Beyond The Headlines

June 3, 2021
Communicating with Cars
At CMU We Do Research, We Do Real World
Dr. Kumar Yelamarthi, a faculty member in CMU’s School of Engineering and Technology, proposes a system to better monitor inter-vehicular communication between self-driving cars. Dr. Yelamarthi and his team of graduate students studied LoRa, a wireless communication system that has the potential to enhance the reliability of Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communication.

Dr. Yelamarthi's headshotWith technological advancements, the number of self-driving vehicles, such as Tesla, has multiplied over the past few years. With this increase, the concern over safety grows. Dr. Yelamarthi emphasized the importance of having a reliable V2X communication system to ensure safe autonomous operation.

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April 26, 2020
SAE win Honeywell Outstanding Collegiate Chapter award
Story by Courtney Pedersen, School of Engineering & Technology Public Relations and Promotions Assistant Coordinator
The CMU Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) student chapter was recently recognized as the Outstanding Collegiate Chapter by Honeywell.

The CMU School of Engineering and Technology’s SAE Baja and Formula teams are part of a collegiate design series where students engineer, fabricate and race developmental single passenger vehicles. Annually, the teams travel and compete in worldwide SAE competitions to showcase their work and ability.

The Honeywell award recognizes SAE Chapters around the world for their outstanding performance in technical meetings, networking opportunities, the SAE Collegiate Design Series, membership and recruitment, and community service programs.

“The Honeywell is just an award for doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” said Ben Ritter, School of Engineering and Technology faculty member and SAE adviser. “We can use that Honeywell award for anything that the chapter wants to use it for.”

In order to be eligible to win the Honeywell award, the chapter has to be involved in efforts that have an effect on the community.

“The Honeywell award is more about how you organize your overall club. SAE doesn't function if they just have students doing just this and then they're never involved again,” Ritter said. “To win a Honeywell, you have to show that you're involved in the community, you're doing outreach and you're educating others about what engineering does.”

“The students from the clubs can go into a high school, under normal circumstances, and then work with other students and show them engineering principles and explain what an engineer does,” Ritter said. “That’s sponsored by outside industry, but you're doing those kind of things and showing how engineering fits into the larger sense on how any kid in grade school can aspire to get into engineering.”

Senior and third year BAJA team member Hunter Clasen said the SAE teams, which rely heavily on funds from awards such as Honeywell, give him and other students the opportunity to learn outside of the classroom.

“My favorite part is being able to come together as a club,” Clasen said. “Unlike normal coursework, we get to take what we learned in school, apply it to something that we really love doing, which is something I think that a lot of students don't have the luxury of doing.”

March 31, 2020
Engineering Faculty Member Wins Best Research Paper Award
Story by Courtney Pedersen, School of Engineering & Technology Public Relations and Promotions Assistant Coordinator
“One of the major issues that we addressed in this paper was the security and privacy of the data collected by any medical, wearable or implantable devices,” said Prasanth Yanambaka, CMU School of Engineering and Technology faculty member.

Yanambaka has been collaborating with two faculty members from the University of North Texas and one from Newcastle University. Their research paper titled: “PUFchain: A Hardware-Assisted Blockchain for Sustainable Simultaneous Device and Data Security in the Internet of Everything (IOE)” was later published in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Consumer Electronics Magazine.

In January of 2021, their paper was awarded the Second Best Paper Award of 2020 in the IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine.

Yanambaka said their research focused on the practice of physical unclonable functions (PUF) that generates a secure identification.

“It generates secure identifying number for a specific device, any Apple Watch or any vulnerable device,” Yanambaka said. “This secure identifier cannot be replicated by others.”

“Until now whatever algorithms were developed, whatever protocols were developed, they were based on software generated identification,” Yanambaka said. “But software can always be hacked or, there are cases where software's were modified and installed so that they transmit malicious data to the user or to the database.”

With everything online, Yanambaka said he was focused on determining the specifics of technological privacy.

We combined PUF with the current hot topic “Blockchain” to securely store the data collected by the healthcare devices. To the best of our knowledge we were the first to propose this. Combining both the technologies can help the privacy and security of the user/patient.

March 12, 2020
Engineering Faculty Member Teaching His Students to Set The Standard in Research Leadership
Story by Courtney Pedersen, School of Engineering & Technology Public Relations and Promotions Assistant Coordinator
CMU School of Engineering and Technology faculty member, Chanseok Jeong, is using his National Science Foundation grant to help prepare undergraduate students for graduate school and beyond.

As a part of a grant funded by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Jeong is working to develop a new full-waveform inversion method for the identification of the seismic input motion on the truncation surface of a computational domain, using existing sparse seismic records.

