News | Department of Mechanical Engineering

News | Department of Mechanical Engineering
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★   GIVING
Stony Brook Mechanical Engineering
News
News and Announcements
Positioning Wind Turbines for Greater Energy Output
SBU ASME Student Chapter Wins Best Marketing Award at Student Leadership Event
International Collaboration Targets Costly Livestock Diseases
Professor Zimmerman Named Top Reviewer of 2024 for the Journal of Fluid Mechanics
Leveraging AI to Streamline Intelligent Mechanism Design
Professor Appointed Chair of ASTFE Executive Committee
Professor Receives NSF Award
Expanding Pathways to Careers in Semiconductors and Nanomanufacturing
Professor Shikui Chen Receives ASME 2025 Compliant Mechanisms Award
ASME Honors Mechanical Engineering Professor
Powering Up Long Island’s Power Grid with World’s First 100% H2-Fueled Commercial
Linear Generator
Strengthening Research Connections
Machinists represent CEAS at SSMC
Professor receives OVPR Seed Grant
Carney Named Department Chair
A  Global Achievement for Robotics Team
AMMTO funds multi-institutional project
Motorsports Team Celebrates Successful Competition
Senior Design Showcase
Students Create Community Impact
Richard S. Lee Research Excellence Award
Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence
SOAR Program Accepts New Student
Student selected for Soft Flyers Group
Simons STEM Scholar
DURIP Award
CEAS First Annual Awards Ceremony
New Patent Issued: System and Method to Conduct Bone Surgery
Positioning Wind Turbines for Greater Energy Output
Assistant Professor Spencer Zimmerman received an
Ørsted
award
to develop models to better predict turbulent flows of air over / through wind turbine
arrays. The project aims to determine how the flow of air is modified by the positioning
of the turbines in the array and to help engineers orientate and configure the turbines
in a way that minimizes disruption from wake interactions and  maximizes energy output.
This data becomes even more critical as the energy industry moves towards floating
offshore wind platforms which have more freedom of movement.
As Professor Zimmerman said, “The range of possible configurations will only expand
as we work towards floating offshore wind platforms, so it's important that we consider
how we might use this increased flexibility to our greatest advantage down the road.”
SBU ASME Student Chapter Wins Best Marketing Award at Student Leadership Event
Congratulations to the SBU Student Chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
(ASME) on earning the Best Marketing 2025 for a Student Chapter award at the ASME
Student Leader Weekend in Philadelphia!
In addition to earning this award, chapter members made the most of the weekend by
connecting with fellow engineering students from across the country, participating
in team-building activities, and giving back through volunteer service.
International Collaboration Targets Costly Livestock Diseases
Congratulations to Research Assistant Professor Karina Torres-Castro on a major milestone:
the publication of her paper,
Microfluidic Dielectrophoretic Platform for the Manipulation of
Brucella abortus
Bacteria: Toward Rapid Diagnostic Solutions
.”
This marks her first publication as a co-PI and her first since joining the Department
of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University.
This impactful study is the result of a dynamic collaboration with master’s students
Katherine Acuña Umaña (first author), Estefany García Martínez, Marco Mairena Salazar,
and Nazareth Ruiz Villalobos, along with external collaborators Caterina Guzman-Verri
and Leonardo Lesser from the University of Costa Rica.
The team’s work addresses a significant public health and economic challenge: developing
rapid, microfluidic pathogen-sensing platforms to detect cattle diseases that cost
the livestock industry millions of dollars each year, particularly in tropical regions.
Their innovative approach brings the field one step closer to faster, more accessible
diagnostic solutions.
Professor Zimmerman Named Top Reviewer of 2024 for the Journal of Fluid Mechanics
Assistant Professor Spencer Zimmerman has been named a 2024 Top Reviewer for the
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
, the leading journals in the field. This distinction, introduced in 2023, recognizes
the top 1% of expert reviewers worldwide and honors 32 reviewers whose exceptional
service helps uphold the journal’s high standards of scholarship and scientific rigor.
The recipients were selected based on both the quality and timeliness of their reviews,
as well as feedback from the JFM Editorial Board. The honor highlights Professor Zimmerman’s
sustained commitment to strengthening the peer-review process, providing thoughtful
and constructive evaluations, and supporting the advancement of research in fluid
mechanics.
Leveraging AI to Streamline intelligent Mechanism Design
Professor Anurag Purwar recently received a SUNY
Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF)
Class of 2025 (Mission)
award for his project:
MotionGen: An AI Platform for Intelligent Mechanism Design
.  The TAF award is provided by the DoD
Griffiss Institute
and administered through the
SUNY Research Foundation
and aims to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovations developed
on SUNY campuses.
MotionGen
, a planar mechanism design and simulation software, is one of four projects from
SUNY institutions to receive the TAF award this year.
Professor Appointed Chair of ASTFE Executive Committee
After three years of serving as the inaugural Vice-Chair of the
American Society of Thermal and Fluid Engineers’ (ASTFE)
Executive Committee, Professor Jon Longtin was selected to serve a two-year term
as Chair.  Formed in 2022, the Executive Committee aims to “develop innovative approaches
to advance thermal and fluid scientists and engineer engagement within the ASTFE community.”
Professor Receives NSF Award
Associate Professor, Jie Gao, received a 3-year award from the U.S. National Science
Foundation, (NSF), for her project titled "2D Chiral Fingerprint Metasensor Empowered
by Machine Learning for Chiral Molecule Sensing".
This project will develop ultra-sensitive sensors for chiral molecules using 2D material,
chiral metasurfaces, and a machine-learning design framework and will benefit many
biomedical and photonic applications in point-of-care healthcare, food analysis, environment
monitoring, quantum spectroscopy, and quantum communication.
Expanding Pathways to Careers in Semiconductors and Nanomanufacturing
Stony Brook University, Professors
Carlos Colosqui
(Mechanical Engineering) and
Surita Bhatia
(Chemistry) have been awarded a
$1 million National Science Foundation grant
to launch a new learning initiative designed to broaden access to high-skill careers
in semiconductors, microelectronics, and advanced manufacturing.
The
Experiential Learning Explorations in Advanced Nanomanufacturing (ELEAN)
program is a collaborative effort led by
Stony Brook University
in partnership with
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)
and industry leaders
GlobalFoundries
and
Wolfspeed
Each year, the program will offer 25 students a powerful combination of
paid traineeships
career coaching
mentorship
, and
direct engagement with industry experts
, providing hands-on experience in critical fields such as nanomanufacturing and semiconductor
technologies.
By combining career coaching and mentorship with real-world industry exposure, the
program aims to build a diverse, well-prepared workforce ready to meet the rapidly
growing demands of the semiconductor and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Applications are open now through the NSF-ETAP system: Apply here
ASME Honors Mechanical Engineering Professor
Professor Jeff Ge  recently received both the Lifetime Achievement for Machine Design
and the  A.T. Yang Memorial Award for Theoretical Kinematics from the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Lifetime Achievement for Machine Design
Known as “the most prestigious award in the field of machine design,” the Machine
Design Award, recognizes “eminent achievement or distinguished service in the field
of machine design.”
“I am tremendously honored and humbled by what this award represents,” said Ge. ““I
have read the machine design textbooks written by some of the recipients when I was
an undergraduate student. Both my doctoral thesis advisor and my postdoctoral advisor
are also on the list. I feel my work is now part of a larger and continuing legacy
that includes not only the work of the award recipients but also those of their students
and collaborators.”
“I am pleased but not surprised to see Jeff honored for his leadership and advancement
of the field of machine design,” said P. Scott Carney, chair of the Department of
Mechanical Engineering. “His scholarly contributions to computer-aided design and
his breakthrough insights have led the field and placed Stony Brook University’s mechanical
engineering program on a world stage.”
A.T. Yang Memorial Award for Theoretical Kinematics
Named for UC Davis Professor, A.T. Yang, a pivotal figure in mechanical engineering,
the A.T. Yang Memorial Award is given for the best theoretical kinematics paper presented
at ASME’s Annual Symposium on Theoretical Kinematics.
This is Professor Ge’s second A.T Yang Award.
The award-winning paper was co-authored with Ge’s PhD student Huan Liu and Professor
Mark Langer from Indiana University and was supported by a now-completed NIH grant.
It builds on earlier research that tries to “get a sense of how something moves.”
Using a “kinematic hull, a kind of 3D envelope that wraps around all the possible
positions an object takes as it moves,” to break complex motion into smaller parts,
the team’s work has many practical applications, including robotics, mechanical design,
and radiotherapy, where it can make cancer treatments “more precise by shaping radiation
zones to match the way a tumor moves.”
Professor Shikui Chen Receives ASME 2025 Compliant Mechanisms Award
(August 17–20, 2025),  Professor Shikui Chen and co-authors Ran Zhuang, Chander Sadasivan,
and Xianfeng David Gu have been awarded the ASME 2025 Compliant Mechanisms Award at
the International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information
in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE) in Anaheim, California.
ASME annually presents two Compliant Mechanisms Awards to recognize the most outstanding
papers in the field—one honoring theoretical contributions and the other highlighting
practical advances. This marks Professor Chen’s second time receiving this award,
having first earned it in 2007 as a Ph.D. student.
Reflecting on the achievement, Professor Chen said, “The last time I received this
award was in 2007 when I was a Ph.D. student. Receiving it again 18 years later feels
like completing a full circle and returning to the starting point. It is a great honor
to be recognized by the community once again.”
The award-winning paper, “Level-Set Nonlinear Topology Optimization for Large-Deformation
Compliant Mechanisms with Hyperelastic Materials,” introduces an advanced computational
framework for designing compliant structures that undergo large, reversible deformations.
The work deepens the fundamental understanding of hyperelastic materials and enables
new capabilities for applications such as medical devices, flexible tools, and soft
robotic systems.
As Professor Chen notes, “We’re working to transform soft-robot design from an art
into a science.”
Powering Up Long Island’s Power Grid with World’s First 100% H2-Fueled Commercial
Linear Generator
The world’s first commercially-deployed, 100% hydrogen-fueled linear generator, (LGen),
is coming to Long Island.  In partnership with National Grid Ventures (NGV), the New
York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the Long Island Power
Authority (LIPA), Stony Brook University and Mainspring Energy, the 250kW LGen is
expected to be installed at NGV’s Northport power plant in September 2026.
The project represents an important step in meeting New York’s clean energy mandates
by demonstrating a Dispatchable Emission-Free Resources (DEFR) technology solution
that can be deployed when needed to meet peak energy needs and will also add much-needed
fuel flexibility, resilience and reliability to the region’s power grid.
Associate Professor Dimitris Assanis from the Mechanical Engineering department at
Stony Brook University and his team at the Advanced Combustion & Energy Systems (ACES)
Laboratory will independently validate the project by developing key data acquisition,
instrumentation and post-processing analysis routines to track and monitor key performance
and emission metrics.
“What’s really exciting about this project,” Professor Assanis said, “is that we are
taking next-generation energy-conversion technology beyond the classroom and the lab
and bringing it into the real world.  If we get this right,” Assanis added, “we will
have a new tool to tackle the grand energy challenges we are facing”
For more information:
National Grid Ventures to Install World’s First 100 Percent Hydrogen-Fueled Commercial
Linear Generator at Northport Power Plant
Governor Hochul Announces More Than $11 Million Awarded to Clean Hydrogen Research
and Development Projects | Governor Kathy Hochul
Strengthening Research Connections
On July 15, the incoming Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Carney,
visited the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, VA, to explore collaborative
opportunities between Stony Brook and ONR program officers. These conversations spanned
a wide range of topics from robotics and materials science to oceanography and cybersecurity,
showcasing the breadth of research expertise within our department and college.
This visit reflects Carney’s strong commitment to advancing strategic partnerships
and building meaningful pathways for translational research with real-world impact.
We’re excited about the future under his leadership and look forward to growing these
connections in support of national priorities.
Learn more here
Machinists represent CEAS at SSMC
Our machinists,
Joseph Schurz
and
Leana Grotz
, represented
CEAS
at this year’s Student Shop Managers Consortium (SSMC), which focused on student shops
and makerspaces.
As the dedicated instructors who teach every Mechanical Engineering student how to
safely and effectively use manufacturing tools and equipment, their impact is felt
across our entire program. From instilling foundational shop safety and skills to
supporting our Senior Design teams with feasibility guidance and precision machining,
they play a critical role in student success.
This consortium brings together a community of educators, technicians, and safety
professionals to share best practices and tackle shared challenges.
Professor receives OVPR Seed Grant
Professor Shikui Chen received a Spring 2025 OVPR Seed Grant for his project:
“Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) for Accelerated Topology Optimization of
High-Performance Power Electronics Components.”
In collaboration with Fang Luo
(Electrical & Computer Engineering) and Zhaozheng Yin (AI Institute), this interdisciplinary
effort leverages AI and physics-based modeling to push the boundaries of next-gen
power electronics. The research combines PINNs with multiphysics topology optimization
and experimental validation to develop innovative, efficient, and thermally resilient
power electronics component designs.
This seed funding positions the team for future external support from agencies such
as DOE and NSF.
Carney Named Department Chair
P. Scott Carney has been named Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering,
effective September 1.
He has a strong record of research achievements in theoretical applied physics and
optical engineering with impact in imaging, metrology, and materials.
From 2001 until 2017, Carney was a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering
faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and held a simultaneous appointment
at The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. At Urbana-Champaign,
he also served as interim founding director of the Innovation, Leadership, and Engineering
Entrepreneurship degree program.
Learn more here
A Global Achievement for Robotics Team
Our multi-disciplinary student robotics team had a successful performance in Alpena,
Michigan, for this year’s MATE ROV World Championship. Hosted at the Thunder Bay National
Marine Sanctuary, the MATE ROV Competition—founded by the Marine Advanced Technology
Education Center and now part of the Marine Technology Society—is the premier global
stage for student-built underwater robots.
Teams from across the world came together to tackle real-world-inspired missions:
navigating pipelines, conducting underwater surveys, and executing complex tasks under
pressure.
Over three action-packed days, the team faced it all—broken servos, power bus faults,
and the kind of challenges that test not just engineering skills, but determination
and teamwork. True to their motto, “Anything Is Possible,” they pushed forward with
grit and innovation.
The team tied for 3rd place in the Product Demonstration event and
7th place overall—a personal best for SBRT and a moment of pride for our entire community.
AMMTO funds multi-institutional project
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies
Office (AMMTO) has awarded $2.2 million to support a multi-institutional project aimed
at developing recyclable, fully additively manufactured high-performance magnets for
next-generation wind turbines.
The project, titled “Demonstration of Advanced, Fully Additively Manufactured, Recyclable,
High-Performance Magnets for a 15-Megawatt Generator,” is led by the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL) and includes collaboration with several leading institutions.
Stony Brook University (SBU) will receive $525,000 in funding, with Professor Shikui
Chen
from the Department of Mechanical Engineering serving as Principal Investigator. Professors
Jon Longtin,
(Mechanical Engineering) and Fang Luo
(Electrical and Computer Engineering) are Co-Principal Investigators.
Collaborating institutions include:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) – Lead institution
- Stony Brook University
- General Electric (GE) Vernova and GE Global Research
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
- Arnold Magnetic Technologies
The project aims to revolutionize magnet manufacturing for large wind generators through
advanced structural design, additive manufacturing techniques, and the integration
of recyclable materials. The SBU team will focus on topology optimization, design
for additive manufacturing, and performance-driven material integration strategies.
This award highlights Stony Brook University’s leadership in clean energy innovation,
advanced manufacturing, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Motorsports Team Celebrates Successful Competition
The Stony Brook Motorsports Team recently returned from a successful and eventful
Baja SAE competition, where they raced their Baja car at the Budds Creek Motorcross
Park in Mechanicsville, Maryland.
The team participated in both static and dynamic events. They passed all of the safety
checks, placed 33rd/96 on the Hill Climb competition, and placed 40th/96 in the Acceleration
competition.
Each year, Stony Brook Motorsports designs, builds, tests, and races an off-road vehicle,
competing against colleges from around the world. Together, the interdisciplinary
team develops skills in design, manufacturing, electronics, and business.
Senior Design Showcase
Stony Brook hosted it's inaugural Engineering Senior Design Showcase on May 8. This
showcase was a collaboration between the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department
of Civil Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department
of Materials Science and Chemisty Engineering, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering.
There were 285 students who participated in the event, working in teams of 3–5 with
faculty mentors to tackle real engineering challenges.
Learn more here
Students Create Community Impact
This senior design team took their capstone project beyond the classroom and into
the community.  Mechanical Engineering students, Anna Koulakova, Polina Bragina, and
Molly Rubin, with support from their advisor Leana Grotz spent the past year designing
a successful vest to improve Chestnut’s mobility.
Learn more here
Richard S. Lee Research Excellence Award
The Richard S. Lee Research Excellence Award is given to a select Masters or PhD graduate
for an exceptionally strong dissertation, as well as a
graduating senior who has demonstrated a commitment to research and who will be pursuing
an advanced degree.
This honor comes with a certificate and a $500 scholarship. Congratulations goes to
Xiaoqiang Xu, PhD, and
Jason Hamechand, BE. They received this award during the 2025 Mechanical Engineering
Convocation ceremony. Here's a bit about these excellent researchers:
Under the guidance of Professor Shikui Chen, Xiaoqiang Xu has been selected as an
exceptional PhD candidate whose research accomplishments, leadership, and professional
development make him highly deserving of this award. His work has led to five peer-reviewed
journal publications, including articles in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics
and Engineering and International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, and several conference
papers in prestigious venues such as ASME IDETC/CIE and InterPACK. His innovative
contributions to topology optimization for thermal management, additive manufacturing,
and multiphysics modeling have been recognized with multiple awards, including the
2023 Graduate Research Symposium Poster Award at Stony Brook University.
Beyond his research, Xiaoqiang has completed highly competitive internships at Toyota
and Apple and demonstrated strong service to the academic community by serving as
a reviewer for top journals. We commend Xiaoqiang for his impressive academic record,
professional growth, and broad impact in research and education.
