Colorado School of Mines is a uniquely focused public research university dedicated to preparing exceptional students to solve today's most pressing energy and environmental challenges.
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Colorado School of Mines mechanical engineering student Emily Wong recently launched Project Positivity, a movement to spread positivity on campus. Wong leaves post-it notes with uplifting messages, encouraging quotes and jokes to make others smile. Her notes are intended to make “that bad day a little better, and that great day a little bit funnier.”
“If everyone could leave one note a day, just think about the impact that would make on the Mines community,” Wong said. “There’d be so much more positive energy on campus.”
Wong has left messages in women’s bathrooms, on study tables and around campus buildings.
“You never know when someone needs little laughter,” Wong said. “Taping a note to the bathroom mirror reminding the next person that they are beautiful or appreciated could make their day. I am hoping that other people spread the word, leave notes and utilize social media.”
Wong’s goal is to spread her movement beyond Mines. She is encouraging students to leave notes during their spring break trips March 8-13 using #ProjectPositivity.
You can see her project in action on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Contact:
Kathleen Morton, Communications Coordinator / 303-273-3088 / KMorton@mines.edu
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations / 303-273-3541 / KGilbert@mines.edu
Colorado School of Mines will compete against nine other schools at the National Collegiate Wind Competition in May in Las Vegas. Teams will be showcasing a lightweight, transportable wind turbine that could power small electronic devices. Each team’s prototype wind turbine will be tested in a wind tunnel and scored for performance, operational safety, component durability and system reliability.
Nine students on the Mines team, Zephyrus, are in the process of using design prototypes to build the final turbine.
Competition advisor Cameron Turner said the team has taken an innovative path in the competition by establishing a supporting business plan and developing an understanding of wind power political issues, in addition to, creating a technical solution to their design.
“In many ways, they are demonstrating not only technical competence, but also personal competence as citizens,” Cameron Turner said. “In two months, they will be presenting their work at the American Wind Energy Association meeting alongside nine other schools. I fully expect that the team will be amongst the best teams at the competition.”
Mines will be competing against Boise State University, California Maritime Academy, James Madison University, Kansas State University, Northern Arizona University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Kansas and University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Visit the Zephyrus website and competition website for more information.
Contact:
Kathleen Morton, Communications Coordinator / 303-273-3088 / KMorton@mines.edu
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations / 303-273-3541 / KGilbert@mines.edu
Mines students are working with Mechanical Engineering (ME) professor John Steele and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) professor Qi Han to build and develop a system to automate oil and gas processes through unmanned robots. Blaster, the original prototype, will be deployed to the Petroleum Institute (PI) in Abu Dhabi to increase the safety in oil and gas refineries.
Currently, refinery operators are exposed to potential explosions, gas leaks and extreme weather conditions.
“We are trying to get robots to do the same operations humans can do, but by taking the human out of harm’s way, we are increasing safety,” Steele said. “Abu Dhabi can reach up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, so people are exposed to extreme heat as well as sand storms and possibly gas leaks. If the robot is harmed, you can always build another one.”
The robot is equipped with a methane gas sensor, video camera, microphone, thermal imaging camera, GPS, digital compass, laser-range finder and Wi-Fi client-bridge. Each of these sensors will help it navigate, avoid collisions and transfer information back to the control room operator.
EECS students Adewole Ayoade and Marshall Sweatt are collaborating to develop applications that will take readings from the sensors to determine the robotic location and remotely log those readings for analysis. Alex Yearsly, a ME student, designed and manufactured the 5-degrees of freedom robotic arm after taking over from Dan Albert, a recent graduate. John Steuben, a graduate student in engineering systems, designed and 3D-printed the sensor housing for the robot’s head.
Ayoade emphasized the importance of testing the robot in conditions similar to the refinery. “Because we are working on a real life project, we have to understand the environmental conditions of where we are sending the system,” Ayoade said.
Once Blaster’s build is completed, Ayoade and Sweatt will travel overseas to test its functionality and transfer the technology to faculty and students at the PI.
“I’m really excited; I’ve never been to the United Arab Emirates before,” Sweatt said. “It is an honor to be invited.”
Blaster’s capabilities will demonstrate Mines’ ability to develop a robotic system for inspection and operations. The robot will become the basis for a proposal to a French robotic competition called ARGOS Challenge, sponsored by TOTAL, in which contestants from all over the world will develop advanced robotic capabilities for oil and gas environments.
