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v Cal State L.A. Engineering Program Among Top NationwideU.S.News & World Report 2004 “America’s Best Colleges” issue has ranked California State University, Los Angeles’ Engineering program among the nation’s best undergraduate programs for the fifth year in a row. Cal State L.A. is the only public undergraduate (master’s-awarding) university in the greater Los Angeles area making the top of the list. Using a reputational survey sent in the spring of 2003 to determine the rankings, U.S.News ranked engineering at Cal State L.A.’s College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology among the top 50 Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs (non-Ph.D.) in the United States. Moving up in the category, the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology program was listed at #33 out of 145 such college programs ranked throughout the country. Last year, Cal State L.A. was listed at #36. To appear on U.S.News’ undergraduate engineering survey, a school must have an undergraduate engineering program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Accredited undergraduate engineering programs are split into two groups: those schools whose highest engineering degree offered is a Ph.D. and those schools whose highest engineering degree offered is a bachelor’s or master’s. According to U.S.News, schools whose highest engineering degree is a bachelor’s or master’s tend to be more focused on undergraduate education. v Team Places First in WESTEC Manufacturing Challenge
Cal State L.A.’s
Technology student team recently garnered first place in the
University Category at the highly regarded
WESTEC 2004 Manufacturing Challenge, a creative annual
manufacturing competition where college students engineer and
manufacture products for judging by manufacturing professionals,
held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International recently selected James E. Ettaro (Technology) as the recipient of its 2003 Faculty Advisor Award for “outstanding contributions” distinguishing him as “one of the top faculty advisors in SAE.” As an award recipient, Ettaro was invited as a guest to a four-day SAE 2004 World Congress & Exposition in Detroit, Michigan, in March. An award-winning member of his College, Ettaro is the coordinator of the Power, Energy, and Transportation Program, and the faculty advisor for CSULA’s SAE student club. He also has been a faculty advisor for the award-winning Super Eagle team (The Super Eagle is a student-built, fuel-efficient vehicle), as well as for CSULA’s student chapter of the National Association of Industrial Technology. v Research examines pollution layers“We’re lucky to have this novel piece of equipment—there are only a few such samplers in Southern California,” says Crist Khachikian (Civil Engineering), leader of the microlayer sampler research project. Using a microlayer sampler—rare equipment designed to collect the very thin organic layer that covers lakes and oceans—students are now able to study samples from lakes near urban areas throughout California. Students and professors are examining these samples in labs to learn more about the impact of contaminants from factories, automobiles, and pollutants on the lakes’ chemistry and ecology. “Chemicals are attracted to, and have a tendency to accumulate in, this organic layer known as the ‘microlayer’ at the top of lakes,” explains Khachikian. “The microlayer sampler allows us to pick up and collect this organic microlayer, so we can study how factors such as rain, sunlight and urbanization affect the lakes’ chemical levels.” Senior civil engineering major Scarleth Ramirez recently returned from a trip to Pyramid Lake in Santa Clarita Valley, where she and fellow students gathered samples using the microlayer sampler. “The field experience was awesome,” she says. “It helped me establish a relationship between what goes on in the lake and the research we do in the lab. But more importantly, we’re working to obtain solutions that someday may improve people’s living standards.” Civil engineering junior Antonino Monterrosa, environmental engineering graduate Gina Lowe and hydrogeology graduate Curtis Plotkin are also members of the research team. “By working in the field and having access to this sort of research equipment, undergraduate students are getting fantastic training that would be difficult to get anywhere else,” notes Khachikian.
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HENAAC is coming to Cal State LA!
In March 2003 NASA awarded the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology a $6 million, five-year grant to establish a University Research Center (URC) that will serve NASA objectives in the Aerospace Technology and Space Science Enterprises. The URC – Center for Structures, Propulsion, Aerospace, and Control Engineering (SPACE) will investigate and develop technologies crucial to these enterprises in a multifaceted program consisting of eight multidisciplinary research areas centered on, but not limited to, the fields of controls with application to flight dynamics, space telescope technologies, complex structures, propulsion, and digital computation and communications. The URC has collaborative agreements with two other universities - University of Southern California (USC), and California State University Long Beach (CSULB) – NASA Centers, Dryden Flight Research Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and with major aerospace firms including Boeing and Northrop Grumman. In addition to advancements in research and development, the program is specifically designed to bring significant educational and professional-development opportunities to ECST students. The
URC combines the College’s
Multidisciplinary Flight Dynamics
and Control Laboratory (MFDC Lab) and
Structures, Pointing, and Control
Engineering Laboratory (SPACE Lab) to conduct multidisciplinary
research in eight areas, including Intelligent Flight Control; Autonomous
Control of Unmanned Air Vehicles and in Formation Flying; Modeling
and Advanced Simulation and Virtual Aircraft Design; Space Telescope
Technology, and Precision Pointing; Nonlinear Modeling of Complex
Structures; Optimization of Propulsion Systems; Digital Computation
and Communication; and Wind-Tunnel Testing and Validations. v Renovation of Engineering and Technology Building Is Complete The
$31 million renovation of the Cal State L.A. Engineering and Technology
Building has been completed. With
its state-of-the-art computers, laboratories and distance learning
classrooms, the College now offers one of the most advanced, student-centered
engineering and technology facilities in the nation!
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Engineering and Technology
Programs Receive Top Grades Both the Engineering and Technology programs at Cal State L.A. have received A+ evaluations through recent ABET and Program Review processes. The college received “rave reviews” for its success in implementing a continuous quality improvement process based on the results of a student outcomes and assessment process. |
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