The Campaign for Engineering Quarterly Report - July 2016

The spring quarter is always a busy one in the College of Engineering; this year it felt particularly so. From 10,000 visitors on campus for Engineering Discovery Days, to our Diamond Awards gala held in the new Intellectual House, to commencement, there was a constant hum of excitement on campus. To me, these events highlight the impact that an engineering education can make in the lives of our students and in the world at large, and consequently the importance of our campaign in advancing the student experience and the future of engineering.

As evidence of the caliber of students in the college, Governor Jay Inslee recently named Chemical Engineering student Austin Wright-Pettibone as the new student member of the UW Board of Regents for 2016-17—the most distinguished honor possible for a UW student. Austin is the first undergraduate since 2008 and the first-ever engineering student to serve as the UW student regent. Congratulations, Austin!

In the college, we will be spending the next few months finalizing preparations for the public launch of the campaign. We hope that you will save the date and plan to join us at Together, the university-wide launch event on October 21, in Hec Edmundson Pavilion. In the meantime, have a great summer!

Mike Bragg, Ph.D.
Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering

Inspired by their quadriplegic daughter, Karen Hwang, who struggles with everyday tasks such as eating and moving, Cherng Jia (CJ) Hwang (Ph.D. EE '66) and his wife, Elizabeth (MLIS '65), established the largest professorships in the history of the Department of Electrical Engineering in November 2015. These new professorships will financially support faculty working specifically on spinal cord injury rehabilitation technologies, and the Hwangs' gift stands to improve the quality of life for more than 300,000 people living with various types of spinal cord trauma.

A pioneering mindset is nothing new to the Hwangs, who met while studying at UW. Both were the first in their families to move to the United States from Taiwan. CJ was also the first student from Taiwan to receive a Ph.D. from UW EE. During his successful career, CJ designed the first long-life semiconductor lasers while working at Bell Labs, and later founded three companies, each of which developed innovative laser applications.

"Things most people don't think about are inconvenient for Karen. We've always felt that we should do something for people like her, to enhance their quality of life." —Elizabeth Hwang

"UW EE is the ideal place to establish these endowed professorships since the spinal cord injury rehabilitation technologies are closely related to activities at the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering and Regional Spinal Cord Center at the UW Medical Center, and this interaction should inspire the development of rehabilitation technologies." —CJ Hwang

ESTABLISHED:

1904 (originally part of Department of Chemistry until 1953)

The Department of Chemical Engineering fosters knowledge and solutions for a changing world by transforming raw materials into valuable products. The department’s research portfolio includes bio-based systems, devices, interfacial engineering, energy systems and newly emerging data science in a variety of fields from medicine to energy.

CHAIR:

François Baneyx, Charles W.H. Matthaei Professor of Chemical Engineering

QUICK HISTORY:

• UW Chemical Engineering's home, Benson Hall, was completed in 1966 and inaugurated in 1967.
• A UW distinguished teaching awardee, John Berg, has taught at the UW for over 50 years.
• One of the department's core faculty, Mary Lidstrom, also serves as the Vice Provost for Research.
• The home kidney dialysis machine was invented by Emeritus Professor Albert (Less) Babb.

Theme	Campaign 3 Working Goal	Raised to Date	Percent to Goal
Student Support	$50M	$30M	60%
Faculty Support & Research	$145M	$107M	74%
Program Support for Faculty & Students	$55M	$36M	65%
Capital	$80M	$14M	18%
Excellence (Other)	$20M	$13M	65%
TOTAL	$350M	$200M	57%

Andrei Nicolae, ME Doctoral Candidate
Recipient of the 2015-2016 Ron Crockett Endowed Fellowship

"The fellowship came at a good time: when the funding source for my graduate research unexpectedly vanished. Rather than putting my degree on hold to get a job until the financial situation was sorted, I used this fellowship to keep the lights running for another quarter. This allowed me to focus on writing grant proposals regarding my newest research innovation a novel nanoporous polymer with unique waterproof properties. Thank you for making such a difference in my academic progress." —Andrei Nicolae