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Southern California Gas Company Teams Show Off Senior Projects

Reducing emissions from gas grills and pasta cookers. Finding a cost-effective method to detect methane leaks in residential walls. Developing a tool that can return compressed pipes to their original shape.

These were some of the technical problems that students tackled as part of the CSULB College of Engineering’s partnership program with the Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas).

“This is a win-win opportunity,” said Hal Snyder, SoCalGas Vice President of Human Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion “Students obtain practical experience, and you’re actually working on things that can help our company.”

The four-year-old CSULB program is led by Rodger R. Schwecke, SoCalGas Senior Vice President of Gas Transmission and Storage. Schwecke, a 1983 B.S. in chemical engineering graduate, said, “It’s great to see these bright engineering students take an idea from concept to physical demonstration, with supporting test data to show results.  Ideas such as addressing the ovality of plastic pipe prior to connections, that can turn into commercially viable applications to help our business.” Continue reading “Southern California Gas Company Teams Show Off Senior Projects”

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Commencement Draws Thousands

The College of Engineering on Tuesday kicked off CSULB’s graduation week with a commencement that drew nearly 800 graduates, as well as hundreds of family members and friends.

“This is a very important milestone in the lives of our graduating students,” said Dean Forouzan Golshani, who advised grads to keep learning and help others. “There is so much more that a successful engineer or computer scientist must know. Engineering is all about innovating new ideas,” he said.

CSULB President Jane Close Conoley gave students some good advice: wear sunscreen, watch your blood sugar, vote, be members of juries, support public education, and pick a life partner who makes you a better person. The CSULB President also thanked families for the support, encouragement, and nagging it took to keep their kids on the track to graduation.

“Hold onto hope and be the hardest-working person in the room. And stay connected to the campus and the alumni association,” she added.

Southern California Gas Co. Vice President Hal Snyder, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering in 1983, told students they were joining a group of CSULB graduates 300,000 strong. Snyder, the College of Engineering’s 2015 Distinguished Alumni, congratulated his 2016 successor Kenneth Santarelli, director of the Antelope Valley Engineering Program and director of the Antelope Valley Board of Trade.

In keeping with tradition, grads decorated their mortarboards in keeping with their engineering discipline. For civil engineering and construction engineering management grads, it was black hardhats. Electrical engineers decorated theirs with LED lights or made them look like circuit boards. And then there were those that had nothing to do with engineering at all. To view photos from commencement, visit the CSULB Facebook page.

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Are You WIRED for Leadership?

Coordinator Paulina Mejia snap
College of Engineering Professional Development Coordinator Paulina Mejia-Arroyo presents a certificate of appreciation to Hal Snyder.

After three decades in the workforce, Hal Snyder, a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council, has learned a fair amount about attributes of good leaders. Snyder, Vice President of Human Resources for Diversity and Inclusion at Southern California Gas Co., was at CSULB Tuesday to speak to engineering students about how to become future leaders.

The most important leadership attributes, he said, join together to spell WIRED. “This is truly what we look for,” he said of the five attributes. “These five are golden.”

Continue reading “Are You WIRED for Leadership?”