Under the guidance of Professor Spencer Zimmerman, Jason became interested in parallel
image processing for turbulence measurements and taught himself parallel reduction
and basic CUDA programming for Nvidia GPUs. He continued this work for two semesters,
successfully converting a holographic image back-propagation code from MATLAB to CUDA,
resulting in a substantial reduction in run time. Jason will be pursuing a research-track
Master’s Degree at Johns Hopkins University in the fall.
Ch
ancellor’s Award for Student Excellence
Hailee Shehu
was recognized with the 2025 Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence (CASE) — the
State University of New York’s highest honor bestowed on a student.
The award celebrates academic excellence, leadership, campus involvement, community
service and creative or performing arts. This year’s honorees were celebrated during
an awards ceremony on April 29 in Albany, New York.
Hailee is a mechanical engineering major in the WISE Honors Program. She is a first-generation
student and co-founder of the nonprofit Lindenhurst Launchpad. She also leads Stony
Brook’s American Society of Mechanical Engineers chapter and mentors fellow students.
SOAR Program Accepts New Student
John Li,
a rising senior in Mechanical Engineering, has been accepted into the prestigious
SUNY Summer Opportunities for Academic Research (SOAR) program. John will be conducting
research in the Materials and Mechanics Laboratory under the guidance of Professor
Kedar Kirane
and Ph.D. student Wanru Miao.
The SOAR program supports academically talented SUNY undergraduates—especially those
who are first-generation college students or from economically disadvantaged backgrounds—by
offering hands-on research experiences.
This summer, John will spend over two months working on a Department of Defense–funded
project through the Office of Naval Research. His work will focus on characterizing
compressive failure in woven composite materials, particularly around circular holes—common
features in structural applications. Through open-hole compression (OHC) testing,
John will help generate valuable data on strength reduction and failure mechanisms
like fiber kinking and delamination, contributing to the safe design and certification
of advanced composite materials.
Student selected for Soft Flyers Group
Congratulations to Christina Wong
from the College of Arts and Sciences, who has been selected to join the Soft Flyers
Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering as part of the 2025 URECA Summer
Research Program.
Over the 10-week program, Christina will contribute to an exciting swarm robotics
project, focusing on developing a mechanism that enables two robotic agents to attach
to one another—an important step toward advancing coordinated movement and collective
behavior in robotic swarms.
Simons STEM Scholar
Elda Berhaneyessus
has been selected as a scholar for the Explorations in STEM program — a competitive,
10-week full-time summer research experience co-administered by URECA and the Career
Center, and proudly supported by
The Stony Brook Simons STEM Scholars Program.
Under the mentorship of Professor Lifeng Wang,
Elda will be conducting research on “Development and Evaluation of Biodegradable
Lattice Structures for Enhanced Energy Dissipation” — a cutting-edge project with
meaningful applications in sustainability and materials science.
As part of this immersive program, Elda will join a vibrant community of undergraduate
researchers, engage in professional development workshops (on topics like science
communication, poster presentations, and graduate school applications), and present
her work at the 2025 Summer Symposium on August 1.
Currently a freshman and proud Simons STEM Scholar, Elda is pursuing a degree in mechanical
engineering and is passionate about advancing innovation in STEM — while also championing
representation and equity in the field.
DURIP Award
The Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) provides funding for
university-based research that is critical to advancements in Navy-related studies.
Professors from the Mechanical Engineering department teamed up on a project titled,
"A Computational and Physical Framework for Rapid Prototyping of Robotics Systems
with Embodied Intelligence." The principal investigator Dr. Anurag Purwar, along with
Co-PIs, Dr. William Stewart, Dr. Kedar Kirane, Dr. Shanshan Yao, Dr. Shikui Chen,
Dr. Nilanjan Chakraborty, and Dr. David Hwang had this
project funded for $505,332 by the Department of Defense Office of Naval Research
(ONR) to establish a sophisticated System of Instruments to advance the research on
areas crucial to the Navy. They identified four primary areas of focus: multimodal
aerial robotics, collaborative robotic (cobot) exoskeletons, soft embedded intelligence,
and component and system level mechanical characterization.
The system being acquired is a complementary suite of instruments including a CNC
laser, material mechanics test stage, a bio 3D printer, and a 6-axis robotic arm.
CEAS First Annual Awards Ceremony
The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) held its first awards ceremony
on January 21. The ceremony honored research achievements and excellence in teaching
and service for faculty and staff. Below, we have highlighted the recipients from
our Mechanical Engineering department.
2022-2023
Teachers Rated Excellent Educators by their Students (TREES)
Fu-Pen Chiang
Carlos Colosqui
Jie Gao
David Hwang
Joseph Schurz
2023-2024
Teachers Rated Excellent Educators by their Students (TREES)
Jie Gao
Austin Giordano
David Hwang
Kedar Kirane
Joseph Schurz
CEAS Award for Excellence in Teaching
- Jie Gao
CEAS Award for Excellence in Professional Service
- Noah Machtay
CEAS Award for Diversity Leadership
- Carlos Colosqui
New Patent Issued: System and Method to Conduct
Bone Surgery
Professor Imin Kao, Ph.D (Mechanical Engineering), and Dr. Fazel Khan, MD (Orthopaedics)
were recently issued a patent titled "System and Method to Conduct Bone Surgery."
Along with their students, they are dealing with real clinical/surgical problems to
accurately reproduce the pre-operative planning to remove osteosarcoma. They have
developed new and innovative technologies to solve these problems.  They anticipate
these solutions will make a big difference for patients and likely significantly change
how many orthopedic surgeries are done.
Learn more here
ONR Grant: Multi-scale modeling of 3D multi-axial compressive failures in unidirectional
and woven composites
SBU Alumni Give Back to Students
"Mastering" Mechanical Engineering
SUNY Distinguished Professor Retires
New Patent Issued: System and Method for Identifying Fractures in Digitized X-Rays
Student and Faculty Social hosted by ASME
OVPR Seed Grant Winners
Professor Ge receives ASME Dedicated Service Award
Leaders from CEAS meet with Federal Agency Leadership in DC
Meet our NRT Fellows
Celebrating the Class of 2024
Professor Ge appointed Editor-in-Chief of new ASME journal
Stony Brook Foundation Trustees Award Recipient
A practical Cooler with a unique design
Mobility Assist featured on the "Wall of Innovation"
A Robot to Assist ALS Patients
DOE Fellowship awarded to Austin Dick
ASME hosts Networking Event for Students and Professors
New Tiger Team Initiative Announcement
CEAS Joins Colleagues on Capitol Hill to Advocate for Crucial Funding
Professor Jeffrey Ge celebrates 30 years with Stony Brook University
ONR Grant: Multi-scale modeling of 3D multi-axial compressive failures in unidirectional
and woven composites
Associate Professor Kedar Kirane was awarded a grant by The Office of Naval Research
(ONR) for a three-year project titled "Multi-scale modeling of 3D multi-axial compressive
failures in unidirectional and woven composites." The compressive failure of unidirectional
(UD) and woven fiber composites under multi-axial stress is a complex, multi-scale
phenomenon that current models cannot reliably predict. The proposed research addresses
this gap by developing multi-mechanism, multi-scale constitutive models for compressive
failure and a standardized process for model parameter identification through experiments.
If successful, this work will produce versatile models capable of predicting micro-mechanical
effects and reducing ambiguity in parameter calibration, thus significantly enhancing
the reliability of computer-aided design for composite structures. These advancements
will benefit various applications, including naval and aerospace engineering.
SBU Alumni Give Back to Students
Stony Brook Alumni Frank Fischer ('97) and his wife Michele Fischer ('99) have been
giving back to Stony Brook students since graduating with various scholarships and
funds. Recently, they were inspired to establish the Frank and Michele Fischer Endowed
Scholarship to benefit students in CEAS and SoMAS.
Frank majored in mechanical engineering and credits his interest in the business side
of engineering to SUNY Distinguished Professor Fu-Pen Chiang. “Professor Chiang was
instrumental in helping me think about my life and career after Stony Brook. He was
a great mentor.”
Read more about their story and impact
here
If you feel inspired to make a difference,  you can contribute
here
"Mastering" Mechanical Engineering
The Mechanical Engineering Department, in collaboration with the Stony Brook Univ
ersity
Career Center,
held a "Mastering" Mechanical Engineering Information Session on November 13.
This session was designed to provide valuable insights to students considering graduate
studies in Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University. During this session,
they heard directly from current graduate students, faculty, and a panel of professionals
about career opportunities Mechanical Engineering can offer in the industry.
SUNY Distinguished Professor Retires
On N
ovember 8, the Mechanical Engineering Department honored SUNY Distinguished
Professor Fu-Pen Chiang as we celebrated his retirement
after 57 years with Stony Brook University. Family, friends, and colleagues gathered
at Charles B. Wang Center to honor his career and impact across generations of students,
faculty, and research.
Learn more here
New Patent Issued: System and Method for Identifying Fractures in Digitized X-Rays
Professor Imin Kao, Ph.D (Mechanical Engineering), along with co-inventors, Faisal
Khan, MD
(Orthopaedics), and Carlos Gabriel Helguero, Ph.D (Mechanical Engineering) were recently
issued a patent titled "System and Method of Identifying Fractures in Digitized X-Rays."
A method is developed for identifying one or more fractures in a digitized X-ray image,
flagging fractures based on the digital X-ray image, and placing a visual indication
of a possible fracture on the modified X-ray image corresponding to the location of
each flagged pixel. The method can facilitate the detection of hairline cracks, which
can often be missed or neglected.
Learn more here
Student and Faculty Social hosted by ASME
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) hosted a "Student and Faculty
Social" on September 30.
We spoke with
Hailee Shehu
, ASME president, who was very pleased with the turnout and engagement at the event.
"This was only our second student and faculty networking event, and seeing the growth
from our event last semester was very exciting. We can't wait to bring it back again
next semester!"
OVPR Seed Grant Winners
An OVPR Seed grant has been awarded for the project, "Data-Enabled Manipulation Planning
and Control for Autonomous Robotic Surgical Assistant."
This is a collaborative research effort involving Robotics and AI (Nilanjan Chakraborty,
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering), Solid Mechanics (Kedar Kirane, Associate
Professor, Mechanical Engineering), Human Computer Interaction (IV Ramakrishnan, Professor,
Computer Science) and Surgery (Dr. Georgios Georgiakis, Department of Surgery, Renaissance
School of Medicine).
The overarching vision of this research is to build a robotic surgical assistant that
can assist a surgeon by autonomously performing routine surgical tasks. A key step
in realizing this vision is to endow robots with the ability to interact with and
manipulate soft/deformable objects to perform tasks like piercing, suturing etc. Although
robotic manipulation has been studied for a few decades now, much of the literature
studies manipulation of rigid objects. The study of manipulation of rigid objects
is a nascent field. Thus, the scope of this seed project is to develop novel data-guided
planning and control algorithms that exploit the physics of fracture of deformable
objects to allow robotic arms to use tools for piercing and cutting and enabling their
use for suturing and incision.
Learn more here
Professor Ge receives ASME Dedicated Service Award
Professor Ge received the Dedicated Service Award at the 2024 ASME International Design
Engineering Technical Conference in Washington, DC. The American Society of Mechanical
Engineers created the Dedicated Service Award to honor dedicated voluntary service
to the Society marked by outstanding performance, demonstrated effective leadership,
prolonged and committed service, devotion, enthusiasm and faithfulness. Congratulations,
Professor Ge!
Leaders from CEAS meet with Federal Agency Leadership in DC
Dean Andrew Singer and Associate Dean Jon Longtin of the College of Engineering and
Applied Sciences (CEAS) at Stony Brook University met with White House Office of Science
and Technology Policy (OSTP) staff and federal science agency leadership during the
week of August 19 to discuss the college’s groundbreaking research.
The science agency meetings included the Department of Defense (DOD) Basic Research
Office, DOD’s Office of Naval Research (ONR), Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office
of Science, DOE’s Office of Electricity, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency
for Health (ARPA-H).
Learn more here
Meet our NRT Fellows
The National Science Foundation Research Traineeship seeks proposals that explore
ways for graduate students in research-based master’s and doctoral degree programs
to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM
careers. We have highlighted their research areas below.
John Park is working on characterization and modeling of fracture and size effects
in materials with nonlinear behavior, such as soft matter, rubber compounds, as well
as fiber reinforced composites under shear.
Thomas Piccolo is working on characterization and modeling of the mechanical behavior
of biomechanical composites that form the human abdominal wall, with ultimate goal
of improving hernia treatments.
Racquel Lovelace is working on characterization and modeling of the mechanical and
failure behavior of epoxy at cryogenic temperatures (4K), with application to superconducting
magnets.
Nicholas Paolini is working on
experimental research in fluid mechanics and nanoscale science, for applications in
renewable energy conversion and storage.
Celebrating the Class of 2024
The Mechanical Engineering department celebrated the graduating class of 2024 during
a May 17th ceremony, commemorating academic, research, and leadership achievements.
Graduates and their families took pride in marking the transition from student life
to the next phase of their careers, whether it's entering the workforce or furthering
their education.
Learn more here
Professor Ge appointed Editor-in-Chief of new ASME journal
Professor Jeff Ge has been appointed as the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of a new ASME
journal titled, "Letters in Translational Robotics." The topic areas will include
translational research results demonstrated with prototypes leading to a minimally
viable product. "This will be the first ASME journal that publishes translational
research results of archival value," says Ge.
Learn more here.
Stony Brook Foundation Trustees Award Recipient
To encourage and support promising early career faculty, the University, through the
Provost’s Office, provides research, scholarship and art-making funding opportunities.
Five Stony Brook Foundation Trustees Faculty Awards of $20,000 each are competitively
available to early career faculty.
The awards recognize early-career faculty whose research, creative
activities and scholarly achievements predict an exceptional trajectory.
Assistant Professor
Shanshan
Yao is a recipient of this award for her project, “Restoring Tactile Sensation and
Feedback in Robot-Assisted Surgery."
The goal of this project is to restore the underutilized haptic sensation during robotic-assisted
minimally invasive surgery by instrumenting multi-DOF tactile sensors on the robot/patient
side and multimodal haptic feedback interfaces on the surgeon side. The tactile sensors
mounted to surgical tools will gather multi-DOF force and torque during the tool-tissue
or tool-tool contact. The multimodal haptic actuators attached to the surgeon’s skin
will enable the transmission of the sensed tactile information to the surgeon in real-time.
The system is expected to improve operation accuracy, decrease operation duration,
and enable more complicated surgical tasks without damaging tissues.
Learn more here.
A practical Cooler with a unique design
Interim Chair and professor, Jon Longtin was quoted in the Wall Street Journal article
"The Cooler That Keeps Food Cold and Prevents Soggy Sandwiches" about the new Ninja
FrostVault cooler. The piece is an honest review of the product which is being described
as "the year's most practical cooler that solves a long-standing problem," written
by Sal Vaglica, Stony Brook alumni. The cooler's unique design includes a drawer,
that without adding ice, keeps cooked and raw food dry and below 40 degrees fahrenheit.
"Heat is removed by the ice chilled 'ceiling' of the lower container, which is also
the bottom of the upper container, to keep the lower chamber chilled," says Longtin.
Heat leaks from the outside into the lower chamber which is then removed by the ceiling,
establishing a steady temperature condition."
Learn more here
Mobility Assist featured on the "Wall of Innovation"
Assistant Professor Anurag Purwar, PhD and his students developed the Mobility Assist
which is featured on the "Wall of Innovation" in the Intellectual Property Partners
(IPP) office.
This legacy wall highlights some of Stony Brook University's most groundbreaking inventions
that have improved the quality of life for generations to come.
The Mobility Assist is a portable, independently operated, mobility assistance medical
device that helps individuals stand up, sit down and walk.
Learn more here.
A Robot to Assist ALS Patients
A team of Stony Brook University researchers is aiming to alleviate the many difficulties
that accompany ALS by using artificial intelligence, mechanical engineering, and consultation
by medical experts to create a Caregiving Robot Assistant (CART) for ALS patients
and their caregivers.  This project is being led by I.V. Ramakrishnan, PhD, a professor
of Computer Science and Associate Dean for Research.
Nilanjan Chakraborty, PhD, roboticist and associate professor in the department of
Mechanical Engineering is leading
the technical innovation and development of CART.
“The technical innovation of CART is in the development of an algorithmic approach
to manipulation planning based on the screw geometry of motion along with an approach
to what we call ‘self-evaluation,’ where the robot evaluates its competence in performing
a task and actually prompts a caregiver to provide additional demonstrations,” Ramakrishnan
said.
Learn more here.
DOE Fellowship awarded to Austin Dick
Austin Dick, a current PhD student, was one of 86 students selected by the Department
of Energy (DOE) for their Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program. He
was chosen
from a diverse pool of graduate applicants from institutions around the country.
Austin will be working with Dr. Greg Doerk at Brookhaven National Laboratory on the
development of novel
hybrid nanomaterials that are obtained by combining metal oxides and polymers.
According to Associate Professor, Carlos Colosqui, " Austin was in a strong position
to be selected by the DOE due to his PhD research experience performing both advanced
nanofabrication in a clean room and experimental characterization of electrokinetic
flows."
Learn more here.
ASME hosts Networking Event for Students and Professors
ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Student Chapter hosted their first
Networking Event for Students and Professors on March 28, 2024. We had the opportunity
to speak with the President, Hailee Shehu regarding the success of the event, as well
as the other events and projects they are working on.
Learn more here.
New Tiger Team Initiative Announcement
Associate Professor Jie Gao is a member of one of the new Tiger Teams focused on Green
Technologies. Building off the success of the previous two Tiger Team initiatives,
the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of the Provost have launched
new Tiger Team initiative focused primarily on climate-related topics
Learn more here.
CEAS
oins Colleagues on Capitol Hill to Advocate for Crucial Funding
On February 7th,
Associate Dean for Research and Entrepreneurship and Interim Chair of the Mechanical
Engineering Department, Jon Longtin
represented Stony Brook University on behalf of Dean Andrew Singer.
He urged members of the New York congressional delegation and their staff to provide
robust funding for all federal science agencies as Congress seeks to pass FY24 appropriations
bills and commence the FY25 federal budget process.
“Federal funded research advancements touch every corner of our lives and economy,”
said Longtin. “From quantum computing and artificial intelligence to driving innovation
in cancer treatment, Stony Brook University researchers are working on developing
the next cutting-edge technologies and medical advancements. However, this transformative
research can only propel forward with predictable and strong federal funding investments.”
Professor Jeffrey Ge celebrates 30 years with Stony Brook University
Professor Ge has been with the MEC department since 1993. During this time, he has
served as Undergraduate Program Director, Deputy Chair, Interim Chair, and Chair.
He guided the MECBE program through three successful ABET accreditations and helped
guide the SUNY Korea MEC program through its initial accreditation. He also managed
the challenges of explosive enrollment growth in MEC, after enrollments doubled in
the eight years from 2008 to 2015. During his leadership, the US News and World Report
Mechanical Engineering Ranking is up from #70 in 2019 to #50 in 2023.  Jeff is a Fellow
of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and served as the chairs of the
ASME Mechanisms and Robotics
Committee and ASME Design Engineering Division.
He was chair (2012-2016) of USCToMM (U.S. Committee for the Theory of Machines and
Mechanisms, one of 45 member organizations of IFToMM--the International Federation
for the Promotion of Mechanisms and Machine Science) and elected as Chair of the Constitution
Committee of IFToMM (1999-2023).  He has been co-editor of ASME Journal of Mechanical
Design since 2021 and a founding member of ASME Robotics Technology Group since 2020.
Recently, he received the ASME AT Yang Memorial Award in Theoretical Kinematics (2022)
and the ASME Lifetime Achievement Award in Mechanisms and Robotics (2021). Very recently
he proposed and received approval from ASME for the creation of a new Journal, ASME
Letters in Translational Robotics.
Advancing Endovascular Treatment: Personalized Device Design through Topology Optimization
Overcoming Carbon-Free Fuel Challenges: Laser-Induced Ammonia Combustion
SBU Joins Doctoral Degrees without Borders
Machine Learning Driven Robot Motion Design - IFToMM Conference in Tokyo 2023
New Patent Issued 2023: System and Method of Characterizing the Equibiaxial Compressive
Strength of 2D Woven Composites
Materials Failure of the Titan Submersible
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) forges a path for tomorrow’s innovators
Graduate Research Symposium Award Winners 2023
GE Renewable Energy Offshore Wind Project
Industrial Advisory Board Meeting 2023
ASME Inaugurates Prof. Assanis into Distinguished Associates of the Internal Combustion
Engine Division
Green Hydrogen Production from Offshore Wind Research Awarded $84K from Sunrise Wind
LLC and CIEES
Prof. Shanshan Yao Wins NSF Career Award
SnappyXO Showcasing at CES 2023
Advancing Endovascular Treatment: Personalized Device Design through Topology Optimization
Associate Professor Shikui Chen along with Dr. Chander Sandasvian (PI, SBU Hospital)
and Professor David Gu (CS Department) were awarded an OVPR Seed Grant for their project
"Advancing Endocascular Treatment: Personalized Device Design through Toplogy Optimization."
This project aims to improve endovascular treatments for vascular diseases like brain
aneurysms, aortic aneurysms, and cardiac valve replacements.
Current treatments
face limitations due to the non-optimal fit of medical devices to patient anatomy,
leading to complications like recanalization, endoleaks, and paravalvular leaks. The
project proposes using advanced computational tools, particularly Topology Optimization
(TO) and computational conformal mapping, to design personalized, patient-matched
devices (PMDs).
These tools will help simulate deployable structures that conform accurately to individual
patients' vascular anatomy, thereby enhancing treatment efficacy and reducing complications.
The project's goal, supported by an OVPR seed grant, includes two main aims: generating
patient-specific device designs and enabling effective transcatheter deployment using
TO and conformal mapping.
Overcoming Carbon-Free Fuel Challenges: Laser-Induced Ammonia Combustion
Assistant Professor Dimitris Assanis and Co-PI, Associate Professor David Hwang were
awarded an OVPR seed grant for their project "Overcoming Carbon-Fuel Challenges: Laser-Induced
Ammonia Combustion." Ammonia is carbon-free fuel with great long duration storage
capabilities that can be made from renewable energy and can help decarbonize the ~2B
internal combustion piston engines in the world so we can mee
t our amb
itious net-zero carbon goals.
The problem is that Ammonia combustion is challenged by high ignition temperature
requirements and slow flame speeds thus requires hydrogen addition or a new, innovative
approach. Laser-induced decomposition and ignition can break the parent fuel, Ammonia,
into more reactive intermediate kinetic species of NH2, NH and other radical species
that are more readily ignitable and can achieve faster combustion propagation rates.
SBU Joins Doctoral Degrees without Borders
Stony Brook University’s
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
(CEAS) is part of a new nine-campus initiative to allow doctoral students from engineering
programs around the region to take courses at each other’s institutions without any
additional tuition.  The
Inter-University Engineering Doctoral Consortium
(IUEDC), led by NYU Tandon School of Engineering, encourages PhD students to complement
their primary program by taking courses of interest offered at different schools,
providing access to specialty instruction and expertise that may not be available
at their home universities. Students should be able to enroll in courses at other
member institutions beginning in Fall 2024.
Learn more here.
Machine Learning Driven Robot Motion Design - IFToMM Conference in Tokyo 2023
Professor
Anurag Purwar, Director of Computer Aided Design and Innovation Lab, presented a workshop
titled "Machine Learning Driven Robot Motion Design" at the 16th IFToMM World Congress
in Tokyo, Japan. The workshop was attended by 126 researchers from around the world.
In this workshop, he introduced attendees to a new NSF-funded computational framework
which brings together machine learning with rigid body kinematics for simultaneous
type and dimensional synthesis of mechanisms. Attendees were also exposed to a new
web-based mechanism design software called MotionGen (
), which implements research methods developed in the aforementioned framework.
New Patent Issued 2023: System and Method of Characterizing the Equibiaxial Compressive
Strength of 2D Woven Composites
Associate Professor Kedar Kirane and co-inventors, former MS students Daniel Deland
and Zongyan Zhang were recently issued a patent. "This technology proposes a novel
but simple idea that allows simple and reliable measurement of the equibiaxial compressive
strength of 2D woven composites, by application of a uniaxial out of plan
e load, with a very simple specimen geometry and test set up. The testing method for
this purpose is the ring on ring flexure test. In this test, the biaxial strength
can be measured
by subjecting un-notched disks or plates to a monotonic, out of plane load at the
center. This produces biaxial flexure of the specimen and effectively converts a uniaxial
load into a biaxial state of stress. This test set up is inexpensive and the specimen
geometry is sim
ple. It also d
oes not require any expensive specimen grips."
Materials Failure of the Titan Submersible
After the June 18th Titan subermersible implosion, the New York Times looked for answers
on how such a disaster could have happened. "Moisture or seas salt could have degraded
the hull's carbon fiber and the glue joining it to the titanium, creating another
potential weak point, said Associate Professor Kedar Kirane, a mechanical engineer
with expertise in damage, fracture and fatigue in fiber-reinforced composites." See
article
here
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) forges a path for tomorrow’s innovators
Featured in the recent edition of the Stony Brook University Magazine, Mechanical
Engineering
undergraduate
, Saadat Islam
, and Instructional Support Technician, Austin Giordano, discuss their experiences
and success with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE).
HERE
Graduate Research Symposium Award Winners 2023
Thirty Mechanical Engineering graduate students presented their research during a
one-hour poster session as part of the annual Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) meeting
hosted on March 31st, 2023. Faculty, staff, and industry representatives had the opportunity
to speak with the student researchers regarding their work. The Board members, in
consultation with the Symposium committee, selected two winners who each received
a $100 Wolfie Wallet card and an award certificate.
Aditya Patankar and Xiaoqiang Xu, both PhD students, won the research
competition for the innovative efforts on their projects, "Task-Oriented Grasping
with Point Cloud Representation of Objects," and "Topology optimization of thermal
cloaks in euclidean spaces and manifolds using an extended level set method," respectively.
Honorable mention awards were also given to PhD students, Jamshid Ochilov, "Impact
Damage Modeling of Composite Laminates" and Yiting Zheng, "Time-resolved Diagnosis
Of Laser Induced Bi-layer Molybdenum Scribing For Photovoltaic Solar Module Fabrication,"
as well as MS student Michael Persch, "Development of Test Procedure to Evaluate Head
Coking."
Congratulations to all who participated!
GE Renewable Energy Offshore Wind Project
"GE Renewable Energy Offshore Wind Project" has been awarded a grant which facilitates
the collaboration
between SUNY Stony Brook and GE Research. Stony Brook
researchers include PI: Shikui Chen and Co-PI Jo
n Longtin from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Fang Luo from the Department
of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The project explores the potential of topology optimization technology in reducing
the usage of rare-earth magnets in offshore wind turbines.
Industrial Advisory Board Meeting 2023
For the first time since before the start of the pandemic, the Mechanical Engineering
Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) returned to an in-person format.
The day consisted of lively discussion on achieving departmental
aspirations and objectives, as well as brainstorming innovative growth opportunities.
During the afternoon session, undergraduate student organizations such as the National
Student Data Corps, a Senior Design Group, Stony Brook Motorsports, and the Solar
Boat Team gave presentations. In addition, Nick Amador of the Career Center led a
student-employer discussion, Assistant Professor William Stewart gave a talk on “Interactive
Aerial Robotics,” and a Graduate Student poster symposium took place.
ASME Inaugurates Prof. Assanis into Distinguished Associates of the Internal Combustion
Engine Division
Professor Dimitris Assanis has been elected by the Internal Combustion Engine Division
(ICED) Executive Committee to become a member of the Division's Distinguished Associates.
The Distinguished Associates of the ICED take active roles in disseminating and expanding
state-of-the-art technology to ASME members, those in engineering professions, and
the industry as a whole.
Distinguished Associates are expected to participate in the formulation of
ICED’s programs by joining one of their technical and/or administrative committees.
Prof. Assanis has joined the fuels and carbon management track as a session co-organizer.
He and members of his research group will be attending and presenting six papers at
the next ASME Internal Combustion Engine Forward (ICEF) conference this October in
Pittsburgh, PA.
Green Hydrogen Production from Offshore Wind Research Awarded $84K from Sunrise Wind
LLC and CIEES
Professor Dimitris Assanis has received an $59,000 award from Sunrise Wind LLC for
the project titled “Understanding economic viability of green H2 production in a wind
farm with wake field interactions.”  A previously-developed wind turbine TEA framework
will be extended to evaluate the levelized cost of electricity from a wind farm, inclusive
of wake field interactions, in order to determine when green H2 production is economically
viable.  An additional grant of $25,000 from the Center of Integrated Electric Energy
Systems (CIEES) to match will be used to evaluate the techno-economic impact of the
proposed technology, integrated H2 production, on the Long Island, New York City downstate
region.
Through a collaborative partnership with Trojanowski, Butcher, Yogarathnam, and Yue
at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), the information gained from this proposition
will be leveraged on a larger magnitude to complement Trojanowski’s $1.35M Lab Directed
Research and Development (LDRD) project titled “Hydrogen Research: Design, Engineer,
Materialize, and Operationalize (H2 Research DEMO),“ that aims to utilize renewable
solar power to generate green H2.
Assanis enthusiastically states he is, “excited for this unique opportunity to work
with leadership and members of the Advanced Energy Center, CIEES, and Brookhaven National
Laboratory to better understand decarbonization pathways.”
Prof. Shanshan Yao Wins NSF Career Award
Professor Shanshan Yao of the Mechanical Engineering department has been awarded $500k
from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Division of Electrical, Communications
and Cyber Systems (ECCS) for her proposal “CAREER: Closing the Loop of Human-Machine
Interactions via Skin-Like Multimodal Haptic Interfaces” to conduct research aimed
to develop haptic interfaces that can produce cues that skin would be capable of sensing.
This exploration of the design of haptic interfaces will aid in discovering what feedback
sensations are most efficiently experienced through the skin.
The information gleaned from this project will create a foundation for closed-loop
human-machine interfaces and interactive user-and-machine applications. In addition,
this project possesses the potential to enhance robotics, prosthetics, teleoperation,
smart manufacturing, entertainment, medical/military training, and virtual reality
(VR)/augmented reality (AR) machinery. When enough research has been conducted about
this subject, students will be able to enter more diverse fields of haptic devices
and nanotechnology.
Read here for more information.
SnappyXO Showcasing at CES 2023
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO) invited Mechanismic Inc, a Stony Brook University startup, to showcase SnappyXO
Design at the CES 2023 in Las Vegas, NV. Mechanismic Inc. was part of the U.S. Government
Startup showcase as one of only ten companies and the only NSF-funded company invited
to present their work. The CES, owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association,
is the largest tech event of the world, which drew close to 115,000 attendees this
year and has a rigorous process for accepting the latest technologies being unveiled
at the show.
The SnappyXO Design (
www.snappyxo.com
) is a STEM Robotics education product for K-12, colleges and universities, and makers
and hobbyists being developed by Mechanismic Inc. in collaboration with Stony Brook
University through a $1M NSF STTR Phase 2 award. Mechanismic Inc. was represented
by Dr. Anurag Purwar of Mechanical Engineering (Co-PI) and Wei Liao, who leads Systems
Division at Mechanismic. Mr. Liao is a Mechanical Engineering graduate (B.S. and M.S.)
from SBU who has developed the latest version of the groundbreaking MotionGen Pro
software. MotionGen Pro is the world's first AI-driven robot motion design software,
which is being used by students, researchers, and industry professionals and derives
lineage from an earlier NSF funded research grant titled "A Computational Framework
for Data-Driven Mechanism Design Innovation" to Dr. Anurag Purwar (PI) and Dr. Jeff
Ge (Co-PI). Prior to receiving NSF STTR phase I and II funding, Dr. Purwar's team
received a national NSF I-Corps award of $50,000 to determine the product-market fit
for SnappyXO Design.
NSF Awards Launch Prof. Gao into CEAS Millionaire's Club
SBU Robotics Internal Competition Event
CEAS Excellence Awards of 2022
Spontaneous Emulsification Research Awarded NSF Grant
Stony Brook Brings Summer Robotics Curriculum to Urban League Youth Program
Stony Brook 40 Under Forty
Alum Has Lifelong Love of Machines on the Grandest Scale
Anurag Purwar Selected to Receive Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Award
Prof. Shikui Chen and Prof. Jon Longtin Awarded NSF Grant
ASME Conference Paper Nominated For 2022 AT Yang Memorial Award
Collaborative Research on Advanced Materials Science Earns ProFund Seed Grant
Prof. Ladeinde Awarded SBU/BNL Seed Grant
SBIR Funding Granted to Professor Wang
Two MEC Alumni Announced as SBU's 40 Under Forty Honorees
Jason Loprete Receives President's Award for Excellence in Teaching
Serving the Engineering Accreditation Community
NSF Awards Launch Prof. Gao into CEAS Millionaire's Club
Mechanical Engineering professor, Jie Gao, has been awarded back-to-back NSF grants
this
semester.
The first award supports the study of “2D Ferroelectric Nonlinear Metasurface Holograms,” and
the project will explore switchable nonlinear metasurface holograms based on 2D materials
with high conversion efficiency and only nanometer thickness. This research will benefit
many promising photonic applications in optical data memory and logic, optical computing,
quantum information processing, and flat optoel
Sensing,” will fund Prof. Gao's research in developing ultrasensitive and selective
biomolecule sensing platforms based on infrared chiral metasurface. This research
will benefit many biomedical and photonic applications in early disease diagnosis,
pharmaceutical drug discovery, and quantum sensing.
With these two awards, in combination with previously earned awards for 2021-2022,
Prof. Gao was inducted into the Millionaire's Club for the College of Engineering
and Applied Sciences.
SBU Robotics Internal Competition Event
The Stony Brook Robotics Team held its annual Internal Competition event on November
12th. This year’s theme was The Hunt, where teams would compete against each other
in a free-for-all treasure hunt and retrieval game. Objects of varying shapes and
sizes were placed around the play area. A team would receive a certain amount of points
for retrieving each object, with the point value depending on the
complexity of the shape. Each team spent weeks working on their robots to ensure
they were ready to maneuver tricky obstacles, and collect objects with functioning
grabbing mechanisms. Congratulations to everyone who participated with a well-built
robot!
