A group of Wayne State University students recently took part in the Lear Open Innovation Challenge, collaborating with their peers from the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses to compete for prizes as well as summer internships.

Twenty-seven engineering and business students — including 10 from Wayne State — formed six interdisciplinary teams tasked with cultivating ideas and pushing Lear’s boundaries.

The tournament-style competition began with a two-day “jumpstart” workshop March 18 and 19. On April 1, teams pitched their solutions to Lear executives and venture capitalists in downtown Detroit at the Lear Innovation Center, a hub for automotive advanced concept development and hands-on learning that opened in October.

“We were really impressed with the quality of the students’ work along with the passion that they brought to this challenge,” said Bob Humphrey, director of innovation management at Lear and one of the competition’s judges. “It was remarkable to see what the students were able to deliver in such a short period of time, and we are very much looking forward to what they will accomplish given a full summer internship.”

The Innovatrium, an innovation consulting firm, facilitated the tournament and provided the accelerated training. Students benefited from the opportunity to network with and be mentored by industry leaders and faculty, practice sales and pitching skills, and contribute to the future of mobility and vehicle connectivity.

Electrical engineering student Salim Marouf was a member of the first-place team, earning an opportunity to develop the group’s prototype this summer as a Lear innovation fellow.

Seven engineering disciplines were represented by Wayne State’s participants: electrical engineering majors Filippo Caro, Palash Pattewar, Andre Roussell, and Marouf; biomedical engineering student Afreen Fatima; civil engineering student Javad Roostaei; computer science major Yukti Dhiman; engineering technology student Wenzhe Jiao; mechanical engineering major Mohammad Hijazi; and Christopher Shah, who is studying global supply chain management with a minor in industrial engineering.

”This event highlights the need for effective communication among multidisciplinary teams,” said Ethan Eagle, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and Wayne State’s faculty sponsor for the event. “Students responded very positively to the intense pressure and came up with some wild, innovative ideas.  They were encouraged to ‘accelerate failure’ and came away with a new understanding that the best ideas come from experiment and iteration, not perfect planning.”

Tayebeh Bahreini, a computer science Ph.D. student in the Wayne State University College of Engineering, received the Best Poster Award earlier this month at the sixth biennial Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing (MICWIC) conference.

Her project, “Placement of Multi-Component Services in Edge Systems," presented a linear programming model to address challenges with multi-component service in Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), a new concept in cloud computing intended to enhance the capabilities of mobile devices. The goal of her approach was to prove the effectiveness of her component placement method while demonstrating a reduction in computation and communication costs.

Bahreini will receive a scholarship of up to $1,500 towards the cost of attending the 2017 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the world’s largest gathering of women technologists, October 4 through 6 in Orlando, Florida.

The MICWIC conference is an Association for Computing Machinery event that bolsters a nationwide effort to address the alarming decline of American women choosing computer science professions. It focuses attention on the research success, career interests, and challenges for women in computing and information technology.

A research team mentored by Leela Arava, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Wayne State University, earned a first-place finish in the semifinals of Erie Hack, a data and engineering competition in which coders, developers, engineers and water experts create solutions to challenges facing the Lake Erie watershed.

With its “Micro Buoy” concept, the group was among semifinalists from four Erie Hack regions — Buffalo, Cleveland/Erie, Detroit/Windsor, Toledo — that gathered April 13 at TechTown to determine who would advance to the finals and compete for a $100,000 prize at the Water Technology Innovation Summit on May 2 and 3 in Cleveland.

“Micro Buoy is an aquatic sensor technology that helps assess water quality in real time using a combination of nanotechnology-based sensors, microbatteries and wireless communication,” said Arava, the principal investigator of technology for the team. “The challenge lies in incorporating all these intricate mechanisms into a working prototype.”

The team will continue its work as one of nine groups — including another from Detroit, one from Toledo, and three each from Cleveland and Buffalo — to advance to the finals.

Erie Hack is a months-long water innovation accelerator and competition focused on creating publicly accessible technology to elevate the value of clean water and foster the potential to invigorate environmental and economic vitality in the Great Lakes region. The Detroit effort was designed and coordinated by TechTown in partnership with the Healthy Urban Waters program in Wayne State’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, led by Professor Carol Miller.

