OSU MECHANICAL ENGINEERING E-BULLETIN

OSU MECHANICAL ENGINEERING E-BULLETIN

Issue #28

Week of May 8, 2006

BEST OF LUCK to the OSU SAE MINI BAJA TEAM in this week’s

MINI BAJA WEST COMPETITION

Portland (May 11—static events) and Washougal, WA (May 12-13—dynamic events and endurance race)! For more information about the event, including maps and directions, visit http://minibajawest.com/. Fans attending the Friday/Saturday events should look for the black and orange Beaver Racing trailer!

Attention all ME grad students and current and incoming pro-school students:

The Mechanical Engineering 10^th Annual Awards Ceremony and Picnic is coming up next week! Plan to take part in this fun evening of food, games, and celebration on Thursday, May 18 at 5 pm, at the Avery Park Lyons Shelter. This is the time when we celebrate you and your accomplishments, and even hand out a few awards! Faculty will be barbecuing hamburgers, veggie burgers, hotdogs, and all of the trimmings, and that’s just part of the fun! If you plan to attend, please RSVP to: karen.willard3@oregonstate.edu by May 15.

Attention all graduating PhD and Masters students and ME seniors:

The Mechanical Engineering Department is holding Commencement on Saturday, June 17, at 4 pm in LaSells Stewart Center's Austin Auditorium. If you plan to attend—and we hope that you will!!—please RSVP at the following link: http://me.oregonstate.edu/springpicnic.php. The invitation extends to any and all family members – no limit.

UPCOMING EVENTS

This Week...

Monday, May 8: Formula SAE group meeting, 6 pm, Rogers 132.

Tuesday, May 9: “Vision-Based Control of Autonomous Flight Vehicles in Urban Environments.” Talk by Richard (Chad) Prazenica, University of Florida. 9 am, Rogers 226.

Tuesday, May 9: Oregon WAVE/Grand Challenge Team meeting, 12 noon, basement of Graf. All students (graduate and undergraduate) welcome.

Tuesday, May 9: SAE Mini Baja Senior Design meeting, 5–6 pm, Rogers 230.

Tuesday, May 9: Computer Science Workshop: “Scalable PHP.” 7–7:50 pm, Milne 201.

Wednesday, May 10: “National Center for Accessible Transportation: Overview of Research Activities.” Presentation by Katherine Hunter-Zaworski and Joe Zaworski, sponsored by the Center for Healthy Aging. 1–2 pm, Bates Hall 129. Free and open to the public.

Thursday, May 11–Saturday, May 13: 2006 SAE Mini Baja West Competition, Portland, OR (May 11) and Washougal, WA (May 12-13).

Thursday, May 11: OSU Solar Vehicle Team (SVT) meeting, 5:30 pm in MU 211, and SVT Machine Shop time, 6 pm in WNGR 404.

Friday, May 12: “The Why and How of Optimal Traffic Control.” ME Seminar presentation by Lei Zhang, OSU Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. 4 pm, Rogers 226 (social time w/coffee and tea starts at 3:30 pm).

Sunday, May 14: Mothers Day!!

Plan Ahead...

Monday, May 15: Women and Minorities in Engineering invite you to a celebration of Freshman and Sophomore Undergraduate Research. 5–6 pm, Kelley Engineering Center Atrium. Free and open to the public--family and future students are welcome and encouraged to attend. Appetizers, Kelley Center tours, and Segway scooter rides! Research projects are sponsored by Tektronix and Intel. RSVP by May 10 to Ellen Momsen at 541-737-9699 or Ellen.momsen@oregonstate.edu. We hope to see you there.

Thursday, May 18: Annual ME Spring Picnic and Awards Ceremony for current and incoming pro-school students, graduate students, faculty, and staff. Avery Park Lyons Shelter, start time 5 pm. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to: karen.willard3@oregonstate.edu by May 15th.

Thursday, May 18: CoE Brown-Bag Lunch Presentation: “The Impostor Syndrome” by Valerie Young. 12 noon, Owen 102. Free and open to all CoE students, staff, and faculty. Do you secretly worry that others will find out you're not as intelligent and competent as they seem to think you are? Do you often dismiss your accomplishments as a "fluke" or "no big deal?" Do you sometimes shy away from challenge because of nagging self-doubt? Join us at this lunchtime presentation to learn about the so-called Impostor Syndrome and how it operates in every day life; how race, class, and gender can and do contribute to feelings of fraudulence; and how to stop the perfectionism, procrastination, and chronic self-doubt standing between you and your goals.

