Services and Resources for Graduate Students

Applied Research

Main Office: Allen-Bradley Hall of Science, S-149
Phone: (414) 277-7195
Fax: (414) 277-7470

Applied Technology Center™ (ATC)

MSOE’s philosophy of an applications-oriented education - a full theoretical base plus hands-on technological experience - is exemplified by its research arm, the Applied Technology Center™. The ATC is well known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions strengthen economic development, protect the environment and benefit human life. The ATC uses MSOE staff, faculty and student expertise to solve technological problems confronting business and industry. There are a number of opportunities for graduate students to contribute to important cutting-edge developments while interacting with faculty, staff, industry and government. Students fulfill the roles of graduate research assistants working with ATC staff and faculty.

The Applied Technology Center undertakes hundreds of projects annually supporting business, industry and governmental sectors with research, design, development and evaluation of products, processes and systems. Staff can construct and evaluate prototypes and assist in providing technology transfer, helping to fulfill the global objectives of applying engineering talents for the betterment of life for all people.

Some of the areas include:

• Center for BioMolecular Modeling
• Rapid Prototyping Center
• Fluid Power Institute™
• Engineering Research Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power¹
• Clinical and Translational Science Institute²
• NanoEngineering Laboratory
• Photonics and Applied Optics Center
• Wisconsin Energy Research Consortium³
• Construction Science and Engineering Center
• Center for Sustainability
• Alternative Energies
• SUN-Students Understanding eNergy
• Wisconsin Center for Commercialization Resources⁴
• Professional Education

¹ _{With the University of Minnesota, Purdue University, University of Illinois, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, North Carolina A&T and numerous companies.}

² _{With Medical College of Wisconsin and others.}

³ _{With Marquette University, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Madison and industrial companies.}

⁴ _{With Marquette University, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside and UW-Whitewater.}

The Center for BioMolecular Modeling creates unique physical models of molecular structures using rapid prototyping and animation technologies. The center works with research scientists to create custom models of the proteins whose structures they are investigating. The center also works closely with educators at both the secondary and post-secondary levels to create innovative products that make the molecular world real for students. The center is unique in the world, bringing together the disciplines of engineering, structural biology and computer visualization.

Rapid Prototyping Center (RPC) offers students opportunities to work with faculty, staff and a consortium of client-members (such as Bombardier Recreational Products and Kohler Co.) to reduce product development cycle time and develop products using the technology of rapid prototyping/additive manufacturing. Rapid prototyping (RP) is a process that enables a 3D object to be created quickly and automatically from computer data. MSOE is the only university in the world to have multiple machines that use each of the five leading types of RP techniques. The center can create detailed 3D digital files of objects up to -and including-full-size vehicles using unique hand-held laser scanners. A recent major project resulted in creating all the physical parts of a full-size off-road vehicle.

Rapid Prototyping Research continues to advance the state-of-the-art in additive technologies and hybrid fabrication in a range of areas including medical, aerospace, fluid power, metal fabrication, nanotech, biotech, and biomolecular education. Product designs emerging from RP Research are in use around the world and emerging RP-structures and processes developed in the RP Research laboratory are extending the envelope of traditional manufacturing to new levels. Rapid Prototyping Research is involved in several programs targeting the low-cost production of advanced microdevices for medical and aerospace applications including stents and micro-rocket nozzles.

There is significant activity in novel internally-structured solid objects and advanced high resolution metal casting processes. With the additive nature of Solid Freeform Fabrication it is possible to create structures never thought possible, such as complex, three dimensional lattice structures.

Fluid Power Institute™(FPI), one of the first centers of its kind in the country, remains a pioneer in motion control and fluid power education. Through its state-of-the-art facilities it conducts a variety of performance, endurance and environmental evaluations of components and systems, as well as fluid analysis and tribology measurements. FPI also performs component and system design, modeling and simulation, system integration and prototyping, and develops and delivers various educational programs. A $5 million endowment from the estate of Otto J. Maha provides the potential for continued advancement of fluid power research and education. FPI uses an interdisciplinary workforce comprised of faculty and staff from various academic departments, and undergraduate and graduate students to conduct fluid power, motion control and related industry projects. FPI’s approach uses mechanical, electrical, computer and software engineering along with MSOE’s Rapid Prototyping Center. MSOE is a member of the National Fluid Power Association and supports the activities of the Fluid Power Society and the Fluid Power Educational Foundation. Graduate students are directly involved in research, both applied and basic, working with staff and faculty.

