BCoE members earn research awards
May 13, 2015
The research accomplishments of four members of the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering earned time in the spotlight at an annual event. From L-R: MSU President Mark Keenum, Dexter Duckworth, Trenton Ricks, Teresa Stewart, Yong Fu, and Massoud Rais-Rohani, associate dean for research and graduate studies. (photo by Beth Wynn / © Mississippi State University)
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The research accomplishments of four members of the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering earned time in the spotlight at an annual event.
Faculty member Yong Fu, research support staffer Teresa Stewart, graduate student Trenton Ricks and undergraduate student Dexter Duckworth represented the Bagley College at the 2015 Mississippi State University Research Awards.
Fu serves as an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Since joining the Bulldog family as an assistant professor in 2009, he has been principal and co-principal investigator on projects receiving more than $14 million of funding from competitive programs. In 2012, he earned a National Science Foundation CAREER award, one of the most competitive and prestigious earl-career awards in the country.
From the time he entered graduate school in 1997, Fu has been researching areas related to power systems. Throughout his years in higher education and industry, he has expanded his work to include power systems optimization, energy-infrastructure interdependencies, renewable energy integration, smart grid technology and electric shipboard power systems.
Fu has published more than 30 refereed journal articles and conference papers throughout his career and is nearing completion on his first book. He holds the Bagley College’s Tennessee Valley Authority Professorship in Power Systems and serves as editor of IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, IEEE Power Engineering Letters and the journal of Electrical Power Components and Systems.
As business manager for the electrical and computer engineering department, Stewart works with the department head, 25 faculty members, and 10 professional and support staff members.
With experience as an administrative manager for the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems at Mississippi State, Stewart understands the requirements, policies and procedures of research in higher education.
In addition to business procedures, Stewart is responsible for the collaboration, budgets, contracts and events involved in faculty research projects. She assists with research proposal preparation and submission and oversees sponsored research budgets. In 2014, she helped prepare and review more than 45 proposals totaling over $27 million.
Ricks is a doctoral student in the aerospace engineering department advised by professor Thomas Lacy. Last year, he won graduate student of the year in his department and instructed an introductory engineering statistics course in the fall.
In his graduate career, Ricks has authored or co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. He is the recipient of the Bagley College of Engineering fellowship and a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program fellowship. As a GRSP Fellow, he has worked with the NASA Glenn Research Center, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, the University of Alabama and Mississippi State University to further his graduate research on multifunctional composite materials.
Ricks is a member of professional and honorary engineering societies. He has reviewed three journals and one book chapter and actively mentors undergraduate and graduate engineering students.
As an undergraduate student in the computer science and engineering department, Duckworth works closely with assistant professor Cindy Bethel as a project lead in the Social, Therapeutic and Robotic Systems (STaRS) lab. His team’s research focuses on how robots can be used to communicate with SWAT teams and other first-responders in emergency situations.
Duckworth’s work with autonomous robots has been published and presented at three Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) events, including the IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security and Rescue Robots in Linköping, Sweden. Before traveling to Sweden, he participated in a research experience for undergraduates at Texas A&M University where he observed realistic disaster situations to help further his research.
Duckworth is also the electronics and software designer for the Therabot project at Mississippi State. The Therabot provides therapeutic support for people, especially children, who are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Each year the Bagley College of Engineering recognizes faculty, staff and students with excellence in research awards, which are designed to honor accomplishments in research and other creative endeavors. The honorees are selected from a pool of nominees for contributing significantly to Mississippi State University’s mission of research and go on to represent the college at the university’s annual research awards banquet.
For more information about the Bagley College of Engineering’s research efforts, visit www.bagley.msstate.edu/research.
By: Erin Boozer