Engineering Career Fair NEXT WEEK!

October 2nd is our annual Engineering Career Fair for all Engineering Disciplines.
Engineering Career Fair
Wednesday, Oct. 2nd, 12-4 pm
Brown & Williamson Club, Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium

The Fall Career Fair provides an opportunity for students to speak to employers about co-op, part-time and full-time employment.

We have employers come to campus from all across the United States as well as a heavy representation from our region. We currently have 72 employers registered to attend. It’s a great opportunity for students from all levels and alumni to check out the opportunities available in engineering and to seek out full-time and co-op positions.

To see a list of attendees, click on this link and then click participants.
https://speed-louisville-csm.symplicity.com/events/index.php?

A lot of people are nervous about attending a career fair, but if you’re prepared to talk about who you are and what your interested in, that’s a lot of what you need to know. It’s also important to know a little bit about the companies that are attending. The list of companies referred to above also has a brief overview of each company to get you started and a link to their website.

Tips for those who plan to attend:

• Dress professional – 1st impressions are important
• Bring plenty of resumes
• Come prepared – check out the company overviews
• Arrive early and walk around alone – don’t walk around like a group
• Introduce yourself and extend your hand – have a 30 second commercial prepared
• Ask good relevant questions
• 5 minutes to make an impact
• Say thank you
• Make notes when you step away that you can reference when you follow up
• Have fun – this is an exciting time!!

A career fair is so much more than just another event on campus – this is where flight happens, this is where the connections can be made that start careers for young engineers. Many of our recruiters are JB Speed School alum and they enjoy their jobs, they love UofL and they are excited about bringing new talent into their companies. Feel the energy and make the most of it!

See you at the fair!

Why be a Speed Engineer and when should I apply?

Speed School students participate in a discussion in the Bioinformatics Lab.

Engineering is one of the most in demand careers in the country.  An engineering degree is also one of the most flexible degrees leading not only into engineering careers, but into professional programs like medical school and law school as well.  At Speed School, you will be working with the latest technology and faculty in a hands-on learning environment.  Our students work as student-engineers during 3 different semester in our Cooperative Education Program.  This gives Speed graduates the competitive advantage of 1 full year of work experience.  Coupling the Co-op experience with the Master Track degree programs that allows our graduates to earn both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in 5 years, ensures a very bright professional future for our students.

If this is enough to peek your interest, I recommend that students complete their admissions applications before November begins.  This includes applying and sending all test scores and transcripts.  This allows plenty of time to work on scholarship applications in November and December.  Getting the admissions process out of the way not only reduces stress during a busy senior year, but it also greatly improves the quality of communication between the student and the University.

Come visit UofL and the J.B. Speed School of Engineering and see for yourself if it fits.  Remember, Life Takes Engineering and Speed School Delivers!

Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. Welcomes New Students

Welcome incoming freshmen!  We hope that your studies are off to a great start. We understand that as someone who is new to the Speed School, you still may be unsure what engineering field is best for you.  To help you make your decision, we’d like to introduce you to the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, and tell you a little bit about what we have to offer.

What is Electrical and Computer Engineering?

Electrical and Computer Engineering students conduct a variety of research on Speed School’s Plug-in Hybrid Research Vehicle

Electrical engineers study applications of electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism.  This encompasses a wide range of fascinating topics including electronics, power systems, control systems, image processing, signal processing, communications, and micro/nanoscale electronics.  Students in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department learn both hardware design and the programming and logic design required to operate the hardware.  For example, ECE students recently developed a battery management system for electric vehicles which requires both the sensor hardware to interface with the battery cells and the software to manage and interpret the measured data.

Is ECE the right fit for me?

If you are interested in both hardware and software design, the ECE department is the place for you.  ECE graduates obtain high-paying jobs in microelectronic design, controls systems, power systems, and process engineering.  You’ll find recent ECE graduates working for large local companies (General Electric, LG&E, KU, and UPS); high flying local start-ups (QSR Automation and Genscape), and well known national corporations (Intel, IBM, Micron, and Google).

Want to know more?
Check out our website for perspective students and like us on Facebook:

 

Speed School Student Services

Speed School Advising Team (from left): Ally Rutledge, Susan Best, Heather Mann, and Vivian Lochner

The Speed School Student Service offices (Advising Office) are located in the Lower Level of the J.B. Speed Building. We are here to help the students be successful with their academic career. It has been a busy start to a new school year and we are looking forward to seeing our students during their Spring 2014 advising appointments! Registration begins November 1, so we encourage our students to make their advising appointment in October. The students will be notified via email on how to schedule their appointment through our GradesFirst system. The advising appointments give the student an opportunity to ask questions, get connected with resources on campus, and make an academic plan for the following semester.

Our first year students are learning how to manage their time and study to be a successful student. REACH and Supplemental Instruction programs are a great resource to get helpful tips. We encourage our students to use these resources as a proactive measure to stay on track. Many first year students report that they experience test anxiety; therefore the Speed School has organized a test anxiety program that is co-sponsored by the Counseling Center on October 1 from 7:00-9:00 pm at Center Hall. This program is open to all first year students!

Homecoming

Have you been to Speed School’s Homecoming Reception before? If not, you should consider checking it out. It is a great opportunity to meet up with classmates, faculty, staff and current students. It is always interesting to hear about all of the amazing new things going on at Speed, including the Steel Bridge Team, Speed’s Rocket Launch Team and many more groups and events.

