ENGINEERING SPRING 2013
SAFERSAFERMaking Streets
Creator of SAFER Barriers Finds New Home at UAB
ENGINEERING AGENDA
DEAR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS,
It brings me great pleasure to present to you this issue of UAB
Engineering. The past year has brought many exciting changes
to the school—all of which you will read about in the pages
ahead. We are extremely grateful for the opportunities that lie
before us and are thrilled to be able to share our progress with
you through this publication.
As you explore this issue, you will notice that we have
recently welcomed several new members to the UAB School
of Engineering family. As many of you already know, the
School of Engineering selected a new dean earlier this year.
Dr. J. Iwan Alexander will be joining us August 1 from CASE
Western University where he was the Cady Staley Professor
and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering. With more than 40 years of engineering experi-
ence, we are confident that his leadership will have a broad,
positive impact on UAB for many years to come.
Also joining the School of Engineering this past October
as professor and vice president of product development was Dean Sicking, Ph.D. Dr. Sicking is perhaps best
known as one of the developers of the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barriers that are used on
NASCAR and IRL racetrack walls around the world. We are delighted to have Dr. Sicking on board, where his
leadership of highway safety research is proving to be an invaluable asset to our progress.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to all of you for supporting UAB and
the School of Engineering. It has been my pleasure to serve as interim dean for the school and I am especially
thankful to all of you who have remained connected and engaged. As the UAB School of Engineering continues
to experience exciting changes from year to year, we are grateful for one thing that is constant—your support.
Thank you for being such a vital part of our extended community.
Melinda M. Lalor, Ph.D.
Professor and Interim Dean, School of Engineering
1 UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013
UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013 2
F e a t u r e s
Building Smarter, Building Better: New Center Creating Cities of Tomorrow ......................... 7
Shelter from the Storm: Materials Provide Enhanced Tornado Protection ............... 9
Homegrown Leadership: SOE Alumni Now President and Provost of UAB ............ 11
D e p a r t m e n t s
Student Spotlight ............................................................. 12 Alumni Profile .................................................................. 15 Development ................................................................... 17
CONTENTS
UAB Engineering is published by the UAB School of Engineering in collaboration with the Office of Public Relations and Marketing.
Executive Editors: Matt Windsor, Victoria Allen • Managing Editor: Grant Martin • Writers: Victoria Allen, Grant Martin, Kevin Storr, Greg Williams • Executive Art Director: Ron Gamble • Art Director: Jessica Huffstutler • Photography: Steve Wood • UAB Engineering Editorial Board: Melinda Lalor, Ph.D., Interim Dean; Zoe Dwyer, Ph.D., Director of Freshman Services; Victoria Allen, Director of Development and External Relations; Beth Briggs, Alumni Relations Officer; Tina Bryant, Administrative Support
PAGE 3
PAGE 7
PAGE 9
PAGE 15
Creator of SAFER Barriers Finds New Home at UAB
SAFERSAFERMaking Streets
3 UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013
For more than 30 years, Sicking
has been a leading figure in highway
safety research. His designs are
installed on guardrails and other road-
side barriers throughout the United
States. He was also one of the devel-
opers of the Steel and Foam Energy
Reduction (SAFER) barriers that are
used on NASCAR and IRL racetracks
around the world.
Sicking joined UAB last fall as a
professor and the vice president of
product development after a nation-
wide recruiting battle saw UAB pit-
ted against other top universities for
Sicking’s services. “Dr. Sicking is an
authority on highway safety research
whose work has had a tremendous
impact,” says Linda Lucas, Ph.D.,
UAB provost and former dean of
the School of Engineering, who was
instrumental in Sicking’s recruitment.
“We knew there was potential for
him to do great things here, thanks
to the multidisciplinary work already
going on in our school as well as the
possibility of partnerships with indus-
try outside of UAB.”
The Perfect Pitch
Even though Lucas and others
could see the enormous potential
for a world-class highway safety
research facility in Birmingham,
Sicking actually had no previous
knowledge of UAB or the surround-
ing area. A native of Texas and
longtime resident of Nebraska, he
says UAB was nowhere on his radar
screen before a chance meeting at
an engineering conference brought
him into contact with UAB professor
David Littlefield, Ph.D. “A mutual
friend introduced us, and it turned
out that David and I have a lot in
common,” Sicking says. “During the
conversation, I told him I was looking
for a position and that I had some
Making Streets
Creator of SAFER Barriers Finds New Home at UAB
If you’ve driven any distance along an interstate in the past couple of decades,
you have likely driven past the work of Dean Sicking, Ph.D. And if you’ve had the
misfortune to crash your car into a guardrail along that interstate—and lived to
read this story—it could be that you have Sicking to thank.
SAFERSAFERImage courtesy Trinity Highway Products
UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013 4
interviews lined up. A couple of days
later, he called and asked if I would
consider UAB.
