The Seminole 100 list for 2020 was released yesterday and four FAMU-FSU Engineering alumni businesses are among the honorees. Three of the businesses are repeat awardees for the honor. The list recognizes the fastest-growing businesses owned or managed by Florida State University alumni, some of whom are responsible for some of the most innovative and profitable companies in America. The official ceremony will be held in February 2020 to honor graduates.

Tariq Hopkins is a third-year electrical engineering student from Jacksonville, FL. Since he was eight years old, Hopkins has been interested in cars. By tenth grade, Hopkins knew he wanted to be an automotive engineer. Now, well into his engineering training, he aims to create better sustainable-fuel vehicles—for the likes of Porche, Volvo or Bugatti.

In 2018, engineering dean J. Murray Gibson initiated the Dean’s Engineering Fellows Program, a new graduate funding area facilitated through the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. The initiative aims to enhance the quality and number of engineering Ph.D. students at the college.

Michael “Mischa” Steurer, Ph.D. received the prestigious Solberg Award from the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) for his contributions to naval engineering. The award presentation was held at the ASNE Technology, Ships and Systems symposium in Washington, D.C. held in June 2019. Steurer is an electrical and computer engineering faculty member at FAMU-FSU Engineering.

Alonzo Russell is a third year electrical engineering student from Freeport, Bahamas. When he isn’t in class, he can be found halfway around the world competing in the Olympics.

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“My grandpa spent his entire career working with NASA on projects for the Apollo missions,” remembers Kyle York, a fourth-year electrical engineering student at FAMU-FSU Engineering. “My favorite story is about his work on the Lunar Rover and the obstacles they had to overcome to develop and build a system that allowed astronauts to communicate from the moon back to Earth.”

Each weekday, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering undergraduates Herbert Lopez, Ana De Leon, Paola Chavez and Austin Rodriguez collaborate at the Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS) research facility to create a novel medium voltage cable that aims to have reduced reactive power than the ones currently used throughout the continental U.S. If they are successful, the cable could pave the way for improved power transmission efficiency on electric grids across the nation.

FAMU-FSU Engineering student Melanie Munroe and her senior design team SWAY Aid were working hard to meet the demands of creating a Senior Design project prototype when the news of COVID-19 hit the nation. She and her team were working on a vending device to prevent human trafficking when the physical doors to the college were ordered closed to help control the spread of the virus. Munroe and her team suddenly had to adapt to a new way of working together, alone.

In Memory of Thomas A. Lipo, (1938-2020)

Dr. Thomas A. Lipo, an esteemed research professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering has passed away on Friday, May 8, 2020, at his home in Middleton, Wisconsin. He was a pioneer in the field of electrical machines, power electronics, and machine drives and his prolific 50-year career spanned nearly the complete history of modern solid-state adjustable-speed motor drives to date.