(“I’m working to) train the students from the undergraduate level and give them some experience, I’m giving them some early opportunity to feel that,” Jeong said. “If they feel motivated from this undergraduate research, they can go to graduate school more successfully. They can go to a research company and they can get a job, a research job, more successfully than otherwise.”

Jeong said, the future success of the students is his main goal with these projects and why he is pursuing this project.

“This is (for the students) to learn about research,” Jeong said. “I am doing this because the country needs, this nation needs more research workforce.”

During the Fall 2020 semester, Jeong and his four undergraduate students started working remotely to solve mechanical vibration detection problems by using artificial intelligence machine learning.

“I'm teaching them the detection problem, the most important thing in this method is, number one, artificial intelligence, number two, what is called the finite element method,” Jeong said. “I'm teaching my students how to program our computer code that allows us to solve this, engineering physics. They are going to use this finite element method, and artificial intelligence to solve the detection problem.”

“His main goal is just to teach us as much as he can,” engineering senior Abigail Roman said. “We've been using MATLAB programming software and he's having us learn through Coursera about machine learning algorithms.”

The programs and knowledge the students are learning from Jeong will help them in the future regardless of the field of engineering they choose.

“No matter what I'm focused on in my career, it’s going to be super useful because pretty much any engineering area I go into I'm going to need to at least know the basics of coding, or at least know how to use programs like MATLAB,” engineering senior Olivia Weber said.

On the other hand, Roman, who has a job lined up after graduation, said she can see this knowledge and experience helping her future career.

“I see using machine learning algorithms and just having a more in-depth knowledge of FEA to be able to apply,” Roman said. “I’m going to work in a steel mill and I could definitely see us using that either with the material we're creating or with the machines that we have there at the mill.”

March 1, 2020
Alumnus Creates Partnership with DuPont
Story by Courtney Pedersen, School of Engineering & Technology Public Relations and Promotions Assistant Coordinator

Kathryn Blakeman, a Mechanical Engineering alum who completed her senior design project capstone just seven years ago, is now helping other CMU students with a project of their own.

Blakeman, a 2014 Mechanical Engineering alum, wanted to sponsor senior design projects ever since she graduated and got into the field. When she started at DuPont, she knew it would be a great opportunity to try to give back to her alma mater.

“I was able to ask if we had a budget for community activities and the opportunity to partner with local engineering schools was something we were looking for,” Blakeman said. “Since I'm also part of the CMU engineering advisory board, I knew they were in need of senior design sponsors, so it was a win win.”

Thanks to Blakeman’s determination, DuPont has now partnered with CMU’s School of Engineering and Technology (SET), and is sponsoring and guiding one of the 13 groups of seniors completing their senior design capstone projects this year.

“In this case, it’s spending time with the students every other week to provide guidance and review their work, providing sponsorship for the students’ lab fees as well as funding the materials that they need in order to develop this training skid,” Blakeman said.

Senior Nate Horsley, who is working on the DuPont project, described is as learning the basics of fluid processing by creating a fluid system that DuPont will use for training their new employees.

“I would call it a trial run, it's sort of being exposed to what working in industry will look like in a controlled environment and we have people to help us along the way,” Horsley said. “It's definitely unlike any other class and what makes it different is since it's with someone outside the university, it's very open ended and much more project based than any other class.”

Horsley and Anna Riesenberg, another student working on the DuPont project, both agreed the project is teaching them what they would not learn in any of their other classes.

“It's an exposure to more of what we're going to be doing after college and it's very unstructured which is not like anything that we've had in any of our other classes,” Riesenberg said.

The project’s faculty adviser, School of Engineering and Technology faculty member Daniel Chen, added to the sentiment that the project furthers the student’s education and exposure to real-world problem solving. “This is a tremendously valuable experience for our students,” Chen said. “For instance, students will have to first understand the real-world problem, reverse engineer the product to identify the problem and applicable standards, and then come up with a solution that meets the needs of their client.”

Horsley said that working on this project, he has learned information that helps him at his current company and the position they have offered him for post-graduation.

“I've been able to apply a lot of what I've learned on this project to my work there,” Horsley said.

With Horsley as an example of how the projects can help educate students for the workforce, Chen described the importance of using this project as a bridge from college courses to real life careers.

“Primarily, we use the senior design projects to help them make a good transition from school to the industry,” Chen said.

In addition to using the knowledge he has learned through the project in his field, Horsley believes he is also benefiting from having Blakeman as his group’s mentor.

“It's definitely nice, because she understands what we're going through right now, it's probably still fresh in her mind,” Horsley said. “She knows that we have other classes to worry about and she knows, probably how little we actually know about a lot of this stuff, so she's very willing to help.”

