Author: Amber Padgett

Supported by a $15,000 grant from the Engineering Information Foundation, based in New York, NY, Clemson hosted the CU Women in Numbers (CU-WIN) summer camp for middle school girls in Charleston, SC this month. The two-week camp introduced participants to mathematical theories, applications, and role models in order to inspire greater persistence among women in the STEM pipeline.

Clemson’s Programs for Education Enrichment and Retention (PEER) and Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), led by Director Serita Acker, hosted the camp at the Clemson University Restoration Institute (CURI). Cummins, a leading power generation product company, helped provide funding and volunteers through their STEM and Women’s affiliates groups to support the camp.

The camp’s content and programming was designed and led by Clemson graduate students Maya Rucks and Rhoda Latimer. Participants enjoyed opportunities to engage as “digital pen pals” with a girls’ school in Ghana, sharing about their experiences with academics and future aspirations via video messages. The students also toured local Cummins and Boeing plants to see STEM in action.

Female industry representatives from Cummins and Boeing served as role models to the girls throughout the camp, helping them learn about their experiences working in a STEM field and the paths they took to achieve their career success.

Upstate elementary, middle, and high school students participated in an Autonomous Boat Summer Camp for Ocean Conservation led by automotive engineering professors Srikanth Pilla and Yunyi Jia at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). Sponsored by the Bosch Community Fund, the camp provides students with opportunities to engineer their own small self-driving boats and learn the importance of cleaning the oceans.

Mike McCormick, vice president and technical plant manager at Bosch Rexroth in Fountain Inn, said, “Bosch has always supported programming that combines STEM education with environmental stewardship initiatives and this is a terrific example of that cross-section.”

“Plastic waste is the biggest threat to our oceans,” said Jia. “Animals end up eating these microtoxins and, in turn, die. Or sometimes we end up eating the animals and effectively poison ourselves.”

Jia said the camp is intended to keep students interested in STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and math – but they also get a lot of  ecological and sustainability knowledge.

“While teaching them all sorts of great information on autonomy, we’re using this as an opportunity to also show them that the ocean is worth saving,” he said.

During the camp students are learning about the harms of plastics, the basics of boat building, software coding and, of course, boat autonomy.

Thanks to additional funding from the Bosch Community Fund, the camp builds on a previous 2017 grant supporting an autonomous boat competition among Clemson students at CU-ICAR. In that competition, 71 students were divided into 18 groups that built autonomous boats with cruise control, boundary tracking and collision avoidance using the sensing signal processing, filtering techniques and advanced control methods they learned in class.

Thank you, Bosch, for supporting STEM outreach and education in South Carolina!

On Wednesday, July 25, representatives from Wells Fargo visited the Clemson campus to celebrate the company’s longstanding support of the Call Me MISTER and Emerging Scholars programs, which spans more than ten years.

Call Me MISTER (CMM) was founded in 2000 to address the low numbers of African American men teaching in South Carolina public K-8 classrooms. CMM’s co-curricular approach pairs a rigorous educational curriculum with supplemental seminars in such topics as character development, community service, and teacher efficacy. CMM students (“Misters”) gain the knowledge/skills to be effective teachers, servant leaders (when servanthood comes first, leadership will naturally follow), and compelling role models for students of all backgrounds.

Emerging Scholars has seen great success in meeting its goal of creating a college-going culture in the state’s economically disadvantaged areas. Specific highlights include: 100 percent of its scholars graduated from high school; 90 percent of these students attend college or join the military their first year out of high school; and 79 percent of program participants who matriculated to some form of postsecondary school after graduation either attended a research institution or four-year college or university.

During the event, Wells Fargo heard about the impact of their investments in these two unique programs from student beneficiaries and from program directors and staff. Several Misters led the attendees in a group activity at lunch to demonstrate their classroom skills firsthand.

In his remarks, Provost Bob Jones discussed the importance of Wells Fargo’s impact on South Carolina: “Both the Emerging Scholars and Call Me MISTER programs have made a transformational impact on education in South Carolina and have allowed the dream of higher education to become a reality for hundreds of students. This success would not be possible without the generous support we have received from Wells Fargo over the years.”

Thank you, Wells Fargo, for your commitment to supporting South Carolina students through the promise of education!

The Duke Energy Foundation gave $85,000 to Clemson University to continue support of two summer programs that are aimed at increasing diversity in the pipeline that carries talent from academia to the workplace. The foundation granted $45,000 to Project WISE and $40,000 to PEER/WISE Summer Experiences.

