College of

Engineering, Architecture and Technology

A team from the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology (CEAT) at Oklahoma State University was one of four teams to win the Department of Energy’s (DOE) JUMP into STEM competition.
 

The JUMP into STEM is a nationwide competition open to U.S. undergraduate and graduate students across a variety of majors, focusing on creative ideation and diversity in the building-science field.  Many professors have also partnered with JUMP into STEM to incorporate the challenges into graded coursework.  The competition offers a unique, hands-on learning experience and seeks to inspire the next generation of building scientists through challenges that impact the current state of the industry.   

 

The OSU CEAT team consisted of Dr. Soojin Yoon, an assistant professor of construction engineering technology in the Division of Engineering Technology, two graduate students in civil and environmental engineering and two undergraduate students in construction engineering technology. 

These students include:

 

Grant Walker - civil engineering, PhD
Alka Khadka - civil engineering, MS

Daniel Ripley – construction engineering technology, BS

Will Fraase - construction engineering technology, BS

 

Their challenge “Resilience for ALL in the Wake of Disaster” focused on developing holistic solutions to improve the resilience of the built environment, making equity a central focus of the proposed solution by strengthening the ability of communities – especially those that are underserved, marginalized and vulnerable – to adapt, persist, and recover in the event of natural or manmade disruptive events. 

 

The team’s project “R3ER Shelter Design: Cowboy Covers” solution provides the R3ER (Resilient, Equitable, Environmental, Energy efficiency, Rapid) shelter design called “Cowboy Covers” in construction method, design, and energy efficiency of the shelters by conducting a case study in Stillwater, OK. Especially, the 3D printing design-based construction method entailed energy efficiency which showed lower EUI compared to the benchmark EUI approved by ASHRAE Standards Committee. The holistic solution has multiple uses of the facility: shelter, office, hospital, which can justify the environmental justice. As a result, the communities would not only (1) be less exposed to disaster damage or less vulnerable to disaster impacts but also (2) ensure maximum utilization of the limited resources to reach a larger number of people who might be facing life threatening situations in a timely manner.

 

The DOE Building Technologies Office awarded top honors during the annual JUMP into STEM final competition hosted virtually by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on January 27-28.  The winning teams were part of the largest competition to date, with 84 ideas submitted from 251 students at 27 different schools from across the country.  Winning students were offered paid summer internships at a national laboratory.  Walker and Khadka started their internships at ORNL on June 3^rd.