Engineering Research Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP)
develops compact, low-cost, next-generation, fluid powered devices-systems that use pressurized liquids or gasses to transmit power, with uses in aerospace, agriculture, construction, health care, manufacturing, mining and transportation. Researchers are developing a range of new technologies, such as hybrid vehicles with efficient fluid power components and wearable fluid-power assisted devices that run for extended periods without external energy sources-ideal mobility aids for people with disabilities or power sources for compact machines such as rescue boats. MSOE is partnered with six other leading universities. The center involves a significant number of students at the partnering universities. There are numerous summer internship opportunities with the more than 50 companies who cosponsor the center.

The Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), a regional biomedical collaboration of Medical College of Wisconsin, MSOE and others, involves clinical and translational science. The CTSI collaboration advocates, facilitates and fosters the continuum of research from bench to bedside to community practice. The effort capitalizes on the strong foundation of basic science and community outreach programs within the academic institutions of southeastern Wisconsin. Its goal is to diminish the barriers between disciplines and institutions and to encourage novel approaches to solving complex medical problems that draw on our complementary expertise.

The NanoEngineering Laboratory lets one see at the nano-level with many implications for business. Observing nano particles can provide insight that otherwise may be unfathomable. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) allows the force between a small tip and a chosen sample surface to be measured with atomic-scale resolution. Lateral forces between the tip and the sample can also be measured to better understand the origins of friction at the molecular scale. Other types of AFM surface measurement models include: plastic deformations, electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. All these capabilities make the AFM an indispensable tool for characterization and manipulation in all areas of the emerging field of nanotechnology. Leveraging the state-of-the-art AFM capabilities, research is conducted in the area of wear reduction and surface enhancement. Other areas include Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) of metal matrix composites and numerous projects for biological and industrial applications (e.g., MEMS)

Photonics and Applied Optics Center comprises the Applied Optics Laboratory and the Photonics and Sensors Laboratory. The center’s laboratories are in an extremely low-vibration site that allows performance of the most sensitive optical projects and experiments. The center includes six 4-by-8-foot optical tables and a collection of optical instruments and apparatus that includes picowatt optical power meters, computer-controlled monochromators, a broad array of optical sources including lasers and light emitting diodes and fiber optic components including an optical time-domain reflectometer.

The center’s support for industry has included consulting projects for small and large local corporations. All of those projects have involved testing of the properties of light-emitting diodes, laser diodes and incandescent light sources, and the design of apparatuses that use those light sources.

MSOE, UW-Milwaukee (UWM), Marquette University and UW-Madison, in partnership with several regional companies and foundations, have formed the Wisconsin Energy Research Consortium(WERC).WERC’s mission is to develop an internationally recognized energy technology research center in Southern Wisconsin and to create an infrastructure and enterprise that is capable of competing at a national level for large-scale energy research projects. The center brings the region’s best research minds together to advance energy solutions that return benefits for the nation and for generations to come. In addition, WERC influences area engineering students to consider careers in the extremely important and interesting fields of sustainability and energy.

The Construction Science and Engineering Center promotes innovation in the building design and construction industries by conducting applied research in structural materials and systems as well as construction methods. The center’s laboratory has approximately 2,100 square feet of floor space and a clear height of 36 feet. There is a large door for truck access and an overhead crane with two 5-ton trolleys. Specialized and adaptable structural testing systems, including a two-channel digitally controlled system, can produce loads from 50 to 500,000 pounds on specimens up to 24 feet tall. The lab has multiple computerized data acquisition capabilities and an extensive array of transducers for measuring force, displacement, and strain. Academic course activities in this laboratory ensure that MSOE graduates understand the physical realities of structural behavior and construction. Graduate research assistants, working with faculty, may be involved in a wide range of funded projects.

The Center for Sustainability works to sustain, improve and promote renewable energy projects on campus and throughout Milwaukee and Wisconsin. The Center for Sustainability is part of the Applied Technology Center™. Its scope transcends departmental boundaries and involves integration among a broad array of research and educational activities and projects. It will include renewable energy and energy efficiency, waste usage and minimization, campus-wide environmental projects, green building studies and environmental opportunities in engineering, business and nursing.

Several new programs are under development dealing with alternative energy sources. A 30 kW solar electric photovoltaic array is installed on a main campus building. Its output will be monitored and the information used in several courses in mechanical, electrical, architectural engineering and physics. In addition, a solar thermal system is installed on the roof of the Margaret Loock Residence Hall.

