UW-Green Bay Resch School of Engineering is aiming to improve “the efficiency of wind power generation” through a new turbine design. Assistant Prof. Md Maruf Hossain (Engineering) recently applied for a patent for the design. The design utilizes vertical axis systems rather than horizontal axis wind turbines. “By slimming down the system, Hossain aims to develop a turbine that requires less wind to operate and generates more power per tower.” More via Wind turbine design aims to improve efficiency | WisBusiness.
Commencement speaker, Prof. Patricia Terry, noted for ‘Iron-man worthy’ efforts on behalf of the University
As a tenured professor approaching her 25th year at UW-Green Bay, professor Patricia Terry describes herself as a “pinnacle person.” Which means, if you’re going to do something, take it all the way.
“If you’re going to run, run a marathon. Go to college? Get a Ph.D. Work at a university? Achieve the rank of full professor.”
She will bring her experience and wisdom to the stage on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019 when she serves as the University’s commencement speaker.
Terry has done marathons one better by competing in Ironman triathlons—one of the world’s most difficult events—swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and then run a full marathon. “They fire the starting gun at 7 a.m. and you have until midnight to finish.” She’s completed three. (Also managing to squeeze in two Boston Marathons, two fifty-mile races, and more than 30 other marathons or ultra-marathons along the way).
Her career in academia began even sooner, when her father once offered his “exalted” (her description) advice to his eight-year-old daughter.
“I asked him, ‘who teaches college?’ He said ‘college professors.’ Then he added ‘If you became a college professor, you’d be one of the most honored, revered and respected members of society.’”
“I bring that up to him every chance I get.”
And while her CV is a testament to her scholarly work-ethic with dozens of peer-reviewed published papers, research grants and co-authorship of Principles of Chemical Separations with Environmental Applications, published by Cambridge University Press, it’s her collaboration with faculty and students that has brought her the greatest pleasure.
“What I’m most passionate about was starting the engineering program and leading my faculty, facilitating student success.”
Terry also discovered she had a knack for growing things—from wildflowers to academic flowers. In 2009, one of her students suggested, as a thesis project, replacing the under-performing grass roof over the Instructional Services building with native plants. The student never finished, but true to her pinnacle person personality, Terry persisted. Today, she solely supports a fund to hire students for maintenance and to purchase plants. Over the past seven years, she has gifted the fund approximately $15,000.
Ultimately, Terry’s most sustainable contribution to the University is her Ironman-worthy efforts to the success of students, faculty and the university. She was instrumental in helping launch the new bachelor of science programs in Electrical, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering Technology, becoming director of the programs in 2012.
As far as a “pinnacle” to her academic career to this point, it may be her appointment as the inaugural Chair of the Resch School of Engineering. As the administrator overseeing the program, Terry helped set the curriculum and was in charge of faculty recruitment and mentoring, along with ensuring program accreditation.
Still, she remains a teacher of environmental engineering at heart. Or as she puts it—“Everything’s a chemical. We’re moving chemicals.” And as far as staying on the move goes, Terry confesses a general-education offering remains her favorite class to teach.
“I like teaching Energy and Society. I have to keep up with the news, that class changes every semester. It’s a moving content target.”
Story by Michael Shaw, Marketing and University Communication
Electrical Engineering students visit Georgia-Pacific
UW-Green Bay’s Resch School of Engineering electrical engineering technology students of the ET 342 (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition – SCADA) class led by Assistant Prof. Mohammad U. Mahfuz, visited the Georgia-Pacific Green Bay facilities on Oct. 16, 2019 as a part of their course. At Georgia-Pacific, the students had an invaluable opportunity to learn numerous aspects of a practical SCADA system in operation, which have enhanced their SCADA learning experience. The team express their thanks and gratitude to the Georgia Pacific colleagues for providing their time and continuous support to the the University.
Faculty note: Assistant Prof. Mohammad U. Mahfuz invited to chair the Technical Program Committee of EAI Conference
Assistant Prof. Mohammad U. Mahfuz (Engineering) has recently been invited to chair the Technical Program Committee (TPC) of the 12th EAI International Conference on Bio-inspired Information and Communications Technologies (BICT) together with an international team of experts from Japan, China and the United Kingdom. The BICT will be held on July 7 through 8, 2020, in Shanghai, P. R. China.
