The Michigan Tech Mobile Lab was recently in southeast Michigan delivering hands-on short courses to professional engineers at Borg Warner. The course topics were in the area of Fundamentals of Hybrid Electric Vehicles. Two courses were taught during the week of May 16.
The ME-EM Senior Recognition Banquet and Order of the Engineer Program was held on April 19, 2016.
The keynote speaker was Seth Newlin, Chief Engineer, Oshkosh Airport Products, Oshkosh Corporation. Newlin is a 1994 alumnus with both a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering.
Outstanding Student Performance Award
From time to time we observe exemplary and outstanding performance of an individual or group of individuals in Senior Capstone Design or Enterprise, and when that happens we recognize those students with an Outstanding Student Performance Award.
Alexandria Bonner and Nate Campbell
Nate and Alex led the team’s use of simulation and test to understand the root-cause of their design problem on Team 11 Driveline NVH Improvement for Ford Motor Company. Although Alex and Nate were responsible for different aspects of the driveline NVH, they worked together to learn how to use new simulation tools and used test data to validate models of the current driveline system. They used the models to gain insight to limitations of the current design and study the effect of design options rather than guessing or hoping for a successful prototype at the end of their project. Nate and Alex demonstrated that hard work and cooperation are key elements of a successful project.
Josh Dillon
Josh Dillon has demonstrated outstanding dedication to Formula SAE. Over the past three years, Josh held leadership positions in the FSAE Enterprise, the SAE Student Chapter, and Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. As the 2016 FSAE Chief Engineer, Josh was responsible for the concurrent design, build, and test of three successive competition vehicles. Through these experiences in leadership roles, Josh has developed a leadership style based on responsibility and cooperation. Preparing for the 2016 competition provided many learning opportunities for FSAE leadership. The initial attempt to make a one-piece body was an epic failure. Two aspects of the chassis did not meet rules criteria; one was noted by a design judge just last week. Josh worked with the sub-team leaders to correct the issues and focus on good engineering. With Josh’s leadership, Formula SAE is looking forward to improved success at competition in May.
Marissa Graziano
Marissa has performed outstanding from day 1 of the Team 19 Magna Seating Design Project. She is an excellent communicator and kept everything going smoothly between the client and MTU as well as the client and the team. She managed the team, asked for help when needed, communicated with faculty, staff, team and customer in an organized and effective manner and when the project changed scope organized the document scope rewrite and approval on the MTU and Magna Seating side. She was very effective in leading her team through a complex and challenging project and with her team tackled any challenges that occurred during the project.
Connor Kmiec
Connor Kmiec is the team lead this year for the Ferro Pedal project. Not only did Connor do a great job leading this team, he differentiated himself by doing the majority of the machining work on this project. He even sacrificed his Spring Break to perform machining work when outsourcing quotes came in much more expensive than forecasted. To save time and money, Connor allowed the team to use his personal 3D printer to create prototype parts to verify fit and size. Connor also led the team to raise additional funds for this project and placed first for both the best Marketing Plan and Most Unique Visitors in the Superior Ideas Rekhi Challenge. Connor’s strong engineering skills coupled with great hands-on know how and leadership skills is exactly the type of engineer we want to represent Michigan Tech and our Mechanical Engineering department.
Paul St. Louis
Dr. Endres has the following to say about Paul St. Louis, a member of Senior Design Team 4 Surgical Tool Attachment, sponsored by Stryker Instruments: Occasionally there is a student who exhibits outstanding organization and team leadership skills that keeps things well on track with great communication and scheduling. This team as a whole did very well with a great team effort, and with the great organization of this team member, things progressed incredibility smoothly. The technical results of this team are truly exciting in my opinion and I look forward to our customer taking it to the next level and ultimately a potential new product. This award goes to Paul St Louis of the Stryker Instruments Surgical Tool Hub Interface project.
View the MEEM Spring 2016 Ceremonies Photo Gallery
Michigan Tech Employee Service Recognition Event
On Wednesday, May 11, faculty and staff members, along with their guests, gathered at the Memorial Union Ballroom for an awards dinner recognizing 25, 30, 35 and 40 years of service to Michigan Tech. The following ME-EM faculty were recognized:
25 Years
Ibrahim Miskioglu, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
30 Years
Ibrahim Miskioglu, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
40 Years
William Predebon, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Wayne Weaver (ECE) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $119,997 research grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research. Rush Robinett (ME-EM) and Nina Mahmoudian (ME-EM) are Co-PI’s on the project entitled “Autonomous Microgrids: Theory, Control, Flexibility and Scalability.”
This is the first year of a potential four-year project that could total $869,980.
The keynote speaker for the ME-EM Senior Recognition Banquet and Order of the Engineer Program for Fall 2015 was Christopher Duke, 1995 BS in Mechanical Engineering, Design Responsible Manager – Closures, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
View the Photo Gallery
Watch the Keynote Address
“Michigan Technological Engineering is known for its space related research and education – aerospace and mechanical engineering” – featured in USA Today special edition “NASA – Beyond Earth” on PAGE 25. The article mentions Aerospace Enterprise, the Oculus-ASR nanosatellite, Space Propulsion Lab, and faculty Lion B. King, Greg Odegard and Ossama Abdelkhalik.
Research Professor John Johnson (ME-EM) chaired a National Academy of Engineering (NAE) committee that has published the NAE Review of the 21st Century Truck Partnership, Third Report. Former Michigan Tech President Dale Stein also served on the committee. Johnson has chaired committees that produced several other NAE reports. He also serves on the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards committee.
