Fall 2022 Newsletter | Webb School of Engineering

T he Premier Life Skills Universit y ® Webb School of Engineering FROM

THE WEBB

I. DEAN’S INTRODUCTION

From the Dean…

Welcome to the Fall 2022, Webb School of Engineering Newsletter. As always you will see that the school has been active in delivering educational experiences to our students that help them grow and develop into professionals within their chosen fields. I hope you enjoy the faculty and student profiles as well as the short stories describing some of the many accomplishments and activities of the faculty and students within the school.

The start of the 2022-23 academic year saw continued strong growth in our programs, particularly in computer and electrical engineering, and in computer science and cybersecurity. This growth trend runs counter to the experiences of many schools across the country. We like to think it is the extraordinary education and resources we make available to our students and the dedicated faculty that mentor them each day.

I hope you enjoy reading this edition of the newsletter.

II. DEPARTMENTAL NEWS: ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Message from the Chair

This year is off to a tremendous start for our electrical and computer engineering programs! In fall 2022, we welcomed a record 34 freshmen to our programs, bringing our total number of engineering majors officially to 60. In spring 2023, we’ll have our first engineering graduates, and will be beginning the process to achieve ABET accreditation for our programs. We have established a new robotics team, which will be competing in the NASA Lunabotics Challenge 2023. Our makerspace and fabrication labs are fully operational, and our students are having a blast in the freshman design class, using these resources in their smart pet projects and cardboard car competition. Our new electromagnetics lab will be used for the first time this spring, partly using equipment donated to the program by Rohde & Schwarz, at the behest of one of the members of our Industrial Advisory Board.

If you would like to talk to us about our engineering programs, please email me at cmccullo@highpoint.edu.

We would love to hear from you!

Dr. Claire McCullough

Engineering Department Welcomes New Assistant Professor

Dr. Hilda Goins

Dr. Hilda Goins teaches courses in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the Webb School of Engineering. Her research areas include one-, two-, and three-dimensional signal processing, image processing, and wavelet analysis techniques for data representation. She has a keen interest in both quantum computing and cybersecurity, areas where she has completed research in the past.

Rohde & Schwarz Donates to High Point University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

During fall term, the ECE Department was delighted to receive an equipment donation from Rohde & Schwarz and Qorvo that will support laboratory activities and undergraduate research in topics including engineering electromagnetics, antennas and microwave engineering.

The donated equipment included an RF power meter donation from Qorvo and a power sensor head, a high definition oscilloscope, a signal generator, cables and a spectrum analyzer that were donated by Rohde & Schwarz; the total value of these equipment donations was over $133k. The ECE Department thanks both companies for their generous donations of equipment to the program.

Engineering Makerspace Grows After Integration of Brand-New Training System

The start of the fall semester here at the Webb School of Engineering brought with it, our largest incoming freshman class yet! Our makerspace and Fabrication Lab have been busier. From laser cut smart pets and robots, to 3D printed creations designed with state of the art CAD software, our students have been blowing us away with all of the amazing hands on engineering they’ve been working on in the Makerspace and Fabrication Lab this year.

One of the biggest changes we’ve made this year was the integration of our brand new training system as a component of the Intro to Engineering Design course. This means

that each and every one of our students was trained on every single machine in the building! This has led to even higher student engagement in our fun makerspace workshop events, more advanced class projects, and greater participation in our engineering based extracurricular activities such as the Lunarbotics Robotics Team. We’re hoping that as we continue to grow as an engineering department, we can continue to raise the bar when it comes to hands on student engineering projects.

II. DEPARTMENTAL NEWS: COMPUTER SCIENCE

Message from the Chair

The Department of Computer Science at High Point University has experienced significant growth since becoming the first department in the Webb School of Engineering just a few short years ago. As we approach the Spring 2023 semester, the department has experienced 8 straight semesters of increasing student populations, growing from just over 150 in the Spring of 2019 to almost 350 this coming term. The department supports almost 130 students among our various majors, with more than 25 Computer Science minors adding to the total.

