Five years ago, the National Academy of Engineering came up with a list of the greatest engineering accomplishments of the 20th century. Looking at the list today, it’s hard to imagine life without things like electricity, automobiles, satellites or even Internet- equipped cell phones. Still, there will always be plenty of challenges for engineers to tackle. The collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota last summer brought the nation’s aging infrastructure under public scrutiny. By autumn, an unprecedented drought in Atlanta had experts speculating that citizens would run out of drinking water in a matter of weeks. Just before the new year, the Energy Information Administration released its forecast for 2008, projecting that gasoline and diesel prices would peak at more than $3.40 per gallon this spring.

Farouk El-Baz, MS GGph’61, PhD GGph’64, used remote sensing technology to help NASA officials determine where the Eagle would land in 1969. The producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation were so impressed by his work that they named a spacecraft, The El-Baz, after him.

As director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, El-Baz continues to be a man on a number of missions.

Two energy researchers at Missouri S&T are revved up about the future of plug-in hybrid vehicles, what they see as the next generation of electrically driven automobiles.

“I would compare my excitement about plug-in hybrid technology to where we were with the Internet in the 1980s,” says Mariesa Crow, the Fred W. Finley Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Energy Research and Development Center. “The utility industry should be going gung-ho about plug-in hybrids.”

Last summer’s collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis served as a stark reminder that the nation’s infrastructure is aging, and was a dramatic example of the type of disaster researchers at Missouri S&T are working to prevent.

Delbert Day, CerE’58, MS CerE’60, says it’s like seeding a fishing environment by throwing an old Christmas tree into the water. The submerged tree provides good pockets of cover for all kinds of fish. But this isn’t really a discussion about aquatic habitats. Day is trying to explain why human bone cells would want to colonize medical scaffolding made out of glass fibers.

The housing market may be soft, but one neighborhood in Rolla is seeing a building boom. Okay, so it’s really just a little village on campus property with a current population of two. But this is a village of the future, and the site developers are thinking long-term.

Thanks to Chang-Soo Kim, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Missouri S&T, people living with diabetes may one day have an alternative to the daily routine of pricking their fingers to monitor their blood sugar.

Beth (Eberle) Burka, ME’84, is helping businesses across the country save green by going green.

Burka founded her St. Louis-based company Energy Matters Inc. in June 2005 to help business owners save money by developing energy management programs.

In doing so, Burka took a huge risk leaving a stable position at a natural gas company, and all the benefits that went with it, to go into business for herself.

Garmin, a leader in GPS navigation and communication equipment, and the Kao Family Foundation are helping Missouri S&T students financially navigate through the university, thanks to a new scholarship program and training initiative.

The Kao Family Foundation will offer scholarships worth $5,000 per year to 20 Missouri S&T students. Established by Min H. Kao, co-founder and CEO of Garmin, the foundation launched the $10 million endowed initiative with eight universities in 2007 to encourage students to study the high-demand areas of electrical and computer engineering. Selected students also will be given first consideration for one of more than 75 annual paid internships with Garmin International.

Many Missourians have long associated glass blowing with artisans who populate Silver Dollar City. Now, students at Missouri S&T can watch glass blowing – and practice it themselves – on campus.

Adedotun Moronkeji, CE’07, is part of the next wave of tsunami research. Moronkeji spent last summer helping to create model-scale experiments at Oregon State University’s Tsunami Wave Basin, the largest facility of its type in North America.

When a water supply is contaminated, people are usually ordered to boil their H2O. But if Curt Elmore’s emergency drinking water system proves reliable, people will be able to drink water that has been treated with ultraviolet energy.

The Mississippi Delta region was losing land long before Hurricane Katrina came ashore. But the correlation between land loss and the risk of flooding in the region is now more evident than ever.

Missouri S&T has been selected by GE Aviation as the home of a new University Development Center to be located in Rolla. At least 30 engineering positions are expected to be created in Rolla as a result of the partnership.

Two engineering graduates – Gary Forsee, CE’72, and Cheryl Walker, EE’86 – have assumed new leadership roles for the four-campus University of Missouri System.

This past December, Daniel J. Tabacchi, MinE’07, became the highest-ranked Army ROTC cadet in the university’s history.

Last fall, Missouri S&T author John C. McManus released his sixth book on military history. The new book, which covers everything from the French and Indian War through Iraq, isn’t necessarily for scholars. In fact, the title is U.S. Military History for Dummies.

In an effort to improve campus security, Missouri S&T administrators have implemented a mass notification system to reach all students, faculty and staff in the event of an emergency.

Seven graduate students recently became the university’s first MBA graduates.

‘Miners in Space’ teams prepare for zero gravity
Two teams of Missouri S&T students will get to experience zero gravity in June as part of a NASA outreach program. One team will conduct welding experiments aboard NASA’s “Weightless Wonder” C-9 aircraft, while the other will test a refrigerant-based propulsion system in the microgravity environment.

A team of Missouri S&T students recently created a breathalyzer using cultured yeast cells and an E. coli-infested bacterium that changes colors in response to the presence of sugar. But they weren’t trying to gross each other out with creepy inventions. They were participating in a competition at MIT last November.

Chancellor John F. Carney III used that equation, conceived by Dick Stegemeier, PetE’50, in his Dec. 3 State of the University address to highlight how Missouri S&T is uniquely qualified to tackle the world’s energy and environmental issues.

S&T ranked among top 20 for faculty research

Missouri S&T has one of the most productive research levels among universities that specialize in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to a recent study by Academic Analytics of Stony Brook, N.Y.

Missouri S&T is ranked 14th among the nation’s specialized “STEM” (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) universities in Academic Analytics’ 2006-07 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index.

Since she was a little girl, Kandi Wieberg dreamed of being a college softball player. Playing as second baseman for Missouri S&T’s softball team, she’s achieved her dream and much more.

Joffroi Holcombe’s, performance at the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional earned him all-region honors from the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Miner wide receiver Ashton Gronewold was named to a pair of All-America teams for his play during the 2007 season, making him the first player in the university football program’s 115-year history to earn All-America honors in three different seasons.

The Missouri S&T swimming team won a second straight New South Intercollegiate Swimming Championship title in February in Cleveland, Miss., gaining several high finishes and their 12th and 13th national qualifiers in the process.

The Miners finished the meet with 830 1⁄2 points, well ahead of the 733 posted by runner-up Ouachita Baptist.