December 26, 2011
Solheim RP Lab Helping Make Rapid Prototyping Affordable
Blending sugar and maltodextrin with ceramic powder, the Solheim Rapid Prototyping lab is helping bring the cost of 3-D printing to within reach for small business and home use. The lab has experimented with a variety of less expensive printing materials, including mango iced-tea mix. The Solheim lab is directed by Professors Mark Ganter and Duane Storti.
Seattle Times video and article | Economist article
November 27, 2011
ME-based UW EcoCAR Team Designing Super-hybrid
The UW EcoCAR2 team is working to design a hybrid car that goes 45 to 50 miles on an electric charge, then switches to biodiesel and gets 100 miles to the gallon. The work is for credit and for a three-year national competition to turn a Chevy Malibu into a super-hybrid. Recently the team received $25,000 in seed money from GM, which was matched by the Mechanical Engineering department.
Seattle Times article »
October 2011
Ashley Emery: A Half-Century at the UW and Going Strong
Prof. Ashley Emery shares what's changed and what hasn't in ME. Not about to change: his regular bike commute and plans to keep teaching. According to ME Chair Per Reinhall, Emery was "one of the early key faculty members who put the department on the national and international research map. After 50 years on the faculty (Emery) is not slowing down. He is currently the faculty adviser of our highly successful Formula SAE racecar project and a key member of the FAA Joint Advanced Materials and Structures Center of Excellence. Ashley is also an active cyclist and continues to impress everybody by completing the annual Seattle to Portland bike race in one day." More »
September 2011
Laser Scanning Endoscope Gets Press
ME research scientist Richard S. Johnston co-authored an article on new laser scanning endoscope research in collaboration with Harvard University. The article appears in Optics Letters and the September issue of Laser Focus World (not yet online).
July 2011
ME's Ellen Barker Wins a ProStaff Award
Ellen Barker, the sole staff member of ME's FAA Center of Excellence for Composites, has been named a recipient of the ProStaff Award given by the UW Professional Staff Association. Barker was nominated for the award by Mark Tuttle, who wrote, "She brings a wealth of skills and ideas that enhance her effectiveness in this position, one that requires many disparate talents — grant/budget management, event planning, web development, report preparation, and something extra — graphic design." Congratulations, Ellen! More »
June 1, 2011 | UW Today
Günther Laukien Prize awarded to John Sidles
John Sidles, with two IBM associates, has won the 2011 Günther Laukien Prize for their conception, implementation, and application of Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (MRFM).
The Günther Laukien Prize recognizes recent cutting-edge, experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) research with a high probability of enabling beneficial new applications. It is awarded annually at the Experimental NMR Conference (ENC). The NMR community has accepted the prize as one of the leading distinctions in the field.
In the photo above is the overhead projection of John Sidles, upper-left, from the award ceremony.
May 2011
Nate Sniadecki Wins DARPA Young Faculty Award
Assistant Prof. Nate Sniadecki has been awarded a Young Faculty Award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. Sniadecki's award is in the area of New Physical Methods for Biological Characterization and Control, for his research project, "A BioMEMS Platform for Coagulation Testing." The goal of his project is to engineer a biomedical device that can rapidly diagnose blood clotting disorders due to trauma.
The DARPA Young Faculty Awards identify and engage rising research stars in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic institutions and expose them to Department of Defense needs and DARPA's program development process.
May 18, 2011 | Medgadget
Digital Imaging Software Creates a 'Google Earth' View of the Bladder
Eric Seibel, research associate professor of ME, co-authored a proposition for a bladder scan system that cuts costs and improves comfort and convenience in bladder cancer detection. The system would use the UW's ultrathin laser endoscope with software that stitches together images to create a 3-D panorama of the bladder interior.
ME Grad Student Marita Rodriguez Awarded NSF Fellowship
Marita Rodriguez, from the CellBiomechanics Lab, has been awarded a three-year fellowship from the NSF's Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The program recognizes and supports outstanding students who are pursuing research-based graduate degrees in STEM disciplines. Rodriguez' proposed graduate research will put a unique engineering perspective on medical treatments for cardiovascular disease; she plans to test the mechanical properties of smooth muscle cells at the nanoscale and use multi-physics modeling to understand their biomechanics and biochemistry. Rodriguez received her BS from our department in 2010.
