News

Sharing NDE Perspective with Iowa Youth

Posted on

Scott Wendt, CNDE X-ray Research Scientist and Chair of the local American Society of Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) chapter, shares that the chapter is actively recruiting ISU students. Winning a bronze award allows the chapter to request funds from the national ASNT organization for recruiting and outreach activities.

The chapter plans to prepare an NDT demonstration for the State Science and Technology Fair of Iowa (SSTFI), held on March 27 and 28, 2025, at Hilton Coliseum. Volunteers from the chapter will take turns demonstrating how core NDE concepts are implemented in NDT testing. The demonstration’s audience will consist of students and their teachers.

2024-2025 Iowa Chapter Officers

Scott Wendt (Chair)
Brady Engle (Vice Chair)
Farzaneh Ahmadi (Secretary)
Dr. Matthew Dvorsky (Treasurer)
Trent Moritz (Section Director)
Evan Kluch (Section Director)
Joseph Filbert (Education Chair)
Kyle Rose (Membership Chair)

                           

CNDE – Fall 2024 IAB Meeting

Posted on

CNDE hosted its Fall 2024 Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) Meeting on November 12-14.

As usual, CNDE hosted a Pizza with Students event, during which our board members connected with students interested in working in the NDE community after graduation.

CNDE researchers presented updates on four research projects that started in August 2024 and two ongoing projects.  Team members for the MAPOD project also provided updates on this ongoing project.  Board members reviewed the project presentations and gave feedback on each project.

The Post-IAB Seminar was unique this year as it had two parts.  In the first part, Cara Leckey (NASA), Eric Lindgren (AFRL), and John Aldrin (Computational Tools) spoke about their perspectives on AI/ML in NDE.  In part two, Ripi Singh spoke on “Introduction to NDE 4.0: Why, What, and How.”  After each presentation, there was time for board members, staff, students, and visitors to participate in a Q&A session on each topic.

CNDE hosted an Academic and Industry Networking Event where NDE-focused students could connect with representatives from AFRL and GE Aerospace to discuss opportunities such as Internships, Co-op, and full-time Engineering positions available in their organizations.

IAB members from ASNT, AFRL, GE Aerospace, General Motors (GM), Honeywell Aerospace, IHI Corp., John Deere, NASA, Naval Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, and Rolls-Royce were in attendance, as well as invited guests.

CNDE member Cara Leckey presenting on AI/ML in NDE.

On November 13, students connected with our members and guests during the Pizza with Students event at the Student Innovation Center.

Group photo

CNDE Booth at ASNT 2024 Engage Fall Conference and Tradeshow

Posted on

Dr. Reza Zoughi (CNDE Director), Mr. Dan Barnard, and Mr. Brady Engle (CNDE Research Scientists) attended the ASNT 2024 Engage Fall Conference and Tradeshow in Las Vegas on October 21-24. This year, for the first time, CNDE had a booth at the tradeshow showcasing CNDE and ISU’s educational and research activities related to nondestructive evaluation (NDE) to engage with attendees, provide insight, and answer attendees’ questions regarding CNDE and our capabilities. Dr. Reza Zoughi also presented an overview of CNDE and its activities to the conference attendees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dan Barnard (Left), Brady Engle (Right), and Reza Zoughi (Middle)

Conference attendees at CNDE’s booth

 

 

 

 

 

Anna Case Set to Receive her Ph.D. Degree

Posted on

Anna Case, a Ph.D. candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, will be awarded her Ph.D. degree during the December 2024 commencement ceremony.  In October 2024, Dr. Case defended her dissertation, “Millimeter Wave Evaluation of Thin Coatings.”

Dr. Case was the recipient of the O.D. and O.U. Trapp Graduate Fellowship in CNDE from 2020-2023. She submitted/published four journal publications and eight conference papers during this time. The work from “Millimeter Wave Thickness Evaluation of Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs) Using Open-Ended Waveguide Probes” was presented at ISU and awarded the Best Graduate Seminar Presentation Award by the Graduate Seminar Committee in the ECpE department. Subsequently, she was awarded a Professional Advancement Grant by the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS). Additionally, she received the Best Student Paper Award (1st place) at the IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference in 2021 and (2nd place) in 2022.

Dr. Case has begun her career as a Senior NDE Engineer at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, NM, where she will be focused on computed tomography, eddy current, and microwave/millimeter wave inspections.