With the combined strengths of five regional universities, the Wisconsin Center for Commercialization Resources (WCCR) will play a key role in building and supporting a regional economic ecosystem, primarily focusing on supporting commercialization efforts within the southeastern Wisconsin region. Each of the WCCR partners has individual capacities and assets that collectively will be leveraged to support and advance technology commercialization, having previously collaborated on regional initiatives including those to support the water and energy cluster industries. The primary aim is to facilitate the entire commercialization process, especially at critical stages, by providing a planned framework for moving a project through various stages from idea to proof of concept to launch.

A new program - SUN (Students Understanding eNergy)- focuses upon biological energy. Innovative instructional materials useful in teaching energy-related topics at the high school and undergraduate levels are being used and evaluated. The many analogies between the hydrogen fuel cell and the biological processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration are highlighted.

Professional Education seminars at MSOE, covering topics in fluid power and motion control, offer participants opportunities to explore technological developments and current applications and techniques. The programs are designed to keep practicing engineers abreast of new developments and applications, and also to provide a basic understanding of the technology to new entrants into the field. These hands-on, application-oriented seminars are based on applied research conducted by MSOE scholars using state-of-the-art laboratories with industrial-size equipment. The incredible capabilities of software and digital computation are redefining the applications of fluid power and motion control. Authentic hands-on laboratory experiments using the new, versatile Universal Trainer reinforce theory and simulations. These are supplemented with excellent notes and lectures involving animation.

A state-of-the-art fluid power and motion control training unit has recently been developed. The units are universal, transportable, compact and are designed to be used for professional education programs at the customer’s site. It has been engineered to cover a variety of disciplines including hydraulics, electro-hydraulic, pneumatic, electro-pneumatic and electro-mechanical, and features state-of-the-art software, HMI loaded with MATLAB®/Simulink®, Automation Studio and customer-made software.

Types of Projects within the ATC™

Interdisciplinary capabilities provide a major advantage and can span fields such as engineering, science, business, computers and technical communication. Faculty, staff and students who undertake applied research projects represent all aspects of the university’s curricula - architectural, biomedical, biomolecular, computer, industrial, software, electrical and mechanical engineering and technology, plus construction management, nursing, mathematics, physics and chemistry, business and technical communication. The research projects involve expertise in a variety of areas, such as computer-based synthesis/analysis/fabrication/testing, environmental engineering, finite element stress/thermal/fluid dynamic analysis, materials, product and process design, alternative energies and many others. ATC™ research assistantships involve both graduate and undergraduate students working on advanced projects.

Modes of interaction include directly funded projects, consultation, federally funded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, consortia work, technology licensing and subcontracts. Applied research is done by staff and faculty with industrial experience - often with research assistants and student and class projects in engineering and business disciplines - coordinated with company and faculty advisors. Referrals serve as an initial contact point for networking with others to optimize expertise and facilities for technology transfer.

Research Assistantships

MSOE offers a limited number of graduate research assistantships for research with the ATC™. Selection is based upon available funds, project personnel requirements and student qualification. February 1 is the normal application deadline for an assistantship that is awarded for the subsequent fall quarter. Assistantships may be available at other times of the year, based on additional funding and program activity.

Graduate research assistants are assigned to the ATC™. All assistantship candidates must be accepted for graduate study by MSOE. Open graduate research positions can be viewed online at www.msoe.edu/hr/studentjobs. You may also submit a letter of interest detailing areas of expertise along with a current resume to the following address: Dean of Applied Research, MSOE, 1025 North Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202-3109, USA. Allow at least 60 days for processing the application once all materials are received.

Position Obligations and Benefits: This is a 12-month appointment, renewable for subsequent years based on continued availability of funding, the student’s work performance and academic progress. Students will normally receive both of the following awards:

• Research Assistantship: Student typically will be assigned a specified number of hours of research and ATC™ project work per week over 12 months.
• Tuition Scholarship: Student takes at least six credits of course work per academic quarter (summers optional), leading to the M.S. degree in two to three years. Tuition will be waived in proportion to the fraction of full-time employment for courses needed for the degree, providing they meet graduate degree program requirements. Each tuition scholarship award will be made based on a student’s academic record, potential to succeed in the program and related work experience.

No other (outside) employment is allowed. To be eligible for the research assistantship, applicants must be enrolled as graduate students at MSOE by virtue of course work or continuous enrollment. No teaching or classroom-related work will normally be expected of research assistants. Occasionally, a graduate student will assist in running a laboratory.

Students must maintain satisfactory graduate student academic standing to retain their position.

Research with Human Participants

The Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an administrative body established to protect the rights and well being of human participants recruited to participate in research activities. MSOE complies with requirements set forth in Title 45, Part 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations (45 CFR 46), known as the “Common Rule” as well as Wisconsin state laws and MSOE policies.

