Christian Brothers University has won a $10,000 award for the 2021 National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) Engineering Education Award competition. The faculty, staff, and students at Christian Brothers University Engineering Department and University of Tennessee Health Science Center, along with the engineering professionals who have taken part in Go Baby Go – MROC project are to be celebrated for their work on such a worthwhile project. The purpose of this project was to design, build, and implement an upgrade to commercially available ride-on vehicles for disabled children of ages 13-months to 3-years. The solution involves supplying the children with Modified Ride-On Cars. (MROCs). MROCs are customized electric toy cars that are altered to accommodate the specific needs of individual children. MROCs are an ideal alternative to purchasing expensive motorized chairs that many families cannot afford.

The twelfth Student-Professional Awareness Conference (S-PAC) 2019 was held on Friday, November 15, 2019, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception’s Marian Hall. Christine Fahey, Executive Director of Blockchain 901, gave a presentation on the “Blockchain901” and Rich Thompson, President of Memphis Makers, gave a presentation on “Memphis Makers.” IEEE Memphis Section and the CBU IEEE Student Branch hosted S-PAC 2019, and over 60 students and professionals attended S-PAC 2019. The program was organized by Conference Chairs, Jill Johnson (Interdisciplinary Studies ‘20), and Ian Dover (ECE ‘20), Website Chair, Sylvester Dzimiri (’21), and CBU IEEE Coordinator, Dr. John Ventura, PE, PS (‘65). Elizabeth Hays of Fisher Arnold and Chair of the Young Engineers of the Memphis Section of IEEE, Chair of the Memphis Section of IEEE, presented Jill Johnson, Ian Dover, and Sylvester Dzimiri the Award of Service from the Memphis Section of IEEE for their efforts in making the S-PAC a success. Steve Whatley (ECE ’20) was recognized for his award of $2,000 IEEE PES Scholarship. The S-PAC is a structured event where students interact with experienced engineers from diverse backgrounds. Hosted annually, the S-PAC (http://spac.ieeecbu.org/) brings together students and professionals from the Memphis Community where they have a chance to interact with professionals, through round table discussions. This year the round table discussions were on “Global Technology” and the “Memphis Community” ¬– Global Technology panelists: Ken Gendrich of Blockchain 901 and Methodist, Claudio Donndelinger of Aleph Objects, Ben Hoyt of FedEx Services, and Danny Thompson of Code Crew and The Google Community and Memphis Community panelists: David Hiltenbrand of SQLSaturday, Ibrahim Chum of The City of Memphis, Noah Vongphit of Wright Medical, and Joseph Johnson of Fisher Arnold. The sponsors of S-PAC 2019 were A2H, Blockchain 901, Fisher Arnold, Gadomski School of Engineering, Memphis Section of IEEE, Memphis Light, Gas and Water, Midsouth Makers, R&N Systems Design, Memphis Chapter of Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers.