsThis year’s distinguished fellows have been selected in recognition of their success and outstanding career achievements. It is with great honor that all of us here at the Bagley College of Engineering have a chance to celebrate the selfless contributions these Dis-tinguished Fellows’ have made to their profession, themselves, MSU, and the BCoE. They serve as role models to our future generations of engineers.


Sam H. LeeB.S. Electrical Engineering

Having grown up in Hattiesburg, Miss., attending MSU was an obvious decision for Sam Lee, which provided him a strong basis for his career in engineering, marketing and investments. In 1982, he received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and continued his engineer-ing education at Texas A&M University where he received a electrical engineering master’s degree in 1983.

He started his career as an research and development (R&D) engineer with lead-ing technology companies such as Hewlett Packard and Advanced Micro Devices. After several years in R&D positions, Lee transitioned into marketing and product management positions with LSI Logic Corporation, where he was exposed to the business aspects of the high-tech industry.

To pursue his new-found interest in business and the world of start-ups in the Silicon Valley, Lee decided to take a break from his high-tech career and finish his education. In 1990, he received a master of business administration from the University of Pennsylvania. Upon gradu-ation, he began a new career by joining Philadelphia Ventures where he served as vice president and an investment officer. In 1994, he founded Infinity Capital and currently serves as managing director.

Lee currently lives in the outskirts of Silicon Valley, Calif., with his wife, and fellow State graduate, Sandy, and his sons, Christopher and Jonathan. When he is not busy with his family or work, he finds time for aerobatic flying and sports car racing.

Kenneth E. MillerB.S. Aerospace Engineering

Kenneth E. Miller, a member of the Se-nior Executive Service, is special assistant for acquisition governance and transpar-ency to the Secretary of the Air Force. He assists in discharging the responsibilities in the direction, guidance and supervision of Air Force programs.

A native of Columbus, Miss., Miller began his career in 1975 as an aerospace

engineer with the Naval Air Systems Command. He advanced to weapons sys-tems acquisition management as the assis-tant deputy program manager for the H-3 antisubmarine helicopter, later serving as deputy program manager in the A-6/EA-6 Weapons Systems Program Office.

In April 1989, Miller was selected to be the first deputy of acquisition for the new Program Executive Office. He was then appointed to the Senior Executive Service as the second deputy program execu-tive officer for tactical aircraft programs, providing advice on acquisition-related issues for a variety of aircraft and weapons programs.

In 1994, he was selected as the assistant commander for corporate operations, where his responsibilities included the strategic planning and corporate business functions of Naval Air Systems Com-mand. Additional duties included chief information officer. After being appointed principal assistant for acquisition, pro-gramming and budgeting in 1998, Miller was named assistant deputy, chief of naval operations, warfare requirements and programs for the department of the Navy. He is a frequent speaker at government, industry and national forums.

George NewbillB.S. Chemical Engineering

George A. Newbill was promoted to executive vice president – manufacturing operations of Albemarle Corporation in 2007. Prior to his promotion, he served as senior vice president – manufacturing operations, although he has held numer-ous positions in the company throughout his career.

He previously served as general manager of Ethyl’s Process Development Center in Baton Rouge, La., with additional responsibility for Chemicals’ Group envi-ronmental quality. Newbill joined Ethyl’s research and development department in 1965 as a chemical engineer in the process design section. Over the next several years, he served in a variety of technical service, operations and engineering service posi-tions at Ethyl’s facilities in Baton Rouge, Greece and Magnolia, Ark..

From 1975 to 1980, he was superinten-dent of operations at Ethyl’s Arkansas plant. He transferred to the Orangeburg, S.C., plant in 1980 as general superinten-dent of operations. After serving as plant manager at Orangeburg for six years, he was named general manager of Ethyl’s former Bromine Chemicals Division. In 1989, he was appointed director of the Process Development Center.

A native of Milan, Tenn., Newbill received a chemical engineering degree from Mis-sissippi State University in 1965 and his master’s in the same field from Louisiana State University in 1970.

Terry L. TurnipseedB.S. Nuclear Engineering

Professor Terry L. Turnipseed currently teaches at the Syracuse University College of Law. He is an experienced estate plan-ning and tax advisor. As an attorney with Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., he developed and implemented complex tax planning strategies for more than $1 billion in assets. He has expertise in complex domestic and international estate planning, including substantial asset protection experience.