“In addition to sponsoring the senior design project, Blakeman has also helped in securing donations in support of scholarships for incoming engineering and engineering technology students,” said School of Engineering and Technology Director Kumar Yelamarthi. “She has been instrumental in promoting the success of students in the region and actively serves as a role model. Her invaluable efforts have been recognized by the community and she has been conferred as the Engineering Alumnus of Distinction last year.”

February 12, 2020
Collaborative Research on Smart Vehicles Lands the Best Paper Award
Story by Courtney Pedersen, School of Engineering & Technology Public Relations and Promotions Assistant Coordinator

During the Summer of 2020, School of Engineering and Technology Director and faculty member, Kumar Yelamarthi, led a National Science Foundation-sponsored Research Experience for Teachers program.

The primary goal of the program was to engage secondary school teachers in cutting-edge Smart Vehicle research and help them translate their research into middle and high school lesson plans.

Foysal Haque, a CMU engineering graduate student, helped the participants compile their research into a paper that was then submitted to the IEEE International Symposium on Smart Electronic Systems.

After an extensive review by leading professionals at the Symposium, their paper, titled “LoRa Based Reliable and Low Power Vehicle to Everything (V2X) Communication Architechture” was given the “Best Paper Award”.

"This was an international conference, and I was representing Central Michigan University, and of course, it feels great when your work is much appreciated," Haque said. “It feels great to have this honor.”

According to Haque, the research focused on vehicle to everything communication, meaning the Internet of Things, the network of everything.

"Our vehicle to everything communication is the communication between the vehicle and any other entity, which might affect or might be affected by the vehicle, like pedestrians and another vehicle," Haque said. "It is done mainly for accident avoidance. So, it might happen that two cars are coming very close to each other, one car can communicate with another and send an alarm that you are coming very close to me, it's risky. Or it might enable the automatic braking."

Haque worked under the supervision of School of Engineering and Technology (SET) faculty members Ahmed Abdelgawad, and Director Kumar Yelamarthi, and Prasanth Yanambaka.

“(The STEM teachers) helped us, designing our testbeds, collecting the data and establishing the testbeds in, as they say, in real roads,” Haque said. “They helped us in setting up the testbed so that we can collect data from your cars, by establishing, our designed system.”

“He took this to another level to write a conference paper to collect more data and put everything together. He winning the award shows how much work he put into the research.” Abdelgawad said.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and experiences provided by the university and my faculty advisors,” Haque said.

“We are extremely proud of the quality of work done by the team of graduate student and schoolteachers at CMU. The collaborative spirit in the School of Engineering and Technology is very high. Despite all the challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, this team moved forward and conducted award-winning work,” Yelamarthi said.

February 12, 2020
CMU’s Yelamarthi named College Science Teacher of the Year
Michigan Science Teachers Association recognizes dedication and passion for teaching
Kumar Yelamarthi likes to challenge his students to raise their expectations of themselves.

Yelamarthi is director of the School of Engineering and Technology and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Central Michigan University. He is known for teaching students through teamwork-based activities that provide real-world experience in transforming classroom theory into prototype creation. His creative approach to teaching and learning led to his selection as the Michigan Science Teachers Association's College Science Teacher of the Year.

"I believe raising the bar will force students to fail and from this failure, they will learn how to succeed," Yelamarthi said.

While working as a teacher's assistant during his Ph.D. studies, Yelamarthi found his calling as a professor.

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January 29, 2020
Environmental Engineering Faculty Member Uses Grant to Shed Light on the Flint Water Crisis.
Story by Courtney Pedersen, School of Engineering & Technology Public Relations and Promotions Assistant Coordinator
On New Year’s Eve, CMU School of Engineering and Technology faculty member Itzel Marquez received news that she had won the “Let’s Talk About Water Challenge Grant Program.”

Marquez worked with disaster scientist and emergency management researcher Paula Buchanan to submit a proposal and apply for the opportunity to host a virtual Let’s Talk About Water (LTAW) film symposium through the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI).

“They provide funding to support an event where they project a movie that talks about water and then there is some discussion or some workshop,” Marquez said.

According to Marquez, the grant was different before COVID-19, but now has special guidelines to follow. These guidelines include a virtual movie night and a post movie panel.

The virtual event is scheduled for the Fall 2021 semester and will screen “Nor Any Drop to Drink,” a documentary on the Flint water crisis by Cedric Taylor, sociology, anthropology and social work faculty member.

After the screening, a panel of five experts will answers questions and discuss the film. The panel will include Taylor, as well as CMU faculty members Anja Mueller and Catherine Willermet. The last two panelists include Kerry Weber, Flint community activist, and Reggie Ferreria, associate professor in the School of Social Work at Tulane University.

In April 2020, Marquez reached out to Taylor to see if he would be interested in showing his documentary to give the event a more local, Michigan tie.