Watch a short video of the robot here.
Contact:
Kathleen Morton, Communications Coordinator / 303-273-3088 / KMorton@mines.edu
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations / 303-273-3541 / KGilbert@mines.edu
The Feb. 27-28 Conference on Earth & Energy Research gave graduate students the opportunity to practice presenting their research in a professional environment, while judges provided feedback. Last year, two undergraduates showcased their work, but this year, that number rose to nine.
“I’m very happy about the turnout,” Graduate Student Government Academic Chair John Bristow said. “In the past, they’ve been very grad-centered.”
Two speakers presented keynote speeches between students’ poster and oral sessions.
Ken Salazar, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Senator from Colorado, delivered the opening keynote address on North American energy independence. Salazar told stories of the BP oil spill in 2010 and shared conversations with President Barack Obama two years after the disaster.
Dr. Pieter Tans, Senior Scientist and Earth System Research Laboratory at NOAA, closed the conference with “Climate Change: Man Made Climate Change and Energy Policy.” Tans shared his research on measuring carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere, detailing some of the causes of these increases and what this means for our future.
2014 poster presentation winners:
More information can be found at ceerconference.org.
Contact:
Kathleen Morton, Communications Coordinator / 303-273-3088 / KMorton@mines.edu
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations / 303-273-3541 / KGilbert@mines.edu
More than 100 local area high school students visited Colorado School of Mines Feb. 20 to learn about STEM careers during DiscoverE Engineering Week. The event, sponsored by Lockheed Martin, hosted various activities throughout the day.
Students began the morning with a chemistry show by Mines professor Renee Falconer in Coolbaugh Hall. Falconer performed several demonstrations; one of which included mixing chemical elements in balloons before igniting them on fire. Shortly after the presentation, students were divided into groups to tour Hill Hall and the Geology Museum—observing the moon and florescent rocks on display.
Around noon, students attended a mentoring lunch in Friedhoff Hall. Paul Anderson ’85 spoke on “Dreaming Big” and his journey from Mines to Lockheed Martin. Company experts sat at roundtables with students to answer questions on their experiences.
Energy Education Specialist Dr. Cynthia Howell partnered with Jeanette Alberg, manager of community relations for Lockheed Martin, three years ago with the purpose of celebrating National Engineering Week.
“What started as a pilot project between Lockheed Martin and Mines is now an annual event ever-growing in sophistication, collaboration and purpose as it meets organizational goals,” Howell said. “This event brings together more than 70 volunteers and highlights the Mines and Lockheed Martin recruiting, engineering, scientific and research prowess.”
Contact:
Kathleen Morton, Communications Coordinator / 303-273-3088 / KMorton@mines.edu
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations / 303-273-3541 / KGilbert@mines.edu
As part of a senior design project, two teams of Colorado School of Mines students are working with MillerCoors to recommend good practices for energy saving technologies. Teams “Golden Solutions” and “ElectroMech” are collecting data from motors larger than or equal to 50 horsepower that are used in various beer processing and utilities operations to help identify opportunities to reduce the brewery’s electrical costs.
Students are also investigating design considerations such as the use of variable frequency drives, permanent magnet motors, Power Factor Correction capacitors, high efficiency motors and other instrumentation options for increasing plant efficiency.
“From a mechanical stand point, it is neat to see the pumps and piping and how intertwined all the connections are,” ElectroMech project manager and electrical engineering major Erik Johnson said. “From an electrical stand point, it is good to see how safety precautions are carried out because we talked about them a lot in field session, but seeing the actions in person is much different than seeing presentations.”
MillerCoors Senior Project Engineer Sean Yates said the experience has been rewarding as students communicate well and work autonomously. The teams are provided with an opportunity to gain practical experiences, while using theoretical and critical thinking skills in a manufacturing environment.
“I’ve been able to treat them very much like any new engineering consultant with just a little more guidance,” Yates said. “What the students lack in experience, they make up for in diligence and smarts.”
Faculty advisor Eryn Ammerman compared the project to an internship or consulting job as students are able to work with industry professionals firsthand in their environment.
“Since I worked as an engineer for a couple of years right after I graduated from Mines, it’s really nice to be able to share my field experience with the students and then have them go out and actually experience it for themselves,” Ammerman said.
