News 2004

Dr. Bonita Campbell has been a member of the faculty for nearly 30 years and is currently serving as Chair of the Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management. She has a long history of contributions to the University and the College, and she takes great satisfaction in having developed the rapidly growing Master of Science in Engineering Management program, and mentoring and advising its students and alumni.

The Bonita J. Campbell Engineering Management Endowment will assist the Department of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management of the College of Engineering and Computer Science to enhance the Engineering Management program by supporting faculty, staff, and student/graduate assistant time, and relevant instructional expenses (such as computers, software, guest lecturer fees, and hospitality) as determined by the Engineering Management faculty in the MSEM department.

Dr. Campbell is continuing to supplement the initial contribution of $25,000 with monthly payroll deductions that will help the endowment to offer even greater yields over time.

The NSF MESA/CSEMS (Computer Science Engineering Mathematics Scholarship) Program was established to ease the transition for MESA students transferring from community colleges to 4-year universities. In recognition of his academic achievements at College of the Canyons and in his extensive involvement with MESA at COC, Hugo Alexander Martinez, a current CSUN Computer Engineering transfer student has been selected as a 2004-07 scholarship recipient. Mr. Martinez sustained a G.P.A of 3.0+ at COC while volunteering for many MESA activities such as serving as a peer mentor, helping students with science fair projects at Newhall Elementary, assisting with the Leadership Retreat as well as helping with several MESA fundraisers. He also served as an officer of the COC Engineering Club. Now at CSUN, Hugo Martinez has not only continued his MESA involvement but he has joined LS-AMP, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) as well as IEEE Student Chapter.

Over a three-year period he will be awarded a scholarship of $3,125 a year, totaling $9,375. To remain eligible for the scholarship the Hugo must maintain a minimum G.P.A. of 2.5, maintain major eligibility (engineering, computer science or math), be enrolled in MEP or LSAMP, and demonstrate financial need.

The City and County Engineers Association of Southern California has been in existence for over 50 years and is comprised of public works directors sharing and exchanging information to promote the engineering field. This year, the Association awarded two scholarships valued at $5000 and $2500 to two Los Angeles County engineering students who plan to become civil engineers. Christopher Norman, a junior student in the civil engineering program at CSUN received the $5,000 scholarship based on his scholastic achievements. He received the award at a ceremony at the Queen Mary in Long Beach

Ninety-four students were honored at an awards ceremony at Grand Salon, Students Union, for making excellent progress toward their respective degree plans. The top number of credit earned was 48 in a twelve-month period preceding the semester. Eleven award recipients also received $500 of Scholastic Excellence Award from sponsoring Industrial Advisory Board members. Associate Dean Mike Kabo emceed the ceremony and predicted next year's ceremony would have even more award recipients. Provost Harry Hellenbrand presented the Scholastic Excellence Award, which was for students earned a GPA of 3.9 or above. Three award recipients had a perfect 4.0.

On November 19, CSUN will hold the annual Volunteer Service Awards Luncheon at the Activity Center of the Kinesiology Building from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This year the chair of our Industrial Advisory Board, Ms. Theresa Jester of Shell Solar will receive the CECS Volunteer Service Award and Mr. John Guarrera will receive the Emeriti Merit Award for continued demonstration of loyalty to the University in retirement. Congratulations to Terry and John. This is a well deserved honor.

More than one third of our full-time faculty participated in a teaching/learning forum on Friday September 20, 2004. All five speakers made PowerPoint presentations that were well prepared and thought out.

Professor Nagi El Naga's presentation was entitled Effective Teaching Techniques. He started by pointing out that no one single technique is the most effective technique. He then proceeded to describe how to match student learning styles and faculty teaching styles.

Professor Brenda Timmerman's presentation was entitled Active Learning Techniques. She reflected on her experience in teaching evening classes and how active learning helped to keep students' attention. She then outlined several active learning techniques among many she used in recent years. She mentioned that she and Professor Bob Lingard have published three papers on active learning and its effects.

