Zhuo Chen Named the Top 5 Best Dissertation Award Finalist

Zhuo Chen, a former Ph.D. student in transportation (advisor: Dr. Cathy Liu), is selected as one of the Top 5 finalists for the 2018 COTA Best Dissertation Award. COTA (Chinese Overseas Transportation Association) best dissertation award is established to recognize outstanding students with Chinese nationalities for their accomplishments of pursuing doctoral degrees in the transportation field all around the world. She was recognized at the COTA award ceremony during Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting on January 7th in Washington, D.C.

Ruth V. Watkins Named New U President

The Utah State Board of Regents has selected Ruth V. Watkins as the 16th president of the University of Utah.

Watkins is the first woman to lead the University of Utah — the state’s oldest, largest and only Research 1 higher education institution — in its 168-year history. (Jerilyn S. McIntyre served as interim president of the U twice, for two months in 1991 and all of 1997.) Watkins will assume the position this spring – an exact date will be determined in the coming weeks.
She succeeds David W. Pershing, who has served as president since 2012 and will officially step down to rejoin the U as a faculty member.

“Dr. Watkins brings both an outside perspective based on years of leadership experience at the University of Illinois as well as significant familiarity with the University of Utah where she has served as senior vice president and provost since 2013,” said Daniel W. Campbell, chair of the Board of Regents. “She is a collaborative leader who is committed to ensuring exceptional educational and research opportunities for students and faculty. She also is widely respected by our community partners. Dr. Watkins’ vision and dedication will ensure the U excels in the years ahead.”

Read more here at @theU . . .

Big Business in Utah

The following article by College of Engineering Dean Richard B. Brown and College External Relations and Development Director Marilyn Davies was published in the November/December issue of PE Magazine, the official publication of the National Society of Professional Engineers. It details Utah’s explosive business and tech sector growth.

How does a state with just over three million people consistently rank as the #1 Best State for Business (Forbes), #1 Best State for Employment (US News & World Report), #1 Fastest Growing Tech State (Business Insider), and #1 Best Economic Outlook (American Legislative Exchange Council)? At least part of the answer lies in Utah’s long-running Engineering Initiative, the state’s effort to create a technical workforce large enough to attract industry investment and stimulate economic development.

The initiative began in the early 2000s during then governor Michael Leavitt’s tenure. As he puts it, “Too many of our great startups were migrating to Silicon Valley where venture capital and technical talent were more plentiful.”

Leavitt wanted to create a roadmap for building a high-tech economy, and spent time getting input from Silicon Valley industry leaders. On one of those trips, he met with John Warnock, University of Utah alumnus and cofounder of Adobe Systems. After hearing Leavitt explain his vision for Utah, Warnock said, “If you are serious about building a high-tech economy, you’d better do something about engineering education.”

Designing the Initiative

Senate Bill 61, known as the Engineering Initiative, laid the foundation with a long-range plan to double and then triple the output of engineering and computer science graduates. The model is deceptively simple: appropriate targeted state funds directly to postsecondary engineering and computer science programs, tied to growth in degree output; add industry management to prevent political infighting and provide oversight; and repeat once the goals are met.

The bill passed in the 2001 state legislature with help from Utah Senator Lyle Hillyard, Executive Appropriations Committee chair, who drafted the original version and continued to champion the Engineering Initiative through a series of legislative sessions.

Since then, a succession of governors, legislators, and business leaders have kept the initiative alive through good economic times and bad.

Several features of the plan are responsible for its success and longevity:

  • Funds provided by the legislature are apportioned by a nonpartisan Technology Initiative Advisory Board, the members of which are industry leaders appointed by the governor.
  • The TIAB requires proposals from the eight state higher education institutions with the funds they are requesting and the ways the money would be used.
  • Allocated funds go directly to the engineering colleges, rather than to the general university budgets.
  • Universities are required to match the ongoing funds dollar-for-dollar, shifting the university budget toward more support for engineering.
  • The Utah System of Higher Education monitors the number of graduates in engineering and computer science programs.
  • The TIAB reports annually to legislative appropriations committees on the university match, ways the funds were spent, and graduate growth.

