Engineering Grants, People, & Buildings

The Statesman (TX) is reporting that the University of Texas has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation “for a new engineering research center whose charge is to parlay advances in nanoscience into such innovations as implantable medical devices and flexible laptop computers.”

Dr. Roger T. Bonnecaze, NY D ’85, is chairman of UT’s chemical engineering department and a co-principal investigator for the the project. He said that “the goal and expectation is to spin off start-up companies that will create jobs, fuel economic growth and build Austin’s reputation as a high-tech node.” Read the article

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In late August, engineer Jack E. Cermak passed away at the age of 89. According to the obituary from The New York Times, Cermak “was among the first to use a wind tunnel to gauge the wind’s impact on skyscrapers.”

Cermak received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Colorado State University (CSU) and a Ph.D. from Cornell. In 1959, he founded the Fluid Dynamics and Diffusion Laboratory at CSU. He did consulting work on both the World Trade Center and the Sears Tower. He also founded the Wind Engineering Research Council in 1966, which later became the American Association of Wind Engineering.

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Later this week, the University of California, San Diego will open the Structural and Materials Engineering building as part of the Jacobs School of Engineering. The center’s research will focus on “areas ranging from aircraft design to the testing of medical devices, the 3-D printing of blood vessels and creation of all manner of artwork.” Click here for the article

“In difficult economic times, more students enroll in engineering because there’s still the possibility of a well-paying job at the end of four years,” said Dean of the school of engineering, Dr. Frieder Seible (CA Y ’76). “And we are bringing together four seemingly disparate disciplines in one place. It will be interesting to see what comes out of that.”

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