Clemson trustees approve infrastructure, athletic plans

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At their meeting in February, Clemson trustees approved the initial concept plan to replace and upgrade the main campus electrical distribution system. The project is estimated to cost $75 million, to be paid for with maintenance and stewardship funds and state institution bonds.
Brett Dalton, vice president for finance, said, “Replacing and updating the antiquated and unreliable 50- to 60-year-old electrical infrastructure is essential to meeting the basic electrical service needs of the campus while simultaneously increasing safety, efficiency and reliability.”
The board gave final approval for renovation of Littlejohn Coliseum and concept approval for a new football operations center. The coliseum renovation includes reconstruction of seating areas, new practice facilities, locker room, meeting rooms and coaches’ offices for men’s and women’s basketball programs.
The trustees also approved the athletic facilities bond resolution for the project, which is slated to cost $63.5 million. Additionally, the board granted concept approval of a new football operations complex, to be located near the existing indoor practice facility. The concept approval begins the process and allows for hiring an architect and further design of the new building.
The complex will include locker rooms, meeting rooms and coaches’ offices along with strength and conditioning, sports medicine and dining areas, all located next to the indoor practice facility and existing practice fields. The initial budget for the project is $62 million.

ClemsonTV launches “Policy Matters” series

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“Policy Matters,” a new grassroots-initiative webcast, is one of the newest series available for viewing on ClemsonTV. The series focuses on providing resources to assist schools and school districts, as well as communities, states and the nation, to tackle challenging issues of helping students succeed in school.
The series is a collaborative effort of departments and colleges across the University, in partnership with other state and national organizations. The first episode focuses on 4-year-old kindergarten and its potential impact in South Carolina. The series is produced by Clemson Broadcast Productions in their studio located in the Madren Conference Center.
ClemsonTV features a range of programming, from academic to athletics. Regular shows include “Solutions to the Dropout Crisis,” “Clemson News Now,” “Monday Night Roar” and others.
View ClemsonTV content at newsstand.clemson.edu/tv/.

Mobley receives Class of ’39 Award

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Catherine Mobley

Catherine Mobley


Anyone who pays attention to the news knows that STEM education and environmental sustainability are hot topics, deemed crucial to our country’s ability to remain competitive and to our long-term economic prospects. Since long before these topics started generating headlines, this year’s Class of ’39 Award for Excellence recipient has been applying her expertise to generate innovative and comprehensive approaches to these important topics.
Sociology professor Catherine Mobley’s research in these areas has not been isolated, as she has collaborated with colleagues in a variety of disciplines across campus. Whether she’s examining human behavior as it pertains to water quality and quantity, college student perceptions of environmental issues or the academic experiences and pathways of engineering majors, Mobley’s research is marked by creative collaboration and insights that “would not otherwise emerge if I were working in isolation.”
That creative collaboration in research has been supported by more than $10 million in grants on which she has been either principal or co-investigator. And it extends into the classroom as well. She has engaged in several interdisciplinary teaching endeavors, has mentored more than 300 students seeking field experience in sociology and has served on nearly 70 master’s and Ph.D. committees. A nationally recognized expert on service-learning, she has been a core faculty member for two living-learning communities: the Community Scholars/Civics and Service House and the Leading for the Environment and Future community. Mobley also extends her sociological expertise to her community efforts as well, having served on the board of several local organizations, including the United Way of Pickens County, the Upstate Homeless Coalition and the League of Women Voters of the Clemson Area.
Q&A: Catherine Mobley

Catherine Mobley discusses her teaching, her research and her latest honor.


This recognition is particularly meaningful to Mobley, knowing she was chosen by her peers for the award. [pullquote]“I’ve been walking by the Carillon Bell monument for nearly 20 years now, in awe of the people whose names are inscribed there,” she says. “Little did I know when I was attending Clemson University in the early 1980’s that I’d be here 30 years later, pursuing the career of my dreams.” [/pullquote]
Described by Interim Dean Bobby McCormick as “a top researcher and dedicated teacher,” Mobley did her undergraduate work at Clemson, graduating in 1984. She earned her master’s in policy analysis and development at the University of Bath in England and her Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Maryland. She returned to Clemson in 1996 as assistant professor of sociology, earning tenure in 2001 and promotion to professor of sociology in 2012.
The Class of 1939 established the Award for Excellence in 1989 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the class. It is presented annually to a member of the faculty whose outstanding contributions for a five-year period represent the highest achievement of service to the University, the student body and the larger community.
 

