It is now time to continue our support.  We have the opportunity to be a part of the mentor network.  The competition provides a mentor network of seasoned technologists and executives from across the state to assist teams in product development, as the teams are comprised predominantly of students, and need product development experience. MegaWatt Ventures’ facilitators are seeking either product developers (10+ years of experience) or technical executives in sales/operations/manufacturing to assist the following teams:

Verdicorp - http://verdicorp.com/ (Tech: http://contractingbusiness.com/business_bits/danfoss-inventor-conry-verdicorp-0110/)

I-Red – vertical wind turbine design with a unique generator concept

OrgSolar – solar integration/Building-Integrated PV sales/distribution/installation/operations executive background

These concepts are VERY early stage, and the program is asking teams to check in with technical mentors once a month or with the executive mentor every other month, until the final event, Sept 8 -9, 2011. Technical mentors are sought to assist with the team’s product development progress. No exchange of IP, especially on any design aspects, should originate from these conversations – it should be more on the for-seen issues with scaling processes or manufacturing, and some industry background on what would be appealing to potential customers. Executive mentors would look over business plans and presentation slides the students must submit for the final competition, as well as answer questions about the clean tech market.

If you are interested in being a mentor or would like more information, please contact Andrea Wesser at awesser@megawattventures.com or call 407-882-0594.

- Kyle Davis, UCF Initiative Chair, 2010-2011

This year we focused on three key areas:

1) We wanted to continue to push for an awareness of ASHRAE on campus with students, faculty and staff. Because of our long term plans for the initiative, this has always been one of the key objectives. To ensure that ASHRAE continues to have an impact on the students that graduate into our local market, we have to continue to maintain strong presence on campus as well as supporting the students. This year, we partnered with Student Activities to provide some guest lecturers for some of the student chapter meetings. We also had great attendance by some of the faculty and staff at many of our meetings and our Shrimp Boil was a huge hit.

2) To support the curriculum changes that have been made. Last year, we were able to help the ME Department add a second class for HVAC (HVAC II). We worked with the professor to develop the curriculum and the lesson plans for class and provided some guest lecturers for the class. The interest in the class continued into this year with about 12 students and we look forward to the opportunity to add classes to the curriculum in hopes of developing an HVAC track at UCF.

3) Utilize an outreach event, with the University, that would elevate ASHRAE in the community. This last year, we were able to help in two key areas (I wish I had more space to tell you all about them). As many of you know, last year, we changed the ASHRAE Scholarship so that four scholarships are awarded every year. This year, Jason Alphonso and I had the honor of attending the awards ceremony and handing out the scholarships to the four recipients. It was a great honor to represent the chapter. We also continued our presence on the Industrial Advisory Committee (2 positions…thank you Wade Conlan and Jason Alphonso) which is key to MMAE’s accreditation.

It was certainly a busy year and we are already looking forward to next year. We will continue our work in the areas where we have been successful and we are going to concentrate on helping UCF submit for ASHRAE research money and Grant-In-Aid dollars.

Thank you all for your support and we will see you next year.

March 04, 2010 was another great day for ASHRAE at the University of Central Florida. Gordon Holness presented his presidential theme to a group of 40-45 people. The UCF MMAE department honored Gordon with having him lead the very first of their “Distinguished Lecture Series”. The event was attended by Dean Marwan Simaan, MMAE Interim Chair Dr. Chow along with a host of representatives from FSEC, MMAE faculty, UCF MMAE alumni, ASHRAE CFL membership and the College of Engineering (CECS) staff. Our student chapter President Nate Boyd was also in attendance.

UCF CECS Director of Corporate Affair and University Relations, Bob Rich did a fantastic job organizing the event. Dr. Wayne Finger, VP, RS&H and fellow ASHRAE member sponsored the event.

Taking advantage of Gordon’s visit to campus Bob Rich put together a high profile meeting with some high ups in the university’s administration. ASHRAE member and UCF Sustainability Director Dave Norvell, Bob Rich, Gordon and Jason Alphonso (ASHRAE CFL President Elect) had a private meeting with Bill Merck, Vice President and CFO of UCF. It was a great meeting of the minds. This is the second year in a row ASHRAE has been fortunate to have this audience.

This is exactly the kind of synergy we have been striving for with the UCF Initiative. Special thanks to our Student Activities (Dr. Kapat, Anik & Kellie) and UCF Initiative (Kyle) committees for doing such a fine job. I would also like to commend our board’s commitment to the UCF program. Our investment of time, volunteer hours and dollars are truly paying off. We see it with a general overall awareness on campus, our familiarity with the MMAE department & CECS, a great student branch, student dinner meeting attendance, the future leaders of our chapter, our new chapter members, our business ventures and our overall community involvement. We couldn’t have asked for a better ROI!

One of the main objectives of the UCF Initiative has been to help develop curriculum that will teach students skills that are relevant and essential for the continued growth of our industry.  Something new that may be on the horizon will accomplish that very thing.  UCF has been on the forefront in sustainability in their new construction, renovations and physical plant operations.  In cascading this down to the students, the University is exploring the possibility of creating a Master’s Degree program(s) out of a new Institute of Renewable & Sustainable Energy.  We will have the chance to help in the development of the program by participating in the advisory committee to create the Institute.  This is some very exciting news and I can’t wait to tell you all about future developments.

The other exciting bit of information is the appointment of Marwan A. Simaan, PhD, PE as the new Interim Dean to the College of Engineering & Computer Science.  Prior to joining the University of Central Florida in 2008, he was the Bell of PA/Bell Atlantic Professor and former Chairman of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.  He received the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and a Fellow of the Electromagnetics Academy (EMA). He is also an Honorary Member of Phi Eta Sigma, the National Freshmen Honor Society.

As always, thanks for your continued support of the University of Central Florida.  Great things are happening that will impact our local industry in magnificent ways.  Stand by for more news in the coming months.

As many of you may know, through the generosity of the chapter several years ago, a charitable gift was given to UCF and the MMAE Department to help start a scholarship.  It has grown over the years and we wanted to revise it to allow for more students with an interest in ASHRAE, and our industries, to have an opportunity to at receiving a scholarship.

On April 14^th, 2009, at the scholarship awards banquet, we were honored when UCF’s College of Engineering named a star in the Pegasus Constellation “ASHRAE Scholarship”.  Megan Tosh did a quick bit of investigation online and found the star which was formally star 224303 located at 23h 56m 41.5s, +22° 38m 53.0s.  Additionally, ASHRAE recognized the event in a post to the official ASHRAE Facebook page.

What an honor and we want to thank UCF and the College of Engineering for this gift.  We are excited about the upcoming year as we continue to elevate ASHRAE at UCF.