Increasing Diversity in Engineering Academics (IDEAs) Program Newsletter
Spring 2011
Issue 6
THE BIG IDEA
Director’s Corner
Welcome to the IDEAs Program Newsletter — The Big Idea, Issue 6. We hope you enjoy learning
more about our program and our students. Since the last issue of this newsletter, much has hap-
pened that we shall share in this edition.
Inside this issue:
• In the fall semester of 2010, 166 students participated in the IDEAs program, comparing to 57
Director’s Corner 1 students in 1990 and 102 students in 2010. With the ever increased enrollment, collaboration
with other units has been the key to strengthening program capacity for student success.
Professional Development
— My First Co-op 1 • More and more IDEAs Alumni are involved with IDEAs activities. Last year, Ms. Jane Bell (1996),
Mr. Michael Jones (1996) and Mr. Antonio Samuel (2010) gave speeches to IDEAs students and
Outreach, Recruiting and high school students from Akron. Their experiences and achievements inspired current stu-
2 dents. We are very proud of and sincerely appreciate their sense of giving back!
Community Services
• “In order to help students, one has to think like a student. Facebook is a better way to share
Professional Development
— My First Co-op 3 information with students.” said Pierre Hall and Phil Steele. They suggested and created an
IDEAs Facebook page. If you are on Facebook already, check us out and “like” us on
www.facebook.com/IDEAsProgram.
Student Spotlight 4
• Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Student Chapter was formed in February
Graduation Bulletin 4 2011. SHPE is committed to enhancing the potential of Hispanics in Engineering, math and sci-
ence and achieving .
Contact Information 4
• Mark August 19 on your calendar for our annual event — IDEAs Open House. It is a great op-
portunity for new students to meet upper IDEAs classmates.
Co-
Professional Development —My First Co-op
In the spring semester of 2011, fourteen IDEAs junior students accepted their first co-op offers — yielding the biggest number of
co-op students per semester in the IDEAs program. In this issue, they would like to share their first co-op experience and en-
courage younger students to excel their academic success and get ready for co-ops.
Mario Garcia (Civil Engineering): The Ruhlin Company at Sharon to The University of Akron Wolf Ledges Engineering Research
Center. The Ruhlin company is a versatile employee owned con- Facility. I was tasked with doing electrical and mechanical estimating
struction contracting company. During my first co-op period, I had services for the project and never before had I felt such a personal
the pleasure of working with many different projects, including The sense of responsibility and accomplishment from a single task and I
University of Akron Wolf Ledges Engineering Research Facility, the worked hard to complete it to the best of my ability. My first co-op
Akron Bio-Innovation Institute building, The Green Ohio Health experience was everything I hoped it would be — I truly felt like a full-
and Wellness Center, the Trumbull County highway bridge, the time employee rather than a co-op student. With all the support and
Cuyahoga County roadway bridge, the NEOUCOM medical research help given to me by my fellow employees and all that I learned. I was
facility, and the new Bridgestone technical center. Having experiences truly satisfied. Being a part of Ruhlin Company was a fun and joyful
with a wide variety of projects really gave me a greater understanding experience. I am very thankful for having a wonderful semester and a
of how things flow in the real life application of school work. Being an great learning experience.
engineering student at UA, I felt honored and felt so personally related (Continued Page 3)
Page 1
THE BIG IDEA
Outreach, Recruiting and Community Services
• On January 15, 2011, the IDEAs program offered Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathemat-
ics (STEM) Workshops for about 50 middle school students from MWH Student Technical Enrich-
ment Program (STEP). Three hands-on activities, Determining Acids and Bases, Circuit Design and Toy
Manufacturing Competition, were designed and organized by eleven IDEAs student volunteers, includ-
ing Jeff Ngeufack (Junior), Tanya Miracle (Junior), Mario Garcia (Junior), Phil Steele (Junior), Henri-
etta Deny (Sophomore), Athena Payton (Sophomore), Vanessa Zapata Franca (Sophomore), Ken-
neth Banks (Freshman), Azia Bradley (Freshman), Paul Brown (Freshman) and Teresa Giralt
(Freshman). Teresa Giralt (left), Vanessa Zapata
Franca (second left) and Mario Garcia
(right) at the STEM Workshops.
