Students & Alumni in the News
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ECE Presidential Scholars
The Presidential Scholarships are Montana State University's most prestigious freshman awards, recognizing superior academic achievement and impeccable personal qualities. The awards provide a generous annual stipend and tuition waiver. Scholars who maintain the required academic standards can renew their awards for four years. Up to twenty new Presidential Scholarships are awarded across campus each year. The annual Presidential Scholarship application deadline is typically in mid-January.
The ECE Department is pleased to recognize our group of recent Presidential Scholarship holders:
| Carol Baumbauer | Ryan Cyr ('08 grad) | Erwin Dunbar ('09 grad) |
| Patrick Kujawa ('09 grad) | Nickolas Lapp | Nicole Lerner ('10 grad) |
| Patrick Menge ('09 grad) | Eric Moog ('09 grad) | Danica Patrick ('11 grad) |
| Brian Redman ('15 grad) | Andrew Shull ('11 grad) |
MSU Team wins national NASA Lunabotics competition in Florida
A student team from the Montana State University College of Engineering created a
remote-control robot designed to dig and transport simulated lunar soil. The MSU team
won the national competition held at the Kennedy Space Center in May, 2010, by digging
the most simulated moon dirt in 15 minutes.
ECE students and faculty were key contributors to the design, construction, and operation
of the winning robot. ECE seniors Jennifer Hane of Fort Shaw and Ben Hogenson of Billings
designed and built the electrical subsystems, and Prof. Brock LaMeres served as principal
faculty advisor for the team.
Besides Hane and Hogenson, the student team members included Christopher Ching of Belgrade, Phillip Karls from Billings, Steve Pemble of Colstrip, Craig Harne of Cutbank, Paul Dallapiazza from Florence, and John Ritter of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Besides Lameres, the faculty advisers included Hunter Lloyd from the Department of Computer Science, and Robb Larson, Mike Edens, and Ahsan Mian from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering.
The robot, nicknamed the "Montana MULE," beat out many other university teams, including larger universities such as Carnegie-Mellon, Virginia Tech, Iowa State University and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
The team received $5,000 for winning the competition, and also VIP tickets to return to the Kennedy Space Center for a future NASA shuttle or rocket launch.
Read more about the Lunabotics competition:
MSU News Service Article.
2011 campus Awards for Excellence recipients include ECE's Danica Patrick
EE senior Danica Patrick was among the forty top students from across campus seleted
for the 2011 Awards for Excellence, sponsored by the MSU Alumni Association and the
Bozeman Chamber of Commerce. The honored students were nominated by faculty in their
college or department, and were qualified by excellent academic performance and demonstrated
campus leadership and community service.
Each of the awarded students was asked to select a mentor who had provided important
guidance and encouragement. Danica Patrick selected Prof. Wataru Nakagawa as her faculty
mentor. Congratulations to Danica and to Prof. Nakagawa for this well-deserved recognition.
Students & Alumni in the News
ECE graduate student Stasha Patrick models her "recycled" gown.
2nd Annual Recycled Fashion Show staged by Engineers Without Borders
ECE graduate student Stasha Patrick (right) was among the designers and models participating in the Montana State University Engineers Without Borders (EWB) second annual "Recycled Fashion" Show held November 14, 2009, at the Emerson Cultural Center in Bozeman. Featuring locally designed outfits composed of reused and recycled materials, the show involved 30 designers, 50 models, and 400 guests.
Stasha Patrick's entry was created from:
- garbage bags - dress base
- old magazine pages - blue & black colored parts, and black "feathers"
- Rice Chex boxes - train shape and stomach shape
- aluminum foil - glitter
and, of course,
- duct tape - white top
All proceeds from the event will support EWB’s efforts to provide potable water to 58 primary schools and communities in the Khwisero region of Western Kenya. EWB has installed six wells, three latrines, and a biogas composting latrine in the area in addition to working with the community to ensure that the projects are maintained.
FIRST Robotics Competitions
Twenty six ECE students, staff, and faculty participated as volunteer judges and technical crew for the annual Montana FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics State Championships on January 23-24, 2009. 150 high school students and 330 middle school students from across the statecompeted in this year's event on the MSU campus.
We particularly appreciate the 11 ECE students who joined the Montana IEEE Section PACE Project, "Technical Outreach to Middle School Students 2008." The ECE students advised three teams from Monforton School and Chief Joseph Middle School since last fall. All three teams successfully participated in the FIRST Lego League Tournament on January 24!
Student Satellite Project Nears Launch Into Space
Pat Lokken, a May 2008 MSU BSEE graduate, works in the MSU Space Science and Engineering Laboratory (MSU Photo by Kelly Gorham)
Students working for the MSU Space Science and Engineering Lab (SSEL) were recently notified that their satellite design has been recommended for launch into space aboard a NASA rocket in 2009. The satellite design is the product of many years of student work, including numerous team members from the ECE Department. Way to go, team!
The miniature (4"x4"x4") MSU satellite, Explorer–1 Prime, will hitch a ride in a specially design external mounting fixture attached to the outside of a large rocket delivering a commercial satellite into orbit. The launch is likely to be in mid-June from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Read more about the mission:
MSU News Service Article.
EE Alumnus Receives IEEE Spectrum Award
Montana State University EE alumnus Keith Bayern (BSEE 1981) was named the winner of IEEE Spectrum magazine's recent contest for making the best possible clock with generally available components that cost no more than US $100 (IEEE Spectrum, July 2008 issue, p. 23). Keith (below left) is a senior principal digital and analog engineer with SAIC, and the uncle of BSCpE 2008 and current MSU graduate student Ray Weber (below right). Ray is pictured with the clock he built using his uncle's prototype kit--all 194 discrete transistors and 2700 solder joints! For more information about the clock kit, see Keith's web site: www.transistorclock.com. Congratulations, Keith.
photo credit: Brian Smale, IEEE Spectrum
Spring 2008: IEEE Picnic and ECE Blowout Party
Spring 2008: Design Fair, May 1, 2008
The Spring 2008 Engineering Design Fair held in SUB Ballroom A featured 38 student projects from ECE, ME, IE, MET, and the multidisciplinary design course, ENGR 310. The open house culminates many, many hours of work by the student teams.
ECE Team Zigbot (Colin Shirley, Josh Smith, Clint Gramza, and Monther Abusultan)
ECE Alumnus Mark D. Myers, 1960-2008
The ECE Department was saddened to learn of the passing of 2007 BSEE graduate Mark Myers. He was being treated for metastatic renal cell cancer at the time of his death. Our heartfelt condolences to Mark's family and friends.
The obituary from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle 20080620.
We miss you, Mark.