October 2023

LEARN • BUILD • INNOVATE

SOLVING TOMORROW'S CHALLENGES TODAY

Our Vision: Premier Engineering College in the Nation, Recognized for Academic Excellence, Accessibility, Industrial Partnerships and Community Engagement

Record Participation at the Career Fair

A record 859 students participated in the Engineering Career Fair in Club 71 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Sept. 20-21. The total shattered the old mark of 697 students in 2019 and is up 45% from the fall 2022 mark of 592 students. This is the first year for a two-day career fair.

Attendance was 310 students on Day 1 and 549 on Day 2.

The two-day breakdown shows 328 freshmen, 139 sophomores, 116 juniors, 190 seniors, and 82 graduate students, three alumni and one not seeking a degree.

There were 124 employers on Sept. 20 when the focus was on concrete industry management, construction management, construction technology and civil engineering.

On the next day, Sept. 21, there were 119 firms, many of the same as the day before, and the focus was agricultural and biosystems engineering, computational science and statistics, computer science, data science, electrical engineering, electronics engineering technology, engineering technology, mathematics, mechanical engineering, operation management and statistics.

Image Processing Lab and EROS - 50 Years of Collaboration

SDSU formed its Remote Sensing Institute in 1969, EROS Data Center near Baltic, opened in August 1973, and a year later EROS began a cooperative education program agreement with SDSU to place students in work assignments paired with classroom studies.
In the past 50 years, the connections between the university and the Earth Resources Observation and Science Center have been deeply intertwined. The relationship that began with Dennis Helder, Mary O’Neill and June Thormosgard has continued through today’s group of collaborators, which is led at SDSU by Larry Leigh, director of the SDSU Image Processing Lab.

2023 JacksBEST Robotics - Incision Decision

BEST (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) Robotics Inc. started in Texas in 1993 by two engineers from Texas Instruments. Since then, interest in the program has helped create 50 hubs (local competition sites) nationwide. SDSU is proud to be one of the newest hubs.

The mission of BEST Robotics Inc. is to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology through participation in a sports-like, science- and engineering-based robotics competition.

This year the College of Engineering has 15 Teams participating from across South Dakota and North Dakota. If you are interested in learning more about Jacks Best Robotics, please go to our website, and if you would like to Volunteer, please sign up on the Volunteer page which is located on the website.

Viaflex Sponsorship

In South Dakota State University's Crothers Engineering Hall, Room 351 is officially known as the "Viaflex Room" after the Sioux Falls-based company entered into a sponsorship agreement. One of the country's leading designers and manufacturers of innovative polymer solutions, Viaflex is a relatively new company after spinning off from Raven Industries. Beyond the Viaflex Room, the company is also sponsoring research within the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering.

Faculty Research Spotlight: Solaiman Tarafder

Knee injuries, particularly ACL and meniscus tears, are extremely common, especially in athletes who participate in contact sports like football, basketball and soccer. A serious tear will leave athletes out of the sport for months and will almost always require surgery and extensive rehabilitation.
What if there was a nonsurgical, regenerative way to "fix" meniscus injuries? Solaiman Tarafder, a new faculty member in South Dakota State University's Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, is inching closer to that possibility.

New Employee in the College of Engineering

Equipped with a background in law and journalism, Hailey Kline joined the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering as grants and communications coordinator Aug. 17.
The position is a bit of new wrinkle. The college hasn’t had a communications coordinator before. However, it fits Kline’s background well. The Aberdeen native earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from SDSU in 2018 and graduated from the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law in 2022.

Upcoming Events

• ASEE North Midwest Regional Conference             October 5th-6th
• Hobo Day                                                                     October 14th
• Best Robotics Practice Day                                       October 21st
• Best Robotics - Game Day                                         November 10th

A BIG THANK YOU for the Successful One Day for State

On behalf of students, faculty and staff of the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, please accept my sincere appreciation for the gift you have made during a very successful One Day for STATE. We unlocked all challenges and achieved our goal of reaching at least 300 gifts. You made it happen! So, a BIG THANK YOU! Although we have concluded this celebration, the effects of your generosity will have an enormous positive impact on many generations of engineering Jacks to come. We truly appreciate your trust in us and helping us strengthen the future of our students who make us proud by completing and winning on a global stage.