CEAS Excellence Awards of 2022
In order to signify the end of a prolific year, Interim Dean Jon Longtin announced
the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences awards at the annual State of the
College Address. The following members of the Mechanical Engineering faculty and staff
have been recognized for their exceptional contributions to the Department, the College,
and to the University.
Professor Shikui Chen and Professor Jie Gao have been inducted as members of the CEAS
Millionaire’s Club for accumulating more than $1 million each in research grants during
the 2021-2022 academic year.
The CEAS Excellence in Teaching Award has been conferred to Professor Dimitris Assanis
for the outstanding expertise he demonstrates both inside and outside the classroom.
Amanda Flanagan, Assistant to the Chair, has been granted the CEAS Excellence in Professional
Service Award due to her continual dedication to improving upon the Mechanical Engineering
department, CEAS, and Stony Brook University as a whole.
Congratulations to these award recipients on their well deserved recognition from
the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences!
Spontaneous Emulsification Research Awarded NSF Grant
Professor Thomas Cubaud from the Mechanical Engineering Department has been awarded
NSF grant of $359,641 to study the dynamics of spontaneous emulsification in microfluidic
systems. The project will examine the basic multiphase flow properties of mixtures
made of oil, aqueous, and organic solvents at the small scale. The phenomenon of spontaneous
emulsification refers to the natural formation of droplets due to the presence of
a miscible solvent in oil-water systems and offers great opportunities for tailoring
the properties of soft materials and developing innovative methods for the treatment
of oil and aqueous products in a range of industries, including pharmaceutical, personal
care, food, energy, and in the environment. While the multiphase flow behavior of
pure substances is relatively well understood, less is known about the influence of
fluid additives, such as alcohol solvents, which significantly alter material properties
and multiphase flow arrangements. Alcohols compose an important class of simple organic
compounds with a myriad of practical uses as extractants, antiseptics, detergents,
biofuels, wetting agents, viscosity modifiers, or emulsifiers. Activities are designed
to unravel the physics of multiphase flows in the presence of miscible solvents and
develop new predictive knowledge into an array of captivating fluid phenomena of fundamental
and practical interests.
Stony Brook Brings Summer Robotics Curriculum to Urban League Youth Program
"To encourage the exploration of STEM-based careers, the
Manufacturing and Technology Research Consortium (MTRC)
at Stony Brook University partnered with technology company Mechanismic Inc. to bring
the Design, Innovation and Robotics Summer Program to the Urban League of Long Island’s
summer youth program. Thirteen students participated in the camp, which took place
August 8-19 at Stony Brook’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology
(CEWIT)."
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Anurag Purwar, is the Chief Executive
Officer of Mechanismic Inc. and the inventor of SnappyXO, the robotics education platform
utilized during the STEM camp.
Read more here.
Stony Brook 40 Under Forty
The Department of Mechanical Engineering is proud to honor Adam Siegel '11 and Jean
Clifford Brutus '11, '12 at this years' Stony Brook 40 Under Forty. The honorees were
joined by Jeff Ge, Department Chair (pictured far left) and Jon Longtin, Interim Dean
of CEAS (pictured far right). The event was held on September 13th at the Tribeca
Rooftop in Manhattan.
Alum Has Lifelong Love of Machines on the Grandest Scale
Cliff Brutus recounts his journey from working on go-karts as a teenager in Haiti
to getting a STEM scholarship and then an internship at Brookhaven Lab.
See
here
for more information.
Anurag Purwar Selected to Receive Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Award
The 2022 Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Award has been granted to Assistant Professor
Anurag Purwar.
Margaret Ashida was a significant figure in America’s STEM workforce who strove to
connect both businesses with STEM educational leaders in K-12 sectors and colleges
nationwide. Her efforts resulted in the creation of the NYS State STEM Hubs, which
opened up different STEM career pathways for New York communities.
The New York State STEM Education Collaborative (NYSSEC) honors Margaret Ashida’s
memory by granting this award to STEM Leaders who have had remarkable impacts within
their community. Due to their ability to unite both STEM educational leaders and industries,
the chosen recipients are nominated as role models for STEM Leadership.
Prof. Purwar was nominated for this honor by
Marie Wicks
, the District STEM Lab Teacher for K-6 in the Franklin Square school district. Ms.
Wicks has known Prof. Purwar through his STEM educational initiatives, like
SnappyXO Robotics Education kit
MTRC Summer Robotics Program
, and Urban League Future of Workforce Development programs. She has first-hand experience
working with the SnappyXO Engineering Design curriculum for K-6 students and used
it to teach design innovation and creativity to K-6 students.
Prof. Purwar has been invited to attend the 2022 Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Awards
ceremony at the NYSSTEC Summer Institute, located at Alfred State College from July
24th to the 26th. The award will be presented on Monday, July 25th. More information
about the Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Award can be found
here
Prof. Shikui Chen and Prof. Jon Longtin Awarded NSF Grant
NSF has funded the Partnership For Innovation-Research Partnership (PFI-RP) proposal
Magnet Topology
Optimization for Electric Machine Design,
" which was prepared by a team consisting of colleagues from SBU and GE Renewable
Energy. The SBU team includes Prof. Shikui Chen and Prof. Jon Longtin of the Mechanical
Engineering Department, and Prof. Fang Luo of the Electrical and Computer Engineering
Department. The total amount for this award is $550,000 for three years. General Electric
Company (GE) is also sponsoring the project, under the award title "GE Renewable Energy
Onshore Wind Project."
The collaborative team aims to advance the design of Rare-Earth (RE) permanent magnet
structures for generator systems and improve the architecture and design methodology
of future generators and electric motors. This project is expected to significantly
increase the applicability of physics-based simulation-driven design technology to
the growing volume of electrical engineering problems. The success of this project
could change the landscape of the electric generator and electric motor industries.
The SBU-GE team will work closely to develop a Topology Optimization (TO) co-design/co-optimization
software tool “Magnet Topology Optimization (MagneTOP)” for electric machine design.
The software tool suite consists of a topology optimization engine and a general boundary
condition generator. The team will demonstrate this software suite specifically in
GE’s 15-Megawatt Haliade-X wind turbine generator, a Rare-Earth permanent magnet high-performance
wind energy generator. The proposed software suite is expected to be a plug-in module
that can be installed as an add-on to existing design and modeling tools such as Ansys®-EM
Simulation, COMSOL, Abaqus, Autodesk-Fusion 360 and other industry standard CAD/CAE
tools.
Through the technology development and commercialization of this TO software module,
the SBU-GE team aims to reduce the reliance on RE materials in the design of high-performance
generators and electric motors, thereby relieving the growing customer pains due to
shortages, supply-chain issues, and increasing prices of RE materials.
Click here for more information.
ASME Conference Paper Nominated For 2022 AT Yang Memorial Award
Selected as the winner of the AT Yang Memorial Award in Theoretical Kinematics is
Professor Jeff Ge’s paper, “On the Computation of the Average Of Spatial Displacements."
The Mechanisms and Robotics honor will be recognized at the 2022 International Design
Engineering Technical Conference (IDETC) to be held in August in St. Louis, MO. Co-authors
include Dr.
Mark Langer, Professor of Clinical Radiation Oncology at Indiana University School
of Medicine, Dr. Mona Arbab, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at UT Southwestern
Medical Center, and Zihan Yu, PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook
University. The award comes with a cash prize of $1000 to be split among the four
authors.
Collaborative Research on Advanced Materials Science Earns ProFund Seed Grant
Professor Carlos Colosqui from the Mechanical Engineering department and co-PIs Surita
Bhatia and Peter Khalifah from the Chemistry department have been funded by the Provost’s
Office, in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President for Research for their
research project “Advanced Materials Science Including Composites and 2D Materials”.
ProFund Seed Grants are awarded to a maximum of five multidisciplinary research teams
at SBU who seek to apply to externally funded research and training initiatives in
order to allow them to submit proposals for medium/large scale grants.
Projects reviewed by the ProFund program are assessed based on their innovativeness,
how closely they relate to the purpose of the seed grant, overall impact on the community,
potential for external funding, group qualifications, and budget practicality. If
the project gains external funding, ProFund will provide an additional $100,000/year
for two years.
Prof. Ladeinde Awarded SBU/BNL Seed Grant
Professor Foluso Ladeinde from the Mechanical Engineering department has been awarded
a seed grant of $34,568 from the 2022 SBU BNL Seed Grant Program in order to develop
a new approach to analyzing the unpredictable interactions between aerosol and cloud
in the atmosphere. This proposal was created due to the lack of knowledge about their
interactions and is reflected in their respective weather and climate models.
As a result of this comprehension gap, essential facets of the vital processes that
occur during aerosol-cloud-interactions, such as cloud and aerosol microphysics, turbulent
entrainment-mixing between clouds and environmental air, and turbulence-cloud-aerosol
interactions are all either misrepresented or excluded altogether.
In order to address these challenges, Prof. Ladeinde, Yangang Liu from BNL’s Environmental
and Climate Sciences Department, and Vanessa Lopez-Marrero from BNL’s Computational
Science Initiative seek to develop a cross-cutting particle-based direct numerical
simulation (DNS) model that detects minute turbulent eddies in the cloud, tracks the
evolution of individual cloud and aerosol particles, and encompasses a domain comparable
to large eddy simulation (LES) grid size.
The information gleaned from their research will be used to determine what aspects
of weather and climate should be prioritized for study onwards.
SBIR Funding Granted to Professor Wang
A subcontract for research and development on a project entitled
“SBIR Phase 1: Impact Resistant Mortar Baseplate,” sponsored by
Lynntech Incorporated
, has been awarded to Prof. Lifeng Wang. The project is funded by the United States
Army through the SBIR Opportunity Grant and allows small businesses to fulfill their
technological ambitions.
Prof. Wang and his colleagues are currently developing auxetic design concepts that
will be used to improve the impact strength of lightweight and powerful carbon composites
and involve the utilization of 3D printing during the fabrication process. These composites
are in high demand in both military and commercial markets due to their versatility.
Two MEC Alumni Announced as SBU's 40 Under Forty Honorees
Congratulations to Mechanical Engineering alumni Adam Siegel '11 and Jean Clifford
Brutus '11, '12. They have been named 2021 Honorees of the
Stony Brook University 40 under Forty.
Adam is a Principal Engineering and Technical Specialist for the Research and Advanced
Technolgoy Division of Engine Design and System Integration at Pratt & Whitney Corp.
Cliff is a Proj
ct Manager
for Brookhaven National Laboratory and a member of the Inclusion and Diversity Council
for Nuclear and Particle Physics Directorate.
The alumni are being honored for the impact that they have already made in Science
& Engineering. Adam and Cliff, along with 38 other honorees, will be recognized and
celebrated at an upcoming event in September.
See
here
for more information.
Jason Loprete Receives President's Award for Excellence in Teaching
The 2021-2022 President's Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student was
granted to Jason Loprete, Mechanical Engineering PhD student. Jason was recognized
for his outstanding work and commitment as a Teaching Assistant and as the primary
instructor for MEC 301 (Thermodynamics), a large-scale, required undergraduate course.
One of the challenges Loprete faced was being able to engage students during his lessons
as they transitioned from online classes to back to in-person, as the COVID restrictions
eased. He prioritized maintaining their interests by making lectures as interactive
as possible and by utilizing visual, audio, and kinesthetic mentor styles to encourage
ease of learning. Loprete states, “The last thing I wanted to be for my students was
an audiobook version of the textbook- I wanted to give them something they couldn't
get at home.”
Thanks to Loprete’s efforts in optimizing his lessons, he was able to experience firsthand
the impact of his teachings through the appreciation of his students, who express
their thanks and inform him of the opportunities and achievements they’ve accomplished
since taking his course. Loprete values these moments and believes their continued
contact beyond the classroom is a measure of his success in the classroom.
His own experience with Stony Brook’s Mechanical Engineering program allowed him insight
to the knowledge students had at this point in the curriculum, so he adapted his lessons
according to what they may struggle to learn throughout the course. In addition, his
time working as a Teaching Assistant under the guidance of faculty members such as
Jon Longtin, Kedar Kirane, and Dimitris Assanis, exposed him to different teaching
styles and philosophies. This encouraged him to use pieces of those methods in the
classroom to develop his own technique.
Loprete extends his thanks for their support to Mandy and Dee of the Mechanical Engineering
Department, as well as to Prof. Jon Longtin, whose mentorship allowed for him to take
on the tasks of an instructor and student simultaneously. “I wanted to do for my students
what he did for me back when I was in their shoes- and if I was able to do even half
that, I would count this as a win.”
This award
was presented at a ceremony held in May and hosted by the university’s Graduate School
for recipients and their families. Awardees are given a certificate, a monetary award,
and are expected to participate in a colloquium for Teaching Assistants prior to the
start of the following Fall semester.
Annual Freshman Design Presentations
Applied Mechanics Awards Prof. Kirane for Best Paper
The Flipped Classroom: Prof. Purwar presents at ASEE Conference
SUNY RF Highlights Prof. Purwar as it Celebrates 70 Years of Innovation
Professor Kirane Awarded CEAS Excellence in Teaching Award
Professor Purwar Awarded $1M for Educational Robotics Framework
Professor Yao Awarded NSF EAGER Funding
Memorializing the Work of Ted O'Brien
Collaborative Research Earns DOE Award to Speed Up the Transition to Electric Vehicles
Presidential Dissertation Completion Fellowship
NIH Funding Awarded to Professor Chen
Welcoming New Members to the Department
Department Chair Honored with ASME DED Award
Orchid Imaging Award
Two SBU-BNL Seed Grants Awarded to Mechanical Engineering Faculty
Mechanical Engineering Department Graduates 155 in the Class of 2021
Sean Vierling Recieves Mountain Mover Award
Professor A. Purwar featured in Stony Brook Magazine
Professor D. Hwang Receieves Award Through Korea Institute of Science and Technology
Robotic Arm-augmented Wheelchair Earns Prof. Chakraborty OVPR Seed Grant
OVPR Seed Grant - Professor Kao
Professor Longtin Awarded $100k Subcontract
Motorsports Club Flourishes Amidst Pandemic
Professor Ge Appointed Co-Editor of the Journal of Mechanical Design
MEC 101: Annual Freshman Design Presentations
MEC 101, Freshman Design Innovation, recently concluded its first in-person semester
since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Taught by Professor Anurag Purwar, the class had
150 students this year. Given its in-person format, the class was able to do its annual
presentation outside of a Zoom call, allowing students to see one another’s devices
and present their creations face-to-face.
Anar Nurizada, a mechanical engineering PhD student, was one of the TAs for the course.
“I took this class myself in 2016, so I was kind of aware of what problems students
could face throughout the course,” said Nurizada. The course teaches students STEM
concepts through hands-on learning with robot design. Kits are manufactured in Prof.
Purwar’s lab and given out to students to assist in their creations.
“I was mainly responsible for manufacturing SnappyXO pieces,” Nurizada explained,
“but I also helped students with their homeworks and any other issues they had during
the semester. I was delighted that a lot of students were keen on understanding the
material and asked good questions.”
During the pandemic, Prof. Purwar and his teaching assistants sent kits to students
all over the world and had them work on their robots remotely. This year, students
were able to be helped in-person with any mechanical or other difficulties they may
have come across during their work.
Some of the teams featured include Nuts and Bolts, who created a delivery robot that
uses a line and color sensor to deliver items to certain locations, The Goofy Goobers,
who made a social robotic dog that responds to various stimuli, and Color Turtl.3,
who created a green, turtle-appearing robot that performs motions in response to different
colors and button inputs.
Nurizada was happy with the results of the course, stating, “At the end of the semester,
it was interesting to see what kind of robots the students came up with and, honestly
speaking, all students did a great job!”
Applied Mechanics Awards Prof. Kirane for Best Paper
The 2022 Journal of Applied Mechanics Award has been given to Professor Kedar Kirane
for his published paper, entitled “Fracture and energetic strength scaling of soft,
brittle and weakly nonlinear elastomers.” The award is provided by the Applied Mechanics
Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to honor the best
paper which has been published in the journal during the prior two years.
Along with the Journal of Applied Mechanics Award, Prof. Kirane will also receive
a certificate and an honorarium for his efforts.
The Flipped Classroom: Prof. Purwar presents at ASEE Conference
Introductory engineering classes that follow the traditional lecture format have constricted
aspiring students from being able to personally engage themselves in a field that
demands hands-on innovation and developed expertise.
The solution Professor Anurag Purwar offers to remedy this issue is the “flipped classroom,”
which he implements in MEC 101 - the Design Innovation and Robotics class offered
at Stony Brook University. Here he “emphasizes learning STEM concepts in the context
of robot design,” while being financially accessible due to the availability of videos
on youtube.com, course material free of required textbook use, and an open robot design
project site.
This course also “uses a novel, modular, and low-cost robotics kit and a state-of-the-art
software for design and prototyping of robot motion,” and is based on the Mechanisms
and Robotics research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Prof. Purwar has received outstanding commendations for his approach to teaching;
so much so that he was invited to host another workshop during the Fall 2021 ASEE
Middle Atlantic Section Conference on November 13. The workshop entitled, “Scalable
and Authentic Robotics and Design Innovation Education from Freshman to Graduate Level,”
taught educators a new way to structure their hands-on classes.
For more information on Prof. Purwar’s workshop at the Fall 2021 ASEE Middle Atlantic
Section Conference, click
here
SUNY RF Highlights Prof. Purwar as it Celebrates 70 Years of Innovation
Click
here
to be directed to the post.
