{"id":841,"date":"2017-03-31T14:49:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T18:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/?p=841"},"modified":"2025-07-22T16:41:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T20:41:32","slug":"grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The National Academy of Engineering began the <a href=\"https:\/\/gcspnetwork.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Grand Challenge Scholars Program<\/a> as a way to get top students engaged in helping to solve some of the most pressing challenges of this century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By committing to an endowment supporting the Tickle College of Engineering\u2019s program, UT alumnus Joe Cook and his wife, Judy, are helping to further sharpen the ability of students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Marsh, a Haslam Scholar in mechanical engineering in the Class of 2018, said that focusing on those approaches offered engineering students opportunities they might not otherwise have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEngineering is so full of math and physics that there is not enough room to gain a broad world outlook and a knowledge of the challenges of others,\u201d said Marsh. \u201cI joined the Grand Challenge Scholars Program because of the chances it presents to gain that perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marsh\u2019s project deals with the challenge \u201cengineering tools of scientific discovery.\u201d Working with Professor Bill Hamel\u2019s biorobotics lab, Marsh is helping develop autonomous systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI expect this experience will better allow me to design and build exploration vehicles and solve several of the engineering problems associated with the next 100 years of space travel,\u201d said Marsh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the five pillars of the plan include undergraduate research, interdisciplinary coursework, entrepreneurship, global experience, and service-learning, students get to pick which challenge to undertake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Marsh is focused on engineering breakthroughs in tools and technology, other paths that UT Grand Challenge Scholars are currently taking include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Biomedicine: Taylor Weiskittel, a senior in chemical engineering, is investigating biological approaches to fight diseases such as cancer or autoimmune deficiencies that current medications have trouble addressing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nuclear security: Chris Haseler, a senior in nuclear engineering, is developing new forms of radiation monitoring that help shorten detection time while increasing reliability.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Health care: Amany Alshibi, a senior in chemical engineering, is pursuing new health care avenues, including a project investigating cardiac regeneration at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Energy: Patrick Williams, a senior in nuclear engineering, is working on new ways of understanding the dynamics of gas centrifuge enrichment plants.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cStudents enrolled in the program must complete both curricular and extracurricular requirements to graduate with honors,\u201d said Kevin Kit, director of the program. \u201cThis gives them perspective on how engineering can help society while at the same time preparing them to meet the challenges put forth by the NAE.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The impact of being able to answer the challenges\u2014and the consequences of not answering \u2014 inspired Cook to fund the endowment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSolution-driven education and research will be vital to adapt, confront, and conquer some of these challenges,\u201d said Cook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UT alumnus Joe Cook and his wife, Judy have committed to an endowment that supports students and TCE through the Grand Challenge Scholars Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[210,208,211,209],"class_list":["post-841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-david-marsh","tag-grand-challenge-scholars-program","tag-joe-cook","tag-national-academy-of-engineering"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UT alumnus Joe Cook and his wife Judy committed to an endowment that supports students and TCE through the Grand Challenge Scholars Program.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UT alumnus Joe Cook and his wife Judy committed to an endowment that supports students and TCE through the Grand Challenge Scholars Program.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-31T18:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-22T20:41:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Courtney Dyke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Courtney Dyke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/news\\\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/news\\\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Courtney Dyke\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb6d63f4c549270fed53a362583b1c97\"},\"headline\":\"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-31T18:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-22T20:41:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/news\\\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"keywords\":[\"David Marsh\",\"Grand Challenge Scholars Program\",\"Joe Cook\",\"National Academy of Engineering\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/news\\\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/news\\\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\\\/\",\"name\":\"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-31T18:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-22T20:41:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb6d63f4c549270fed53a362583b1c97\"},\"description\":\"UT alumnus Joe Cook and his wife Judy committed to an endowment that supports students and TCE through the Grand Challenge Scholars Program.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/news\\\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/news\\\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/news\\\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/\",\"name\":\"Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cb6d63f4c549270fed53a362583b1c97\",\"name\":\"Courtney Dyke\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tickle.utk.edu\\\/mae\\\/news\\\/author\\\/cfreder1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost","description":"UT alumnus Joe Cook and his wife Judy committed to an endowment that supports students and TCE through the Grand Challenge Scholars Program.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost","og_description":"UT alumnus Joe Cook and his wife Judy committed to an endowment that supports students and TCE through the Grand Challenge Scholars Program.","og_url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/","og_site_name":"Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering","article_published_time":"2017-03-31T18:49:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-22T20:41:32+00:00","author":"Courtney Dyke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Courtney Dyke","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/"},"author":{"name":"Courtney Dyke","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/#\/schema\/person\/cb6d63f4c549270fed53a362583b1c97"},"headline":"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost","datePublished":"2017-03-31T18:49:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-22T20:41:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/"},"wordCount":440,"keywords":["David Marsh","Grand Challenge Scholars Program","Joe Cook","National Academy of Engineering"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/","url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/","name":"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-03-31T18:49:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-22T20:41:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/#\/schema\/person\/cb6d63f4c549270fed53a362583b1c97"},"description":"UT alumnus Joe Cook and his wife Judy committed to an endowment that supports students and TCE through the Grand Challenge Scholars Program.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/grand-challenges-program-gets-big-boost\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Grand Challenges Program Gets Big Boost"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/","name":"Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/#\/schema\/person\/cb6d63f4c549270fed53a362583b1c97","name":"Courtney Dyke","url":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/news\/author\/cfreder1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tickle.utk.edu\/mae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}