Turnipseed has served as an estate and gift tax specialist with Deloitte & Touche’s national office. He has an LL.M in tax, cum laude, and a J.D. from Georgetown University and two graduate degrees from MIT where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow. He graduated summa cum laude in nuclear engineering from MSU where he was a Harry S. Truman Memorial Scholar.

Before attending law school, Turnipseed worked as a nuclear energy policy expert at the Nuclear Energy Institute and the Department of Energy headquarters, both in Washington, D.C.

He has been a contributing author in the areas of nuclear energy policy, eminent domain, spousal property rights upon death, trust fiduciary law, and transfer taxation. He currently teaches courses in eminent domain, estate planning, wills and trusts, estate and gift taxation, and first-year property.

Turnipseed has made dozens of media appearances, including Newsweek, Special Report with Brit Hume, and the New York Daily News.

John E. WestB.S. Electrical Engineering, M.S. Computational Engineering

John E. West is the director of the Scien-tific Computing Research Center at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Devel-opment Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Miss., an organization that includes one of the top 20 scientific supercomputing centers in the world.

West is also a Senior Fellow in the Department of Defense High Perfor-mance Computing (HPC) Modernization Program, with responsibility for strategic communications about the impact of HPC in the Department of Defense. Until recently, he was the acting deputy director of the Information Technology Laboratory at the ERDC, a $100 mil-lion organization supporting IT-related research and development (R&D) for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

West began his career at ERDC while a graduate student at Mississippi State working in computer graphics and virtual reality, and moved on to work in scalable parallel algorithm development. In addi-tion to other awards, his computational research was awarded the Department of the Army‚ Äôs R&D award in 1997. He was selected, in 2006, as one of “People to Watch in HPC,” and is a frequent writer and speaker on supercomputing technol-ogy, leadership and career directions for young technologists.

West is married to Bobbie, his lifelong sweetheart, an emergency medicine physi-cian. They have two sons—John David, 6, and Jacob, 4.


AIndustrial and Systems Engi-neering broke the winning streak of ASE to claim “Best Major” during E-Week 2008.

BSenior electrical and computer engineering students built a ro-bot that took second place hon-ors at the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Southeast Region 3 student hardware competition. (L to R) Andrew Tiger, Ted Copeland, Khanh Bui, Chris Dailey, Jeff Lorens, Theresa Weisenberger, Ryan Sparks, Bryan Reese, and Bryan Jones

CThe National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) named Darvin J. Griffin, a senior biological engineering major, a Fulfilling the Legacy Scholar at the organizations Golden Torch Awards.

DStudent Hall of Fame induct-ees include: (L to R) Nashlie Sephus, Lauren Beatty, Charla Lindley, Josie Smith, LeKeith Terrell, and Darnisha Johnson.

EBobby Shackouls is Mississippi State’s 2008 National Alumnus of the Year. A 1972 chemical engineering graduate, he is the retired chairman, president and chief executive officer of Burlington Resources Inc. In 2006, the Greenville native and his wife Judy endowed what now is the university’s Shackouls Honors College that enrolls more than 1,000 academically achieving students.

FNew inductees into the Acad-emy of Distinguished Teachers include: (L to R) T. J. Jankun-Kelly, Noel Schulz, Ms. Cain accepting on behalf of Bruce Cain, William McAnally, and Tom Lacy.

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www.bagley.msstate.edu

Movers & ShakersAlumniGarrett “Ryan” Garriga, Jr. was born on Janu-ary 28, 2008 to Garrett Ryan Garriga, Sr. (BS, Industrial Engineering - 2002) and his wife Cathy Bartlett Garriga. He weighed in at 5lbs. and 15 ounces, and was 20” long.

Faculty & StaffMary C. Emplaincourt, an instructor in me-chanical engineering, has received the Outstand-ing Faculty Advising award in Region IV of the National Academic Advising Association (NA-CADA) at the groups regional meeting in Mobile, Ala. Region IV of the organization is comprised of institutes of higher education in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and the Caribbean.

Mark Horstemeyer, a professor in mechanical engineering, has been selected to receive a 2008 Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE) Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award. Established in 1953, the award is presented annually to young engi-neering educators in an effort to help strengthen the bond between engineers in education and those in industry.

The Research Unit of the Southeastern Section of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) announced Adrienne Minerick, assistant professor of chemical engineering, their 2008 Outstanding New Faculty Research Award.