The BICT is a renowned technical conference in the field of bio-inspired information and communication technologies, which is at the interdisciplinary crossroads of natural and applied sciences and information and communication technologies. BICT highly welcomes technical papers, workshops and special tracks in the interdisciplinary fields of natural and applied sciences and electrical and communications engineering.
As a TPC co-chair, Assistant Prof. Mahfuz encourages all UW-Green Bay faculty to consider submitting their scholarly works in this conference, noting that this conference has some post-publication opportunities in several leading journals.
The website of the conference has more information.
The call for papers can be found here.
Faculty note: Assistant Prof. Mohammad U. Mahfuz publishes two book chapters
Assistant Prof. Mohammad U. Mahfuz (Engineering) has recently had two peer-reviewed scholarly book chapters published and accepted for publication in the Encyclopedia of Wireless Networks. The titles of the two chapters are “Brownian Motion” and “Internet of Medical Things.” More details about the book can be found here.
Faculty note: Prof. Hossain publication
UW-Green Bay Assistant Prof. Maruf Hossain (Electrical Engineering Technology from Resch School of Engineering) has recently published a paper entitled “Fast and Accurate Frequency Estimation in Distorted Grids Using a Three-Sample Based Algorithm,” in IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, one of the high impact factor journals published by IET from United Kingdom. The article is co-authored with an international team of researchers from UW-Green Bay (USA), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Bangladesh) and Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Copenhagen (Denmark). Details of the paper can be found here.
Partners announce public campaign phase to benefit current students and future engineers
UW-Green Bay Chancellor Gary L. Miller, Einstein Project Executive Director Kelly Ellis and Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach, gathered at the Einstein Project offices to celebrate (Wednesday, July 24, 2019), the near completion of the Brown County STEM Innovation Center on the UW-Green Bay campus and introduce a public campaign phase. The Center is the first phase of the Phoenix Innovation Park
“I’ve personally toured the progress recently and am thrilled to see our vision taking shape,” said Streckenbach. “I’d like to thank the design team, especially Brown County representatives Chuck Lamine and Doug Marsh, for their roles in getting us to this point. We are in the closing moments and we need to finish strong with fundraising. It’s crucial for us to come together as a benevolent community to get us where we need to be for both the Einstein Project and UW-Green Bay to foster the big impact this project will have on our region for the future.”
The Brown County STEM Innovation Center will serve as the home of UW-Green Bay’s Richard J. Resch School of Engineering, which will help address Northeast Wisconsin’s educational training and skills gap of qualified employees to support manufacturing growth and entrepreneurship. The first day of classes will be Sept. 3 (2019).
“We have a direct link to one of the finest and most innovative programs (Einstein Project) to get young people interested in STEM fields and careers,” says Chancellor Miller. “We want the community to know that (together) we’re pushing to finish this campaign.
“In order to create the best and most robust pipeline to fill Brown County’s employee engineering gap, we need to scale up the number of students we serve,” said Ellis.
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WiSys names UW-Green Bay’s Prof. Md Maruf Hossain 2019 Innovator of the Year
Green Bay, Wis. — For exemplary contributions to Wisconsin innovation, UW-Green Bay’s Md Maruf Hossain will receive the 2019 Carl E. Gulbrandsen Innovator of the Year Award. The honor will be presented to Hossain at WSTS, a UW System-focused research and innovation symposium, that will be held at UW-Stout, July 22-23.
“Dr. Maruf Hossain is a worthy recipient of this award as a role model with high-quality research and strong attention to student success,” said WiSys President, Arjun Sanga. “We are excited to present him with this award.”
WiSys is a nonprofit organization that works with faculty, staff, students and alumni of the UW System to facilitate cutting-edge research programs, develop and commercialize discoveries, and foster a spirit of innovative and entrepreneurial thinking across the state.
Hossain, UW-Green Bay assistant professor of Engineering Technology, has helped build a culture of innovation on the UW-Green Bay campus and across the UW System as a teacher and inventor. The professor’s interest in electrical power systems and renewable energy led him to research and develop wind turbines with help from UW System and WiSys research grants. Earlier this year, Hossain filed for a patent, working with WiSys, for an “Integrated Vertical Axis Wind Power Generation System” and recently developed a prototype to test his ideas.
