PCEC News
PCEC's Top 10 Stories of 2020
January 27, 2021
2020 was an unusual year for most due to COVID, and the GVSU Padnos College of Engineering & Computing was no exception! Many of our most popular news stories from 2020 highlighted the efforts of PCEC students, alumni, employees, and the community coming together and supporting one another through the pandemic.
Check out the Top 10 PCEC News Stories of 2020:
1. School of Engineering Employees and Students Create Facial Masks for Area Medical Professionals
Faculty, staff, and students from the PCEC School of Engineering and applied Medical Device Institute, along with members of their families, banded together to create facial masks in response to the current shortage of supplies for medical professionals.
2. PCEC Students Recognized for Excellence-in-a-Discipline
The Excellence-in-a-Discipline Award honored one student from each undergraduate and graduate discipline.
3. Engineering Students Adapt to Complete Ski Seat Project Despite COVID Complications
Engineering students had to improvise, adapt, and overcome in order to complete their final senior projects in a semester up-ended by COVID-19. The ski seat project of one student team provides many examples of the innovative problem-solving required.
4. School of Engineering Launches Redesigned First-Year Curriculum
The School of Engineering announced a reorganization of the first year engineering curriculum designed to provide an intuitive and flexible topical breakdown that promotes student success.
5. PCEC Outreach Team Creates A-Z STEM Experiments Website
The PCEC Outreach team gathered fun and educational A to Z STEM experiments for K-12 students that can be completed from the comfort of home.
6. Engineering Alum Creates Tracking Device for COVID-19
Instant-Trace is a clip-on badge containing wireless-sensing technology that allows businesses to quickly determine which team members have been in close proximity to a colleague diagnosed with COVID-19 while also promoting social distancing.
7. First Students Graduate from Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Major
The School of Engineering celebrated the graduation of its first two students, Keara Anderson and Rebecca Jakob, from the new undergraduate biomedical engineering major.
8. PCEC Students Receive Graduate Dean's Citation Awards
The Dean's Citation Awards for Academic Excellence were given to graduate students that have distinguished themselves in graduate education at Grand Valley State University.
9. CIS Alum Awarded Fellowship to Study Immune Systems Evolution
Katherine Skocelas, Computing & Information Systems (CIS) alumna (now a PhD student at Michigan State University), was awarded a three-year National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship.
10. Engineering Alum Receives Homegrown Hero Award
School of Engineering alum, Stephen Wierenga, was recognized by the Allendale Rotary Club, receiving the Homegrown Hero Award for his contributions to the community.