Dr. Albert Karvelis, Ph.D., P.E. will present “Building a Career in Engineering – Lessons Learned” at lunchtime on May 14.
This talk will be held in Room 1-819, and lunch will be served to the first 50 attendees. More information is available here.
May 09
Student invention featured on MLive
Billy Lindeman recently talked with MLive’s Blake Thorne about a new product he’s building, Ember:
It turns your phone into a kind of universal remote. But for almost anything that runs on electricity.
Hook it to a light bulb and dim the kitchen lights from the couch. Snap it to the thermostat and check the temperature from your phone.“Your phone is the best interface you have and you always have it with you, so you might as well use it to control everything around you,” said Billy Lindeman, a 23-year-old computer science major at Kettering University behind the project.
May 08
Kettering University student discusses disc golf
Kettering University student Kevin Loughlin was recently interviewed by a disc golf recreation website about the pastime:
Kevin Loughlin, 19, began playing disc golf about four years ago. The 2011 Brandon High School graduate now attends Kettering University in Flint, but during the summer, plays the sport 2-3 times a week, usually at Holly Recreation Area, Baycourt Park in Clarkston, or at Seymour Lake Park in Oxford.
“The best part is hanging out with friends and it’s cheap,” said Loughlin. “It’s pretty easy to get into, there are a lot of different techniques and throws you can learn and there is always room to improve. In just my couple years of playing, disc golf has really increased in popularity and a lot of parks are flooded with people. It would be fun to play another course and spread people out so they wouldn’t be as busy… There are plenty of parks where walking paths go through and everyone is respectful of each other.”
May 07
Distingished Faculty Speaker Series continues May 9
Dr. Laura Sullivan from the ME Department will continue the Distinguished Faculty Speaker Series on Thursday, May 9th at 12:25pm when she presents: “Humanitarian Aid Engineering: Problem Solving Without a Textbook”.\
Dr. Sullivan founded and continues to lead the Kettering Chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Since its inception this group has been sharing their engineering skills locally and globally.
All faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend, and lunch will be served to the first 100 people.
Location: 2-225 AB from 12:25 – 1:15 pm
May 06
Student, alumnus startup featured in The New York Times
Kettering University graduate Brian Falther and current student Austin Lawrence recently had their startup, Future Tech Farm, featured in an article in The New York Times:
Enter Future Tech Farms, the high-tech gardening brainchild of Brian Falther and his business partner, Austin Lawrence. The two mechanical engineers are trying to develop a network of indoor gardening pods, hooked up via phone or home Wi-Fi, to a social pod network, which would share information on the most effective growing conditions.
“The whole goal is to create a food production format for the world that is ecologically sustainable, energy sustainable and carbon neutral,” said Mr. Falther, a 2010 graduate of Kettering University in Flint, Mich., where Mr. Lawrence is a senior. “I don’t know why everyone isn’t doing this.”
Why indeed? The small self-contained pods would collect data on water temperature, light, pH levels and such. Then the information on what works best could be shared on the network, making it easier for newcomers and participants to garden, Mr. Falther said.
The two have more than $30,000 in start-up money and are hoping that someday their pods will be as familiar a sight in homes as refrigerators and televisions.
May 03
Flint Institute of Arts Friends of Modern Art film schedule for May
Unless noted, screenings in the FOMA Film Series begin at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays at the Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 E. Kearsley St. Admission at the door is $6 for non-members, $5 for FIA members, $4 FOMA members. Details: (810) 234-1695, flintarts.org.
May 3-5: Beyond the Hills
(Romania-France-Belgium, 2012) Directed by Cristian Mungiu, 150 min., subtitled, not rated
Two longtime friends are reunited at a secluded convent in Romania where spiritual rebellion prompts a drastic response. Akin to The Exorcist, this tale of revenge and unrequited love from the maker of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is “quietly devastating,” writes Rolling Stone.
May 10-12: Gimme the Loot
(U.S., 2012) Directed by Adam Leon, 81 min., not rated
Two teenage graffiti artists scheme to paint-“bomb” a Big Apple landmark: the New York Mets baseball team’s famed “home run apple.” This exuberant comedy about the quest for celebrity is an impressive debut feature for writer-director Adam Leon.
