Palara Grant has been active in Increasing Minority Access to Graduate Education, the National Society for Black Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the MSU Roadrunners, and the Delta Sigma Theta community service sorority.

For the full article of the engineering majors selected as Spirit of State honorees go to http://www.bagley.msstate.edu/media/news/index.php?newsID=625

To read the story: http://www.msstate.edu/web/people/Richey_Austin/

Manish Borse, a sophomore in mechanical engineering and Paromita Mitra, a junior in aerospace engineering, placed third in the junior/senior division team design competition at the ASEE 2012 Southeastern Section Conference. Their work was done in collaboration with the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS).

Please see the poster by P. Mitra and S. Bhushan:  “Large Eddy Simulation of Channel and Jet Flows”. The research was performed in collaboration with Manish Borse, who presented the work at the ASEE-SE conference.

The American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEE) Southeastern Section Annual Conference was hosted by the Bagley College of Engineering (BCoE) on April 1-3, 2012 with the participation of more than 170 engineering educators from across the Southeastern United States.

The Southeastern Section of ASEE was formed in 1934 and includes approximately 1,500 members from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

ASEE is a non-profit organization of individuals and institutions committed to furthering education in engineering and engineering technology. For more information, visit www.asee.org.

Votes will be accepted through Thursday [April 12] at 5 p.m. General voting guidelines are that paper in the form of cash, check, etc. and pennies is a positive vote, while silver (quarters, dimes, nickels, etc.) is a negative vote. The top five positive vote recipients will be dunked in a dunking booth at the campus Relay for Life event on Friday [April 13] between 6 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. Donations will also be accepted at the dunking booth during Relay for Life.

Current standings:
1st place-Dr. Roger King (CAVS Director)
2nd place-Alta Knizley (Mechanical Engineering (ME) Ph.D. student)
3rd place-Dr. Judy Schneider (ME professor)
4th place-Dr. Oliver Myers (ME professor)
5th place-Dr. Steven Daniewicz (ME department head)
6th place-Dr. Srinivasan (ME professor)
7th place-Dr. Sarah Rajala (dean of engineering)
8th place-Zach Rowland (CAVS deputy director)
9th place-Chad Wheeley (ME researcher)
10th place-Hayley Brown (ME Ph.D. student)
11th place-Amanda Smith (ME Ph.D. student)
12th place-Dr. Walters (ME professor)

For additional ways to become involved in this year’s Relay for Life event, please contact Mechanical Engineering’s team captain, Kimberly Dickey, at 662-418-2846 or kkw93@msstate.edu.

Palara C. Grant is a senior Mechanical Engineering major from Clinton, MS.  During her time at MSU, she has been active in such organizations as IMAGE, NSBE, SHPE, SWE, MSU Roadrunners, and MSU Honor Council.  Palara is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and serves on the NPHC Executive Board as the Activities Chair.  She was most recently selected to serve as a 2012 Gamma Chi.  She is employed by Dr. Tonya Stone and is currently compiling research materials for the dislocation of atoms.  She also works with Dr. Stone at the Boys and Girls Club of Starkville where they work with eleven 6^th-9^th grade students who participate in the NanoClub.  Palara is expected to graduate in December of 2012 after which she will matriculate into a graduate school.

The Outstanding Woman Awards is an annual recognition program of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) at Mississippi State to honor women who have made significant contributions to the university as well as to the local communities. According to a MSU release, the PCSW was established in the late 1970s by MSU President James D. McComas and advises the institution’s chief executive on issues affecting the status and role of campus women.

For more on the PCSW, visit www.committees.msstate.edu/pcsw/.

The NanoClub meets every Friday afternoon from 3:30-5:30 p.m. and services fourteen students in grades sixth through ninth. With the assistance of undergraduate students leading the activities, the Nanoclub is able to achieve its primary goal, which is to expose minority students at the Starkville Boy and Girls Club to nanotechnology through activities and experiments designed to boost their critical thinking and analytical skills.

NanoClub students also participate in hands-on activities in other Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas which Dr. Stone hopes will having a lasting impact and will spark a continued interest in STEM so that when the time comes for the students to make decisions about college, they will consider majoring in a STEM-related field at MSU.

NanoClub leaders hope the students’ enthusiasm will continue. This generation is the future—the next scientists, chemists, mathematicians, and engineers. Their interest in STEM-related fields is vital for the livelihood of those who came before them and will come after them. That is why Dr. Stone and her team of undergraduate students (Palara Grant- Mechanical Engineering, Cameron Hardin- Mechanical Engineering (graduated), Jasmine Danzy- Mechanical Engineering, Jericho Harris- Industrial Engineering, Jazzetta Anthony- Electrical Engineering, Justin Fisher -Civil Engineering) invest and share their time, knowledge, and experiences with the youth at the Boys and Girls Club of Starkville. The NanoClub has been so successful that the Boys and Girls Club leaders are interested in a similar implementation at the Boys and Girls Club of Columbus.

The Boys and Girls Club of Starkville is led by Jeanette Roach (Director) and Joyce Ellenwood (Chief Professional Officer of B&G Clubs of the Golden Triangle).

http://www.facebook.com/NanoClubStarkville

http://www.me.msstate.edu/faculty/stone/TonyaStone_ResearchGroup/