Michigan Tech Mobile Lab Helps Engineers Design for Human Comfort: Michigan Tech’s mobile lab will travel to Novi, Mich., on Oct. 28 to serve as the site for a one-day workshop on the use of specially designed human manikins and software to measure air velocity, temperature, radiant heat flux and relative humidity in vehicles. Engineers have been invited to participate in the “Manikinalysis” workshop hosted by Michigan Tech, Thermetrics and ThermoAnalytics. Thermetrics makes the HVAC Manikin and ThermoAnalytics produces the human thermal software.
Michigan Tech alumnus Gregory Hardy has received the Steve Thorne Leadership Award, funded by the GE African American Forum. The award recognizes outstanding leadership in the National Society of Black Engineers.
Hardy graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering from Michigan Tech and is currently a mechanical science and engineering graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Regarding the award, Hardy told the NSBE, “This fuels my fire to do more and inspire others to do the same.”
“Michigan Technological Engineering is known for its space related research and education – aerospace and mechanical engineering” – featured in USA Today special edition “NASA – Beyond Earth” on page 25
Nina Mahmoudian (MEEM) has received a $57,708 grant from the Office of Naval Research for her research project titled, “Toward Undersea Persistence.”
Channel 2, KTVN in Reno, Nevada reported on SAE International’s expansion of its SAE John Johnson Award for Outstanding Research in Diesel Engines to honor individual leaders in the field. Established in 2008, the award traditionally recognized authors of an SAE International outstanding technical paper that addresses research advancements in diesel engines regarding efficiency and low emissions achieved by innovative experimental and modeling research of the engine, fuel and/or after treatment systems.
This prestigious award honors John H. Johnson, a Presidential Professor with Tech’s Department of Mechanical Engineering Mechanics. Read the story.
Dr. Hussein Zbib received the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture’s 2015 Anjan Bose Outstanding Researcher Award. Professor Hussein earned his BSME, MSME, and PhD in ME-EM all from MIchigan Tech and is a member of our EAB. He is a professor and former head of the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University.
Research Professor John Johnson (ME-EM) chaired a National Academy of Engineering (NAE) committee that just published the Review of the 21st Century Truck Partnership Third Report. Former Michigan Tech President Dale Stein also served on the NAE committee.
Diesel Engine Aftertreatment Consortium Partner Meeting: The Department of Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics will host a Diesel Engine Aftertreatment Consortium Partner meeting September 16 in MEEM 1021. Industrial partner representatives from Cummins, John Deere, Daimler-Detroit, Corning, Johnson Matthey and Tenneco will be on campus all day to review research progress during the second year of three year consortium. The focus of the consortium is on experimental and modeling research of advanced diesel after treatment systems and is a part of the APS Labs. John Johnson, Jeff Naber and Gordon Parker are the faculty associated with the Consortium.
Tech Today by Mark Wilcox
Craig Friedrich (MEEM), has been elected a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. William Predebon, chair of Michigan Tech’s Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, said Friedrich was recognized for his “outstanding contributions in mechanical micromilling for micro-device packaging, micro heat exchangers and fluidic interconnects, deep x-ray lithography masks and biomedical implants.”
Predebon, who nominated Friedrich, said “Dr. Friedrich is not only an outstanding researcher and engineer, he is also a leader in his profession and in the ME-EM department as the associate chair and director of graduate studies.”
Friedrich said it is gratifying to have been formally recognized by such an esteemed professional society and by the support of peers and colleagues over nearly three decades.
“To be honored in such a way shows that it isn’t a single day that defines success but rather the years of hard work that precedes it,” Friedrich said.
Michigan Technological University is renowned for their prestigious engineering program as they prepare students to enter a disorganized world with the tools and capabilities to make a constructive difference. Today, green technologies bring innovation and change into our daily lives; and, Michigan Tech alumnus Patrick McCabe continues to utilize his strong engineering background, along with his brilliant entrepreneurial skills to redefine the solar industry.
Patrick is COO and co-founder of GreenLancer, a Detroit-based startup company that utilizes an e-commerce platform to produce high-quality solar design documents. Creating solar designs may seem simple on the surface, but the innovative combination of engineering and virtual manufacturing allows GreenLancer to actively compete with the traditional brick and mortar design firms.
Upon graduating with his BSME degree, Patrick moved to Salt Lake City, then to San Diego to pursue a job in the solar industry. He began to work from home as a freelancer, but that wasn’t enough. Alas, GreenLancer emerged, originally named Stellar PV. Pat, along with a few friends, traveled across the country doing web-based design work for solar electricity companies. After several years on the road, Pat decided to bring the work back to Detroit in hopes of redefining manufacturing and the working class, both of which have plagued the city’s reputation in the past.
The idea of cultivating a remote workforce, managing workflow, and streamlining processes via technology began to attract attention from the city’s evolving tech start-up scene. Through family and friends, Patrick was able to raise $50,000 to bring the company to Bizdom, a start-up incubator on the heart of Detroit. There, generous investors gave an initial investment of $1 million to continue the advancement GreenLancer. In April of 2015, the company finished raising a Series B funding of $5 million from new and existing investors. The trajectory of GreenLancer and its concept is moving upward from solar to potentially all green technologies.
Patrick applauds Michigan Technological University for challenging him during his academic career. “I’m grateful for the education I received at Michigan Tech as it has helped to propel my achievements,” Patrick stated. Similarly, “It is exciting to see fellow alumni contributing to solving problems across the world.” Pat is looking forward to watching the continued success of the engineering program at Michigan Tech.
“Patrick McCabe, 29: CEO and co-founder, GreenLancer Energy Inc., Detroit” (Article from Crain's Detroit)
For more information about GreenLancer, please visit GreenLancer.com.
Michigan Technological University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics is one of five mechanical engineering departments nationwide selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to participate in a new diversity training program. The others are Purdue, Oregon State, Texas Tech and the University of Oklahoma.
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