May 17-19: Lore
(Germany-Australia-U.K., 2012) Directed by Cate Shortland, 109 min., subtitled, not rated
In a World War II drama based on Rachel Seiffert’s novel The Dark Room, the daughter of Nazis arrested by Allied forces ventures across Germany with her four younger siblings, only to find that a young Jewish refugee may be their only hope of survival.
May 24-26: Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
(Germany, 2012) Directed by Werner Herzog, 90 min., not rated
Master filmmaker Werner Herzog continues his remarkable run of documentaries with a study of the indigenous people living in the heart of Siberia, whose daily routines and cultural traditions have charged little over the past century. “Priceless” was Roger Ebert’s description of the film.
May 30-31 and June 2: Bless Me, Ultima
(U.S., 2013) Directed by Carl Franklin, 106 min., rated PG-13
Based on Rudolfo Anaya’s controversial novel, this poignant 1940s-set drama focuses on the relationship between a young Mexican-American man and an elderly medicine woman who helps him contend with the battle between good and evil that rages in his New Mexico village.
(Note special Thursday screening on May 30 at 7:30 p.m. There is no show Saturday, June 1.)
Also in May at the FIA: The Karen Schneider Jewish Film Festival of Flint (with Hava Nagila: The Movie (May 5), The Other Son (May 6), Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story (May 7), A Bottle in the Gaza Sea (May 8) and AKA Doc Pomus (May 9). All screenings at 7 p.m.; admission is $5 per film. Presented by the FIA and the Flint Jewish Federation.
May 02
Kettering professor Dr. Greg Davis discusses engineering education with SAE International
Kettering University Mechanical Engineering professor Dr. Greg Davis recently discussed engineering education with SAE International. From the story:
Hands-on learning is an invaluable component of engineering education. According to Kettering University professor Gregory Davis, who is also the school’s Director of the Automotive Engine Research Laboratory, college students “need to be challenged to study the complex interactions of real engineering systems.”
And one way to challenge the minds of college students is via the SAE Collegiate Design Series, which include Supermileage, Baja SAE, Clean Snowmobile, Aero Design, as well as Formula Hybrid, Formula Electric, and Formula SAE. All these competitions involve teamwork centered on the tasks of designing and building a vehicle.
“One of the benefits I see with the (SAE) challenges is these events really allow the students to apply principles that they’re learning in school—maybe in isolated classes—and weave those ideas together to solve a real problem,” said Davis.
May 01
Office hours available for students to meet with Kettering University President
Kettering University President Robert McMahan has regular office hours each term for students interested in meeting with him. His student office hours schedule is posted on this website. Bookmark that site for the most up-to-date schedule. Here is his current spring schedule:
Student Office Hours
(Spring Term, 2013)
Meet with President McMahan in his office located in the Campus Center.
8th Week, Thu, May 23 *Tentative*
Hours: 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Hours: 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
9th Week, Wed, May 29 *Tentative*
Hours: 3:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Hours: 3:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
10th Week, Tue, June 4
Hours: 3:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Hours: 3:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
11th Week, Tue, June 11
Hours: 3:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Hours: 3:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
May 01
Free City Public Art Festival in Chevy in the Hole this weekend
Free City is a large-scale, open-air public art festival that will take place May 3 – 5 at a former Chevrolet manufacturing site known as Chevy-in-the-Hole. More than 75 artists and organizations from around the world will offer free art installations, video projections, music, dance, and theater performances, and hands-on arts workshops. Visitors to the festival will also be able to take tours of the Chevy site by foot and by bike, and can enjoy food and drink from local vendors.With this year’s theme, “Reclaim | Transform,” Free City will demonstrate that a critical mass of temporary activities can turn abandoned industrial sites into great public spaces, and will highlight the ongoing transformation of Flint. See the website for more information.
