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On April 12-13, Clemson University hosted the second annual National Men of Color Summit at the TD Convention Center in Greenville, South Carolina. The sold-out summit was attended by two thousand people and had over 45 sessions designed to encourage students to evaluate and discover their full potential. The two-day event was sponsored by a variety of corporate partners including BB&T, Michelin, Hubbell Lighting, BMW, ScanSource, Duke Energy, Bon Secours, Synnex, Boeing, Milliken and Fluor.

Keynote speakers included:

– President James E. Clark, South Carolina State University
– Brian Heat, Educator and Entrepreneur
– President Chris Howard, Robert Morris University
– Tom Joyner, radio host of “The Tom Joyner Morning Show”
– Roland Martin, journalist
– Wes Moore, CEO and founder of BridgeEdu
– Commissioner Carlos Santiago, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
– Damon Williams, chief catalyst, Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation
– Juan Williams, FOX News political analyst and commentator

“We intentionally identify speakers and presenters who can identify with the challenges and issues these students face,” Lee Gill, Clemson’s chief diversity officer, said. “We want these students to see themselves in the successes of our speakers.”

The goal of the summit was to engage and develop relationships among the participants, expose them to the college environment, provide positive male role models, connect students to campus resources, and help attendees take ownership of their own success.

Clemson University has been awarded a $5,000 grant by AFL, an international company focused on manufacturing, engineering, and installing fiber optic products and equipment, for the Charles H. Townes Optical Science and Engineering Summer Program. The Townes Program is an undergraduate student experience where students from diverse backgrounds in materials science and engineering come to Clemson University for a 10-week summer program to work in laboratories at Clemson’s Center for Optical Materials Science and Engineering Technologies (COMSET). Between 8 and 12 students are accepted into the program every year and are immersed in a campus residency where they gain hands-on research experience and participate in training programs and workshops. Each participant in the Townes program spends 28 hours per week in the lab working on group projects, which they present to faculty, staff, and industry at a poster session at the end of the 10-week program.

Funding from AFL will support a summer scholarship for a student, mystery bag engineering design competition supplies, weekly professional development lunch & learns, student research project supplies, and a student research poster session. Clemson University is one of six Upstate organizations to receive community grants from AFL. These grants, made possible by AFL’s Community Outreach Program, were given to programs that align with AFL’s focus on STEM education and social service outreach.

Dr. Ballato received his undergraduate and PhD degrees from Rutgers University in 1993 and 1997, respectively, and then joined the Ceramic Engineering faculty at Clemson. He has been at Clemson for 21 years. During his time here, he has worked to establish the COMSET research center, which includes the nation’s premier academic laboratory for optical fiber development. Optical fiber is involved whenever and wherever someone sends or receives data, such as email, websites, social media, or e-commerce.

At COMSET, Dr. Ballato studies new materials and methods for making novel optical fibers used for communications and lasers for manufacturing and defense. Companies are situated at every step of this value chain, so industrial partnerships are critical to the transition of his lab’s concepts into the market.

Dr. Ballato notes, “Collaboration with Corporate and Foundation Relations started many years ago when we were first developing our optical fiber capabilities and several companies valued that effort. For the eight years that I was in the research and economic development leadership team at Clemson, industrial partnerships were central to our efforts, and CFR was a great partner.”

The COMSET laboratory has worked with over 150 global partners and their approach to making novel optical fibers is now used in more than 40 countries. Dr. Ballato is graduating two PhD students this year and is excited to search for and recruit a new cohort of students who will help Clemson chart the future for optical fiber.

Clemson University associate professor of English, Rhondda Robinson Thomas has received a $50,000 Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship to share the university’s history through a museum exhibition called “Black Clemson: From Enslavement to Integration.”

This fellowship will help the exhibit travel to 10 sites across South Carolina for two years. Thomas is also partnering with local organizations to create a series of public events that further illuminate the history of Clemson, as not only a university, but also a town. “Black Clemson” is an extension of Thomas’ earlier initiative, “Call My Name: African Americans in Early Clemson University History.” This initiative has digitized over 2,000 documents related to Clemson history, including slave inventories, prison records, labor contracts, photographs, and correspondence.

Thomas is one of seven individuals to receive the 2018-19 Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship for work in the humanities disciplines of history, literature, philosophy, anthropology, and gender studies. “I am honored to be a member of the cohort of Whiting Public Engagement Fellows for the 2018-2019 academic year,” Thomas said. “This fellowship will enable me to increase the visibility and impact of my ‘Black Clemson: From Enslavement to Integration’ traveling museum exhibition project in South Carolina and the nation.”

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

Sonoco, one of the largest global diversified packaging companies, has partnered with Clemson to establish the Sonoco FRESH (Food Research Excellence for Safety and Health) innovation hub, which seeks to develop new technologies and new forms of packaging to optimize the fresh food lifecycle. Sonoco FRESH will be housed in the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics, and Sonoco has invested a gift of $1.725 million and research support of $1 million to establish the Sonoco FRESH hub.

To celebrate this new partnership, key stakeholders from Clemson and Sonoco gathered for a luncheon at the Madren Center on February 20. Guests were welcomed by Dr. George Askew, Dean of the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences and listened to remarks by Dr. Jim Clements, President of Clemson University and Rob Tiede, CEO Elect of Sonoco. After lunch, Dr. Askew led a panel discussion featuring perspectives from agribusiness, industry, and academia. Panelists included Chalmers Carr, President and CEO of Titan Farms; Kay Cooksey, PhD, Cryovac Endowed Chair and Professor of Food, Nutrition and Packaging Science; Jeff Rhodehamel, PhD, Department Chair and Professor of Food, Nutrition and Packaging Science; Ryan Ramey, graduate student in Food, Nutrition and Packaging Science; Jeff Schuetz, Staff Vice President of Global Technology for Sonoco; and Hugh Weathers, South Carolina’s Commissioner of Agriculture. Topics of discussion ranged from packaging innovations to reduce food waste to new technologies that will optimize the fresh food lifecycle to how this private-public sector partnership will uniquely position Sonoco FRESH as a leader in tackling the global issue of food waste.

For more information, visit: http://newsstand.clemson.edu/mediarelations/sonoco-announces-5-year-2-725-million-fresh-packaging-initiative-with-clemson. 

On February 3, Charleston hosted the 2018 Charleston STEM Festival, presented by Bosch. The one-day festival featured 80 exhibitors that provided hands-on activities, live performances, interactive demonstrations, and family-oriented STEM entertainment. The free event brought guests of all ages to participate in interactive presentations like “Ask a Meteorologist,” a Career Concourse featuring job training and educational opportunities from STEM companies and institutions, and hands-on STEM activities at exhibits.

The 2018 Festival was made possible through Clemson’s partnerships with top STEM corporations including Google, Nucor, Boeing, Dominion Energy, Cummins, SPAWAR Systems Atlantic, Berkeley Electric Cooperative, Mercedes-Benz Vans, and Home Telecom.

The Charleston STEM Festival’s purpose is to increase awareness of the role of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in society, promoting responsible science in the region, and conveying the joy of STEM to South Carolina. The Charleston STEM Festival is an initiative of the Lowcountry STEM Collaborative and is managed by South Carolina’s Coalition for Mathematics and Science and Clemson University.

For more information, visit: http://charlestonstemfest.org.

Clemson University unveiled the new Clemson Vehicle Assembly Center on Thursday in Greenville. The Center will be a hub for automotive researchers, students, and manufacturers where they can collaborate to develop and learn advanced manufacturing techniques.

As part of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), the Vehicle Assembly Center is a collaboration between BMW Manufacturing, Siemens, Clemson, and Greenville Technical College. The 4,000-square-foot center will not only have a full vehicle assembly line, but also a joining lab, sub-assembly lab, embedded devices lab, collaborative robotics center, and autonomous factory vehicles.

Research will be conducted primarily by faculty and students in Clemson’s College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences. Greenville Tech students will be enrolled in manufacturing training programs.