Professor Nazaret Dermendjian's presentation was entitled Using Q&A to Enhance Student Learning. He described how he often answered a question by posing more questions that led to answers step-by-step. He then illustrate his technique of engaging students with an example of how he turned a usually boring process of teaching an algebras equation into a lively discussion that no one would forget.

Professor Robert Burger's presentation was entitled Career Builder, Arbiter of Curriculum and Pedagogy. He surveyed job posting for EE graduates nationally and used the results to highlight what were considered essential subjects by employers. The results should be an important guide in curriculum design.

Professor Jeff Wiegler's presentation was entitled Succeeding in the First Year. He outlined his strategy in managing his own priorities and time and his approach to establishing expectations from students. His presentation is useful not only to new faculty but also to all who have to deal with multiple demands on time and effort.

All presentations were met with enthusiasm and were followed by lively Q&A and comments and discussions. All five presentations are posted on the college website at the faculty/staff page.

Congratulations to the CEAM and ME students and Professors Stephen Gadomski, Stewart Prince, Bob Ryan, and C.T. Lin for the following Instructionally Related Activity Awards:

In a letter addressed to Professor Stephen Gadomski, faculty advisor to the ASCE Student Chapter at CSUN, the Chair of the Committee on Student activities of ASCE informed Steve of the Committee's decision to select the CSUN Student Chapter for Honorable Mention for its outstanding activities as recorded in the 2003 Chapter Annual Report. The letter states "The Chapter's accomplishments reflect the enthusiasm and hard work of your student officers and members, as well as your fine guidance as faculty advisor." Congratulations to Steve and the ASCE students.

In a separate letter from the Committee Chair, the Practitioner Advisor of the CSUN ASCE Student Chapter, Mr. Don A. Sepulveda, was honored with a 2004 Practitioner Advisor Certificate of Commendation. Don was selected for this honor based on his "outstanding work and dedication as practitioner advisor to the chapter." Don is an alumnus and P-T faculty. Congratulations to Don.

In the End of the Year Banquet of the Tau Beta Pi, the CSUN Chapter of the Engineering National Honor Society, on May 31, 2004, Dr. Roger DiJulio was honored as the Professor of the Year for the 2003-2004 Scholastic Year. This award is in recognition of his dedication to the students of the College of Engineering and Computer Science and because of his embodiment of integrity and excellence in engineering. Congratulations to Roger.

The CSUN Formula Car team of mechanical and electrical engineering students competed with 140 international and national teams in Detroit, Michigan a week ago. The CSUN team finished 14th in this annual competition and the best of all California teams. Congratulations to our team members and faculty advisor, Dr. Stewart Price.

The CSUN steel bridge team of civil engineering students, after taking the regional championship in April, competed in Golden, Colorado over the Memorial Weekend with other regional top teams. The CSUN team was placed fifth in construction speed, seventh in economy, and 16th overall. Congratulations to the team members and faculty advisor, Dr. Ed Larson.

The President has reappointed Dr. Bonita Campbell for a second term as Chair of the Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management Department. Dr. Campbell served her first team since July 2001. Under her leadership the B.S. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering is accredited by ABET for the first time. The M.S. in Engineering Management program becomes the fastest growing and the third largest M.S. program in the college. Its online version, only the second online program in CSUN, launched in fall 2003, is gaining momentum. Congratulations to Dr. Campbell.

The careers of two of our colleagues, Drs. David Schwartz of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Edward Larson of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, were celebrated in a party on May 2. Dr. Schwartz served as faculty, department chair and Associate Dean of the college. He ended his FERP after the spring 2003 semester and is now busy with consulting. Dr. Larson has been teaching as an Adjunct Professor for twelve years after his retirement in 1992 from CSUN. He will now retire from teaching but will stay active as advisor to civil engineering students in their annual steel bridge competition.

Two of our P-T faculty, Jack Samara (civil Engineering) and Zen Spradlin (Computer Science) received the Polished Apple Award from the University Ambassadors on May 12, 2004. The award honors those who have made a difference in the University Ambassadors' lives. Congratulations to Jack and Zen.