The program provides participants ranging from high school students to professionals the opportunity to combine their own expertise with mentoring in order to construct data-driven solutions and pitch them to a panel of environmental, entrepreneurial and technological experts.

“Erie Hack is a great platform to disseminate laboratory research and meet with people of diverse research, technological and entrepreneurial background,” said Arava. “We are pleased to have had the opportunity to participate and showcase our skills.”

“We had been looking for an opportunity to transform years of our extensive research on nanomaterials and microbatteries into viable technology that can address critical water-related issues,” said Nirul Masurkar, a mechanical engineering graduate student at Wayne State and captain of the Micro Buoy team. Other members included Udaypraveen Tiruvalluri, Chad Gainor and Andrew Nassif.

For more information on Erie Hack, visit eriehack.io.

Ratna Babu Chinnam, professor of industrial and systems engineering at Wayne State University, has been invited to moderate a panel of data analytics experts at the Great Lakes Economic Forum, a three-day event that will gather hundreds of industrial, government and academic leaders in Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, this week.

The conference provides a platform to share ideas that shape economic policy and improve the region’s competitiveness and sustainability in a global market.

Chinnam will lead a panel titled “Leading the Big Data Revolution Through Partnerships” on April 26 at Cobo Center in Detroit. The panel is scheduled to include these influencers:

• Anthony Scriffignano, Chief Data Scientist, Dun & Bradstreet
• Elissa Strome, Executive Director, SOSCIP
• Melissa Cragin, Executive Director, Midwest Big Data Hub
• Allen Lalonde, Senior Innovation Executive, IBM Canada

Chinnam is co-director of the Big Data and Business Analytics Group at Wayne State, which recently held its fourth annual symposium and announced the launch of a new master’s program in data science and business analytics this fall.

For more information on the Great Lakes Economic Forum, visit greatlakeseconomicforum.com.

Wayne State University civil engineering senior Zuzanna Sobczak was one of eight student-athletes to receive a Deans’ Award from the Department of Athletics at the 17th annual Academic Recognition Luncheon last week for having the highest cumulative grade-point average among all student-athletes in their respective schools or colleges.

Sobczak, a member of the women’s fencing team, has been named to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term gpa 3.5+) all seven semesters, including four 4.00 terms.  A two-time College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District First Team honoree, Sobczak earned All-America accolades for the third consecutive year last month with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Collegiate Fencing Championships.

Sobczak was among a record 73 percent of Warrior student-athletes receiving above a 3.00 last semester.

Pictured with Sobczak is Jeffrey Potoff, associate dean for academic and student affairs in the Wayne State University College of Engineering.

Vaclav Rajlich, professor of computer science in the Wayne State University College of Engineering, will receive the 2017 Distinguished Service Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Technical Council on Software Engineering (TCSE), an honor bestowed annually upon an individual for outstanding and/or sustained contributions and service to the software engineering community.

Rajlich’s award and several others will be presented at the 2017 International Conference on Software Engineering next month in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"Not only is (Rajlich) among the most active researchers in software maintenance, evolution and program comprehension, he is also the founder of the IEEE International Conference on Program Comprehension and one of the pioneers of the IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance and Evolution, two of the oldest conferences in this field with very high and continuous impact,” said Rainer Koschke, chair of the TCSE Service Award committee. “His sustained efforts in promoting software evolution and guiding young researchers to focus on this highly practical and relevant research topic is an invaluable contribution to software engineering at large."

Koschke also noted that Rajlich has served IEEE committees and programs in numerous roles, received multiple awards and been a keynote speaker on many occasions.

Rajlich, who earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from Case Western Reserve University in 1971, is an editorial board member of the Journal of Software Evolution and Process and published a book, Software Engineering: The Current Practice, in 2011. His research focuses on software evolution and comprehension.

Dr. Arava, (far right) and his team with Detroit Public Schools students.

Leela Arava, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is doing his part to bring STEM education to Detroit Public Schools (DPS) through his Mobile Energy Lab.

With a team of nine graduate and undergraduate students, Arava travels to schools in the Detroit area to teach students the importance of green energy through hands-on experiments.

“We were assembling small solar panels in the classroom and the students wanted to take it into the field,” said Arava. “We hooked up some low-power LED lights to the panel, but they couldn’t handle the increase in power, so we explained to the students why it wasn’t working and changed our LEDs to ones that could support the power and also we stored part of solar energy in the battery.”