Photo: Marita Rodriguez with research adviser Prof. Nate Sniadecki.
ME Students Win Environmental Innovation Challenge
The UW ME-based Voltaic team took top honors and a $10,000 award. The company develops electric vehicle drive trains that allow auto companies to produce electric models of their gas vehicles. The company's president, Trevor Crain, and Vivek Gowri, the automotive specialist, are both seniors in ME.
Related articles:
Electric drive system propels UW team to No. 1
UW EIC Winners: 3rd Annual Competition Best Yet
ME Spring Seminar Lineup Announced
The seminars are held Tuesdays, from April 12 to May 31, 2011 (except April 26) at 12:30 p.m. Featured speakers are Savio L-Y. Woo, PhD ME '71; Prof. Katherine Yanhang Zhang; Prof. Andrés Garcia; Dr. Jorge Ochoa; Prof. Robert McMeeking; and Prof. Juan C. Lasheras.
Nobel Laureate Ei-ichi Negishi Visits UW, Gives Lecture
Professor Ei-ichi Negishi visited University of Washington, on February 25, 2011 to deliver a public lecture on "The Magical Power of d-Block Transition Metal." Dr. Negishi is a Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2010, for his contributions to developing a set of new organics synthesis routes, Negishi-coupling and Pd-coupling, by which a set of pharmaceutical medicines and light-emitting semiconductor polymers are easily processed.
Photo above: Dr. Negishi lecturing at Kane Hall. In the background: ME chair Per Reihall and Prof. Minoru Taya (both sitting) and Associate Dean Mari Ostendorf (standing).
Dr. Negishi was visiting Seattle to receive the Distinguished Science and Technology award from American Asian Engineering Meeting held at Airport Hilton on February 2. Professor Minoru Taya was the host for Dr. Negishi's visit to UW. Negishi's lecture was sponsored by the UW College of Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Dean Matt O'Donnell (left), Dr. Eiichi Negishi (center) and Prof. Minoru Taya (right) at American Asian Engineering awards banquet.
Negishi graduated from University of Tokyo in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, and earned his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. He taught at Syracuse University during the 1970s before joining Purdue University, where he is currently H.C. Brown Distinguished Professor. In 2010 he also was awarded the Japanese Order of Culture and the American Chemistry Society's Award for Creative Work in Synthetic Organic Chemistry.
Learn more in the Negishi lecture announcement in UW Today.
Dimmable windows with solar panels could power zero-energy buildings
Associate professor Joyce Cooper is among the UW engineers collaborating on smart windows that can change transparency and harvest energy from the sun's rays.
Junlan Wang Joins ME faculty
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Prof. Junlan Wang joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering in December 2008 after serving as an Assistant/Associate Professor at the University of California, Riverside from 2003 to 2008. Prof. Wang's research is in the area of nanomechanics of complex material systems such as thin films/multi-layer structures and devices, nanoporous materials, cells and bio-inspired materials. She is particularly interested in developing novel experimental techniques to study the mechanical, interfacial and surface properties under various temporal and length scales. Her research aims to reveal the fundamental structure-property relationship and the deformation mechanisms of these advanced materials for applications in aerospace, semiconductor, biomedical, energy, environmental, and defense applications. Wang credits the dynamic research environment and the strong tradition in experimental mechanics as some of the major reasons that helped draw her to the ME department.
2009 Mechanical Engineering Leadership Seminar Series
The 2009 Mechanical Engineering Leadership Seminar series is scheduled for every Tuesday afternoon throughout Winter Quarter 2009. All seminars are held from 3:30-4:20 p.m. in Room 238 of the ME building, followed by pizza and soft drinks.
The primary goal of the Leadership Seminar Series is to demonstrate the depth and breadth of career opportunities available to mechanical engineering graduates. Note that collectively our seminar speakers represent a broad range of interests, industries, and professions. Also note that most speakers are graduates of the UW-ME Department and hence, a secondary goal of the series is to more fully involve our alumni in the life of the department and curriculum and to provide opportunities for current ME students and alumni to connect.
