As Dean Haritos addressed, “the last decade has been a time of tremendous

growth, innovation and student success for the College of Engineering”, the

growth of the IDEAs Program truly reflects such extraordinary progress:

• In the fall semester of 2012, 207 students participated in the IDEAs

Program, a 130% increase since 2004.

• The total scholarship dollars awarded to underrepresented engineering

students has increased by 182% since 2004.

• Till the spring semester of 2013, 305 students have graduated from the

IDEAs Program. About 18% of them went on to earn advanced degrees in

engineering, medical, science, business and education.

• To enhance the enrollment and graduation rate of the underrepresented

engineering students, a number of programs have been implemented,

including the Project “A” Competition, IDEAs Workshop Series, IDEAs

Engineering Preview and Shadowing, STEM Workshops, Undergraduate

Research and Community Services during the last decade.

The IDEAs Study Center Is Remodeled

Located in Schrank Hall North 353, the

IDEAs Study Center is home away

from home for all underrepresented

engineering students. With financial

support from the Dominion Foundation

and the College of Engineering, the

center is now equipped with the swipe

card system, new furniture, computers,

power outlets, data outlets, white

boards, black boards and information

boards.

The students in the IDEAs Program

chose the color of the room and

furniture and designed the layout of the

room, including a quiet-study area, a

computer area and two group study

rooms. Special thanks to Ms. Karen

Fettig, Assistant Director of

Development, for helping us secure

the grant support from the Dominion

Foundation.

Director’s Corner

DIRECTOR’S CORNER 1

THE IDEAS STUDY CENTER IS REMODELLED

1

IDEAS STUDENTS AND ALUMNI ON SPOTLIGHT

2

OUTREACH-STEM WORKSHOPS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

3

RECRUITING AND OUT-

REACH—ENGINEERING PREVIEW

3

STUDENT VOICE ON “HOW WE ARE DOING?”

4

Inside this issue:

ISSUE 8, 2013

The Big IDEA

1

The University of Akron

College of Engineering

Students at the Welcome Back Dinner

The change of the IDEAs Study Center from 2003 (le�) to 2013 (right)

Alumnus Andrew Richlen (B.S. Civil Engineering ‘09), was nationally recognized

among the New Faces in Engineering 2013, a recognition program for Engineers

Week 2013. The annual award highlighted the work of 13 young engineers, age 30

years or younger, who had shown outstanding abilities in engineering. “The world we

live in today was built on great engineering feats and this is a fact that will remain,”

says Andrew, project coordinator at GPD Group. Andrew will be invited to be a speak-

er at the IDEAs Workshop Series in the spring semester of 2014.

IDEAs Students and Alumni in the Spotlight

The Big IDEA

“THE GOLDWATER

SCHOLARSHIP IS

TO SUPPORT

COLLEGE

STUDENTS WHO

INTEND TO

PURSUE RESEARCH

CAREERS IN THESE

FIELDS.”

Renee Calderon, double majoring in Biomedical Engineering

and Chemistry, has been named a 2013 Goldwater Scholar

by The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in

Education Program. Renee is a member of a research team

led by Dr. Yang Yun, an associate professor of biomedical

engineering, whose research is funded by the National Sci-

ence Foundation. As part of Yun's team, Renee is investigat-

ing nonviral gene therapy and plans to pursue a Ph.D. with a

research focus on biomaterials and tissue engineering.

Pierre Hall (B.S. Electrical Engineering ’13), was featured on the cover of the Educa-

tion Issue 2013 of Kaleidoscope Magazine. Pierre's success as a UA student is an ex-

ample of what can happen when preparation meets opportunity. Thanks to the valua-

ble combination of classroom knowledge and work experience he gained during two co

-op education assignments, along with the comprehensive resources offered at The

University of Akron, he was able to jump right onto the career fast track. Pierre is cur-

rently working at GM and came back from Michigan to participate in the Lunch with

IDEAs Alumni in November 2013.

2

Congratulations to Class 2013! Legieta Mulyono (BSChE), India Kaczmarek (BSCE),

Mario Garcia (BSCE), William Soehaili

(BSCE), Luis Cabrera (BSCpE), Briand

Djoko Takougue (BSCpE), Pierre Hall

(BSEE), Michael Kyagaba (BSEE), Jeff

Ngeufack (BSEE), Philip Steele (BSEE),

Vir Singh (BSEE), Michael Croston

(BEME), Brandon Kirkman (BSME), Tyron,

Matheron (BSME), Lionel Nwike (BSME),

Niem Tran (BSME), Nadrea Miller

(BSME), Jonathan Riverson (BSME), Kurt

Herra (B. Acc), Brittney Madison (BA),

Laura Slate (BCT) and Romero Smith

(BFA).