“I think it was a good way to help promote the movie, as well as to help promote CMU in general,” Marquez said. “So that's why I like it, it felt good to teach a movie that came through here.”

Taylor said that he agreed for two main reasons.

“One, is that as a filmmaker, if you're doing a social issues film, you want people to have eyes on it, you want as many people to see it as possible,” Taylor said. “I think is a very powerful way to move people emotionally to take to walk or take action.”

Taylors second reason was that so many people from Flint opened up during the documentary to share their stories and situation.

“I was just so touched by how many folks in Flint opened up their lives and their homes and told variable painful stories, because they had the hope that something would come of their participation in this film,” Taylor said. “They felt that their stories could be used to, one, help their situation, improve the situation, but also to prevent something like that from happening to other communities.”

January 22, 2020
CMU's Society of Automotive Engineers awarded $12,500 grant
Although COVID-19 canceled their Spring 2020 in-person competitions and added to their budget decrease, Central Michigan University’s Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) were recently awarded the Gene Haas Grant to help fund their teams in competitions.

The School of Engineering and Technology’s SAE Baja and Formula teams are a part of a collegiate design series where students engineer, fabricate and race developmental single passenger vehicles. Annually, the teams travel and compete in worldwide SAE competitions.

Recently, CMU’s SAE teams secured a competitive grant worth $12,500 from the Gene Haas Foundation, which will support funding competition travel and scholarships.

“The Gene Haas Foundation Grant is specifically to get students to professional competitions they wouldn't normally be able to afford to,” said Ben Ritter, School of Engineering and Technology faculty member and SAE adviser.

The Gene Haas Foundation focuses on building “skills in the machining industry by providing scholarships for Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine technology students and National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) credentials.”

“The key things needed to be considered (for the grant) are, to showcase how you're both involved in the community, advancing students’ professional life, and then using Haas equipment, which we have,” Ritter said.

According to Ritter, the work the students put into these projects and competitions is equivalent to that of a job.

“This grant is a recognition that our CMU students are of high caliber, and strive continually towards success. We are highly thankful for the Gene Haas Foundation and for their continued support of our students,” School of Engineering and Technology Director Kumar Yelamarthi said.

The groups will travel, using their grant money, to their SAE Validation Events in May.

Mechanical Engineering Senior Hunter Clasen said competitions are a great opportunity for the teams to be able to show the rest of the nation what they are capable of.

“We're working hard throughout the entire year, we're designing, we're building, we're testing these cars that we're working on,” Clasen said. “When we get to the competition that's kind of our chance to show off what we can do as a team, how we can take what is the normal industry level practices and apply them in school, freshmen all the way up to seniors.”

October 19, 2020
Building Blocks for Blockchain
Engineering faculty, Dr. Kumar Yelamarthi, provides a solution to the growing security concerns associated with the Internet of Things.

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a system of internet-connected objects that exchange wireless data without human intervention.

The fast adoption rate of this technology has outpaced security requirements, thus, raising major security and privacy concerns in health care services.

Read the rest of this story here

August 31, 2020
CMU Secures ABET Accreditation for Two More Programs
“This accreditation for our mechanical engineering technology and industrial engineering technology programs demonstrates rigor, relevance, and excellence in the education and experiences provided to our students,” said Dr. Kumar Yelamarthi, Director of CMU’s School of Engineering and Technology.

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) just added the university’s mechanical engineering technology (MET) and Industrial Engineering Technology (IET) programs to their list of accredited programs. These two programs join the growing list of ABET accredited programs at CMU that already include the computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering programs.

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology is a non-governmental organization that accredits programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering and engineering technology.

“ABET accreditation provides assurance that the CMU engineering technology programs meet the quality standards of the profession for which that program prepares graduates,” Yelamarthi said.

“The majority of engineering recruiters seek graduates from an ABET-accredited program. The ABET accreditation of our MET and IET programs provides assurances that the education provided is in strong alignment with employer expectations, allows them to become Professional Engineers, increases their employment prospects, and better prepares them for a professional career in engineering.”

This accreditation extends retroactively from October 1, 2017.

June 25, 2020
CMU School of Engineering & Technology Honors Alums

The School of Engineering & Technology recently honored three alums with awards.

Engineering Alumnus of Distinction
Kathryn Blakeman
Improvement Engineer & Project Team Leader at DuPont

Kathryn is a 2014 Honors Graduate of CMU with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics

Currently, she is pursuing her Master of Business Administration from Northwood University

In her role at DuPont, she serves as a member of the CMU Engineering Advisory Board where she has established a new partnership between DuPont at CMU.

Engineering Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD)
Julie Mitchell
Product Manager, EV Grid Services at Ford Motor Company

2011 CMU Graduate with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering

Founder of SWE-CMU Chapter.