The department continues to offer both the B.A. and the B.S. degree in Computer Science. An optional concentration in Cybersecurity is available with the B.S. degree. Over the last two years additional degree programs have been added. In the Fall of 2021, the B.S. degree in Cybersecurity was added, and the Fall of 2022 saw the addition of the B.S. degree in Data Science. To support these majors, the programming language is the first course has moved to Python, which is being taken by almost 100 students this Fall. An upper-level course offered for the first time this fall is Penetration Testing, a course being taken by Cybersecurity students.

In addition to having the greatest number of students and degree options ever, the department also has the largest contingent of faculty we have ever had. We welcomed Dr. Mike Dalton to the department family this Fall. Dr. Dalton comes to us with many years of teaching experience, and he has jumped in as part of the team developing our Python instruction. The department now has six full time faculty, and we are actively recruiting additional faculty to help with our rapidly increasing student numbers.

Dr. Will Suchan

Before coming to HPU, Dr. Mike Dalton taught computer science at two universities for a total of 17 years. He teaches courses in programming languages and engages his students using a teaching style that makes complex topics achievable and fun. With a background in electrical and computer engineering, Dr. Dalton comes to High Point University with decades of experience teaching programming, robotics, circuit design, database development, and webpage design.

Dr. Mike Dalton

Joins Webb School of Engineering as Assistant Professor of Computer Science

II. DEPARTMENTAL NEWS: MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Mathematical Sciences department! In Fall 2022, we welcomed 10 new students to our programs, and our majors and minors are thriving (see pictures below from our Mathematical Sciences Faculty and Student Meet and Greet). All freshmen receive informal mentoring and advising from Mathematical Sciences faculty. Mentor relationships are crucial to retention, success, and wellbeing. Faculty are providing our students with great learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom. Departmentally, we are hiring an Assistant Professor of Data Analytics and Statistics and an Assistant Professor of Statistics. This academic year we are focusing on recruiting more students to our four programs: Mathematics, Mathematical Economics, Actuarial Science, and Data Analytics and Statistics. We are seeking opportunities to visit high schools, math clubs, and math events to share information about our programs, department, and exciting opportunities in the Mathematical Sciences. Please share this information with students, parents, and schools, and if anyone is interested, please have them contact me, Dr. Dandrielle Lewis, at dlewis1@highpoint.edu.

I encourage all HPU Mathematical Sciences alumni and friends to send us their news. We’d love to hear from you!

Dr. Dandrielle Lewis

Math Students Succeed at Internships and Research

Nicholas (Nick) Nunez, an Actuarial Science major, completed his internship with Lincoln Financial Group, and he gave a presentation to the Mathematical Sciences department on August 29, 2022 discussing actuarial exams, department improvement, and soft skills he acquired during his internship experience. Nick secured a position with Lincoln Financial Group post-graduation. Marcus DeKnatel, a Data Analytics and Statistics and Computer Science double major, secured an internship with ClimatePositive.Farms, Inc. as the Chief Technology Officer. Carolina Kapper, a Mathematics and Data Analytics and Statistics double major, recently published research from a Research Experience with Undergraduates. She is collaborating with Dr. Laurie Zack on a high impact faculty/student undergraduate research project this semester. She contributed an article to this newsletter, so keep reading to learn more.

New Initiatives to Expand the Math Department

Mathematical Sciences faculty redesigned MTH 1110, Topics in Contemporary Mathematics, to align with HPU being the Premiere Life Skills University. MTH 1110 is now called The Math of Life. Mathematical Sciences faculty designed a new course, STS 1150, Statistical Literacy, to introduce fundamental ideas in statistics and help students apply their knowledge of statistics to critically analyze real-world statistical claims. Statistics can be used to draw conclusions about politics, health, education, science, and many other subjects. Both MTH 1110 and STS 1150 are being offered as a general education course with no perquisite required. Students have been enthusiastic about both courses and the impactful experiences they are having in the courses. For STS 1150, one student wrote: “LOVE my math class. The teacher (Dr. Karen O’Hara) is amazing. I understand everything.”

The Data Analytics and Statistics program was featured as the major of the month for October 2022. Learn more about our featured program here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njv5eSefQr0

The Mathematical Sciences department is collaborating with the School of Business to create flexibility within the Mathematical Economics curriculum to attract more majors, benefitting constituents across campus.

