Posts under the ‘News’ category

Emeritus and Research Professor John H. Johnson (MEEM) has been selected to receive the 2013 ASME Internal Combustion Engine Award.

The society awards the honor “for leadership in innovative research in the modeling of diesel engine particulate filters and aftertreatment systems based on extensive experimental data; for dedication in educating graduate students on diesel engines; and for leading and participating in the national studies of technology to reduce internal combustion engine fuel consumption.”

The award consists of a $1,000 honorarium. Johnson will be honored at the ASME 2013 Internal Combustion Fall Technical Conference, set for Oct. 13-16 in Dearborn.

“This is certainly a well-deserved award for John,” said Department Chair Bill Predebon (MEEM). “He has devoted over 40 years to research on diesel engines, particularly in diesel emissions.”

Johnson’s research focuses on emissions and fuel consumption, and he has played a leadership role on the National Academy of Engineering committees that develop recommendations for laws and regulations governing vehicles. His work has had a major impact on the current Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for trucks.

The Center for Michigan’s “Bridge,” a web publication of Michigan news, published a feature article about Hajj Flemings, a mechanical engineering alumnus of Michigan Tech. See the link for the article.

The ME-EM Order of the Engineer, Senior Awards Banquet and Capstone Design Day was April 23, 2013.

The keynote speaker for the banquet was Colleen L. Jones-Cervantes.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech in 1983. After graduation, Colleen joined Chevron Corporation as a Project Engineer. She has been challenged for twenty-eight years by progressing through a variety of assignments in Chevron’s Marketing business, product supply operations, asset management, lubricants and retail functions. Her varied assignments have required eleven relocations, including two international assignments.

Colleen L. Jones-Cervantes with ME-EM Department Chair, Dr William Predebon

Colleen currently serves as Vice President, Product Supply & Trading and has global responsibility for the supply of non-crude oil feedstocks to Chevron’s refining system, refined products supply and trading, marine fuels marketing, and biofuels supply and trading. Colleen L. Jones-Cervantes Biography

Watch the video of Colleen L. Jones-Cervantes speaking to the Michigan Tech ME-EM Awards and Order of the Engineer Banquet

ME-EM Department professor Scott Miers was awarded Teacher of the Year from The ME-EM Student Advisory Board.

SPRING 2012 OUTSTANDING STUDENT AWARDS

Dr. William Endres presented the award to two
Senior Capstone Design Students: Bethany Aebli and Alicia Walby

The ME-EM Senior Capstone Design teams presented their final results for the “capstone” culmination of their undergraduate educational experience.

Professor William Endres said, “Those of us involved in the SCD Program believe the program as a whole, the project results, and the students’ presentation/communication of their results are continually improving and would like to share with you the pride we have in our students’ accomplishments.”

The final event of the ME-EM full day of activities was the order of Engineering induction for all the Spring 2013 graduating seniors.

The ME-EM Advisory Board was also in town for their meetings with faculty, students and staff, and to take in many of the activities.

Jeffery Naber (MEEM) has received $37,986 for a one-year research project, “Independent Review of High Pressure Heat Exchanger Locomotive Test and Thermodynamic Simulation Data,” from the US Department of Transportation–Federal Railroad Administration.

Interesting Note: The commercial link below for Ram trucks was shot by Chrysler at Michigan Tech’s Keweenaw Research Center winter test track this February. See http://blog.ramtrucks.com/features/2013-ram-heavy-duty-extreme-cold-testing-video .

PI “Dennis” Desheng Meng (MEEM) and Co-PI Craig Friedrich (MEEM) have been awarded $65,503 for the first year of a three-year $189,942 R&D grant for “Collaborative Research: Self-circulating, Self-regulating Microreactor for On-chip Gas Generation from Liquid Reactants” from the National Science Foundation.