NOTE: In addition to this lunch time CoE meeting, the Women and Minorities in Engineering Office, in collaboration with Willamette SWE, OSU Office of Community and Diversity, and OSU SWE, are hosting a free evening meeting at 6:30 pm in LaSells, CEM room for students and community members. Both presentations will be geared to all ages and genders. For more information on the Imposter Syndrome, visit http://www.impostorsyndrome.com/.

Friday, May 19: Last day to withdraw from spring term classes; last day to change to S/U grading.

Friday, May 19: OSU Engineering Expo, 2–5 pm Kelley Engineering Center.

Wednesday, May 24^:First Annual Building Your Future in Higher Education Conference. Formerly the Graduate Student Conference, our re-vamped event boasts an exciting new format with outstanding professional development opportunities and a free lunch for the first 275 participants who register. This conference is open to all OSU students, graduate and undergrad. For more details and to register, visit http://asosu.oregonstate.edu/taskforces/grad_reg.php. or contact David McCandless at graduate.affairs@oregonstate.edu or 737.3559. Registration deadline: May 17th.

Wednesday, May 24: CoE faculty meeting with President Ed Ray and Provost Sabah Randhawa, 2:30-4 pm in Owen 101. All CoE faculty, including professional faculty, are invited to attend. See Announcements section (below) for details.

Wednesday, May 24–Saturday, May 27. 2006 SAE Mini Baja Midwest Competition, Walworth County, WI.

Friday, May 26: “What Are We Doing at the Industrial Assessment Center?” Presentation by Joe Junker, IAC Assistant Director, 4 pm, Rogers 226.

Thursday, June 15-Saturday, June 17: Formula SAE West Competition at California Speedway, Fontana, CA.

Saturday, June 17: ME Graduation Ceremony, This ceremony will be held at 4–6 pm in the Lasells Stewart Center, and will include individual recognition of each graduate. Caps and gowns are required. RSVP at the following link: http://me.oregonstate.edu/springpicnic.php. This invitation extends to any and all family members – no limit.

FACULTY/GRADUATE SEMINARS

Tuesday, May 9: “Vision-Based Control of Autonomous Flight Vehicles in Urban Environments.” Talk by Richard (Chad) Prazenica, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida. 9 am, Rogers 226.

ABSTRACT: This presentation will describe some of the challenges associated with operating autonomous flight vehicles in urban environments. A particular scenario will be discussed in which the objective is to enable a micro air vehicle to fly autonomously to a goal location in an unknown urban environment. This scenario presents unique and interesting challenges in such areas as image processing, estimation, and control. The vision-based control architecture considered in this line of research requires several enabling technologies. Feature point tracking is required to identify and track points of interest in image frames collected from the onboard camera. The tracked feature points are used as measurements in a Kalman filter for vehicle state estimation. The positions of static points in three-dimensional space can be computed from estimates of the vehicle motion and the positions of tracked feature points in the image plane. An adaptive, multi resolution-based learning algorithm is used to reconstruct the three-dimensional scene from the collection of static points in the environment. The reconstructed scene provides obstacle avoidance constraints for a locally-optimal path planning algorithm that guides the vehicle towards the goal location. A standard waypoint controller can be used to fly the vehicle through the path points provided by the trajectory planner. An alternative approach will also be discussed in which the path planning and control are combined into a single process. In this case, a path is not planned explicitly, but rather a sequence of locally-optimal control inputs are computed that result in a desirable trajectory. These algorithms will be described in detail and demonstrated via simulations conducted in the UF-REEF Visualization Laboratory.

ABSTRACT: During the past two decades, the US has adopted a transportation investment policy that increasingly emphasizes the optimal control and management of existing facilities. Optimal freeway traffic control has emerged as an important theoretical and practical issue. At present, virtually all major urbanized areas in the US employ systems of sensors, control devices, and algorithms for freeway operations at varying degrees of sophistication. A fundamental supposition for freeway traffic control is that the control algorithms result in increased capacity and throughput. However, the validity of this assumption is in question. In 2000, in what may be one of the largest field transportation experiments in recent years, the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St. Paul) freeway management system was shut down for two months to study the system’s effectiveness. Traffic data collected before and after the shut-down experiment have enabled a true before-after study on the impact of freeway traffic control on freeway capacity. Results from an empirical study of 27 sites also help advance the theory and practice of real-time freeway traffic control through ramp metering. A novel linear-programming (LP) formulation for ramp control was developed based on those empirical findings. The LP solutions suggest that the most efficient control logic is also the least equitable one and requires a small number of drivers to endure excessive delays to benefit others. This conclusion casts an interesting trade-off problem between efficiency and equity for decision makers. The LP formulation with different equity considerations is tested in a microscopic traffic simulator to address this trade-off issue.