Engineering Graduate of the Last Decate (GOLD)
Lisa Zyonse
Distribution Automation Technology Senior Engineer II at Comsumers Energy

2011 CMU Graduate with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering

Vice Chair of the Engineering Advisory Board

April 10, 2020
Gentex awards CMU School of Engineering & Technology
Engineering students receive new lab equipment
How often does one need to restock laboratory equipment technology? For electrical test equipment, ten to fifteen years may make sense. According to Eric Woodward, Central Michigan University 2003 alumni, working as Director of Manufacturing at Gentex Corporation; that is the best decision, due to students going into industrial environments where there may be brand new equipment.

On February 21, 2020, the CMU School of Engineering & Technology received a $16,000 donation from Gentex, located in Zealand, Michigan to update the student’s laboratory equipment.

"We expect this will enrich the learning environment for the CMU students that use this lab," said Woodward. "This equipment is the same that electrical engineers use at companies like Gentex."

Gentex remains committed to preparing students for real-world engineering projects, as well as fostering a stronger relationship between Gentex and CMU. They did by awarding the School of Engineering and Technology financial assistance to purchase electrical engineering testing equipment. These tools will educate students and assist in an easier transition into the work environment.

Gentex Corporation primarily deals in the automotive industry. They specialize in rearview mirrors on vehicles, including major automobile companies including General Motors, Mercedes, and Toyota. Another product they offer is aircraft dimmable windows, instead of using a shade on the airplane windows, the windows darken based on user input.

"Gentex has been working with CMU for over twenty years, resulting in about one hundred CMU graduates filling leadership roles and engineer positions. Their technological expertise combined with the supportive culture is the reason Gentex is a great partner with CMU to recruit interns, full-time employees, and train students," says, Kumar Yelamarthi, Director of the CMU School of Engineering and Technology. CMU is receiving these items largely due to the School of Engineering and Technology nurturing a positive relationship with Gentex over the years.

“A major factor that contributed to this donation is the strong support extended by the School of Engineering & Technology in understanding and addressing our needs of promoting the next generation workforce,” says Woodward.

February 20, 2020
CMU makes list of top engineering programs
Gradereports.com recently published their rankings of the best colleges for Engineering in 2020. Guess who made the top 25 nationwide for both Electrical and Mechanical Engineering…CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY, that's who. You can click the link below to view the article and the full list at gradereports.com.

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December 6, 2019
CMU board approves undergrad environmental engineering program
New medical discipline, affiliation to train future CMU pediatricians
"The Central Michigan University Board of Trustees today approved the creation of a new bachelor's degree program and medical discipline, both of which will prepare students for in-demand fields. The Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering degree program in CMU's College of Science and Engineering would join three current undergraduate engineering programs — computer, electrical and mechanical. The high-demand program is designed to meet the need for highly qualified environmental engineering professionals in Michigan and beyond. CMU has been offering undergraduate engineering programs for more than a decade. "Environmental engineering is one of the fastest growing engineering majors, attracts a wide variety of students and will position CMU nationally as well as throughout Michigan," Provost Mary C. Schutten said.

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November 13, 2019
DTE donates high-tech picnic table to CMU
Solar-panel workstation is in gratitude for students’ research at energy company’s solar park
"A symbol of the impact of Central Michigan University's School of Engineering and Technology rose amid the snow Monday as DTE Energy erected a solar-powered picnic table/high-tech workstation outside the Engineering and Technology Building. The donation is in gratitude for the work of 12 engineering and technology students during the past two years of senior projects. The work is designed to give students experiences solving real-world engineering problems, said Kumar Yelamarthi, director of the school. The students' task was to measure the effectiveness of 200,000 solar panels in DTE's solar park in Lapeer, Michigan, and design software to improve their efficiency. "It's great to be able to work with high-caliber students to develop this software and then experience the real-world benefits of it in our daily operations. We're thankful for the hard work of everyone involved," said Ed Henderson, DTE's manager of renewable energy operations.

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August 6, 2019
Program plants STEM at area schools
Engineering faculty-created summer initiative gives teachers skills and connections to take their students to the next level
"This program has changed the way I teach," said Ron Ratkos, an 11-year adjunct professor at Mid Michigan College in Harrison. "It's different from how I was taught when I was growing up," said Natalie Brown, a senior at Central Michigan University pursuing a bachelor's degree in secondary education. The program that brought them together this summer is a unique six-week STEM initiative created by CMU engineering faculty. The focus is to help area teachers — from middle school to community college, and soon-to-be teachers — learn engineering concepts and create fun and interactive lessons for use in their classrooms. It also aligns with the focus on STEM education in Michigan and its leadership role in adopting multistate Next Generation Science Standards. "They are not just designing lesson plans. We are giving them a real hands-on engineering research project," said Kumar Yelamarthi, an electrical and computer engineering faculty member and director-elect of the School of Engineering and Technology. "They are getting firsthand knowledge of what engineers do, what the engineering process is like," said Yelamarthi, who designed the program.

