Engineering Professional Development announces the new offering of program and project management as a concentration area in the Graduate Certificate Program. This certificate is ideal for professionals wanting to enhance their capabilities in managing complex projects and achieving cost-effective results.

For more information, please visit http://www.engin.umd.umich.edu/EPD/cert_programs.php.

He was going to be an engineer; she was going to be a teacher. They met in a computer class at UM-Dearborn, married a year after graduation, and have been married 43 years since.

And now, Anthony and Carole Fielek have established an endowed scholarship to help today’s students. Thanks to a 100,000 contribution to the University of Michigan-Dearborn, the Fieleks will be making life a little bit easier for students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Education.

“We’re trying to make sure promising students can at least get a little bit of help,” said Anthony Fielek, who graduated in 1964 with a bachelor’s of science in electrical engineering.

The merit-based scholarships will benefit engineering or education students who are in financial need, said Michael Stein, director of development for CECS. Carole Fielek graduated from the School of Education in 1964. She went on to obtain her Ph.D. and become the head of the math department at Edsel Ford High School in Dearborn.

Anthony Fielek held a number of management jobs, eventually retiring from Robert Bosch as vice president of strategic planning for North America. He holds an M.B.A. and a law degree—both of which he completed at night school while working.

Fielek said the couple made the decision to establish the scholarship after talking to students who were having trouble affording tuition. He said he remembered working through college, making just enough money to pay his bills and buy a car.

“We’ve been reflecting back on our time when we were students going to college. The only way I got through it was working—and ultimately, getting a good co-op program,” he said. “I was lucky. My wife wasn’t driven off by the fact that when I’d invited her for coffee, she’d buy half the time.”

When Professor George Kurajian joined the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s School of Engineering (now the College of Engineering and Computer Science) in 1964, he was assigned a student assistant: Roy Rennolds.

Rennolds learned a lot from Kurajian. And now, four decades later, Rennolds is giving back: He recently established a scholarship named for Kurajian, who retired in 1990.

“I received a quality education at UM-Dearborn, largely due to the work and dedication of the instructors I had,” Rennolds said. “When the idea of an endowed scholarship fund came up, I just thought of Professor Kurajian. It was natural to name it for him.”

Kurajian, who now spends winters in Florida, said he enjoyed working with Rennolds years ago and is honored that the new fund is named for him.

The George Masrob Kurajian Scholarship will benefit undergraduate mechanical engineering students. Kurajian asked to include his middle name in the fund’s name to acknowledge his father—whose first name was Masrob. Kurajian said his father was obsessed with education and learning.

“I can’t find the words to express how privileged I am,” Kurajian said. “I think it’s great that Roy has initiated this scholarship, but in addition to that, to honor me by naming it for me, I’d have to go through Webster’s Dictionary to find the proper words. I am deeply indebted to him.”

Rennolds, who worked full time while he was in school, said he hopes the fund will make it easier for students to obtain their degrees. He is hoping fellow graduates from UM-Dearborn’s early days will join him in honoring Kurajian and giving back to a future generation of students.

“Professor Kurajian really stuck out in my mind. His teaching method put students at ease and made us want to learn. He was easy to talk to; you never saw him without a smile on his face,” Rennolds said. “I’m hoping we can grow this into something nice. Professor Kurajian is a great man; I can’t think of anyone else I’d like to see this named for.”

This endowed fund may be added to by Professor Kurajian’s students, colleagues, friends and family members at any time with gifts of any amount. If you would like contribute to this scholarship fund, you may do so at www.umd.umich.edu/makeagift. For additional information, please contact Mike Stein, director of development, at mjshd@umd.umich.edu or (313) 583-6744.

Two faculty members from the college were honored for their contributions at the 26th annual Honor Scholars and Faculty Awards dinner in late March. The Distinguished Teaching Award recipient in the tenured category was Bruce Elenbogen, associate professor of computer and information science (CIS). Bruce Maxim, also an associate professor of CIS, was presented with the Distinguished Service Award.

Elenbogen was recognized for being one of the most popular, creative, entertaining, and effective teachers on the campus, according to nominations. “Bruce is an extremely popular professor in our department,” said one nominator. “I once observed a meeting room filled to capacity and wondered what was happening there. I discovered that it was Professor Elenbogen asking for volunteers for an extra-curricular programming competition, designed to attract more computer majors to the university.”

In addition, nominators mentioned Elenbogen’s incorporation of new technology into his classroom to enhance his lectures and software to reduce the sharing of code in his classes, which “forces students to learn and tends to steer them away from cheating and unauthorized help.” “Bruce Elenbogen has high standards and is able to effectively communicate material sufficiently to support his students to achieve these standards,” said one nominator.

Maxim was recognized for his outreach efforts as the champion of the gaming track within the undergraduate computer science concentration and the minor in game development. “He has done extraordinary outreach in promoting these, as well as our other programs, to the outside community,” said one nominator.

Last year, Maxim received a grant from Verizon Foundation to create a game that teaches handwriting to children using a Tablet PC. In addition, Maxim used a grant from the Association for Computing Machinery to offer three summer camps to attract pre-college students to study computer science at the collegiate level. “Maxim has supervised more than 200 community-based student software projects since 1997,” nominators said. ”He is the principle contact for a majority of these project clients and spends much time each semester cultivating clients for future semesters.”

Taehyun Shim, associate professor of mechanical engineering, has been named a 2008 Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award recipient by SAE International. He and five other scholars were honored during a ceremony at the 2008 SAE World Congress in Detroit.

The Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award recognizes outstanding engineering educators, who are selected based on their academic training, contributions to teaching and research, and participation in extracurricular student involvement.

Since joining the college’s faculty in 2001, Shim has developed two new graduate courses on automotive systems modeling and vehicle stability and control. He also has significantly improved the curriculum of the simulation of dynamics systems, vehicle dynamics, active vehicle safety, and vibration control.

Shim has worked with Ford Motor Company on several projects related to developing active safety systems. In addition, he has interaction with General Dynamics Land System for advanced hybrid vehicle controller development and high-fidelity brake-system modeling. He has also served as the student advisor for UM-Dearborn’s SAE student chapter and SAE Formula Team.

Shim has authored 41 publications, including 20 peer reviewed journal articles and 21 conference papers. He is a member of SAE International, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Society for Modeling and Simulation International.