The Secure, Trusted and Assured Microelectronics Center in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence was thrilled to welcome its first summer outreach program high school students in a one-week course this July, introducing students to programming and basic robotics.

In their work, the students programmed an Arduino microcontroller to interact with the physical world through sensor reading and motor control, building a simple robot car that drives forward when it detects light. To conclude the program, the students competed in a series of car races to test their skills against their peers.

According to Alan Ehret, Computer Architecture and Embedded Systems Laboratory research lead and the program facilitator, the goal of this program is to reach high school students with little to no robotics experience and foster an early interest in engineering. By developing a basic understanding of computer programming early on, these students will enter college with the ability to build on their prior knowledge.

For participant Oli Elthon, a high school junior, this program encouraged him to explore engineering, and he hopes to continue his learning by pursuing the field in college — potentially at ASU with the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

After this experience, he’s leaning toward robotics engineering.

Learn more about the STAM Center and outreach opportunities.

At the end of each academic year, the Engineering Projects in Community Service, or EPICS, program at Arizona State University hosts a Generator Awards ceremony to recognize Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering students, faculty members, industry mentors and community partners and celebrate the success of the EPICS teams. 

EPICS is a national, award-winning, social entrepreneurship program. Approximately 400 students in the Fulton Schools participate each semester in more than 55 EPICS projects.

Student teams work together to design, build and deploy systems to solve engineering-based problems for charities, schools and other not-for-profit organizations. Currently, EPICS@ASU is working with more than 45 community partners on projects that span across four different themes: community development, education, health and sustainability. The teams receive funding through grants and corporate donors such as W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. and EPICS in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or EPICS in IEEE, to bring their ideas to life.

For the 20201–2022 academic year, three EPICS teams were recognized along with eight individual student awardees in different categories. Additionally, two industry mentors, two community partners and an outstanding community leader were recognized for their contributions to ASU’s EPICS program.

Shami Warudkar, a Fulton Schools graduating senior and longtime EPICS participant, gave the keynote address during the EPICS Generator Awards ceremony. He spoke about his own EPICS journey and how it has helped prepare him for his future after ASU. 

“The EPICS program enabled me to leverage the resources of the university to make a real impact on an impoverished community on the other side of the world,” Wardukar said at the event. “EPICS is perhaps the best way for engineering students to make real change happen, and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities it gave me.”

EPICS student Shamsher Warudkar speaks at the Spring 2022 EPICS Generator Awards. Photo courtesy of Lauren Kobley

Project Koyash is one of the many EPICS@ASU student teams working together to design, build and deploy systems to solve engineering-based problems to aid in community development.

This year the team won first place in the EPICS Elite Pitch Competition. The team received $6,000 in funding to help them continue to build and provide air filters for nomadic communities in Mongolia. The team works in conjunction with their community partner, the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families. 

Katina Michael

For more than a decade and a half, Katina Michael and Roba Abbas have collaborated on research at the intersection of society, technology, ethics and regulation. Their experience over this time, and across a range of projects, will be the basis for a virtual seminar on Friday, July 1, 2022, “The Art of Transdisciplinary Research in the Information Systems and Technology Disciplines: Reflections from the Field.”

The seminar is part of the year-long Extraordinary Women Extraordinary Science Seminar Series being presented in conjunction with commemorative events marking the 25th anniversary of the IEEE Women in Engineering, or WIE, organization within the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Katie Pascavis.

Mechanical engineering and global health junior Katie Pascavis was recently named a Goldwater Scholar and is among four nominees for the Udall Scholarship. Pascavis is a Flinn Scholar, an honors student in Arizona State University’s Barrett, The Honors College and she is pursuing a minor in sustainability. She is also president of Engineerins without Borders and works in the Luminosity Lab and the Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Engineering Research Center on a variety of impactful projects. She plans to earn an environmental engineering doctoral degree and conduct research in the area of clean water access.

Pascavis is one of four outstanding undergraduates who earned 2022 Goldwater Scholarships, the most prestigious award in the U.S. for undergraduate researchers studying natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. She joins Fulton Schools electrical engineering major Jasmin Falconer, astrophysics major Claire Blaske and chemistry major Lauren Harstad as the ASU awardees — which for the first time are all women. Learn more about Pascavis’ research and what it means to be a Goldwater Scholar.

The Udall Scholarship is a national scholarship that honors sophomores and juniors who demonstrate excellence in leadership, public service, and Native American and environmental causes. Pascavis is one of four ASU sophomores and juniors nominated for the scholarship in 2022. The potential scholars apply in either the environmental or tribal policy and Native health care categories. Pascavis joins School of Life Sciences junior Nicole Kaiser in the environment category. Read more about the four Udall Scholar nominees and the significance of the Udall Scholarship.

ASU students and roommates Sylvia Lopez (left) and Brinlee Kidd have been named the U.S. finalists in the Red Bull Basement Global Final for their innovative note-taking tool, Jotted. Photo by Andy DeLisle/ASU

Arizona State University informatics major Brinlee Kidd and industrial engineering major Sylvia Lopez won the Red Bull Basement Global competition with their note-taking app Jotted.

Just like many students, Kidd and Lopez wanted to make the learning and note-taking process easier, so they created Jotted. The app allows students to upload their notes, which are automatically organized by class in folders. Then, Jotted uses the notes to create digital flashcards and quizzes to practice each subject. The pair of student entrepreneurs were recently featured on ABC 15 Arizona.

Kidd and Lopez are researchers in the Luminosity Lab, an interdisciplinary research and development lab with a team of high-performing students who design, build and deploy innovative solutions to important real-world challenges. The Luminosity Lab recently joined the Fulton Schools to leverage resources and support of the nation’s largest engineering school.

Read more about Jotted, Kidd and Lopez, and their Red Bull Basement Global competition win on ASU News.

This fall, the Society of Women Engineers awarded 289 scholarships totaling more than $1.2 million to undergraduate and graduate students across the country, including seven Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering students. Earning SWE scholarships marks these students as highly accomplished and motivated students inside and outside of the classroom who will make great contributions to society through engineering. Congratulations to our scholarship recipients!

Tracy Gonce, electrical engineering junior — Chevron/SWE Scholarship
Elizabeth Jones, electrical engineering graduate student — Intel SWE Scholarship
Diana Leon, electrical engineering junior — Chevron/SWE Scholarship
Niveditha Muthukrishnan, biomedical engineering doctoral student — Virginia Counts/Betty Irish SWE for Life Scholarship
Tara Phelps, computer systems engineering sophomore — Chevron/SWE Scholarship
Kellie Phong, electrical engineering junior — Chevron/SWE Scholarship
Tina Sindwani, computer systems engineering sophomore — Chevron/SWE Scholarship

The Society of Women Engineers supports women to achieve and be a positive force in engineering and technology careers. The international organization is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change in these fields.

Learn more about SWE at ASU.

This content is more than a year old. Find upcoming events on the calendar or recent news on the home page.

Aerospace engineering major Valentin Madrigal.

Valentin Madrigal is an Arizona State University transfer student from Central Arizona College. Inspired to pursue higher education to support his family, in addition to his fascination with space travel, he chose ASU for its renowned aerospace engineering program and anticipates that he will graduate in spring 2024.

As a first-generation college student, Madrigal chose to begin at a community college, as he struggled through high school and had very little knowledge of the American educational system. Coming from an underdeveloped part of Mexico that lacked a public education system, his parents had difficulties guiding him on his educational journey. He admits to having been an unmotivated student in high school because of impoverishment and family circumstances.

Convinced that he would never be able to go to college with his low GPA and ACT score, Madrigal joined the U.S. Army instead. With hard work and dedication, Madrigal is now a Phi Theta Kappa honor student who was able to fund his education using the GI Bill.

He took advantage of MyPath2ASU, a set of customized tools to help create a seamless transfer experience to ASU after a student earns credits or an associate degree from a U.S. community college or university. It allows students to choose from more than 400 pathways into an on-ground or online ASU degree program and have access to personalized benefits that help them navigate the transfer experience. By taking classes that transfer to ASU, students shorten their time to degree completion.

Learn more about Madrigal’s transfer experience.

This content is more than a year old. Find upcoming events on the calendar or recent news on the home page.

Copper mine tailings — the leftover rocks, water and chemicals of the mining process — are produced at a very high rate during excavation from mining activity. The displaced material sits idly and is harmful to the environment as it releases particulate matter emissions and leaches acid, heavy metals and even toxic and radioactive material to its surroundings and groundwater.

This content is more than a year old. Find upcoming events on the calendar or recent news on the home page.

The Robotic Explorer 10B Psyche team (Psyche-Paths) is a capstone team of ten interdisciplinary students from the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, School of Earth and Space Exploration, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy and School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering.