You must be very curious about what you will be doing at the College of Engineering as an undergrad. The articles on this page cover some of the numerous fascinating activities of our current students. These stories will also give you a good idea of research, scholarship, internship, and job possibilities open to you.
"Green Monster" Makes National Finals
A six-person team of chemical engineering undergraduates has built a shoebox-sized vehicle whimsically called the “Green Rock Eating Monster” that has qualified for the national finals of the Chem-E-Car Competition next November in Nashville, an event sponsored by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). The UMass Amherst team qualified for Nashville after finishing third at the Northeast regional competition. This is the first time a UMass Amherst team has qualified for the national finals in the event. The Chem-E-Car Competition requires each team to build a self-propelled model car that, driven by a chemical reaction alone, travels a pre-set distance while carrying a pre-determined weight. Read more
Vestas Scholars Turn Wind Scholarship into Windfall
Two mechanical engineering students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have literally taken advantage of a windfall from a prominent wind power company and used it to propel their futures. Jacque Heger and Samuel Deptula each received $5,000 scholarships for the 2008-2009 academic year from Vestas Americas, the leading supplier of wind power solutions with over 35,000 wind turbines installed. As part of this Vestas Scholarship Program, they also received $8,000 apiece this summer to do wind-related research for the Wind Energy Center at UMass Amherst. Heger used her research funding for making key physical improvements to wind turbine blades, while Deptula employed his Vestas support to help reboot a wind tunnel on campus that had been abandoned for more than a decade.education. Read more
SMVS-STEM Scholarships Mean Big Breaks for Transfer Students
When Willy Chu attended Massachusetts Bay Community College and lived at home, he felt constantly distracted from studying and stressed by having to work up to 30 hours a week to pay for books, gas, car insurance, and parking. But that all changed when he was recruited by UMass Amherst and offered a $6,000-per-year scholarship to fulfill his dream of becoming a mechanical engineer. Chu is not unique. He is one of 22 transfer students who have completed their first year as part of the College of Engineering’s response to an area of national need to train more scientists and engineers, as identified by the National Science Foundation. With a five-year, $598,000 NSF grant to support scholarships, the college has dramatically increased the odds of attracting bright, motivated transfer students who will graduate as well-rounded engineers. Known as the Scholarship in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, or S-STEM, the NSF program provides $3,000 per semester, renewable until graduation, to qualified undergraduates to help them achieve a university education. Read more
SMV Team Gets Great Mileage and Terrific PR
The UMass Amherst Supermileage Vehicle Team successfully fielded two vehicles this year at the annual Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Supermileage Vehicle competition, held at the Eaton Corporation Proving Grounds in Marshall, Michigan, on June 4th and 5th. Automotive Engineering International Online, the magazine for the SAE, also published an article about the competition that used UMass Amherst as one of only four teams featured. “Our ‘old reliable’ car, the Homewrecker, finished tenth with a strong showing of 817 MPG,” reports the team’s faculty advisor, Professor David Schmidt of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department. “Though we have achieved higher mileage as a team, this was a peak for this particular car." Read more
Three COE Students Honored as 21st Century Leaders
Three College of Engineering students are among the 13 seniors who were presented with 21st Century Leaders awards during the 139th Commencement on Saturday, May 23, in McGuirk Alumni Stadium. The three, all from Massachusetts, are: Laurene Dykiel, a chemical engineering major from Acton; Robert House, a civil engineering major from Northborough; and Ivan A. Bercovich, an electrical engineering and mathematics major from Jamaica Plain. The awards recognize students who are academically accomplished and who have contributed to the university through exceptional achievement or have enhanced the reputation of the campus. Read more
