March 2018
Mechanical Engineering 150th Anniversary Distinguished Lecture Series

As part of the University of Michigan (U-M) Mechanical Engineering's (ME) 150th Anniversary celebration this year, the Department has planned a Distinguished Lecture Series featuring world renowned scholars, leaders and distinguished alumni.
Dasgupta and Vasudevan Honored with NSF CAREER Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, AFOSR Young Investigator Award 


U-M ME Assistant Professors Neil Dasgupta and Ram Vasudevan have both received National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Awards, the NSF's most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their  department or organization.


Vasudevan has also been selected to receive the Office of Naval Research (ONR) YIP Young Investigator Award. His proposal is entitled: "Real-Time Certified, Safe Control Synthesis for Autonomous Systems." 


Dasgupta was also honored with the Air Force of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) Award which is awarded to scientists and engineers at research institutions across the United States who have received Ph.D. or equivalent degrees in the last five years and who show exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research. 

Recognition & Achievements

  • U-M ME 150th Anniversary Distinguished Lecture Series: John Hutchinson MORE>>
     
  • Kurabayashi lab's study using a droplet microfluidic device was published in Nature Communication MORE>>
     
  • Sienko receives ASME Engineering Education Donald N. Zwiep Innovation in Education Award MORE>>
     
  • Rokni receives 2018 Park AFM Scholarship Award MORE>>
     
  • ME students receive 2018 ME Departmental Awards MORE>>
     
  • Gaining new insights into multiphase flows: bubbly shock waves & superhydrophobic surfaces MORE>>
     
  • New gift will support two existing funds at ME MORE>>
     
  • Dasgupta and Vasudevan receive NSF CAREER Awards MORE>>
     
  • Brei selected to receive Rackham Master's Mentoring Award MORE>>
     
  • Reconstructive surgery tech gets start in ME 450 class MORE>>
     
  • Stefanopoulou selected to receive Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award MORE>>
     
  • Vasudevan receives ONR 2018 Young Investigator Award MORE>> 
     
  • Wu receives 2018 Ivor K. McIvor Award MORE>>
     
  • Peng receives E. & M. Ulsoy Citation Leader Award MORE>>
     
  • Dasgupta's research featured on front cover of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces MORE>> 
     
  • Ghadami and Cui receive Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship Awards MORE>>
     
  • ME students receive 2018 Leaders & Honors Awards MORE>>
     
  • U-M ME Alum Bhuvan Neema named to 2018 class of Energy Scholars MORE>> 
     
  • ME alumnus Yue Shao receives ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award MORE>>
     
  • Lu's research featured in ACS Central Science  MORE>> 
     
  • Sick elected 2018 Fellow of Combustion Institute MORE>>
     
  • ME researchers explore origami folding to enable tunable sonic barriers MORE>>
     
  • Chung receives 2018 IEEE MEMS Outstanding Student Paper Award MORE>> 
     
  • Bala Chandran's paper published in Energy and Environmental Science MORE>>
     
  • Wearable tech to quantify human performance in the field MORE>>
     
  • Spark Electric Racing represented at the North American International Auto Show MORE>>
     
  • Violi's group publishes article at NIPS on Machine Learning MORE>>
     
  • ME Faculty Receive 2017-2018 CoE Awards MORE>>
     
  • Stefanopoulou delivers Plenary Talk at the 56th Conference of Decision and Control describing Battery Controls MORE>>
     
  • Cybersecurity in self-driving cars: U-M releases threat identification tool MORE>>
     
  • Improving Vehicle efficiency and self-driving safety MORE>>
     
  • Liu's research highlighted in Research Features MORE>>
     
  • Okwudire's research gaining media coverage MORE>>
     
  • Cui wins MRS Gold Medal MORE>>
     
  • Barraza-Botet receives 2018 Mirzayan Fellowship MORE>>
     
  • Saitou elected IEEE Fellow MORE>>
     
  • Hu elected Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering MORE>>
     
  • Saitou and Liu research published in Newswire MORE>>
     
  • Seven ME students receive Engineering Graduate Symposium awards MORE>>
     
  • Shih receives 2018 SME Taylor Research Medal MORE>>
     
  • Fan receives 2017 ASME Haythornthwaite Young Investigator Award MORE>
     
    To See a Full List Click HERE>>
 
Sienko Receives ASME Engineering Education Donald N. Zwiep
Innovation in Education Award

Kathleen Sienko is the recipient of the ASME Engineering Education Donald N. Zwiep Innovation in Education Award. This ASME Engineering Education award recognizes mechanical engineering and closely related programs/departments for exceptional and innovative engagement in and fostering advances in mechanical engineering education, particularly those who have demonstrated exemplary contributions to the advancement of mechanical and multi-disciplinary project-based engineering education.

