Engineering Field Notes

The look home entertainment continues to evolve, but few innovations in the field have been more talked about in the last few months than Microsoft’s IllumiRoom project, where University of Illinois graduate and current PhD candidate Brett Jones is one of the principle researchers.

IllumiRoom is “a proof-of-concept system that augments the area surrounding a television with peripheral projected illusions to enhance traditional gaming viewing experiences.”

IllumiRoom is one of many major research projects Microsoft Research is presenting at this week’s Association for Computer Machinery (ACM) SIGCHI (Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction) Conference in Paris, France.

Microsoft IllumiRoom Demo

Conceptualizing Component Design

What’s the importance of watching the disassembly of an automatic transmission? Professor James Allison began doing so when students were having trouble grasping how systems work altogether. In General Engineering 410: Component Design, students learn about the design of basic engineering components. Much of the course is spent talking about individual pieces such as gears and bearings, and how they factor into a greater mechanical system.

Professor James Allison

For the past three semesters Allison has disassembled a transmission in-class. The interactive step by step procedure allows students to see an entire system, and ultimately to better conceptualize the theories from class. Allison gave his Spring 2013 class a full hour to watch him dissect the system, employing pieces from a manual transmission to emphasize the difference in shifting gears. The students  examined the components at the completion of the lecture.

Student Reactions

When Professor Allison completed his demonstration his students filed to the front of the class to dig into the transmission. They picked up pieces and tried to fit components back together. Overall they were grateful to have a real life reference for the readings in their textbooks.

Senior in General Engineering Matt Anderson benefited from the connections between the transmission and the systems covered in the curriculum  “We learned a lot about gears in class so when the presentation got to the meshing of the gears that coincided with what we learned, and that was definitely helpful as opposed to just learning the theories.”

Senior in General Engineering Drew Heinzmann “The transmission is a really complicated system that helps you understand how gear types apply to real life situations. Maybe now I could take one apart, but I still couldn’t put one together”

Importance of Hands-On Experience

Allison sees the value in getting students to play with mechanical systems and understand them as tangible designs because most of his students come to class lacking hands-on mechanical experience. Experience that has served Allison as foundational to his engineering career. He first began working with mechanical systems in high school autoshop, and pursued the interest to a job as a technician in a transmission shop. It wasn’t until after a few years as an assistant service manager in a car dealership that Allison applied his mechanical background to engineering at the University of Michigan (MSME ’04, MSIOE ’05, PHDME ’08).

Ford Automatic Transmission

For the class, Allison chose the automatic transmission from a Ford Van because it is one of the most complicated mechanical systems in mass production. His particular transmission was an older model, making it an even greater educational tool because of the many parts within the dated hydraulic valve body. The system was also an easy choice for Allison due to his years of experience working with older Ford and GM transmissions.

Phil Plait, aka @BadAstronomer, blogged on Slate about Illinois’ Engineering Open House a couple of weeks ago. His video of a concrete column being compressed with millions of pounds of pressure (and then breaking into thousands of pieces) has more than a quarter of a million hits on YouTube.

Now you can watch the EOH concrete crush in slow motion thanks to our pals at Shatterglass Studios. Check it out!

McKenzie Lavelle is a freshman in mechanical science and engineering from Owasso, Okla. Lavelle is a member of the Society of Women Engineers, where she is part of a project team creating a solar generator for developing countries in Africa. And eventually, throughout the course of her four years at Illinois, she hopes to get involved with the solar-cell research on campus.

McKenzie Lavelle

Prior to arriving at Illinois, McKenzie attended the Oklahoma Math and Science Academy. She resides in the Women in Math, Science, and Engineering Living-Learning Community in Florida Avenue Residence Hall and is president of the hall’s funding board. She also belongs to the association of mechanical engineers and the horticulture club.

From Oklahoma to Illinois

“My state school, Oklahoma State University, was my other choice. My dream school was Illinois. As a mechanical engineer, it’s fifth in the nation – it’s an amazing engineering school. But for me it’s out of state, so I never thought that I would be able to pay the $48,000 to come here. Then I got the Engineering Visionary Scholarship, which is a full ride with room and board. I was floored…The scholarship made the dream of coming back to Illinois a reality.”