Apr 30
Guest blog: Work, Play, Eat, Sleep, Repeat
Chaz Mancino
Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog post by Kettering freshman Charles ‘Chaz’ Mancino. Chaz, who is from Fredonia, NY, and is majoring in Mechanical Engineering, will occasionally post his thoughts about his freshman year experiences on Life at Kettering. If you’d like to write a guest blog post, e-mail phayes(at)kettering(dot)edu. Chaz’s other posts: Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3 | Post 4 | Post 5 | Post 6 | Post 7 | Post 8 | Post 9
An orchestra of alarms sounds off a symphony in order to wake the slumbering grizzly bear. After a few minutes of blasting noise, a hand reaches up, bats swiftly around, and hits the big red button to turn off the sound system. A mass moves around in the cave created by sheets of cloth. Legs appear from the bottom of the sheets, swinging viciously to find the floor beneath them. Grumpily, the mass emerges from the cave. Its hair resembles that of Bigfoot’s as it stumbles across the room to find some food. After walking around for a few minutes, the door opens, and the bear walks out into the cold morning. The wind blows around the bear’s face, instantly awaking him up. Slumping into his car, the bear fires up the engine and heads about his way.
Maybe the real working world is not as bad as a tamed bear waking up and driving to work in the morning. Getting up in the morning is still a hard task to accomplish, but, after that, working life is more fun than it seems. When working for a company that is involved with the automotive industry, one can only hope to play with actual prototype vehicles. What may seem like a dream becomes a reality with the co-op program. Instrumenting, testing, collecting data, taking off instruments. Go home. Sleep. Wake up. Come back and do the same thing. Everyday. Perhaps on a different vehicle.
However, there are some bad parts about fending for oneself. Buying food, gas and paying for rent. All while trying to save for college and for extras like new car parts. That list does not include the obvious: preparing food, washing dishes, and, the most dreaded thing to all young adults, waking up in the early morning to get ready for the day. No more sleeping in or staying up late. It could be worse. One could be a bear trying to adjust to human life.
Of course, there are plenty of activities to do outside of work as well. After getting home to an apartment or house after a long day at work, there are many things one can do to burn up the rest of the daylight left in a day. Working out, hanging out with friends, playing videogames, or even building a racecar. Then there are the weekends, which are unburdened by homework and studying. Time to relax and sleep. Time to recuperate and prepare for another week of building, instrumenting, and testing. Like everything, the fun has just begun, and every Monday starts a new adventure of learning while working.
For my second work term, I still work at Tenneco in Grass Lake, Mich. Last work term, I was a part of the Caterpillar group. This work term, I am a part of the Product Validation Engineering (PVE) group. In other words, I get to instrument, gage, and test the exhaust systems of different vehicles. By “test,” I mean that I have the opportunity to travel to proving grounds and collect data on exhaust systems in order to determine how much strain they go through while on different vehicles being driven around the bends and curves of the roads there. It also means that I can help set up an exhaust system on one of Tenneco’s many rigs in order to evaluate what happens to it throughout its lifetime on a vehicle. In addition, I have the opportunity to place gages on the different exhaust parts that are about to be tested. This is pretty cool stuff because I can learn about things like probability and vehicle fatigue, both of which will help me better understand concepts while I am on school term. These concepts can be applied to both the classroom and the SAE garage, where it is almost time for the formula team to unleash our four-wheeled gem of a race car to the world. That is right. It is almost time for oil to run through my veins more than ever with our competitions coming up. Two in May. One in June. One great opportunity for anyone attending Kettering University to get his or her hands dirty.
Life is hard for a young adult to make the transformation from a full-time college student to a full-time employee doing 40-hour workweeks. The hardest part may be the transformation of being a semi-nocturnal creature to a morning creature resembling a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed squirrel that has drank enough coffee to fill the Pacific Ocean. Getting up early in the morning, eating breakfast, paying for food, gas, rent, and school. All while trying to maintain a social life. The days of playgrounds and hide-and-go-seek may be well past my lifetime, but now I get to do something as a college student that some people may never do: play with prototypes. An added bonus is that one actually learns while on work term, making an educational quilt that is sewn together by knowledge from both school and work terms. That makes life much easier than a bear trying to adjust to human life.
Student Blogger: Kaila Hart
Student Blogger: Hunter Casbeer
Student Blogger: Chaz Mancino
Student Blogger: Nathan Ply
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