On March 16, 2013, the IDEAs Program provided STEM Workshops for a group of visitors from Student Tech-

nical Enrichment Program (STEP), Cleveland.

Seven IDEAs students designed and organized three hands-on workshops

for middle school students on Saturday morning, including Determining

Acids and Bases, Building Fuzzy Stick Towers and Balloon Rocket Com-

petition. Three members from the Dean’s Team, Katie Angle, Pierre Hall

and Zahi Kakish, led the tours.

Inside the tour report on the STEP website, students said, “We received

clear picture of what is possible in the world of engineering. One of the

many bonuses of the day was the college students who volunteered. They

shared their stories of what inspired them to study engineering and gave

great advice on what to do to get into engineering school! That was priceless!”

On February 18, 2013, the IDEAs Program offered another Engineering Preview to host

a group of high school students from the TRiO Program at the Stark State College.

Dr. Visco started the program with an introduction of the College of Engineering, fol-

lowed by Dr. Rebecca Willits’ hands-on workshop on Biomedical Engineering. Students

simulated bone injuries by using carrots. With the help from the Dean’s

Team, this group of students visited the Corrosion Engineering, Civil

Engineering Student Design Center and Engineering Design Center.

The visitors were very excited to meet with the IDEAs students at the

luncheon event. The visit ended after an exciting tour of the Honor Col-

lege.

The Engineering Preview event started the collaboration between the

TRiO Program at the Stark State College and the IDEAs Program.

Outreach—STEM Workshops for Middle School Students

Recruiting and Outreach—Engineering Preview

From left to right: Shahid Abdul-Muhaimin, Athe-na Paton, Henrietta Deny, Devin Cross, Stephen Cross, Usaaman Taugir and Shafia Ahmad.

“HAVING

COLLEGE

STUDENTS

INSPIRING

MIDDLE

SCHOOL

STUDENTS

IS PRICELESS!”

3

The students from the TRiO Program at the Stark State College toured the Honor College.

Assistant. This helped me a lot both financially and aca-

demically. The picture was taken at the Project “A” Com-

petition Celebration Lunch with other IDEAs Students.”

Lonnie Atkins (junior): “The

past year has been the most

exciting year in my life—I

was awarded with Dr. Paul

Lam OSGC Scholarship

again and finished my first

co-op assignment. It was

such a relief to know that I do not have to work two jobs to

pay for school. This picture was taken at Mayor’s Banquet

with Mario Garcia who was awarded the Dr. Luis Hill

Scholarship.”

Jamara Beard (junior): “I could use one word, WONDER-

FUL, to describe my first year after transferring from New

York to Ohio. Through our guest

speakers at one IDEAs Workshop, I

learned more about FirstEnergy and

got my first coop at FirstEnergy. An-

other exciting thing was that I was

awarded with a Civil Engineering

Advancement Council Scholarship,

Ruhlin Scholarship. The life at UA is

wonderful.”

Leanna Sherman

(second row right,

freshman): “My first

year at UA was ex-

actly like I expected.

This picture was

taken in our IDEAs

Engineering Semi-

nar and we built a plastic blimp for Akron Historical Associa-

tion. It was fun! Another inspiring thing was I met the donor

of one of my scholarships, Mr. Art Anton.”

Joshua Thomas (sophomore): “I

took the past year off to join the

military. I am very happy with my

training at the base, but cannot

wait to go back to school in the

fall semester of 2013. When I am

off campus, I start to realize how

much I miss engineering studies and my friends at the

IDEAs Program.”

Marquis Taylor (far

left, sophomore): “The

most exciting thing

last year was that I

became a Resistance

Student Voices on “How are we doing?”

IDEAs Program

College of Engineering

The University of Akron

Akron OH 44325

Schrank Hall North 353C

Phone: 330-972-2823

Fax: 330-972-5162

E-mail: zhao1@uakron.edu

UA’s College of Engineering is observing a major milestone in 2014—

celebrating a century of excellence in engineering education and research while

preparing for significant growth and impact over the next 100 years.

Please mark your calendar and plan to join

us as we celebrate the College’s rich his-

tory on Thursday, May 22, 2014 at The

University of Akron. Formal invitation will

follow.

I N C E A S I N G D I V E R S I T Y I N E N G I N E E R I N G A C A D E M I C S ( I D E A S ) P R O G R A M

4

Celebrating a Century of Engineering Education