Mechanical Engineering

News and Events Archives 2006

News and Events Archives
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2006
2005

The Autumn 2006 MEssenger is available online

Contents: Highlights of the September 15, 2006 ME centennial celebration are listed in this issue. Also featured are the following stories: Ron Crockett Endows Undergrad Scholarships; Professor Joyce Cooper Wins Fulbright Award to Continue Life Cycle Asessment Research in Finland; new faculty member Alberto Aliseda; faculty, staff, student and alumni news; and Formula SAE Team Finishes 4th.

Download the Autumn 2006 MEssenger HERE.

Alberto Aliseda appointed to ME faculty

aliseda
Alberto Aliseda joined the department as Assistant Professor in fall quarter 2006, with research interests in the area of multiphase fluid mechanics. Aliseda's work focuses on understanding fundamental physical processes that underlie applications in energy conversion, material processing, biomedical engineering and environmental modeling.

He is studying, through a combination of experiments, modeling and analysis, the dynamics of bubbles, particles and droplets with turbulent flows. In particular, he is interested in the coalescence of droplets in a turbulent environment (a problem of great relevance to the understanding and modeling of rain formation) and the evolution of air bubbles entrained in a turbulent liquid carrier (a key element in the CO2 exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, which needs to be addressed in any global warming quantitative model).

Aliseda also is working on a series of problems that involve the application of quantitative engineering techniques to improve our understanding of complex medical and biological problems where fluid mechanics play a significant role, such as the use of bubbles as ultrasound contrast agents and the chemotaxis of cells.

Forster and Kosály retire

Professors Fred Forster and George Kosály retired from the ME department in winter quarter 2006 and were appointed Professors Emeritus. Forster joined the department in 1979 and Kosály in 1983.

forster
Professor Forster's research was in the applications of engineering mechanics to medicine and biology, particularly in the area of acoustics and fluid mechanics. His most recent research includes micro-fluid mechanics applications in biochemical sensing and fluid pumping in micro-devices. Other research includes acoustic propagation in biological media, including experimental and numerical studies directed toward a basic understanding of the interaction of acoustical energy with biological tissue, in particular connective tissue and collagen; the development of instrumentation for clinical applications of acoustic interrogation techniques; and development of acoustic techniques for monitoring wound healing.

kosaly
Professor Kosály has been involved in the application of stochastic processes in engineering, more specifically with the theory and simulation of turbulent reacting flows. His research includes theoretical and numerical investigation of mixing and reaction in turbulent flows and modeling of turbulent combustion processes. Most recently he has collaborated with Research Prof. Ping Ao on problems related to evolutionary biology.



2006 ME Leadership Seminar Series

Date Speaker(s) Grad Year Title, Company/Organization Industry Affiliation
1/3/06 Michael O’Byrne BSME 1961 Vice President and General Manager, PACCAR (retired) Transportation
1/10/06 Sally Jewell BSME 1978 CEO, REI, Inc. Outdoor Recreation
1/24/06 Jim Neuberger;
Pat Boyle		 BSME 1990; BSME 1990 Partner, Arnold Group; Teacher, Seattle School District Consulting; High School Education
1/31/06 John Logsdon BSME 1971 Senior Vice President, The Harris Group Forest Products
2/7/06 Tia Benson-Tolle BSME 1986 Chief, Structural Materials Branch WPAFB Military/Aerospace
2/14/06 John Purvis BSME 1959 Co-Founder, Safety Services International Aerospace
2/21/06 Peter Zieve PhD 1986 President, Electroimpact Manufacturing
2/28/06 Rick Harbert BSME 1972 President. RH2 Engineering Construction/Municipal Utilities


The Spring 2006 MEssenger is now online.

The department will celebrate its centennial on September 15, 2006. Highlights of the celebration are listed in this issue, along with a review of the department's second half-century (1957-2006). Also featured are stories on the College of Engineering's new dean, Matthew O'Donnell; the National Academy of Engineering prize shared by Professor Emeritus Jens Jorgensen; the Scheumann Family and the department's link to Seattle's Gas Works Park; Professor Ann Mescher's efforts to speed data transmission using new fiber optics; new faculty member Jiangyu Li; and a major research award granted to Professor Minoru Taya and Research Assistant Professor Chunye Xu.

Download the new MEssenger HERE.

New Dean Named

Dr. Matthew O'Donnell will be the next dean of Engineering. A distinguished scholar, outstanding teacher, and visionary leader, Dr. O'Donnell is exceptionally qualified to take the helm. As Provost Wise says, this is a watershed moment for the college and the UW. Meet Matt O'Donnell.

Professor Emeritus Jens Jorgensen has been awarded the 2006 Bernard M. Gordon Prize

Jens has been recognized "for creating the Learning Factory, where multidisciplinary student teams develop engineering leadership skills by working with industry to solve real-world problems." Click HERE for the press release.

Professors Joseph Garbini and John Sidles (UW Orthopaedics) awarded a 5-year, $5 million grant from ARO to lead a MURI project.

In June 2005, UW Professor of Orthopaedics John Sidles and Mechanical Engineering Professor Joseph Garbini were awarded a five-year, $5 million grant from the Army Research Office (ARO) to lead a Multi University Research Initiative (MURI).

"It was a competitive process to lead this initiative." Dr. Garbini said. "There were a lot of good proposals in our area of interest, and we feel very fortunate to get it. Only two MRFM proposals were funded, and it kind of validates what we're doing here."

Sidles and Garbini's proposal, "Advancement of Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (MRFM) to Single Nuclear Spin Detection," focuses on the detection of the extremely sensitive signals from individual nuclear magnetic moments. The MRFM instrument is designed to map nuclear position in three-dimensions with atomic resolution. The ARO said, "Even modest improvements in this microscopy will have broad commercial/military utility and will significantly impact advanced semiconductor device research... nanoscience, single-molecule analytical chemistry, biotechnology, infectious disease research, and solid state/quantum physics research."

"Right now," Dr. Garbini said, "molecular biology is really an experimental science, and no one can directly observe molecular structure. With MRFM, in principal, molecular biology would become an observational science, like cellular biology; we'd just look at the chemistry and see what's going on. And we'd therefore have a more natural insight into how materials are organized, or how to manipulate a particular virus. People have been hoping for this for a long time."

The MURI effort is led by the UW in collaboration with the University of Michigan and Cornell University. Professor Sidles is the Principal Investigator of the project and also the inventor of the MRFM method. Professor Garbini is the Co-Principal Investigator of the project and has worked with Sidles on MRFM since its inception over 13 years ago. His primary research centers on dynamic systems and control mechatronics. Systems integration is a significant challenge for building this microscope which is about as complicated as a small satellite.

ARO is the central research and development organization for the Army under the US Department of Defense. The Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program supports basic science and/or engineering research at institutions of higher education that is of critical importance to national defense. The program is focused on multidisciplinary research efforts that intersect more than one traditional science and engineering discipline.

Professor Li recipient of Presidential Early Career Award

We are delighted to announce that Professor Wei Li has received a Presidential Early Career Award. The attached photo with President Bush was taken during an awards ceremony held last week at the White House.

Congratulations Professor Li!