Student recommendations will be incorporated into MillerCoors’ future optimization projects focused on energy savings.
Contact:
Kathleen Morton, Communications Coordinator / 303-273-3088 / KMorton@mines.edu
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations / 303-273-3541 / KGilbert@mines.edu
Mines hosted the biannual Career Day Feb. 11, which featured global organizations in engineering, science and technology. More than 2,200 students, graduates and alumni attended.
“I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity because I don’t think many schools have more than 200 companies come twice a year,” said civil engineering student Greg Proulx. “It’s nice to see what’s out there.”
Julianne Fantich, who graduated in December, said it was helpful there were more biomedical companies this year.
“Now that I am looking for a full time job, I want to build connections in the industry,” Fantich said.
Mines has a high success rate for 2012-13 graduates. Ninety-one percent of undergraduates and 95 percent of graduate students have strong outcomes and employment.
Contact:
Kathleen Morton, Communications Coordinator / 303-273-3088 / KMorton@mines.edu
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations / 303-273-3541 / KGilbert@mines.edu
The Mines team “Over Developed” placed second to Georgia Institute of Technology in the WindWard Code Wars competition Feb. 1. Teams from top universities competed in the eight-hour contest by analyzing a problem, creating a solution and testing it against entries of other programming experts.
Computer science students Daniel Mawhirter, Han Tran and Espen Roth were given a brief description of the competition from the previous year, but there was little discussion of strategy between each other.
“The challenge isn't given until the time of the competition so it's hard to prepare for it, but they do allow different programming languages so prior knowledge about those can help,” Roth said.
Knowing C#, Java or C++ is beneficial, as team members are required to write in at least one of them.
For this year’s competition, teams needed to program taxi drivers to travel around a map and pick up and drop off CEOs from large companies in fictional cities. Points were awarded for every pick up and drop off. The map constantly changed, so team members had to be quick at writing code to handle different challenges.
Tran said his team went through a mixture of feelings during the competition.
“We were confused at first, not knowing where to start, and then frustrated trying to make things work the way we wanted,” Tran said. “But at the end of the day, it was priceless seeing all the teams play together. It was an amazing experience.”
Contact:
Kathleen Morton, Communications Coordinator / 303-273-3088 / KMorton@mines.edu
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations / 303-273-3541 / KGilbert@mines.edu
In March, two students from Mines’ Engineers Without Borders-Bridges to Prosperity club (EWB-B2P) and mentor Stephanie Fleckenstein will travel to Los Gomez, Nicaragua, to help the community stop one of the biggest causes of death in the world: lack of access to inexpensive, clean water.
Geology and geological engineering graduate student Ethan Faber and mechanical engineering student Eric Rosing will use the trip to gain information about the community’s needs for a water system. Rosing traveled to Los Gomez in spring 2013 with members of the group to help complete a pedestrian bridge. He saw firsthand the current water infrastructure and identified potential needs for improvements.
“Water projects in developing countries often fail—not because of technological failures, but because of social issues,” Rosing said. “I hope that we are at least able to build a better connection with the community so that we can work with the community and not for them.”
One spring in Los Gomez currently provides fair quality water, but it quickly becomes contaminated. When it stops producing during the dry season, the next best option is to retrieve water from shallow hand dug wells.
“Since these wells are located at great distances and have extremely poor quality, many individuals miss work due to being sick or they don't have time since so much of their day is spent gathering the water,” Faber said. “When the average income in rural Nicaragua is around $1 a day, missing any amount of work can be detrimental.”
Once Faber and Rosing examine the problem with community support, they could possibly build wells drilled into confined aquifers, construct additional storage systems and design a water decontamination system.
“I’m excited to be travelling on this trip because I really enjoy helping people, especially when I can put engineering knowledge to use in doing so,” Rosing said.
The group is currently in the design phase of a second bridge project in the neighboring town, La Conquista. The bridge will provide access to healthcare, markets and schools during the rainy season for the surrounding communities. In May, the team will help the community finish constructing the bridge. They anticipate completion in the first week in June.
For more information about EWB-B2P, see inside.mines.edu/ewb.
Contact:
Kathleen Morton, Communications Coordinator / 303-273-3088 / KMorton@mines.edu
Karen Gilbert, Director of Public Relations / 303-273-3541 / KGilbert@mines.edu