• In the fall semester of 2010, three groups of visitors, including students and parents from Boys and
Girls Club, students from Project Lead The Way at Timken High School and Pre-Engineering stu-
dents at Washington High School, participated in IDEAs Engineering Previews. Dr. Alex De Abreu-
Garcia (ECE Department Chair), Mr. Bill Wenzel (Technician at College Machine Shop), Mr. Na-
thaniel Aukerman (SAE Baja Captain) and Miss Shengfen Shen (SAE Aerospace Captain) volunteered
their time to host visitors. The IDEAs students, Michael Croston, Brandon Kirkman, Mikhail Kimbel
and Athena Payton, led the tours to the College of Engineering and Panel on College Life.
• IDEAs Engineering Shadowing event was from April 18th through April 21st, 2011. Students from
Akron Public Schools who were interested in engineering were invited to shadow selected engi-
neering students. Thanks to support from faculty and students, this event was a great success. Our
sincere appreciation goes to all instructors for welcoming high school visitors to their classrooms.
Special thanks to the following IDEAs students for volunteering their time and sharing their positive Dr. Alex De Abreu-Garcia hosting high
outlook of the university: Michael Jarrell (Freshman), Joseph Fortunato (Freshman), Kenneth Banks school student.
(Freshman), Juan Saldana (Freshman), Azia Bradley (Freshman), Taylor Bills (Freshman), Teresa Gi-
ralt (Freshman), Lonnie Atkinson (Freshman), Elijah Fox (Sophomore), Daniel Beltran (Freshman),
Ryan Driscoll (Sophomore), Shahid Abdul-Muhaimin (Freshman), Luis Cabrera (Junior), Henrietta
Deny (Sophomore), Robert Medina (Freshman) and KiAsia Chambers (Sophomore).
• With the funding support from the Institute of Teaching and Learning (ITL) at UA, a Service-
Learning project was included in Minority Engineering Seminar in the fall semester of 2010. The
project allowed the students in Minority Engineering Seminar to design and present seven hands-on
projects that applied mathematics and science. It also provided our college students an opportunity
for community service by providing technical assistance to help local high school students with their
Michael Croston (left), Mikhail Kimbel
science projects. One project idea, Alternative Energy, was adopted by high school students. This (middle) and Athena Payton (right) at
service-learning project also enhanced the partnership between the IDEAs Program and Project Engineering Preview.
GRAD Akron.
• During 2010-2011 academic year, the IDEAs Tutoring Program provided tutoring services to all
engineering students. Besides walk-in services, we also offered group tutoring at the request of in-
structors or students. Appointment-based tutoring will be continuous in the summer semester of
2011. In addition, the IDEAs Tutoring Program provided eleven tutors and about 320 tutoring
hours to students at Buchtel High School. The main tutoring objective was to help them pass Ohio
Graduation Tests (OGT). For more information on tutoring services, please check our web site.
We believe that participating in outreach, recruiting and service activities could increase students’
motivation, engagement and school attendance. It will also increase students’ personal, interper-
Teresa Giralt (second left), Azia Bradley
sonal and social development. (middle) and Henrietta Deny (second right)
at Shadowing.
Page 2
S p r in g 2 0 1 1
I ss u e 6
Co-
Professional Development —My First Co-op
Michael Kyagaba (Electrical Engineering): Electrical Engineer at sense of pride whenever a box ships with my code that might
Pneumatic Scale Angelus. My job was to check the blueprints and someday save one’s life.
make sure that all circuits and wires were located correctly in
Brandon Kirkman (Mechanical Engineer-
the machines. The software that I used was called AutoCAD
ing): Product Development Engineer at Little
Electric and the machines were called Seamears, which were
Tikes, Hudson. I never realized how much
designed to close canned foods at a rate of 2000 ~ 3000 cans per
time and effort was put into a product as
minute. During my first weeks, I felt lost because I had to learn
simple as a child's toy. After accepting the
AutoCAD Electric as quickly as possible without any training.