Over 17 years, the state has invested more than $10 million in one-time moneys, used to improve or expand teaching laboratories, and distributed a total of $142.5 million in ongoing funds, put toward hiring faculty. When matched by the universities, that’s $285 million of ongoing funds invested in growing engineering and computer science education.

Up and Up

The results have been compelling. Since the Engineering Initiative was started, the state’s higher education system has more than doubled the annual output of engineering and computer science graduates, while Utah’s GDP grew to $156.8 billion from $70 billion.

In the past 12 years, tech-related employment rose from 46,000 to more than 87,000. Utah’s growing supply of engineering and computer science graduates is fueling expansion in IT, electronics, banking, and educational and biotechnology. Manufacturing and the defense industry are burgeoning as well. In 2016, Utah tech jobs grew by 7.69%, the highest percentage growth in the nation.

Perhaps nowhere has the transformation been more dramatic than at the University of Utah, where the number of engineering graduates rose from 366 the year before the initiative began to more than 1,000 last May.

The majority of Engineering Initiative dollars at the university have been spent on hiring more than 80 tenure-track faculty, bringing the total number of engineering faculty to 213.

An aggressive K–12 outreach program and the lure of plentiful jobs have created unprecedented student demand. This fall, 20% of the University of Utah’s incoming freshman declared their intention to major in engineering or computer science, compared with just 7% in 2005.

The College of Engineering has also seen an increase in the quality and diversity of its incoming students. Freshman demographics show an increase of students of color from 10% in 2004 to 31% in 2016. The percentage of female students increased to 25% from 11%. And the average high school GPA of students directly admitted to the College of Engineering is 3.9.

State Success Factors

Several factors unique to Utah have contributed to the Engineering Initiative’s long-term success, but perhaps most important is the shared vision among government, industry, and higher education leaders. Utah’s relatively small and concentrated population promotes fluid and frequent communication among constituent groups. In addition, having a part-time citizen legislature means that state senators and representatives are often business leaders who understand workforce needs, and who have a vested interested in growing the economy.

Another factor is Utah’s relatively small system of higher education, with just eight colleges and universities. Academic programs, especially in the STEM disciplines, are fully articulated between schools to allow ease of transfer among institutions. And Utah’s young and rapidly growing population is boosting enrollment.

It also bears noting that Utah’s fiscal conservatism and balanced budget requirement kept the state from falling into deficit in the recent financial crisis. A legislative request like the Engineering Initiative that was designed to stimulate economic growth and add to the tax base through higher-paying jobs was broadly supported during even the leanest years as a good use of funds.

The Engineering Initiative has had a huge positive impact on the state. The growth in tech jobs—paying almost double the average of other sectors—has a “multiplier” economic impact, by creating additional jobs for each technical position.

Talent Wanted

Developing the workforce continues to be industry’s number one issue. Despite Utah’s eight state colleges and universities graduating almost 3,000 engineers and computer scientists last year, the volume isn’t close to meeting demand—with an estimated 5,000 or more unfilled positions. As a result, corporate leaders have played a major role in driving the Engineering Initiative by lobbying the legislature and voicing their concerns to legislators representing their districts.

A request for additional funding for the Engineering Initiative in the 2017 legislative session was endorsed by 82 companies representing every district in the state. Prioritized by the Executive Appropriations Committee and backed by the governor, an additional $4 million of ongoing funding was approved. The funds were distributed based on past performance and a collective promise from the eight schools to increase the annual output of graduates from the statewide system by at least 320.

Once that goal is met, the colleges of engineering will ask the legislature for another allocation of funding, with the expectation that it will be provided. Utah’s winning formula works.

As governor, Mike Leavitt realized that “our state’s economic sustainability required a greater abundance of engineering talent.” He challenged the educational system to double and then triple the output of engineering and computer science graduates, “and they responded.”

That led to an unprecedented boom in high-tech startups and corporate expansion in the area that’s now known internationally as “Silicon Slopes.”

Says Leavitt, “Like a moth is attracted to light, business flocks to engineering talent.”