Congratulations to the following colleagues who are the award recipients of the Staff Service Award:

25 Years Service Award Yervant Aghishian
20 Years Service Award Jose Rivera
15 Years Service Award Alethia Diane MacLachlan
10 Years service Award Cindy Barrett and Karla Johnson-Majedi

The award ceremony was on May 14. Dr. Mike Kabo and Dr. S.T.Mau attended at the invitation of Yervant Aghishian an Cindy Barrett.

Congratulations to Professors Sharlene Katz (ECE), Sid Schwartz(ME) and Steven Stepanek (CS) who are the award recipients of 25 years of service at CSUN. The award ceremony took place on May 13.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Sembiam Rengarajan, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, for receiving the 2004-2005 Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Award for his proposal entitled "Genetic Algorithm Optimization of Microstrip Reflectarray Antennas." Congratulations to Dr. Taehyung (George) Wang , Assistant Professor of Computer Science, for the same award for his proposal entitled " A Bioinformatics Database and Agent-based Information Retrieval."

Congratulations to Dr. Behzad Bavarian, Professor of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Management. The Advanced Materials Engineering Laboratory he directs will receive $50,000 from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation for the purchase and maintenance of new microcopy equipment.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Sembiam Rengarajan, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, for receiving $15,000 from Lockheed Martin to conduct a design clinic entitled "Stripline Fed Slot Array." Congratulations to Dr. Jaime Kim, Professor of Computer Science, for receiving $6,914 from UC Irvine to conduct a mini-design clinic, entitled "Adaptive and Flexible Discovery Mechanisms for Mobile Network Services."

Congratulations to Dr. Robert Ryan, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, for receiving the Judge Julian Beck Award for his proposal entitled "Development of Engineering Case Studies for Teaching Effective Use of Finite Element Analysis." Congratulations to Dr. Brenda Timmerman and Dr. Robert Lingard, Assistant and Associate Professors, respectively, of Computer Science, for receiving the Judge Julian Beck award for their joint proposal entitled "Applying a Learning Centered Approach to a Computer Science Class." The proposals were recommended for full amount funding by an eight-member CELT Advisory Board Beck Selection Committee.

Emiliano Galicia, a senior in computer engineering, is among six CSUN students receiving recognition as outstanding national campus leaders in the 2004 edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges, according to the Community Column of the April 11 Daily News. Students were selected based on academic achievement, service to the community, and leadership and extracurricular activities. Congratulations to Emiliano and the ECE faculty and staff.

Congratulations to CEAM faculty and staff. During the weekend of April 1st through the 3rd, 2004, the team of Henrik Hovakemians, Carlos Cueva, Rufino Lozano(Bridge Captain), Herendira Molina, Ali Kermaninejad, Uyen Lam of the student chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers at CSUN placed 1st overall in the steel bridge competition at the Pacific Southwest Regional Student Conference(PSWRC) held at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They will move on to the National Steel Bridge Competition next month May 28-29, 2004 at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO. The others competitors this year in the PSWRC were CalPoly SLO, UCLA, UC Irvine, UCSD, USC, CSU LA, CSULB, CalPoly Pomona, CSU Fullerton, Loyola Marymount, UNLV, ASU, U Arizona, and the University of Hawaii.

The steel bridge competition required the students to design and build a 26-foot long two-span steel bridge capable of supporting 2,500 pound load. The bridges were judged on six categories, these included: construction speed, aesthetics, construction economy, lightness, stiffness, and structural efficiency, with overall performance based on cumulative scores in all six categories.

The nation is divided into 20 such regional conferences. The first two place teams from each regional are invited to the national competition. This is the fifth consecutive year that CSUN students have made it to the nationals. Also noteworthy is the fact that the CSUN team of students placed 3rd overall in the Seismic Design Competition, where the team is to design a building model to withstand a simulated earthquake. In all, there were 15 events over a three-day period that made up this conference.

Special thanks go to Dr. Edward Larson, who retired 12 years ago but continues to volunteer his time to direct the student team year after year. Thanks also go to the members of the student chapter of ASCE here at CSUN that made this event a success, and its faculty advisor, Professor Stephen Gadomski.

The family of retired CSUN engineering professor has created a $100,000 scholarship endowment in his honor at the university. Family and friends created the endowment as a tribute to efforts by Guarrera and his wife, Jo, to provide students with firsthand experience in state-of-the-art technology, paving the way to their success in engineering careers. Guarrera noted that his nephew, CSUN alum Jon Guarrera, made the$75,000 initial contribution to the endowment. Guarrera and his wife decided to add an additional $25,000 to round out the endowment.

Approximately two hundred admitted students and parents came to the college open house. Dean Mau and Associate Dean Kabo hosted two short simultaneous opening sessions in the Engineering Auditorium and Room EN2320 because the crowd was too big to be at one place. The two groups then broke out to tour the laboratories in the five departments. The participants were very impressed with our emphasis on hands-on experience. There was no glitches, thanks to the superb programming by Dr. Kabo, Chairs, and staff.

Thanks are due to the following colleagues and students for their dedication and sacrifice to make the Open House a success.

Faculty

Staff

Students

Congratulations to Professor Robert Ryan of Mechanical Engineering. He has been selected as a Faculty Fellow for the 2004 NASA Faculty Fellowship Program at Dryden Flight Research Center. He will receive a $1,200 per week stipend as well as relocation and travel allowance.

NASA Faculty Fellowship is a very competitive summer program. This year, seven hundred sixty two individuals applied.

Congratulations to Professors Behzad Bavarian (MSEM) and Jeffery Wiegley (CS) for receiving the Tseng Family Collection: Chinese Antiquities Research Awards. The awards are contingent upon successful resolution of security issues.

Professor Bavarian's proposal, entitled "Ancient Civilizations Contribute to the Development of Metallurgy Techniques," is to be funded at $20,107. Professor Wiegley's proposal, entitled "Internet Interaction and Publication of Antiquity Images and Information," is to be funded at $16.148. The starting date for both is July 2004.

Congratulations to Prof. Robert Lingard for receiving the Share the Space award from the Office of Online Instruction of COMP 450 for fall 2004. The award is for proposals to develop half-online instructions for one or more sections of a course. Professor Lingrad will receive a modest amount of stipend to compensate for the time he will be spending to acquire the skills and tools to bring the power of internet into his pedagogy.

Prudencio Alonso, a senior in civil engineering, Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, College of Engineering and Computer Science, California State University, is the recipient of the 2004 Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) Scholarship Award. The award carries a $350 scholarship. The citation of this award reads "In recognition of excellence in leadership and scholastic achievement while pursuing an engineering education, the SEAOSC Auxiliary is happy to present a one-year student membership in SEAOSC for the 2004 year to Prudencio J. Alonso."

There are 10 schools in Southern California that SEAOSC represents. Each year, each campus gets to nominate one student who wishes to become a structural engineer for the award. There are only four scholarships available each year. The scholarship is based on leadership, scholastic achievement and an essay that each student must write. This year Prudencio was chosen as one of four outstanding students in Southern California.

Congratulations to Prudencio Alonso and the faculty and staff of CEAM.

Professor Tarek Shraibati (MSEM) will receive the Distinguished Engineering Educator of the Year Award from the Engineers' Council. Tarek is selected for this award for his dedication to student extracurricular activities as stipulated in the award requirement and his leadership role in the F.I.R.S.T. Robotics competition.

Professor Ed Larson (CEAM) is to receive the Distinguished Engineering Educator Award of the Engineers' Council. Professors Robert Burger (ECE) and Bruno Osorno ECE) as well as Ms. Theresa Jester, who serves as the Chair of the Industrial Advisory Board of the College, will receive the Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award of the Engineers' Council.

Dr. and Mrs. Rick Ratcliffe were honored by more than one hundred family, friends and colleagues at a celebration party at the University Club. Distinguished guests, many of them former students and colleagues paid tribute to Rick's leadership and guidance. Dr. Ratcliffe, Dean Emeritus, is retiring from his position as Principal Investigator of the LSAMP projected funded by NSF. Dean Ratcliffe will continue to serve on the Industrial Advisory Board of the college and as a volunteer.