CEAS Excellence in Teaching Awarded to Prof. Kirane
In recognition of his abilities in and out of the classroom, Professor Kedar Kirane
as
been
awarded the 2021 CEAS Excellence in Teaching Award. Prof
. Kirane was honored for his superior teaching, as well as his innovation and ability
to adapt his teaching modality under the unique and challenging circumstances of the
past year and a half.
“I am very glad the students like my teaching style, and I hope I can continue t
mprove,” said Prof. Kirane. “I thank all the students for their positive feedback
about my teaching. I am also thankful to the TAs and graders assisting with the teaching,
and also the entire MEC department (faculty and staff) for the support.”
After the Spring 2020 semester, when COVID had forced the semester online mid-way,
many students left positive comments about Prof. Kirane’s teaching of MEC 363, a foundational
course of mechanical engineering at the sophomore level. Many described him with glowing
remarks; “an incredible professor,” “phenomenal,” and “a gem.” One student went as
far as to say that he is, “the golden standard for what MEC classes should be, dare
I say, all college classes in general.”
Prof. Kirane is currently supervising two doctoral students as well as three MS students
and supervising the research of three undergraduate students. In the past, he has
successfully advised eight MS graduates with thesis, and supervised ten recently graduated
seniors through the MEC 499 research course, continuing his supervision throughout
the pandemic to ensure that the students’ degree progress remained on track.
Outside of the classroom, Prof. Kirane is on various committees in the Mechanical
Engineering Department and within the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
He also serves on several committees within ASME and other academic societies.
“Kedar has been an outstanding junior faculty in the Mechanical Engineering department,”
said Prof. Jeff Ge, the Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “He embodies
the innovative spirit of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and I am
proud to call Kedar my colleague.”
Professor Purwar Awarded $1M for Educational Robotics Framework
Stony Brook University and Mechanismic Inc. have been awarded $1,000,000 by the National
Science Foundation’s
Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Program
for their proposal "A Design-Driven Educational Robotics Framework." The Stony Brook
University team is led by
Mechanical Engineering
professor Anurag Purwar, who is the primary inventor of the technology and lead researcher
on this project. Professor Kedar Kirane, also from Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Keith
Sheppard from the
Institute for STEM Education
, and Erik Flynn from the
School of Health Technology and Management
are senior persons on the SBU team. The SBU team will be receiving a share of over
$300,000 for two years, as well as an additional $80,000 from
Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR)
As described by Prof. Purwar, the framework is a unified platform that is capable
of teaching students engineering design, practical electronics and programming all
in one place. “[It]
brings a new approach to STEM and robotics education, wherein students engage in the
entire design innovation cycle from conceptualization to programmable robots.”
SnappyXO Design
, originally conceived by Prof. Purwar for teaching purposes, is part of the work
he’s doing in this project. In the beginning, it was able to give freshman students
the chance to enjoy authentic engineering design in robotics, but now it has been
built upon to be something greater. “As part of this project,” he explains, “our research
is going to bring together rigid body kinematics and machine learning to develop software
and algorithms for an AI-driven mechanism design architecture. This software will
democratize design innovation and invention and put the power of creativity in the
hands of every student and engineer.”
Through a multidisciplinary approach, the platform can be a first step into a STEM
discipline for any student, especially underrepresented groups such as women or minorities.
As a child, I never got a chance to do anything related to robotics or even play with
them,” said Prof. Purwar. “ I grew up in a modest neighborhood and town with little
access to electronics or technological toys, which looking back, I can say confidently,
would have had a major impact on me. Creating this robotics education product is my
way of reliving my childhood playing, tinkering, and learning with robots and machines
that I wish I had.”
The SBIR/STTR program focuses on supporting innovation by investing federal research
funds with the goal of turning scientific discoveries into products and services with
commercial or social benefits. Prof. Purwar’s invention was licensed by Mechanismic
Inc., a NY-based C-Corporation, co-founded by him and Professor Jeff Ge which is bringing
this technology to the market.
This award will enable us to develop the next generation of hardware for robot design,
software for building invention design capacity, and a standards-aligned curriculum
for K-12 and college students,” Purwar explained. “[It] will lead to a design-driven
educational robotics product that provides Problem- and Project-Based Learning (PBL)
experiences for K-12 and post-secondary students to grasp STEM concepts in a fun,
active, and engaging way.”
Professor Yao Awarded NSF EAGER Funding
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's diseases) is a common
neuromuscular disease that has had a large share of fame whether it be from figures
like Lou Gehrig or Steven Hawking, who both famously had it, or from awareness campaigns
such as the ALS bucket challenge. Incurable, ALS can result in muscle weakness and
atrophy that can make walking, talking and even breathing on one’s own difficult -
and as they usually can still perform higher mental processes, the inability to properly
communicate with others can lead to depression and anxiety. To try and address this
issue, a new proposal was funded this past summer that seeks to make life for those
with ALS easier.
“The overarching goal of this project is to build an unobtrusive hardware-software
platform for ALS patients that can capture speech-relevant lip gestures and decode
lip movements for speech,” said the project’s abstract. The project,
Lip Reading by Unobtrusive Multimodal Sensors and Machine Learning Algorithms,
is headed by Prof. Shanshan Yao from Mechanical Engineering as a collaboration with
Prof. Petar M. Djurić, Department Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and
Dr. Renee Fabus, Founder and Chair of the Speech Language Pathology Department at
Stony Brook. The project was proposed through the National Science Foundation’s EAGER
mechanism - Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research - and was awarded this grant
in July.
ALS patients, as well as individuals with speech and hearing disorders, could all
benefit from a technology that seeks to improve upon the existing methods for tracking
and interpreting facial movements. This project hopes to create a skin-like multimodal
strain and electromyography (EMG) sensing system capable of tracking skin deformations
and muscle activities associated with lip movements and then convert these inputs
into spoken word.
An opportunity for students to participate in cross-disciplinary research as well,
the abstract noted that parts of the project will be integrated into coursework and
capstone design projects.
This project can lay the groundwork for “developing a truly natural and unobtrusive
hardware-software system,” as explained in the abstract. “Our proposed work can fill
the gaps in the existing solutions by an intuitive and unobtrusive technology for
lip reading.”
Memorializing the Work of Ted O'Brien
The
Physics of Fluids
journal released a special issue dedicated to the memory of the
late Edward E. “Ted” O’Brien,” a Stony Brook University Professor Emeritus of Mechanical
Engineering.
Published by the American Institute of Physics, multiple guest editors participated
in this special edition including, Professor Emeritus César Dopazo of Zaragoza University,
Spain, said to be one of the most celebrated students of Prof. O’Brien in academia;
Professor Peyman Givi, a colleague of Prof. O’Brien and a distinguished professor
at the University of Pittsburgh; and Professor Foluso Ladeinde, associate professor
at Stony Brook University, founding chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering
at SUNY Korea, and a mentee of Prof. O’Brien.
Professor O’Brien was a Professor of Fluid Mechanics, a member of ASME and New York
Academy of Sciences as well as a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He joined
Stony Brook University in 1961, when the university held its first commencement and
appointed its first president. He joined the inaugural faculty as a founding professor
in the College of Engineering and Applied Science and a member of the Department of
Thermal Sciences. Under his leadership the program gained popularity and grew into
what is now the Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he served as the Chair
from 1983 to 1991.
“I am very pleased to be involved with this effort of immortalizing Ted’s name,” said
Prof. Ladeinde. “It is my hope that Stony Brook University will take pride, not only
in Ted’s academic accomplishments per se, but also in the international recognition
of same.”
Regarded as a pioneer in the field, Prof. O’Brien made a variety of contributions
to fluid mechanics and turbulent combustion specifically. From the beginning of his
career in the 1950s, he made fundamental contributions to the spectral theory of reactive
scalars. In the 1970s-80s, he was widely recognized for introducing and popularizing
single- and multi-point probability density functions (PDF) closures within the reactive
turbulent flow community. Through the 1990s to present day, his contributions continued
to be well-received and highly cited to the end of his research career.
The August issue of the Physics of Fluids journal can be read
here
Collaborative Research Earns DOE Award to Speed Up the Transition to Electric Vehicles
Fossil-fuel vehicles are a leading cause of mass carbon emissions, resulting in the
gradual temperature increase on Earth’s surface and exacerbating the acidity in rain
during precipitation. In order to combat the detrimental effects this energy source
has on the environment, domestic and international organizations alike have set ambitious
goals to completely phase out its use in the upcoming decades. Research developments
and technological innovations geared towards fully transitioning to electric vehicles
and decarbonizing the transportation sector are receiving unprecedented support from
the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other federal agencies.
A collaborative research group led by a material scientist (Prof. Esther Takeuchi)
includes electrochemists (Prof. Amy Marschilok, Prof. Kenneth Takeuchi) and a mechanical
engineer (Prof. Carlos Colosqui). Stony Brook University has received a DOE award
of more than 2.2 million dollars. The funding from this institution will be used to
produce new electrolytes for high-performance lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that
charge and discharge at accelerated speeds, even while under extreme conditions. To
undertake this proposition, the researchers at SBU will consolidate efforts with scientists
at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Brown University.
Titled “Fluorinated Ester Local High Concentration Electrolytes for Operation of Li-ion
Batteries under Extreme Conditions,” this scientific venture is aimed towards creating
a novel class of non-flammable electrolytes for Li-ion Batteries, which are essence
complex fluids with a high concentration of nanoparticles that act as charge carriers
in a liquid medium. Prof. Colosqui, who currently spearheads this study, strives to
further understand and predict fluid flow, rheological properties, and mass and charge
transport through these newly manufactured electrolytes.
“This project highlights the critical importance of interdisciplinary research and
the key role that fluid mechanics will play in the transition to sustainable technologies
and green energy,” Prof. Colosqui states.
SBU will be collaborating with selective research institution groups in order to advance
the fundamental science and technological innovations required to decarbonize the
U.S. transportation sector and combat climate change.
“[By] partnering with industry and leading research universities, DOE’s investment
in these 24 projects will create technologies that will cut vehicle greenhouse emissions
and boost America’s competitiveness in the global clean energy market,” the 16th Secretary
of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm affirms.
Students interested in contributing to this research are encouraged to contact Prof.
Colosqui at
carlos.colosqui@stonybrook.edu
Presidential Dissertation Completion Fellowship
As the majority of students return to campus, some are working to recover from COVID’s
effect on their work. Vamiq Mohammed Mustahsan was the recipient of the 2021 Presidential
Dissertation Completion Fellowship awarded by the SBU Graduate School. The fellowship
is awarded to students who demonstrate solid achievement and steady pre-pandemic progress
to their degree. It would provide two semesters of stipend support for an advanced
doctoral student ($20,000) who has experienced a delay in their degree progress due
to circumstances or challenges beyond their control.
Mustahsan had been on track to graduate by May of 2021 after giving his Ph.D. proposal
two years prior. His research focuses on customized bone tumor resection and bone
reconstruction, increasing the accuracy of bone tumor resections and developing a
structurally
biomimetic and biocompatible implant. Ideally, Mustahsan will develop a methodology
that would reduce the overall costs and vastly improve the quality of life in those
who suffer from osteosarcoma - one of the most common forms of bone cancer. After
the removal of malignant bone tumors, patients can be forced to deal with inaccurately
fitted implants that can lead to future complications. “Most patients are forced to
undergo multiple subsequent surgeries, sometimes even ultimately an amputation,” explained
Mustahsan. “[However], if a very good implant fit is achieved, the lifetime of the
implant is significantly improved.”
The original plan was to carry out in-vivo studies by implanting their customized
implant or bone graft substitute (BGS) in mice. However, after spending the Fall of
2019 planning and preparing for the experiment, the events of early 2020 quickly forced
the study to a stop.
“We started the study in the second week of February 2020 and reached the second stage
of our experiment in the second week of March when the nationwide COVID lockdown was
implemented,” Mustahsan said. The experiment was conducted in the department of Anesthesiology,
which was shut down along with the university hospital as all available lab space
was taken for COVID research purposes. The study couldn’t be returned to until October;
Mustahsan and his group concluded the second stage in December 2020. Mustahsan still
faced problems however, as surgery on the mice were required for the third stage by
orthopedic residents and attendings familiar with bone tumor surgeries.
“Even after the hospital restrictions for researchers were partially lifted in Fall,
many attendings and residents were still enlisted in COVID duty. Consequently, we
could not get them to do the surgeries,” said Mustahsan. The surgeries couldn’t be
completed until April 2021, less than a month before Mustahsan’s planned graduation.
There was no other choice but to push his graduation back an entire year in order
to complete his research.
Many have seen this fellowship as well-deserved including Professor Imin Kao, Mustahsan’s
Ph.D. advisor. “This fellowship reflects his work here at Stony Brook,” said Kao,
describing Mustahsan’s advocacy for graduate students at Stony Brook. While managing
his own experiments, he has also been working in collaboration with the Stony Brook
Office of Government Affairs in the capacity of the Chair for Policy Action for State
Affairs for Stony Brook Graduate Student Organization (SBGSO) and actively organizing
the Science and Research Awareness Series with the Department of Anesthesiology in
Stony Brook Hospital. Mustahsan also worked as a Resident Assistant for over 3 years
in Chapin Apartments, a graduate student dorm that mainly houses international students
and previously, was recognized with the Outstanding Leadership Award by the SBGSO.
Although COVID interrupted his original plans, Mustahsan will now complete his work
and thanks to the fellowship, will complete his degree in May 2022.
NIH Funding Awarded to Professor Chen
The project “Magnetically activated structures for minimally invasive endovascular
therapy" has been selected for funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
of over $600,000. This collaborative project features Professor Shikui Chen of the
Mechanical Engineering Department, Drs. Chander Sadasivan and Apostolos Tassiopoulos
from SBU’s Renaissance School of Medicine, and Professor David Gu from the Computer
Science Department. Professor Sadasivan is the principal investigator and the contact
of this NIH proposal.
The multi-department group hopes to tackle the dangers of abdominal aortic aneurysm
(AAA). While heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, AAA is also one
of the
top 15 leading causes of death
in people over the age of 65, directly causing nearly
10,000 deaths
per year. Professor Chen hopes to make the process of treating AAA easier with this
project.
“The treatment of AAA mainly relies on minimally invasive endovascular therapy,” described
Prof. Chen, “[but] the major obstacle to current endovascular treatment is that the
structure of the device is not optimal relative to the patient's vascular anatomy.”
The proposal seeks to use magnetically activated structures (MAS) to optimize treatment
and effectively customize grafts to each patient. A non-invasive magnetic field can
be used to deform MAS-grafts inside the patient so that they conform to the vascular
wall and prevent leaks, migrations or anything that could lead to AAA.
“The primary goal of this project is to develop numerical schemes for multi-material
topology optimization of an endovascular MAS-graft with actively controllable motion
and balanced stiffness,” said Prof. Chen. “MAS designs generated from patient-specific
AAA geometries will be reduced to a single design via robust design principles. Proof-of-concept
of deployment and non-invasive control of the structures will be evaluated in vitro.”
Welcoming New Department Members
The Mechanical Engineering Department is happy to welcome back students and staff
alike as the fall semester brings back most people to campus after roughly two and
a half semesters of remote learning. The new academic year holds promise as everyone
can properly take advantage of everything the Stony Brook University campus has to
offer.
As well as welcoming back students returning and new, the department also welcomes
back faculty returning and new. There are three new members of the department this
year, Austin Giordano, Amin Fakhari, and Jie Gao.
Austin Giordano initially joined Stony Brook University as an undergraduate student
in 2015. He
completed his Bachelor's of Engineering in 2019, as well as a Master's of Science
in Mechanical Engineering in 2021, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in our department. In the
summer of 2021, Austin joined as an Instructional Support Specialist, where in this
role he assists with the lab courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
Giordano would like to assist the students with developing their passions for engineering
outside of the classroom, through research, clubs or personal projects. “I'd like
to welcome back all of our returning students at every level - it's good to be back
on campus with all of you!” Giordano continued, “To all of the new students, I would
like to welcome you to our department and to our campus. You're in for some great
times over the next few years!"
Amin Fakhari joined the Mechanical Engineering faculty this Fall as an Assistant Professor
of Practice, though he has been part of the Stony Brook community since 2013. Previously,
he was
an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at SUNY Korea in
2017, and a research scholar in Stony Brook’s Department of Mechanical Engineering
in 2013. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Isfahan University of
Technology in Iran. His research interests are in robotics, dynamical systems, control
systems, machine learning, and mechatronics. He specializes in anthropomorphic robotic
hands, dextrous manipulation planning, force and motion planning, object grasping
analysis, soft contact modeling, and slippage control. He aims to develop robotic
systems that mimic or surpass human capabilities.
Jie Gao joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering as Associate Professor in
the Fall of 2021. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Her research interests
include optical and thermal energy harvesting, optical sensing and imaging, nanomanufacturing,
opto-mechanics, and quantum optics. The current research projects in her lab range
from novel 2D materials, optical nanostructures, infrared absorbers and emitters to
light emission devices.
We’re happy to have all three of them join us and look forward to a great, safe school
year.
Department Chair Honored with ASME DED Award
Professor and Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr. Jeff Ge, has been
awarded the Mechanisms and Robotics Award by the Design and Engineering Division (DED)
of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This award is given annually
to recognize outstanding engineers who are known to have given a lifetime’s contributions
to the field of mechanism design or theory. This prestigious award can only be received
once in their career.