Project WISE offers hands-on mini courses designed to develop middle school girls’ knowledge in STEM fields. The foundation expanded the grant last year to specifically target and recruit girls from the Pee Dee region to attend, and that effort continued this year. Sixty girls are enrolled in Project WISE. The Duke Energy Foundation has supported the program since 1997 and some of its alumni have gone on to become Clemson students.

PEER/WISE Summer Experiences seeks to increase the number of minority and female students who pursue both higher education and careers in STEM fields. Incoming Clemson freshmen who participate in the three-week PEER/WISE Summer Experiences will earn two hours of college course credit through both online and in-person educational opportunities, and will be provided with hands-on STEM learning and research experiences.

The program seeks to help students understand the difference between the academic demands of high school and college, and introduce them to the academically intensive STEM college experience through instruction and study skills development in mathematics and engineering from Clemson faculty.

“Programs like these are crucial to giving young people the skills they will need to succeed in the 21st century as well as create a diverse workforce,”  said Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, Duke Energy’s South Carolina state president. “Our ongoing partnership with Clemson University helps produce skilled workers, grow communities and bring them new ideas.”

Both camps are organized by PEER & WISE, a program in the university’s College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences that supports groups underrepresented in engineering and science.

Serita Acker, the director of PEER & WISE, said she is grateful for the foundation’s continued support.

“Duke Energy’s contributions and visionary thinking are helping us transform lives and keep the pipeline filled with diverse talent,” she said. “We are deeply appreciative for their support of Project WISE and PEER/WISE Summer Experiences.”

Clemson University’s Wood Utilization + Design Institute (WU+D) has added California-based company Katerra to its member program. Katerra joined the institute as a Founding Member, giving $50,000 toward the institute’s mission of researching, educating and providing resources for industry stakeholders in a variety of disciplines to advance wood-based products.

“Clemson is delighted to have Katerra as one of its founding partners,” said Pat Layton, WU+D director. “The innovation they are bringing to the construction industry to set forward a path to increase efficiencies within the building construction systems may provide a transformational change in how we build homes and communicate in the future.”

“We are pleased to be a part of the Wood Utilization + Design Institute, which is bringing together diverse stakeholders to advance the wood products industry in South Carolina and throughout the Southeast,” said Hans-Erik Blomgren, PE SE, director of testing and characterization at Katerra. “Mass timber represents the future of sustainable construction. Through effective collaboration we can drive positive economic and environmental outcomes for end consumers, companies and students alike.”

Katerra is an end-to-end construction and technology services company that applies systems approaches to remove unnecessary time and costs from building design and construction. Katerra’s offerings span architecture and engineering services to interior design, materials supply and construction management for a growing number of building markets: multifamily housing, mass timber high rises, master plan developments, industrial, education, hospitality, student housing and retail buildouts.

Thank you, Katerra, for supporting the next generation of talent for the wood products industry!

BMW has continued its longstanding support of Clemson’s Call Me MISTER and German Language programs with two new $50,000 gifts.

BMW has supported the Call Me MISTER program annually since 2002.  Call Me MISTER pairs a traditional educational curriculum with supplemental seminars in topics such as character development, community service, and teacher efficacy so that the students who emerge from the program as Misters are equipped with the knowledge and skills to not only be effective teachers, but also compelling role models for students of all backgrounds.

BMW has supported the German Language Program at Clemson annually since 2003. BMW’s investment has supported such initiatives as the BMW Lecturer of German, held by Lee Ferrell, the annual German Summit held each spring, the Clemson Language Intensive Program, and the International Forum for German and Spanish in the Professions.

Thank you, BMW, for supporting Clemson students and programs!

Ford Motor Company will sponsor the 10th generation Deep Orange vehicle prototype designed and conceived by automotive engineering students at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).

Deep Orange is hands-on project-based learning focused on systems integration and innovation. The project showcases advanced technology and provides students an opportunity to work directly with automotive industry partners to develop innovative ideas and concepts.

For the tenth iteration of Deep Orange, students will develop a clean slate, purpose-built, electric autonomous mobility concept for 2030 Smart City life. Automotive engineering students will gain real-world experience by developing an ingenious vehicle design, open autonomous vehicle architecture and disruptive innovations. As part of the educational experience, students will explore innovations in user experience, such as ride comfort, voice and gesture control, and integration of passenger biometric and pose information with vehicle functions.

“We look forward to the fresh insights and the energy that the Clemson students will bring to the vehicle development process,” said James Forbes, technical leader UX Implementation for Ford Motor Company. “This collaboration will provide us a new perspective on the opportunities presented by cutting-edge technologies now available to us.”

For more information, visit: http://newsstand.clemson.edu/mediarelations/ford-motor-company-to-sponsor-clemson-deep-orange-10-autonomous-vehicle-prototype. 

The Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia has awarded Clemson’s School of Nursing a $94,000 grant to provide scholarships for undergraduate women. This year, the scholarships have been expanded to include Accelerated Second Degree nursing students.

The Foundation’s scholarship program awards annual grants for the education of deserving female students with financial need at more than 200 accredited educational institutions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Most of the scholarship grants support undergraduate higher education, though the Foundation maintains a special interest in health education. A significant number of their grants target education in the medical, nursing, and allied health fields.

“We have been impressed with the quality of the nursing program at Clemson and are pleased to help its students achieve their education dreams,” said Carrie Conway, Senior Program Officer for the Foundation.  “We know that Clemson nursing graduates will touch countless lives, and we hope they will be guided by the same generosity of spirit that characterized Mrs. Whitehead’s life and work.”

Since 1994, the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation has supported Clemson’s School of Nursing with gifts totaling $964,000.

Kathleen Valentine, the School of Nursing Director, said she is grateful for the foundation’s gift which she said makes a huge difference in the lives of students.

“We are so grateful to the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation for their continuous support since 1994. Total gifts of nearly $1 million makes a difference in the lives of students,” Valentine said. “This gives them the opportunity for them to focus more on their studies, and patients will ultimately benefit from well prepared and committed nurses.”

For more information, visit: http://newsstand.clemson.edu/lettie-pate-whitehead-foundation-helps-nursing-students-through-scholarship-funding-increased-this-year

The Bosch Community Fund has awarded Clemson a $40,000 grant to develop and execute a STEM outreach program focused on autonomous boat technologies for students across the Upstate.

This award builds on a September 2017 grant from the Bosch Community Fund that supported the development of an autonomous boat “road map” using the AB developed by Bosch Rexroth apprentices as a springboard. The outcome of the first grant period was a roadmap outlining the full scope of the AB platform and its potential integration into education and outreach, integration of the AB into a Clemson Automotive Electronics course (71 students), and an autonomous boat competition by students

In the summer of 2018, Drs. Srikanth Pilla and Yunyi Jia in Automotive Engineering will engage approximately 20-40 students from Clemson, a technical college (e.g. Greenville Technical College), and local middle and high schools (e.g. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School, the South Carolina’s Governor School for Mathematics and Sciences) in sustainability, advanced materials, and autonomous technologies training using the Bosch autonomous boat concept and the platform that Drs. Jia and Pilla co-developed using prior grant support.

In the fall of 2018, they will engage a multi-disciplinary team of approximately 80-100 Clemson graduate students in a design competition. Dr. Pilla’s students will participate in a sustainable boat design and sustainability analysis course, and Dr. Jia’s students will participate in a sensing and autonomy design course. Students from both courses will combine their skills and knowledge to design sustainable and autonomous boats for an end-of-semester competition.

Thank you, Bosch Community Fund, for supporting STEM outreach and education at Clemson!

On Monday, Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) joined representatives from Clemson’s College of Science and College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences to celebrate the eighteen recipients of the SRNL University Scholarship. President Jim Clements and College of Science Founding Dean Cynthia Young spoke on the partnership between SRNL and Clemson University and the value that it brings to students. “When I asked [the scholars] why a scholarship like this was so impactful, they gave me two big answers: one, that they can afford to work in a research lab or take a summer internship instead of working other jobs to help defray student loan debt; and two, they felt that having this scholarship opens doors to great opportunities.”

SRNL donated $144,000 to Clemson to establish the SRNL University Scholars program to award scholarships to qualified students in STEM majors. “Through this agreement, the board of directors of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions is making a significant investment in the future of the region’s workforce. Not only does this program financially support STEM students, it also connects them with the scientists and technologists at Savannah River National Laboratory that can help them build challenging and rewarding careers right here in our region,” said Dr. Terry A. Michalske, Laboratory Director of SRNL, who also spoke at the event.

This 2017-2018 SRNL University Scholarship recipients include:
Luna Bozeman, Mathematical Sciences
Michael Calfe, Biosystems Engineering
Matthew Case, Chemistry
Bryce DeChamplain, Biological Sciences
Rebecca Jones, Genetics
Erik Kropilak, Mechanical Engineering
Sloan Nietert, Mathematical Sciences
Polly Payne, Mathematical Sciences
Scott Pope, Materials Science and Engineering
Andrew Randazza, Civil Engineering
Andrew Shore, Physics
Ryan Stoyko, Industrial Engineering
Nicholas Szwast, Environmental Engineering
Jacob Thompson, Electrical Engineering
Andrea Vera Martinez, Bioengineering
Sarah Waldvogel, Biochemistry
Nick Whitesides, Microbiology
Kristen Wong, Genetics