“It caught me by surprise. Not just
because I hadn’t had any contact
with UAB, but also that a full profes-
sor would have the authority to make
that call. There aren’t many places
in my experience where faculty
and administrators have that kind of
cohesive relationship.”
According to Littlefield, he was
immediately intrigued by Sicking’s
research, which he says was closely
aligned to his own work at UAB,
albeit for different applications. “I
had no idea at the time how recep-
tive UAB administrators would be,
but I knew there was at least the
potential to form a partnership with
Barber Motorsports Park,” recalls
Littlefield. After discussing Sicking
with Lucas and UAB vice president
for research Richard Marchase,
Ph.D., Littlefield says he discovered
that there were multiple other tie-ins
on campus for someone of Sicking’s
capabilities—particularly in product
development. “This was an area
UAB had been aggressively pursuing
for some time,” Littlefield says. “So
even though our meeting was purely
coincidental, the timing couldn’t
have worked out better.”
As luck would have it, Littlefield’s
pitch intrigued Sicking enough for
him to make a visit to Birmingham,
and soon after, he was hooked. “I
loved everything about Birmingham,
from the staff at the hotel to the
administration and the extremely
high level of research being conduct-
ed at UAB,” he says.
Another key figure in his recruit-
ment, Sicking says, was George
Barber, owner of Barber Motorsports
Park in nearby Leeds, Alabama.
Barber is building a new state-of-the-
art research facility for Sicking on
site at his track. “The facility will be
large enough for us to conduct crash
tests for a wide variety of research
purposes,” he says. “We will have a
rail system that will allow us to study
the impact of a vehicle hitting a bar-
continued on next page
Q: Your devices have saved hundreds of people from serious injury or death in highway accidents. Have you ever crashed into one of your own devices?
A: I’ve never hit one of my own systems, thank God. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who has crashed into one of our systems, but I have received letters from people and heard stories from police officers who have worked the acci-dents. I hope my experience continues to stay on the research side.
Q: Has studying hundreds of accidents influenced your choice of vehicles?
A: Yes. Mass is your friend. Anyone who tells you small cars are just as safe as larger vehicles doesn’t know what they’re talking about. In a collision between small and large cars, the smaller car almost always gets the worst of it.
Q: Your SAFER barriers have been installed at racetracks all over the world. Are you a fan of auto racing?
A: When I was a kid, I was a big fan of A.J. Foyt, an IndyCar racer and fellow Texan. But when I graduated college and started working, I didn’t have much time for sports. These days, if I have time to follow any sport, it’s usually foot-ball.
THREE QUESTIONS FOR DEAN LEO SICKING, PH.D.
Dean Sicking received a bachelor’s degree (1980)
in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree
(1987) in civil engineering from Texas A&M. He then
worked as a researcher at the Texas Transportation
Institute while working on his Ph.D., which he re-ceived from A&M in 1990.
SAFERSAFER
Imag
e co
urte
sy G
rego
ry In
dust
ries
5 UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013
rier, for example, or we may simulate
the effects on dummies inside the
vehicle. The impact lab will have a
wide range of capabilities, so we
just need to generate some research
to start utilizing it. The synergy
between the university and industry
is the kind of collaboration I really
want to be a part of.”
From Highways to Speedways
Sicking began his career at the
Texas Transportation Institute at
Texas A&M. From there, he moved
on to a “small research program”
at Nebraska that was being run by
one Ph.D. student and two master’s
degree students. From that modest
start, however, Sicking was able to
build an internationally recognized
program, growing a research budget
of $100,000 per year to more than
$1 million per year in his first three
years. Most of that increase came
from recruiting various state depart-
ments of transportation to fund
research at Nebraska.
“Over the years, we generated
dozens and dozens of safety devices
to the point where it’s virtually
impossible to drive more than a mile
on any major freeway in this country
without encountering one of our sys-
tems,” Sicking says. “Our roadside
safety devices save hundreds if not
a thousand lives per year without
getting a whole lot of attention, but
when we build a device that saves
one or two racecar drivers, everyone
wants to know about it.”
While the disparity of media atten-
tion may seem ironic to some, there
is a stark difference between hear-
ing anecdotal evidence of someone
walking away from a frightening
highway crash and actually see-
ing the video footage of a racecar
driver emerging from what could
have been a fatal impact. In 2002,
that’s exactly what millions of race
fans saw when NASCAR driver
Kurt Busch crashed into the wall at
Indianapolis Motor Speedway dur-
ing the Brickyard 500. “It was a
scary crash because the impact with
the barrier was on the driver’s-side
door,” says Sicking. “Normally that
would be very serious if not fatal,
but the fact that he was unhurt
was obvious when he immediately
climbed out of the car.”
Soon after that experience,
NASCAR had SAFER barriers
installed at all of its tracks. Since
then, there has not been a fatal-
ity resulting from an incident with
an outer wall barrier in any of
NASCAR’s three major series.