Choosing Mechanical Engineering

“I’ve always kind of been an engineer, according to my mom. From a very young age, I was taking things apart that I shouldn’t have and I’m the handy person of my house. I was always the one who built the bookshelves and hung stuff. I really like problem solving. When there’s a problem, I fix it. I didn’t even realize until senior year of high school that that’s what I really wanted to do because from a very young age I wanted to be an architect. Then I realized that there were other things out there. I just like building everything and with a mechanical engineering degree I could go do architectural work or I could work with cupcake manufacturing because you can do anything with mechanical engineering.”

Learning to Be a Renaissance Engineer

“Last Fall I took Renaissance Engineering, an Illinois Engineering First Year Experience (IEFX) class. It’s about becoming a more well-rounded engineer, as in the Renaissance man–someone who can apply engineering to almost anything. I concentrated on engineering and horticulture. I bought a variety of plants and compared how horticulture, plant farms, and manufacturing can apply to solar cells. I studied the effects of different environmental conditions on plants to see what would make solar cells more efficient. The class was all about making connections between things that wouldn’t normally be connected to engineering.”

Favorite Place on Campus

“I’m going to have to say even though I’ve only had one class in it, I really like the Mechanical Engineering Lab. It’s the little haven for mechanical engineers. We kind of hide in there and do homework.”

Post Graduate Plans

“I think I want to do something with energy, like wind, solar, or natural gas, which is very broad in itself but I have four years to figure it out and I could change my mind. I’ve been interested in that since seventh grade actually, but again I didn’t realize it until much later.”

The Engineering Visionary Scholarship

These are awarded based on academic ability and leadership potential and recipients are expected to excel in their class work and develop as leaders.

Michelle Boehm grew up near Cincinnati, about a 3-½ hour drive from the University of Illinois campus and chose Illinois over Purdue after being offered an Engineering Visionary Scholarship. These are awarded based on academic ability and leadership potential and recipients are expected to excel in their class work and develop as leaders. This year, the College of Engineering will graduate its first group of EVS scholars.

Community Involvement & Leadership

Boehm, a senior in mechanical science and engineering, has held executive board positions for Pi Tau Sigma, the Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, and has been involved in many of the organizations’ service projects, including Relay for Life, and helping set up exhibits at the Children’s Orpheum Museum in downtown Champaign.

Having grown up going to engineering camps, Boehm is especially excited about Pi Tau Sigma’s partnership with Booker T. Washington Elementary School’s after-school program.  The purpose is to get kids interested in technology at an early age.

“These kinds of programs had such an impact on my life,” Boehm said. “I hope to give the same experience to those students.”

In addition, Boehm has played a part in Engineering Open House all four years, has been a James Scholar, has been a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, and is enrolled in the Campus Honors program, where she has taken classes on such topics as Africa, astronomy and geology while also traveling to Yellowstone National Park.

“Those experiences have shown me areas outside of engineering, but where engineering concepts could be applied,” Boehm said of the courses in the Campus Honors Program.

Research

Typically students take a single semester to work on a senior design project, but Boehm has chosen one that overlaps two semesters. She is one of eight working with John Deere out of their location at the U of I Research Park designing an autonomous weeding system for farmers. Last semester the group developed a spray system and this semester they are working on a mechanical weeder.

“This has been one of the more rewarding experiences I have had,” Boehm said of the senior project. “It has offered a more real world understanding of how to develop a budget, work on a timeline, talk to your sponsor, make presentations, and file reports.”

A Career at Rolls-Royce

Boehm said she was torn between pursuing a career in mechanical engineering or in the biomedical field. She has really enjoyed classes in thermodynamics, heat transfer and manufacturing, but has taken a few bioengineering classes to help keep her options open.

Boehm has accepted a position with Aero Engine Controls, part of the Rolls-Royce Group, and will work out of the company’s Indianapolis headquarters. She’ll be involved in testing control and flow systems throughout the United States and England and hopes to eventually move into a management role. Throughout the interview process, she has further appreciated the respect that Illinois has in the industry.

The Benefit of Illinois

“People I have interviewed with say that Illinois has always been one of the top recruiting spots for them,” Boehm pointed out. “Some of them only have five or six schools they go to and Illinois is one of them. It is one of the many ways that I have greatly benefitted from choosing to study at such a prestigious university.”