Engineering Initiative Graph

Republished from the November/December 2017 issue of PE magazine, published by the National Society of Professional Engineers.

CVEEN hosted Smart Infrastructure session on College’s Engineering Day

The water group (led by Dr. Steve Burian) and transportation group (led by Drs. Cathy Liu, Terry Yang, and Juan Medina) hosted a smart infrastructure session on Nov 18th, 2017. More than 30 high school students attended the event and were introduced with recent advances and technologies in the smart infrastructure areas and the role civil engineers would play in the future of the field. Students interacted with several technologies in the lab including driving simulator, drones and sensors.

2017 Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Award Winners Announced

CANYON, TX – Two students at the University of Utah have won awards in the 2017 Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Technology R&D.

Adam Olsen, a Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering, has been awarded a Second Place prize in the Open Competition in the category of Material Protection, Control, and Accountancy. His award-winning research paper, “Quantifying Morphological Features of α-U3O8 with Image Analysis for Nuclear Forensics,” was published in the journal Analytical Chemistry in March 2017.

Adam Burak, a Ph.D. student in Metallurgical Engineering, has been awarded a prize in the Competition for Students at Universities with Less than $600 Million in 2015 R&D Expenditures. His award-winning research paper, “Measurement of Solubility of Metallic Lithium Dissolved in Molten LiCl-Li2O,” was published in the Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society in October 2016.

In order to be successful and retain its leadership role in nuclear technologies, the United States must foster creativity and breakthrough achievements to develop tomorrow’s nuclear technologies. The Department of Energy has long recognized that university students are an important source of breakthrough solutions and a key component in meeting its long-term goals. The Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards program was developed for this purpose.

The Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards program is designed to: 1) award graduate and undergraduate students for innovative nuclear-technology-relevant research publications, 2) demonstrate the Department of Energy’s commitment to higher education in nuclear-technology-relevant disciplines, and 3) support communications among university students and Department of Energy representatives.

The program awarded 23 prizes in 2017 for student publications relevant to innovative nuclear technology. In addition to cash awards, award-winning students will have a variety of other opportunities.

For more information on the Innovations in Nuclear Technology R&D Awards program, visit http://www.nucleartechinnovations.org.

Kim Dougherty

(806) 683-5559

Student Awarded Top Poster

Nuclear Engineering PhD student, Ian Schwerdt, won a top poster award at the Interagency Technical Nuclear Forensics Program Review. Ian was one of over 30 posters invited to present at this review. He was presenting his research on developing tools for studying morphological features of UO3 as a forensic signatures.

2017 Transportation Camp

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Utah hosted the fourth annual National Transportation Summer Institute Camp on July 10 – July 14, 2017. The department hosted 16, incoming, 9th grade students. The camp targeted students who are interested in exploring engineering, specifically transportation engineering, as a career.

As part of the camp, the students worked on creating a PowerPoint presentation. Students divided into four groups and covered various topics about transportation. Groups focused on defining transportation engineering, explaining how infrastructure is built and paid for, cost of transportation infrastructure, and new innovation and design of traffic systems. Students spent time learning about these topics throughout the week and interviewed each other about what they learned. At the end of the week, each group gave a short presentation on what they learned about their assigned topics.

One of the camp activities included listening to various speakers from Canyon Pipeline, Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC), UDOT, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Students were able to interact with industry professionals and ask questions about the different aspects of transportation engineering. A favorite activity of the students was visiting the UDOT Airport Hangar and driving the simulator in the Civil Engineering Traffic Lab. Students also tested the speed of cars driving around campus with radar guns. The students participated in numerous field trips throughout the week including visits to the TOC at UDOT, construction sites in the local area, as well as the Front Runner and Light Rail facilities. The week wrapped up with the students testing concrete materials in the lab that they had created earlier in the week.

Overall, the camp was a great success. The participants enjoyed the field trips and learning more about transportation engineering.

Dr. Liu is Awarded Outstanding Educator by ITE Western District

Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Western District awarded Dr. Cathy Liu the Outstanding Educator Award at its 2017 Annual Meeting in San Diego on June 20th, 2017. The ITE Western District Outstanding Educator Award recognizes one educator every year who has shown extraordinary creativity in teaching, taken exceptional measures to spark student interest in the transportation profession, provided unwavering encouragement for student endeavors or shown unequaled service to ITE.