“OUR ROADSIDE SAFETY DEVICES SAVE HUNDREDS IF NOT A THOUSAND LIVES PER YEAR WITHOUT GETTING A WHOLE LOT OF ATTENTION, BUT WHEN WE BUILD A DEVICE THAT SAVES ONE OR TWO RACECAR DRIVERS, EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT IT.”
Imag
e co
urte
sy T
rinity
Hig
hway
Pro
duct
s
UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013 6
Reducing Risk
During the 1990s, Sicking wrote
the industry standards that the
National Cooperative Highway
Research Program set for safety
performance evaluation. To do that,
he and his team reconstructed
800 high-speed crashes across
the American interstate system.
“Because there is such a wide distri-
bution of impact scenarios on a high-
way, there is a limit to what you can
do,” Sicking says. “But we selected
the 85th percentile impact speed
and the 85th percentile impact angle.
If you combine those two together,
it turns out to be the 95th percentile
worst-case impact condition. We
can’t design all of our safety devices
to accommodate the guy who is
running from the cops at 100 miles
per hour when he crashes. If we did,
it would be so expensive that few
places could afford them, so a lot
of dangerous areas would go unpro-
tected. So we made a design that
could protect against the worst-case
scenarios in the most common acci-
dents at normal highway speeds.”
The first widely used system
Sicking developed was an energy-
absorbing guardrail terminal—a
device that sits over the end of a
guardrail that flattens the guardrail
when hit by a vehicle. The first
study of the device showed that out
of 400 crashes, there were three
injuries and no fatalities—reducing
the amount of risk by a factor of 10.
With all the research data and real-
world results showing the product a
success, however, Sicking says no
amount of data could match the sat-
isfaction he got from one personal
letter.
“The first time this thing ever
got hit was when a young lady was
driving home from the library at the
University of Texas,” Sicking explains.
“She was driving a small pickup truck
with her cruise control set at highway
speeds when she fell asleep and
drifted off the road. She hit the guard-
rail at 65 or 70 miles per hour, and
her only injury was a bruise across
her chest caused by the seat belt. I
got a very nice letter from her father
describing the crash. He felt that she
almost certainly would have been
killed had she hit one of the other
common guardrail systems, and there
is a high probability that he was right.
But to hear that from a father who’s
daughter walked away unhurt—you
live for moments like that.”
Despite the success his systems
have demonstrated, not everyone is
pleased. Sicking describes another
letter he received—this one from a
highway patrolman who came upon
an accident—where the driver got
out of his car and started cursing
and kicking at the vehicle. When the
policeman got closer, he heard the
man say, “I can’t even kill myself
right.”
“Over the years, I’ve heard of sev-
eral police officers who say some-
one admitted at an accident that
they had been trying to commit sui-
cide by hitting one of our systems,”
Sicking says. “I think that’s a pretty
good testimonial of how effective
they can be.”
“OVER THE YEARS, I’VE HEARD OF SEVERAL POLICE OFFICERS WHO SAY SOMEONE ADMITTED AT AN ACCIDENT THAT THEY HAD BEEN TRYING TO COMMIT SUICIDE BY HITTING ONE OF OUR SYSTEMS,” SICKING SAYS.
“I THINK THAT’S A PRETTY GOOD TESTIMONIAL OF HOW EFFECTIVE THEY CAN BE.”
7 UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013
Building Smarter, Building BetterNew Center Brings Scientific Disciplines Together to Build Cities of Tomorrow
“When we talk about smart and
sustainable cities, we are talking
about two different things,” says
Fouad Fouad, Ph.D., co-director
of the center and chair of the UAB
Department of Civil, Construction
and Environmental Engineering.
“Sustainability refers to using meth-
ods and materials that are energy
efficient, low-cost, and use recy-
clable materials. Smart buildings
use technology to help save energy,
reduce pollution, and things of that
nature. Our goal through this cen-
ter is to connect all the disciplines
across campus so that we can take a
more comprehensive approach that
looks at all these considerations.”
Building Better Health
Civil engineering graduate student
Sarah Bettinger is aware of the role
diet and exercise play in obesity
rates. But what about environment?
Through the Center for Sustainable
Smart Cities, Bettinger is investigat-
ing whether or not the built environ-
ment of two nearby cities contrib-
utes to obesity rates. “Specifically,
we are interested in how things like
outdoor air quality, municipal water
quality, housing conditions, and
transportation options and livability
might impact obesity rates, Bettinger
says. “Housing conditions could
include the prevalence of mold, inci-
dence of air conditioning, and other
factors, while transportation con-
cerns include proximity to services,
neighborhood design and safety, and
the availability and accessibility of
In its early years, Birmingham’s explosive growth earned it the nickname “The Magic City.” Today,
UAB researchers are exploring the science behind such magic. The UAB Sustainable Smart Cities Research
Center brings together scientists from a variety of disciplines to investigate new ideas of how to make the city
of tomorrow a smarter, safer, and healthier place.
