UDM Robotics Team takes first place at International Engineering Competition...again

For the third consecutive year, University of Detroit Mercy took home the top prize at the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition, held June 4-7 in Rochester, Michigan.

The UDM team Cerberus consists of students Matt Parrish, Jason Osbourne, Alex Szmatula, Jean Carrier, Richard Fatyma, Elona Palushaj, Sergei Gage, Tom Wogaman, David Shelly, Rebeca Espinoza, Maen Hammod, Qing Wang, Yue Chen, Qingxiao Ni and Jie Li and engineering faculty advisors Mark Paulik, Mohan Krishnan, Chaomin Luo and Utayba Mohammad.

Fifty-eight teams representing 47 schools from 22 states and six countries entered the competition, which required building and testing autonomous robots. UDM competed against universities from around the world including the University of Wisconsin Madison, the U.S. Naval Academy, Princeton, Cornell, University of Illinois Urbana, Penn State, Georgia Tech, Hosei (Japan), Ecole de Technologie Superieure (Canada), Waterloo (Canada), and the University of Texas Austin.

"Our students worked extremely hard and were able to achieve a high score in their last attempt in the Autonomous Challenge, which enabled the team to take overall first place in the IGVC," said Electrical Engineering Professor Mark Paulik.

The IGVC is an annual international competition created to offer cutting-edge design experience to engineering students. The competition consisted of four challenge events: Autonomous Challenge, Navigation Challenge, JAUS Challenge and the Design Competition. The scores from each of these events are combined to determine the overall First Place Grand Award winner.

The University of Detroit Mercy team received the 2010 First Place Grand Award with a score of 108: the team won first place in three of the four challenges. Hosei University from Japan placed second with a score of 82.

"This victory once again reflects the high quality of our students and the unique capability of our faculty to teach students to design and build complex intelligent electro-mechanical systems that work," said UDM Engineering & Science Dean Leo Hanifin. "This education results in highly effective engineers with the competence and the confidence to change the world through the development and deployment of advanced technologies, products and systems."

To view competition video, visit the UDM news page.

UDM team places third in ASME Competition

UDM's mechanical engineering team placed third in the 2010 American Society for Mechanical Engineers' IShow competition in June. MIT and Stanford took first and second place, respectively. For additional competition information, see the ASME IShow web site.

Engineering to celebrate centennial

During the 2011-2012 academic year, the Engineering programs will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the University's first engineering class on Oct. 2, 1911. The College will highlight this special occasion with a variety of activities and events culminating in a Centennial Weekend celebration, Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2011. Please mark your calendars for the following events:

Friday, Sept. 30, 2011:  a Centennial Gala will be held at The Henry Ford Museum.  This black-tie optional dinner dance will attract alumni and engineering leaders from across the country.

Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011:  activities in the Engineering Building and on campus will include a special liturgy, student poster displays and exhibitions, a faculty presentation, opening the current time capsule and creating a new one.

Come celebrate this historical anniversary with fellow Engineering alumni and friends of the College.

Also, if you have memorabilia, photographs or other historic engineering information to include in a special anniversary book or displays, please forward materials to:

Office of the Dean
College of Engineering & Science
University of Detroit Mercy
4001 W. McNichols Road
Detroit, MI 48221-3038

Or e-mail materials to hanifinl@udmercy.edu. Look for more details about the centennial celebration in the next issue of Impact.

Annual golf outing benefits student scholarships

Fifty-six golfers participated in the eighth annual College of Engineering & Science Golf Outing, July 12 at Fox Hills Country Club in Plymouth. The fund-raising event, which was co-sponsored by Soil Mechanical Engineers, supports E&S student scholarships and organizations. Over the past eight years, the event has raised approximately $50,000. Participants enjoyed 18 holes of golf and a $10,000 Hole in One contest, followed by dinner and awards ceremony. Congratulations to the 2010 championship team: Alex Popescu, Jeff Patowski, Matt Simone and Matt Beck.

The 2010 championship team: Alex Popescu, Jeff Patowski, Matt Simone and Matt Beck.

High school students attend 20th annual Tech Day

More than 700 future scientists and engineers from 23 high schools throughout metro Detroit attended the 20th annual Technology Discovery Day at University of Detroit Mercy, Oct. 22. Competitions throughout the day were designed to expand and challenge the minds of students interested in the fields of science and engineering. Student competitions included the Catapult, Egg Drop, Toothpick Bridge, Rube Goldberg and Jeopardy, among others. The annual Chemistry Magic Show, sponsored by the students and faculty of the University's Chemistry Club, as well as an array of displays from local companies and departments attracted the interest of student participants who learned about exciting new careers. This year's Technology Discovery Day corporate sponsors and participants were were BASF, Chrysler, Denso, Edutronics, Ford, Magna International, SSOE and TI Automotive.

To view photos of the day's activities, visit the UDM online gallery.

Chemistry Club receives "Outstanding Chapter Award"

The University of Detroit Mercy Chemistry Club has received an "Outstanding Chapter Award" for their 2009-2010 activities.

This is the sixth year in a row that the club has received this award. They are commended for their outstanding National Chemistry Week, Mole Day and Earth Day activities. The chapter will be recognized at the 241st ACS National Meeting in Anaheim, Calif. as well as in the November/December issue of in Chemistry magazine. The Chemistry Club recently celebrated its 70th anniversary and is proud to maintain 50 members.

UDM students present transportation research results at ITS conference

Two University of Detroit Mercy student researchers presented papers or posters at the 2010 Intelligent Transportation Society of Michigan Annual Meeting in Dearborn, Michigan, under the auspices of the Michigan Ohio University Transportation Center.

UDM Civil Engineering student Eric Tenazas presented a paper on the concepts of the project "Modeling Metropolitan Detroit Transit."  The results of this work will support initiatives to create modern light rail transit systems in the Detroit metro region. Tenazas worked under the direction of UDM Civil Engineering Professor Utpal Dutta on this project, conducted jointly with Wayne State University. Eric was recently named the MIOH UTC Student of the Year. He will travel to Washington, D.C. next January to receive the award and to attend the Transportation Research Board conference.

UDM Mechanical Engineering graduate student Sujay Bodke presented the poster, "Crash Benefits of SCATS Control System."  This research will help designers of smart highways to make them safer. Sujay's research was led by Civil Engineering Professor Utpal Dutta with contributions by Civil Engineering Professor James Lynch.