MEEM students Sunand Santhanagopalan, Anirudh Balram and their advisor Dennis Desheng Meng co-authored an article “Scalable High-Power Redox Capacitors with Aligned Nanoforests of Crystalline MnO2 Nanorods by High Voltage Electrophoretic Deposition,” to appear in the ACS Nano.

Aerodynamic Vibration Reduction of Wind Turbine Blades: PI Qingli Dai (CEE) and Co-PI Fernando Ponta (MEEM) have been awarded a three-year, $269,012 research grant for “Collaborative Research: Nexus of Simulation, Sensing and Actuation for Aerodynamic Vibration Reduction of Wind Turbine Blades” from NSF.

Associate Professor Reza Shahbazian-Yasser (ME-EM/MuSTI) has received $416,809 from the National Science Foundation for, “Revealing the Inside of a Nanoscale Na-Ion Battery: New Understanding on Sodium Intercalation in Cathodes.”

Graduate student Mark Hopkins (ME-EM) and CoPI Professor Brad King (ME-EM) have received $17,625 from the National Science Foundation for “Deposition Rate of Propellant Backflow from a Magnesium Hall-Effect Thruster.”

Associate Professor Gregory Odegard (ME-EM/MuSTI) has received $11,500 from the National Science Foundation for a project, “Planning Grant: I/UCRC for Novel High Voltage Transmission Materials and Structures.”

Assistant Professor Scott Miers (ME-EM) has received $78,043 from UChicago Argonne for a 14-month project, “Advanced Vehicle Characterization.”

John Diebel (IIE/APSRC) and co-PI Ezra Bar-Ziv (ME-EM) have received $50,000 from the University of Michigan-Michigan Initiative for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, for a project, “Compaction of Biocoal.”

Join the MEEM Department and Corporate Partnerships for our Annual Alumni Reception at the SAE World Conference, Wednesday, April 17, 2012, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Room M2‐29 of the Cobo Center, 1 Washington Blvd in Detroit, MI.

Meet with students as they discuss their designs for the national vehicle competitions. Dr. William (Bill) W. Predebon, Department Chair, will give an update on Mechanical Engineering’s latest research, faculty, and student accomplishments.

See Photos and Videos of the 2013 Society of Automotive Engineers Clean Snowmobile Challenge, including complete set of the Objective Handling Competition, the Acceleration Competition and Zero Emissions Sled Drag with links to the Photo Collections.
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When you make breakfast, chances are you don’t think twice about whether there will be enough electrons zipping through your toaster to brown the bread. That’s because you’re probably on the grid, the beyond-big power network that stretches across the continent and draws energy from thousands of sources.

Read more from the Michigan Tech Research Magazine 2013 article by Marcia Goodrich

During the Spring Break 2012, Dr. Nina Mahmoudian and Dr. Mo Rastgaar and two Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Teams are in Jaipur, India. Below is a group picture of them in City Royal Palace. They are going to visit hospital and see Dr. Jain also on the trip.

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Gordon Parker hoped the new classroom would improve the learning experience for one of his graduate classes. He didn’t expect to cover nearly a third more material.

“It’s crazy,” says the John and Cathi Drake Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Technological University. “I’ve never been able to get that far with this class. And it’s not like I just opened up the hose and talked faster.”

Parker’s class in linear control system and design was a guinea pig of sorts for a new classroom, Room 402 in the R. L. Smith Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Building. Named “The Fernstrum Family Adaptable Classroom,” it has been decked out with a dazzling array of instructional gadgetry.

Read the entire story “High-Tech Classrooms Usher in a New Era of Teaching” by Marcia Goodrich

In March 2013, for the First Friday Social, the campus was invited fpor a demonstration of the news teaching faci;ities in the Fernstrum Classrooms.

The 2013 Winter Baja was held Saturday, Feb. 16, near the Student Development Complex at Michigan Technological University. The event kicks off National Engineers Week at Michigan Tech. More than 50 off-road vehicles from 22 universities raced around a one-mile snow course. Click here for a video report, photos and links ot news articles.