Illus
trat
ion
by R
on G
ambl
e
UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013 8
transportation systems.”
Although Bettinger’s research has
not reached any preliminary conclu-
sions, Fouad says such research is
indicative of the multidisciplinary
approach of the center’s research.
“In civil engineering we have always
focused on questions of sustainabil-
ity in civil engineering, but when you
look at the scope of this research,
it calls for expertise in a variety of
areas. Not just engineering disci-
plines, but medicine, public health,
business, and many others.”
Global Scope
Although much of UAB’s research
will have a local impact, Fouad
says the results of such research
could have a tremendous impact on
future growth worldwide. “Cities
are responsible for about 75 percent
of energy use, 60 percent of water
consumed, and 80 percent of green-
house gases worldwide,” he says.
“Sustainable, smart cities on a global
scale will increase quality of life and
provide ways for future generations
to meet all of their needs.” To that
end, the center hosted the UAB
Sustainable Smart Cities Symposium
and initiated activities with the
Planning Commission of Greater
Birmingham in an effort to find ways
to improve the quality of life locally.
Fouad and co-director Maria Norena
also have traveled to meetings and
conferences internationally to discuss
sustainability issues with leaders in
other parts of the world.
“Our goal is to use this cross-
disciplinary approach to attract
funding on a national level,” Fouad
says. “Another goal is to educate the
community. One problem with sus-
tainable or ‘green’ technology is that
there is some resistance to those
types of initiatives. So educating the
public on how sustainability can posi-
tively effect their lives will be a key
part of our mission and goals.”
THOSE MICRO-AIR VEHICLES fly-
ing reconnaissance missions into
combat zones or into nuclear spill
sites to detect radiation someday
may be designed at the School of
Engineering.
Senior engineering students were
challenged to build an MAV weighing
less than 10 grams and powered by
a four-volt battery.
Their recent test flight was sched-
uled to last one minute, but it fell
short—by about a minute, jokes Roy
Koomullil, Ph.D., associate professor
in the Department of Mechanical
Engineering. “Even so, we consider
this one a success because it was
the first MAV designed at UAB.”
Koomullil, along with Gary Cheng,
Ph.D., an associate professor of
mechanical engineering and mentor
for the student design group, took
the use of propellers off the table
and required the students to design
flapping wings using industry soft-
ware. “Industry and the government
labs all use computational simula-
tions before they fabricate the model
or the prototype,” Koomullil says.
“It’s important for the students to
learn simulation before they enter
the workforce, and this software
gives them valuable experience.”
The School of Engineering online
master’s program is ranked as one
of the best by U.S. News & World
Report. Two master’s-level pro-
grams, Advanced Safety Engineering
and Management (ASEM)
and Construction Engineering
Management (CEM), were ranked
27th based on faculty credentials and
training, student services and tech-
nology, admission selectivity and
student engagement.
“I am thrilled that our totally online
Master of Engineering programs at
UAB have received national recogni-
tion,” says Martha Bidez, Ph.D.
Flying HighSOE Launches Micro-Air Vehicle Program
Shelter from the Storm Modern Materials Provide Enhanced Protection against Deadly Storms
Occasional
tornadoes have
long been an
unfortunate fact
of life in Alabama.
But after a rash of
severe storms in
2011 left hundreds
dead and caused
millions of dollars of
property damage,
UAB scientists
say there is a new
urgency to apply
cutting-edge
materials science
to the creation of
21st-century storm
shelters.
“Our effort to improve storm shel-
ters started in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina and grew more urgent after
we saw 62 Alabama tornadoes in
one day in 2011,” says Uday Vaidya,
Ph.D., professor within the UAB
Department of Materials Science &
Engineering. In that year, tornadoes
caused 551 deaths nationally—
including 245 in Alabama—and prop-
erty damage exceeding $28 billion.
“With an average of more than
1,370 tornadoes per year for the past
three years in the United States, it’s
time we changed the way storm
shelters are built, with the goal of
saving more lives,” Vaidya says.
No-Fly Zone
Panels for a new high-tech shelter
created at UAB have passed the
National Storm Shelter Association’s
tornado threat test.
In the NSSA test, 15-pound two-
by-fours fired from a pressure can-
non were unable to penetrate the
panels, made of recycled materials,
in a dozen attempts. The wooden
missiles hit the panels at 100 miles
per hour, the speed at which projec-
tiles typically exit a tornado funnel
spinning at more than 200 miles
per hour. Such a storm would rate
EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale
and be capable of leveling well-built
homes. Passing the tornado test
means the panels also pass the less-
taxing NSSA hurricane standard,
where nine-pound missiles are fired
at 60 to 75 miles per hour.