Arava was inspired to create the Mobile Energy Lab after seeing that DPS students were below the state average in science proficiency.

 “It was really eye-opening for me. I wanted to do something in the community,” said Arava.

The idea behind the Mobile Energy Lab was based on Arava’s own research on energy storage and batteries. He is developing a miniaturized  lithium-ion rechargeable battery that can withstand temperatures up to 150 degrees Celcius for oil & gas studies and high-energy sulfur batteries for electronic vehicles and consumer electronics. Arava hopes to use his research to inspire DPS students to consider STEM fields.

“As Michigan’s only urban, public research university, Wayne State is uniquely positioned to address this issue and help propel these young individuals into successful careers in the sciences,” said Arava.

View more photos and find more information about the Mobile Energy Lab and Dr. Arava's research on his blog.

Twenty-one College of Engineering faculty and staff were among the more than 600 honorees at the Wayne State University 2017 Employee Recognition Program, held April 25 at the Community Arts Auditorium.

The university recognized employees for their years of service every five years, beginning at ten years of service, as well as those who have retired. Three of the 80 retirees acknowledged worked in the College of Engineering: Raouf Ibrahim, professor of mechanical engineering (30 years); Gary Wasserman, associate professor of industrial and systems engineering (29 years); and Kathryn Maysen, secretary for the dean’s office (22 years).

Other faculty and staff honored at the event include:

35 years

• King-Hay Yang, Professor, Biomedical Engineering

30 years

• Mohamad Hassoun, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Jerry Ku, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
• Ming-Chia Lai, Professor, Mechanical Engineering

25 years

• Narendra Goel, Professor, Computer Science

20 years

• Chaoyang Chen, Associate Professor – Research, Biomedical Engineering
• Xiaoyan Han, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

15 years

• Ming Dong, Associate Professor, Computer Science
• Shiyong Lu, Associate Professor, Computer Science
• Weisong Shi, Professor, Computer Science
• Karen Wilson, Associate Director of Administration
• Yong Xu, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

10 years

• Nathan Fisher, Associate Professor, Computer Science
• Jeremy Johnson, Research Assistant, Industrial and Systems Engineering
• Manhoe Kim, Assistant Professor – Research, Chemical Engineering
• Zhifeng Kou, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
• Richard Casey Rue, Academic Services Officer
• Aaron M. Swift, Senior Systems Administrator

As Monica Shammas takes the podium to deliver the student address at the College of Engineering commencement ceremony May 10 at the Fox Theatre, she will undoubtedly give herself and the nearly 600 other Wayne State University graduating seniors a chance to reflect on how their academic journey has prepared for what’s yet to come.

“I had a really cool experience at Wayne State,” said Shammas. “I got to work in groups with people I never would have worked with. It pushes you out of your comfort zone.”

Shammas, who will receive her bachelor’s in chemical engineering, will see many familiar faces in the audience from her time as vice president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), a member of Tau Beta Pi, and vice president of the Chaldean-American Student Association.

“It’s been fun. The people who you’re doing all this work with become your friends, so you get to see your friends while you work,” said Shammas.

She also participates in a group called ‘Student to Student’ through her church, where she and other American college students work to help refugee college students, all while going to school full time and still finding time to do her homework.

Shammas was recently rewarded for her efforts at the college’s Honors Convocation, receiving the Outstanding Senior Award from the Engineering Alumni Association as well as the Robert G. Wingerter Award for excellence in character, leadership, and scholastic performance.

As someone who maintains a rigorous academic and extracurricular schedule, it’s perhaps no surprise that her advice to incoming students is to get involved with the college and the community.

“There’s a lot of resources and tricks of the trade that it’s better to have way earlier in your career,” said Shammas, who noted that her favorite class at WSU was thermodynamics with Professor Jeffrey Potoff. “There’s always someone who knows what you’re struggling with who will help.”

Shammas has held two co-op positions at Denso International and DTE Energy. After graduation, she will be working at Fiat-Chrysler America as a materials engineer in organic materials.

The Wayne State University College of Engineering commencement ceremony will be held at the Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, May 10 at 7 p.m. For more information visit wayne.edu/commencement.

