The U.S. News and World Report’s latest rankings of graduate schools again puts UMR as one of the nation’s top graduate engineering schools. The rankings also list five UMR programs as among the best in the country.
UMR is ranked 68th among the nation’s best graduate engineering schools by U.S. News. Last year, the guidebook ranked UMR No. 67.
U.S. News’s online rankings include five UMR graduate engineering programs:
Way to go Miners!
From the editors: In a first for the United States, engineers in Kansas City are looking across the Atlantic for a solution to the city's congestion and accident rate. In short, they plan to have people drive on the left side of the road. We asked Mohammad Qureshi, assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering, UMR director of the Missouri Transportation Institute and director of the Missouri Local Transportation Resource Center, to share his thoughts about the "design first."
As the article states, the diverging diamond design has strong potential to be efficient and safe, dependent on two things. First the use of appropriate channelization (i.e. use of islands) to separate the on-ramp and off-ramp movements from the through movements. Proper channelization can reduce the crossing conflict points from six to two points. Second, sufficient spacing needs to exist between the ramps to allow for safe weaving of the on-ramp and off ramp traffic. With good signing and channelization, this design could turn out well.
Do you remember how you spent spring break in college? If you're like us, the details might be a bit fuzzy. (We'd prefer to leave it at that.) Well, a group of UMR students is spending this spring break in Guatemala, where they're doing memorable stuff that makes a difference. As you have probably figured out, we're doing a special series of posts this week on the trip. (Next week, we'll get back to regular programming; whatever that means.) In her latest dispatch, Cassidy Volek discusses progress on the installation of water filters, a visit to an orphanage and a stone basketball hoop:
The materials group returned to Pastor Tomas´ home to retest all of the filters. Work was much smoother since we had worked out all the bugs on Sunday. Another positive was that the water pressure was not spiking like on Sunday. We had a constant pressure of 20 psi. The high grog content (60-40 grog to clay ratio) filters were tested first and proved to filter water successfully in a reasonable time. We are still waiting on the coli form counts of these tests. However, the tests on Sunday proved that there were coli forms present in the water. Next the 50-50 grog to clay content filters were tested -- these proved to filter water but at a much slower rate than the 60-40 filters. Finally, we were going to test the 40-60 grog to clay ratio filters, but both of them failed under 20 psi. A crack propagated in the ceramic and continued to grow under pressure.
Andrea, Jeff, and Jen went to Tomas´ church and played with the children while the Women as Global Leaders class did their presentation. Again the children loved having their picture taken and playing. Cecilia and I stayed at Tomas´ home and finished up the testing and then fed the chickens and turkeys. This was entertaining, the birds were very tame and came right to us.
After the testing was complete, we traveled to Lemoa and visited the orphanage where Dr. Elmore installed a well a few years ago. The children were so cute and excited to play with us. We saw a very contaminated lake that had trash lying in it. Some women were washing clothes in it. We also saw a Mayan ball court, which was fascinating. It consists of one hoop which is like a small stone basketball hoop with no net, turned 90 degrees.
Signing off from Guatemala,
Cassidy
Jake was able to email us some images from Guatemala, after all. We don't have captions, but we trust these photos complement recent posts from Jake and Cassidy. Hopefully the shots capture the look and feel of the place, and shed more light on the good work the UMR spring breakers are doing.
Yesterday, first we went to a nearby dental clinic to build a pump house around a well head that was previously installed by a UMR team. The house looks wonderful although I am pretty sure it can be seen from outer space, as it is constucted entirely out of coregated metal roofing. We probably should have put a warning sign on it instructing not to look directly at it.
After that we returned to the hotel for a short rendezvous with the rest of the group. From there, one group went to Ruth and Naomis to explain the procedure for those using the filter system. The rest of us went to the Bombaros to shake down and test the disinfecting system. It was our hope that we would also be able to explain the the system to the fire chief. However, he was on Guatemalan time and we weren't able to do that when we wanted.