The successful test represents a
first step toward commercial avail-
ability, which the team hopes to
achieve by the 2013 tornado season.
Materials used in testing must withstand wooden projectiles hit-
ting at speeds of 100 miles per hour.
9 UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013
The final hurdle comes this fall when
the assembled structure will under-
go testing.
The UAB panels were tested at
the NSSA facility on August 1, and
the related patent applications filed
on August 24. The UAB panels
met the NSSA standards, which
are based on Federal Emergency
Management Association and
International Council Code (ICC 500)
requirements. Based on these early
results, Vaidya and his team have
lined up Sioux Manufacturing to fab-
ricate the tabletop-size panels should
the final approvals come through.
The team estimated that if merely
30 percent of the roughly 600,000
homes in the Southeast United
States were to opt for a storm-
shelter retrofit, it would represent
a $500-million market. UAB spinoff
Innovative Composite Solutions, led
by Vaidya and winner of the 2009
Alabama Launchpad Competition,
would oversee aspects of panel
assembly in Birmingham.
No Gaps in the Armor
The recipe of thermoplastic and
fiberglass resins and fibers used in
the panels are stronger per-unit den-
sity than the steel used in many cur-
rent shelters and weigh 80 percent
less, Vaidya says. Some of the same
foams and fibers are used in the lat-
est armored military vehicles.
The panels, connected to each
other and the floor of an interior
room, are designed to keep a fam-
ily from being crushed or becoming
airborne and to protect against flying
debris. They also leave the assembly
line looking like typical interior walls;
they do not need paint and never will
corrode.
Made from discarded liner once
used to wrap offshore oil-rig pipes,
the panels also embrace green engi-
neering techniques. Recycled materi-
als used in the experimental phase
itself kept thousands of pounds of
waste from landfills.
The design team is continu-
ing to refine the shelter roof and
its armored door, which will be
sheathed in the same paneling as
the walls. The door also will feature
a custom three-deadbolt locking sys-
tem and piano hinges.
The initial phases of the panel
design effort were funded through
the National Science Foundation’s
SBIR Phase II program.
“To see panels pass our most
extreme test the first time is very
impressive,” says Larry Tanner, P.E.,
manager of the NSSA/Texas Tech
Debris Impact Test Facility. “If it
saves even one life, it will have been
worth the effort to design it.”
Selvum Pillay, Ph.D., associate pro-
fessor in the School of Engineering
and team member at ICS, says the
shelter represents one of many
potential applications for a new
generation of materials across many
fields. “Related efforts under way at
UAB seek to re-engineer the pilings
that failed during Hurricane Katrina to
flood New Orleans, dampen sound
for quieter cities, and better fortify
combat helmets,” Pillay says.
The panels designed by UAB engineers were tested at the National Storm Shelter
Association’s research facility in Lubbock, Texas.
UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013 10
The Long Way Home
Watts has held many leadership roles
during his career, and it all started with
an undergraduate degree from the UAB
School of Engineering.
A native of Birmingham, Watts was
named Student Engineer of the Year
in 1975 by the Alabama Society of
Professional Engineers during his junior
year at UAB. A year later, he was one of
three students to receive a national engi-
neering award. He earned a bachelor of
science degree in engineering in 1976.
After graduating, he would leave engi-
neering to pursue a career in medicine,
but he says his training at the School of
Engineering was invaluable. “I loved my
undergraduate experience at UAB,” Watts
says. “It was wonderful, and over the years, I have really
enjoyed watching UAB grow. After I finished my neurol-
ogy residency, I would often come over and give grand
rounds and serve as a visiting professor, so I always main-
tained a connection with Birmingham and with UAB.”
Continuing the pattern of academic success he had
achieved as an undergraduate, Watts was valedic-
torian of Washington University School of Medicine
in St. Louis, and he completed internship, residency,
and fellowship training at Harvard Medical School and
Massachusetts General Hospital.
He served a two-year fellowship at the National
Institutes of Health and was a member of the faculty at
Emory University before returning to UAB to become
chairman of the Department of Neurology in 2003. He
was named dean of the School of Medicine in 2010
before becoming the university’s seventh president in
February 2013.
Familiar Leadership
While Watts’s return to UAB can be seen as a home-
coming of sorts, few people have a closer connection to
the School of Engineering over the past 30 years than
the UAB provost. Lucas served as the school’s dean
from 2001 until 2011, but her roots in the school go
much deeper than that.
Lucas earned her bachelor of science degree in math-
ematics and chemistry from the University of Alabama
and her bachelor of science in engineering from UAB.
She earned master’s degrees in mathematics, educa-
tion, and materials engineering from UAB—as well as a
doctorate in biomedical engineering with an emphasis in
biomaterials.
She joined the school’s faculty in 1982 as an assistant
professor and was named chair of the Department of
Biomedical Engineering in 1995. As dean of the school,
Lucas oversaw the construction of the Shelby Building
for Biomedical Research as well as other new state-of-
the-art laboratories. She also helped usher in 21st-cen-
tury education by offering a variety of online options for
long-distance students.