job at Little Tikes, I was assigned my own projects. I was respon-
Later, I realized that the company actually did it on purpose, so
sible for maintaining the cost, budget, and especially schedule,
that I would ask as many questions as possible to ensure that I
from product number assignment to production start. After be-
was not working alone, but constantly communicating with other coming a part of the product development team I did cost analy-
engineers. Now, I can check multiple blueprints for different sis for products and helped to reduce costs in order to maintain
machines at a time — pretty efficient. Doing co-op is one of the budget. I also did a lot of CAD work to insert small features such
best decisions that I ever made! To be able to go into the work as ribs, gussets, and feature alterations. What started as an intimi-
field and gain experience as a real engineer is something that dating environment of engineers quickly became my favorite place
cannot be taught in the classroom or learned from books. Being to be as I was a valuable asset amongst the engineering team. I
able to go into a co-op is what has truly solidified my decision to was pleased to see my work go into production and later see my
continue my pursuit of an undergraduate degree in electrical product on store shelves.
engineering.
Pierre Hall (Electrical Engineering) Battery Engineer- Myers Motors
Devin Cross (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering): Goodrich Tallmadge. My co-op was not a typical co-op for various reasons.
Corporation, Sensor and Integrated Systems. I was thrilled knowing One being I was the only engineer in company. Two, the company
that I would be working in the Research and Development De- was very small with only 5 employees. Three, it was a research and
partment. In the beginning of my co-op assignment, I was not sure design based co-op. My project was to design a battery manage-
how I would fit in at Goodrich SIS and whether I could make ment system that would monitor the voltages of the batteries in
beneficial contributions to the team. I found my co-workers and the vehicle and display to the driver when a problem occurs. The
supervisors very kind and knowledgeable. They included me in task was very involved and required a lot of problem solving skills
most project discussions and welcomed me as a part of their and knowledge on components and techniques that I haven't
team. I was easily able to perform as well as continuously learn learned in EE yet, and some techniques and electrical knowledge I
subjects that could not be found in a classroom or a book. I am learned and performed aren't even taught at the undergrad level. I
humbled and feel very fortunate to have worked with this group also learned how to incorporate changes to designs at a quick pace
of engineers. I also feel a great sense of honor knowing I was able to meet deadlines. When designing a product for a company, many
to help in the creation of prototypes that could one day be used requirements need to met, such as cost effectiveness, ease of con-
on an aircraft. There is a great sense of accomplishment knowing struction, smart intuitive design, knowing how the physical features
that, possibly, one of my own ideas could be a part of something will affect small spaces, and most importantly, safety. I feel that this
that flies in the future as a result of working for Goodrich Corpo- experience was very beneficial and I have gained priceless knowl-
ration. It was a truly rewarding experience edge that will assist me in my professional career and for the rest
Judicael Briand (Computer Engineering): Software Engineer at of my academic career.
Codonics, Cleveland - Middleburg Heights. I always thought my peo-
Mike Croston (Mechanical Engineering): Mechanical Engineer at
ple skills were deplorable, so I preferred a job that would be Pneumatic Scale Angelus. I have always been mechanically inclined;
working in a dark room away from civilization. I was so relieved therefore I wanted to find a co-op that would let me use my skills.
after accepting this offer since I thought I wouldn’t have to inter- At work I am what is considered a Design Mechanical Engineer.
act with others. Well, it did not take long to find out that I was As a Design Engineer, I had to learn Solidworks, which is a 3-D
wrong. I needed to constantly report to product managers, give program, and how to draft the details for all of the parts that I
feedback to test engineers, and talk to other software engineers design. So far on my spring co-op I have designed two cap sorters,
in the same project. Now, I enjoy these interactions, especially and drive assemblies. I also wrote a procedural manual on how to
accounting through documentation and verbal justification for properly build turret spindles to be used with the spindle assem-
any piece of code I wrote. What a valuable practice for people blies I designed. The manual covers three different tools used in
like me who lack communication skills! It is also worth mention- the assembly and disassembly of the spindles. We pride ourselves
ing that Codonics is a medical device company — I enjoy a great that all of our machines are hand built here in the United States.
Page 3
.
