Lafayette Engineering

08/31/2026

The Hanson Center for Inclusive STEM Education seeks to advance both our understanding and practices of inclusion and equity in STEM to create the culture, programs, and policies that promote inclusive excellence. Come learn about the variety of programs we offer to ensure that all thrive in STEM, including our peer The Hanson Center for Inclusive STEM Education seeks to advance both our understanding and practices of inclusion and equity in STEM to create the culture, programs, and policies that promote inclusive excellence. Come learn about the variety of programs we offer to ensure that all thrive in STEM, including our peer mentor program and RAISE (Representatives to Advance Inclusive STEM Education), a coalition of student groups.

08/31/2026

Alumni Spotlight: Hank Cauley, ChBE ’77 🌍💼

From managing refugee programs in Somalia to steering multi-million-dollar global sustainability initiatives, Hank Cauley ’77 has been driving change at the intersection of conservation, business, and capital for more than four decades. An institutional builder and board-level leader, he holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Lafayette, an MS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Harvard Business School, a combination that underpins his practical, data-driven approach to environmental oversight.

Career Highlights:
✅Nature For Justice: Served as Co-Founder and CEO, guiding mission-driven efforts to leverage nature-based solutions for climate resilience and community empowerment. He now acts as a strategic advisor and is a member of the Board.
✅Global Conservation: Co-built and managed the $12M Wild Australia program at The Pew Charitable Trusts, contributing to outcomes of 25% of the continent's lands protected and 26% of the oceans (in highly protected marine sanctuaries).
✅Corporate Sustainability: Served as Senior Vice President at Conservation International, managing a 30-person team and influencing over $150M in sustainability partnerships across agriculture, extractives, and consumer goods.
Transformative Leadership: Reorganized and scaled the U.S. Forest Stewardship ✅Council as President, raising nearly $20M and strengthening its position as the leading global certification standard for sustainable forestry.
✅Board & Impact Governance: Advised and served on founding boards for pioneer impact organizations, including the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Root Capital.

In Hank’s own words:

"My Lafayette ChemE degree gave me two things: a way of breaking problems into manageable pieces, and the confidence to take anything on. That foundation carried me from refugee camps to boardrooms to co-founding a social justice organization from scratch."

📅 SAVE THE DATE Hear Hank Cauley's journey in his own words at this year's Resnik Lecture! 🗓️ Oct. 27 | 7:30 PM 📍 Colton Chapel

ChemicalEngineering

08/31/2026

Summer research with Prof. Lindsay Soh and John Oramas ’27 seeks greener methods to extract compound to make bio-based polymers

Prof. Lindsay Soh and John Oramas ’27 seek greener methods to extract compound to make bio-based polymers

08/27/2026

☀️How did you spend your summer?💦

For Lily Anderson, summer was all about testing the waters--and going all in in the name of research!

Working with Assistant Prof. of Civil & Environmental Engineering Kenzie Burns, Lily spent the season tracking nitrogen concentrations throughout the Bushkill Watershed to measure the impact of human activity on the health of Lafayette's local waterway. It was the ultimate mix of fieldwork and lab science as she gathered soil and water samples from potential contamination hotspots—like farms, landfills, and wastewater treatment plants—as well as control sites like local parks.

Back in the lab, Lily ran tests on the samples to compare actual nitrogen levels against expectations and pinpoint human ecological footprints. It was a summer spent wading headfirst into environmental science to help protect local ecosystems from the ground up!

Talk about making a real splash—way to dig deep and keep our waterways healthy, Lily! 🌊🧪

08/25/2026

🧠Pro-Tips: Lafayette Engineering Edition
Go talk to faculty and staff! Seriously. They’re real people with real interests, big ideas, and plenty of stories to share.

Meet Engineering Technician Rob Layng. You'll find him working with students in AEC labs and sharing his expertise as a contributing writer for Cutting Tool Engineering. His articles have included “Tips and Tricks for Threading Aluminum Parts” (May 2025) and “Eccentricity Rings True” (January 2025). He is also host to Cutting Tool Engineering’s The Daily Grind podcast.