With a pair of engineers now leading the way for UAB,
expectations are high for UAB to continue to establish a
claim as one of the great universities of the 21st century.
11 UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013
Homegrown LeadershipUAB President and Provost Both Earned Degrees from the SOE
IT IS NOTHING NEW for School of Engineering alumni to emerge in various leadership roles throughout the nation.
But never before have the school’s graduates had such a direct impact on UAB, with UAB president Ray Watts,
M.D., and provost Linda Lucas, Ph.D., both holding degrees from the School of Engineering.
Ray Watts
Linda Lucas
student spotlight
UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013 12
In what has become a local tradition, students from cen-
tral Alabama middle schools and high schools converged on
Bartow Arena in October for the fifth-annual Blazer BEST
competition.
Based in Dallas, Texas, B.E.S.T.
(Boosting Engineering, Science, and
Technology) Robotics, Inc., is a nonprof-
it, volunteer organization. More than
10,000 students participate in B.E.S.T.
events nationwide.
Blazer BEST
In addition to the annual event at Bartow Arena,
this year’s competition included a kickoff at the
Galleria Mall in Hoover.
Seniors Engineer Solution for NASA Cryogenic Freezer
They were about five years old when Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase “To
infinity and beyond!” was adopted by a generation of youngsters. Now, the
childhood fantasy of working toward a space-based existence is reality for
a select group of engineering students.
Logan Beane, Jeffery Black, Amanda Haglund, Brandon Kirkland, and
Justin Terrell designed a test fixture for evaluating cryogenic insulation
materials as part of an engineering senior design project. Their work
revealed that glass microspheres, hollow borosilicate glass spheres approxi-
mately the diameter of a human hair, are a more efficient thermal insulation
solution than the current technology for the NASA GLACIER cryogenic
freezer design, which was previously developed by the UAB Center for
Biophysical Sciences and Engineering.
The microspheres will be incorporated into future GLACIER units and
other CBSE projects pending approval from NASA officials at the Johnson
Space Center in Houston.
Friends, potential students, and
other visitors were treated to a
glimpse of the endless possibilities
of engineering at the school’s annual
open house last spring, with every-
thing from a catapult to a 3-D virtual-
reality system on display.
Senior mechanical engineering
student TERRANCE SERNA demon-
strated the catapult, using a stuffed
animal as the projectile, he and a
young volunteer sent it flying toward
a basketball hoop.
BHARAT K. SONI, PH.D., chair
and professor of the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, took visi-
tors on a virtual 3-D tour of a house,
a flying jet, and the human body.
Visitors inserted their hands into the
body and a large screen displayed
what was inside, such as the valves
within the heart along with a heart
thumping sound.
Open House 2012
13 UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013
student spotlight
STUDENTS from the UAB School of
Engineering placed second at the
IEEE SoutheastCon 2012 hardware
competition held in Orlando, finish-
ing higher than any other school in
the state of Alabama. The students,
Wade Sweatt, Wesley Butsch, Chad
McMicken, and John Higgins, were
members of the senior design class
in the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering.
“This strong finish once again spot-
lights our sharp engineering students
and strong engineering programs.
Both compete well not only in the
Southeast, but also nationally,” says
Melinda Lalor, Ph.D., interim dean,
UAB School of Engineering.
The competition featured 45
schools from across the Southeast.
The UAB team qualified for the grand
finale where they had to race eight
other robots, an event that was tele-
vised live on big screen TVs during
the awards banquet, to see who
could navigate a course, find targets,
and make electronic calculations fast-
est.
“There are four blocks on the
course and two plates at each
block,” says Chad McMicken, UAB
senior. “The robot was required to
either measure the voltage, capaci-
tance, and temperature, or distin-
guish between a saw-tooth and a
square wave. The robot then had to
take the appropriate course of action
based on those measurements to
earn points at each task block.”
“The difficulty didn’t lie in what
the robot had to do as far as naviga-
tion and moving,” says John Higgins,
UAB senior. “The difficulty was in
making the measurements that were
required because the circuitry for one
measurement wouldn’t work at all for
the other measurement and would
actually hinder the measurements.”
The UAB team finished a close
second to the combined team of
Florida State and Florida A&M.
The students said the second-
place finish was rewarding, but gain-
ing all that experience in real-world
electronic applications that apply to
their industry is the real payoff.
Homecoming 2012
The School of Engineering had another
great Homecoming in 2012. The activities
were organized and led by students, and the
SOE finished second in the Building
Decoration Competition, won the
Most Creative Passenger award in the
Gurney Derby, and was recognized for
the Most Spirited Float at the annual
Homecoming Parade. Dhruv Patel was
the student leader for the school’s
Homecoming activities.