Note: The most current ME Seminar schedule and other OSU seminar information is available on the Rogers Hall bulletin boards near the ME main office or at http://me.oregonstate.edu/seminars/.

MISCELLANEOUS ANNOUNCEMENTS

Department-wide…

STUDENTS: REGISTER YOUR VOTE FOR OUTSTANDING CoE PROFESSOR! Each year the College of Engineering selects a professor to receive the Carter Award. This award is a reward for outstanding undergraduate teaching. The basis for selection is student voting. For accurate results, it is important that you indicate each engineering professor from whom you have taken a class and the professor who you think did the best job. Some professors may not be listed because they are not allowed to receive the award more often than once every five years. We will close balloting on May 15. To vote, visit http://engr.oregonstate.edu/students/carterballot.php and complete the short questionnaire. If you have any questions, email Roy.Rathja@OregonState.edu.

ME ADVISING MATTERS. Contrary to information provided in last week’s e-bulletin, all ME students (pre-engineering and pro-school) must be advised each and every term (fall, winter, and spring). Advising for Fall 2007 is taking place RIGHT NOW and will continue through May 19th, so please sign up for your 15-minute appointment today. You can do this in Dearborn 102. Check on the ME Bulletin Board outside of Dearborn 102 to see who your advisor is, as assignments may have changed.

ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS is seeking applicants for the second site assessment to El Salvador. The travel will be 10 days during the summer, with exact dates to be decided based on applicants' schedules. The application form and instructions are available at http://me.oregonstate.edu/news/bulletins/EWBSiteAssessmentApp2.pdf, and the application deadline is Monday May 15th. You do not need any specific technical skills to apply, so please highlight anything that you think would be valuable in developing a relationship with this community. This trip will be focused on continuing to build a relationship with the community, getting flow data, doing health presentations, GPS data collection, and technical solutions proposals. FYI - This will be the rainy season in El Salvador. Thank you for your enthusiasm! We look forward to receiving many applications! If you have any questions, please contact Kelsey Edwardsen, edwardke@onid.orst.edu, (503) 709-9671.

THE ME DEPARTMENT EXTENDS OUR CONGRATULATIONS to Robert J. Zaworski, ME freshman and one of only four OSU undergraduates (and only 20 students statewide!) selected to receive a 2006 Oregon NASA Space Grant Consortium Scholarship. These scholarships are open to new and continuing students in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Go RJ!

The OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY INDUSTRIAL ASSESSMENT CENTER (IAC) is currently recruiting student employees. The minimum commitment for involvement is two summers & one school year, 10-20 hours/week during school, full time in summer. The IAC offers small and medium-sized manufacturers comprehensive on-site energy, waste and productivity assessments. Student teams led by engineering faculty visit Northwest manufacturers and seek ways to increase profits by increasing productivity and reducing energy use and waste. To learn more about the Center and its activities, visit the IAC web site at http://me.oregonstate.edu/iac/. To apply for IAC employment, download the application at http://me.oregonstate.edu/iac/downloads/Job Application.doc and return your completed form to Joe Junker, 344 Batcheller Hall, 737-5034, JunkerJ@engr.orst.edu.

WANT TO HELP WITH K-12 ENGINEERING OUTREACH ACTIVITIES? The College of Engineering has a wide variety of volunteer opportunities available for engineering students interested in working with K12 students and sharing the excitement of engineering. Twice a month, we will be sending out a newsletter of upcoming outreach events. If you would like to receive this outreach newsletter, please email Ellen Momsen at ellen.momsen@oregonstate.edu and you will be added to our distribution list. (In your email response, please include your name, year, and major.) You will then be able to sign up for events that interest you and fit your schedule. It's a great way to polish leadership skills, and a lot of fun!

YOUR CHANCE TO IMPACT THE BROADER OSU COMMUNITY. ASOSU invites your participation in any of its 10 task forces working to benefit all Oregon State students. For more information, see http://asosu.oregonstate.edu/taskforces/index.html. If you are interested in any of these areas, or if you feel they might be able to address any issues you may have, please contact the task force director listed below for more information.

· Graduate Student Affairs: David McCandless, graduate.affairs@oregonstate.edu

· Multicultural Affairs: Isis Ilias, multiculture.affairs@oregonstate.edu

· Community Affairs: Annie McMahon, community.affairs@oregonstate.edu

· Accessibility Affairs: Nick Freeburg, disabled.affairs@oregonstate.edu

· Environmental Affairs: Anthony Wynne, enviro.affairs@oregonstate.edu

· Federal (government) Affairs: Jen Gilbreath, federal.affairs@oregonstate.edu

· Queer (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual, Intergendered, Questioning) Affairs: Angi Baxter, queer.affairs@oregonstate.edu

· Student & Academic Affairs: Dorris Huth, student.affairs@oregonstate.edu

· Women's Affairs: Krissy Stephen, womens.affairs@oregonstate.edu

· State (government) Affairs: Joel Fischer, state.affairs@oregonstate.edu

Grad Students/Faculty/Staff…

ME GRAD STUDENTS: Did you know that ASOSU has student fee money available to provide up to $150 to graduate students once per academic year to cover the registration costs of attending a professional conference? Applications are available on the ASOSU website at asosu.oregonstate.edu. For more information, please contact Stacy Thomsen at 737.8236 or asosu.external@oregonstate.edu. Just think--$150 for filling out a form! Why wouldn’t you do this?

THE OFFICE OF SPONSORED PROGRAMS AND RESEARCH COMPLIANCE is offering the following workshops during the remainder of Spring term:

May 11, 3:00-4:00 Grants.gov for NIH

May 23, 2:00-3:30 Conflict of Interest

For workshop descriptions and registration information, visit http://oregonstate.edu/research/osprc. To register, send an e-mail to osprc@oregonstate.edu or call 541-737-9525 (Toshie Gordon) or 541-737-0673 (Stephanie Balagot).

INTEL GRANT FOR SUMMER FUNDING OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHERS. The COE has received a grant from INTEL to provide up to 5 undergraduate research experiences for women and minority engineering students. Projects can begin in the spring and continue through the summer, or can be strictly summer projects. Each student can earn up to $4000 during this project. End date is Sept 2006. Criteria for projects: Intel has targeted specific areas for this REU. projects may be in EECS, and specific areas of ChemE, IME, ME, Chemistry, or Physics. If you would like to participate, please contact Ellen Momsen (Director of the OSU Women & Minorities in Engineering Program) as soon as possible at 541-737-9699 or ellen.momsen@oregonstate.edu. If you already have an undergraduate student (female or minority) identified, indicate that; we also have many students who are interested and can select students for you to interview. There is no cost to the researcher (except your time!). Goals of this program are to encourage a greater number of women and minority students to obtain a graduate degree in engineering. Thank you for assisting COE diversity efforts!

UPCOMING COE FACULTY MEETING WITH OSU PRESIDENT AND PROVOST President Ed Ray and Provost Sabah Randhawa will meet with the faculty of the College of Engineering on Wednesday, May 24, 2:30-4 pm, in Owen 101. Ray and Randhawa will make a few general introductory comments, then spend the rest of the time listening to CoE faculty comments, taking questions, etc. You are welcome to submit a question or suggestion for discussion. Please do so via an e-mail message to Gigi Bruce in the Provost's Office gigi.bruce@oregonstate.edu, and she will make sure that President Ray and I are both aware of that input. All CoE faculty, including professional faculty, are invited to participate in this discussion.

WORKSHOP OPPORTUNITY FOR FACULTY AND GRADUATE STUDENTS: How to Engineer Engineering Education. July 17-19, 2006, at Bucknell University.

For the fifth consecutive year, faculty from Bucknell University are proud to offer this hands on workshop for engineering and science faculty and graduate students to enhance their skills in course design by: Writing clear instructional objectives; Using active, cooperative, & problem-based learning; Teaching teamwork and problem solving skills; Assessing learning outcomes; and Sharing experiences about what works and what doesn't work. Workshop Tuition and Meals: $600 Before May 15^th, $650 After May 15^th. (Tuition is non-refundable after May 30.) On-campus room ($120) is available but optional. Apply for the workshop online @ www.bucknell.edu/Engineering/ProjectCatalyst on or before May 30. Accepted applicants will be notified on or before June 15.