MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING 
Fall 2019 Newsletter
VOL. 4, ISSUE 1
Message from the Chair

We are almost two months into the 2019-2020 academic year. Our undergraduate enrollment remains stable at about 1220 students and there are 82 students registered in the MS programs (Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering) and 18 PhD students advised by Department Faculty. Two new Faculty Colleagues, Dr. Sungbum (John) Kang and Dr. Sung-Yong (Sean) Park, joined us in August, and a third Colleague, Dr. Yang Yang, is expected to join in January. Their profiles are given below.

The accomplishments of our students and faculty since the last Newsletter was published in April are reported in this Newsletter. As you will note, our students are making headlines at various levels. The Faculty are attracting significant external resources in support of their groundbreaking research, and their contributions are recognized through national and international awards. Within the last one year, the research funding in the Department has almost doubled relative to the previous year. Student organizations are an important part of the Department. The SAE Baja Team placed within the top five in their national competitions.

We take great pride in our engagement with the Advisory Board, alumni, parents, and other stakeholders in San Diego and beyond. Our engagement with local industries has grown dramatically in the last year through sponsorship of capstone design projects, and we would like to build on this to grow partnerships that benefit our students through internships and subsequent employment and our faculty through sponsored research.

I invite you to read and enjoy this Newsletter, visit the department and stay engaged with us. If you would like to arrange a visit, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our contact information is given below.


Sincerely,  

John Abraham, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Recent BSME Grad Awarded CHCI Fellowship
Nikolas Marquez, who graduated with his Mechanical Engineering with Bioengineering emphasis degree last May, was one of 10 recipients of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Public Policy Fellows for 2019-2020. Nik was President of the College of Engineering Student Council as well as a member of the Biomedical Engineering Society at SDSU.

BSMEBioE Student Sonia Goetschius featured on QL+ Student Spotlight
Sonia Goetschius, currently a 3rd year in the Mechanical Engineering with Bioengineering emphasis program, was featured on QL+ Student Spotlight. Sonia is the president of the QL+ Student Chapter at SDSU. Sonia and members of the chapter are currently working on a Surfboard Transfer Device to ease the process of getting adaptive surfers into the water.

SDSU Aztec Baja Placed 3rd Overall in RIT Baja SAE Competition
The 2018-2019 Aztec Baja team finished this season at 3rd overall in the RIT Baja SAE Competition, the best finish in team history. The team competed against more than 90 university teams from around the world.
Spring 2019 Senior Design Day
The College of Engineering Spring 2019 Senior Design Day was held on May 08, 2019. ME capstone design projects, completed in Spring 2019, were featured at the event. Each team displayed and presented their projects.
FACULTY
WELCOME NEW ME FACULTY

Dr. Kang's research interests include optical metrology, intelligent machine vision and mechatronics for advanced manufacturing. Before joining SDSU, Dr. Kang worked for Intel and developed optical proximity correction techniques for Intel's current and next generation process technologies.

Dr. Park specializes in micro/nanotechnology, including design and fabrication of small-scale sensing and actuation systems for energy and environmental applications. Dr. Park was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National University of Singapore (NUS) before joining SDSU.

Dr. Yang's research focuses on the machine, materials, and structures development for bioinspired 3D printing. Dr. Yang studied at USC in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Center for Advanced Manufacturing before joining the Department.
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Pictured: Dr. Amneet Bhalla

The grant is for Dr. Bhalla's research on Mutiphase Fluid-Structure Interaction Software Infrastructure to Enable Applications in Medicine, Biology, and Engineering.


  • Dr. Bhalla gave invited talks at Colorado School of Mines Mathematics and Statistics Colloquium and UC San Diego Fluid Mechanics Seminar



Dr. Youssef awarded $369,593 grant from the NSF for research on multimode ultrahigh strain rate investiagations into the fundamental mechanics of polymers

Pictured: Dr. George Youssef
Pictured: Dr. Wenwu Xu





Dr. Xu awarded $218,380 from the NSF for research on the mechanism of flash sintering of ionic ceramics



Dr. Wood received a $25,000 award from the CSU STEM-NET Steering Committee and Consortium Presidents

The award is for the research on Preventing Ion "Bunching" in Metal Anode Batteries Through Informed Separator Design.
Pictured: Dr. Kevin Wood
Pictured: Dr. Eugene Olevksy


Dr. Olevsky received Best Paper Award from the Journal of the American Ceramic Society

Dr. Olevsky's paper entitled "Energy efficient spark plasma sintering: breaking the threshold of large dimension tooling energy consumption" was selected as the "Best Paper" for the Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Dr. Olevsky's paper was selected out of more than 800 published in JACerS in the past year.








Seminal Work by Dr. Kassegne and his students, along with collaborators at Sanford Burnham Prebys, featured in scientific news

Dr. Kassegne's research on capturing ciruculating cancer cell clusters has been featured in the scientific news by the American Institute of Physics (AIP), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and other outlets.

STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
Aztec Racing Formula SAE Team is to promote collegiate education through the design, manufacturing and marketing of a small, open wheel race car. The cars are built with a team effort in under one year and are taken to the annual Formula SAE in Lincoln, Nebraska .
Baja SAE t eam consists of 35+ members who are challenged every school year to design, test, and build a single seat off road buggy that will compete in 3 nation-wide events where 100 global universities are evaluated in static and dynamic events.
The Mechatronics Club consists of 40 members who are developing an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) for the 2019 RoboSub Competition.  




Aztec Electric Racing , commonly referred to as AER, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, electric Formula SAE team at SDSU. They design, build, and race a small-scale, high performance race car each year.
ASME Club sponsors workshops, tours and guest speakers to prepare students for a career in the field of Mechanical Engineering.
BMES Mission:
Our mission is to promote the education of our members by supporting academic and professional excellence, and innovative research.
SDSU FACULTY PAGES
From the Baja Car to Senior Capstone Projects to Scholarship support, your generous giving makes a tremendous difference for our students. Please consider making a gift to support the Department of Mechanical Engineering

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mechanical.sdsu.edu
San Diego State University | Mechanical Engineering |
5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-1323
619-594-7050 | me@engineering.sdsu.edu