Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics News

Category: Research

Bo Chen Named ASME Fellow

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Bo Chen
Bo Chen

Bo Chen (ME-EM) has received the designation of Fellow from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

The ASME Committee of Past Presidents confers the Fellow grade of membership on worthy candidates to recognize their outstanding engineering achievements.

Nominated by ASME Members and Fellows, an ASME Member has to have 10 or more years of active practice and at least 10 years of active corporate membership in ASME.

William Predebon, chair of the the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics said, “Dr. Chen has made major contributions in her field of embedded systems with application to hybrid-electric and electric autonomous systems. Her course in Model-based Embedded Control System Design is regularly in high demand by not only ME students but also EE students. This is a testament to the importance of the topic and her teaching ability.”

Chen conducts interdisciplinary research in the areas of mechatronics and embedded systems, agent technology, modeling and control of hybrid electric vehicles, cyber-physical systems and automation.

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Berries and Brews Project Funding

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Michigan Craft Beverage Council graphic

Momoko Tajiri (Chemistry/MuSTI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $33,597 research and development grant from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development – Michigan Craft Beer Council.

The project is entitled, “Berries & Brews: Understanding the Market and Technological Processing Opportunities of Michigan Grown Fruit in the Craft Beverage Industry”. Jenny Apriesnig (College of Business/MuSTI), Ezequiel Medici (MEEM/MuSTI), Kazuya Tajiri (MEEM/MuSTI), Lynn Mazzoleni (Chemistry/MuSTI), and Martin Thompson (Chemistry/MuSTI) are co-PIs on this 16-month project.

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Cyber Education Funding for Barnard Group

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Andrew Barnard
Andrew Barnard

Andrew Barnard (ME-EM/GLRC) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $248,517 research and development grant from The U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research.

The project is entitled, “ONR STEM ROTC Cyber Education Initiative.” Timothy Havens (CComputing/GLRC), Laura Brown, (CC/GLRC) and Yu Cai (CC/GLRC) are co-PI’s on this one-year project.

By Sponsored Programs.

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Clean Snowmobile Challenge Enterprise Team Takes First Place

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Michigan Tech students standing by their snowmobile.

The Michigan Tech Clean Snowmobile Challenge Enterprise Team captured first place in the Spark Ignition (SI), internal combustion engine category competition in the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge that took place last week at the Keweenaw Research Center.

Other awards the team received in the SI category are:

  • Best Lab Emissions Winner
  • Quietest Snowmobile Winner
  • Most Practical Winner
  • Most Sportsmanlike Winner ($1,000 and one of the most important prizes in the competition)

 In the Diesel Engine Category the team won the Quietest Snowmobile award. William Predebon,  J. S. Endowed Department Chair and Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics said the wins were impressive. 

“Teams from 14 universities from as far east as SUNY- Buffalo and as far west as the University of Idaho, and as well Ecole De Technologie Superieure in Canada participated in the competition. It is unusual to win so many categories in the SI competition. This is an impressive accomplishment by our team of students from several College of Engineering Departments.”

Predebon said with past wins in the Diesel and Electric Snowmobile categories Michigan Tech has accomplished wins in all three categories. The Electric Snowmobile category is no longer part of the Clean Snowmobile Challenge.

The CSC advisor is Jason Blough (ME-EM) and engine co-advisor is Scott Miers (ME-EM).

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Michigan Tech Joins Artemis Student Challenge

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Artemis Timeline graphic of the Moon.

NASA Selects University Teams to Build Technologies for the Moon’s Darkest Areas

Through the competitive Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge and the Space Grant project, NASA has awarded nearly $1 million to eight university teams to build sample lunar payloads and demonstrate innovative ways to study the Moon’s darkest areas.

“It’s an exciting time for NASA and students across the country,” said Drew Hope, Game Changing Development program manager at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “Thanks to our partnership with the Office of STEM Engagement, this is the most money NASA has awarded in a student challenge directly connected to Artemis. I look forward to seeing the inventive designs come to life as well as how they can advance our exploration capabilities in permanently shadowed craters on the Moon.”

The selected teams will develop ways to collect data in and around permanently shadowed regions, generate wireless power for future infrastructure, enable autonomous mobility even in the most extreme environments, and more. Such systems could benefit NASA’s Artemis program and be used to study the Moon ahead of a human landing in 2024 or help establish a sustained presence by 2028.

The award values vary and are based on each team’s proposed concept and budget. Among the 2020 BIG Idea Challenge awardees is Michigan Tech.

Michigan Technological University in Houghton – $161,074

A small rover to lay lightweight, superconducting cable that tethers to a lander as it traverses craters in permanently shadowed regions. Once in its final destination, the rover acts as a recharging hub and communication relay for other robots working in the area, providing continuous power without requiring direct sunlight.

The grants will be used to develop and test the technologies in simulated environments over the next 10 months, demonstrating their readiness for a potential lunar mission as early as 2023. The teams will present the results of their research and development to a panel of NASA and industry experts at a face-to-face design review in November 2020.

Read more at NASA Space Tech, edited by Kristyn Damadeo.

NASA Unveils Student-Made Technologies For Exploring Moon’s Dark Side

NASA has partnered with different universities to develop technologies that it will use for its upcoming mission to the Moon. The agency confirmed that these new technologies would be used to explore the lunar surface’s dark side.

The other universities involved in the upcoming lunar mission are Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michigan Technological University, Northeastern University and the University of Virginia. Teams from these universities will help NASA in collecting valuable data from the dark regions of the Moon.

Read more at International Business Times, by Inigo Monzon.

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Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science

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CLASS logoPaulu van Susante (ME-EM/MARC)is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $30,000 research and development cooperative agreement from the University of Central Florida.

The project is entitled, “Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (NASA SSERVI Cooperative Agreement Notice).” This is the first year of a potential Five-year project totaling $150,000.

By Sponsored Programs.

The Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) node of the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) facilitates NASA’s exploration of deep space by focusing its goals at the intersection of surface science and surface exploration of rocky, atmosphereless bodies.

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