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May 20, 2019
Seniors put energy into solar
It’s a win-win situation as companies turn to CMU seniors for engineering support
How many engineers does it take to save energy? It might sound like the beginning of a joke, but for DTE Energy, the answer is six senior Central Michigan University engineering and technology students. The punchline is that saving energy saves money. The newly graduated seniors from several majors were part of the second yearlong engineering project that faculty member Kumar Yelamarthi has put together with DTE. The students' mission was to accurately measure the efficiency of 200,000 solar panels in the company's park in Lapeer, Michigan. They did so well, DTE has another related challenge for a new group of students, beginning this summer. It's guaranteed to stretch them.

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May 16, 2019
How to turn waste into profits
Professor’s environmental performance tool gives companies another incentive to be in the green
The world is heading toward a natural resources crisis, the United Nations warns. Should the global population reach 9.6 billion by 2050, it said, "the equivalent of almost three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles." Goksel Demirer is working to keep that crisis from happening. The Central Michigan University environmental engineering professor has spent more than 20 years on the front lines of international sustainability efforts by showing industries how they can increase their profits while decreasing their environmental impact.

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April 4, 2019
RET project teams up with SAE Baja team to introduct STEM to Middle Schoolers
About 150 Mount Pleasant Middle School students recently came to Central Michigan University to compete in a “Jet Toy Challenge” as they worked alongside members of Central’s Society of Automotive Engineers Baja team.

The students learned STEM skills as they built balloon-powered cars and competed against one another.

The Baja members teamed up with College of Science and Engineering faculty member Kumar Yelamarthi on the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) project. The RET project is sponsored by the National Science Foundation through a grant to help teachers develop STEM experiences in the classroom.

For this RET project, the Baja team, co-sponsored by the SAE Foundation, helped present engineering challenges to the middle school students. The experience gives CMU students a turn as teachers to promote engineering in the classroom as well as show what the Engineering and Technology projects looks like.

February 28, 2019
Engineering a sweet solution
CMU's Society of Women Engineers invents a candy sorter in 24-hour challenge
Cardboard, a color sensor, some duct tape and 24 hours: For members of the Society of Women Engineers at Central Michigan University, it was a recipe for technological innovation. In just one day, the group of engineering students created a functional candy sorting machine at the College of Science and Engineering's third annual hackathon. The challenge brought together student organizations and individuals for innovative and collaborative competition. In the SWE team's machine, M&M candies placed into a tube at the top of the machine are read by a color sensor. The machine deposits each candy to a corresponding color dish using code team members wrote.

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January 17, 2019
Engineering a career pipeline
(An article by Eric Younan, DTE Energy)
Central Michigan University (CMU) Professor Kumar Yelemarthi wants to establish a pipeline that starts with CMU engineering graduates and ends with rewarding DTE Energy careers because he believes our company is a good place to work. He took the first step toward his goal by collaborating with Major Enterprise Projects (MEP) to arrange a meet-and-greet and tour with 13 students who experienced a day in the life of DTE engineers.

"I wanted my students to have exposure to the different projects DTE manages, the challenges engineers face, and the solutions applied to solve those challenges," said Yelemarthi. "I also wanted them to see DTE as an excellent place to have an engineering career."

The group met for a safety briefing and introduction to MEP at our downtown headquarters, followed by tours of Beacon Park, O'Shea Solar Park and the Gordie Howe International Bridge project. A chance meeting between Yelemarthi and Robert Richard, senior vice president, MEP and Customer Service, initiated the tour. Yelemarthi introduced himself to Richard at an event and Richard agreed to help arrange a visit. Richard asked Gina Tate-Johnson, senior project controls specialist, to take the lead in organizing it. The experience was eye-opening for the students. Here's what a few of them had to say:

"I was impressed with the extra step DTE took at O'Shea Solar Park in helping rehabilitate the surrounding community and not just erecting solar panels. The Gordie Howe Bridge project was also fascinating because I was unware of the amount of work required to safely remove the infrastructure before construction could begin." - Benjamin Strandskov, senior electrical engineering major.

"Seeing the different projects DTE electrical engineers work on and how they use reverse engineering to find solutions to problems was especially interesting. I was also impressed by Beacon Park and the work DTE does to revitalize communities."-- Julia Reynolds, senior electric engineering major.

"O'Shea Solar Park's location was interesting because most solar arrays I've seen are out in the middle of nowhere and this was a good use of land. I was also fascinated by the Gordie Howe International Bridge project because I thought the bridge is being built in an abandoned area, but there are houses and roads that have to be removed." - Dru Pikula, senior electrical engineering major.