So at four we went to the orphanage and toured it. Which was nice. Then we finally made contact with the fire chief and went to meet with him and request that he perform testing for us. This actually went pretty well. Then we returned to the hotel and wrote up testing procedures for both intallation locations to be traslated to Spanish.
Jake
Cassidy Volek continues her spring break reporting from Guatemala, where a group of UMR students, faculty and staff are helping locals with water quality issues.
Yesterday the materials group (Andrea Muller, Jeff Rodelas, Jen Gilmore, Cecelia Fernandez, and myself) fixed the broken filters in the morning. Then Cecelia and I went with the Women as Global Leaders class to a local elementary school, where we taught the 5th and 6th graders about e.coli and how to test water, and the importance of drinking clean water.
The children were very interested in meeting with us and learning about how to clean the water. They were especially interested in having their picture taken and seeing the picture immediately. The children were also excited to see Rob (Bogie), as they used him as a jungle gym because he was so tall. Later on, they teased Rob about being, tall, hairy, and burned. The WAGL class left the teacher with four coli-scan-easy-gel kits to periodically test the water and explained that we would be back to get the results.
After we finished up with the children we returned to the hotel for lunch and then 16 members of the group hiked a very tall mountain to see some Mayan ruins. It was a memorial to the earth god. Natives bring the god offerings of food, alcohol, and coca cola. This left a lot of trash around the memorial. The view of the city and the rest of the mountains was beautiful from that height.
Next, Andrea, Jeff, Emma (Cawlfield), and I went to Saluda y paz, a clinic, to help Dr. Elmore and Dr. Cawlfield build a shelter for the well they installed earlier. This proved to be very challenging since we were drilling into cement and did not have the proper masonry bits. After it was all said and done, the shelter framework turned out to be fairly sturdy, which was unexpected. The roof still needs to be attached along with metal sides.
Signing off from Guatemala,
Cassidy
Before the UMR students left for Guatemala, they talked about their plans with Wayne Huebner on TechnoFiles. The show originally aired on Friday, March 17, but you can listen to it here.
Like what you hear? Subscribe to the TechnoFiles podcast using iTunes or any other podcast receiver.
Words we're learning: pila means outdoor sink and bombaros means firefighters. We think. Anyway, Jake and Cassidy have really been on the ball in terms of providing us with information about their research-related spring break trip to Guatemala. Dispatches from Saturday and Sunday have already been posted. Here are today's updates:
OK. On day three we split up, so me and Cassidy will both be posting about our different activities.
The operations and maintenance group installed two different systems. The first we installed was a ceramic filter system at the Ruth and Naomi Project. It was installed in the pila, which acts as a sort of outdoor dishwashing area and is their main source of cooking and drinking water. We had to make a few trips to the hardware store to purchase different fittings, which you can imagine was an exercise in frustration. However, it went together fairly smoothly and hopefully after today's testing we will be able to provide them with a proven potable drinking water source.
The second system is a UV disinfection system and was installed at the Bombaros station. After our previous frustrations at the hardware store, we wised up a little and remembered to bring our receipt. That way we could simply hand it to an employee. As you can imagine this greatly improved communication. Again the system went in as planned and the Bombaros should be enjoying potable water within 48 hours.
Tonight and tomorrow we plan to perform testing on both systems and provide education of maintenance procedures for Pastor Diego at Ruth and Naomi and the Bombaros.
Signing off from Guatemala,
Jake
Cassidy's dispatch from Monday is after the jump...
Earlier, we posted the first dispatch from Cassidy Volek and Jake Midkiff, who are in Guatemala for spring break. The two students are part of a UMR group that is testing water quality in rural areas of Guatemala and installing disenfection systems. This dispatch was emailed to us Sunday:
Yesterday we went to three different locations to do testing on water quality and decide installation procedures for today. The first location was the home of a Pastor Tomas. There we tested two spigots for Ecoli, Turbidity, pressure, and total suspended solids. The Materials group will test their six ceramic filters there today.
