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2023-2024 College of Engineering Graduation Activities
Honorary graduation marshal Kurt Cogswell, right, proceeds toward the podium with Brent Turnipseed, professor emeritus of agronomy from the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, at the May 4 ceremony at the Dacotah Bank Center. The position was a fitting tribute for Cogswell as the math department head is retiring June 21 after 27 years at SDSU. A total of 1,689 students walked across the stage in three ceremonies with 2,603 degrees conferred.
Brittany DeGroot, the first graduate from the concrete industry management program, poses in the shadow of the Campanile on graduation day May 4. Next stop is joining the family business, DeGroot Concrete & Construction of Aberdeen, in a supervisory role. The program started in fall 2021, when DeGroot transferred in.
Order of the Engineer
Pledging their skills and knowledge to the public good and promising to practice
with integrity and respect, 32 engineering graduates took part in the Order of the Engineer ceremony in the Volstorff Ballroom on the South Dakota State University campus.
The noon event attracted more than 210 guests. It followed the 10 a.m. May 4 graduation for the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering at the Dacotah Bank Center in east Brookings.
The ceremony is open to any graduate of the college’s mechanical, civil, electrical and agriculture and biosystems engineering programs.
Members of the Fluid Power Club at South Dakota State University returned from the National Fluid Power Association’s Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge in Ames, Iowa, April 24-26, with a pair of awards.
For the second year in a row, the team won the judge’s choice award for workmanship. It also tied for third in the regeneration race.
Students are tasked with building a hydraulically powered, three-wheeled cycle and then performing various challenges at one of two regional competitions. SDSU was one of 11 teams competing in Ames.
SDSU becomes the first chapter to three-peat since Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo won the award in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In the 58-year history of the award, only three schools have won three consecutive titles.
In addition to the plaque, the Ridgway Award comes with a $5,000 cash award. The current award is based on activities and accomplishments in calendar year 2023. Submissions were due Feb.
Competing in the Vex Robotics World Competition in Dallas April 28-30, the SDSU Robotics Club earned the excellence award and finished second in skills. There were 113 teams entered in the Vex U event and more than 600 teams there for other Vex Robotics competitions.
The Joint Engineering Council is the umbrella organization for the Lohr College of Engineering, serving as the communication hub for all engineering organizations, individual students and faculty members.
It has representation from each of the 25 engineering clubs on campus, which included two new clubs in 2023-24. Three new clubs are in the developmental stage, and Stern hopes they will be ready to join the Joint Engineering Council in the coming school year. She said 50 to 60 students attended meetings in 2023-24, and she hopes to keep attendance in that upper range the coming year.
Conference to Focus on Empowering South Dakota's Innovation Network
Leaders from industry, academia and government are being invited to a one-day conference June 11 in Sioux Falls focusing on expanding the computer chip manufacturing workforce in the United States and enhancing existing South Dakota’s innovation systems.
The gathering is in response to the "CHIPS and Science Act of 2022," which President Joe Biden signed into law Aug. 9, 2022. The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Fund authorizes activities relating to the creation of incentives to produce semiconductors and train the semiconductor workforce in the United States.
But more than that, the law aims to strengthen innovation across the United
States, including building bridges between rural America and Silicon Valley.
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