Our Vision: Premier Engineering College in the Nation, Recognized for Academic Excellence, Accessibility, Industrial Partnerships and Community Engagement
Break the Ice Lunar Challege Testing
The grind has begun!
After negotiating a number of technical, weather-related and manpower setbacks, SDSU’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge team began grinding concrete at 8:30 a.m. Monday, July 31, in the NASA contest.
SDSU was one of 15 groups nationwide selected as a finalist to grind and deliver 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds) of concrete daily for 15 consecutive days. A variety of cameras are continuously recording the operation so NASA can verify the work, which must be done autonomously.
While the gold has been gone from the former Homestake Mine in Lead for many years, it still holds a treasure for current and would-be scientists. One of them is Connor Matthies, an incoming sophomore mechanical engineering and computer science double major at SDSU. The Hartford resident was one of eight students chosen to be a Davis-Bahcall Scholar this summer. The students, five who had just finished high school and three who had just finished their first year of college, received four weeks of unparalleled scientific and cultural experiences. The program is an all-expense-paid opportunity that connects science-curious students with peers and mentors while exploring the modern world of STEM research. It is organized by the Sanford Underground Research Facility, which the Homestake Mine evolved into 16 years ago. Financial backing comes from First Premier Bank, the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium and the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority with in-kind support from Black Hills State University. From June 11 to July 9, the students explored wonders in the Black Hills, the Upper Midwest and all the way to Rome. Matthies is the 12th SDSU student to be selected since the program began at the Sanford Labin 2008 and the first since Vanessa Konynenbelt in 2017.
Byron Garry, an associate professor in South Dakota State University's Department of Construction and Operations Management, was honored by the American Society for Engineering Education as the "North Midwest Section Outstanding Campus Representative,2023."
Puthawala, a South Dakota State University assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the CAPITAL Services scholar in artificial intelligence and machine learning, is a relatively new faculty member at SDSU but is already making significant contributions to his academic area of expertise: machine learning.
Sam Meyer drives Rabbit Force 1 through the durability course at the International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition In Peoria, Illinois, June 3. South Dakota State University placed second in the durability contest and first overall, repeating as national champion.
Strengthening Engineering Connection with Sioux Falls School District
A team from the Sioux Falls School District visited the Jerome J Lohr College of Engineering to tour the stat-of-the-art labs of the college and witness firsthand our focus on Learn-Build-Innovate through the quality of programs we offer. The team spent most of the day touring the college and gaining an appreciation of SDSU’s STEM initiatives. Dr. Yucheng Liu, head of the Mechanical Engineering Department, explains the capabilities of one of its labs.
Engineering Summer Camps
The Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering at South Dakota State University conducts or participates in camps and workshops throughout the year to provide interested K-12 students a means to explore how their interests can translate into a college major—and subsequently a challenging and financially rewarding career. Here are three of the most recent camps the college conducted or participated in.
National Summer Transportation Institute
Debbrata Datta, a master's degree student in civil engineering and a counselor in the National Summer Transportation Institute, helps Chase Dyson, 16, of Sioux Falls, assemble a solar-powered car during the week-long camp. Dyson was one of 13 students in the July 9-14 camp led by associate professor Rouzbeh Ghabchi. Other activities included assembling model bridges and self-driving cars, visiting the Brookings Airport and preparing asphalt mixes.
Youth Engineering & Technology Adventure
Participants in the Youth Engineering and Technology Adventure camp watch as a "lunar dump truck" tilts its bed July 11. The dump truck is part of the equipment built by SDSU students for NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge.
Dakota Dreams
Guy English, lab coordinator in the electrical engineering department, guides Idella Meyer, 13, of Huron, as she hooks up a fan on a solderless breadboard during the electrical engineering portion of the Dakota Dreams camp for incoming seventh and eighth graders July 10. The camp brought together 100 seventh and eighth graders for a career exploration camp in partnership with Lake Area Technical College. Students did hands-on activities in a number of collegiate areas, toured local industries and made a day trip to Lake Area in Watertown.
.png?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=odfs23-save-the-date%20(002).png)
