Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Boise State Research and Grant Awards Rise 35 Percent

Boise State set a school record in research and grants in fiscal 2010, as external funding grew by greater than 35 percent. Funding jumped from $37 million in 2009 to more than $50 million.

Awards from the National Science Foundation increased 40 percent to $6.8 million while the National Institute of Health awards nearly tripled to $6.1 million.

“No one knows what America’s next big idea will be. But thanks to the efforts of Boise State faculty and students to expand the borders of their disciplines in the creation of new knowledge, I firmly believe that their research and creative endeavors will play a role in that innovation,” says Boise State President Bob Kustra.

In addition to marking the biggest year-to-year rise in school history, the total also broke records regarding support from key federal entities, patents issued and impacts to local and state economies.

Symphonic Winds Invited to Play at National College Band Directors Conference

The Boise State Symphonic Winds has been selected to perform at the 2011 National Conference of the College Band Directors National Association in Seattle March 23-26.  The 65-member student group is one of eight from across the nation invited to perform.

“This is our equivalent of receiving an invitation to play at the Fiesta Bowl," says Marcellus Brown, conductor and professor of music at Boise State.  "It is an honor and a significant accomplishment to be selected to perform at a national conference, and is a true barometer of the growth and quality of teaching at Boise State.  

The Symphonic Winds will perform two original works as part of a 50-minute program that will feature Leslie Moreau, a professor of clarinet at Boise State and an internationally recognized soloist.

Boise State Tied With Stanford and Louisville for Most Conference Championships

With its third, fourth and fifth conference championships that were won last weekend, Boise State is now tied with Stanford and Louisville for the most major college conference titles in the nation this school year (5).

Boise State captured Western Athletic Conference trophies in swimming & diving and men's indoor track & field and won the Pac-10 wrestling championship last weekend.  The achievements mark the first time in school history that the Broncos won three conference championships in the same weekend.  That brings Boise State's total to five this school year.  Last fall, the Broncos were the co-champions in football and won the WAC cross country title.

Stanford started the year with championships in men's and women's cross country, won the Pac-10 women's soccer title  and was co-champion in women's volleyball.  The Cardinal added a conference championship in women's swimming & diving last weekend.  Louisville has won Big East Conference championships in volleyball and both men's and women's swimming & diving and women's indoor track and shared the title in men's soccer. Florida is in third place with four conference championships while BYU, Michigan, Middle Tennessee and Syracuse have three each.

Boise State Construction Students Fare Well at Regional Competition

Boise State took top honors at the 24th annual Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Region 6 Student Competition recently in Reno, Nevada.  The competition is one of the largest of its kind and challenges Construction Management students in real-world, multi-million dollar construction scenarios laid out by industry sponsors.
“The competition is a tremendous experience for our students. Nothing gives them a better sense of the industry or builds more belief in themselves,” said Tony Songer, chair of Boise State’s CM Department. “The event is a great example of industry and academia working together to enhance student education, and it offers unparalleled opportunities to network with dozens of potential employers.”
More than 1,100 students competed on 173 teams from 43 universities and 15 states this year.  
Boise State teams placed in three of the four divisions, including a first-place prize in the Heavy Civil competition.  Boise State teams in the Design Build and Multi-Family divisions each earned second place.  

Members of Boise State’s award-winning teams are:
Heavy Civil: Stephen Earl (captain), Jared Staub, Matt Wilson, Shane Medley, Nick Meyer, Cody Allison, Brack Judy (alternate), Robert Nicol (alternate), Thomas Woodall (faculty coach)



Design Build: Tucker Robb (captain), Joe Coba, Casey Gaughan, Nathan Griggs, Tim Harris, Jared Townsend, Matt Basye (alternate), Tony Songer (faculty coach)
Multi-Family: Brian Root (captain), Alex Carles, Paul Haas, Drew Haviland, Josh Milton, Kris Moncada, Chase Dyksterhouse (alternate), William Mincks (faculty coach)
Six additional teams from Boise State competed in the open category that included teams from Auburn, Virginia Tech, University of Florida, Ball State, Purdue, Roger Williams University, Illinois State University, Texas A&M and the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Senocak Receives Prestigious CAREER Award

Boise State assistant professor Inanc Senocak has received the National Science Foundation's top award for early career faculty.  Senocak, who works in the Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, was honored with the $400,000 CAREER Award which recognizes individuals who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.
“Dr. Senocak is an exemplary faculty member, combining impressive work in the lab with engagement of students and community members in technical subjects that affect our lives and will shape the future,” said College of Engineering Interim Dean Amy Moll. “The CAREER Award is a fitting acknowledgement of his outstanding qualities and growing reputation in the field.”
Senocak is the seventh Boise State professor to receive a CAREER award, joining Susan Burkett (electrical and computer engineering), Megan Frary (materials science and engineering), Wan Kuang (electrical and computer engineering), John Lusth (computer science), Alex Punnoose (physics) and Elisa Barney Smith (electrical and computer engineering).    and engineering) and Wan Kuang (electrical and computer engineering).
Senocak earned a mechanical engineering degree at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey and received his master's and Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida.  Senocak has held postdoctoral research positions at the Center for Turbulence Research (jointly operated by NASA and Stanford University) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Senocak has focused on the atmosphere, from using supercomputers to simulate the physical processes that occur in its boundary layer to reconstructing the dispersion of airborne threats.  Senocak will use the CAREER Award funding to increasing the utilization of wind energy resources for electricity production.  
“Increasing the percentage of wind energy in overall electricity generation is much more sophisticated than simply installing wind farms in windy areas with complex terrain,” Senocak said. “The overall goal of this research is to better understand the characteristics of turbulent flows through complex terrain under different atmospheric conditions so that available wind power can be reliably forecast and integrated onto the grid.”
The supercomputing and 3D visualization aspects of the project will be used to motivate student interest in the computational sciences and bolster laboratory resources in fluid mechanics courses at Boise State. In addition, a supercomputing booth will be developed for use in K-12 outreach programs, with hands-on exercises for modeling and simulation of wind and visualization of scientific data and high-resolution imagery from Earth and space.

Be Sure to Click on Blog Archives

This blog allows you to easily find past articles.  The Blog Archive, located in the lower right-hand side, lists the dates of past articles.  By clicking on each date, you can see the titles of all the articles submitted on that date.

One that might be of special interest is the article that goes into different scenarios for seeding of teams in the upcoming WAC Men's Basketball Tournament.  It is included in the February 27 articles.