Dr. Ge has made numerous scientific and engineering contributions in kinematics and
design and has established himself as a global leader of the community. “This is well-deserved,
and a notable achievement for a lifelong career dedicated to mechanism design,” said
Professor and Interim Dean Jon Longtin. Another of Dr. Ge’s colleagues, Assistant
Professor Anurag Purwar, described the award as the “highest honor in the Mechanisms
and Robotics community,” and stated, “I am proud to call myself Jeff’s colleague.”
Having been on the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering since 1993,
Dr. Ge has ascended from Undergraduate Program Director all the way to the Chair of
the Department while making vast leaps and bounds in the engineering community, including
the establishment of a new and developing discipline in computational kinematic geometry.
His deserved success in the field and this award is highlighted best in those who
are inspired to meet the standards he sets for all those who come after him, such
as Assistant Professor Dimitris Assanis. “This is truly a fantastic honor and a testament
to the continued contributions [Dr. Ge] makes in the field,” said Assanis. “We are
fortunate as a department to be guided by such a strong research-oriented Chair.”
Orchid Imaging Award
Associate professor Shikui Chen is a member of the 2021 winning team, Orchid Imaging,
in the SUNY Startup Summer School (S4) Class of 2021 Demo Day quick pitch competition
as highlighted in the
Stony Brook University News
. The competition, which took place on August 11, is designed to showcase grant proposals
and research of 153 SUNY students and faculty in emerging technologies fields. This
comes after two months of curriculum focusing on entrepreneurship, grants and other
skills to ensure the success of the participating startups.
Formed in 2020, Orchid Imaging’s main focus is the early detection of skin cancer
by commercializing 3D imaging technologies invented at Stony Brook by the startup’s
leader, Professor David Gu. Along with Orchid’s commercialization lead, Professor
Rong Zhao, the
company is partnering with Stony Brook Dermatology and other clinics to develop a
3D full-body scanning system and to demonstrate that its skin analysis software is
accurate enough for skin cancer screening.
“Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the US, and if caught and treated early,
it is highly curable,” Professor Chen explained. “Our goal is to use the 3D-vision-based
skin cancer detection technology to help patients detect abnormal changes in their
skin as early as possible. I am thrilled to work with Prof. Gu and Prof. Zhao to transfer
this cutting edge technology from lab to market. We look forward to our technology
having a positive impact on society.”
The winning S4 teams will receive a $10,000 S4 Technology Accelerator Fund Catalyst
Investment, follow-up support from SUNY to identify and create strong grant-funding
proposals, as well as business-development mentoring and coaching from the SUNY Research
Foundation’s Venture Advisors.
For more information on this year’s SUNY Startup Summer School,
click here
Two SBU-BNL Seed Grants Awarded to Mechanical Engineering Faculty
Two Mechanical Engineering faculty members have each been awarded 2021 SBU-BNL seed
grants, positioning them to pursue new external funding. The seed grant is made possible
with contributions from both President Maurie McInnis and the Office of Brookhaven
Affairs.
One of the teams, consisting of Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Shanshan
Yao and Associate Materials Scientist Esther Tsai, have been conferred a $41,000 grant
for their project proposal
“Multiscale Design and Characterization of Soft–Rigid Interfaces for Hybrid Skin-Like
Wearable Electronics and Soft Robotics”.
Assistant Professor Dimitris Assanis from the Mechanical Engineering department and
Rebecca Trojanowski from BNL’s Energy Conversion Group were awarded $39,680 in funding
for their project “Large Eddy Simulations for Superior, Computationally Optimized
Oxidation using Biomass (LESS CO₂ using Biomass)”.
The SBU-BNL Seed Grant program is a yearly competition that encourages group coordination
from researchers from Stony Brook University and Brookhaven
National Laboratory. Their target objective is to offer opportunities that expand
upon research programs while adhering to the goals of both establishments. At the
moment, the SBU-BNL Seed Grant Program aims to start research that will allow their
investigators to seek funding from external sources.
Sean Vierling Recieves Mountain Mover Award
Sean Vierling, a senior Mechanical Engineering major, was awarded the Mountain Mover
Award during this year’s Student Employee and Supervisor of the Year Awards Ceremony
hosted by the
University Career Center. This ceremony is held every year to honor exceptional student
employees and their supervisors. The Mountain Mover Award in particular recognizes
those who have had a significant impact in their workplace.
“When I won the award I was very surprised,” said Vierling, “I was also extremely
grateful that I have a great mentor in Professor Purwar to help me earn an award such
as this.” Vierling has worked ​in the lab of Professor Anurag Purwar for several years
and is currently a National Science Foundation Fellow there. His main focus is walking
machines and robotics. He assists in the creation and development of Professor Purwar’s
SnappyXO STEM kit but also designs a variety of walking-based robots. Together, Vierling
and Purwar plan to write a book on this robotics work.
“I am working on a multi-degree of freedom robot for a Vertically Integrated Project
class where my team and I are testing the effect of walking gaits on various terrains.”
Vierling explained. “[Additionally] this semester, my Senior Design team and I are
working on a prototype for a sit-to-stand device for children with Cerebral Palsy.”
When the pandemic began, Vierling’s focus shifted to encompass not only his existing
projects but how to help frontline medical workers. He worked with them to create
a laser cut face shield that could be pivoted away from the users face to allow them
to change masks and drink without needing to take it off. He also created a laser
cut N-95 face mask holder in which medical workers could keep their masks safe and
separate from one another to elongate the lives of their overused masks.
Professor Purwar nominated Vierling for this award, having known him since his first
year at Stony Brook. “I first met Sean in 2017 when he was a Freshman student in my
MEC 101: Freshman Design Innovation class. Much impressed with his work ethic, I offered
him a paid position to work in my lab. Over time, he has proved to be an exceptional
organizer and leader... Without a doubt, he is the most competent and accomplished
undergraduate student employee I have ever had. I wholeheartedly recommend him for
this award.”
After receiving the Mountain Mover Award, Vierling was also chosen to receive the
2021 Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence. This annual award is given to a select
number of graduating seniors who show academic excellence not only in the classroom,
but outside of it in activities such as research and building a stronger academic
community.
Next year, I hope to complete my thesis under Professor Purwar,” Vierling said. “After,
I will likely look for a job in industry - preferably in the field of Robotics or
Defense.
Professor A. Purwar Featured in Stony Brook Magazine
Click
here
to be directed to the article.
Professor D. Hwang Receives Award Through Korea Institute of Science and Technology
Professor Dr. David Hwang recently received a third installment of an award for the
‘Laser Scribing Technology Building Integrated Solar Photovoltaic Module’ from the
sponsoring agency, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). In total, Prof.
Hwang will collect the equivalent of
460,000,000 KRW (approximately $411,817) over 5 project years (55 months)
. Congratulations!
Robotic Arm-augmented Wheelchair Earns Prof. Chakraborty OVPR Seed Grant
Professor Nilanjan Chakraborty has been selected as a recipient of the Office of the
Vice President for Research (OVPR) Seed Grant, for a research project entitled "
Robotic Arm-augmented Wheelchair for Enabling Independent Living for People with Quadriplegia."
he development of this technology required for a wheelchair-mounted robot arm could
help improve the quality of life for disabled individuals.
The vision is for people with SLD to carry out essential activities like feeding themselves,
going
from one room to another, using high level commands.” explained Prof. Chakraborty.
“For example,
the user can say ‘open the door’
and the robot arm can execute the task of opening the door, so that the user can pass
through by controlling her wheelchair.” The robot arm would be interacted
with through a tablet interface with hands-free inputs such as eye gaze or voice.
Other collaborators on this project are co-PI
Brooke Ellison, PhD, Health Technology and Management, as well as Xiaojun Bi, PhD,
Computer Science, Haibin Ling, PhD, Computer Science, and I. V. Ramakrishnan, PhD,
Computer Science.
The project seeks to surmount a variety of technical challenges such as ensuring that
the robot arm is capable of accurately perceiving the environment, able to understand
the user's intent with commands and having the arm reliably execute the tasks in question.
Prof. Chakraborty anticipates
that the last of the three will be the most difficult. “Manipulation in a home environment
is extremely challenging because every home is different, and consequently it is hard
to pre-program the robots - as is usually done for industrial manipulation tasks.”
The research team plans to develop methods that would allow the robot arm to understand
examples of tasks given to it by a caregiver and subsequently learn from these examples
to independently complete tasks later on. “The caregiver will hold the hand of the
robot and teach it to do a task, just as one would teach a child,” said Prof. Chakraborty.
“And we want to burden the caregiver minimally.”
Pouring Task
Stacking Problem
OVPR Seed Grant - Professor Kao
Professor Imin Kao has been selected as a recipient of the Office of the Vice President
for Research (OVPR) Seed Grant, for research into removing cancers known as ‘soft
tissue sarcomas’. The primary treatment for soft tissue sarcomas is removing the tumor
cells entirely, but the reappearance of the cancer is a major problem in the medical
industry if even a slight piece of it is left behind.
In collaboration with Assistant Professor Fazel Khan and Professor Brendan Boyce,
doctors of Orthopaedics and Pathology respectively at the Renaissance School of Medicine,
Prof. Kao intends to rectify this issue. “Raman spectroscopy is a non-invasive technique,
which generates spectra that can reveal structural fingerprints of molecules in tissues
by inelastic scattering of photons,”described Prof. Kao. “We have examined if Raman
spectroscopy can correctly distinguish tumor tissue from adjacent benign skeletal
muscle, dermal collagen and fat in frozen sections from resected tumors from 4 different
patients and compared the results with the hist
ologic findings in adjacent H&E-stained frozen sections.”
Through use of Raman spectroscopy, the group intends to create a reliable method of
determining that the soft tissue sarcoma has been completely removed during surgery,
helping the entire process occur faster and with a lowered chance of the cancer reappearing
after the fact.
The funding will allow the research team to conduct experiments and acquire data from
patients with soft tissue sarcomas in order to determine if their methods are capable
of reliably distinguishing tissue types as well as ascertain if a portable Raman probe
could be used with accuracy in the operating room. This will hopefully be a stepping
stone and provide results for grant applications that have been submitted to NIH and
NSF for additional funding.
Prof. Kao is decidedly optimistic on the pro
ject’s future. “Our preliminary results are very promising and show a high correlation
between the histologic findings and analysis of the Raman spectroscopic data using
a novel computer-generated algorithm…” he explained. “Our group has published our
research findings in journals and presented them in international conferences, and
will continue to do so as new results of this research collaboration emerge. We envisage
that our work will have important clinical applications.”
Figure 1. Spectra of tumor, muscle, dermal collagen and fat at different locations.
The spectrum of each tissue type is an average of more than 80,000 spectra among different
regions and locations in the tissues, showing consistent peaks with distinct patterns
for the tissue types. The horizontal axis is the wave numbers (in cm-1) and the vertical
axis is the normalized intensity.
Professor Longtin Awarded $100k Subcontract
Professor Jon Longtin has been awarded a $100k subcontract for research and development
on a project entitled “Oil and Gas Combustion Emissions Testing” with Brookhaven National
Laboratory. The project is funded by NYSERDA, and focuses on a suite of emissions
measurements for combustion heating systems according to Prof. Longtin. The project
will look at both different fuel types and different combustion systems. In the wake
of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which seeks to have
New York use zero-emission electricity by 2040, information on renewable energy and
emissions is in high demand. “This is a dramatic change in the landscape of how energy
is used in the state, and represents  New York State’s commitment to becoming the
national leader in this space,” said Prof. Longtin. “I think this is very exciting
to see.”
Motorsports Club Flourishes Amidst Pandemic
For one student organization, the pandemic may have been a blessing in disguise.
Stony Brook Motorsports may not be the biggest or oldest club on campus, but they
have made a name for themselves in their own right. Every year the team designs, builds
and races an off-road vehicle in the Baja Sae Competition - one of SAE International’s
many Collegiate Design Series competitions designed to prepare future engineers for
the mobility industry. In light of the pandemic, the competition has been modified
from a hands-on test of skill to ‘knowledge events’ based in design, modeling and
more for now two years in a row.
“Once the pandemic hit, we weren’t really able to do anything in our shop and office,”
said
Christopher Sherling, the club’s
president. The competition is usually held from April-June andthe
team had just gotten to work
building last year’s vehicle when Stony Brook
switched to remote learning. “We focused all of our work on all-wheel drive and sorts.”
At first, the switch made it impossible to continue their work, but then the club
quickly came to realize that this is just what they needed. Sherling explained that
the club often had trouble bringing on new team members when it came to explaining
everything that needed to be done. “We went
from having 15-20 pages of technical documentation on the car to over 250 pages…
This ended up being one of those silver lining things where it sucks that we can’t
see each other in person, but it’s had a significant benefit for the team where we
can focus on design.”
The threat of a knowledge gap became a serious concern of the club, not only because
the pandemic is preventing them from doing any physical vehicle work, but also because
a large portion of the club’s experienced members are in their senior year and won’t
be present when the club makes a shift back to in-person activities. This is only
exacerbated by the fact that SAE plans to enforce a major design change requirement
where all vehicles will be required to have four-wheel drive starting in 2022 rather
than a standard design - something they’ve never done before.
“We’ve been able to do a lot of documentation, more so than what we’d normally be
able to do,” said the club’s vice president, Nicholas De Marco. “And that’s going
to help [the team] in the
futureto be able to see how people design things. We’re
going to start writing up how we fabricate things so that people in the future can
know what we did and how we did it.”
Beyond vehicle work, the club does it’s best to stay together. Christian Funes, one
of the club’s System Leaders described organizing game and movie nights in order to
keep the club connected while being scattered across the country. “We try to keep
together by doing events, like a little game night to keep the community together,”
Funes explained. “It honestly really helps. Helps us come together without having
to do work which, in my opinion, is a good way to build a team.”
Professor Ge Appointed Co-Editor of the Journal of Mechanical Design
Professor Jeff Ge has received an appointment as Co-Editor of the Journal of Mechanical
ASME Technical Committee on Publications and Communications. Professor Ge will serve
as Editor of Mechanisms  and will be responsible for papers in the area of mechanisms,
robotics, and design innovations. His appointment as Co-Editor will run from January
1, 2021 through December 31, 2025. Congratulations!
Freshmen Design 'SnappyCat'
Professor Purwar Awarded
2021
ASEE Mid-Atlantic Distinguished Teaching Award
Manufacturing Day 2020
SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund S4 Catalyst Investments
US Navy Awards Professor Kedar Kirane
ORR Early Career Award Recieved by Professor Kedar Kirane
Professor Purwar Recieves ASME Outstanding Student Section Advisor Award
Professors Elected to the Rank of Senior Members by National Academy of Investors
Introducing STEM Concepts at Freshman Level via a New Design-Driven Robotics Class
Mid-Career Faculty Diversity Award
PhD students receive NSF fellowship in Quantitative Analysis of Dynamic Structures
Professor awarded funding from National Cancer Institute
NSF award granted for research in Electrokinetic Flow on Nanostructured Superhydrophilic
and Superhydrophobic Surfaces
Engineering a New Ventilator, from Conceptual Design to Animal Testing in 10 Days
Edward E. O’Brien’s Seminal Contributions to Turbulence Theory
Freshmen Design 'SnappyCat'
One class brought the remote fall semester to a close more connected than ever.
Professor Anurag Purwar
teaches MEC 101, a large
Freshman Design Innovation
class, but was faced this year with the obstacle of holding this hands on class virtually
during the pandemic. In the class, students learn STEM concepts in the context of
robot design. A robot kit produced in Purwar’s lab is usually provided to each student
in class. This year however, rather than being in the same room, students were scattered
across the globe.
I have seen students in my class bond over the project, make friends, and become comfortable
knowing their professors and seniors who serve as mentors.” said Purwar. “I was not
prepared to let go of this valuable aspect of their presence on campus.”
Despite all the limitations and constraints, Prof. Purwar and the Teaching Assistants
made kits and sent them to students wherever they were in the world and had them work
on their robots remotelyand virtually. This year's theme was "Design a robotic solution
for someone who was affected by COVID-19".
Students bonde
d o
ver th
is hands-on project during the last five weeks and found a way to design, build, make
circuits, and program their robots, overcoming  despite the hardships of their diversity
in location the challenge presented by physical distance. The Mechanical Engineering
Department Chair, Professor Jeff Ge, and CEAS Acting Dean Professor Rob Kukta, attended
the final robot
demonstrations over Zoom, providing a morale boost for the freshman students, many
of whomhave not seen the campus in-person at all.  Of the 33 projects presented, one
of the class’s favorites was a device named ‘
SnappyCat
’. This “walking” cat-shaped robot is capable of quizzing the user on basic math equations
and reacting accordingly to correct or incorrect answers.
Purwar was proud of the odds the students overcame, stating, “
I like to believe that it gave them a sense of community and purpose and most importantly,
hopefully they made some friends and had fun in the process.”
Professor Purwar Awarded 2021 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Distinguished Teaching Award
Assistant Professor, Anurag Purwar, has been selected as the winner of 2021 ASEE Mid-Atlantic
Distinguished Teaching Award. The
American Society for Engineering Education
(ASEE) Mid-Atlantic Section is committed to excellence in engineering and engineering
technology students' instruction and annually recognizes an outstanding engineering
or engineering technology educator from the section. This award is in recognition
of Prof. Purwar's outstanding contributions to teaching and learning at Stony Brook
University.
The award consists of an honorarium and a certificate of recognition, which will be
presented at the Awards Ceremony of the 2021 virtual spring meeting, hosted by Villanova
University on April 9-10. Prof. Purwar will share his expertise and experience as
an educator with the ASEE community at the conference.
