Mechanical Engineering

News and Events Archives 2005

News and Events Archives
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2005

William Kuykendall Joins Mechanical Engineering Department

While moving into his new office, William Kuykendall may only have been initially supplied with a phone and a fake ficus plant as furnishings, but he's still looking forward to working as the Mechanical Engineering department's first lab engineer.

"So far it's been great. I'm not really settled in yet," he says, looking around his empty office, "but I'm familiar with many of the people here and I feel comfortable already."

Kuykendall grew up in southern California near Los Angeles and moved to Seattle in 1984. Originally employed in the construction industry, he transferred from Bellevue Community College to the UW and graduated from the mechanical engineering program in 1999. It was while working for the physics department that Kuykendall heard the news of a new position opening in the ME department.

"[Professors] Mark Tuttle and Colin Daly had mentioned that they were trying to get a [lab engineer] position created," he says. "The funding for the project I was working on with the physics department was running out, so once this job was posted, I applied along with 20 other people. They eventually chose me and I'm happy to be here."

Kuykendall's primary duties will be to get all the instructional labs in order and rebuild old experiments that have become run-down. Once those tasks are accomplished, Kuykendall will be in charge of designing new experiments, training teaching assistants, and providing general support for the labs.

Professor Emery Elected as Vice Chair of UW Faculty Senate

In summer 2004, Professor Ashley Emery was elected Vice Chair of the UW Faculty Senate.

The Senate serves as a legislative body where issues concerning curriculum, grievances, and faculty wages and rights are discussed. Some of Professor Emery's duties will include presiding over the Senate meetings and the Senate Executive Committee in the absence of the chair, attending 4 to 5 meetings a week, meeting with the vice provost and UW president once a month, and preparing to assume the role of Chair for the next academic year.

"It's really a preparation for the Senate Chair," Emery says. "Last year's Senate Chair had over 400 meetings scheduled in that year."

Along with faculty concerns, Professor Emery will also deal with issues such as, student retention and course fees that would affect not only the UW in Seattle, but also, the university's branches in Bothell and Tacoma.

"There's a lot of negotiation that goes on to make sure that students are happy, that the faculty is happy, and that the administration is happy," Emery says.

Although Emery is still organizing what goals he wants to accomplish during his tenure as Vice Chair, his main idea is that in order to keep students, faculty and administrators happy, there needs to be more involvement in the Senate.

"It's like anything else," Emery explains. "When things are going well, nobody pays much attention to what's happening in Olympia, and when things aren't going well-like there's not enough money for higher education-you become keenly aware of what's going on. The Senate right now could be more active; individual faculty members and the senators could be more active in the councils. I'd like to see more responsibility and interest in the Senate."

Gao joins Mechanical Engineering Department

On Sept. 15, 2004, Professor Dayong Gao joined the ranks of the UW Mechanical Engineering faculty. After receiving a bachelor's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1983, Professor Gao earned a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering nine years later from Concordia University in Montreal. He then taught at the University of Kentucky for six years before transferring to the UW.

Professor Gao's primary research interests focuses on bio-heat and mass transfer, artificial organs, bioinstrumentation, and sensors. "The significance of my research is the effect that it will have on cell and organ transplantation; that is a major area," he says.

Professor Gao's findings would lead to the development of new medical instruments and groundbreaking methods of diagnosis and treatment of disease. Innovative discoveries in gene therapy, such as, the freezing preservation of living cells, tissues and organs would also be the product of his research. The American Cancer Society, Whitaker Foundation, and the American Heart Association are a few of the various organizations that have supported Professor Gao's exploration into the frontiers of bioengineering.

Professor Gao plans to be teaching courses dealing with heat transfer, bioengineering, and thermodynamics starting Winter Quarter 2005.

Professors Kramlich and Fabien Named Associate Chairs

New Mechanical Engineering Chair, Mark Tuttle, named John Kramlich and Brian Fabien as Associate Chairs of the ME Department on September 1, 2004.

After twelve years with Energy and Environmental Research Corporation in Irvine, Calif., Kramlich started teaching at the University of Washington in 1992. He was promoted to full Professor in 1997.Kramlich instructs undergraduate and graduate courses in thermodynamics, heat transfer, advanced energy conversion, and combustion. His research focuses on the environmental aspect of energy systems and renewable energy sources.

Fabien joined the ME department in 1993, after three years as an Assistant Professor at Ohio University. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1996 before assuming the position of full Professor in 2002. Currently, Fabien is also the chair of the Special Committee of Minority Faculty Affairs.

Fabien teaches courses concerning system dynamics and controls. His primary research interests are devoted to the kinematics of mechanisms, dynamic system analysis, and control system design. In 1997, Fabien was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to research and teach at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. He was also honored with a Presidential Faculty Fellowship award from the National Science Foundation in 1993.