The Wayne State University College of Engineering hosted two notable events on April 21, including the third annual Student Design and Innovation Day, which showcased nearly 70 unique student projects covering a wide range of applications and engineering disciplines.

Sponsored by the James and Patricia Anderson Engineering Ventures Institute, Student Design and Innovation Day demonstrates students’ solutions to engineering challenges as well as commercial and social needs. The event offers up to $1,000 in cash prizes to the best projects, and reflects the mission of the Anderson Institute to foster entrepreneurism through investment in marketable technologies.

Taking first place honors was a five-member team of mechanical engineering students — Andrew Abdulnour, Charlie Wilson, Fawaz Yono, Ghadi Kanso, and Omar Alzuhd — that designed a stair-climbing, three-wheeled hand truck intended to ease the burden of transporting heavy or bulky objects, a simple but common problem.

"It was really rewarding to be able to put all the engineering knowledge that we had gained in the past few years to work,” said Abdulnour. “Seeing the project come to life in a matter of a few weeks was really cool but the process wasn't without a few setbacks. By the end we felt like we gained a lot from the whole experience."

Other top projects included an Internet of Things sensor package for environmental sampling, a self-cleaning vehicle camera housing, and a portable audio software application for aspiring musicians.

Student Design and Innovation Day was preceded by the inaugural WSU HealthConnect Symposium, which presented an overview of trends in wireless health tools development including sensor technologies and their applications. This event also featured a design contest, with biomedical engineering graduate student Afreen Fatima taking top honors for her design of a wearable brain imaging cap.

Summary of top projects:

First place: Stair Climbing Hand Truck

A three-wheeled hand truck which would allow an operator to climb stairs while transporting boxes and other bulky or heavy objects easily, smoothly and safely.

Students: Andrew Abdulnour, Charlie Wilson, Fawaz Yono, Ghadi Kanso, Omar Alzuhd

Advisor: Golam Newaz

Second place: Low-Cost and Scalable IoT Sensor Packages for Environmental Sampling

Users can test environmental criteria using IoT sensors, an option which is less expensive, low weight, easy to use, and capable of transmitting data from anywhere to a cloud-based platform.

Students: Javad Roostaei, Hamid Sadeghi, James D. V. Wagnen, Zohreh Doosti

Advisor: Yongli Zhang

Third place (tie): PMEAS

A modulation application which can be loaded onto a small, affordable computer (i.e. Raspberry Pi) to replace expensive hardware modulation effects pedals, making musicianship more widely accessible.

Students: Matthew Gaertner, Zein Hijazi, Lee Lazarecky, Joshua Walters

Advisors: Khayyam Hashmi, Sam Bryfczynski

Project Iris

A self-cleaning camera housing for various automotive applications including backup cameras and autonomous vehicle systems.

Student: Brandon Matesic

Advisor: Mohsen Ayoobi

HealthConnect winner: Smart Crown for Brain Imaging

A wearable cap with embedded sensors that can perform functional brain imaging and transmit data in real time to a mobile/PC unit.

Student: Afreen Fatima

Advisor: Mohammad R. N. Avanaki

Ashley Davis was a member of the EcoCAR2 Hybrid Warriors from 2012-14. As the business manager, Davis was responsible for contacting potential sponsors and helping students maintain a relationship with them. Davis also created many sponsor presentations showcasing the team’s achievements.

“We hosted a presentation to show our sponsors the work that we had achieved and the product that we were to taking to the competition,” Davis said. “They were very supportive and proud of what they were able to contribute to.”

After her time with EcoCAR2, Davis became a business process consultant working with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers. Similarly to her role in the EcoCAR2 competition, Davis helps her clients improve their business processes efficiency.

“EcoCAR gave me a strong foundation of understanding in the automotive industry,” Davis said. “I really enjoy my job. I get to work on versatile projects, and no two days are ever alike.”

The EcoCAR2 alumna shared advice for the current members of the Hybrid Warriors.

“Stay hungry and always ask questions,” David said. “The automotive industry is helping to lead America in terms of technology and connectivity. There are a lot of cool career paths open to you.”

The Hybrid Warriors are in the third year of the EcoCAR3 competition. Student engineers are preparing for the final competition May 13 through 21 where each of the 16 university teams will bring their Chevrolet Camaros to Milford, Michigan. During final competition, teams will be judged on engineering, environmental, and economic objectives.