All students, staff and faculty at MSOE planning on conducting research involving human participants must submit an IRB protocol for review and approval by the MSOE IRB. Review and approval must be completed before human participants are recruited and research begins. The mission of the IRB is to ensure the adequacy of the research plan, to minimize risks and to maximize benefits for human subjects who participate in research. If the investigator is a student, the research must be performed under the supervision of an MSOE faculty or staff member who, by his or her signature, assumes responsibility for the conduct of that research with respect to the proper safeguards of the rights of participants.

Research is defined (45 CFR 46.102 (d)) as “a systematic investigation, including methodology, development, testing and evaluation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.” This definition includes formal investigations from which the results will be publicly disseminated, pilot projects, exploratory research, educational research and research undertaken by students for purposes of classroom work, independent study, senior design and change projects, surveys, master degree theses and includes research with human subjects conducted for non-academic purposes.

Human participant is defined (45 CFR.102 (f)) as “a living individual about whom an investigator conducting research obtains data through intervention or interaction with the individual or the collection of identifiable private information.” Intervention includes both physical procedures by which the data is gathered (for example, blood pressure readings, exercising, equipment design, etc.) and manipulations of the subject or the subject’s environment (heat, light, temperature, etc.) Interaction includes communication or interpersonal contact between the investigator and subject (interviews, focus groups, surveys, etc.). Private information includes information (academic, financial, medical records, etc.) about behavior that occurs in a context in which the subject can reasonably expect that no recording is taking place or information the subject has provided for a specific purpose can reasonable expect will not be made public.

IRB protocol packets are available online at http://inside.msoe.edu/academics or from the IRB Administrator. Contact the IRB Administrator at (414) 277-2835 for more information or assistance in writing the protocol.

Center for Entrepreneurship

MSOE established the Uihlein-Spitzer Center for Entrepreneurship to provide resources to a flourishing mindset of entrepreneurship among MSOE faculty and students. Entrepreneurial values are instilled in students, preparing them to join business and industry in leadership roles, improving profitability and productivity. Our students develop new products, design new processes and uncover new markets. Some even start their own businesses. When it comes to entrepreneurship, MSOE students take the helm.

The Center’s efforts are directed by G. Woodrow Adkins, the Uihlein-Spitzer Chair of Entrepreneurship in the Rader School of Business. Professor Adkins draws upon MSOE faculty, experts in business and his experience as an entrepreneur and executive to provide a range of services available through the Center:

• business concept refinement
• ideation assistance
• financial resource identification
• market identification and feasibility
• business plan development

The Center supports efforts to integrate entrepreneurial skills into engineering, technology and business education, such as involvement with the Kern Entrepreneurial Education Network (KEEN) grant and the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).

Businesses need more than graduates who excel in their field; businesses need leaders - who think in innovative ways, plan and manage projects and use technology to bring projects to fruition. These entrepreneurial skills are key components for the future competitiveness of U.S. companies.

Entrepreneurs in the United States have generated between 60 and 80 percent of all new jobs in the last decade. Entrepreneurs in small businesses represent 97 percent of all exporters of goods and are a growing sector for women and other minorities. Entrepreneurship is a big deal, driving the U.S. economy and influencing global enterprise.

Milwaukee Export Assistance Center

MSOE’s Rader School of Business sustains a strategic partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Commercial Service’s Milwaukee Export Assistance Center. The U.S. Commercial Service has offices in over 100 American cities and 80 countries throughout the world and assists businesses throughout America in realizing their export potential. The Milwaukee Export Assistance Center is located on MSOE’s campus in Rosenberg Hall.

Our partnership provides students, alumni and members of MSOE’s Business Excellence Consortium with a gateway to the Milwaukee Export Assistance Center’s International Trade Specialist. Staff members of the Milwaukee Export Assistance Center have many years of experience in international markets in a wide variety of industrial sectors. They are available to provide export counseling to interested Wisconsin companies.

Library Resources

The Walter Schroeder Library is a service-oriented facility committed to serving the research, study and other information needs of MSOE’s students, faculty and staff. Housing more than 50,000 print volumes in support of the university’s specialized curricula, the library features a collection that consists of books, magazines, journals, newspapers, standards, senior design projects, microfiche, videos and other media programs. The library’s catalog, Horizon, can be accessed via the Web at http://garrett.msoe.edu:81/. The library additionally catalogs and houses master’s theses and capstone reports completed in graduate programs at MSOE. A unique biomolecular modeling lending library makes available physical biomolecular models produced by the Center for BioMolecular Modeling.

