Page 11 - CEGE Magazine Fall 2023

International Opportunity for Graduate Students
Q. How many engineers does it take to train the next generation of engineers on the use of new materials?
A. An international consortium of four institutes and six universities.
Sofia Mogilevskya (left) and Joe Labuz are part of DIAGONAL,
a consortium funded by the European Commission, whose goal is to extend the use of brittle and ductile functionally graded materials in the transportation and security industries.
New manufactured materials have expanded the types and characteristics of composite materials available. One class of new materials, called functionally graded materials, are manufactured composite materials that can be adapted by varying components within the materials. They can be designed to display specific properties, and those properties can change in various directions. Researchers are still working to predict how these new materials will respond and last in various applications. Of critical importance is knowing the stress and fatigue response of materials when building infrastructure.
The consortium will engage in training and knowledge-sharing activities, and in a series of international workshops for doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers from participating institutions and universities. The scientific objective is to extend the use of functionally graded materials for critical structural applications in the transportation and security industries. Their interests include fabrication of parts with additive manufacturing techniques, commonly known as 3D printing.
Mihai Marasteanu (center, blue shirt) with colleagues and students.
Let me tell you a Story...
Who is not drawn in by those words?
Professor Mihai Marasteanu certainly is. He enjoys talking with colleagues and students, and he has observed that people who are good at telling stories seem to excel in all kinds of situations: teaching, winning proposals on engineer- ing projects, networking, even dating. After determining storytelling skills could bring an advantage to his students, Marasteanu developed a class to help them tell stories.
This fall Marasteanu debuted a Special Topics course, CEGE 4160 Storytelling for Engineers.
Storytelling for Engineers helps students identify, define,
and solve problems as they learn to think through problems and express their ideas in a logical and connected way. Telling a story about a problem or a project is an effective way to demonstrate understanding, and storytelling skills will help engineers communicate clearly with project teams, residents, city planners, and other stakeholders.
Read more: https://z.umn.edu/cegeTeaching
Humanitarian Engineering
This fall Mike Marsolek, a J.S. Braun/Braun Intertec Visiting Professor from Seattle University, is sharing his international engineering experience with CEGE students. This new course focuses on environmental engineering in under-resourced communities. We’re excited to bring this new perspective to our students.
Mike Marsolek, a J.S. Braun/Braun Intertec Visiting Professor from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
at Seattle University, launched the course this fall. Marsolek earned his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from UMN. Marsolek has participated in several humanitarian engineering projects and plans to share that unique perspective with UMN students. Students will learn to identify and fund projects, meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and explore water and wastewater treatment, resource recovery options, utility of off-grid electrical systems, and the role of environmental engineers in Peace Engineering. While he is here, Marsolek will also make a presentation to engineers at Braun Intertec.
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering | DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND GEO- ENGINEERING 11