Missouri S&T Student Receives Best Poster Award At Transportation Conference

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Center for Transportation Infrastructure Durability and Life-Extension (TriDurLE) organized a student poster competition at the center’s annual symposium on Dec. 6. Beshoy Riad, an S&T student, received the best poster award for his poster presentation titled “Implementing the Lightweight Deflectometer for MoDOT Construction Acceptance of Unbound Material Layers.” Beshoy is a Ph.D. candidate in civil, architectural and environmental engineering. His advisor is Dr. Xiong Zhang.

Original Version Posted January 4, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

In The News: Epting, McManus, Yan

Dr. Sahar Joakim interviewed Dr. Shane Epting, assistant professor of philosophy at S&T, on Dec. 14 about his book, The Morality of Urban Mobility. The video is posted on Joakim’s YouTube channel. Watch the interview. Joakim is an assistant professor of philosophy at St. Louis Community College – Meramec. 

Dr. Grace Yan, associate professor of civil engineering, was interviewed for a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article regarding Dec. 10 tornado damage to an Amazon warehouse in Illinois. Reporter Steph Kukuljan’s article was titled “‘Not invented for resisting tornadoes’: Officials, expert zero in on Amazon warehouse construction,” and appeared in media outlets throughout the U.S. She was also interviewed on the topic by reporter Russell Kinsaul for a story that aired on KMOV-TV on Dec. 15, titled “Design of collapsed Amazon warehouse coming under scrutiny.”

Original Version Posted January 4, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service Awards Go To 27 Faculty

Dr. Colin Potts, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, recognized 27 faculty members for excellence and achievement in teaching, research and service during a faculty awards banquet held Dec. 9 on campus. The Faculty Achievement Award recognizes non-tenure-track faculty who have demonstrated sustained excellence in at least one of the following areas: teaching, research or service.

Original Version Posted January 4, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Ignition Grants to Spark Research Among 12 S&T Teams

Twelve Missouri S&T research teams have received inaugural Kummer Missouri S&T Ignition Grants totaling $365,000. The Ignition Grants are designed to provide resources for Missouri S&T faculty members to build teams that can lead to long-term, externally funded, multi-investigator research programs. CII members that are principal investigators on the grant projects are Drs. Genda Chen, Jenny Liu, Chenglin Wu, and Guirong Yan.

Original Version Posted January 4, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Donnell Named Woodard Associate Professor For Excellence

Missouri S&T has named Dr. Kristen Donnell, an expert in microwave non-destructive testing of materials and high-frequency sensing, as the Woodard Associate Professor for Excellence. Donnell is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) at Missouri S&T. Donnell joined the Missouri S&T faculty in 2011 as an assistant teaching professor. She is also an S&T alumna, having earned her master’s degree and doctorate in electrical engineering in Rolla. Prior to joining the S&T faculty, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher, graduate research assistant and student instructor at the university and was employed by Raytheon as an electrical engineer.

Original Version Posted February 8, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Sajal Das Appointed as Panelist on New Research Panel

Dr. Kamal Khayat, interim vice chancellor for research and innovation, has announced the appointment of faculty to the inaugural Research Proposal Review and Mentoring (RPRM) panel. The Missouri S&T faculty members will serve a two-year term. Among them Sajal Das, professor and Daniel St. Clair Endowed Chair of Computer Science.

Original Version Posted February 24, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Researchers Present At Transportation Meeting

Faculty and students in S&T’s civil, architectural and environmental engineering department, presented their research at the Transportation Research Board’s 101st annual meeting, which was held in Washington, D.C., in January. Participating faculty included Dr. Jenny Liu, professor; Dr. Xiong Zhang, professor; and Xianbiao Hu, assistant professor. The faculty and their groups gave 14 presentations, including poster sessions and committee meetings. Research topics included innovative materials, advanced testing and modeling, and data analytics for sustainable transportation systems.

Original Version Posted March 1, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Davis On Panel Of Experts To Speak About the Invasion Of Ukraine

A panel discussion comprised of various experts discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine this March at Missouri S&T. The panel discussion was held 4-5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9, the webinar is posted here. The webinar’s experts presented on the historical, political, military and economic contexts of the invasion, discussed potential implications, and answered questions related to the situation. The panel of experts included the following faculty: Dr. Andrew Behrendt, an assistant teaching professor of history and political science at S&T and an expert in the history of eastern Europe; Dr. Michael Davis, economist and interim chair and associate professor of economics at S&T; Dr. Alanna Krolikowski, an assistant professor of history and political science at S&T and an expert in U.S. foreign relations; and Dr. John McManus, military historian and a Curators’ Distinguished Professor of history and political science at S&T.

