Students attend the AIAA Aerospace Symposium meeting in Dayton, Ohio each year. While at the symposium, they tour the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Museum. Other activities involve touring the Corvette plant in Bowling Green and having guests on campus from GE Aviation at Madisonville, KY.
In September 2008, AIAA hosted an on-campus lecture/presentation by a retired Air Force colonel who piloted the SR-71 Reconnaissance Aircraft. The presentation was not only for AIAA members but also for the general public.
In the past, students have attended regional conferences in Madison, Wisconsin; Cincinnati, Ohio and West Lafayette, Indiana, and hosted the 2003 AIAA Region III conference. Past Paducah students David Jones and Adam Cook won third place in the undergraduate paper presentation category in 2004.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. John Maddox
Chapter Chairman: Muhammad BilalVice Chairman: Marshall JenkinsTreasurer: Joshua HaganSecretary: Ethan Dowell
The UK Paducah student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers gives students an opportunity to interact with students and practicing engineers from around the country, serve their community and learn more about their chosen profession. Activities are scheduled throughout the academic year. In 2003, the chapter won the national Chem-E Car design competition in Indianapolis. Students have attended conferences at places ranging from San Francisco to San Juan.
The UK Paducah student chapter has been named an AIChE Outstanding Chapter each year since receiving its charter in 2001. Other chapter activities include outreach to area schools and Girl Scout troops, social activities and service to the engineering program.
Chapter Advisor: Dr. Hyun-Tae Hwang
Chapter President: Katherine AllenVice President: Payton DillonTreasurer: Kaitlin HopkinsSecretary: Abby Teddleton
ASME members have attended leadership seminars and professional development conferences, competed in contests and received prestigious awards. The Paducah chapter hosted the 2002 Regional Student Leadership seminar for ASME Region VI.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Hari Ghimire
Chapter President: Evan BremmerkampVice President: Andrew PaulSecretary: Christian GratzTreasurer: Seth Burnett
Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) is a non-profit network committed to building a better world. Established in 2002, ESW consists of students, university faculty and professionals who are dedicated to building a more sustainable world for current and future generations. This involves not only direct projects on campuses, in communities and internationally, but also educating our communities and ourselves about sustainability as a broad topic.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jeff Seay
Chapter President: TBDVice President: TBDTreasurer: TBD
In January of 2011, the Kentucky Energy Club (KYEC) was created as the product of a grant by the U.S. Department of Energy. Advised by employees of the Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER), KYEC started its first chapter at the University of Kentucky in hopes of modeling the club at MIT. With the initiative of several students, the UK Chapter began that spring semester by hosting an Energy 101 lecture series on campus. As word traveled, students and faculty across the university gained interest and insight in energy issues, especially since Kentucky has historically been a large producer of coal-fire generated power.
Chapter Advisor: Dr. Jeff Seay
Baja SAE is an international collegiate design competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Engineering students are tasked to design and build an off-road vehicle that will survive the severe punishment of rough terrain. For the past several years, the SAE team in Paducah have raced their Big Blue Baja at major events.
Baja West Competition – Hosted by University of WisconsinBaja East World Challenge Competition – Hosted by University of RochesterBaja South World Challenge Competition – Hosted by Auburn UniversityBaja Kansas Competition – Hosted by Pittsburg State University
In each of the competitions, students competed with over a hundred teams from around the world. In 2008, two SAE team members presented their work on “Finite Element Analysis of Baja Vehicle Frames” in the ASEE-SE conference in Memphis, TN and won 1st place in Undergraduate Research. In 2009, two SAE members presented their work on “Experimental and Finite Element Simulations of Engine Covers” in the ASEE-SE conference in Atlanta, GA and won the 3rd place award in Undergraduate Research. Past SAE chapter president, Kyle Ramey, won the prestigious SAE Student Leadership Development in 2007.
Learn more about Baja SAE.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Y. Charles Lu
Chapter President: Cat CreekmoreVice President: Duncan LamphSecretary: TBDTreasurer: TBDCommunity Outreach: TBD
The UK-Paducah Society of Women Engineers (SWE) student section was chartered in August of 2001. The section provides a support structure for women in the engineering program and receives unprecedented support from engineering professional women in the area. One of SWE's top priorities is outreach aimed at making K-12 female students more aware of engineering as a career choice. SWE recently developed an aggressive outreach program that involves visiting local schools to talk about engineering and providing the students with hands-on demonstrations of engineering phenomena. The section also sponsors events during the annual UK-Paducah Engineering Day in the Spring.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gisella Lamas-Samanamud
Chapter President: Abby TeddletonVice President: Kayden DarnellTreasurer: Allison MillspaughSecretary: Madison SteelmanDirector of Recruitment: Abbi Wallace and Leigh Ann Taylor
SWE Next Officers: Savannah Murt and Katie Beth Simpson
Tau Beta Pi is the honor society for all engineering disciplines. Eligibility is limited to the top 20% of the student class. Membership in Tau Beta Pi is recognized universally for outstanding academic achievement and high integrity. Paducah students are members of the Kentucky Alpha chapter at the University of Kentucky.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. David Silverstein
Omega Chi Epsilon is the honor society for chemical engineering. Eligibility is limited to the top 25% of the student class. Membership in Omega Chi Epsilon is recognized in the chemical engineering profession as a symbol of outstanding student achievement. Paducah students become members of the Upsilon Chapter at the University of Kentucky.
Paducah contact: Dr. David Silverstein
Pi Tau Sigma is the honor society for mechanical engineering. Eligibility is limited to the top 25% of the student class. Membership in Pi Tau Sigma is recognized in the mechanical engineering profession as a symbol of outstanding student achievement. Paducah students become members of the Pi Lambda Chapter at the University of Kentucky.
The new space exploration on Mars and beyond has started with short-term, robotic missions and would eventually expand to long-term, human explorations and inhibitions. The success of such exploration would depend upon the means to transport robots and human safely and efficiently explore to and on the planetary surfaces. As such, NASA has been challenging students to design innovated surface vehicle (Rover) through its annual Human Exploration Rover Design Challenge, hosted at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Big Blue Rover team at University of Kentucky Paducah campus designs, builds, and races a human-powered Rover to support NASA’s space exploration missions.