ECE Board Member Phillip Lachman

Phillip Lachman knows a thing or two about national security from his time at Lockheed Martin, where he currently provides electronic security systems and manages several projects in support of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine fleet.

Perhaps no security was tougher when, in 2011, the 31-year-old surprised his friend and mentor, Brad Griffis (BSEE ’01, MSEE ’03), by endowing a scholarship in his honor for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Lachman’s Surprise Endowment

“I called Brad about six months before and told him to put on a suit, bring your wife, leave your three kids at home, come down (from Chicago) to Champaign and don’t ask questions,” Lachman recalled. “I specifically told the department not to advertise anything on their website about it, knowing Brad would seek any intel he could find.”

Lachman was involved with student government at Forbes Hall, where Brad Griffis’ future wife, Katherine, was a resident advisor along with Brad. She introduced him to Brad, and the rest is history.  Brad served as a Lachman’s resident advsior, ECE 210 teaching assistant and junior year roommate while Brad was completing his master’s degree, helping Lachman navigate through the challenges of ECE each step of the way.

“When you come to campus, you kind of live in your own little bubble, but you’re looking for someone to guide you,” Lachman said. “Some have upperclassmen from their high schools who also came to Illinois. I didn’t have that connection. Brad gave me sound advice on how to handle my course load and was a great resource and a genuine friend.”

Lachman successfully kept his secret from Griffs right up until they met the first recipient of the scholarship.

“He and his wife were genuinely touched,” Lachman said.

Lachman’s Foundation for Success

Lachman, a native of Boston, graduated from Illinois in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. In a short time, he has moved up the ranks at Lockheed Martin, currently serving as a staff project engineer, and says it was his experience at Illinois that has provided the foundation for his success.

“The academic reputation speaks for itself,” Lachman said. “It’s not until you graduate, I think, and have a chance to interact with fellow engineers from other universities that you get a grasp of the disparity between the Illinois ECE education compared to other universities.”

Having a strong academic résumé out of high school, Lachman, the son of an electrical engineering, had his choice of schools.

“The size of the undergraduate class was an indication of the emphasis the department put on undergraduate education,” Lachman said. “I knew I would get a hands on experience here. My final choices were Illinois, RPI, and Johns Hopkins. After visiting all three schools, the choice became pretty clear.”

Not only did Lachman take advantage of the highly regarded ECE department, he benefitted from all there is to being on a larger campus, including joining a fraternity and being the only engineering student of 27 from Illinois to spend a summer studying Shakespearean theatre in London during the summer of 2002.

“One of the great things about Illinois is while you get the engineering fundamentals, which make up your core education, you also get the support of a large university,” Lachman said. “I took a lot of advantages through student organizations and liberal arts classes to get breadth within my college career.”

Although Lachman knew he wanted to work in electrical engineering, his career path wasn’t clear. That is until the fall of his sophomore year when the tragedies of September 11 hit the nation.

“I remember coming into the front of the Union after my physics class and seeing all the people pouring out from the Illini Café,” Lachman recalled. “They had the projector down and were watching the tragedy unfold on the big screen. You could hear a pin drop. The event hit home for me with the planes having originated from Boston’s Logan Airport,  and one of the suspects’ last names happened to stay at the same hotel where I had my senior prom. It shook my core and made me want to go into defense. That’s why I’m at Lockheed Martin today.”

Lachman’s Post-Graduate Career

Lachman, who has taken over as current ECE alumni board president, got involved in alumni affairs when he was still a student where he served as an ECE undergraduate student representative. It was through that role and serving 3 1/2 years in the IEEE student chapter, where he was responsible for bringing company representatives in to campus for “tech talks,” which enabled him to make connections that led to Lockheed Martin.

“I flew out to Sunnyvale (Calif.) for a job interview,” Lachman remembers. “I met with a manager one-on-one. The job didn’t quite fit my experience level for what the manager was looking for; however, the résumé landed on another manager’s desk. She looked over my academic credentials and while I was rolling between classes gave me a job offer right over the phone. That’s the power of an Illinois ECE education.”

