Engineering Ambassadors Fall 2019 Information Session

Engineering AmbassadorsDo you want to be a part of an effort to middle and high schoolers to reach out about engineering?

Do you want to grow in your professional communication skills?

You should check out Michigan Tech’s Engineering Ambassadors Program. Join a group of students who present an engineering topic and conduct a hands-on activity at local schools to excite students about engineering.

We will have an info session at 6 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 5, 2019) in Fisher 130. Our first general meeting will at 6 p.m.Thursday, Sept. 12 also in Fisher 130. Join us, and bring a friend to learn more about the program and help excite young students about STEM.

Contact advisors Jaclyn Johnson or Nancy Barr to be added to the email list, and with any questions. Also check us out on Facebook or our website to learn more. We look forward to seeing you.

Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Emerging Disaster Engineering

NSFJeff Naber (MEEM/ASPRC) is Principal Investigator on a project that has received a $99,752 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation. Greg Odegard (MEEM), Sheryl Sorby (MEEM), Kellie Raffaelli (CDI), and Michael Bowler (Humanities), are Co-PI’s on this one-year project entitled, “Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Emerging Disaster Engineering Encompassing Human Directed Expert Systems (ERC-DEES).”

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Disasters cause immense economic and human losses. Those persons in the communities most significantly impacted are the elderly, disabled, and those economically disadvantaged with limited resources and limited mobility.

Concurrently, man-made infrastructure is becoming more vulnerable due to aging and degradation, while weather extremes and terrorism threats are increasing the occurrence and impact of disasters.

Thus, there is a critical need to have rapid intelligence and an ability to deploy limited resources with maximum impact at the earliest stage of the disasters.

The proposed vision is to develop expert systems with autonomous agents directed by humans with rapid response capabilities in partnership with, and in support of, first responders, communities and their citizens, and local and federal agencies.

Read more at the National Science Foundation.

Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, Supports Engine Research and Development

Mechanical Engineering BuildingJeff Naber (MEEM/ASPRC) is Principal Investigator on a project that has received a $481,013 research and development contract with the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. Youngchul Ra (MEEM), Mahdi Shahbakhti (MEEM), Jeremy Worm (MEEM), Henry Schmidt (MEEM), Paul Dice (MEEM), and Joel Duncan (MEEM) are Co-PI’s on this project entitled, “A Compression-Ignition Mono-Fueled NG High-Efficiency, High-Output Engine for Medium and Heavy-Duty Applications.” This is the first year of a potential three-year project totaling $1,156,042.

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Jeff Naber Joins U.S. DRIVE Committee as an Associate Member

US Drive logoJeff Naber has been nominated as an associate member of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) United States Driving Research and Innovation for Vehicle efficiency and Energy sustainability (U.S. DRIVE) Committee.

It is a three year term starting September 2019. It involves direct meetings between the OEM’s and DOE’S Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) at a high level.

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) tech team is part of the U.S. DRIVE partnership. This partnership is between the U.S. Council for Automotive Research LLS (USCAR) and the DOE.

Gurpreet Singh, Advanced Combustion Engines and Fuels R&D Program Manager, Vehicle Technologies Office, DOE, is the other co-chair. Other members of the team include combustion and emission control experts from FCA, GM and Ford as well as a broad spectrum of representatives from the DOE and U.S. national labs (Argonne, Oak Ridge, Sandia, NREL, Lawrence Livermore, Pacific Northwest).

The committee meets six times a year at the USCAR office in Southfield, MI, to discuss pre-competitive technology and research to improve engine efficiency while meeting emission standards.

Jeff Naber Appointed to Executive Committee of Automotive Research Center

Jeffrey Naber
Jeffrey Naber

Jeff Naber (ME-EM), the Richard and Elizabeth Henes Professor in Energy Systems and director of the Advanced Power Systems Research Center, has been appointed to the Executive Committee of the Automotive Research Center (ARC) by the center’s director Bogdan Epureanu.

The ARC is a US Army Center of Excellence for Modeling and Simulation of Ground Vehicles sponsored by Ground Vehicles Systems Center (formally TARDEC in Warren, Michigan) and led by the University of Michigan.

Nancy Barr Presents on Professional Communication Preparation

Nancy Barr
Nancy Barr

Nancy Barr (Eng Com) presented a paper titled, “Divergent Courses: Preparing Graduate Students for Diverse Career Paths,” at the IEEE Professional Communication Society Conference in Aachen, Germany, July -24-26, 2019. The paper describes a two-course sequence in the ME-EM graduate engineering program that addresses the unique needs of students interested in either industry career paths or academia, regardless of language background. One course prepares students for communicating persuasively and collaboratively in business environments, while the second course focuses on the traditional research genres of journal papers, conference presentations, and grant proposals. Also, as secretary to the society’s Board of Governors, Barr attended the board’s annual meeting prior to the conference.

Jeremy Worm Appointed to Michigan Truck Safety Commission

Jeremy Worm
Jeremy Worm

LANSING, Mich. (WLUC) – Governor Gretchen Whitmer Friday announced the following appointments to the Michigan Truck Safety Commission.

Among the seven appointees is Jeremy J. Worm, associate director of APS LABS and director of Mobile Lab at Michigan Technological University. He earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Dr. Worm is appointed to succeed Daniel Blower, whose term expires August 4, 2019, to represent four-year colleges or universities for a term commencing August 5, 2019, and expiring August 4, 2021.

The Michigan Truck Safety Commission (MTSC) is the only organization in the nation dedicated to commercial truck driver education and training supported solely by the industry it serves. The Commission is committed to enhancing truck and truck driver safety by providing truck driver education and training, heightening all drivers’ awareness of the operational characteristics and limitations of trucks, initiating data collection and research, and supporting enforcement of motor carrier safety laws.

These appointments are subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

Read more at TV6 FOX UP.

Darrell L. Robinette Honored by SAE International with Forest R. McFarland Award

Darrell Robinette
Darrell Robinette

A Michigan Tech assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics is among those being honored with awards from SAE Engineering.

Houghton resident Dr. Darrell Robinette was one of 26 mobility engineering professionals to win the 2019 Forest R. McFarland Award.

Honorees are recognized for their outstanding, sustained contributions to support SAE Engineering Events.

Robinette is currently an assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics at Michigan Technological University, a position held since August of 2016.

Read more at the Keweenaw Report.

Exploratory Research Funding for Susanta Ghosh

Susanta Ghosh
Susanta Ghosh

Susanta Ghosh (MEEM/MuSTI) is Principal Investigator on a project that has received a $170,604 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation. The project is titled “EAGER: An Atomistic-Continuum Formulation for the Mechanics of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides.” This is a potential 19-month project.

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Two-dimensional materials are made of chemical elements or compounds of elements while maintaining a single atomic layer crystalline structure. Two-dimensional materials, especially Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs), have shown tremendous promise to be transformed into advanced material systems and devices, e.g., field-effect transistors, solar cells, photodetectors, fuel cells, sensors, and transparent flexible displays.

To achieve broader use of TMDs across cutting-edge applications, complex deformations for large-area TMDs must be better understood. Large-area TMDs can be simulated and analyzed through predictive modeling, a capability that is currently lacking.

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award supports fundamental research that overcomes current challenges in large-scale atomistic modeling to obtain an efficient but reliable continuum model for single-layer TMDs containing billions of atoms.

Read more at the National Science Foundation.