Clemson team to compete in international Solar Decathlon

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For the first time, Clemson will be among the 20 teams selected from universities around the world to compete at this fall’s international Solar Decathlon, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The competition, held every two years in Irvine, California, challenges teams to design and build a cost-effective, energy-efficient and visually appealing solar home, blending affordability, consumer appeal and design excellence with optimal energy production and design efficiency.
Comprising students from each of Clemson’s five colleges, along with dedicated faculty members, Clemson’s team has embraced the challenge to build and operate the home, named Indigo Pine, a three-bedroom, 1,000 square feet, net-zero energy, solar house that is cost-efficient in today’s market and comfortable in South Carolina and comparable climate zones. The name “Indigo Pine” originates from the home’s Southern roots. Indigo was historically grown in South Carolina while pine trees remain a vital cash crop to the state’s economy. [pullquote]The concept focuses on stitching together innovative building methods, Southern charm and local products in a home for a Southern family.[/pullquote]
Clemson is taking the competition to a new level by choosing to “email” the house across the country then using those digital files to cut out the structural system using a CNC, a computer-controlled cutting machine. This system, referred to as Sim[PLY], allows Indigo Pine to be built virtually anywhere a CNC is available using off-the-shelf materials and handheld tools. Indigo Pine is challenging the construction and design world to think differently about light wood framing and construction in general.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oV6I-rfyBM?rel=0]
Utilizing the Sim[PLY] system to email the house digitally from coast to coast rather than shipping the entire home by truck allows the team to vastly reduce the production of carbon dioxide emissions from the project. Furthermore, Team Clemson plans to construct not one but two versions of Indigo Pine, one in the South Carolina Botanical Garden this spring and the other in California this fall. This will allow for testing of the home’s functionality and will showcase the ability of the home to be built anywhere.
Clemson’s Solar Decathlon team is operating entirely on private funding from individuals and corporate sponsors.
The Unveiling of Indigo Pine: 
 

VIDEO: An Overview of Indigo Pine

More information about Indigo Pine, including how to volunteer or donate. 

 

Technical colleges sign letters of intent with Clemson and USC

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China partnership TongjiOfficials from the South Carolina Technical College System, the University of South Carolina and Clemson signed letters of intent this spring to streamline the transfer process for students graduating from in-state technical colleges.
The institutions are continuing to work through details associated with the agreement, but the move is a first step toward curriculum and program reviews, assessment of advising practices and the establishment of admission standards.
Once implemented, the program will help students transfer more seamlessly between institutions, help reduce lost time to graduation and relieve some of the added financial burden now associated with transferring. Participating students must graduate from a transfer-oriented associate degree program at a South Carolina technical college with an agreed-upon cumulative grade-point average.

Clemson to exchange Ph.D. candidates with China’s top civil engineering program

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Andrew Brownlow’s doctoral research in civil engineering is about maintaining subway tunnels. Because of a new exchange program between Clemson and China’s top engineering program, the Ph.D. student from Aiken was able to travel to Shanghai, home to the world’s longest subway system.
“They have great opportunities to do research,” Brownlow said. “I made some good partnerships and had an opportunity to do some networking in one of the fastest-growing countries in the world.”
Clemson and Tongji universities will exchange civil engineering doctoral students as part of a global partnership that underscores the importance of cooperation in solving some of the world’s toughest engineering challenges.
Students who participate will be eligible for dual degrees from both universities. The agreement marks the first dual Ph.D. program in civil engineering that Tongji has signed with a U.S. university. Tongji is ranked No. 1 in civil engineering by China’s Ministry of Education. Students who seek dual degrees will remain abroad for about two years.
But students needn’t seek a degree to participate in the exchange. As part of a previous memorandum of under-standing, they can also travel to do research for about two months at a time. “The partnership is an important part of increasing the college’s and the department’s global impact and visibility,” said James Martin, chair of Clemson’s Glenn Department of Civil Engineering. “This is what preeminent departments do. They partner with other preeminent departments.”
Clemson students who study at Tongji will be immersed in the culture and language of a rapidly growing nation that has enormous civil engineering needs, ranging from roads, tunnels and bridges to earthquake-resistant buildings.
“China is the second largest economy in the world and still growing at a fast pace,” said Hsein Juang, the Glenn Professor of Civil Engineering at Clemson. “There will be a lot of opportunities for engineering firms and private consultants to offer their services to the Chinese government and civil engineering industry in the coming decades.
“Having a second Ph.D. degree at Tongji will be a big plus for Clemson students working for companies that provide engineering and business services in China.”