"It was interesting to see how far DTE's reach is and how many projects they're involved in. I was also intrigued by the different careers engineers get into after they join DTE." - Leslee Weible, junior electric engineering major.

Yelemarthi plans to continue the dialogue and build on the relationship between CMU and our company. "Now that I have a better understanding of projects at DTE I can open doors for other faculty on what's happening at DTE and get them involved."

January 9, 2019
Alternative fuel effort heats up
Engineering and technology team builds machine that derives gas from wood
Yousef Haseli's research into alternative fuel is on fire. The engineering and technology faculty member has taken the next step — building a gasifier — in his effort to investigate methods for producing clean, efficient and renewable energy with wood. While he is researching the method called torrefication, which "toasts" the wood to remove its moisture and makes it a lower-cost substitute for coal, he also is working on transforming wood into a fuel.

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December 4, 2018
Driving digital disruption at CMU
Global business software leader looks to CMU to help speed innovation
Innovation. Digital disruption. To some people, they're little more than business buzzwords. But for faculty and students in a new project that crosses department lines at Central Michigan University, they represent a new mission: to lead thinking for business worldwide. Earlier this year, enterprise resource planning software company SAP selected Central and 10 other universities to serve as a Next-Gen Chapter. Additionally, CMU was designated as a SAP Next-Gen Lab. As an industry leader, SAP's name often is used as a synonym for the ERP software that integrates an organization's accounting, purchasing, production, human resources and other business functions. CMU and other universities use SAP to teach business processes.

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November 28, 2018
CMU Videos shine in competition
Award-winning productions highlight Baja team, medical simulation center
A video celebrating the College of Science and Engineering's Baja racing team received a platinum award, the highest honor possible, in the international MarCom Awards. A video about CMU's Covenant HealthCare Simulation Center in Saginaw, Michigan, won a MarCom gold award. Earlier this year, a Fire Up campaign kickoff video narrated by the late CMU alum and sportscaster Dick Enberg won a Telly Award as best general fundraising video not for broadcast. The videos are the work of CMU alum Scott Nadeau's Dexter, Michigan, production company Video & Internet Stuff, in collaboration with CMU Advancement.

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November 5, 2018
Enginerring student to present at global conference
After spending his freshman year working in Dr. Kumar Yelamarthi’s electrical engineering lab, engineering student Dylan Richards’ research paper entitled “How Does encryption Influence Timing in IoT? has been accepted for presentation at the 2018 IEEE Global Conference of Internet of Things. This marks the first time a CMU freshman engineering student has published his scientific findings at a peer-reviewed international conference.

September 18, 2018
Research for the real world
CMU's Motion Analysis Center helps one alum test her invention's effectiveness
Central Michigan University alum Sara Moylan knew she had created an amazing product — but she couldn't prove it. Now, thanks to research conducted at CMU's Motion Analysis Center, Moylan has the data she needs to market her masterpiece. After struggling to find a way to comfortably exercise during pregnancy, Moylan developed a fully adjustable bra she called the Shefit Ultimate Sports Bra. The 2002 integrative public relations graduate had invested years developing her product and believed it could outperform major brand-names, but she wanted evidence. "Shefit is a new player in this market. We believed we had the most innovative design and the best technology – we believed we had the best product. But from a marketing perspective, we not only wanted to say it, we wanted to show it," Moylan said. Moylan, an entrepreneur based in Hudsonville, Michigan, reached out to researchers at her alma mater and the Central Michigan University Research Corp., for help.

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August 16, 2018
A Pinch of Wanderlust
CMU students fly across the world to study, intern and serve abroad during the summer
A fourth-generation college student studying mechanical engineering from Midland, Michigan, Hannah White wanted to take the next step by studying abroad in Iceland for seven weeks. While abroad, she took a course on renewable energy which covered topics such as hydroelectric and geothermal power, sustainable energy and geology. "I'm very passionate about renewable energy," White said. "Ninety percent of Iceland's energy is renewable, so it's definitely the perfect place to be learning about it."

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May 31, 2018
Putting a damper on the vibes
Engineering, technology team improves overhead pwer line stability, performance
In Oumar Barry's academic world, there's no such thing as a good vibe. The Central Michigan University engineering and technology faculty member has devoted much of his professional life trying to eliminate vibrations entirely — from overhead power lines. Barry and his teams of international students are improving power line dampers to suppress wind-induced vibrations, which damage the electricity conductors and the lines themselves. It's the kind of work that often goes unnoticed by the public until there is a power failure. But for power companies, it's a budget concern. For students, it's research that can plug them into a job or propel them to higher education.