SOE Finishes First Among State Schools at IEEE Competition
UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013 14
The Information Engineering and
Management (IEM) program celebrated
its 10th anniversary in 2012 with a din-
ner and reception at the UAB Alumni
House.
During the ceremony, IEM Director
Dale Callahan, Ph.D. (right), and alum-
nus Todd Miranda, spoke about how
the program has furthered the careers of its gradu-
ates, as well as what the future may hold for IEM.
IEM Dinner
FARRAH VACCA, a student in Advanced Safety and
Engineering Management, recently helped change a stan-
dard created by the California Division of Occupational
Safety and Health with a thoughtful comment.
Vacca, a safety professional for a Bay Area major
pharmaceutical company, was enrolled in EGR 616:
Policy Issues in Prevention through Design when she
was assigned to find and comment on a safety standard
that was open for public comment. She noticed
Cal/OSHA had written the first safety
standard for microtomes—blades of
steel, glass, or diamonds that cut
extremely thin slices of material for
observation in microscopy—that
are used by Vacca’s company.
“Cal/OSHA’s standard said to
keep hands one inch from the
blade and recommended using a
device, such as tweezers, which is cumbersome and not
the ideal fix for the problem,” says Vacca. “I talked to
the microtome users in our shop and they said handling
the blade with tweezers makes it less safe, so my com-
ments focused on the principal of prevention through
design—fixing the systemic problems of the design, the
way it is manufactured, and the safeguards that are in
place.”
Cal/OSHA’s summary and response said Vacca’s
public comments would provide better safety
than the existing standard. The board added
that although they regulate employers,
not manufacturers, Vacca’s input may
“induce manufacturers to take a fresh
look at their equipment and develop
designs that will move in the direction of
engineering out the hazards” over time.
Online Student Helps Fashion New OSHA Standard
WHEN HE WAS a teenager growing
up in Hueytown, Alabama, George
Little says he “wouldn’t have had a
clue where Omaha was.” Over the
past two decades, his knowledge of
geography has grown considerably
deeper.
Little was recently promoted
to CEO of HDR, an engineering
and design firm based in Omaha,
Nebraska, that designs and man-
ages construction projects all over
the world. With more than 7,800
employees in 185 offices, HDR has
managed projects in more than 60
countries and currently has five proj-
ects in China, including designing the
world’s first “medical city” in Beijing.
“This will be the first fully integrated
health community in the world,”
says Little, a 1981 graduate of the
UAB School of Engineering. “We’re
working on a master plan that will
include 10 hospitals with 1,000 beds
apiece. To put that in perspective,
consider the growth of UAB’s medi-
cal center over the last few years,
then multiply the size of that entire
medical center by 10.”
When completed, the Beijing com-
plex will cover 4.7 square miles—
equal to two-thirds the size of
Manhattan—and is expected to cost
7 billion in U.S. dollars. That’s quite
a responsibility for a CEO who says
he started his career with no higher
ambition than securing a job as an
electrical engineer.
Exploring Options
“I never had aspirations to be presi-
dent of a company or anything like
that,” says Little. “Being the CEO of
an international company would not
have been on my radar, but I have
been very fortunate throughout my
career to have good mentors at UAB,
at Alabama Power, and at HDR.”
Little started out working for
Alabama Power while still an under-
graduate at UAB. He stayed with
Alabama Power for eight years
after graduation before taking a job
with HDR’s office in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. “The electrical work I
was doing was actually a very small
part of what we were doing, so I
was exposed to a wide range of
disciplines,” he says. “I got experi-
ence with wastewater engineering,
highways and bridges, and really the
whole variety of construction and
15 UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013
Eclectic Engineering:Degree Leads Alumnus to a Wide World of Business Opportunity
alumni profileHDR may not be a household name, but chances are
most people have encountered one or more of the
company’s projects—which include bridges, power
plants, hospitals, prisons, and more.
George Little is a 1981 graduate of the UAB School of Engineering. He was inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2010 and was named one of UAB’s “40 Engineers Making a Difference” in 2011.
UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013 16
design projects HDR handles. As
my confidence grew, I realized that I
enjoyed working with clients and the
business development aspects of
being in management.”
Little worked several years as
manager of the Minneapolis office
before moving to Omaha to take
over the company’s engineering
division in 1998. “I had never done
much traveling outside of the state
of Alabama before I took the job
with HDR,” he says. “I began travel-
ing around the country with HDR
starting in 1994. We had some inter-
national projects back then, but noth-
ing like what we have now.”
Bridges, Ballparks, and Beyond
While HDR may not be a house-
hold name, chances are most
people are familiar with at least
some of the company’s projects,
such as the Hoover Dam Bypass
or T.D. Ameritrade Park in Omaha,
which replaced Rosenblatt Stadium
in 2011 as the home of the NCAA
College World Series. “There are
six primary areas where HDR func-
tions,” Little says. “Our engineering
company works in transportation,
which includes designing highways
and bridges as well as transit sys-
tems; water/wastewater, where we
design and build water plants and do
groundwater modeling; and our fed-
eral and energy group.