The Homecoming Reception is Saturday, October 19. Register today!

We hope to see you there! Go CARDS!

The Phoenix House: a permanent solution for disaster relief

Rendering of the Phoenix House

The Phoenix House is designed to be a permanent solution for disaster relief. After a disaster, one’s life is forever changed, and one wishes to return to the life he or she once knew. With the Phoenix House, the hope is to return to a life better than before. The phoenix is a shining symbol of rebirth. Team Kentuckiana is proud to reveal the Phoenix House as our design for the 2013 Solar Decathlon.

Life Takes Engineering

Life Takes Engineering…Speed School Delivers.

People often ask me to explain what engineers do.  I always say the same thing.  “Look around you.” Everything you see was designed, manufactured and delivered through the use of engineering. EVERYTHING!  Not just the obvious techie sort of things like the computer on your desk  or the cell phone in your hand, but the ho-hum things like the carpet on the floor, the paint on the walls, the lights overhead, and the electricity powering those lights. And I’m not only referring to the engineering required to design the products themselves. There’s even more engineering required to design the processes to make and deliver those items to you.  For example, to make carpeting  (designed by chemical engineers) you need a huge factory,  structurally designed by  civil engineers, with equipment  laid out by industrial engineers, filled with machines, conveyors, forklifts, computers and controls designed  by mechanical,  electrical, and computer engineers. And I haven’t even gotten to what it takes to store it, transport it, and install it.  All that just to make carpet? Yeah, and that is one product. Now, I ask you to look around the room you are in right now. If you really take the time to look closely, you will see hundreds, maybe thousands, of individual items; each one requiring engineering for its design and production.

Bottom line, we need engineers to produce what life demands.  The sad fact is, however, we as a nation, are not producing enough engineers each year.  The US produces less than 100,000 engineering BS degrees per year.  That number needs to go WAY up if we are to remain competitive.  To do this, kids from a very young age have to be exposed to engineering, math, and science and they need to know what engineers do.  Speed School prides itself on its outstanding outreach efforts that attract thousands of elementary and high-school kids to participate in engineering camps and activities.  To learn more about those programs, visit our website, http://louisville.edu/speed.

We all need to do more to fill the engineering pipeline with talented young people so that they can meet the complex needs of society in the coming decades.

John S. Usher, Associate Dean, Speed School

Steel Bridge Team nationally competitive for 2 years and counting!

2013 Team (L to R): Kevin McKeel, Jon-Peter Lee, Brooks Benton, Stephanie Coffey, Matt Rhoads, Marcella Kennedy, Ian vanLierop, and Sam Hornback

The U of L Steel Bridge Team completed its best year in June! The team swept the Ohio Valley Student Conference, placing 1st overall for the first time in school history. Additionally, U of L  placed first in four out of six categories. These successes qualified the team for the national competition, for the second consecutive year.

At the National Student Steel Bridge Competition, the U of L team faced prestigious schools such as UC Berkeley and MIT head on. This being the second year that the team made it to nationals, the students knew to expect some heavy competition. They worked on improving the qualities that they last year saw in winning bridges: lightness, stiffness, and innovative (and minimal) member connections.

Fully loaded bridge at 2013 regionals.

Comparing the 2013 bridge with the 2012 bridge, the U of L team indeed made many improvements. The 2013 bridge was 61% lighter and had a 64% reduction in the number of bolts. These numbers brought confidence to the team, and with good reason: U of L placed 32nd out of 49 international teams. This is a 12 place improvement over last year’s national results.

The 2014 rules were recently released, and the 2014 team is currently in the process of recruiting. The U of L Steel Bridge team plans to come back strong this year, and complete the bridge design by the end of December.

New Chairman Joins Mechanical Engineering

After serving an impressive twenty years as M.E. Department Chairman at UofL, Prof. Glen Prater stepped down as chairman this past summer. As one can imagine, he made many notable contributions to academic life in the Speed School; most recently he helped ushered the M.E. program through another successful six-year accreditation and he was instrumental in developing the department’s on-site Masters program at the G.E. Appliance Park (to name just two things). Dr. Prater will continue teaching and conducting research in the M.E. Department. Thank you Dr. Prater!

Dr. Kevin Murphy, Chairman of Mechanical Engineering

After a national search, the M.E. Department and the Speed School have hired Prof. Kevin Murphy to serve as the new chairman. Prior to joining UofL, Dr. Murphy was a tenured, associate professor at the University of Connecticut, where he had served as the director of graduate studies and then as associate chairman. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University. His research focuses on nonlinear vibrations, stability, and solid mechanics. But his work also touches on acoustics, signal processing, and fracture mechanics. In particular, he has worked on vibration based structural health monitoring (SHM), adhesion/sticking contact in MEMS devices, and vibrations in manufacturing problems. Dr. Murphy has been awarded a number of competitive federal grants in support of his research program, including a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He has also received several awards for distinguished teaching, in addition to being recognized by both branches of the Connecticut State Legislature for teaching excellence.

Welcome to the University of Louisville Dr. Murphy.

Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC)

As part of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), Cyber Defense is a group of students who gather weekly to discuss what it take to audit, maintain, secure, and defend a small business class network from those with malicious intent (the Red Team).