News Archives | Page 4 of 40 | Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering News

DoD SMART Scholarship Awardees Noah Baliat and Marcello Guadagno

Published May 1, 2023

News

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship awardees:

Noah Baliat
Baliat is an undergraduate student in mechanical engineering. Baliat will be at the Holloman Air Force Base (AFB) in New Mexico after graduation next year.
Marcello Guadagno
Guadagno is a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics under Paul van Susante (ME-EM/MARC). Guadango will be at the Kirtland AFB in New Mexico.
Aaron Wildenborg
Wildenborg is a Ph.D. candidate in physics under Jae Yong Suh (Physics). Wildenborg will be at the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic in South Carolina.

Semifinalists:

Erican Santiago, a Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering under Hyeun Joong Yoon.
Kaitlyn Morgenstern, an undergraduate in mathematics.
Jonathan Oleson, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics under Susanta Ghosh.
Rachel Passeno, an undergraduate in cybersecurity.
Trent Betters, an undergraduate in computer science.

The DoD SMART Scholarship is part of the National Defense Education Program and its benefits include full tuition and education-related expenses payment, a stipend of $30,000 to $46,000 per year, summer internships ranging from eight to 12 weeks, health insurance, a miscellaneous allowance of $1,000 per year, mentorship at one of the DoD sponsoring facilities and employment placement at a DoD facility upon degree completion.

The Graduate School is proud of these students for their outstanding scholarship. These awards highlight the quality of students at Michigan Tech, the innovative work they have accomplished, the potential for leadership and impact in science and engineering that the country recognizes in these students, and the incredible role that faculty play in students’ academic success.

If you have students who are interested in receiving writing support for the DoD SMART Scholarship or other graduate funding opportunities, have them contact Sarah Isaacson at sisaacso@mtu.edu.

APS Labs Offering Diesel Engine Short Courses in Early Summer 2023

Published April 27, 2023

By

News

Mobile lab truck and Michigan Tech pickup truck.

Despite the industry turn to and customer demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), diesel-powered vehicles are still very much on the road.

The expert instructors at Michigan Tech’s APS Labs (Jeff Naber, Jeremy Worm, Grant Ovist, and Vinicius Bonfochi Vinhaes) know that diesel engines are and will still be with us in the future. So they are teaming up to offer two short professional development courses on diesel engines. These 20-hour (2.5-day) courses are offered in two modalities: in person and live online.

May 31–June 2, 2023 (Dates Corrected)

MEEM 5202 Fundamentals of Diesel Engines will run May 31–June 2. Its content is designed for those needing foundational knowledge in diesel engines.

June 28–30, 2023

MEEM 5204 Diesel Engine Management Systems, Emissions, and Aftertreatment will run June 28-30. Its content is designed for those who want a deeper knowledge in diesel engine management systems, emissions, and aftertreatment.

Both courses are ideal for those interested in pursuing careers in the automotive industry, commercial vehicles, power generation or related fields.

Need more information? Check out the APS Labs Short Courses page or email Vinicius Bonfochi Vinhaes at vbvinhae@mtu.edu.

Learn More and Register

By Shelly Galliah, Global Campus.

Ezra Bar-Ziv on Innovative Plastic Recycling

Published April 18, 2023

By

News

Illustration of a process involving plastic processing. — Center for Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics – STRAP Video Proposal (2022)

Ezra Bar-Ziv (ME-EM/APSRC) was quoted by WLUK FOX 11 of Green Bay, Wisconsin, in a story on Green Bay’s candidacy for a new plastic recycling system that uses solvents to break down plastic film types. The system prototype is being built at Michigan Tech. The story was picked up by 101.1 WIXX-FM and five other Wisconsin news outlets.

George Huber, a College of Engineering professor at UW-Madison came up with the process called STRAP (Solvent Targeted Recovery and Precipitation). According to Huber, “It uses solvents to selectively solubilize one plastic over another. Then, we precipitate it out, and then we’re left behind with a pure plastic.”

Michigan Tech staff and students are creating the system prototype to breakdown the plastic in a larger scale.

“What we are doing is, we’re going from a lab scale—which could be a pound, half a pound, quarter pound—all the way to something similar to say a ton, ton per hour. That’s what we’re trying to do that, and we are doing it in strong collaboration with the Madison crew,” says Ezra Bar-Ziv, a mechanical engineering professor at Michigan Tech.

Katherine Rauscher Wins Audience Choice Award at URSS 2023

Published March 30, 2023

By

News

Winners Announced: Undergraduate Research & Scholarship Symposium

Presenter standing by her poster, with attendees in the background.

The Pavlis Honors College hosted the Undergraduate Research & Scholarship Symposium (URSS) last Friday (March 24) in conjunction with the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC). The event featured a panel discussion in which participants discussed how undergraduate research impacted their present work, two poster sessions and a networking social event that culminated with the announcement of the award winners. In addition to Michigan Tech students, students from the Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College shared their work during this year’s URSS.

