College of Engineering

Our Research Mission:

"To foster a creative learning environment that will empower students and faculty with the necessary knowledge and facilities to be international leaders in creating new technologies and services that will improve tomorrow's economy and environment."

National & State Research Centers:

National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE)

Director: Chistine Hailey
Office: ENGR 413C
Email: ncete@usu.edu
NCETE is one of the 17 NSF-funded Centers for Learning and Teaching in the country, and the only center addressing engineering and technology education.The ultimate goal of NCETE is to infuse engineering design, problem solving and analytical skills into the K-12 schools through technology education in order to increase the quality, quantity, and diversity of engineering and technology educators, and to significantly strengthen the pathways to engineering and technology professions for students.

Utah Transportation Center

Director: Kevin Womack
Office: EL 276
Email: kevin.womack@usu.edu
The Utah Transportation Center is one of 22 federally funded Tier II University Transportation Centers. The Center's theme is "Innovative Engineering Against Hazards". The goal of the Center is to advance the understanding of transportation systems and infrastructure through research and teaching activities using state of the art design tools, and best practices in planning, design, operations and management.

Utah Water Research Laboratory (UWRL)

Director: Mac McKee
Office: UWRL 103 or ENGR 232
Email: mmckee@cc.usu.edu
The UWRL is located on the Logan River and provides more than 100,000 square feet of space for research, testing, and training related to the areas of hydraulic engineering, water resources planning and management, and environmental and natural systems engineering.

State Centers of Excellence:

Center for Advanced Imagery LADAR

Director: Robert T. Pack
Office: EL 241
Email: rtpack@cc.usu.edu
Existing technology in the area of Lidar (similar to radar, but uses light in place of radio waves) requires a computer to spend hours transforming the raw data into three-dimensional images. Patented technology researched and developed by this center is now able to produce 3-D images immediately. The center's goal is to promote and market this new technology.

Center for Control of Flows in Manufacturing

Director: Barton Smith
Office: ENGR 419K
Email: bsmith@engineering.usu.edu
This Center of Excellence will focus on the application of flow control technologies, commonly studied for aerospace applications, as applied to manufacturing processes. Two technologies are currently being developed: Aerodynamic Vectoring Particle Separation (AVPS) and Coanda Assisted Spray Manipulation (CSM).

Center for Solar Biofuels Technology

Director: Byard Wood
Office: ENGR 419D
Email: byard@engineering.usu.edu
The goal of this center is to develop a solar powered photobioreactor using minimal land and water resources to efficiently grow high-oil-content microalgae as a feedstock for biofuels such as biodiesel.

College Laboratories, Research Centers and Institutes:

Anderson Center for Wireless Teaching and Research

Director: Jacob Gunther
Office: EL 172
Email: jake@ece.usu.edu
This center provides state-of-the art wireless communication teaching and research with emphasis on industry-relevant design projects.

Buried Structures Laboratory

Director: Al Moser
Office: EC 110
Email: apmoser@engineering.usu.edu
The Buried Structures Laboratory was established in 1967. These facilities, faculty, and staff have allowed USU to become the leading laboratory in the world in conducting research into the performance of buried pipes. The laboratory has performed research on both flexible and rigid pipes. Almost all pipe materials, pipe sizes, and various soil types have been studied. The laboratory has a rich history of over 35 years of experience in research and testing from which to draw.

Center for Self-Organizing and Intelligent Systems (CSOIS) 

Director: Yangquan Chen
Office: EL 152
Email: yqchen@ece.usu.edu
Focusing on building unmanned robotic vehicles of all sizes and purposes, this center's applications include reconnaissance on the battlefield, detecting bombs under vehicles, running license plate security checks, locating hazardous materials, applying fertilizer/pesticides to large agricultural tracts, and exploring the surface of Mars.

Inland Northwest Research Alliance at USU

Coordinator: Ron Sims
Phone: 435-797-3156
Office: ENGR 402G
Email: rcsims@cc.usu.edu
INRA is a consortium of eight research universities dedicated to fostering collaborative research and educational partnerships in the Inland Northwest. Utah State University is a member of this alliance. Each of the member institutions has faculty expertise in solving science and engineering problems of regional, national, and international importance. Collaborations between faculty at these institutions result in scientific solutions for state, federal, and private sector sponsors in a more efficient manner than is possible without this joint effort.

Institute for Natural Systems Engineering

Director: Thomas B. Hardy
Office: UWRL 125 or ENGR 402M
Email: hardy@inse.usu.edu
This center focuses on developing, testing, and applying assessment tools to quantify the impacts of human activities on quatic ecosystems. Research includes remote sensing, GIS bases analyses, multidimensional hydraulic modeling, fish habitat modeling, and field data collection methods that use hydroacoustic mapping and GPS.

International Irrigation Center (IIC)

Director: L. Humberto Yap-Salinas
Office: ENGR 405E
Email: hyaps@cc.usu.edu
The IIC works to improve the management of irrigated agriculture, especially in developing countries. In the past, the center has provided training for policy makers, planners, program administrators, and educators in the most modern techniques to increase crop production.

Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Director: Stephen S. Reed
Office: ENGR 413F
Email: sreed@cc.usu.edu
This organization helps small/medium-sized manufacturers become more competitive. It offers on-site assistance for learning lean manufacturing techniques to quality certifications to environmental assessments.

Center for Profitable Uses of Agricultural Byproducts (CPUAB)

Director: Conly L. Hansen
Office: NFS 242
Email: chansen@cc.usu.edu
The goal of the center is to find profitable uses of organic materials that presently have little or no value.

Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consortium

Director: Doran Baker
Phone: 435-797-3666
Office: EL 302D
Email: spacegrant@cc.usu.edu

Utah Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP)

Director: Doyt Y. Bolling
Office: EL 124
Email: doyt@cc.usu.edu
Provides technology transfer, training, and technical asistance to local, state, and federal transportation agencies. They specialize in projects such as road surface management, asset management, traffic operations, highway safety, innovative contracting, infratructure management, and other transportation challenges.

Utah On-Site Wastewater Training Center

Director: Judith L. Sims
Office: UWRL 243 or ENGR 402R
Email: jlsims@cc.usu.edu
This center provides education, training, and technology transfer to installers, inspectors, regulators, and homeowners within the Rocky Mountain Region on the proper design and use of wastewater treatment systems.

Center for Space Engineering

Director: Charles Swenson, 435-797-2958, EL 241D
The Center for Space Engineering is a multi-disciplinary group of faculty who are principal investigators of programs with strong ties to the Space Dynamics Laboratory.

Utah State University Research Foundation:

Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL)

Director: Michael Pavich
General Info: 435-797-4600
SDL has been recognized for expertise in developing infrared instruments, calibrating and modeling sensor systems, creating space-rated instruments and payloads, analyzing and compressing data, diagnosing plasma, and measuring the upper atmosphere.