The second location was the Ruth y Namoi project. This is a group of women who produce textiles for sale. This project was organized for widows by the Methodist church during the Guatemalan Civil War. The same tests were taken in this location as at the home of Pastor Tomas. The operations and maintenance team will install a ceramic candle filter system in the pila (sink) for long term testing.
The third location was the Bombaros (firefighter) Station in Chichicastananga. Again, the same testing was performed. The operations and maintenance team will install a UV disinfection system on the main water source at this location. This system will also be used for long term testing.
Signing off from Guatemala,
Cassidy and Jake
NOTE: Cassidy and Jake say they won't be able to contribute photos until they get back to Rolla. In the meantime, we'll post some images from similar trips organized by previous UMR travelers.
It's spring break, which means a bunch of UMR students have headed south -- for Central America. Jacob Midkiff and Cassidy Volek are two of the students who are helping people in Guatemala improve their water quality. They're also collaborating to send us dispatches from the field. In the first one, which was emailed on Saturday, Jake and Cassidy describe their arrival. Dispatches detailing their water-related work will follow.
Yesterday we arrived in Guatemala City safely. From there we rented vans and drove four hours to the city of Chichicastananga, in the highlands of northwestern Guatemala. The drive was beautiful, if not somewhat intimidating. The quality of the roads was better than expected. The roads were nicer than some Missouri roads. But the drive made the trip from Rolla to Jefferson City seem like an interstate highway. It took us approximately four twisty, hilly, sometimes stomach turning hours, to reach our hotel.
The city of Chichicastanango is very traditional with some indigenous touches. All the roofs are terracotta and people linger in the streets at all hours of the day. Children run around unsupervised in the streets, which is much different than in the U.S. They do have internet cafes, which don't fit with the other aspects of the town.
Signing off from Guatemala,
Jake and Cassidy
Undergraduate research is the subject of the latest issue of our alumni magazine, UMR Magazine. This issue includes stories about UMR students who are working to create soy-based paints, studying malformations in frogs, building a minature satellite and conducting other relevant research. All of the featured research is conducted through UMR's Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experiences program, a 15-year-old service that gives students the chance to learn by doing.
The future of Universal's download-to-own video service is generating some buzz today (see here, here or here).
If the $35 price tag gives you sticker shock, why not check out a few of UMR's own great videos instead? Grab your popcorn and Milk Duds, get comfy and watch the real-life adventures of UMR students in:
Bonus: They're free.
Keith D. Strassner, director of UMR's Office of Technology Commercialization and Economic Development -- OTCED for short -- wants to foster a "culture of entrepreneurship" on campus to help move UMR's applied research out of the labs and into the marketplace.
Strassner addressed the University of Missouri Board of Curators this afternoon as part of a session on the university's role in economic development. He described his office's mission as creating a "center of excellence" for technology-based economic development and pointed to UMR's development of a chrome-free inhibitor that is now being used to help prime the Air Force's entire fleet of F-15s.
"We have one of the finest R&D organizations in the state and nation across many technologies and markets," Strassner said. "What we were missing was the marketing department to bring this technology into the marketplace." The OTCED, he added, "provides that front door" to sell UMR research. "This allows us to work with faculty and student entrepreneurs as well as small and large business to accelerate the creation of business opportunities."
Remember that virtually indestructible coffee mug engineered by UMR students? Now you can see how it was made, courtesy of the Discovery Channel Canada. Go here to watch the feature story on ceramics engineering at UMR. We at visions think the Canadian crew did a great job -- they are an extremely fair and balanced outfit.
From the Wall Street Journal to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, it seems like everyone wants to know what Dr. J. David Rogers thinks about the levees that failed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. A geological engineer and an expert on disasters and whatnot, Rogers has been extremely busy since Katrina. Right now, he's on the National Science Foundation's Independent Levee Investigation Team; and he's not afraid to speak his mind. Rogers has been outspoken on everything from the role of the Army Corps of Engineers to self-serving politicians.