“BMW Plant Spartanburg continues to grow. A highly-skilled, well-educated workforce is essential to meet the challenges of the next generation of vehicles,” Knudt Flor, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing said. “The Vehicle Assembly Center and its project-based learning approach promise to prepare a workforce with the skills needed to be successful in the premium automotive industry.”

For more information, visit: http://newsstand.clemson.edu/mediarelations/clemson-launches-advanced-manufacturing-research-and-workforce-development-hub-in-greenville.

The CFR team is beginning a new series of faculty and staff feature stories to highlight partnerships with the academy that have increased corporate support of Clemson. Our first feature highlights Dr. Todd Marek, Executive Director of Clemson’s Watt Family Innovation Center.

Dr. Marek works closely with the Corporate and Foundation Relations team to establish strategic partnerships with corporations to support the needs of the Watt Center and the many students, faculty, and staff who engage with the Center each semester.

Throughout graduate school, Dr. Marek was very interested in medical instrumentation and imaging. His research at that time was in the area of highly parallel computer architectures and processing. After he graduated, he had the opportunity to work at MIT Lincoln Laboratory developing satellite communications systems for military requirements. He spent 6 years at Lincoln Laboratory and then transitioned into private industry for a company that provides engineering services for the US government. He spent 18 years with Scientific Research Corporation working in engineering, project leadership, and technical director roles. During much of this time, he led the Communications, Networks, and Electronics division and supported numerous projects for the US Air Force, the US Army, and several other clients.

As for his work with the Watt Center, Dr. Marek says, “The innovation cycle at the Watt Center depends on ideas and creativity originating from interactions between students, faculty, and industry partners. Industry input helps clarify the problem definition, and also helps establish boundary conditions that define acceptable or commercially meaningful solutions. Many of our industry partners have contributed their advanced products and tools to the Watt Center, giving students access to technology that would otherwise be unavailable to them.”

Currently, The Watt Center is actively engaged with about 30 companies. “Corporate and Foundation Relations team members have provided great support to our interactions with these companies. It is a true partnership with CFR where we each have elements of the company relationship that we lead and other elements where we provide support.”

As an alumnus of Clemson, Dr. Marek shares the same devotion to Clemson as current students. He notes, “There are so many amazing things happening at Clemson – it is a very exciting time to be a part of it all.” If Dr. Marek had to choose his favorite thing about working at Clemson it would be that he loves the energy, creativity, and optimism that he sees in Clemson students.

He is particularly excited about two major initiatives that are developing at the Watt Center: first, they are expanding their offerings that invite innovation at the intersection of art and technology; second, they are looking into ways the Watt Center can lead multidisciplinary activity at the convergence of analytics, visualization, cybersecurity, emergency management, and public administration.

The Watt Center is so much more than just a great place to study or have a class. There are always great opportunities for multidisciplinary interaction and involvement. You can get involved with the Watt Center by following them on Twitter @WattCenter.

First Citizens Bank has partnered with Clemson University with a three-year, $60,000 contribution to the College of Business. This donation will fund CU Business EDGE (Engage Students in Development and Global Experiences), a new program that pairs students’ educational experience with a variety of engaging activities that will sharpen their soft skills and help differentiate them in the job market. First Citizens also has announced it is contributing an additional $40,000 toward construction of the new business school, expected to be completed in January of 2020.

First Citizens’ contribution will fully fund CU Business EDGE, allowing the program to improve and expand initiatives such as etiquette dinners, workshops, and other career oriented events.  “First Citizens stepping up like this will help our students become more well-rounded and competitive,” Helen Diamond Steele, director of student enrichment for the business college, said. “This partnership is going to provide us the wherewithal to deliver these programs on a larger scale.”

Chuck Perry, an ’84 graduate of Clemson’s business college and the area executive for First Citizens Bank, believes that the partnership between First Citizens and Clemson will not only enrich development opportunities for students, but also open a talent pipeline for his employer.

“In supporting Clemson’s next generation of talent, First Citizens is hoping this partnership will make a difference in students’ lives and, of course, their careers,” said Perry, of Clemson. “We are well aware of the caliber of student the Clemson business college graduates, and we hope this connection will also make them more aware of the career opportunities First Citizens Bank has to offer.”