Arkansas Engineer

The magazine of the University of Arkansas College of Engineering

The U of A’s online engineering programs, including a Master of Science in Engineering degree and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree, were ranked No. 29 among online graduate engineering programs and No. 23 for engineering programs at public universities by U.S. News & World Report.

Bryan Hill, assistant dean for student recruitment, honors and international programs in the College of Engineering, is one of the three finalists selected for the 2014 GEDC Airbus Diversity Award. The $10,000 award is sponsored by Airbus, a leading aircraft manufacturer, and the Global Engineering Dean’s Council.
Alan Mantooth, Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering and holder of the Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in MixedSignal IC Design and CAD, was one of Arkansas Research Alliance’s five inaugural fellows.

A U.S. Patent titled “Separatomebased Protein Expression and Purification Platform” was assigned to the board of trustees of the University of Arkansas and the University of Pittsburgh. Ellen Brune is a 2013 chemical engineering graduate whose start-up company, Boston Mountain Biotech, is marketing the method. In addition to Brune, other inventors named on the patent are Bob Beitle, professor of chemical engineering and associate vice provost for research and economic development at the U of A; Ralph Henry, Distinguished Professor of biological sciences at the U of A; Mohammad Ataai, professor of chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh; and Patrick Bartlow, a scientist at Janssen Research and Development, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

BlueInGreen LLC, a water-quality management firm affiliated with the University of Arkansas, has
reached an agreement with the city of Fayetteville to more effectively and efficiently disinfect wastewater before it is discharged back into the environment.

The Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center (MarTREC) has received an additional $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Researchers at the center focus on maritime and multimodal logistics, construction of resilient and sustainable multimodal infrastructure and the creation and promotion of livable coastal and river-valley communities with effective emergency management systems
The University of Arkansas is the lead institution for a new $786,407 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate strategies to minimize volumetric swelling in metallic nuclear fuels. The research has the potential to increase the safety and efficiency of nuclear reactors for power generation.

The National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission, in cooperation with APEI, has received approval for a second year of funding from the Department of Energy for a project on wide bandgap inverters for under-the-hood electric vehicle traction drives. This project has been of great importance to both NCREPT and APEI and has resulted in the construction of a 100 HP, 8000 RPM dynamometer, which will expand both NCREPT’s research and testing capabilities.