Rob is also a history buff, a member of a "lemons" racecar team, a family man, and he tells a great story, so find him in the labs and hallways of AEC and stop him for a chat!

08/25/2026

☀️How did you spend your summer?🕶️

Kasey Mammana researched using high-tech eye-tracking glasses to study how people interact with child car seats. During trials, volunteers wore the glasses while evaluating different seats, taking surveys, and answering questions about specific features. By tracking exactly where participants looked and monitoring subtle changes in their pupil diameter, Kasey was able to pinpoint what grabs attention and how people process key safety features.

Why the close focus? Misuse rates for child car seats are alarmingly high, but understanding human perception is the key to changing that. Kasey’s research aims to improve how car seats are marketed and presented to the public, making them easier to use correctly and ultimately keeping kids safer on the road.

Talk about research with a real-world impact! 🚗✨

08/21/2026

☀️How did you spend your summer? ☀️

For rising Mechanical Engineering juniors Hudson Turba and Justus Starr, summer wasn’t just about soaking up the sun—it was about harnessing its energy!

Working with Associate Professor of Engineering Studies Julia Nicodemus and Mechanical Engineering Professor Josh Smith, Hudson and Justus gathered data and monitored water flow and temperatures using LabView. They worked to ensure the flow rate was perfectly precise to guarantee repeatability with experiments and obtain accurate conclusions from the energy transfer rates. The work required close monitoring and attention to detail.

Talk about clean energy in action—way to turn up the heat on research this summer, Hudson and Justus! ⚡️

08/20/2026

How did you spend your summer? ☀️

Integrative Engineering student (with robotics focus) Daniel Thorne worked with Prof. Mandali to develop a soft robotic gripper—a three-fingered claw made of silicone. Unlike traditional metal robots, soft robots use flexible materials that allow them to safely grasp delicate objects like fruit without causing damage. Each finger is powered by air, which inflates small internal chambers throughout the finger and makes it bend.

Daniel’s research focuses on automatically controlling how much each finger bends, using sensors that measure air pressure and finger position. A controller continuously adjusts the airflow to hold each finger at a target position. He's pictured monitoring the finger's response in real time, comparing the sensor data on screen to the desired bend angle while tuning the controller.

Way to bring robotics research to life this summer!

08/18/2026

🧠Pro-Tips: Lafayette Engineering Edition
Go Talk to Faculty. Seriously.

Faculty do more than teach—they guide, inspire, connect—and hike! From hands-on projects to future plans to just swapping stories about cool places they've been, they’re here for the conversation.

Meet Prof. Steve Kurtz, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In the classroom he teaches the full spectrum of structural design and mechanics. Whether he’s analyzing complex load dynamics or guiding the steel bridge team to national titles, Prof. Kurtz bridges the gap between engineering theory and real-world impact.

💼Real-World Expertise: Spends his summers working active industry shifts as a senior structural engineer for commercial and industrial buildings.

🌉Championship Coach: Faculty adviser to the Lafayette Steel Bridge Team, leading the squad to top 5 finishes at the National Championship every year since 2015.

Off the clock you’ll find him hitting the hiking trails like those in the Grand Canyon, or climbing mountains like Kilimanjaro. 🥾⛰️

Find him in his first-floor office across the hall from the steel bridge lab in Acopian Engineering Center. Ask him about any of the steel bridge competitions, his latest travels, or a favorite local hiking trail. His door is always open. So go talk to faculty!

08/17/2026

Dean Rossmann's new book, "Worldbuilding: The Engineering Imagination, comes out September 1.

"As an engineer and a fiction writer myself, I appreciate the importance of imaginative storytelling in the development and adoption of new technology. This book reconsiders the history of technology (expanding the traditional understanding of who engineers are and what they’re responsible for) in order to enable us to imagine more just, inclusive, and fully imagined futures. By interrogating the mythology of engineering heroism, we can identify problematic biases masked as “neutral” technological “triumphs” and envision a more inclusive, collaborative mode."

In her new book, Worldbuilding: The Engineering Imagination, Prof. Rossmann aims to enlarge imaginations as, and about, engineers