Our Math Learning Lab (MLL) has also improved. The MLL Fall 2022, led by faculty and student instructor’s, services MTH 1010, MTH 1310, MTH 1400, and MTH 1410. Weekly lab activities are developed by faculty to help students learn important content that is essential to them succeeding in the courses, and students also can walk in for tutoring hours. This semester, we have had 198 student visits for the MLL. In its new format, we serviced precalculus and calculus Spring 2022. It is worth noting from Fall 2021 to Spring 2022, precalculus DFW (D’s, F’s, and Withdrawal’s) rates decreased from 37% to 19%, and calculus DFW rates decreased from 31% to 23%. The MLL is having a positive impact thanks to the efforts of the faculty to engage our students in best learning practices and classroom engagement activities.

Students and faculty engage in social activities such as Game Nights organized by Dr. Eddie Fuselier. Game nights help create a community within the department, and they cultivate relationships between students and faculty.

Mathematical Sciences Hosts the 2022 Mathematical Association of America North Carolina State Dinner

On October 20, 2022, the Mathematical Sciences department had the honor of hosting The Mathematical Association of America North Carolina State Dinner.

Dr. Laura Taalman, a Professor of Mathematics at James Madison University, was our keynote speaker. Her published research has included algebraic geometry, knot theory, and games. Also known as “mathgrrl”, Dr. Taalman is a computational designer who leverages a diverse toolbox of 3D design software and technical materials to create elegant and aesthetic realizations of idealized mathematical objects. She is a Project NExT Fellow, a recipient of the Alder Award, Trevor Evans Award, and SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award, and has been featured on Thingiverse, Adafruit, and Science Friday.

Dr. Taalman’s keynote address was titled “A tour of 3D printed mathematics: Ideal graph configurations, tritangentless trefoils, and chaotic attractors.” Attendees were motivated and inspired by Dr. Taalman’s 3D printed objects, accessible research for undergraduates, and her results from exploring ideas with students.

Participants attended from HPU, Wake Forest University, North Carolina A&T State University, Catawba College, Davidson College, UNC-Greensboro, and Elon University.

My Undergraduate Research Experience at North Carolina State University

My name is Carolina Kapper, and I am a senior at HPU double-majoring in Mathematics and Data Analytics & Statistics. Over the course of my 4 years in the Mathematical Sciences department at HPU, I have had the opportunity to participate in two summer research programs, called Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs), at North Carolina State University. 20 undergraduate students from universities all across the country participated in each of these programs, collaborating to produce research that has gone on to be published in scientific journals. This experience has been invaluable for me in my undergraduate career, as I learned that I possess passions for learning and researching, and plan to continue exploring those curiosities by pursuing a graduate degree in Biostatistics. In applying to graduate school, being able to detail these experiences and showcase my published research has given me a competitive edge against other applicants and will prove to my potential schools that I have prepared myself for success in their programs.

My interests in research and scholarly work have also given me the opportunity to present at conferences at the institutional and national levels, often hosted by organizations such as the Mathematical Association of America or the American Mathematical Society. Although nerve-racking to present my work to experts in the field, speaking at these conferences has given me the confidence to speak publicly about my research, as well as mathematics in general. I feel equipped to participate in academic discourse, and I have gained significant capability in articulating my ideas.

Of course, none of these accomplishments would have been possible without great support from the Mathematical Sciences department at HPU. My professors and peers alike have been by my side through every application written and every decision made. Without their help, I would never be where I am today, and for that I am forever grateful to the Department of Mathematical Sciences.

Mathematical Sciences Colloquium Series

The Cultural Program Grant Series is funding and supporting our Mathematical Sciences Colloquium Series this academic year. Our series features prominent diverse mathematicians and guests who discuss how mathematics is used in their careers, their journeys to mathematics, and accessible projects for undergraduates. The presentations are accessible to all disciplines, and we encourage you to participate.

Our first colloquium on November 3, 2022, featured Mr. John E. (“Jeb”) Beckwith, the Chief Financial & Administrative Officer for Clean Origin, the world’s largest retailer of purely lab-grown diamond jewelry. Dr. Niloofar Ghorbani (Mathematical Sciences) and Dr. Nasir Assar (MBA Program Director) hosted this virtual colloquium, and we had 52 student and faculty participants.