“We are extremely proud of Dr. Maruf Hossain for being selected as the WiSys Innovator of the Year,” said UW-Green Bay Chancellor Gary Miller. “Dr. Hossain is a leading researcher in the Resch School of Engineering and a most valued member of our university community. Maruf exemplifies the commitment and innovative spirit of the UW-Green Bay faculty. This award is a much-deserved affirmation of the importance of his groundbreaking work.”
In 2018, Hossain was selected to participate in the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation’s Accelerator Program—an exclusive program that provides expert advice and targeted funding to help inventors advance commercially promising technologies closer to the marketplace.
In addition to pursuing his own interests, Hossain has been an advocate for student research at UW-Green Bay by encouraging students to pursue research opportunities as part of their education.
“Dr. Hossain is very deserving of the 2019 Carl E. Gulbrandsen Innovator of the Year Award from WiSys, said UW-Green Bay’s Dean of Science, Engineering and Technology, John Katers. “Maruf is a leader in the University’s new Richard J. Resch School of Engineering, where he is an outstanding teacher and conducts innovative and applied research that connects closely with our community partners. His research also provides opportunities for undergraduate students in our electrical engineering technology program to work directly with him on design, development, and prototyping, providing valuable hands-on experience that will lead to career opportunities for them upon graduation.”
Prior to joining UW-Green Bay, Hossain was the Herff Fellow at the University of Memphis. He also served as an assistant professor at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh for about nine months, and as a lecturer at the American International University-Bangladesh for about four and a half years.
Hossain received a Ph.D. from the University of Memphis and both M.Sc. and B.Sc. in electrical and electronic engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. His teaching and research expertise are mostly in the field of electrical and electronic engineering, especially in electrical power systems. Hossain has several peer-reviewed research articles published in reputed journals and has presented at national and international conferences.
The Carl E. Gulbrandsen Innovator of the Year Award is presented to a UW System faculty, staff member or student making exemplary contributions as a WiSys Innovator. The award, given in conjunction with WSTS, was created to honor the former managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation who supported WiSys throughout his 16-year tenure.
About the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is a comprehensive public institution offering undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs to nearly 8,000 students with campus locations in Green Bay, Marinette, Manitowoc and Sheboygan. Established in 1965 on the border of Green Bay, the University and its campuses are centers of cultural enrichment, innovation and learning. The Green Bay campus is home to one of the Midwest’s most prolific performing arts centers, a nationally recognized 4,000-seat student recreation center, D-I athletics, an award-winning nine-hole golf course and a five-mile recreational trail and arboretum, which is free and open to the public. This four-campus University transforms lives and communities through student-focused teaching and research, innovative learning opportunities, powerful connections and a problem-solving approach to education. UW-Green Bay’s main campus is centrally located, close to both the Door County resort area and the dynamic economies of Northeast Wisconsin, the Fox Valley region and the I-43 corridor. UW-Green Bay offers in-demand programs in science, engineering and technology; business; health, education and social welfare; and arts, humanities and social sciences. For more information, visit www.uwgb.edu.
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Future UW-Green Bay student awarded Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Initiative Scholarship
Future UW-Green Bay student Arabella Adams, a senior at Luxemburg-Casco High School, was presented with a $10,000 Herb Kohl Educational Foundation 2019 Initiative Scholarship. The Herb Kohl Initiative Scholarship recognizes “Students who have demonstrated a high level of motivation, have shown strong promise for achieving success in college and beyond, and have overcome significant personal obstacles or adversity.” Adams plans to study mechanical engineering.
Faculty note: Assistant Prof. Maruf Hossain publishes paper
UW-Green Bay Assistant Prof. Maruf Hossain’s (Electrical Engineering Technology) paper entitled “Robust estimation of voltage harmonics in a single-phase system,” has been published in a peer-reviewed journal, in IET Science, Measurement & Technology. The article is co-authored with an international team of researchers from UW-Green Bay (USA), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Bangladesh), Macquarie University , Sydney (Australia) and Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Copenhagen (Denmark). All the authors are thankful to Dean John Katers (College of Science, Engineering and Technology) for his support to set up the experimental lab to conduct the experiments.