Lachman went to graduate school at Stanford part-time while serving as an associate systems engineering at Lockheed Martin. Since that time, he has had several positions at the company, including some classified roles, which he says “is not as cool as James Bond, but still very interesting.”

Lachman has served as an antenna test engineer for three commercial satellites, currently on-orbit, as well as an optics designer for a classified military program. He has worked on a communication system for a missile defense flight demonstration at Edwards Air Force Base and currently is a Project Manager, responsible for installing electronic security systems for U.S. Naval Bases that serve the Nuclear Submarine Fleet.

Lachman Keeping Up with the University

Lachman has continued his relationship with the College through the alumni board, which he has served since 2008. It was the appreciation for other alumni who have given back, along with the opportunities the department provided him in launching his career that led him to the decision to do the same.

“I’ve always had an appreciation for those who have helped me,” Lachman said. “Giving back is one of the pillars I live by. I wanted to support the department and thank Brad for everything he had done. The great thing about putting together a scholarship is that it produces dividends every single year. The earlier you start, the more of an impact you can make through the course of your life.”

Through his role as alumni board president, he is also committed to carrying on the legacy for future students.

“I want to try to make an impact in the calculus of how incoming students view Illinois,” Lachman explained, “Not just from an academic perspective, which is already well established, but now making sure the financial equation is right in these trying economic times to come in and maintain ECE’s reputation.”

Scholarship Recipient    Christopher Barth

A Personal Thank You

Graduate ECE  student Christopher Barth was the recipient of the Griffis Scholarship for the 2011-2012 school year when he was still an undergrad. Barth is an incredibly focused student, someone who values academics as a top priority, and his devotion has been rewarded. He also received the CITGO Electrical Engineering Scholarship in 2012. “I have often said that the most important thing is to focus on school and the finances will work out. This scholarship is further proof that it pays to focus on school.” While a top ranked student, Barth was reaffirmed by his awards. “I believe that most people tend to think they’re struggling to keep up even if they’re near the top of the class. To receive a scholarship is very encouraging, it was for me. I didn’t even know I was in the top 15% of my class.” One day in the future Barth would like to return the gesture to the University and to future students. “I would definitely want to give back one day. Both U of I and the community college I transferred from have been a big help and the guidance I got from professors was great. I would especially be interested in giving to a scholarship and therefore giving directly to the students.” Barth is currently pursuing his master’s thesis in Maximum Power Point Tracking under Professor Robert Pilawa-Podgurski. After completing his masters Barth is looking to apply his education to a career in industry.

ECE Alumni Board Member Vamshidhar Kommineni

Vamshidhar Kommineni is an Electrical and Computer Engineering alum of the University of Illinois. Since graduating in 2003 he has built a career at Microsoft, advancing from systems engineering to be the software design engineer and program manager he is today.  He attributes much of that success to his education from the U of I’s College of Engineering. Not long removed from his own college years, Kommineni is already paying it forward by supporting his alma mater.

The Professor N. Narayana Rao Scholarship

In 2011, Kommineni established the Professor N. Narayana Rao Scholarship –  an undergraduate scholarship awarded by the ECE department.  By  endowing  a scholarship, Kommineni is directly contributing to the education of future students. It’s a gesture that he himself benefited from when he was an undergraduate, having received the Napier Award, the Henry O. Koehler Memorial Scholarship, and the James M. Henderson Fellowship.

What Makes an Education

Kommineni wants the recipient of the scholarship to take advantage of the opportunities that campus life and the school have to offer. “What  I would have a student take from their time here, whether they were a scholarship recipient or not, is to make sure they made the most of it.” He wants students to graduate having absorbed everything they could – learning not just from coursework but from the relationships they forged and the lessons learned outside the classroom. The skills gained from leading a social or volunteer organization can be just as valuable as those gained from an internship or undergraduate research. “Being able to build a well rounded education is what I hope people take away from their time here at Illinois.”

When Kommineni looks back at his own time at the University, what he remembers best are the people. Coming to school as an international student he felt at home within just a few short months thanks to the warm personalities here in Illinois. “People here in the Midwest are very friendly and I think the University sort of embodies that…It’s certainly something I feel is unique about Illinois, how such a friendly family atmosphere exists in spite of the College of Engineering being one of the largest in the country. It still feels like a place where, as a student, you can get the help that you need.” For Kommineni his education was ultimately built upon the efforts of faculty and fellow students. “I think having that great set of people in the ECE and CS departments was my top memory of being at the U of I and why I would recommend students attend Illinois.”