ASNT Local Section of Iowa October Technical Talk

Posted on

Rick Lopez, NDT Competency Lead for John Deere, recently presented at the Central Iowa chapter’s October meeting, attracting a robust audience of 26 attendees, including many undergraduate students. His talk, titled “Heavy Off-Road Industrial NDT Applications,” provided a comprehensive overview of the diverse inspection methods employed by manufacturers in the agriculture, construction, road building, and turf care sectors. Rick detailed various non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques, such as eddy current, magnetic particle, liquid penetrant, X-ray diffraction, ultrasound, and fluorescent penetrant, highlighting their applications, advantages, and limitations. He emphasized the importance of quickly identifying defects without the need for disassembly, which can be time-consuming. Following his engaging presentation, attendees enjoyed complimentary food and beverages while discussing the costs and time requirements associated with the different NDT methods. Additionally, several professors from CNDE conducted demonstrations of various NDT techniques to further enhance the learning experience. Overall, the event successfully combined valuable insights with practical demonstrations, fostering a deeper understanding of NDT practices.

ASNT Iowa Section Achieved a Bronze level President’s Award

Posted on

The American Society of Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) Iowa Section achieved a Bronze level President’s Award for the 2023-2024 year. The award was last won in the 2021-2022 program year. 

“The President’s Award program recognizes ASNT sections for outstanding section management performance. The program serves as a roadmap for successful section operation by allowing sections to track their yearly activities and progression. The President’s Award program has evolved since its inception in 1964, with the newest updates that started July 2022.” 

Two former officers from the section will receive the award at the 2024 Annual Conference in Las Vegas, NV. Thank you to all officers who volunteered for the section over the last year: 

Dr. Mohammad Tayeb Al Qaseer (Chair)
Brady Engle (Vice Chair)
Anna Case (Secretary)
Dr. Matthew Dvorsky (Treasurer)
Trent Moritz (Section Director)
Farzaneh Ahmadi (Section Director)
Joseph Filbert (Education Chair)
Kyle Rose (Membership Chair)

Farzaneh Ahmadi received prestigious Research Excellence Award from the Graduate College

Posted on

Farzaneh Ahmadi, a Ph.D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE) department, is the recipient of the Research Excellence Award presented by ISU’s Graduate College.  This award is in recognition of her outstanding research accomplishments in a graduate program.  Her research focus involves developing In-line nondestructive evaluation methods for polymer- and metal-based additive manufacturing (AM) processes under the direction of Dr. Reza Zoughi through the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE).

The intent of this program is to recognize “the best of the best” graduating students.  This award aims to recognize graduate students for outstanding research accomplishments as documented in their theses and dissertations.  Students are expected to be academically superior and able to not only do the research but also to develop a well-written product.

CNDE Featured Researcher: Stephen Holland

Posted on

Featured Researcher

Name: Stephen Holland

Stephen Holland

How long have you been at CNDE? Since 2002

Area(s) of expertise: Thermography, ultrasound, NDE data integration and digital twin

Who or what inspired you to pursue your career in NDE? I stumbled across laser ultrasonics as a student intern at Sandia Labs because it was a more interesting topic than boring virtual reality computer work.  Back at university, I was inspired to continue after starting undergraduate research in Wolfgang Sachse’s lab.  Five years later, I had my PhD and started at Iowa State.

Briefly describe one of your technical contributions to the NDE field.  Discovery and explanation of the significance of a zero-group-velocity plate wave resonance that dominates air-coupled ultrasonic transmission, is fundamental to impact echo testing of civil structures, and also important in laser ultrasound.

What advice would you give a researcher just starting out in the NDE field?  To study as much math and engineering physics as you can.

 

CNDE Spotlight: Henry Moldenhauer

Posted on

Name:  Henry Moldenhauer

Research areas of interest:  Thermography, solid mechanics modeling for NDE, resonant testing for materials characterization.

Anticipated graduation date:  December 2024

Who or what inspired you to pursue your studies in NDE?  During my final year as a civil engineering student, I looked into graduate programs in engineering mechanics. I gHenry Moldenhauerot in contact with Dr. Stephen Holland at the Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE) and became one of his students. Before this, I had little knowledge of NDE, but I grew to appreciate the wide variety of topics within the field. The types of problems and projects that I have had the opportunity to work on with Dr. Holland and others at CNDE have really cemented my interest in the field.

Briefly describe something you have learned or discovered during your time at CNDE that surprised you.  I was most surprised by how interdisciplinary the field of NDE is. I’ve found it to be more of an intersection of many interesting fields. On a single project, you may have researchers with experience in different NDE modalities (e.g. electromagnetic methods, ultrasound, thermography, etc.) as well as researchers specializing in other topics like statistics or computational methods. This interdisciplinary approach has not only allowed me to build a much broader background of information, but it has also allowed me to contribute to a much wider variety of projects than I might have in other fields.

What are your future career plans?  I am actively exploring opportunities within the field of NDE. My main goal is to continue to be able to work on solutions to a variety of interesting problems. If possible, I want to find ways to share what I have learned with others interested in NDE.

Henry is the recipient of the O.D. & O.U. Trapp Graduate Fellowship through CNDE.