Mr. Beckwith’s presentation was titled “Your Career Will Be A Journey With Many Destinations.” He discussed career choices in Finance, Digital Marketing, and in Life. He encouraged students to “Keep your eyes up and not down. Look for what’s coming, and look for opportunities! Aim small. Miss small.”

III. FACULTY FEATURE

Dr. Sean M. Johnson teaches courses in electronics, semiconductor theory, embedded systems, digital systems and computer architecture design. He is passionate about his students becoming the best that they can be as electrical and computer engineering, and in life as a whole. His current interests include semiconductor fabrication and characterization, embedded systems design, analog and digital circuit design, and developing course-based undergraduate research initiatives

1. What motivated you to choose your field of practice and what do you enjoy about it?

Initially, I was motivated to choose engineering through my peers who also were interested the field. I had been pretty good in math and science, so I figured it was a good fit. It was not until I had a talk with a physics teacher in high school that I took my pursuit of engineering seriously and made the decision to make it my major in college.

2. What are your current research interests?

a. Semiconductor characterization and device fabrication

b. Embedded systems applications

c. Analog and digital circuit design

3. What are you most excited about in regards to the upcoming semester?

I am looking forward to making improvements in the courses I taught in the previous

school year. I am also looking forward to making strides in undergraduate research and projects. I want to mentor students into submitting their work at different conferences in the next semester.

4. Do you have any hobbies/ interests outside of work that you would like to share? Spending quality time with my wife and children is refreshing for me. Whether having a movie day at home or out and about, we love spending time together. Also, I have been in pastoral ministry for a number of years. I love to teach the Word and serve the church and community in whatever ways that I can.

5. If you could go back in time, what, if anything, would you do differently as a student? I would seriously consider adding a double major or minor in math. I had the desire, but did not pursue. Everything worked out in the end, so I am still thankful.

Dr. Edward Fuselier teaches courses in mathematics at all levels, including calculus, numerical methods, linear algebra, differential equations, and real analysis. He has worked with students involved in research projects on a variety of topics, including modeling stochastic processes in finance applications, compressed sensing, medical imaging, and other areas related to scientific computing. Currently he oversees the Department of Mathematical Sciences’ undergraduate research course, helping to pair students interested in mathematical research with faculty mentors.

1. What motivated you to choose your field of practice and what do you enjoy about it?

I initially chose to be a mathematician for three main reasons: The first reason is that I simply find some of the ideas to be beautiful. I think I started feeling that way at the end of my first calculus course, after learning the “Fundamental Theorem of Calculus” — without going into details, it’s a surprising, elegant, and simple answer to what was for thousands of years a very very hard problem, and it also opened the door for a much greater understanding of physics and engineering problems. At the time I was amazed that we (as a species) could even come up with a result like that, and wanted to know what other amazing ideas mathematics had to offer.

The second is that I like how practicing mathematics exercises my thinking. Part of mathematics is being able to build an airtight argument to establish that something is true — in other words, a “proof.” As a student I was exposed to facts that initially seemed impossible to know for certain (for example: did you know there are different sizes of infinity?), but in my mathematical training learned and practiced techniques to explain why they are true. Demonstrating the truth of something requires a healthy amount of critical thinking, especially when the arguments are complicated and subtle, and I believe that honing this type of skill helps me to be a more careful and clear thinker in other aspects of my life.

The third is the near universal utility of mathematics. We use mathematics as a language to represent phenomena across the sciences, and we benefit from mathematical tools all the time in our modern lives: signal processing tools make cell phones and other forms of digital communication possible, internet search engines work by utilizing concepts from linear algebra and graph theory, differential equations are solved to help predict the weather, and the mathematics of tomography (think CAT scans) makes it possible for physicians to see high resolution pictures of the inside of your body without a single incision. It’s exciting to learn about the amazing things that are being done with mathematics.

2. What are your current research interests?

My main body of research is in a field called Approximation Theory — in particular, much of my work centers around special functions called Radial Basis Functions (RBFs). In short, these functions are used to model quantities given limited information. As a concrete example, think of measuring elevation at a few locations on a terrain, and you want to use these measurements to find an accurate prediction for the elevation at other locations. Other applications abound — to name a few: RBFs are used to model fluids, build 3d surfaces from point clouds, and they even play a role in some artificial intelligence programs. Much of my research has centered on developing an understanding of how well certain types of RBFs perform in making predictions and how to make the predictions more efficient to compute.

