Our Vision: Premier Engineering College in the Nation, Recognized for Academic Excellence, Accessibility, Industrial Partnerships and Community Engagement
RASC-AL Design Takes 3rd Place
Competing against the best and the brightest, a South Dakota State University engineering team finished third overall in a NASA contest and again was awarded for building the best prototype.
The SDSU students were one of 14 teams selected from 75 higher education entries to compete in the finals of the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition June 10-12 in Cocoa Beach, Florida. It is the second straight year for an SDSU team to qualify for the finals.
SDSU Comes up Just Short for Quarter-Scale Tractor Threepeat
By the narrowest of margins — two points out of more than 2,000 — the SDSU Quarter Scale Tractor Team came up just short of winning its third consecutive national title.
Competing at the 27th annual International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition at the Expo Gardens Fairgrounds in Peoria, Illinois, the South Dakota State University team placed third out of 21 teams. SDSU scored 2,164 points out of 2,405 possible points. North Carolina State won the event with 2,166 points while Kansas State was runner-up with 2,165 points.
The top five teams were separated by just six points.
The SDSU entry in Baja SAE continues to score more points in the annual contest overseen by the Society of Automotive Engineers.
This year at Baja SAE Williamsport hosted by Pennsylvania College of Technology at Montgomery, the team earned 360.95 points and placed 47thoverall out of 110 college teams (57thpercentile) from the United States, Brazil and Canada from May 15-19.
Last year the team ranked 49thout of 86 teams (43rdpercentile) with 311 points. The 2022 team ranked 56th out of 90 teams (38th percentile) with 256 points and in 2021 it ranked 53rd out of 56 teams (5 percentile) with only 57 points.
The SDSU Desert Hare Offroad team had top 25 performances in maneuverability (24th), suspension course (23rd) and hill climb (22nd).
“We made 13 laps on the endurance course (14.3 miles) before we ended the race early due to rollover. (No injuries.) We learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and are looking forward to next year,” according to Matthew Anderson, a mechanical engineering lab assistant and treasurer for Desert Hare Offroad.
Baja SAE challenges engineering students to design and build an offroad vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain and, in some competitions, water. Each team’s goal is to design and build a prototype of an all-weather, rugged, single seat offroad vehicle intended for sale to the nonprofessional offroad enthusiast.
This year’s winning entry was from Ecole de Technologie Superieure, a public research university in Montreal.
Jackrabbit Spotlight: Allea Klauenberg
A story of trials, triumphs and determination
Allea Klauenberg long thought her career would be in engineering. As a child growing up on an acreage near Ogden, Iowa, 30 miles west of Ames, she played with Tinkertoys and Legos, not Barbies.
“I always knew I wanted to do engineering. I just didn’t know the focus,” Klauenberg, who choose mechanical because she was told it was the broadest field of engineering. So broad, it could take her into the field of aerospace and give her an opportunity to be a leader in South Dakota State University’s Space Trajectory project.
That team was one of six finalists that competed in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge contest in Huntsville, Alabama, June 10-12.
Such a competition never entered Klauenberg’s dreams when she toured SDSU in her senior year at Ogden High School.
Two one-week sessions of the National Summer Transportation Institute at South Dakota State University gave high school students from around the state and beyond a chance to learn the dynamics behind a variety of transportation services.
A total of 20 students took part in the six-day session directed by civil engineering professor Rouzbeh Ghabchi.
The residential camps, June 2-8 and 9-15, were sponsored by South Dakota Department of Transportation with available scholarships covering the cost of on-campus housing, food and workshops.
Tours included Brookings Police Dept, Fire Dept, and Banner Associates to better understand all traffic management types and Brookings Regional Airport to learn about operations and take a flight simulation.
Students also built model bridges, learned about the importance of soil in transportation and engineering, produced their own asphalt and concrete mixes, tested rocket-propelled cars and built robotic cars.
The program also included recreational activities like movie night, bowling and a visit to the archery range.
Data Science Camp
Data Science Camp was a one-week residential camp that took place from June 24th through June 27th at South Dakota State University. A total of 14 students took part in the sessions directed by Math and Statics professors Dr Xijin Ge and Bill Alsaker. This camp was free to the students and covered classroom supplies, housing, food, and night activities.
The Program included Intro to programming, code with Chat GPT, Basic Statistics Concepts, Data Analyzing, and much more.
Students did create a Data Science project and held a small competition on the last day of camp.
Those results are as follows:
Overall Award
- 1st Place Wizard Fight game
- 2nd place Colon Cancer website and app's
- 3rd place Crimes Data in LA app
Best Analysis
- Genetic Correlation to Alzheimer's app
Best Visualization
- Earth Defender game
Best Presentation
- Game
SDSU Enters into Partnership with Maguire Iron
South Dakota State University's Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering has entered into a partnership with Maguire Iron to develop a computer-based program to efficiently design and estimate the cost of water towers. Akram Jawdhari, assistant professor in SDSU's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will serve as the faculty lead on the project.
Maguire Iron, a Sioux Falls-based company, is an industry leader in the fabrication, construction and maintenance of water storage towers and tanks in the United States. For over 100 years, it has been responsible for the development of water towers throughout the Midwest, including those located in Brookings.
Last semester, the company reached out to leadership in the Lohr College of Engineering. Maguire wanted to utilize computer technology to create a more efficient design and cost estimation process for clients and looked to SDSU's expertise for help.
As Jawdhari explains, the current water tower design process is not as efficient as it could be. Engineers must factor a wide variety of complicated elements into their designs, including tower water capacity per gallon, tower height, wind speeds, seismic excitations, strength of steel, location of the tower — all while adhering to a very specific set of standards. This can lead to a lengthy bidding process when clients are anxious to get a price estimate.
To quicken this process, Jawdhari believes computer software can be utilized to automate the necessary calculations by simply inputting data from the proposed site.
"We are trying to create an easy-to-use, one-stop-shop tool," Jawdhari, a licensed engineer, said.
Over the next year or so, Jawdhari and graduate students under his supervision will develop the software in three phases. The first will be the development of a design and estimate tool for the structural design of the project. This will require a deep analysis of structural codes and standards. The second phase will include a foundational element design utilizing the expertise of geotechnical engineers at SDSU. The third and final phase will put all the elements together into a free, accessible tool that would provide all the necessary information for the design of a given water storage tower.
"We are hopeful to have this tool completed by next year," Jawdhari said.
Upcoming Events
July 4th -5th Holiday- Closed
July 7th - 12th Youth Engineering Camp
July 7th - 11th Dakota Dreams Summer Camp
July 14th - 18th Dakota Dreams Summer Camp
August 23rd Move In Day
August 26th First Day of Classes
Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, 1151 8th St, Brookings, SD 57007