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April 18, 2018
Creative Course Finder
Sharing Projects Across the Pond
Institutions: Central Michigan University and the Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland Course: Electrical engineering with a twist: students in two courses -- one at each institution -- will design a circuitry project and then pass their work digitally to students at the other institution, who will interpret the half-finished design and turn it into a working circuit. The two professors (Kumar Yelamarthi at Central Michigan, Frank Walsh at Waterford) will also offer several guest lectures via videoconference to offer an international perspective and broaden the course content.

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April 3, 2018
Fired up over alternative fuel
Engineering and technology faculty member builds a case for 'toasted' wood
When Yousef Haseli takes a walk in the forest, he sees the future of fuel. The Central Michigan University faculty member in the School of Engineering and Technology is researching ways to improve upon or discover new methods to produce clean, efficient and renewable energy. For that, he's looking to the trees.

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March 1, 2018
Racing to engineering leadership
Baja race team president is CMU's first winner of statewide SAE honor
Mechanical engineering senior Ian Eickholdt has been chosen as the 2017 Rumbaugh Outstanding Student Leader by the Society of Automotive Engineers — the first Central Michigan University student to receive the award. Eickholdt, from Rochester Hills, Michigan, is president of CMU's Baja racing team and has been an SAE member since his sophomore year. "This is really a prestigious thing, to have a professional engineering society say that an engineer who came out of your program is this year's example of what a university and a department are doing right," said Ben Ritter, a faculty member of the School of Engineering and Technology.

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January 29, 2018
DeJong named Teacher of the Year
Michigan Science Teachers Association notes his leadership, passion, role modeling
It's good that ice storms can't stop Brian DeJong. In 2007, he drove to Central Michigan University through such a storm to interview for a job as an assistant professor of engineering. When he arrived, he discovered classes were canceled. "There was like me and three professors on campus," he said with a laugh. "I loved the campus, but I went away thinking 'they don't want me.'" But they did, and 11 years later the now-associate professor of engineering will be honored March 2 as the Michigan Science Teachers Association's 2018 College Science Teacher of the Year. He was chosen for modeling best teaching practices, inspiring students, demonstrating innovative teaching strategies, being an excellent role model for students and teachers, demonstrating leadership, and exhibiting a passion for science and teaching..

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January 18, 2018
Fired Up & Focused! From Air Force to CMU
Seth Allen came to CMU with some valuable experience already under his belt. He was an avionics technician in the United States Air Force and had worked in both the electrical and computer fields. Coming to CMU, he knew he'd have the opportunity for even more hands-on experience to prepare him for a career after college. Allen, who returned to college after attending another school prior to his service in the military, decided to major in computer engineering.

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CMU Baja racing team builds on successes
After four hours on a mud-covered track in the American Southwest, the off-road vehicle built and driven by Central Michigan University’s Baja racing team looked like it was slapped together with adobe. But the Chippewas came out $750 and a plaque ahead — and even more important, their two semesters of designing, building and testing their own car have given them a jump toward key jobs and internships in the auto industry.

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Motivation and mentors drive CMU senior to accomplish goals
There's more to Tyler Demski's graduation from Central Michigan University than being the first student to complete undergraduate majors in both electrical and mechanical engineering. The Saranac, Michigan, native's CMU experience was more about being surrounded by professors and mentors who supported his ambitious goals. These are the people Demski said helped him inside and outside the classroom to develop the skills he needed to secure his dream job as an electrical engineer at Roush Industries in Livonia.

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CMU answers industry demand for engineers
Katherine Kolar isn’t concerned about finding a job after she graduates May 6. The Central Michigan University electrical engineering major from Brighton has had a position waiting for her at General Motors since completing an internship there last summer. “I know my boss, and I know what I need to study to get ready for my job at GM,” said Kolar, who will work on propulsion in electric and hybrid vehicles. “A main goal in getting a degree is finding a job, so it was nice to know I had the training and skills I needed before I started my senior year.”

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MS Engineering student wins Best Master Forum Award
Master of Science in Engineering student, Anam Mahmud, recently won Best Master Forum at the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2017) in New Orleans, LA. ICASSP is the world's largest and most comprehensive technical conference focused on signal processing and its applications. The conference not only introduces new developments in the field, but also provides an engaging forum to exchange ideas, and does so both for researchers and developers. The theme of the ICASSP 2017 was "The Internet of Signls" which is the real technology and world behind the Internet of Things. The conference featured world-class international speakers, tutorials, exhibits, lectures and poster sessions from around the world.

CMU receives $10,000 grant for Team Chippewa Performance
CMU was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Gene Haas Foundation for the CMU Baja Team today. The foundation supports technology and engineering applications of Machining. The grant will be used to help pay for the Baja Team's trip to the Baja SAE California race in April of this year. The team has also been invited to tour the Haas plant to see the machines they make being produced.

Read more about the Gene Haas Foundation here

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