5151 State University Drive • Los Angeles • CA 90032
ISSUE 01
FALL /
WINTER
•
JANUARY
•
2010
RDECOM partners with Cal State LA
engineering students
Photo courtesy RDECOM PAO - www.ARMY.MIL: Claudia Pichardo, Cal State LA student; Rene Carrillo, Cal State LA
student; Dr. Keith Moo-Young, Dean for College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology at Cal State LA.; and
Mr. Gary Martin, RDECOM Executive Deputy to the Commander (l-r) pose outside the structure built by the Cal State LA
students for the Army Strong Zone technology demonstrations.
By: RDECOM PAO.
www.ARMY.MIL
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. -- Building a house in just a few days is
something that might be the making of a reality television show rather than a
Civil Engineering project on behalf of the U.S. Army. Thirty civil engineering
students from the California State University in Los Angeles, however, did
just that this winter. They built a structure the Army needed to house its light
sensitive technologies at the All American Bowl’s Army Strong Zone in San
Antonio, and they did it in just nine days.
As members of the Cal State LA chapter of the American Society of Civil
Engineers, the students designed and built a 20 foot by 20 foot structure so that
the Army could showcase its night vision equipment, tactical digital holographic
maps, and its sense through the wall radar imager for the 32,000 people who
attended that high school all-star football game.
The engineering students began this effort just two days after their final exams,
according to Dr. Keith Moo-Young, Dean for College of Engineering, Computer
Science, and Technology at Cal State LA. “When other students have kicked
back to relax, these students took on this project with full vigor with the All
...continued on page 2
In This Issue...
RDECOM partners
with Cal State LA
engineering
students
- page 1
IMPACT LA
nudges children
into STEM
- page 3
Fuel cells power
up LEGO robot
- page 5
ECST welcomes
new faculty
- page 6
Strategic Alliance
Initiative & Senior
Design
- page 6
New Center for
Energy and
Sustainability at
Cal State L.A.
- page 8
Northrop Grumman
Recognizes Suppli-
ers, Employees for
Continued Support
of Its SEBP
- page 10
The anti-clunker
from Cal State L.A.
- page 11
Take a Look...
Stay connected
and updated with
everything ECST
by joining us on
Facebook:
CSULAECST
College of Engineering, Computer Science & Technology
Transforming Dreams Into Reality
the complex battlefield
imagery of urban combat
environments where two-
dimensional maps and
photographs cannot adequately
represent a three-dimensional
battlefield.
Lt. Col Bob Hribar from the
Program Executive Office for
Simulations, Training, and
Instrumentation explained that the
holograms provide Soldiers greater
clarity because “the 3-D image
provides a true height that you
never get from a two-d map”. He
said a simple light source is all that
is required to illuminate the 3-D
effects, which amounts to “pulling
up” the image from the paper.
The structure and the displays it
housed made an impression on
teenager Henry Mahome of San
Antonio during his visit to the Army
Strong Zone. “That was great. The
map just popped up when I looked
down at it!” “Taking on this task
showed the dedication that our Cal
State L.A. ASCE members have
for their chapter and its success,
“Lopez explained. “Their hard work
and perseverance clearly showed a
desire to help the Army and build a
partnership with RDECOM,” Moo-
Young summarized.
Transforming Dreams Into Reality
College of Engineering, Computer Science & Technology
Photo courtesy: RDECOM PAO.
American Bowl just three weeks
away,” he explained.“During the
winter break, ASCE at Cal State
L.A. was hard at work”, said
Lawrence Lopez of the Cal State
chapter. “The Army’s Research
Development and Engineering
Command needed a team able to
construct a small model home that
would have the capability of being
moveable and being assembled in
place in less than a day.”
black,” Carrillo said, “It is light
into the battlefield and penetrate
tight.” Weather added one more
obscurants, day or night. In
addition, the Cal State
project provided a home
for a display of tactical
digital holograms. These
holographic maps are
visualization tools that help
Soldiers better understand
This device enables flight
operations under very low or
starlight light conditions. It also
housed the Thermal Weapon
Sight which enables Soldiers with
individual weapons to see deep
“We had to design alternatives,
get one approved, buy all the
materials, and build it in just nine
days,” said Claudia Pichardo, one
of the two Cal State students who
followed the house to the San
Antonio event. Rene Carrillo, the
other ASCE chapter member at
the Army Strong Zone, said, “We
had to make it so that we could
disassemble and reassemble
it wherever the Army needs it
for future showcases. So, that
was a nice challenge.” There
was a second design challenge
because it housed light sensitive
technologies. “Basically, when
you go inside it has to be pitch-
Photo courtesy: RDECOM PAO.
degree of difficulty to the
project when rain delayed
the project two days. So, it
Building a house in
just a few days is
“
was December 23 when the
students finished the project
and shipped it to San
Antonio to house the Army
technology exhibits.
The structure housed a
display of the Aviator’s Night
Vision Imaging System, a
helmet-mounted, image-
intensification device.
something that might
be the making of a
reality television show
rather than a civil
engineering project...
”
www.calstatela.edu
PAGE • 3
5151 State University Drive • Los Angeles • CA 90032
interest and fascination in
Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math (STEM).
Part of a National Science
Foundation (NSF) program,
IMPACT stands for Improving
Minority Partnerships and Access
through Computer/Information
Science/Engineering-related
Teaching. It pairs college graduate
students with local K-12 math or
science teachers. Nancy Warter-
Perez, a Cal State L.A. professor
of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, directs IMPACT LA.
“The goal of the summer camp,
the culmination of a summer
workshop series, was to prepare
the fellows for the classroom by
having them plan and develop
fun, educational science and
engineering activities.”
The fellow-led activities focused
on slime (the science behind
polymers); extracting DNA from
IMPACT LA nudges children
toward STEM
Cal State L.A. rad students plunge into area schools
as local school children paddle across campus pool
Photo by: Bernard Kane. Jarvis Nguyen navigates the cardboard boat, built by his team, across the pool
first during the IMPACT LA summer camp boat race.
The camp gave the fellows a
By: CSULA ‘Spotlight’
Dispatching a soggy, rapidly
absorbing cardboard box-
turned-boat (reinforced with duct
tape) across the Cal State L.A.
swimming pool was actually part
of a dry run for nine Cal State L.A.
students selected as this year’s
group of IMPACT LA Graduate
Teaching Fellows.
The fellows—Jessica Alvarenga,
Sean Caonguyen, Saray Felix,
Tiffany Kwong, Victor Mejia,
Ricardo Sanchez, Danielle
Trathen, Johnson Wang, and Mo
Zhang—organized a two-day
camp for 50 local school children
from the 3rd through 9th grades.
prepare the fellows for
the classroom by having
them plan and develop
fun, educational and
College of Engineering, Computer Science & Technology
clearer sense of what to expect
this fall when they
became immersed in
classrooms at area
schools.
As IMPACT LA
Fellows, the graduate
students serve as
visiting scientists
and engineers at
Theodore Roosevelt
High School, Marc
and Eva Stern Math
The goal... was to
“
engineering activities.
strawberries; rockets fueled by
carbon dioxide; Morse code with
self-built telegraphs; projectile
motion with a monster sling shot;
wind-turbine generators; and other
...continued on page 4
Transforming Dreams Into Reality
and Science School, Robert
Louis Stevenson Middle School,
and Hollenbeck Middle School,
partnering with the schools’
teachers to foster students’
”