Original Version Posted March 2, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Carbon-capture research wins $1.7 million grant

Fateme Rezaei, associate professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, is an internationally known expert in carbon capture. Her research recently earned a nearly $1.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a project titled “ECO-EBET: GOALI: CAS-Climate: Expediting Decarbonization of Cement Industry through Integration of CO2 Capture and Conversion.”

Original Version Posted April 19, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Dr. Shane Epting Shares In Critic Event On His Book

On March 2, Dr. Shane Epting, assistant professor of philosophy, participated in an online author-meets-critics event on his book, The Morality of Urban Mobility: Technology and Philosophy of the City. The event was hosted by the Philosophy of Science, Engineering and Technology Research Group at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology in Germany.

Original Version Posted April 5, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Student of Dr. Xiong Zhang Presents Research Work at the State Legislators Office

On April 11th, nine undergraduate students from Missouri University of Science and Technology traveled to Jefferson City, Missouri, to participate in the annual Undergraduate Research Day at the Capitol. Amongst the nine was Richard Gorzel, a senior in computer engineering from St. Peters, Missouri. He presented “Intuitive user interface and software optimizations for cost effective and low training soil property discovery.” The work is directed by Dr. Xiong Zhang, a professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Original Version Posted April 11, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Promoting Practical Research for Nuclear's Future

Syed Alam came to Missouri S&T as an assistant teaching professor in 2019 from the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) in Paris and Cadarache, France, where he worked as a researcher. This year, he was promoted to assistant professor of nuclear engineering and radiation science. Alam teaches reactor physics, linear transport and nuclear nonproliferation. But his research goal is more practical than academic.

Alam’s research focuses on how data analytics and machine learning algorithms can help solve challenges in advanced nuclear systems. He says that nuclear technology has a promising future in energy and defense, pointing out that the U.S. Navy and Air Force are moving toward nuclear-powered vessels, and the Department of Energy is promoting nuclear energy as a move toward decarbonization. Alam feels confident about nuclear engineering’s future.

Original Version Posted April 12, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

S&T Tornado Simulator Helps Researchers Investigate Structure Failure

Tornadoes are so violent they often destroy sensors intended to record wind speed and pressure on commercial buildings, schools and homes, so there is no current technology to measure their real wind speed. Researchers at Missouri S&T are bringing tornadoes into the lab with a new simulator to model extreme cyclonic wind speeds and study how tornadoes destroy structures. The findings could then be used to update existing structures and influence new construction. “Currently, post-storm damage surveys are the primary way to determine a tornado’s strength using the EF scale,” says Dr. Grace Yan, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at Missouri S&T. “With the simulator, we can reproduce real-world tornadoes in the lab environment to discover the true failure mechanisms in civil structures.” 

                       Original Version Posted May 31, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Smart, connected farms could assist agricultural hazard management

Farming communities face many threats to their livelihood – pest migration, disease spore dispersal, adverse weather and weed spread to name a few. Researchers at Missouri S&T are developing infrastructure for smart and connected farms to improve timely data sharing so that communities can better respond to production threats that expand beyond individual farm boundaries.

Original Version Posted June 13, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

In its First 12 Hours, S&T's Kummer College Hosts First Ph.D. Dissertation Defense 

Less than 12 hours after being officially established on July 1, the Kummer College of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Development at Missouri S&T hosted its first doctoral dissertation defense. At 10:30 a.m. July 1, Javier Valentín-Sívico, an engineering management student, successfully defended his thesis, “Evaluating Barriers to and Impacts of Rural Broadband Access.” Via Zoom, Valentín-Sívico distilled many years of research into a presentation that ran just over an hour. Then he took questions from the audience, which included his doctoral committee and several family members.

Original Version Posted July 6, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Missouri S&T Ph.D. graduate wins $70,000 Laegeler Fellowship for solar farm protection research 

Zhao is working with Dr. Grace Yan, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at Missouri S&T, to improve solar panels’ survivability in tornadoes and other weather events. Yan has formed an interdisciplinary team that plans to apply for funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. Zhao believes the research opportunities supported by the Laegeler fellowship will give the team the preliminary results they need for future projects and research.