Should New Orleans be relocated or abandoned entirely? Rogers isn't willing to go quite that far, but he doesn't think the city will ever be the same. "You take the lowest areas and turn those into drainage polders," Rogers says. "If the water comes over the walls, it would flow into these areas and not adjacent neighborhoods on higher ground."
Mobile Radio Technology talks this month with UMR's own Kelvin Erickson about his efforts to use the nation's gas pipelines to build wireless networks.
“A big part of dealing with pipelines is the aspect of inspection," said Richard Baker, project manager with the Gas Technology Management Division of DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory. “The methodology that they used in this project was a novel approach to communicating to connection devices inside the lines because it actually was looking at using the pipeline as a wave guide for a communications signal."
Read more here.
Today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch includes a nice B1 feature on Nelson O. Weber, ME'62. Weber, who retired as a mechanical engineer from McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, is putting his engineering skills back to work surveying the wreckage of the steamboat Montana, one of the largest paddlewheel steamboats to ply the Missouri River.
Last year, the Missouri was so low that Weber was able to map out nearly the entire width of the ship. The parts that still lay buried in the water and mud, he probed with a bamboo pole. Weber took measurements, drew diagrams, and even got his cousin to fly a small plane over the wreckage so he could take pictures.
Read more about Weber's work here.
Students from UMR's Residential College are engineering a float with moving parts for Saturday's St. Pat's Parade. On Friday afternoon, the students were putting the final touches on the float, which includes a flopping catfish, a life-sized horse, a candy-spewing tornado and Pecos Bill. The theme of this year's parade is Tall Tales. You can catch the float in action Saturday morning in downtown Rolla. The parade starts at 11 a.m.
Eight UMR students this semester are working with Bill Ankner, director of the Missouri Transportation Institute at UMR, to develop a business plan for a public transit system for Interstate 44. The study, funded by a $70,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation, will focus on the project's feasibility and help officials determine the best way to run a commuter shuttle bus service from Fort Leonard Wood to Rolla and Lebanon.
“If it looks like there isn’t the market for this to work, and it looks like this will fail, we will tell you," Ankner said. “But at this point, all indicators are it will be positive."Farther down the road, the commuter shuttle bus might become part of a federal test program to determine the viability of hydrogen rather than traditional motor fuels, using an existing MoDOT garage near Fort Leonard Wood’s main gate as a hydrogen fuel cell facility.
“What UMR and (the Missouri Transportation Institute) are saying is, if we get this transit system up and running, to use this system as the test site for hydrogen technology," Ankner said, noting that the federal government doesn’t yet have any rural test sites for a hydrogen fuel program.
Read more about the project in the Waynesville Daily Guide.
What will be the occupation of the 21st century? If you ask Marcus Huggans, he'll tell you it's engineering.
An engineering degree, he believes, will become the liberal arts degree of the future. He knows engineers who become lawyers, doctors, poets, teachers, businessmen. 'They take their foundation in engineering and dabble in other things, I don't see it going the other way,' Huggans says. 'I really believe engineering is going to be the occupation of the 21st century. And it should be. Engineers are the problem-solvers.'
Read what else he tells the Peoria Journal Star here.
Maybe you've heard that Mexico has announced the discovery of a huge new oil field ...Given the price and global demand, this might be the best timing for a crude-related windfall since Jed became a millionaire. "Each country claims the right to explore and develop their outer-continental shelf, and an agreed upon distance beyond that," says Dr. Shari Dunn-Norman, a professor of petroleum engineering at UMR. "This is a huge field if what they are saying is correct."
Dunn-Norman, an expert in offshore oil and gas production, thinks the discovery could secure the supply to Mexico for some time to come. "This will certainly have a positive impact on the United States as well," she says, "since Mexico exports about half of what they produce to the U.S."
Dunn-Norman speculates that it will take 18-36 months for Mexico to start production in the new field. Meanwhile, U.S. drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is just starting to get back to normal after last year's hurricanes.