Thanks to the Portage Health Foundation and the DeVlieg Foundation for supporting the Undergraduate Research Internship Program as well as to the faculty, staff and graduate students who served as judges for the event.

The winners of the 2023 Undergraduate Research & Scholarship Symposium include mechanical engineering student Katherine Rauscher for her poster “Learning from Aviation to Improve the Safety of Autonomous Vehicles.” Rauscher’s poster was selected for the Audience Choice Award. Rauscher’s faculty advisor was Marika Seigel from the Department of Humanities.

By the Pavlis Honors College.

Extract from the URSS Booklet 2023:

Learning from Aviation to Improve the Safety of Autonomous Vehicles

Student Presenter: Katherine Rauscher, Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Advisor: Marika Seigel, Department of Humanities

Although Autonomous Vehicles [AVs] have proven to be successful in preventing human error accidents, there are still a myriad of concerns with the safety of this new technology considering automation has contributed to some modern highway accidents.

An in-depth literature review of previous highway and aviation accidents pertaining to automation was conducted using the Michigan Tech Van Pelt and Opie Library search tools to find appropriate scholarly sources from a variety of authors and perspectives.

This research revealed that the safety of AVs may be improved by emulating the aviation industry and taking actions such as implementing event recorders, encouraging safety collaboration, pursuing shared control, defining the roles of man and machine, improving automation understanding, combating complacency, and developing effective simulators.

Jeff Naber and Jeremy Worm on Electric Vehicles in Cold Environments

Published March 7, 2023

By

News

Jeff Naber in a video interview. — Jeff Naber in a video interview with WLUC TV6.

Jeff Naber and Jeremy Worm (ME-EM/APSRC) were quoted by WLUC TV6 in a story answering Keweenaw residents’ questions about operating electric vehicle batteries in cold temperatures. The story was picked up by Lansing’s WILX News 10.

Naber and Worm are researchers at Michigan Tech’s Advanced Power Systems Research Center.

“We’re looking at how we can extend the useful life of these vehicles and how we can extend the range of vehicles when we’re using them under climates in the Upper Peninsula,” said APS LABS Director Jeffrey Naber.

“If you’re operating and the battery is continuously at 32 degrees its life expectancy could decrease as much as 20%, if it’s 0 degrees Fahrenheit, it could decrease as much as 50%,” Worm said.

Jeremy Worm in a video interview. — Jeremy Worm in a video interview with WLUC TV6.

Hassan Masoud Wins NSF CAREER Award

Published January 20, 2023

By Donna Jeno-Amici

News

Hassan Masoud is principal investigator of CFAM, the Complex Fluids and Active Matter Lab.

Hassan Masoud, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics at Michigan Technological University, has won a $520,255 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, “Collective Hydrodynamics of Robotic Swimmers and Surfers at High Reynolds Numbers.”

Dr. Masoud will use his award to examine the hydrodynamics of aquatic robots locomoting in orderly ensembles and identify the collective behaviors that emerge from their flow-mediated interactions.

Dr. Masoud earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and conducted postdoctoral research under the joint supervision of Howard Stone in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University and Michael Shelley at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU. He joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics at Michigan Tech as an assistant professor in 2017.

CAREER awards, administered under the Faculty Early Career Development Program, are the NSF’s most prestigious form of support and recognition for junior faculty who “exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.”

We congratulate Assistant Professor Hassan Masoud on his outstanding accomplishment!

Abstract: Robotic swarms have attracted much attention in recent years due to their vast potential applications. In particular, there has been a growing interest in aquatic robots, either swimming underwater or surfing at the air-water interface. By using large numbers of individuals working in tandem through local communication, a swarm of underwater swimmers or interfacial surfers can augment their collective intelligence while maintaining relatively simplistic designs. Harnessing this unique, joint ability leads to achieving superior functionalities, which makes aquatic robots very appealing for a myriad of practical applications, including surveillance, monitoring of invasive species, tracking weather and sea conditions, pollution management, etc. This project aims to obtain an in-depth understanding of many-body hydrodynamic interactions in the collective motion of robotic swimmers and surfers at high Reynolds numbers. The design of robots chosen for the studies is motivated by species in nature that have mastered their respective terrains. The swimmers mimic the general form of a fish, with the tail flapping providing the thrust, while the surfers take inspiration from water-walking insects. The investigations will be conducted using a synergistic application of high-fidelity numerical simulations and laboratory experiments. Validated simulations allow for exploring an extensive range of flow regimes and combinations of relative positions between the robots. Coupled with reinforcement learning algorithms, they also enable searching for optimal strategies for collective locomotion. The unsteady flows generated by the motion of robots in the experiments will be captured via time-resolved, volumetric particle tracking velocimetry. The fundamental knowledge gained during this project is expected to directly contribute to the design and implementation of future aquatic robots capable of functioning alongside each other with a high degree of coordination, similar to the behaviors exhibited by fish in schools and birds in flocks. The planned research studies in this project are coupled with a range of educational activities that involve outreach to middle and high school students, engagement with the general public, mentorship of community college and graduate students, and curriculum development.

