NASHVILLE (TSU News Service) – More than 15 students and faculty members from the College of Engineering at Tennessee State University participated in the Centennial meeting of the Tennessee Academy of Science November 16 at Vanderbilt University and presented their on-going research in engineering and environmental science.

The College of Engineering had 10 students compete in the Engineering & Technology Section, and received three awards for first and second place finishes by competing with public and private universities in the state.

Students receiving awards included:

• 1^st Place: Heather Housel, civil and architectural engineering major; Review of Incident Transportation Emergency Evacuation Systems for Populated Areas
• 2nd Place: Cornel Zlibut, electrical engineering major; Real Time Wireless Video Transmission Using Software Defined Radio
• 2nd Place: Hung Wai Ho, civil and architectural engineering major; Sorption isotherm of copper and quaternary ammonia compounds to zeolite-perlite-granular activated carbon in a storm water filter

“Our engineering students continue to demonstrate a high level of technical competence, knowledge and leadership ability with their interaction with faculty, and academic performance to prepare them for the careers of the 21st century,” said Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, Dean of the College of Engineering. “They develop outstanding research skills that transfer to the ability to think critically…which is an asset for any college graduate in any occupation.”

The Tennessee Academy of Science serves as collegial organization to promote scientific research within the state among colleges and universities. It involves faculty across the state, and also encourages the active engagement of student research and other professional development opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The College of Engineering became active with this organization two years ago, and has since received numerous accolades based on student research presentations and posters.

Faculty researchers including Drs. Sachin Shetty, Thomas Byl, Liang Hong, Roger Painter, Dafeng Hui, and S. Keith Hargrove led the students through the conference and presentations.

NASHVILLE (TSU News Service) –The College of Engineering at Tennessee State University was one of 22 Historically Black Colleges and Universities and six Department of Energy sites to recently receive part of a $4 million grant from the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The funding launches NNSA’s new Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program, a consortium program organized to build a sustainable Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics pipeline between DOE plants and laboratories, and HBCUs.

The partnership program is designed to enrich the STEM capabilities of HBCUs in a sustainable manner that aligns with the broad interests of DOE sites and emphasizes the entire career pipeline. The partnership also provides STEM students with the cutting edge resources and technology housed at DOE facilities, ultimately increasing STEM student retention.

“Hands-on participation in research is imperative for students in the STEM field,” said Dimitri Kusnezov, NNSA’s chief scientist. “The MSIPP will provide an opportunity for students to be exposed to state-of-the-art facilities and research, creating an opportunity to expand their knowledge and further prepare them for a career in STEM fields.”

The College of Engineering will benefit from this funding with research in nano-materials.  In partnership with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the College will begin to examine ways to better engineer materials for capturing energy, more specifically; using platinum-based nanostructures. Research has demonstrated catalytic activity to harness energy for multiple applications, including fuel cells.

Led by Dr. Lizhi Ouyang, Assistant Professor of Physics, a team of undergraduate and graduate students will conduct experiments to advance the knowledge of catalytic novel materials, particularly in platinum-based battery research.  These efforts support the research agenda of the new TIGER (TSU Interdisciplinary Graduate Engineering Research) Institute, to advance research in cyber-security, computation, nano-materials and renewable energy systems.

“An interdisciplinary approach to address and solve problems in science and engineering is critical to shortening the product development cycle from laboratory to commercial use,” said Dr. S. Keith Hargrove, Dean of the College of Engineering and Director of the TIGER Institute. “We are promoting STEM faculty to do more collaboration and aggressively pursue opportunities that exist with federal laboratories and industry to enhance the quality of our academic curriculums for our students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.”

The College of Engineering also recently continued a partnership with Boeing to further research of aircraft systems, providing nearly $600,000 worth of funding, and received a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to promote research in applied mathematics and curriculum development.

The National Nuclear Security Administration was established by Congress in 2000 as a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy, and is responsible for the management and security of the nation’s nuclear weapons, nuclear nonproliferation and naval reactor programs.