In addition to its specialized collection, the library provides a number of services and resources for members of the MSOE community. An extensive array of online databases is available on the library’s website at http://www.msoe.edu/library. New online resources are regularly acquired by the library. Online databases particularly helpful to graduate students include the ABI/Inform business and management database, Business Source Complete business and management database, Academic Search Complete, Applied Science & Technology, Ei Compendex Engineering database, Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management database, Medline database, the IEEE/IET Electronic Library (IEL), and ScienceDirect College Edition. Many of these databases provide the full text of articles published in leading journals and magazines: more than 90,000 e-journals are available to students through full-text databases and online subscriptions. The library also provides electronic books through such resources as the Books24x7 and ebrary e-book databases. More than 100,000 ebooks are available to students through the library’s e-book databases. Access is additionally available to unique content databases, and all Web-based databases are remotely accessible for members of the MSOE community.

Library services particularly helpful for graduate students include interlibrary loan and document delivery, database training, online reference help, and extensive research and documentation help. The library belongs to a number of resource sharing consortia that enable it to obtain materials from other libraries from around the world. Lists of MSOE graduate capstone and thesis work are compiled regularly by the librarians and made available on the library’s website.

The library additionally is responsible for format and documentation checks of thesis and capstone reports, and as such, library personnel provide significant support for the documentation and style format guidelines that are employed in MSOE’s graduate programs. A hardcover binding service for thesis and capstone documents is also available through the library. The library maintains a campus-wide subscription to Refworks, the online bibliographic management system.

Wireless network access, group study rooms, quiet study areas, Internet research laptops, free printing, copying and scanning and a popular food and beverage vending area also are available in the library.

Goethe House

The Goethe House of Wisconsin is a non-profit German-American Cultural Institute serving Wisconsin since 1958. It is located on the MSOE campus in the Alumni Partnership Center. They serve as a statewide resource for information about the past and present culture of all German-speaking people. Through cultural and educational programs the Goethe House seeks to provide greater awareness of evolving German society and, in so doing, promote strong relations, friendship and understanding between Germany and the U.S. All MSOE students, and particularly those who study abroad in Germany, have access to this unique resource.

Grohmann Museum

The Grohmann Museum is home to the world’s most comprehensive art collection dedicated to the evolution of human work. It serves as home to the General Studies Department and also houses a research library, which undergraduate and graduate students can use as a resource.

The museum welcomes the public to three floors of galleries where a core collection is displayed as well as special themed exhibitions, so there is always something new to see. The museum also has a spectacular rooftop sculpture garden and amenities such as a vending café and store.

Information Technology Department

The Information Technology Department (IT) is responsible for the planning, development, maintenance and administration of the university’s computing resources. IT is comprised of two main branches: the academic, dealing with educational functions, and the administrative, dealing with such things as student records, financial aid and telecommunications.

Students are assigned their own computer accounts while attending MSOE. These accounts enable students to send and receive Internet and local email, access other Internet applications, and use of PC network and systems applications. Students may also have a personal Web page, which is hosted by an MSOE Web server.

Based on inventory availability and if required for a class, graduate students may opt into the technology program per quarter to receive the notebook that is currently on lease for $380 per quarter or receive an older model laptop for $50.00 per quarter. The student must complete the appropriate version of the Notebook Computer Use Agreement depending on the laptop being leased. Additional information will be provided upon the request to participate in the technology program.

The Help Desk is located in room S-301. Call (414) 277-7288, fax (414) 277-7495 or visit the website at www.msoe.edu/it.

Graduate Student Housing

MSOE operates three residence halls located in the middle of campus just a block or two from classrooms and laboratories. These facilities offer quiet floors, suites and a full-service food operation. Although undergraduate students comprise the largest segment of the resident population, the residence halls do offer an on-campus option to the graduate student. The Housing Department can provide more information on what is available and how personal needs might be accommodated.

Renting off-campus housing from one of the many independently owned rental units near the university provides an alternative.

Career Services

The Career Services Office staff provides assistance to undergraduate students, graduate students and alumni. Services include job listings, reference library, Career Net website, career and job search resources and graduate school information. The Career Services Office also can assist in providing salary information, resume and cover letter assistance, developing a job search strategy and improving interview skills.

The Career Services Office staff coordinates the university’s internship and co-op programs, sponsors the Annual Career Fair and hosts employers who come to campus to conduct employment interviews. Part-time and summer job listings also are available.