Category: Research

Dr. Darrell Robinette has been selected to receive the 2019 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Forest R. McFarland Award.

This award recognizes individuals for their sustained outstanding contributions toward the work of the SAE Engineering Events in the planning, development, and dissemination of technical information through technical meetings, conferences, and professional development programs at SAE events or outstanding contributions to event operations in facilitating or enhancing the interchanges of technical information.

Established in 1979, this award is administered by SAE Engineering Events and honors the late Forest R. McFarland who was himself an outstanding session organizer, a chairman of the Passenger Car Activity, and a member of the Engineering Meetings Board. Funding for this award is through a bequest by Mr. McFarland to SAE and consists of a framed certificate to be presented at the 2019 SAE World Congress on Tuesday, April 19, 2019.

Michigan Tech’s Advanced Power Systems (APS) lab was one of the cover stories in the January edition of dSPACE Magazine. The story “Efficient Platooning,” begins on page 22, and features quotes and a photo of Christopher Morgan (ME-EM). There is also a video link in connection with the story.

Efficient Platooning

Cooperative and predictive control strategies boost energy efficiency in automated vehicles

“The purpose of the project is to use upcoming technologies, such as automated vehicles, V2I, V2X, and sensors, to improve energy consumption on modern vehicles,” says Chris Morgan, Operations Manager at Michigan Tech.

Read more at dSPACE.

Michigan Technological University: Efficient Platooning

Students and Faculty at Michigan Technological University’s Advanced Power Systems Lab (APS Labs) are deeply involved in the NEXTCAR project, as they strive to boost vehicle energy efficiency through driverless technologies.

NEXTCAR stands for Next-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Autonomous On-Road Vehicles – an initiative that is funded through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) of the U.S. Department of Energy.

The video features interviews with:

• Jeffrey Naber, Director, APS, Michigan Tech
• Maribeth Yabes, Engineering Group Manager, General Motors
• Christopher Morgan, Operations Manager, APS, and Instructor, Mechanical Engineering, Michigan Tech
• Chuck Drews, IT Systems – Pilot Systems
• Stuart Steel, Program Manager – Pilot Systems

WATCH THE VIDEO

Michael Hill, PhD, researcher in the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, has received an American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship in the amount of $104,060 over two years.

The funding is for his proposal on “Nanoengineered Polymers for Mature Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Cardiomyocytes.”

The goal of the proposal is to produce multiscale materials that can mimic the signals which govern cell behavior in the human heart, in order to guide stem cells into becoming cardiac muscle cells.

Dr. Hill and colleagues work in the lab of Assistant Professor Parisa Abadi, where they are using nanomaterials to develop solutions to medical problems. Due to the shortage of organ donors, myocardial infarction—or heart attack—is one of the major killers in the United States. The research team is seeking to use nanomaterials to engineer systems that can provide viable cardiac muscle cells for cell therapy post-myocardial infarction. These studies could provide a rationale for nanoscale material design for producing patient-specific cardiac cells which help regenerate damaged heart tissue.

Jeffrey Allen (ME-EM) gave the presentation “Accommodation Coefficients During Liquid-Vapor Phase-Change: A Cryo/Neutron Study,” at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) “Micro and Nanoscale Phase Change Heat Transfer,” in Barga, Italy.

Postdoctoral Scholar Kishan Bellur presented a poster at the conference.

The conference took place February 3 – 8, 2019. The GRC and associated Gordon Research Seminar are focused on fundamental descriptions of phase change processes and how these forces interact to prescribe how equipment can be designed and processes can be run.

L. Brad King (ME-EM) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $55,000 contract from the Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory.

The project is “Auris: A Cubesat to Characterize and Locate Goestationary Communications Emitters.” This is a one-year project.

Scott Miers (ME-EM/APSRC) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $92,219 research and development contract from Argonne National Laboratory. The project is titled “Alternative Fuels Research with Argonne National Laboratory.”

This is a one-year project.

Ezra Bar-Ziv (ME-EM/APSRC) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $313,999 contract from Battelle Energy Alliance-Idaho National Laboratory. The project is titled “Torrefaction of Sorted MSW Pellets to Produce a Uniform Feedstock for Biopower.”

This is the first year of a potential two-year project.