Each speaker is free to use the seminar as he or she chooses. For example, some speakers recount the evolution of their professional career since completing their degree, speculate on what they see as the future of a specific area or profession, or describe details of a particular technical topic. An informal dialogue between speaker and attendees occurs in all cases.
Nate Sniadecki receives prestigious NSF CAREER award
Assistant Professor Nathan Sniadecki has been awarded the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for studying the mechanics of vascular smooth muscle cells. The NSF CAREER Award is a prestigious award for junior faculty who integrate outstanding research efforts and excellence in education. The award, $400,000 over five years from the Nano and Bio Mechanics Program, will support Professor Sniadecki's research in the areas of cell biomechanics and nano-mechanical instrumentation and his outreach in building an educational pathway between mechanical engineering and the biomedical fields.
The UW leads tidal-power research
Energy generated from the ocean's waves and tides might be the next source of "green" power in our region, but the technology demands more study. A new marine renewable-energy research center has been launched, giving the University of Washington the lead for tidal-power research. ME Professor Phil Malte is a co-director of the center. See 11/17/08 Seattle Times article, "Concerns emerge about environmental effects of wave-energy technology."
Jiangyu Li awarded ASME's first Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Medal
Prof. Jiangyu Li was awarded the first Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Medal from the ASME Materials Divisions at the 2008 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress in Boston, Oct. 31-Nov. 6. This award is given to recognize research excellence in the areas of experimental, computational, and theoretical mechanics and materials by young investigators who are within 10 years after their Ph.D. degree, with special emphasis placed on under-represented minorities and women. Li was awarded a plaque, certificate, a medal, and an honorarium of $5,000.
The Autumn 2008 MEssenger is available online
Contents: Energy in Washington State and the Pacific Northwest; ME in the News; Experience is Key Product in Instructional Shops; Environmentally Sensitive Energy Conversion; Alumni Corner: Henry Schatz Urges Alumni to End Campaign UW with a Bang; Transitions: Alberto Aliseda Wins NSF CAREER Award, ME Welcomes Two New Research Faculty, Colin Sandwith Retires; Honors & Awards; Chair's Corner.
Download the Autumn 2008 MEssenger
Jim Riley lands prestigious fellowship
Professor Jim Riley has been invited as a senior visiting fellow at the prestigious Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge, UK.
ME faculty receive SAE's 2007 Arch T. Colwell Merit Award
The technical paper, "Artifact vs. Anatomy: Dealing with Conflict of Geometric Modeling Descriptions," was selected to receive the 2007 Arch T. Colwell Merit Award. The paper was written by ME faculty — Professors Duane Storti and Mark Ganter, Research Associate Professor Randal Ching, and Affiliate Associate Professor William R. Ledoux — and co-authored with Professor David R. Haynor and Patrick Hu, former Post-Doctoral Fellow, both in Radiology. The award, to be presented at the April 21, 2009 awards ceremony during the SAE 2009 World Congress in Detroit, MI, was established by Arch Colwell to recognize authors of outstanding papers presented at SAE meetings. Papers are judged for their value as contributions to existing knowledge of mobility engineering, and primarily with respect to their value as an original contribution to the subject matter. The paper was selected from the thousands of papers that were published for SAE meetings during 2007.
Mark Tuttle to be honored by SEM
Professor Mark Tuttle will receive the 2009 Tatnall Award from the Society for Experimental Mechanics at SEM's Annual Conference in June 2009.
Eric Seibel and student receive UW TechTransfer award
Research Associate Professor Eric Seibel and PhD student Woon Jong Yoon received an award from UW TechTransfer to build a working prototype of a unique remote-controlled cytoscope for scanning the interior surface of the bladder for cancerous tumors.
ME professors win DOT award
Per Reinhall and Peter Dahl won a Washington State Department of Transportation award to make pile driving in water less noisy and to prevent fish kills.
Eric Seibel's scanning fiber endoscope research continues to be recognized
Research Associate Professor Eric Seibel's breakthrough research on flexible capsule endoscopes has been received much publicity in a variety of sources, both locally and nationally.
Various press articles and/or news stories can be found at the links below:
- Optics & Photonics News, Vol. 19 Issue 1 - 1/08 (features Seibel's images)
- UW News - 1/24/08
- Science Daily.com - 1/25/08
- The Seattle Times - 1/30/08