“Our architecture company focus-
es mainly on health care, where
we’ve been ranked number one in
design for the past eight years; sci-
ence and technology, which deals
with high-level research facilities;
and civic and community architec-
ture, where we design large prisons,
courthouses, and other facilities.”
With such diverse interests, it’s
important to have associates who
can work across many disciplines,
Little says. It also helps to be in
touch with the needs of tomorrow
while building for the needs of today.
WENDY SUDSINSUNTHORN, a 2007 UAB School
of Engineering alumna, applied her creative and
technical skills to work on everything from Harley-
Davidson motorcycles in Alabama to Thomas the
Tank Engine in New York City. Soon, she may
be coming to an iPad near you through her new
position as an engineering project manager for
Apple. Sudsinsunthorn recently spoke with UAB
Engineering about her wide-ranging experiences.
How does the office environment differ between a
more typical engineering job (like Harley-Davidson, for
instance) and a toy company?
The corporate environment is different, but the
small-company environment allowed me to have
exposure to a lot of different aspects of busi-
ness. The corporate environment at Fisher Price
has enabled me to see the benefits of cross-
functional teams and checks and balances.
At Fisher Price, you had
every child’s dream job. What
prompted the move to your new
psiition with Apple?
I had an amazing year
working at Fisher Price be-
fore I was approached with
an opportunity to work for
Apple in California. I am excit-
ed about the move and to be
working for one of the top companies in the world.
How can prospective engineering students (and anyone else)
best position themselves to land a great job like yours?
First, get involved on campus within your discipline
and/or with student organizations. Study hard to make
good grades, but also diversify your resumé with intern-
ships, community service, and organizations. And most
important, get some experience!
From Motorcycles to MacsSOE Grad Takes her Talents to Apple
development
ADAM STRYKER TELLE’S career was cut tragically short when
he was killed in a car accident in 2012, but the legacy of the
2010 SOE alumnus will continue to impact engineering students
for decades to come. A generous gift from CDS-John Blue
Company and other friends and admirers of Telle has established
an endowed award in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
to honor Telle’s memory. This award provides a way to celebrate
the continuation of his legacy at UAB.
“Adam Telle was such a special guy to us all,” says Marty
Gray, CFO of CDS-John Blue Company. “He was so proud to be
an engineer and was just starting his career. It just made sense
to us to remember him by helping someone else realize their
engineering dream just as Adam had done.”
Telle received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering
from the School of Engineering in 2010. Following graduation,
he began his career as a design engineer at CDS-John Blue
Company in Huntsville, Alabama. On February 7, 2012, Adam’s
promising career was cut short when he lost his life in a car acci-
dent at the young age of 24.
This endowment is an appropriate tribute to Telle’s memory. It
will positively impact the lives and careers of students like Telle
who benefit from it, as well as the School of Engineering, the
university, and the community.
Melinda Lalor, Ph.D., who was interim dean of the School of
Engineering at the time of the award, adds, “This gracious gift
will make it possible for a continuous chain of talented young
people to learn and grow as UAB engineering students, and then
positively contribute to the greater engineering community. It is
an appropriate way to remember this fine young man.”
17 UAB ENGINEERING MAGA ZINE • SPRING 2013
CDS-John Blue Honors Adam Telle by Supporting SOE Students
A Tribute to One, a Gift to Many
Adam Telle was such a special
guy to us all. He was so proud
to be an engineer and was just
starting his career. It just made
sense to us to remember him
by helping someone else realize
their engineering dream just as
Adam had done.
— Marty Gray, CFO of CDS-John Blue Company
“
“
MAKING A BEQUEST to the UAB School of Engineering is a
thoughtful and flexible way to achieve your charitable and financial
goals without making an outright gift today. Your bequest to the
school may reduce your estate taxes and will give you peace of mind
knowing that:
• you are making a gift that will provide a legacy of support for
professors, students, and programs at the School of Engineering;
• you may direct your bequest to a particular
purpose, program, or department (the SOE
and the Office of Planned Giving will work
with you and your advisors to ensure your
gift is structured properly); and
• you will be invited to join the Torchlighter’s
Society, an exclusive group of donors who
make lifetime gifts to UAB.
If you would like to learn more about
making a bequest to the SOE, please
contact development director Victoria Allen
at (205) 934-8481 or [email protected].
UAB School of EngineeringDESIGNING A BETTER TOMORROW
www.uab.edu/development/areas/academics/engineering.
Learn more at
UAB School of EngineeringHOEN 100 • 1075 13th Street South1720 2ND AVE SBIRMINGHAM AL 35294-4440(205) 934-8400
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage
PAID Permit No. 1256Birmingham, AL