Departmental News

The Lee College of Engineering Rocketry Team placed fifth out of 50 schools at the 2017 NASA Student Launch competition. The event took place at the Marshall Space Flight Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama, during the week of April 5-9, with the competition flight on April 8.

The UTC Foundation, the charitable arm of the Utilities Technology Council (UTC), presented its first grant to the Energy Production & Infrastructure Center (EPIC) at UNC Charlotte. The contribution was given at an awards dinner on Wednesday, May 10th, during the UTC Telecom & Technology conference in Charlotte. The UTC Foundation chose EPIC for its inaugural donation due to the outstanding Smart Grid technology and telecommunications work of the school, which aligns perfectly with the charity’s vision of supporting and promoting educational institutions and programs that connect students with utilities and critical infrastructure-related interests.

The Charlotte Business Journal and E4 Carolinas recognized one Lee College of Engineering alumna and one faculty member as energy leaders in the Charlotte region at the eighth annual Energy Inc. Summit and Leadership Awards.

Mechanical Engineering alumna Hannah Arrington (’07) was recognized as an Emerging Energy Leader. Systems Engineering Assistant Professor Dr. Tao Hong was recognized as an Outstanding Energy Educator.

The William States Lee College of Engineering held its spring semester Senior Design Expo on May 4, 2017. Fifty-six teams presented their completed two-semester projects, and 26 teams presented their first-semester design-concept posters.

The UNC Charlotte Alumni Association recently recognized eight individuals as part of Alumniner Weekend, including Lee College of Engineering alumnus Eric Reichard as a winner of the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

As part of a new U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) project, the Lee College of Engineering will be participating in a multi-institution team to create intelligent vehicle networks that reduce the fuel used by trucks and other heavy vehicles by up to 20 percent.

The $3-million grant is part of ARPA-E’s NEXTCAR program. Along with UNC Charlotte, the institutions involved are Penn State, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Volvo Group North America. UNC Charlotte’s portion of the grant will be $400,000.

TiMOTION’s North American subsidiary recently announced its partnership with UNC Charlotte to fund future engineers in their academic studies. The scholarship funding will benefit full-time students of high academic standing who are enrolled in engineering programs.

SME has recognized Dr. John Ziegert of the Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science Department with the 2017 SME Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal for his significant contributions to manufacturing science.

Dr. Matt Davies of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science is among the 2017 recipients of the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Congratulations to Yue Peng and Hossein Shahinian who won 1st and 3rd places respectively in the Computer Science/Math/Engineering Oral presentations last week at the Graduate and Professional Student Government’s 17th Annual Graduate Research Symposium.