THE BIG IDEA
Student Spotlight
The College of Engineering
In the 2010-2011 school year, the IDEAs program had 36 students who were placed on the
Dean’s List (in the College of Engineering, University College or Honors College), 49 students
who received the IDEAs Student Success Scholarship with the total amount of $51,800, and 7 stu-
For more information:
dents who did undergraduate research. Congratulations from the IDEAs program! We recognize
Dr. Julie Zhao their achievements and hope that they continue to strive toward excellence.
Director, IDEAs Program
Schrank Hall North 360 Lonnie Atkinson (ME, Freshman) Daniel Beltran (ME, Freshman) Taylor Bills (CpE, Freshman)
College of Engineering Renee Calderon (BE, Freshman) Joseph Fortunato (CpE, Freshman) Teresa Giralt (CE, Freshman)
The University of Akron Michael Jarrell (ME, Freshman) Edmund Lewis (CpE, Freshman) Marcus Locklear (ME, Freshman)
Akron, OH 44325-3901 Davidson Okpara (EE, Freshman) Richard Ruckman (ME, Freshman) Juan Saldana (ChE, Freshman)
zhao1@uakron.edu Joshua Thomas (CE, Freshman) Jerry Xiong (CE, Freshman) Donato Bacco (ME, Sophomore)
Phone: 330- 972-2823
Robert Medina (CpE, Sophomore) Legieta Mulyono (ChE, Soph.) Calvin Oldham (ME, Sophomore)
Fax: 330- 972-5162
http://www.uakron.edu/ Amanda Ostberg (ME, Soph.) Athena Payton (ME, Sophomore) William Soehaili (CE, Soph.)
engineering/beyond-the- Usaaman Taugir (CE, Sophomore) Eyazama Tchalim (BE, Sophomore) Vanessa Zapata-Franca (BE, Soph.)
classroom/ideas-program/
Devin Cross (Aero & ME, Junior) Michael Croston (ME, Junior) Briand Djoko (CpE, Junior)
index.dot
Pierre Hall (EE, Junior) Theodore Johnson (CpE, Junior) Nicole Fano (BE, Sophomore)
India Kaczmarek (CE, Junior) Michael Lembono (ChE, Junior) Tanya Miracle (ChE, Junior)
Jeff Ngeufack (EE, Junior) Randy Raditya (ChE, Junior) Jonathan Riveron (ME, Junior)
Department Chairs: Eileen Boyd (ChE, Senior) Ryan Croston (ChE, Senior) Anny Gao (CE, Senior)
Dr. Daniel Sheffer Abdifatah Sheikh (CE, Senior) Jorge Sylvester (BE, Senior) Mauricio Uribe (BE, Senior)
Biomedical Engineering
dsheffer@uakron.edu
330-972-6977
Dr. Lu-Kwang Ju 2010-
2010-2011 Graduation Bulletin
Chemical and Bimolecular
Engineering Eileen Boyd Chemical Engineering 2011 Spring
lukeju@uakron.edu
Ryan Croston Chemical Engineering 2011 Spring
330-972-5760
Anny Gao Civil Engineering 2011 Spring
Dr. Wieslaw Binienda Mauricio Uribe Biomedical Engineering 2011 Spring
Civil Engineering Joshua Haddix Mechanical Engineering 2011 Summer
wieslaw@uakron.edu
Jorge Sylvester Biomedical Engineering 2011 Summer
330-972-6693
Dr. J. Alexis De Abreu-Garcia Former IDEAs participants who graduated with other degrees:
Electrical and Computer
Engineering Amber Johnson AA: Paralegal Studies 2010 Spring
alexis4@uakron.edu Xavier Cabrera College of Business: International Business 2010 Spring
330-972-6709 Ivan Sandoval College of Business: Information System Management 2010 Spring
LaTroya Cox Art and Science: Chemistry 2010 Summer
Dr. Celal Batur
Mechanical Engineering Patrick Pattillo Summit College: Construction Technology 2010 Summer
batur@uakron.edu Kenneth Rogers Summit College: Construction Technology 2010 Fall
330-972-7367 Rob Zahler Summit College: Mechanical Engineering Technology 2010 Fall
Page 4