Original Version Posted July 21, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

INSPIRE UTC & CII Student Won Second Place in the Poster Competition at Geo-Resolution Conference 2022 

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and Saint Louis University (SLU) co-sponsor for the Geo-Resolution 2022 recently provided a venue for collaboration between students and geospatial experts in governments, academia, and industry to lay a foundation for innovative solutions to mitigate the effect of climate changes. Led by SLU, Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI) is a consortium of eight research institutions that share their expertise and critical research facilities. TGI organized a student poster competition at the annual symposium on September 28, 2022 and received 40 posters from students at the consortium member institutions on a wide range of research topics connected to geospatial science. Pengfei Ma, a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Dr. Genda Chen, represented the Center for Intelligent Infrastructure (CII) and INSPIRE University Transportation Center (UTC) at the 2022 poster competition. Pengfei is currently in his fourth year in the Ph.D. Program in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering. He has submitted two journal manuscripts for potential publications and is preparing two additional journal manuscripts for submission. All the submitted posters and their accompanying videos are available on the TGI website (https://taylorgeospatial.org/geo-resolution-2022-poster-session/).

The review and award committee, led by Professor Ness Sandoval from SLU, selected the top three winners as detailed below:

1st Place: Laura Gray from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - “Impacts of Global Climate Change on Total Runoff”

2nd Place: Pengfei Ma from Missouri University of Science and Technology - “Pipeline Leakage Detection by Mapping Vegetation Stress Indices from Hyperspectral Imaging”. Pengfei received a $750 award and certificate.

3rd Place: Jenni Nugent from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - “Monthly Virtual Blue and Grey Water Transfers on the U.S. Electric Grid”

Original Version Posted October 17, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Missouri S&T students, faculty bring home engineering management awards 

Missouri S&T won several awards from the American Society for Engineering Management (ASEM) at its recent conference in Tampa, Fla.

To enter, programs submit current statistics including number of publications, grant totals, graduation rates and curriculum. This year’s winning application was assembled by Dr. Steven Corns, associate professor of engineering management and systems engineering.

Original Version Posted October 27, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Missouri S&T students, faculty bring home engineering management awards 

As climate change accelerates, scientists are investigating ways to lower carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. At Missouri S&T, researchers are developing solutions by turning CO2 into rock, including massive rocks for permanent carbon storage, and concrete, the manmade rock that supports modern civilization.

Ma and a team of researchers in materials science and engineering, chemical engineering, mining, economics, and other disciplines at Missouri S&T are forcing CO2 to react with silicate rocks and industrial wastes generated from power plants, cement plants, concrete recycling facilities, and steel mills to form carbonate minerals. Such reactions happen in nature over millions of years to create natural limestone and dolomite formations that stores trillions of tons of carbon, but they are too slow to address the climate change challenge.

Original Version Posted November 17, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

77 researchers affiliated with Missouri S&T among top 2% in their fields for career and single-year impact 

Sixty-five current and former faculty of Missouri University of Science and Technology are among the top researchers in their field as measured by their career research records, and 12 other current or former Missouri S&T researchers were among the best in their fields in 2021, according to a recent analysis by Stanford University.

The Stanford study, published Oct. 10, analyzes the number of research publications, citations and other measures of research productivity, including career-long and single-year impact. The study classifies individuals into 22 scientific fields and 176 sub-fields that include science, engineering, business and medicine. Career-long data are updated through the end of 2021, and the selection is based on the top 100,000 researchers as determined by a composite citation metric known as a “c-score” (with and without self-citations) or by their percentile rank of 2% or above.

Original Version Posted December 2, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

Dr. Sajal Das named Curators' Distinguished Professor

Dr. Sajal Das, professor and Daniel St. Clair Endowed Chair of computer science at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has been named a Curators’ Distinguished Professor.

The University of Missouri Board of Curators bestows the Curators’ Distinguished Professor title upon outstanding scholars with established reputations in their field of study. Das is a leader in cyber-physical systems and smart environments.

In a current research project, Das worked with other researchers to develop infrastructure for smart and connected farms to improve timely data sharing so that communities can better respond to production threats that expand beyond individual farm boundaries. The work is supported by a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

Original Version Posted December 8, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events

The year in research - stories worth revisiting 

-S&T researchers bring tornadoes into the laboratory – literally – with a new simulator that models extreme cyclonic wind speeds. By using the simulator, researchers can study how tornadoes destroy structures and then use the findings to update existing structures and influence new construction. 

-Dr. Hongyan Ma, an associate professor of civil engineering, is leading research to turn CO2 into massive rocks for permanent carbon storage. “We need ways to not only reduce CO2 emission but also to remove it from the air and utilize or permanently store the removed CO2 at a scale large enough to combat climate change,” he says. 

-Turning a light on and off doesn’t require much thought – click on, click off. But modulating that light – turning it on and off faster than the human eye can comprehend – and using the modulated light for Wi-Fi data transmission requires a great deal of thought, and it’s the focus on Dr. Nan Cen’s visible-light communications research.

Original Version Posted December 22, 2022 - Missouri S&T News and Events