Artist installs “Early Hatch” at CU-ICAR

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Professor Joey Manson and visual arts major David Lamm installing Manson's sculpture.

Professor Joey Manson and visual arts major David Lamm installing Manson’s sculpture.


There’s a new sculpture installation on the grounds of CU-ICAR, thanks to art professor Joey Manson. At the invitation of CU-ICAR, Manson and visual arts major David Lamm installed Manson’s sculpture, “Early Hatch,” in February. Manson, who works with industrial material, found a complementary home for his work, which he describes as “an exploration of our built, social and environmental constructs.”
“Early Hatch,” created from concrete and steel, captures one point in a cycle, according to Manson. “Larva emerges from an egg in order to collect the resources necessary to close the circle by building a cocoon, emerging as a moth and finally laying new eggs. The form of the concrete base refers to the eggs and the circular curling form is the larva. The vertical figurative elements are disruptions in this cycle.”
Q&A with Joey Manson

Joey Manson talks about his life and work.


Manson spent many years working in New York City for museums, galleries and artists before teaching at Clemson. As part of his senior seminar class, Manson guides students through an intense four-day trip to NYC, exposing them to present and past visual artists.
Manson’s sculpture at CU-ICAR is only his latest campus collaboration. He co-teaches the Atelier InSite class focusing on public art on campus, including the installation at the Life Sciences building. His work can be seen outside of Sirrine Hall and inside the Strom Thurmond Institute.
 

Four Faculty Members Honored with Endowed Chairs

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This past fall, Eileen T. Kraemer came to Clemson as the new C. Tycho Howle Director of the School of Computing. Characterized by Dean Anand Gramopadhye as “an impeccable researcher and scholar” with “a wealth of leadership experience,” Kraemer comes to Clemson from the University of Georgia, where she was associate dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
Being an administrator has not meant that she has left behind her research, which has combined psychology and computer science to find new ways of helping students reach greater achievements in computer science. She also is interested in the human aspects of software development. Kraemer’s other area of expertise is bioinformatics. She helped build a web-based database, EuPathDB.org, that allows biologists to analyze disease-causing pathogens, such as cryptosporidium, giardia and plasmodium. The website was a decade in the making and has received more than $6.5 million from the National Institutes of Health.
At Clemson, Kraemer oversees a school whose enrollment has grown nearly 84 percent, from 387 in 2007 to 712 in 2013. The school has 31 faculty who are tenured or on track to be tenured and six lecturers; three divisions: Computer Science, Visual Computing and Human-Centered Computing; and seven undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
[pullquote]Recruiting faculty such as Kraemer is made easier when Clemson is able to offer endowed professorships such as the one she holds, that provide support for the director’s salary and various activities, such as research.[/pullquote]
Kraemer was one of four faculty members honored this fall with the presentation of their endowed chair medallions at a ceremony that also honored the individuals and families who have provided funding for the chairs. In addition to Kraemer were Michael S. Caterino, who holds the John C. and Suzanne E. Morse Endowed Chair in Arthropod Biodiversity; Stephen Kresovich, who holds the Robert and Lois Coker Trustees Chair of Genetics; and Marek W. Urban, who holds the J.E. Sirrine Textile Foundation Endowed Chair in Advanced Polymer Fiber-Based Materials.
View a video of the endowed chairs ceremony:

Tiger Band Practice Field Dedicated

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After five years of planning, design and construction and more than $1 million in fundraising, the John H. Butler and Bruce F. Cook Tiger Band Plaza was dedicated during Homecoming weekend. Band alumnus and lead donor Keith Snelgrove, along with his wife, Risse, named the plaza in honor of the two former Tiger Band directors, who were college roommates at West Texas State College. The two became lifelong friends, band mates in “The Collegians” and work colleagues at Clemson.
What began as a beautification concept for the practice field turned into an initiative that raised enough for the renovation and to establish a $500,000 scholarship endowment for Tiger Band members.
Spirit Walk, gateway to the plaza and field, is a paved pathway from the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts, home of Tiger Band, to the practice field. Inspirational quotes are etched into markers every five yards along the walk, similar to those on a football field.
Visitors can choose an ADA-accessible alternate pathway that takes them by a Tiger Band history wall that marks major events and milestones of the band. The plaza incorporates brick pavers with naming opportunities for band alumni and friends. Proceeds from the brick sales will go to the Clemson University Tiger Band Association (CUTBA) scholarship fund.