In the past I’ve also been involved with projects related to astrophysics (developing “mass maps” of galaxies using RBFs), anthropology (using fossil tooth measurements to estimate other aspects of the species it came from), and scientific computing (also related to anthropology — developing algorithms to measure important aspects of scanned primate teeth). I’m interested in working on projects from other areas where my mathematical training could be put to use, especially those involving some aspect of scientific computing.

3. What are you most excited about in regards to the upcoming semester?

I’ll be teaching linear algebra in the spring, which I enjoy because it is such a fundamental tool in many applications. There have also been some exciting recent developments related to Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) that allow one to develop approximation formulas with incredible accuracy — I’m eager to experiment with these new methods and learn more about them.

4. Do you have any hobbies/ interests outside of work that you would like to share?

I took up beekeeping a few years ago, and I love to garden when I have time for it. I also like to experiment and learn new things that I get curious about — most recently that’s been making soap and learning how to sew (which I’m not very good at — yet).

5. If you could go back in time, what, if anything, would you do differently as a student?

When I began my college career I was more focused on getting good grades than really challenging myself — so for the first few semesters I avoided classes that I thought would be “too hard.” This was unfortunate, because later I found that the most challenging classes are often the most rewarding! If I were to do it all over again, I would let my interests guide my choices for classes in those early semesters — not my perception of the topic being easy or difficult.

IV. STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

1. What are you studying at HPU?

I am an Actuarial Science major, and I am thinking about minoring in Data Analysis

2. Why did you choose HPU?

I chose HPU because I was homeschooled almost my entire life, so I enjoyed that the class sizes here are very small and I can get personalized help and attention.

3. What interests do you have outside of your major?

Outside of school, I do taekwondo. I’ve been doing it for 7 years and I am a second-degree black belt.

4. What are some of the challenges that you have faced or overcome this semester?

One of my biggest challenges this semester has been my Calculus 2 class. I have had to change my study habits and put more effort into learning this material more than I have had to do for any other class.

5. What do you hope to do with your degree when you graduate?

I hope to become an actuary following my graduation from HPU. Even though it is not the most glamorous sounding career. Analyzing data and risk management seems enjoyable for me.

6. Are you involved in any activities on campus? In what capacity?

Currently, I am a part of Club Esports, and I play Valorant.

7. What advice would you like to share with your peers or with future students?

My piece of advice is to stay on top of your work. If there is homework, get it done as soon as possible. I used to be a big procrastinator, but I have learned to get any homework due in a week done before Thursday. Keeping assignments unfinished until Saturday or Sunday never works well for me.

1. What are you studying at HPU?

Electrical Engineering is my major.

2. Why did you choose HPU?

I had a lot of different options when I initially came to this college, but ultimately I came to High Point University because how I felt that the education would be very specific to the small class sizes. I felt like when I came here, the ability to get a very specific education knowing the professors’ first names and they know mine allows us to have a more discussion based class than they just lecture to us and we listen.

3. What interests do you have outside of your major?

Anything computer engineering related I’m really interested in. I’ve worked on different Arduino projects, and anything Robotics I really go into. I’m also part of the ESports community here which is really great.

4. What are some of the challenges that you have faced or overcome this semester?

The biggest challenge for me is time management while learning new, hard material, studying before tests, working on labs, and just overall keeping on top of your work. It’s important to ration your time, study, and really keep up.

5. What do you hope to do with your degree when you graduate?

I’m hoping to go straight to the industry if I can get it. I just got an internship offer for a contractor for the government for the National Security Space sector. Hopefully that would lead into having some experience.

6. Are you involved in any activities on campus? In what capacity?

Esports is the main one I’m involved with, but also the Robotics club where I’m currently the president. We just signed up for a NASA competition so that’s taking a lot of my time, and when I’m not working on that, I do tutoring.

7. What advice would you like to share with your peers or with future students?

Get involved. It’s so easy to just create — that’s essentially what Engineering is about. If you have an idea, just jump on it and try to innovate.

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