CET major scores national scholarship from ASCE
Marian Alicea, a student in the Civil Engineering Technology (CET) department who is completing a summer internship at the U.S. Department of Energy’s research lab in Oak Ridge, Tenn., has been selected to receive a scholarship awarded annually to no more than 12 students nationwide.
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) awarded Alicea the 2012 Samuel Fletcher Tapman Student Chapter Scholarship, which will cover her tuition during the fall 2012 and spring 2013 terms. She also recently received a scholarship from the Atlanta Chapter of Women in Electronics.
The Tapman Scholarship is awarded based on academic performance, potential for development, leadership capacity, ASCE activities and financial need.
Alicea, a senior, is president of the SPSU Chapter of ASCE.
VP’s Corner: Division of Business and Finance “Briefing on front entrance/road realignment” The work currently underway consists of two projects: implementation of the first phase of the Transportation System Master Plan and implementation of the first phase of the front entrance redesign. In 2010, SPSU contracted with Kimley-Horn & Associates to prepare a Transportation System Master Plan to address the current and future transportation needs of the campus. The plan specifically addresses safety and operational issues, both real and perceived, for a mix of travel modes; this includes pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users and motorists. The plan’s primary objective was to balance the needs and desires of all users on campus for both the near-term and long-term future. The recommendations made are both small and large in scope. Full implementation of the plan is ongoing. In tandem with the development of the master plan, SPSU engaged Kimley-Horn & Associates, through a competitive bid and selection process, to redesign the front entrance in order to increase safety and enhance the visual presence of the university along South Marietta Parkway. The first phase of the Transportation System Master Plan includes realigning the loop road between the north side of the Student Center and the Main Entrance. The result will be improved traffic flow and safety for vehicles and pedestrians alike. A campus map with the new road alignment is shown here. The first phase of the front-entrance redesign project includes creating bricked cross walks, raised brick walls on each side of the entrance, permanent signage identifying SPSU and improved landscaping. Steve Kitchen, director of Facilities Management, said, “The road realignment is scheduled for completion by the second week of August, and the front entrance should be completed by the end of the following week.” To the campus community, he added, “We’re sorry for any inconvenience the closures might have caused. Thank you for your patience as we work to improve our campus.” SPSU was fortunate to be able to fund these projects with one-time funding made possible by the increased enrollment that the university has experienced. |
If you’ve been on campus this summer, you already know that a construction project is under way at the front entrance and around the Joe Mack Wilson Student Center. However, you may not be aware of just what’s going on behind the fence.CSI awards incoming freshman annual scholarship
The Atlanta Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) Foundation awarded incoming freshman Kaitlyn Hall its annual $2,000 scholarship.
Hall was one of two students selected for the scholarship based on faculty recommendations and an essay. They were honored at CSI’s annual awards dinner in early June.
A 2012 graduate of Kell High School in Marietta, Hall is part of a legacy of family members who have attended SPSU, including her father, aunt, grandmother and grandfather.
The Atlanta CSI Foundation supports the work of the Atlanta Chapter CSI by awarding scholarships annually to students enrolled in architecture, construction and related fields of study.
Construction Management earns IFMA accreditation
SPSU’s Bachelor of Science in Construction Management degree with a Facility Management Concentration has earned provisional four-year accreditation from the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).
Only 11 schools in North America are accredited by IFMA. SPSU is the second school in the Southeast to have an accredited BS degree in Facilities Management.
IFMA accreditation promotes excellence in undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the discipline of facility management. IFMA accreditation offers the means to strengthen existing degree programs and concentrations, serves as a guide for developing new facility management degree programs and provides standards for accrediting new programs and reaccrediting existing programs.
Dr. Khalid Siddiqi, CM department chair, and Prof. John Mench, a CM faculty member, led the effort to obtain the new accreditation, which opens up new opportunities in facility management for program graduates.
“The IFMA has informed us that they will recommend provisional four-year accreditation for SPSU to the accrediting body’s Council of Academic Affairs. This represents the maximum number of years the IFMA can grant accreditation to a new program,” said School of Architecture and Construction Management Interim Dean Richard Cole. “Congratulations to you all on fulfilling the accreditation criteria requirements for the degree program and earning this important recommendation from the IFMA representatives.”
Overall, IFMA certifies facility managers, conducts research, provides educational programs and recognizes facility management certificate programs.
Professor spends summer with Army Corps of Engineers
Dr. M.A. Karim, an assistant professor in the Civil and Construction Engineering department, received a six-week appointment to serve on the 2012 summer faculty at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Miss.
He has spent the time working on a project titled “Contaminant Release from Dredge Resuspension and Residuals.”
AUV Team navigates to semi-finals of international RoboSub Competition
SPSU’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Team immersed itself thoroughly in the 15th Annual International RoboSub Competition in mid-July. The team of three sophomores and one junior got as far as the semi-finals in a strong performance praised by faculty advisor Prof. Scott Tippens of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology (ECET) department.
“This is the youngest team we’ve ever sent to the RoboSub Competition, and SPSU did really well, considering that the sub was basically put together in about three months,” Prof. Tippens said. The group consisted of team captain Bennett Stedwell (mechatronics), Jake Robinson (electrical engineering), Taylor Martin (computer science) and Sarah Tippens. The latter is Prof. Tippens’ daughter, a media productions major at Florida State University who created the team’s website (www.spsuauv.org), social media presence, banners, T-shirts and videos and posted photos of the testing process and competition on Facebook (SPSU AUV).
Cosponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the RoboSub Competition fosters ties between young engineers and the organizations developing AUV technologies, challenging them to perform realistic missions in an underwater environment with autonomus vehicles. SPSU competed at the Navy’s Transducer Evaluation Center (TRANSDEC) pool in San Diego, Calif., with about 30 teams from high schools and colleges in the United States, Canada, India, China, Japan, Turkey and Iceland.
Prof. Tippens is the team’s main advisor and accompanied its members to San Diego, but fellow ECET faculty members Prof. Pam Frinzi and Prof. Scott Larisch served as co-advisors as the team designed and built their AUV, dubbed Hornet II.
Have news to share?
If your department has an upcoming event or other news to share with the campus community, please send an e-mail with all the pertinent information to Diane Payne (dpayne@spsu.edu). To be considered for use in a specific issue of the SPSU Hornet’s Nest, a news item must be submitted no less than four weeks before the date of the issue.
Volume 5, Issue 28
Aug. 1, 2012
Upcoming Events Sat., Aug. 4 Fall Kick-Off Week • General faculty meeting, 1-2:15 p.m., Q-202 Tues., Aug. 14 • State of the University Address by President Lisa A. Rossbacher, 11-11:30 a.m., Student Center Ballroom • Campus lunch for faculty and staff, 12 p.m., Stingers Restaurant • Human resources and payroll information session for faculty and staff, 1:30-3 p.m., Student Center Ballroom Wed., Aug. 15 Fri., Aug. 24
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