It's known as the cradle of civilization, and now it's in the process of giving birth to a new ocean. The continent of Africa is breaking apart, and, compared to most geological phenomena, the new body of water is forming with staggering speed. This is just the kind of event that really gets the attention of geologists like Dr. Estella Atekwana. "We have never really witnessed this before," says Atekwana, a professor of geophysics at UMR. "We expect geological processes to be slow...Depending on how fast the plates are moving apart, we expect the area to eventually become like the Red Sea." Not too long ago, Atekwana co-organized a workshop on the East African Rift System in Ethiopia, and she continues to have a scholarly interest in the fascinating geology of the region.
St. Pat's arrival at UMR brings with it the annual tradition of showing off intricately carved shillelaghs, a custom started at UMR in 1910. Leave it to engineering students to add a few tricks to their sticks, like fire and music.
Today is Pi Day, which should be a cause for much celebration.
Why today, of all days, would we celebrate this wonderful mathematical constant? Wikipedia offers this explanation: Written in the USA date format, March 14 is an unofficial celebration for Pi Day derived from the common three-digit approximation for the number π: 3.14. It is usually celebrated at 1:59 PM (in recognition of the six-digit approximation: 3.14159).
So, go on and celebrate Pi Day! Put on some Don McLean, drive your Chevy to the levy, or indulge in your favorite baked treat. (Make mine cherry, please.)
Thanks to UK blogger Richard Hall for pointing out the significance of this day.
See also: The life of pi, which points out:
A supercomputer in Tokyo once calculated pi to more than 2 billion digits. It could not, however, reach the final decimal place because as every mathematician knows, that lies somewhere beyond infinity, a place they go only in their dreams.P.S. UK blogger Richard Hall is not to be confused with videoblogger/UMR professor Richard Hall. Nor is today to be confused with Pi Approximation Day, which occurs on July 22 (7/22)."The mathematics of pi is often rather pretty," explained Ian Stewart, professor of mathematics at Warwick University.
"All numbers are interesting but some are more interesting than others and pi is the most interesting of the lot," Professor Stewart said.
From the editors: Severe weather ripped through Missouri, Arkansas and Illinois this weekend, tearing off roofs and leaving several dead (read about it here, here or here). With the early start to the Midwest's tornado season, we asked Donald C. Wunsch II, the M.K. Finley Missouri Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UMR, to share his insights into tornado prediction.
Every tornado season, we hear stories of their destructive wrath. As video cameras have improved, we’ve seen much more dramatic clips, attesting to their power. And, all too predictably, we hear of deaths attributable to their fury.
The problem is that tornados are as unpredictable as these stories are predictable. They are highly nonlinear phenomena, and while patterns that give rise to them can be identified, there is a high false alarm rate. False alarms are very bad when the goal is to generate a warning. They create a “Boy Who Called Wolf" problem – people learn to ignore them, and then fail to respond when the situation is truly dire.
The Discovery Channel was at the Experimental Mine today to capture UMR's Mine Rescue Team in action. UMR is the only university with a mine rescue team in the nation. Discovery Channel Canada is doing a long feature on these miners and, as previously posted, a story about some ceramic engineering students who won the national "mug drop" contest. The mine rescue story will air in Canada in April and will be available for viewing online soon thereafter. Later, it will be redistributed to U.S. cable. As soon as specific programming information is available, we'll let you know.
John F. Carney III, UMR chancellor, shared his work with impact attenuation devices this afternoon as part of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Graduate Seminar Series. The good news is the fatal crash rate is 20 percent of what it was 40 years ago. The bad news? People still aren't buckling up.
Carney shared several crash test videos (not including this one) during his presentation, much to the delight of the many undergraduate and graduate students in attendance. Perhaps those images will help change the mind of the one student who admitted to not using his seat belt.
It all started almost 100 years ago, when a group of Rolla students declared St. Patrick the patron saint of engineers. This year, a group of UMR students from an Experiential Design class is renewing a St. Pat's tradition of building a parade float with moveable parts. The really cool parts of the float are a candy-spewing tornado and a flopping catfish.