CNDE Featured Researcher: Mingyang Lu

Posted on

Name: Mingyang Lu

How long have you been at CNDE?  I began at CNDE in April 2023.

Area(s) of expertise:  Electromagnetic eddy current experiments and computational modeling.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your career in NDE?  I had an interest in electromagnetics as an undergraduate (before 2014) electrical and electronic major at the University of Manchester (#27 in QS World University Rankings) in the UK. During the last semester of my undergraduate, I joined a project from the Sensing Imaging and Signal Processing Group for the sensing-based dynamic control of robot carts. I heard one day that the Electromagnetic Sensing Group has actively engaged with industries, sustainably raised substantial funding from the British government, and in partnership with the internationally leading Research Centre for Nondestructive Evaluation (RCNDE) and industries. I came to join the Electromagnetic Sensing group in 2014 and completed my PhD in 2018.

In 2018, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher with the Electromagnetic Sensing Group, collaborating on projects with industry leaders like Frenk Van Den Berg from Tata Steel and Axel Rimnac from Primetals Technologies. Our work aims to address industrial challenges, such as electromagnetic eddy current inspection in Additive Manufacturing (AM): Electromagnetic non-destructive testing for inspecting the microstructure of high-performance ferritic steels and Advanced electromagnetic Sensors for Assessing Property scatter in high-value steels.

Before joining the CNDE, I authored around 60 publications in electromagnetic eddy current sensing and presented at prestigious conferences such as those organized by the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BINDT), the European Federation for Non-Destructive Testing (ECNDT), and IEEE. Now, I feel very honored to be one of the CNDE researchers, and I believe CNDE is one of the best in the world.

Briefly describe one of your technical contributions to the NDE field.  One of the technical highlights that comes to my mind is my recent work in the CNDE, under the IAB-funded project targeting a building of high-precision eddy current inspection system. This work pioneered an automatic inspection design, in which a fast and precious dynamic control of sensor scanning coordinates is assured by leveraging the robot arm or linear steppers with instrumentations. This development facilitates the eddy current NDE inspection with an enhanced signal-to-noise ratio and versatile capabilities, especially for the imaging of small defects (less than 20 microns) or detection of subsurface defects underneath coatings.

What advice would you give a researcher just starting out in the NDE field?  Focus on deeply understanding core concepts, avoiding rushing into superficial approaches. Allocate ample time for thorough analysis, drawing insights from first principles. Seek supportive work environments like CNDE, fostering collaboration and innovation. Stay updated on the latest advancements through literature, conferences, and networking. Embrace continuous learning for long-term success and impactful contributions to the field.

CNDE – Spring 2024 IAB Meeting

Posted on

CNDE hosted its Spring 2024 Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) Meeting on April 15-17.

CNDE researchers presented updates on five research projects that started in August 2023.  Board members reviewed the project presentations and gave feedback on each project.

Also presented were nine proposals from CNDE researchers on various topics selected by our members for potential funding.

J.T. (Toby) Case for The Aerospace Corporation presented the post-IAB seminar on “Portable Open-Configuration Computed Tomography.”

IAB members from ASNT, ATI, Boeing, Cummins, GE Aerospace, General Motors, Honeywell Aerospace, IHI Corporation, John Deere, NASA Langley, Naval Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, and the US Air Force were in attendance, as were five invited guests from other industries.

The careers of five CNDE scientists and staff members were celebrated during the IAB Meeting on April 15.

From left: Dave Utrata – 30 years, Ron Roberts – 35 years, Cheryl Sansgaard – 45 years, Scott Wendt – 30 years, and Dan Barnard – 28 years.

Graduate students and faculty members from ECpE, IMSE, and ME showcased their research projects on April 15.

On April 16, students were able to connect with our members and guests during the Pizza with Students event at the Student Innovation Center.

Thank you to all who were able to attend!

 

CNDE hosted lab tours during the 2024 State Science & Technology Fair of Iowa on April 4

Posted on

CNDE participated in this year’s 2024 State Science & Technology Fair of Iowa on April 4 and 5.  This two-day fair, organized by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, was for students in grades 6 – 12 and provided a space to showcase their research projects.  Students also got the chance to meet with professionals in all areas of science and technology.

CNDE welcomed 16 students to visit our labs and meet with our researchers.  The tour topics included Terahertz, Ultrasonics, Microwave, Eddy Current, and X-ray Radiography.  This was a great opportunity to introduce students to NDE at a young age.

CNDE also sponsored several cash prize awards for top NDE-related research projects.  Two NDE Minor students graciously volunteered their time to judge these projects and accompany fair students on the CNDE tour.

Eddy Current Lab Tour

 

Microwave Lab Tour

Terahertz Lab Tour

Ultrasound Lab Tour

X-Ray Lab Tour

Group photo

Loading...