Watch

Fluid Dynamics: Michigan Tech Researchers Take it to the Tank

Jonathan Lund Receives the Making a Difference Award for Serving Others

Published January 10, 2023

By

News

Congratulations to all of our 2022 Making A Difference Award nominees and winners, who were honored at an awards program Jan. 4 in the Memorial Union Ballroom.

Senior Capstone Design Training Specialist Jonathan Lund was recognized for serving others.

Jon’s nominator says: Jon is a highly effective—and entertaining—trainer. Students seek him out because he is very friendly and motivated to help them succeed. While it is his job to teach students how to safely operate milling machines, lathes, and other tools, he does it in a way that is engaging and even fun. I can tell you that it is fun to watch him in action. The students appreciate the attention and the care that he provides while explaining the complex procedures for machine operation. Machine shops are full of intimidating equipment, so he tries to make them feel welcome and at ease through encouragement and conversation about their projects.

Top Teams Advance in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge

Published December 19, 2022

By

News

NASA illustration of lunar workers in suits with vehicles and equipment.

NASA named 15 teams moving on to compete in the semifinal level of its Break the Ice Lunar Challenge on December 14, 2022. The $3.5 million multi-phase challenge invites problem-solvers from businesses, academia, maker communities, and more to play a role in building a lasting human presence and vibrant economy on the Moon by tapping into resources that are already there.

The second phase of competition kicked off in June with the goal of furthering development of lunar excavation and transport technologies. Level 1 challenged solvers to design a robotic system for digging and moving large quantities of icy Moon “dirt,” or regolith, found in the coldest, darkest places on the lunar surface.

Phase 2, Level 1

Twenty-five teams from around the world submitted entries for the first, qualifying level of Phase 2 competition. A panel of government, industry, and academic experts in in-situ resource utilization, or ISRU – the technical term for using local resources – evaluated teams’ entries and selected the winners based on submissions of detailed technical reports, engineering designs, and test plans.

Michigan Tech’s Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab (PSTDL) was selected among the winning teams. The founder and director of PSTDL is Paul van Susante, assistant professor in mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics and faculty advisor for Multiplanetary INnovation Enterprise (MINE).

Read more at NASA.gov.

NASA Announces Newest Winners in Break the Ice Lunar Challenge

Jason Blough Receives SAE International Lifetime Achievement Award

Published December 13, 2022

By

News

Jason Blough, chair and distinguished professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics (ME-EM), received SAE International’s Ralph K. Hillquist NVH Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Noise and Vibration Conference.

Established by the Noise & Vibration Conference Committee, this award recognizes those individuals who have shown a continued contribution to ground vehicle noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) over a period of 15 years or more.

According to the award notification, Blough has “been instrumental in shaping the sound package material industry over the last 30 years, alongside unmatched dedication and commitment to industry and SAE.” He was nominated for the award by Darrell Robinette (ME-EM), associate professor.

Blough’s research includes dynamic measurement problems, developing new digital signal processing algorithms to understand NVH-type problems and ways to improve the NVH characteristics of virtually any machine. He routinely teaches many experimental NVH techniques in both classroom settings and industry short courses, and serves as the SAE Clean Snowmobile Team faculty advisor under Tech’s Advanced Motorsports Enterprise.

Congratulations to Dr. Blough on this significant achievement.

By Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.

Mattey and Sharma Place in 2022 3MT Competition

Published December 12, 2022

By

News

3MT Three Minute Thesis Founded by the University of Queensland.

This year’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT®) competition, organized by the Graduate Student Government (GSG) of Michigan Tech, wrapped up with great success. Seventeen participants competed at the MUB Ballroom for a place at the finals, held at the East Reading Room of the Van Pelt and Opie Library.

Each presentation was scored by a panel of judges from diverse academic backgrounds. The judges for the finals were Will Cantrell (Grad School/Physics), Andrew Storer (Provost/CFRES) and Mark Rhodes (SS).

Congratulations to the winners:

First Place: Xiaoqing Gao
Second Place: Katy Matson
Third Place: Udit Sharma
People’s Choice: Revanth Mattey

If you missed the competition, do not worry — you will be able to watch the finals on the GSG YouTube channel soon. Stay tuned!

GSG would like to thank all the volunteers, participants and judges for making this event possible.

By Graduate Student Government.

Category: News