Additionally, Prof. Purwar has been nominated as the Mid-Atlantic Section’s representative
for the ASEE National Outstanding Teaching Medal for 2021.
While the award recognizes his dedication to his students and his continued development
as an exceptional instructor, Prof. Purwar humbly believes that this award is also
a nod to the Mechanical Engineering department, the College of Engineering and Applied
Sciences, and Stony Brook University as a whole.
Manufacturing Day 2020
To celebrate the national Manufacturing Day on October 2, members of the College of
Engineering and Applied Sciences joined Long Island’s manufacturers, SBU alumni and
advocacy groups to spread some much-needed knowledge about the industry. Local high
school students and parents
attended ‘
Long Island Manufacturing Day 2020
’ held by
Summit Safety & Efficiency Solution
and explored career possibilities in the industry. They learned from recent graduates
about the early years in a manufacturing career, experienced virtual tours of manufacturing
factories, and enjoyed a virtual robotics camp at the end of the event.
Joseph Schurz,
Machinist for the CEAS and Mechanical Engineering (MEC) instructor for Machining Practices,
is one of many who appeared in panels and Q&As to impart advice on those who attended.
Although it can be hectic at times, seeing the students grow into the engineers they
came here to be is what makes me proud to be a part of the MEC department,” Schu
rz said. When presented with the opportunity to participate in Manufacturing Day and
speak to younger students on the possibilities within the field, he “couldn’t turn
it down”.
Professor Noah Machtay also attended this event for similar reasons, stating that,
“Outreach efforts to primary and secondary school students has been a consistent part
of my work throughout my career. I'd hate to think some promising young engineer might
miss their calling to our field just because no one ever showed up to tell them about
it.” Machtay instructs the Manufacturing Processes course at Stony Brook as well as
supervises the MEC department's Manufacturing Automation Laboratory.
The manufacturing field has a variety of possible careers within it usually related
to creating new products from raw materials or simple components - factories are usually
what comes to mind for most people but it’s so much more than that. “Engineers solve
problems,” Machtay explained. “And for mechanical engineers, that often means designing
a physical structure or device of some kind. I like that by incorporating the manufacturing
field, we can ensure that the things we design are genuine solutions that work both
on paper, while also being feasible in the real world.”
The typical jobs that MEC students get when they take the manufacturing track range
from machinists and manufacturing engineers to working in aerospace and robotics.
Some of the brightest outlooks can be found for industrial engineers and sales representatives
in the industry.
Industrial engineers design, develop, test and evaluate integrated systems for managing
industrial production processes - such as managing a facility or plant, ensuring quality
in products or working with research and development. Sales representatives on the
other hand, work to sell the created products on behalf of the manufacturers to businesses.
Having an engineering background and substantial knowledge about the items that are
being sold are key skills that can set you apart from the competition.
Schurz described manufacturing as having good and bad attributes, stating “Being able
to design and manufacture something by hand is a challenge that I love to take on.
The thing to dislike is occasionally on the job you have to deal with poorly conceived
designs and improperly drawn blueprints.”
When it comes to people entering the field, he posed a simple piece of advice. “
Understand the field you are about to dive into…It's not all about sticking your nose
in the books and studying for 50 hours a week but it's also important to be hands
on in order to become a well-rounded asset to your job/community and embrace the challenges
that lie ahead.”
SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund S4 Catalyst Investments
One class just made it big with a little platform known as SnappyXO (
www.snappyxo.com
). Stony Brook’s team placed first in the inaugural 2020 SUNY Technology Accelerator
Fund S4 Catalyst Investments competition from the SUNY Research Foundation. The SUNY-wide
competition is the capstone of the SUNY S4 Startup school and grants two winning teams
$10k each.
This year’s victor, SnappyXO, is a state of the art STEM and Robotics education platform
to encourage students from K-12 and higher-education to learn STEM concepts using
project-based and experiential learning.
The product was invented in Professor Anurag Purwar’s Computer-Aided Design and Innovation
Lab in the Mechanical Engineering department and builds upon years of research in
the Mechanisms and Robotics area. It comes with a patented hardware and an app for
motion design of mechanisms and robots. The technology behind the product has been
licensed to a NY-state startup Mechanismic Inc., which is bringing this to the world-wide
market now.
Ameya Kale, a recent Stony Brook graduate with an MS in Mechanical Engineering, is
now leading the product and business development efforts at Mechanismic Inc.  “There
were a total of 14 teams that participated in the competition, and each of us had
really good and innovative ideas.” Kale pitched the product at the competition, helping
SnappyXO impress the judges.
“Personally, I had never pitched before in my life and so I was going in with big
expectations of myself. It was a great learning experience for me, and I am happy
that my efforts led to positive results in terms of the competition!”
Stony Brook University and Mechanismic Inc. have been jointly developing the technology
and the product with the funding from the National Science Foundation, Manufacturing
Technology and Research Consortium (MTRC), SUNY Research Foundation, SensorCAT, and
the NY-state SPIR program.
US Navy Awards Professor Kedar Kirane
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) may provide technical advice to the Navy, but where
would they get this research information but from one of our very own? Professor Kedar
Kirane of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has become one of the lucky researchers
to receive a grant from the ONR this summer, enabling him to bring his research to
new heights.
Professor Kirane received an award of $490,000 that will be given over the course
of a three year long project to investigate the size effects in fabric composites
failing under compression.
Woven fiber reinforced composites under compression predominantly fail by the formation
and propagation of a fiber kink band. While the underlying physical micro-mechanisms
have been widely analyzed, the ensuing scaling in the strength has not. This is essential
to understand, in order to assess the load bearing capacity of composite structures
of different sizes under compression, by using strength measured on lab-scale coupons.
This project will pursue this understanding via a combined experimental and computational
approach.
Just recently, Professor Kirane was announced for winning ASME’s ORR Early Career
Award for his research on understanding the fatigue, fracturing and scaling behavior
of various conventional and advanced composite materials. And last year, he won the
Army’s Young Investigator Program with his proposal to quantify how much energy composites
can safely absorb. His extensive research in these specific facets certainly caught
the eye of the ONR.
ORR Early Career Award Recieved by Professor Kedar Kirane
Professor Kedar Kirane has been awarded the ORR Early Career Award by the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award recognizes Professor Kirane for
notable research excellence for his work with solid mechanics, focusing on the fracture,
fatigue and scaling in heterogeneous quasi-brittle materials such as composites and
concrete.
Many Stony Brook professors have made names for themselves within ASME, including
Professor Toshio Nakamura, the current chair of the ASME Materials Division, and Professor
Jeffery Ge who is the current past chair of ASME Design Engineering Division. Students
are no exception with the ASME Student Chapter at Stony Brook participating in many
projects of their own, including the ‘Go Baby Go’ Program that provides hundreds of
mobility disabled children specialty cars that cater to their needs.
Established in 2004, the ASME ORR Early Career Award is given by
the Orr family through the Materials Division of ASME and consists of a $3,000 honorarium
and certificate. It is given annually at the International Mechanical Engineering
Congress & Exposition, and will be presented virtually to Professor Kirane in November.
Professor Purwar Recieves ASME Outstanding Student Section Advisor Award
Following his election to the rank of Senior Member by the National Academy of Investors,
Professor Anurag Purwar received the ASME Outstanding Student Section Advisor Award for
the year of 2020. This award recognizes the leadership and service qualities of a
Student Section Advisor and their contribution to the success of a section and its
students. The certificate is awarded to Professor Purwar for “four years of outstanding
service as ASME Student Section Advisor at Stony Brook University; for service as
a prolific researcher, inventor, educator, and entrepreneur and as an inspirational
leader to the student chapter.” Congratulations!
Professors Elected to the Rank of Senior Members by National Academy of Investors
Professors Fu-Pen Chiang and Anurag Purwar have been elected to the rank of Senior
Members by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The NAI senior Member Advisory
Committee and Board of Directors   elected Purwar and Chiang for their “success in
patents, licensing, and commercialization” and for producing “technologies that have
brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society”. Senior Members
also foster a spirit of innovation within their communities through enhancing an inventive
atmosphere at their institutions, while educating and mentoring the next generation
of inventors.
They have been invited to
attend the NAI 10th Anniversary Annual Meeting on June 7-9, 2021 at the JW Marriott
Water Street in Tampa, Florida, where they will be recognized
as newly elected NAI Senior Members.
Introducing STEM Concepts at a Freshman Level via a New Design-Driven Robotics Class
The American Society for Engineering Education hosted their annual conference virtually
this year, giving Professor Anurag Purwar the opportunity to host a workshop for fellow
educators. Prof. Purwar's objective: "
For too long, a large majority of Engineering departments have sought to introduce
Engineering concepts to Freshman students by creating watered-down, lecture-driven
“Introduction to Engineering or XYZ” classes. However, in recent years, Engineering
educators have mandated an introduction of design concepts, innovation, entrepreneurship,
and projects early in a student's education, promote teamwork, and introduce modern
engineering tools. The National Academy of Engineer's “The Engineer of 2020" report
concludes that the passive, lecture-based instruction should be replaced or supplemented
by active, integrated, project-based learning with significant design components.
It is not uncommon to see various academic institutions introducing design and innovations
early in the curriculum and emphasize preparing and educating engineers who can excel
in a creativity- and innovation-based economy.
The goal of this workshop is to introduce Engineering educators to a new hands-on,
project-based, and flipped Freshman Design Innovation and Robotics class offered at
Stony Brook University and created with a Teaching Innovation grant from the State
University of New York (SUNY). The class emphasizes learning STEM concepts in the
context of robot design and is enabled by a set of videos freely available on youtube.com,
text-book free course material, and open robot design project site. The class also
uses a novel, modular, and low-cost robotics kit and a state-of-the-art software for
design and prototyping of robot motions. The software is built upon the NSF-funded
research in Mechanisms and Robotics. The software and the robot kit are also being
used in undergraduate and graduate Kinematics classes at Stony Brook University."
Mid-Career Faculty Diversity Award
Associate Professor Carlos Colosqui  is one of eight recipients of the
Mid-Career Faculty Diversity Awards
. These awards, with financial support from the President's Office and Chief Diversity
Officer, recognize faculty at the mid-career stage who have a strong record of research,
teaching, and service; and who advance Stony Brook University's goals of a diverse
and inclusive campus. The awardees can be found on
Provost's
website.
PhD Students Receive NSF fellowship in Quantitative Analysis of Dynamic Structures
PhD students, Jason Loprete (pictured) and Troy Singletary, have been awarded a one-year
fellowship sponsored by the NSF Research Traineeship program. The interdisciplinary
research of polymers, biomaterials, metal oxides, nanoparticles, and colloids is comprised
of various research groups. The Mechanical Engineering fellows will be working closely
with Professor Carlos Colosqui to develop new methods of data analysis, focusing on
data-intensive X-ray characterization and simulation of material structure and dynamics.
Professor awarded NCI funding for research in engineering-driven medicine
Professor Jeff Ge has been awarded a two-year grant in the amount of $173,375 from
the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for his project entitled, "
A Dual Quaternion Based Method for Estimating PTV Margins in Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy."
The specific aim of this project is to construct a space around an imaged anatomic
target, termed
Planning Target Volume (PTV),
that will encompass its expected positions as the body moves during image guided
therapy. Current methods do not accurately capture displacements produced by rotations
of the body. Consequently, treatment is directed at target volumes that are exaggerated
or inadequate, jeopardizing the tolerance and efficacy of treatment.  Margin differences
as small as 2mm have been found to substantially increase doses to critical structures
in radiation therapy.  The objective of this
project is to develop a method for computing planning target volume that minimally
encloses the space to be occupied by the target as a convex hull of boundary positions
using dual quaternions to represent the anatomic translations and rotations.
The long term goal of this research is to reduce the morbidity of treatment and provide
greater assurance of target coverage by a more rigorous formulation of target margins.
This research will be carried out in collaboration with Mark Langer, MD, Clinical
Professor, Radiation Oncology Department, Indiana University Medical School.
NSF award granted for research in electrokinetic flow
Associate Professor Carlos Colosqui has been awarded $300k from the National Sciene
Foundation (NSF) for research of electrokinetic flow on nanostructured superhydrophilic
and syperhydrophobic surface. Contributing to this research are two of Prof. Colosqui's
Ph.D. students, Aktaruzzaman Al Hossain and Dhiraj Nandyala.
Engineering-Driven Medicine: CoreVent 2020
As the coming storm of the COVID-19 pandemic loomed in the New York metropolitan region
in early March, the faculty and staff of Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) started
mobilizing to address the grim predictions of shortages of critical equipment needed
to empower clinicians to save lives. In response to the crisis, the CoreVent 2020
was developed by a team of mechanical engineering faculty, respiratory care clinicians,
and physicians, in an extraordinary example of engineering-driven medicine. Using
only readily available components,
the team took on the daunting task of conceiving, designing, building and testing
a ventilator that could be made available to SBUH and other clinicians when and if
a critical shortage arose, thereby saving lives when the number of patients needing
mechanical ventilation exceeded ventilator reserves.
The team  was led by Jon Longtin, professor of mechanical engineering and CEAS Associate
Dean of Research and Entrepreneurship, and included  Dimitris Assanis, assistant professor
of mechanical engineering. Discussions are underway with Long Island-based company
Biodex Medical Systems
to manufacture the initial CoreVent 2020 units as the COVID-19 crisis dictates. The
team has also engaged the appropriate regulatory agencies to explore pathways that
will allow emergency use of the device at Stony Brook Hospital and other institutions
as well.
A Tribute to the Late Emeritus Professor Edward E.
Brien
If there was a conference that Edward E. O'Brien attended consistently during his
lifetime, it was the Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) of the American Physical Society
(APS), of which he was a Fellow.  At the November 2019 APS/DFD meeting in Seattle,
WA, three colleagues of the Emeritus Professor, affectionately known as Ted, organized
two sessions to honor his seminal contributions to the theory of turbulence.
Cesar Dopzao (Spain), Peyman Givi (University of Pittsburgh), and Foluso Ladeinde
(Stony Brook University) compiled and shared 18
presentations
at two sessions honoring Ted. Presenters came from all over the world: China, Peru,
Spain, England, and of course the US. By far the most emphasized credential of Ted,
besides superior intelligence, was humility. It has been said that Ted may have contributed
more to Turbulence Theory than any other person in the world since the 1960s. Yet,
unlike most of his colleagues, Ted was unusually modest about his acheivements.
Ted was a founding member of the Department of Thermal Sciences at Stony Brook University
in 1961. The program quickly gained popularity and developed into the
Department of Mechanics, later becomming the Department of Mechanical Egineering,
of which Ted served as Chair.
The
compilation
has been
made available to the public as a celebration of the legacy that Ted left behind on
Theoretical Mechanics and the particular subject of turbulence theory.
Faculty & Staff Honored at Annual Awards & Recognition Dinner
Five Department Members Earn Promotions
US
Army
Awards Kedar Kirane for Research to Protect Soldiers in Combat
Alumnus Acacia Leakey Develops Sustainable Off-Grid Technologies
Go Baby Go!
ASCE 2018 Outstanding Reviewer
Summer Camp Earns Faculty "Innovator of the Year" Award
MEC Graduate Program Rises in US New Rankings
Graduate MEC Student Publishes Sci-Fi Mystery Novel
Professor Lands NSF Funding to Teach Robotics to Kids
Professor Anurag Purwar to be inducted into the National Academy of Inventors - Stony
Brook Chapter
MEC Graduate, Steve Hansen '90, Serves as Chief Engineer for Honda R&D
Faculty & Staff Honored at Annual Awards & Recognition Dinner
SUNY Distinguished Professor, Fu-
Pen Chiang, Assistant Professor Kedar Kirane, and Custodial Services Staff Member,
Martha Genao were honored at Stony Brook's Annual Awards and Recognition Dinner on
Thursday, October 3rd.  Prof. Chiang received the William M. Murray Lecture Award
and  Ms. Genao received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Classified Service,
for her dedication and support in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Prof.
Kirane was recognized for being awarded the Haythornthwaite Research Initiation grant
in 2018.  Congratulations to our colleagues!
Five Department Members Earn Promotions
Faculty and staff of the Mechanical Engineering Department celebrated several changes
and promotions to kick off the new academic year. Professors Shikui Chen, Carlos Colosqui,
Sotirios Mamalis, and Lifeng Wang have all been awarded the promotion of Associate
Professor with tenure.
Former Mechanical Laboratory Technician,
Rafael Tejada has been
selected for a promotion into the position of
Mechanical Laboratory Specialist. Also effective this Fall semester is the start of
Professor David Hwang's term as Undergradute Program Director.
Mechanical Engineering would like to congratulate all of these folks in their new
roles!
US Army awards research to protect solidiers in combat
Investigating the effectiveness of composite materials in combat situations is the
focus of newly funded research by
Kedar Kirane
, assistant professor in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering
. Professor Kirane studies and predicts the ability of composites to withstand blasts
and other impacts by creating a computer model that will capture crack branching and
the transitions in failure mechanisms. The U.S.
Army
's Young Investigator Program (YIP) awarded him a grant of $359,000 over three years,
allowing him to demonstrate how these materials will perform under relevant scenarios,
particularly impacts and blasts.
MEC Students Make an Impact with
Go Baby Go
Project
In a collaborative effort, students from the SBU-student chapter of ASME, faculty
advisor Anurag Purwar, and physical therapy outpatient center Keep Moving Forward,
took part in the "Go Baby Go" project. The group modified off-the-shelf toy cars for
young children with mobility issues. Patrick O'Donnell '19, explained that, "the impact
and potential of this program is incredible and far reaching. It provides an excellent
outlet for engineering students to use their knowledge and expertise to make a great
impact."
