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| | Commencing in October 2007, Martha Layne became the Department Administrative Coordinator, in charge of managing the Department office in OCNL 419. Ms. Layne comes to the Department with much experience in financial and administrative support. A graduate of Chico State, she has managed the University Writing Center as well as working in the English Department and the Department of Foreign Languages. . . Welcome Martha | |
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| | Professor Greg Kallio has been awarded a Lantis Professorship that will allow him to build on work already begun with colleagues on developing design guidelines for Zero Energy Homes (ZEH) in the North State.
Kallio started working seriously on the idea of ZEH during fall 2006 with two colleagues, Dan Toy from Business, whose primary interest is marketing and consumer behavior, and Steve Dennis, Recreation and Parks Management, whose expertise is in the area of environmental impact. As a multidisciplinary team, they began working on the challenge of designing a ZEH that is affordable, aesthetic, and as comfortable as a conventional home.
The time seems right to pursue such a goal, as the costs of energy-efficient building and solar technologies have decreased, complemented by increases in federal and state incentives. The National Association of Home Builders has predicted that ZEH concepts will diffuse into the U.S. housing market in the next several years and be responsible for reducing residential energy use by 19 percent by 2050, while the number of total homes will increase by 39 percent.
An Environmental Creativity Research Grant from the Bidwell Environmental Institute (BEI) to Kallio, Toy, Dennis, and Kristin Cooper-Carter (Concrete Industry Management) in June 2006 supported a year-long projected titled “Sustainable Residential Construction Practices for the North State.” The objective of the grant was to accumulate, translate, and disseminate cost-benefit information that would allow the local building industry and homeowners to compare the value of various green technologies. After examining many available designs, they decided to focus on wall systems. These include conventional stick frame, optimal value engineering stick frame, structural insulated panels, integrated concrete forms, and other thermal mass wall designs.
Kallio’s Lantis Professorship will extend the BEI grant work done on wall systems to include computer simulations of ZEH that incorporate thermal mass wall systems, a survey of advanced cooling systems, and the integration of photovoltaic and thermal systems. The latter are known as PVT hybrid systems, which can provide both electricity and water/space heating with less roof real estate and higher efficiency. Kallio will focus on specific building energy systems that hold promise for the northern Sacramento Valley region and will include students in many phases of the research and testing.
The team (Kallio,Toy, and Dennis) is also developing a longer-term project proposal for the California Energy Commission Building Energy Research Grant Program to conduct (1) computer energy simulations of entire homes, (2) experimental testing of specific building components, and (3) experimental testing of entire buildings. The latter objective will require the construction of small test homes outfitted with sensors and instrumentation that will demonstrate how various construction designs and energy systems work in different climate zones.
Kallio is excited to launch this project in green building during a time when our earth’s finite resources and human impact to the planet are finally receiving due attention. The Lantis project is essentially a culmination of his 18 years of teaching in the energy sciences, his efforts to develop renewable energy labs for students, his past research in air pollution control, and his passion for promoting energy efficiency. He feels fortunate to have colleagues who are equally committed to this venture and to work at a university where sustainability has become a strategic priority. | |
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| | CSU, Chico students in Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering received a total of four awards at the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Student Professional Development Conference in Reno, Nevada on March 30-April 1, 2007. This annual conference is attended by ASME student sections from District D (California, Nevada, and Hawaii) that compete in five events: the Old Guard Oral Competition, Old Guard Technical Poster Competition, Technical Web Page Competition, Student Design Competition, and Ingersoll-Rand Competition.
Andy Gustafson, senior in Mechanical Engineering, won the 1st Place Award in the Old Guard Oral Competition with his presentation "Rescue Line Launcher". His talk described his senior capstone design project - the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel water emergency device for launching a rescue line from a boat or from shore to a victim up to 200 ft away. Andy received $500 plus full expenses to attend the Final Old Guard Competition at the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition in Seattle, WA, November 11-16, 2007.
Tyler Trumbly, senior in Mechatronic Engineering, won the 3rd Place Award and the Best Technical Award for his oral presentation "Automated Tomato Transplanter" - also his senior capstone design project. Tyler received a total of $150 for his two awards.
The Chico State ASME Student Section, chaired by ME junior Chris Corder, won 2nd Place in the Ingersoll-Rand Competition. This contest recognizes those student sections that show outstanding achievement throughout the year. Student section effectiveness is evaluated by a comprehensive set of variables. Each variable is weighted, and the strength of a section is determined by the total number of points accumulated. A good section is one that exhibits a wide diversity of activities. This is the second consecutive year that Chico has received the 2nd place award and plaque.
Professor Greg Kallio attended the conference as Student Chapter Faculty Advisor. According to Kallio: "here is yet another example of student excellence at Chico State - these students rose to the occasion and displayed outstanding professionalism in presenting projects that they have poured their heart and soul into for the past seven months." | |
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|  Tyler Trumbley, Chris Corder, Professor Kallio, Andy Gustafson | |  Andy Gustafson Receiving Award |
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| | Manufacturing Technology Program students once again won the Grand Prize in the WESTEC (Western Tool Exposition and Conference) Manufacturing Challenge on March 26, 2007 for an automated biodiesel processing system. The challenge was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Chico competed against a field of seven other universities that included Brigham Young University; California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; California State Universities at Long Beach, Los Angeles and Northridge; and Western Washington State University.
In addition to the Grand Prize, the William B. Johnson Leadership in Manufacturing Award, (given to one student from one of the entering universities) was awarded to CSU, Chico student Mike Bennet.
This is CSU, Chico's fourth Grand Prize win in the last five years: 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Chico also won first places in 1987, 1993, 1995 and 1998.
The biodiesel processing system entered in the competition was a redesign of an existing manually operated home biodiesel kit. The students designed and fabricated a stainless steel tank, and fitted it with stainless steel valves, control sensors and a pump. Automation was provided by an Allen Bradley micrologix 1100 programmable logic controller in a protective housing with a touch screen on the front for programming the unit. This project was done in co-operation with the University Farm and the food services programs on campus. The cooking oil from food services in the campus residence halls will be converted into biodiesel for use in the tractors at the farm.
"This project was started in late October and completed as an extracurricular activity on the students' own time," said Leonard Fallscheer, faculty advisor to the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) chapter in the Manufacturing Technology Program. "Their planning and documentation of the whole procedure was professional, and their presentation to the judges was flawless."
A total of 22 students from Chico made the trip to the WESTEC challenge this year. "The students are very pleased with the recognition received, and we can all be justifiably proud of their accomplishment," said Fallscheer.
All the students on the WESTEC team are in the bachelor of science program in manufacturing technology and are members of SME. The team presenters were Jamie Cogorno, Mike Bennett, Kevin Stein, Jeff Ferrara and Dave Hill.
WESTEC is the largest manufacturing competition west of the Mississippi River. The Expo and Manufacturing Challenge are sponsored by SME, which has more than 400 professional and school-based chapters worldwide. | |
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