From the May/June issue of PE Magazine from the National Society of Professional Engineers:

Companies nationwide want skilled engineering graduates, while student interest in the profession has grown. These factors are fueling booms at engineering schools,but institutions need help keeping up with demand.

Some public universities are turning to state legislatures for help, even in an era of budget tightening. The pitch: producing more engineers is good economics.
In Kansas, where industry needed more engineers to fill positions, legislation enacted in 2011 aimed to boost graduates from the state’s three public universities by 60%. As a PE article explained, the state provided funding even during a budget shortfall because engineering drives economic growth.

The University Engineering Initiative Act provided $105 million in state funding over 10 years, with a university match. The Kansas Society of Professional Engineers actively lobbied for the money, which helped build new facilities and increased faculty.

Halfway through, the University of Kansas’s engineering program has already exceeded its goal and almost doubled its B.S. graduates, according to dean Michael Branicky, P.E. Those graduates have grown to 499 from 255; the goal was 419 by 2021.

The growth has also driven an increase in quality and diversity. Test scores and grade point averages are up, says Branicky, and percentages of women and underrepresented minorities have increased.

Causes are both internal and external: New facilities have attracted students, and engineering job placement rates also help. Says Branicky: “There’s a lot of excitement among faculty that things are happening.”

Companies are happy as well. “Sometimes they say this is a great start, because they want even more,” the dean says. “We like that because it means they’re seeing the ROI. That’s just a great story with [the legislature].”

At the University of Utah, the boom in engineering graduates has been part of a push to grow well-paying tech jobs in the state. The Engineering Initiative, established by the state legislature in 2001, aimed to triple engineering graduates.

So far, it has allocated $122 million to thestate’s engineering programs to hire and retain faculty, develop new programs, build and renovate facilities, and provide equipment—with an equal university match.

According to Dean of Engineering, Richard Brown, the most significant result of the funding, combined with vigorous outreach, has been a growth in student interest. “We do not have a pipeline problem,” he notes.

Engineering graduates at the University of Utah have increased from 366 in 1999 to 902 in 2016, with “no slowing in sight.” Promises to the legislature tied to additional funding requests have consistently been exceeded. In 2015, state schools said they would graduate another 250 engineering students per year “and we actually graduated 657 more students,” says Brown. “It’s a pretty easy sell to go back.”

And just like at the University of Kansas, the larger numbers have driven an increase in quality and diversity, Brown says.

In addition, the larger engineering workforce has attracted high-tech companies to the state, as planned. That, in turn, creates a need for even more engineers.
Employment at Utah high-tech companies has almost doubled in the last 10 years, Brown says, with the state topping Business Insider’s list of fastest growing tech states in the first half of 2016.

From 2005–15, the compound annual growth rate of Utah GDP was almost twice that of the US. And the Utah gross domestic product has more than doubled since the Engineering Initiative started.

While Brown notes that multiple factors have contributed to these successes, he says Utah “is a great example that investing in growing engineering and computer science education can lead to a healthy high-tech economy.”

In Washington, engineering dean Michael Bragg is focused on some of the same payoffs. The region is already a high-tech powerhouse—with companies such as Boeing, Amazon, and Microsoft—but state universities can’t educate enough students to fill positions.

For reasons the University of Washington dean doesn’t fully understand, the state ranks 49th in the nation in the production of engineers. Bragg says the state has increased investment, which has allowed his university’s engineering enrollment to grow by 40%, but the school needs more help.

Interest in engineering majors at UW Seattle has grown almost 50% over the last five years, and only about a third of interested freshmen can be accommodated currently. The legislature and governor are sympathetic—and Bragg is optimistic about additional support—but there are competing priorities.

“The huge demand that is projected for engineers isn’t sustainable if we can’t supply it,” Bragg wrote in a Seattle Times op-ed. “More state investment could help loosen the bottleneck and provide lifechanging opportunities for Washington’s young people and long-term benefits to our economy.”