Recognizing Excellence & Innovation

On July 29, the Friends of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology hosted the Inaugural Greater Los Angeles Engineer of the Year Gala. Seven awards were given out, inlcuding:

Special Award / President’s Award: Dr. Steven Chu, U.S. Department of Energy

Engineering Leadership Award: Alan J. Fohrer (CA D ’73), Southern California Edison

Designer of the Year: John J. Tracy, (CA T ’86), The Boeing Company

Technology Entrepreneur of the Year: Alfred Mann

Engineering Public Servant of the Year: Intissar Durham, P.E. (CA I ’83), Los Angeles World Airport
[Read press release here]

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A team of researchers from Brigham Young University is in Puerto Rico testing their new radio antenna system with 19 smaller antennas, as opposed to one large one.

The group includes Dr. Brian Jeffs, (UT B ’78) a professor at BYU, who said, “Up until recently nobody has put an array of smaller antennas closely packed like that on a radio telescope.”

Read the full article for more information on the telescope and the “deep space” pictures being produced.

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A recent article in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, highlighted work being done at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to develop self-healing metals.

The research at UWM has received funds from the U.S. Army to produce full-scale materials. “The healing (of the metals) is accomplished by including microscopic ‘balloons’ in metals while they’re still in liquid form.”

The new materials that could be used on the battlefield, in automobiles, or in other consumer products. The challenge is for the UWM Center for Advanced Materials Manufacturing to produce the technology on a larger scale.

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