LINK TO FULL STORY>>
 
Violi Receives Adel Sarofim Award
Professor Angela Violi has been awarded the 2017 Adel Sarofim award at the International Congress on Combustion By-Product and Their Health Effects.

The Adel Sarofim award is presented every two years to a scientist for outstanding advancements in understanding combustion processes, formation of combustion by-products and mechanisms of their health effects. Awardees are selected for their internationally renowned scientific contributions and for exemplary mentorship of students and junior investigators.

Stefanopoulou Delivers Plenary Talk at the 56th Conference of Decision and Control Describing Battery Controls
The CDC is recognized as the premier scientific and engineering conference dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of systems and control. 

Anna Stefanopoulou presented her Plenary on "Control Engineers: The Unsung Heroes of Battery Technology" explaining the importance and difficulties in battery management systems. 

Beyond EPA's Clean Power Decision: Climate Action Window 
Could Close as Early as 2023
As the Trump Administration repeals the U.S. Clean Power Plan, a new study from the University of Michigan underscores the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions - from both environmental and economic perspectives.

Research led by U-M ME Professor Steve Skerlos, shows the climate action window could close as early as 2023. 

Improving Vehicle Efficiency and Self-Driving Safety

Professor Huei Peng and his research group have made excellent advances in hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and automated vehicle technologies.

Peng's team developed an automated modeling methodology that searches designs to identify the optimal configuration and component size for a power-split hybrid powertrain system. In contrast to the conventional approach, they systematically searched through all possible designs, sometimes hundreds of millions of them, to identify dozens of potential designs. 

Existing automated vehicle evaluation methods include field tests and Monte Carlo simulations, neither of which enables the investigator, statistically, to bypass the many miles driven without incident to get to the events of interest. Peng and former graduate student Ding Zhao, who now serves as an assistant research scientist in the U-M ME department, have developed a methodology that does, known as accelerated evaluation. 

LINK TO FULL STORY>>
 
Smarter 3D Printers:
Improving Precision, Speed and Reliability at Low Cost

One of the challenges for today's 3-D printers lies in vibrations caused as they work. A printer's movable parts, particularly in lightweight desktop models, cause vibrations that reduce the quality of the item being produced. And the faster the machine moves, the more vibrations are created.

"Armed with knowledge of the printer's dynamic behavior, the program anticipates when the printer may vibrate excessively and adjusts its motions accordingly," said Chinedum Okwudire, an associate professor of mechanical engineering who directs U-M's  Smart and Sustainable Automation Research Lab.

U-M ME Researchers Explore Origami Folding to Enable Tunable Sonic Barriers

Managing traffic noise pollution has vexed researchers because of the broad range of audio frequencies that emanate from roads. Currently, only heavy, inflexible, wall-like barriers can reduce all of those sounds.

Researchers Kon-Well Wang, the Tim Manganello/BorgWarner Chair and the Stephen P. Timoshenko Collegiate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Ph.D. student Manoj Thota have brought a new method into the fold, developing an adaptive origami lattice structure that could quiet acoustic noise in roadways. There has been growing concern about the impact noise pollution has on blood pressure, hearing loss and attentiveness at work and school.

LINK TO FULL STORY>>
 
Wearable Tech to Quantify Human
Performance in the Field
Most biomechanics research takes place in laboratory settings, in part because conventional approaches, such as optical motion capture, require reflective markers and substantial calibration to effectively measure human movement. This makes them ineffective for working in the field.

Noel Perkins, Donald T. Greenwood Collegiate Professor and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in Mechanical Engineering, is helping researchers break free of that constraint. 
Reconstructive Surgery Tech Gets Start in ME 450 Class
A new surgical device developed at the University of Michigan could make it quicker and easier to connect arteries in complicated procedures such as reconstructing a breast after mastectomy, or a severely injured leg after a car accident.

The "arterial everter" surgical device, which began as a project in an undergraduate class at Michigan Engineering, looks like a thin silicone pen with a flexible steel spine.  

LINK TO FULL STORY>>
 
U-M Solar Car Team - US Champions Win Second-Place Finish in Australia World Solar Challenge

In an innovative, bullet-shaped car, the University of Michigan Solar Car Team took a historic second place in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.  

LINK TO FULL STORY>>


University of Michigan
Department of Mechanical Engineering