Professor Rao: A Mentor

There was one professor in particular that Kommineni saw as a mentor – Professor N. Narayana Rao. While Kommineni never took a class with Professor Rao, he was the teaching assistant in Rao’s Fundamentals of Electromagnetics class. In spite of being an associate head for the ECE department, Kommeneni always found Rao’s door open. Kommineni was taken with the passion that Rao brought to his career and to education, and appreciates to this day the time Rao took to chat with him about anything from classes to shared interests. When Kommineni decided that he wanted to give back to the University, he looked to do so in a way that honored his role model. “I wanted some way of saying thanks to him, and some way of expressing my gratitude to both him and to the department in a way that paid it forward to future generations of students. It seemed like the best way to do that was to endow a scholarship honoring his name [so] that students in the future who received the scholarship would know about Professor Rao.”

Scholarship Recipient Zeqiu Wu

A Personal Thank You

Junior ECE student Zeqiu Wu was one of two recipients of the Rao Scholarship for the 2012-2013 year. After frequenting the Dean’s List and at her internship as a software engineer in San Jose, California, Wu was rewarded for her efforts. “I remember when I received the email I felt great, I didn’t care about the amount of money I got, I treated it like an honor.” After receiving the Rao scholarship school has changed for Wu, but the impact has been less on her wallet and more on her attitude. ” I think the main difference is that it made me feel more confident in my major study which definitely gave me more passion and drive for success.” Wu hopes that those endowing the scholarship continue to aid deserving students. “I hope they continue to seek excellent students to encourage them and help them achieve a better future.” Wu has an internship with Goldman Sachs this summer, and after graduating she plans on getting her Masters in financial engineering and pursuing a career thereafter in industry.

What do you enjoy most about your major?

The faculty is very supportive and wants you to succeed. In addition, I like that the classes are very challenging and push students to grow. There are also many different options for students to pursue their interests, which prepares us to be well rounded upon graduation.

Engineering Physics, Junior
Activities – Global Crossroads Living-Learning Community (Orientation Leader & Educator), Sigma Nu Fraternity, Climbing Club, Men’s Lacrosse

What attracted you to Illinois?

I was drawn to Illinois due to the vast diversity of the campus and the stellar reputation of the College of Engineering.

What now impresses you most about the College?

I’ve been impressed by the amount and caliber of the challenges presented by the engineering programs. Plus, I really appreciate all of the extra-curricular activities available to students.

What has been your favorite engineering course?

My favorite class was Astronomy 350: Introduction to Cosmology. It’s a really interesting class and part of my concentration. The course helped describe the relationship between observational astronomy, astrophysics, relativity, and the physics of elementary particles and quantum gravity.

What is your advice to incoming freshmen?

I encourage you to get involved in as many things as you can right away. Quad Day, held right before classes start in the fall is a great way to do this. Hundreds of organizations set up on the Quad and you can sign up for any that interest you.

What has been your favorite place to live on campus?

The Sigma Nu fraternity house

Where is the best place to eat on campus?

Anywhere on Green Street, but especially Spoon House and Bangkok Thai

The Plant Link team, which includes ECE and MechSE alums, has only been in the Kickstarter game for two weeks. But they’re already within $10,000 of their funding goal. Once they hit $75,000, they’ll begin manufacturing their new product. Plant Link is a system that monitors the water needs of your lawn, garden, or house plants. It alerts you when they need to be watered and can even water them for you. Talk about a multidisciplinary project. They’re tackling the build of the sensors, hacking the app that will run the whole thing and link it to your home automation, designing and planning manufacture of the devices themselves–not to mention managing the project and marketing the product.

There are current students on the team too. So they’re getting support from Illinois’ Technology Entrepreneur Center, Research Park, and faculty members. But mostly, they’re pouring themselves into a big project, based on their own intellectual passions and the technical skill they were taught at Engineering at Illinois.

Kickstarter is all about word of mouth and building excitement out in the world. So tell your friends about Plant Link and a check out their Kickstarter video.