Stories

Omar Harvey understands the benefits of service learning for his students. Through the opportunities he presents, they learn more about the community and themselves while fulfilling a local need and meeting classroom or degree requirements. Harvey believes that service learning is important because it connects what is taught in the classroom with real-world experiences and instills the habit of performing a service for others.

TCU is involved in conservation and preservation efforts. This Earth Day, we look back at stories on how the College of Science & Engineering is making an impact, both locally and globally.

Recognizing a lack of emphasis on alternative energies in K-12 curricula, the University of Cambridge developed the “Primary School Energy Mapping Challenge.” TCU Chemistry Club has partnered with this initiative to help local elementary schools implement and investigate the benefits of renewable energy, assist in calculating the financial benefits of solar panels over a span of multiple years, and to help young students use proper design and debating skills to persuade the decision makers of Texas into investing in renewable energy.

At a reception this week, seven teams of exceptional students were recognized for the work they’ve accomplished through Experiential Projects to Impact the Community (EPIC) Grants. Since 2020 these students have worked with TCU faculty/staff and several partner organizations on service projects that have benefited TCU’s campus and the Fort Worth Community.

The student organization Food Recovery Network is sponsoring an online donation drive for Union Gospel Mission, one of the nonprofit organizations it serves. FRN hopes students, faculty and staff will want to participate. The mission has wish lists at Amazon, Target and Walmart.

Last year a collaborative effort was launched by TCU’s Department of Engineering, the TCU Electrical Department and the multi-disciplinary engineering firm of Baird, Hampton & Brown in Fort Worth to assess the power quality in TCU buildings. Morgan Kiani, associate professor of electrical engineering at TCU, says, “Specifically our overall objective is to assess the consumption of reactive power. By accurate compensation of reactive power (i.e. improving power factor), the cost of electricity will improve, and we will only pay for the active power.”

Amy Hoover, author, backcountry pilot, and professor at Central Washington University in Ellensburg was named 2022 National Certified Flight Instructor of the Year. The award is given by the FAA and the General Aviation Awards Industry Board. Of the more than 30 years she’s been flying, for the past 19 she has been teaching at CWU. Today Hoover serves as a flight check instructor and assistant chief ground instructor.

It was no small feat for competing CSE research graduate students at this year’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition held on March 25 in front of a live audience in Sid W. Richardson. An 80,000-word Ph.D. thesis could regularly take nine hours to present, but these competitors were only allotted three minutes and had to use language appropriate for “non-specialist” attendees.

It’s no secret that it gets harder to lose weight as you get older. Many celebrity-endorsed products and fad diets claim miracle results, but is there really a shortcut to slimming down? Samantha Davis, associate professor in TCU’s Department of Nutritional Sciences, gives the skinny on boosting metabolism, the importance of exercise, and the pros and cons of intermittent fasting.