Department News

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Dr. C. Roland Mote
ABE Department Head

Six students in a new one-credit hour freshman course, Introductory Design and Fabrication, spent several weeks last fall designing, building and crushing small balsa wood structures that were large enough to contain a ping-pong ball and to protect the ball from a vertical load. A coefficient of performance (COP) was calculated for each structure that took into account the strength-to-weight ratio as well as the overall volume of the structure. The INSTRON testing machine was used to crush the structures.

After four weeks of testing, evaluation, redesigning and rebuilding, the student projects all showed 2,000 to 4,000 percent increases in the strength of their structures. The participating students were Carl Hudson, Chris Helton, Tonya Denton, Ross Kingery, Eric Goodman and Trent Pearce.

During the past 13 years, UTK's ABE department has fostered a cooperative relationship with the Departamento de Engenharia Agricola (Department of Agronomic Engineering) at the Federal University of Ceara (UFC) at Fortaleza in the state of Ceara, Brazil.

Located in the semi-arid Northeast region, Ceara receives most of its annual rainfall during the rainy season in the months of March through June. Improved irrigation water management is crucial to development of this area.

A cooperative project was begun in 1994 among the two engineering departments, EMBRAPA (the Brazilian equivalent of the USDA Agricultural Research Service), and FUNCAP (a state agency that funds scientific research in Ceara) to study the water and crop patterns of the Ceara region. During 1994 and 1995 a location was selected, and in February 1996 a precision weighing lysimeter and an agrometeorological station were installed.

A graduate student from UFC, Carlos Oliveira, was a visiting scientist at the UTK campus November and December 1997 and analyzed the research data for his master's thesis. In February 1998, the second precision weighing lysimeter was installed, and Oliveira defended his thesis research. Oliveira also plans to pursue a doctorate from UTK's ABE department. Plans are being formed to continue research collaboration and student exchanges.

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Dr. Charles Moore
ChE Department Head

Dr. John R. Collier will join the ChE department June 1 as professor and department head. He is currently serving as a professor of chemical engineering at Louisiana State University. In addition to more than 32 years of full-time college and university teaching experience, Collier has been involved with industrial consulting projects for major companies including E.I. DuPont DeNemours & Co. and General Electric. He is involved with national and international professional societies including designation as a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

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Dr. Greg Reed
CE Department Head

For the second consecutive year, the department has achieved a 100 percent passing rate for the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination, the first of two national exams for engineering licensure. The national average passing rate among civil engineering programs is around 80 percent. Because the exam is now formatted with some discipline-specific questions, it provides a good measure of comprehensive learning.

The UTK Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers has purchased a new trailer to haul equipment to annual conferences. During these gatherings, ASCE students participate in 11 events that cover most of the areas of civil engineering knowledge and skill. The UTK chapter has finished in the top three each of the past two years and is aiming for first. ASCE's new trailer will facilitate the transport of the equipment needed to continue success at the annual conference.

ASCE's new trailer

The Tennessee Academy for Transportation Engineering (TATE) is now operational. Cosponsored by the CE and EE departments and the Transportation Center, TATE is an educational organization dedicated to giving engineers, planners, designers and technicians the skills necessary to improve highway safety in the Southeast through the application of basic and advanced transportation engineering principles.

The Transportation Center and Southeastern Transportation Center (STC) sponsored 29 CE and STC students to attend the Transportation Research Board Conference in Washington, D.C. Jan. 10-14. The students interacted with more than 6,000 transportation professionals from all over the world.

Two civil engineering students were recognized last semester as scholar-athletes by the athletic departments–Christy Warren, Lady Vols volleyball team, and Darwin Walker, national champion football team.

Dr. Matthew Mauldon has been appointed to the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering and the Journal of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering.

Dr. Reed

Dr. Gregory Reed has been appointed to the American Society of Civil Engineers' Committee on Curriculum and Accreditation. He also serves as an accreditation evaluator for university visits.

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