Masoud Rais-Rohani, an aerospace professor at Mississippi State University, is one of ten profes-sors selected from around the world to partici-pate in the Boeing Welliver Faculty Fellowship Program. Since the program’s inception in 1995, only 120 faculty members have participated in the program.

The Publications and Communications Office at the BCoE, consisting of Heather M. Rowe, Diane Godwin, and Susan Lassetter, received the Public Relations Association of Mississippi’s PRism award for the college’s Momentum publication, the top honor in the external magazine category. They also received two Awards of Excellence for the college’s monthly e-newsletter and podcasts.

Noel Schulz, an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering, has been named the Outstanding Faculty Women for 2008; Schulz was honored at the recent outstanding woman awards hosted by the President’s Commission on the Sta-tus of Women. This award recognizes the success of a tenured faculty woman who is dedicated to enhancing her field and the position of women in higher education.

Tommy Stevenson, assistant dean for diversity programs and student development, was elected as treasurer of the MIND division in ASEE.

StudentsMalcom Conely, a mechanical engineering junior, has been selected to be a Inaugural Scholar. Inaugural Scholars will directly participate in the pageantry and ceremony of the Inauguration of the President and Vice President and witness firsthand the hallmark of democracy in action with the peaceful transition of power to the 44th President of the United States.

Industrial and systems engineering student, Stan Morelock, won top honors in the student techni-cal paper competition during the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ (IIE) Region 3 conference.

Jun Wang, a graduate student in mechanical engi-neering, earned fourth place honors and $200 by presenting a technical paper based on her recent research activities. This student competition was hosted by the Society for the Advancement of Ma-terial and Process Engineering (SAMPE) as part of their annual conference.

Terrance West, who is pursuing his doctorate in electrical engineering, will lead MSU’s Graduate Student Association as the 2008-09 president. The same organization recognized three engineering students at its annual awards banquet. Master’s students Sunil Palla, electrical engineering, and Amritanshu Thakur, computer science, were recognized as the research assistants of the year. Harry Lam, a master’s student in industrial engi-neering, earned the service assistant award.


Greetings Engineering Bulldogs!

Please allow me to introduce myself to you as the new director of development for the Bagley College of Engineering. I am a third generation Mississippi State alumnus who feels very much at home raising funds for my alma mater. I am a Columbus, Miss., native who received a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public policy and administration. Before assuming my new role, I spent much of the last five years as director of development for the university’s College of Architecture, Art and Design.

My first day at the Bagley College was March 24th and what a great experience it has been so far! I have been busy getting to know the dedicated faculty, staff, department heads, and administrators that make Bagley the premier college at Mississippi State. I have also had the opportunity to meet many generous alumni and friends of the college who make important investments which allow us to grow our suc-cesses and educate the engineers of tomorrow.

The “State of the Future” capital campaign is still going strong at Mississippi State thanks to the generosity of countless supporters. The University reached its $400 million goal for the campaign in December 2007. The total amount raised to date now stands at more than $411 million. Of that amount, the Bagley College has raised $76.6 million, surpassing its goal by $10 million thus far.

Although we have reached our “minimum” goal for “State of the Future,” we are far from finished. There remain many areas of Missis-sippi State in need of private gifts and pledges. Some of the specific needs of the engineering college include:

• A new 89,000-square-foot complex for theDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering with an anticipated completion of 2012• Endowed chairs and professorships• Graduate fellowships• Renovation of existing buildings

The “State of the Future” campaign will end on December 31, 2008, but these and other areas will remain a focus of our development efforts. We thank you for your commitment to the Bagley College and hope you will continue to support the Mississippi State of the future.

I look forward to meeting many more alumni and friends who are linked to the Bagley Col-lege. Partnering with you will allow our college to continue its emergence as a leader in educa-tion and research. If you would like to learn more about how you can make a difference, please contact me at (662) 325-0386 or via email at [email protected].

Bennett EvansDirector of Development

Bagley College of EngineeringPO Box 9544Mississippi State, MS 39762

Mississippi State University complies with all applicable laws regarding affirmative action and equal oppor-tunity in all its activities and programs and does not discriminate against anyone protected by law because of age, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, handicap, or status as a veteran or disabled veteran.

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DevelopmentNotes

Documents

Momentum 2008 Spring