Contact: Kim Gallagher, WSU EcoCAR3 Communications Manager

The Wayne State University College of Engineering invited 13 alumni and industry leaders to partner with chemical engineering students for a new Industry Mentor Program to give students a glimpse into the career prospects of chemical engineering. The program concluded in April with both mentors and mentees gathering for a luncheon featuring student and professional speakers.

“The Industry Mentor Program had a significant impact on students' understanding of the connection between academics and a career in chemical engineering,” said Tracy Castle, academic advisor for the chemical engineering department.

The students worked with and even shadowed their mentors to get advice on future career paths. Student Gabriel Yurko believes that the program was one of the more helpful experiences she’s had at Wayne State.

“It helped to put my classwork in perspective, it gave me a vision for what I want to do in the future and I was able to learn to get there,” said Yurko. “I am so thankful that this program gave me the opportunity to learn from someone in chemical engineering and has been so successful.”

The program was a joint effort between the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Office of Alumni Relations. It has the potential to be implemented across the university as an example for future mentorship programs.

“We would like to build on the success of this pilot program and expand it to benefit more students in the Department of Chemical Engineering and possibly students in other departments in the College of Engineering,” said department chair Guangzhao Mao. “We welcome and appreciate our industry alumni to help us make this program more successful in the future.”

Wayne State University College of Engineering alumna Denise Rizzo recently received the 2017 J. Cordell Breed Award for Women Leaders from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International in recognition of her contributions to the mobility industry and service to her company and community.

Rizzo, a senior research mechanical engineer for the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), received the award in April during the WCX 17: SAE World Congress Experience in Detroit.

“It is always an honor to be recognized for doing the work that you love,” said Rizzo, who holds a B.S. and M.S. from Wayne State in mechanical engineering as well as a Ph.D. from Michigan Tech.

Rizzo, who was promoted to her current position earlier this year, joined TARDEC in 2008 after spending eight years in the Powertrain Group at Chrysler, where she was a controls research and development engineer. She specializes in modeling, simulation and control of propulsion systems of ground vehicles.

She says the most rewarding aspect of her job is “helping the soldiers and learning from other talented researchers.” She also demonstrates a commitment to service and mentorship in her industry as an active member of SAE, Society of Women Engineers, National Defense Industrial Association and Women in Defense.

“I was lucky to have amazing mentors such as Dr. Michele Grimm when I was an undergraduate student and new engineer. It only feels right to pay that back,” said Rizzo. “Furthermore, entering the work force and choosing a career path is not only challenging, it can be amazingly confusing. My goal is to help women understand how many different career paths exist and how to pick one that works for them.”

Rizzo has received seven awards for outstanding contributions during her tenure at TARDEC and been published in numerous journals and technical reports. She also holds two patents.

The dual alumna looks back on her time at Wayne State fondly. “Not only did WSU provide me with an outstanding technical education,” said Rizzo, “but it gave me the confidence and skill to follow a career path that is unique and rewarding.”

Zhiqiang Cao, associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science in the Wayne State University College of Engineering, has been selected to receive the WSU Academy of Scholars Junior Faculty Award for the 2017-18 academic year.

Established in 2003, the award is given annually to select junior faculty members who have a significant record of publications or creative achievement and who have attained national or international recognition early in their careers.

Cao will be honored at the academy’s annual banquet in October. He will also be awarded $1,000 for research and development, and have the opportunity to present his research to the academy.

Cao, who holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Washington, joined the Wayne State faculty in January 2013 and was promoted to associate professor earlier this year. His research interests include material and surface chemistry, biomaterials, antifouling and antimicrobial coatings, biosensors, nanomedicine, and tissue engineering. Cao leads a research team that was awarded a $1.3 million Type 1 Diabetes Pathfinder Award from the National Science Foundation’s National Institute of Diabetes and Kidney Diseases to support development of a material formulation intended to increase the longevity of insulin treatment implants.

He is the second chemical engineering faculty member in as many years to receive this award, as Eranda Nikolla was selected last year for her research studying various issues related to electrochemical systems

The Academy of Scholars was founded to raise the scholastic prestige of Wayne State University by bringing the most prominent academic experts to campus and creating a community of scholars from among its most celebrated researchers. Visit academy.wayne.edu to learn more.