The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) honored Michigan Tech alumnae Britta Jost and Kaitlyn Bunker at its annual conference, WE14, in Los Angeles last week. Jost received the SWE Distinguished New Engineer award, and Bunker was recognized as 2014 Outstanding Collegiate Member.
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Michigan Tech students participated with other university students in an multi-year international competition to design a Portable Assisted Mobility Device (PAMD) through the Partners for the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE) program. There were 7 international teams and 45 universities from around the world involved, showing the “collaborative engineering” purpose of the PACE program. At the 2014 PACE Global Annual Forum in Turin (Italy) the projects were evaluated by an international team of judges including GM/Opel, Siemens, PLM Software, Autodesk, Oracle, and HP.
The winning PAMD team included RWTH Aachen University, TU Darmstadt (both in Germany), Michigan Technological University, the University of Cincinnati and the ITESM Estado de Mexico.
Several examples of the diverse research at Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics department were shown at the R.L. Smith Building on Tuesday, Sept. 30. MEEM faculty and graduate students presented posters describing on-going and future research activities.
Some of the examples of projects included nonlinear and autonomous vehicles research, agile ankle-foot prosthesis, an award winning portable assisted mobility device, ultra low sulfur and green diesel fuel comparison, and interdisciplinary research in geology and mechanical engineering on shock waves generated during explosive volcanic eruptions.
Pity the poor lithium ion. Drawn relentlessly by its electrical charge, it surges from anode to cathode and back again, shouldering its way through an elaborate molecular obstacle course. This journey is essential to powering everything from cell phones to cordless power tools. Yet, no one really understands what goes on at the atomic scale as lithium ion batteries are used and recharged, over and over again.
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Michigan Technological University researcher Reza Shahbazian-Yassar has discovered that perfection may not be all it’s cracked up to be, at least when it comes to designing materials for the next generation of lithium ion batteries. Shahbazian-Yassar investigates exotic new battery materials, which offer exotic new problems along with exciting possibilities. He hopes to turn one of those problems into an asset, with help from a $446,000 grant from the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation.
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The Michigan Tech Advanced Power Systems Research Center (APS LABS) hosted an open house and tours of their new facilities along with the Michigan Tech First Friday Social for October 2014.
Laboratory tours and presentations were given by faculty, staff and graduate student researchers.
The guests saw research, outreach and educational initiatives in mobility, sustainable transportation, and energy.
Big disasters almost always result in big power failures. Not only do they take down the TV and fridge, they also wreak havoc with key infrastructure like cell towers. That can delay search and rescue operations at a time when minutes count. Now, a team led by Nina Mahmoudian of Michigan Technological University has developed a tabletop model of a robot team that can bring power to places that need it the most.
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Michigan Technological University is well on its way to getting a $1.7 million, state-of-the-science transmission electron microscope (TEM), thanks to the National Science Foundation and a team of dedicated researchers led by Reza Shahbazian-Yassar.
“This will bring us to the forefront of electron microscopy,” said Shahbazian-Yassar, the principal investigator on the project. The new TEM will not only give researchers the ability to study atomic structure, it will also identify chemical composition with sensitivity close to a single atom.
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From the Special Faculty Edition of Tech Today:
Meet Michigan Tech’s new faculty and existing faculty who have now accepted tenure-track and lecturer positions.
Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics
Andrew Barnard, PhD
Andrew Barnard joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics as an assistant professor. Barnard comes to Michigan Tech from Penn State University. He is a Michigan Tech alumnus, holding a master’s in mechanical engineering.
Barnard earned a PhD in Acoustics from Penn State. He is a member of the Acoustical Society of America and a board-certified member of the Institute for Noise Control Engineering. He has also been a reviewer for the Journal of Sound and Vibration, the Journal of Building and Environment, Noise Control Engineering Journal and the ASME Noise Control and Acoustics Division.
Jaclyn Johnson, PhD
Jaclyn Johnson joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics as a lecturer. Previously, she was an instructor and research staff member at Michigan Tech.
Johnson is a Tech alumna, where she received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics and her master’s in mechanical engineering.
Johnson’s teaching interests are energy thermofluids and solid mechanics. Her research interests are in combustion, diesel spray characteristics and structure and fundamental spark ignition studies of gaseous fuels.
Aneet Narendranath, PhD
Aneet Narendranath joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics as a lecturer. He previously was a visiting assistant professor.
Narendranath received a PhD in Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics from Michigan Tech.
He held numerous leadership roles at Michigan Tech while a graduate student, including secretary of the Daniell Heights Apartment Council and president of the Indian Students Association. He belongs to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Physical Society.
Ye (Sarah) Sun, PhD
Ye (Sarah) Sun joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics. Sun travels to Michigan Tech from Case Western Reserve University.
She received a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor’s in precise instrumentation of measurement and control from Tianjin University.
Sun has worked on two National Science Foundation projects. She is a member of the IEEE, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the International Society of Optical Engineering.
Radheshyam Tewari, PhD
Radheshyam Tewari joins the Department of Mechanical Engineering–Engineering Mechanics as a lecturer. Previously, Tewari was an instructor at Michigan Tech.
Tewari received two degrees from Michigan Tech, an MS and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, and holds a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology in India.
Tewari has three years of industry experience in machining processes, production planning, quality engineering and total productive maintenance. Tewari also has research experience using semiconductor fabrication and metrology tools for micro/nano-manufacturing.
The Michigan Technological University Mobile Lab was a featured exhibitor at the 2014 Battery Show – “The Expo for Advanced Batteries” – and the Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo September 16-18 at Novi, Michigan, USA.
The lab was set up indoors at the Battery Show in Novi, where Professor Steve Hackney (MSE), instructor Trever Hassell (ECE), Mobile Lab operations manager Chris Davis, and Mobile Lab director Jeremy Worm provided hands-on seminars to conference and show attendees.