Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering News

Ossama Abdelkhalik (ME-EM/AIM), is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $25,000 research and development contract from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Mark Vaughn (ME-EM) is co-PI on the project, “Making small Wave Energy Converters Cost-Effective for Underwater Microgrids Through a 10-Fold Improvement in Year-Round Productivity.”

From Tech Today, by Sponsored Programs.

Gizmag, recently renamed New Atlas, published a story about the seven best ways to protect your airspace from drones. Associate Professor Mo Rastgaar’s (ME-EM) drone catcher was number two on the list.

From Tech Today.

Research by Brad King (MEEM) and PhD candidate Kurt Terhune (MEEM) has been featured in news outlets around the world including Digital Trends, Microscopy and Analysis, Space Daily, Science Daily, Wireless Design Mag,NanoWerk, e Science News, phys.org and AZO Nano.

From Tech Today.

Watch a Tiny Space Rocket Work

“Space isn’t the empty vacuum of nothingness many of us assume,” says Kurt Terhune, a mechanical engineering graduate student and the lead author on a new study published in Nanotechnology this week. “Space actually has a small amount of atmosphere that causes drag, solar winds that push satellites off course and space debris that present a constant hazard.”

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Allison Mills.

Continuous Operation of Underwater Robots

It’s a fish! It’s a bird! No…it’s a robot. Inspired by nature, mechanical engineer Nina Mahmoudian is getting underwater robots to move together.

Not only could they travel more easily, but battery charging could be more efficient, too. Charging a robot is the biggest obstacle to underwater missions. That’s why Mahmoudian, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has grants from both a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award and the Young Investigator Program (YIP) from the Office of Naval Research to develop strategies to address the problem and advance the system.

We want to mimic what we see in nature for mobile sensor networks. —Nina Mahmoudian

Read more and watch the video at Unscripted: Science and Research, by Allison Mills.

June 24, 2016

I have begun my journey onto the Great Lakes.

For the next five days, I’ll be on a ship, learning the ins and outs of being a chief scientist with the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), a collaborative program between the National Science Foundation and Office of Naval Research.

I’ll be aboard the R/V Blue Heron, the only UNOLS research vessel in the Great Lakes. It’s about 20 feet tall, painted navy blue, with “Large Lakes Observatory, University of Minnesota” printed on the bow. This will be my home for the next several days.

Read more at Unscripted, by guest blogger and assistant professor Andrew Barnard.

In the News

Science360, a science news site published by the National Science Foundation (NSF), featured a photo as its Picture of the Day of sunset over Lake Superior, shot by Assistant Professor Andrew Barnard (ME-EM) during a University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System training cruise. See the photo here.

From Tech Today.