Random Play gives an update on the ASME fishing pole design competition held at UMR last weekend. The catch? The poles needed to allow quadriplegics to use their breath to accurately cast and retrieve a fishing lure without assistance, and land a “fish" on at least one cast.
Pop quiz time. Break out your pencils and see how long it takes you to solve the following problem:
A car travels from A to B at a speed of 40 mph then returns from B to A at a speed of 60 mph. What is the average speed for the round trip?
It's these types of questions that 145 middle school students from 35 schools in Missouri will try to solve during the state Mathcounts competition March 25 at UMR. The “mathletes" will take a series of individual and team tests on advanced levels of algebra, probability, statistics and geometry. The four top-scoring individuals and the top team coach will represent Missouri at the Lockheed Martin National Mathcounts Competition May 11-14 in Arlington, Va.
Think you know the answer?
Fox News is known for its "fair and balanced" journalism, which is probably why they mentioned UMR's winning mug drop team today in an online story. The team of ceramic engineering students made a mug so tough that it "left a dent in the pavement" and crushed the competition at a national event last January. UMR's championship mug drop team will also be the subject of an upcoming Discovery Channel feature. Stay tuned.
Gov. Matt Blunt is proposing a state-imposed rule that all gasoline sold in Missouri contain at least 10 percent ethanol. If his plan is approved, Missouri would become the fourth state to adopt such a requirement.
KY3, the NBC affiliate in Springfield, Mo., recently turned to UMR's own Virgil Flanigan to help dispell some of the myths associated with ethanol blends. Flanigan, a three-time UMR graduate, is professor emeritus of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UMR and director of the Center for Environmental Science and Technology. A specialist in alternative energy studies, Flanigan is currently studying how biodiesels could help the U.S. Amy improve fuel consumption in Hummer vehicles.
Watch KY3's report here. (Thanks to Jerry Jacob for the link).
In Greene County, Mo., last month, the first vehicle crossed a new bridge made of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP). The bridge replaced a 73-year-old farm road bridge that was closed because it was no longer structurally sound and not very functional.
Today the project, originally funded by the National Science Foundation, was featured in an article on its website.
This bridge of the future was developed in a joint effort between University of Missouri-Rolla researchers and those at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Strongwell Corp. and Hughes Brothers Inc. The project is a finalist for an ASCE award.
UMR students are savoring their Sunday-afternoon win over Auburn University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and 15 other contestants.
The first-place finish came not on the court but online, in the ASCE Geo-Institute’s Information Mining and Geotechnical Site Characterization Design competition Feb. 26.
The competition was designed to promote the optimal use of information, databases, and both analytical and numerical processing tools that are available online. Eighteen teams worldwide had four hours to investigate the failure of the levees in New Orleans, describe the problem as geotechnical engineers and develop a new design for the levee system.
"The UMR team won the $1,000 prize and each team member also received a memory stick," says team coach Ronaldo Luna. "However, the bragging rights are what the students and faculty will enjoy the most."
Science Dude reports that NASA is expected to telecast the announcement of the final configuration for the International Space Station. You can watch the announcement live on NASA TV at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (noon Rolla Standard Time).
By the way, three UMR grads are NASA astronauts: our very own Colonel Tom -- Tom Akers (Math'73, MS Math'75) -- and Janet Kavandi (MS Chem'82) and Sandra Magnus (Phys'86, MS EE'90).
Don't sweat it. Download it.
Listen to DJ Belarbi and Pedro Silva talk with Wayne Huebner about how UMR and four other universities are working together to study the complex loading -- twisting, pushing and bending -- that can occur all at the same time and in every direction in bridge structures during earthquakes.
Then tune in to KUMR March 17 to hear more about why UMR students are spending their spring break helping people in Guatemala improve the quality of water coming out of their taps. Or make it simple on yourself and subscribe to the podcast.
