Mechanical Engineering

Newsletter Archives; Winter 1999

Faculty Awards and Research Grants

Research Assistant Professor William Armstrong received a $26,301 grant from the UW Research Royalty Fund to study the high tensile strain rate absorption and subsequent strain recovery response of a NiTi shape memory alloy actuated polymer artificial muscle composite.

Associate Professor Martin Berg received $131,211 from The Boeing Company to study Robot End-Effector Position Control Strategies for Manufacturing.

Associate Professor Dale Calkins received a $28,246 grant from the Ford Motor Co. for Phase II research on Parametric Aerodynamic Drag Coefficient Prediction Tool Development for Sport Utility Vehicles and Pickup Trucks.

Research Assistant Professor Peter H. Dahl was named an Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Ocean Engineering. This appointment recognizes his contributions to the field of underwater acoustics.

Associate Professor Brian Fabien received a $40,567 grant from NSF for development of a Mechanical Engineering Design Education Workshop.

Associate Professor Fred Forster received a $288,467 grant from Microcosm/DARPA to study Flume CAD: Integrated CAD for MicroFlume Components and Systems-Pressure Driven Flows.

Associate Professor Mark Ganter was named an Associate Technical Editor for the Journal of Mechanical Design (JMD). This three-year appointment recognizes Professor Ganter's technical contributions to the field of mechanical design. He has also been appointed an Adjunct Associate Professor in Industrial Engineering.

Professors George Kosaly and James Riley obtained a three-year, $350,000 grant from NSF for research on the modeling of turbulent combustion.

Associate Professor Michael Jenkins received an Award of Appreciation from the ASTM for his contributions to the development of test methods for two advanced ceramic materials.

Professors Jenkins and Ramulu received a $101,369 grant from the Washington Technology Center and Flow International to study Water Jet Applicationas for Fatigue Life Enhancement.

Professor Emeritus Albert Kobayashi received a Department of Energy grant for $73,412 to investigate 3-D Experimental Fracture Analysis at High Temperature. Professor Philip Malte receive a five year $500,000 grant from the National Park Service to study Sustainable Energy Practices.

Assistant Professor Ann Mescher was awarded a $200,000 grant from NSF to study the manufacture of polymer optical fiber for high-bandwidth communications and sensor applications and $34,844 from UWEB to develop a novel manufacturing process for biomedical fiber.

Assistant Professor William Murray was given a $52,000 grant by the Washington Technology Center to develop instrumentation for SwingAway, a Trainer for Baseball Hitting.

Professor Mamidala Ramulu was elected a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Mechanics, a public recognition of his distinguished contributions to the field of experimental mechanics and of his service to that field through the society. He also received, with Professor Jenkins, a grant for $53,526 from WTC to study Water Jet Applications for Fatigue Life Enhancement.

Associate Professor Per Reinhall and Affiliate Assistant Professor Rob Scheibe received $122,990 from the National Research Council for Development of a Heavy Brake Condition Monitoring System. Professors Reinhall and Shen were awarded a three-year, $240,075 grant from the Army Research Office to investigate Surface Damping Treatments: Innovation, Design and Analysis. Professor Reinhall also received a $12,000 grant from General Electric to study X-ray tubes.

Associate Professor Steve Shen received a three-year grant for $149,142 from NSF to investigate Characterization of Disk/Head Interfacial Contact through System Dynamics and Microelectricalmechanical Sensors. He also received a $20,000 IBM Partnership Award for the study of Vibration of Spinning Disk/Spindle Systems for High-TPI and High-RPM Drives.

Professor Minoru Taya was awarded a $210,000 grant from MEDO/RIMCOF for the development of new actuator materials; a $50,000 grant from Johnson Matthey Electronics for research on conductive adhesives for die attach; $35,000 from WTC/Zess Technology, for research on the design of a micro-heat exchanger made of injection-molded composite; $30,000 from Sumitomo Metals for research on thermal cycling resistance of aluminum composite; $12,000 from Kobe Steel for research on the design of a prosthesis made of polymer composite.

Professor Mark Tuttle received a grant of $32,857 from The Boeing Company to investigate Prediction of Composite Compressive Failure Strains.

The College of Engineering received a $20,000 grant from ALCOA to benefit the Young Scholars Program. This is a summer program for middle school children which brings the students to campus and introduces them to science and engineering topics through hands-on projects in the lab. Professors Reinhall and Jenkins have been running this program on campus for the last 7 years under a grant from NSF.