National Academy of Inventors Inducts Professor Anurag Purwar into SBU Chapter
The
Stony Brook University Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors
(NAI-SBU) held its 2019 Annual Meeting at the Charles B. Wang Center on May 1, and
inducted 16 new members and 4 honorary members to the Academy. The newly inducted
academic inventors have held patents issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office
and from various departments, including Anesthesiology, Biochemistry and Cell Biology,
Chemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine,
Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Orthopedics, Physics and Astronomy, Radiation
Oncology, and Radiology. With these 20 new members, NAI-SBU now holds 88 NAI members,
including 8 NAI fellows.
Faculty Selected as "ASCE 2018 Outstanding Reviewer" of the Journal of Aerospace Engineering
The American Society of Civil Engineers has honored Associate Professor Foluso Ladeinde
as an "ASCE 2018 Outstanding Reviewer". He was selected by the editor of the
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
for his thoroughness and dedicated contribution.
Summer Camp Earns Faculty "Innovator of the Year" Award
InnovateLI
honored Professor Anurag Purwar, and Professor Imin Kao, with the "Innovator of the
Year" award for the Design Innovation and Robotics Camp for
6th-11th grade students sponsored by Stony Brook University's Manufacturing and Technology
Resource Consortium (MTRC). The two-week camp is a STEM based program that offers
hands-on experiential learning.
MEC Graduate Program Rises in US News Rankings
Stony Brook graduate schools and programs have again been rated impressively in the
U.S. News and World Report
annual graduate school rankings. In the 2020 edition of
Best Graduate Schools
, Stony Brook University was named a top school in both Engineering and Medicine.
The
College of Engineering and Applied Science
rose from being ranked 66 in 2018 to 64 (tie) as a
Best Engineering School
. The Mechanical Engineering graduate program rose from 70 to 52.
MEC Graduate Student Publishes Sci-Fi Mystery Novel
Ameya Kale, a graduate student in his final semester of the Masters program in Mechanical
Engineering, has published his first sci-fi mystery thriller novel. His book, Sacrifice,
stemmed from his own thoughts on what the fate of the world would be if there were
no humans to begin with. In addition to being an aspiring novelist, Ameya is also
a mentor for WISE where he works with high school students interested in STEM fields.
Moreover, he is a GSO senator, a volunteer writer for the Statesman, and a grader
for MEC 512. After he graduates this coming May, he plans to begin his career in the
mechanical engineering industry. Ameya shared his ambition in a meeting with President
Stanley; he hopes that his story of becomming a published author inspires other students
to be vocal about their talents with the campus community. His book is available for
purchase on Amazon and Google Play.
Professor Lands NSF Funding to Teach Robotics to Kids
Robotics is part of nearly all fields of science and has helped to transform work
ranging from manufacturing to vehicle technology to surgery. To help students from
elementary school through high school to advance their knowledge and creativity using
robotics in STEM fields,
Anurag Purwar
, PhD, Research Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
at Stony Brook University, has received a $225,000 grant from the National Science
Foundation (NSF) to conduct research and development of
SnappyXO
, a robotics education platform.
Professor Selected to Join National Academy of Inventors
Research Associate Professor Anurag Purwar has been selected to become a Member of
the National Academy of Inventors through the Stony Brook Chapter (NAI-SBU). The National Academy of Inventors
was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors who have a patent issued
from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); enhance the visibility of university
technology and academic innovation; encourage the disclosure of intellectual property;
educate and mentor innovative students; and translate the inventions of its members to
benefit society. The Stony Brook University Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors was
established in 2016 to recognize the contributions of scientist-inventors across all
disciplines in the university community. The inaugural NAI-SBU Chapter Members will
be honored at the Induction Ceremony on Wednesday, May 1, where a Member Certificate
will be awarded to each inductee.
Professor Purwar is the sixth Mechanical Engineering faculty inducted into the NAI-SBU.
He joins the company of Jahangir Rastegar (NAI Fellow), Jon Longtin, Imin Kao, Fu-Pen
Chiang, and Satya Sharma.
MEC Graduate Serves as Chief Engineer at Honda R&D
Halfway through his interview at Honda, Steve Hansen ’90 felt certain he wasn’t going
to get the job.
It wasn’t until he pulled out a photo of the senior design project he had completed
at Stony Brook that the interview really turned around. Now, nearly thirty years later,
Hansen is a Chief Engineer for Honda R&D Americas, Inc., and he still credits his
work at Stony Brook with landing him the job.
Today, Hansen has led the development of several Honda and Acura models, most recently
leading the global development of the 2019 Acura RDX.
URECA Names MEC Senior "Researcher of the Month" for December 2018
BNL Senior Scientist Selected for ASME Freeman Scholarship Award
MEC Alum, Sabrina Thompson '07, speaks to Mechanical Engineering students about her
experience as a NASA Engineer
Graduate Program Coordinator, Ms. Dianna Berger, receives 2017-2018 Chancellor's Award
for Excellence in Classified Service
CEAS inducts Prof. Mamalis into the Millionaire's Club for securing over $3.8M worth
of grants in 2018 from the DOE for combustion research
ASME awards Haythornthwaite Foundation Research Initiation Grant of $20K to Prof.
Kirane
Prof. Purwar participated in SBUHacks, offer guidance to aspiring computer programmers,
software developers, graphic designers, and interface designers
NSF award of $415K granted to Prof. Shikui Chen for research in Computational Framework
for Designing Conformal Stretchable Electronics
Mechanical Engineering Students Launch High-Powered Rocket in 2018 NASA Competition
Profs. Longtin, Mamalis, and Lawler receive $2.3 million ARPA-E Award to Develop New
Technology For Power Generation and Propulsion Systems
Prof. Anurag Purwar receives an NSF I-Corps award for A Design Driven Educational
Robotics Framework
SUNY FACT
Excellence Award given to Prof. Anurag Purwar for consistently superior professional
achievement
NSF CAREER Award of $500K granted to Prof. Ya Wang to support research of "Dynamics
of Ultra-small Magnetic Nanoparticles in the Brain for Neuron Regeneration Therapies"
Society of Experimental Mechanical awards Prof. Fu-Pen Chiang for his distinguished
orginal contributions to photomechanics, optical metrology, applied optics, NDE, and
experimental solid mechanics
URECA Names MEC Senior "Researcher of the Month"
Andrew Nwuba began doing research in his sophomore year, and joined two different
research groups in the Department of Mechanical Engineering: one specializing in fluid
mechanics, one focused on solid mechanics. In Professor Carlos Colosqui's research
group, Andrew currently investigates the behavior of fluids, quantifies data-powder
wettability, contact angles and surface tension in MATLAB, and seeks to develop new
technologies related to hydrophobic materials. In the research group of Professor
Fu-Pen Chiang (where Andrew worked for ~ 3 semesters until April 2018), Andrew used laser
speckle interferometry to measure the strain and roughness of objects. This research
involved using MATLAB scripts to generate random speckle patterns. An in-depth interview
with Andrew can be found
here
BNL Senior Scientist Selected for ASME Freeman Scholar
Upendra S. Rohatgi, Ph.D., has been selected to receive the 2019 Freeman Scholarship
Award for his paper entitled, "Validation, Verification, Scaling and Uncertainty Quantification
for Thermal-Hydraulics." Dr. Rohatgi is a Senior Scientist at Brookhaven National
Lab and Adjunct Professor for the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He will present
the paper at the ASME-JSME-KSME Joint Fluids Engineering Conference in San Francisco,
California in July.
MEC Alum and NASA Engineer Speaks with MEC Students
NASA Engineer, artist, and alum of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sabrina
Thompson '07, has been recognized by Stony Brook University as a 40 under Forty honoree.
This semester Sabrina spent time on campus, speaking with aspiring engineers and,
in particular, encouraging young females to dive into STEM fields.
Researcher Joins CEAS Millionaire's Club
Pictured below, Prof. Sotirios Mamalis is inducted into the Millionaire's Club of
the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences for securing over $3.8M worth of grants
in 2018 from the Department of Energy. Funding will go towards research on "Hybrid
Electrochemistry and Advanced Combustion for High Efficiency Power" and "Naphthenic
Biofuel-Diesel Blend for Optimizing Mixing Controlled Compression Ignition Combustion."
SBUHacks Marathon
Research Associate Professor Anurag Purwar (third from left) and Dean of the College
of Engineering and Applied Sciences Fotis Sotiropoulos (fourth from left) participated
in the 2018 SBUHacks. This annual 24-hour event offers aspiring computer programmers,
software developers, graphic designers, and interface designers a chance to collaborate
under the guidance of academic and industry mentors.
Society of Experimental Mechanics awards Prof. Fu-Pen Chiang the WM Murray Lecture
Award
Fu-pen Chiang's research emphasis is on the development of optical and other experimental
mechanics techniques and their applications to stress analysis (including NDE), fracture
and fatigue of engineering and biological materials and structures. He has written
over 400 journal and conference articles published in 58 archival journals and numerous
conference proceedings. He has given invited lectures at 23 institutions in 17 countries
and was a visiting faculty of Cambridge University (Cavendish Laboratory), Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology (Lausanne), National Taiwan University, Tsinghua University
(Beijing and Taiwan), among others. His research has been supported by NSF, ONR, AFOSR,
ARO,, NIH, DOT and industrial concerns. He received Theocaris Award (2015), Frocht
Award (2008) and Lazan Award (1993) from the Society of Experimental Mechanics and
the Life Time Achievement Medal (2012) from the International Conference of Computational
and Experimental Engineering and Sciences. In 2016 he received the Life Time Achievement
Award from the European Society of Experimental Mechanics at the 17th International
Conference on Experimental Mechanics held in Rhodes, Greece. He served as Editor of
Int. J. Optics of Lasers in Engineering, Associate Editor of J. of Experimental Mechanics
and ASME J. of Engineering Materials and Technology. He also served as Guest Editor
for four special issues of J. Optical Engineering and has organized many international
and national conferences.
Prof. Jon Longtin receives $50K seed grant from Energy Systems for Sustainability
Research for Energy-Harvesting Fusion project
New occupancy detection device designed to save home energy use
Prof. Jon Longtin & Prof. Ya Wang receive $1M ARPA-E award for developing advanced,
low-cost occupancy sensor for residential homes by building upon commercially available
pyroelectric infrared sensor technology to detect human presence
Prof. Fu-Pen Chiang receives $150,000 2 year grant from US Navy Office of Naval Research
for conducting research on using digital volumetric speckle photography to map interior
deformation of composites
Prof Cindy Chang promoted to associate Professor
Prof. Ya Wang's advisee advances to Regeneron STS scholar
Prof. Anurag Purwar speaks at the final lecture of the Spring 2017 University Libraries
STEM Speaker Series
Prof. Imin Kao discusses the future of biotechnology on Long Island
Prof. Ashish Singla from Thapar University and Prof. Ekta Singla visit Prof. Anurag
Purwar's research lab for summer
The ASME Student Club was at the Power Racing Competition held at the 2017 World Makerfaire
in NY.
Start with $500 and a Power Wheel. (Or any electric kids’ ride on vehicle.) Get some
new batteries. A new motor. Heck, some nice new tires. Tie LEDs to the hood. Sprinkle
it with glitter. Maybe a feather for class. Haul it to one of our many races.
Department welcomes new Undergraduate Program Coordinator
The Department of Mechanical Engineering welcomes Amanda Flanagan as the Undergraduate
Program Coordinator.
Amanda has a master's degree in Business Administration (MBA '11) and a Bachelor of
Science in Advertising (BS '09) from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. While completing
her graduate degree, she began a career in education with the Career Services department.
Since returning to Long Island in 2011, Amanda worked as a Career Advisor for students
pursuing a vocational education in the healthcare industry.
Amanda comes to Stony Brook with strong administrative and interpersonal skills. She has
already become an active member of the Stony Brook University community by attending
workshops and volunteering in Academic Advising. Amanda strives to create a positive
experience for the students and faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Prof. Anurag Purwar receives prestigious award at the ASME Mechanisms and Robotics
Conference
Anurag Purwar
, a professor in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering
at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and his PhD student Shrinath Deshpande
were honored with
A. T. Yang Memorial Award in Theoretical Kinematics
in recognition of their prize-winning paper “A Task-driven Approach to Optimal Synthesis
of Planar Four-bar Linkages for Extended Burmester Problem” at the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
41st Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, held August 6 through 9 in Cleveland, OH
as part of the
ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences.
The award carries an inscribed plaque and an honorarium sponsored by the A. T. Yang
Memorial founded in recognition of late Prof. A. T. Yang's seminal contributions to
the field of theoretical kinematics.
Ms. Dominique Barone Receives Permanent Appointment
The Department of Mechanical Engineering would like to congratulate Dominique Barone,
Assistant to Chair, for receiving permanent appointment in her position as Senior
Staff Assistant.
Dominique joined the University community in 2001 as an undergraduate transfer student
studying sociology.  Following graduation, she began working for Clinical Practice
Management Plan at Stony Brook Hospital, and soon after began pursuing a Master’s
Degree in Human Resource Management through the School of Professional Development.
After receiving her graduate degree, she worked for several years in private industry
as a recruiter, and then returned to Stony Brook where she worked first as the Assistant
to the Assistant Vice President for Campus Residences for five years before joining
Mechanical Engineering for a promotional opportunity in November 2014.
Dominique is an active member of the campus community and has served on various committees
and volunteer assignments, notably, as a Judicial Board Member for University Community
Standards, an ADV101 Instructor and Transfer Orientation Advisor for Academic & Transfer
Advising Services, a LEAD/GOLD Mentor for the Department of Residential Programs,
a member of the Student Employee of the Year Awards Selection Committee with the Career
Center, as well as a Homecoming Banner Judge for Athletics.  She is also the recipient
of her former Division’s
Outstanding Service Award
in Spring 2014.
Dominique is excited for the opportunity to continue her work as an administrator
in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and remain an active community member
at Stony Brook University.
Prof. Jon Longtin and Prof. Benjamin Lawler are awarded with the
Student's Choice Award for Excellence in Teaching
at the Department of Mechanical Engineering's 2017 Graduation Ceremony
Dr. Ashish Singla visits from India
Dr. Ashish Singla, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thapar
University, Patiala visited during Summer 2017 as Visiting Assistant Professor in
the Department of Mechanical Engineering.  He worked with Dr Anurag Purwar on development
of assistive devices for rehabilitation.
Dr. Ekta Singla visits from India
Dr. Ekta Singla, Assistant Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Ropar also joined as a Visiting Assistant
Professor in our department.  She worked with Dr. Anurag Purwar on developing a unified
framework for redundant manipuator designs.
Prof. Carlos Colosqui (PI), Thomas Cubaud (Co-PI), and David Hwang (Co-PI) receive
a three-year $328,441 award from the National Science Foundation CBET to develop novel
capillary “diodes” for water treatment and separation of immiscible fluids.
Stony Brook Hosts 2016 M & M International Symposium for Young Researchers
Martin Giordano honored with SUNY Chancellor’s award for excellence
17th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics Names Two Symposia in Fu-Pen
Chiang's Honor
Mechanical Engineering Alumni Md Islam B.E. Class of 2006 Accepted into Prestigious
University of Chicago's Booth Executive MBA Program
Intern Adarsh Karnati Announced as Semi-Finalist for 2016 Intel Science Talent Search
Mechanical Engineering partners with the WISE program, which receives a Grant to Continue
Supporting STEM Education
TechPREP
— a STEM program for middle school students on Long Island — has received a $20,000
grant from the
Long Island Community Foundation
. TechPREP is a collaborative effort that includes Stony Brook University’s Women
in Science and Engineering (WISE) program, Department of Technology and Society, Department
of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Research Technologies and Innovation, along
with local school districts. The grant will provide funding and facilitators for a
one-week summer STEM program, which will serve as many as 100 students from high-need
school districts.
As part of the TechPREP program, Prof. Anurag Purwar will offer a Robotics Workshop
to the middle school girls from the disadvantaged school districts in Long Island.
He says, “the TechPREP program generously funded by the LICF seeks to address the
gender imbalance in engineering, and the Women in Engineering Day
will introduce students to the art, practice and excitement of doing engineering design
and ultimately help them make better career choices.”
Prof. Carlos Colosqui (PI) wins a three-year award from the National Science Foundation
(NSF) to study the interaction of colloidal micro/nanoparticles with lipid bilayer
membranes forming the outer wall of biological cells and 2D biomaterials
Prof. Carlos Colosqui (PI) wins a three-year award from the National Science Foundation
(NSF) to study the interaction of colloidal micro/nanoparticles with lipid bilayer
membranes forming the outer wall of biological cells and 2D biomaterials. The project
is a NSF collaborative effort with Prof. Howard Stone at Princeton University and
Yuan-nan Young at NJIT and is co-funded by the NSF Divisions of Mathematical Sciences
(DMS) and Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET). The
total award amount ($505,000) is split between the three academic institutions involved,
with $150,000 awarded to Stony Brook University.
link:
Prof. Anurag Purwar served as General Conference Co-Chair for IDETC 2016
Prof. Anurag Purwar
from our department recently served as the General Conference Co-Chair for the
2016 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC/CIE)
held in Charlotte, NC and attended by more than 1400 people. This flagship meeting
for the ASME Design Engineering Division and the Computers and Information in Engineering
Division consisted of the 11 conferences on topics ranging from Advanced Vehicle Technologies,
Design Automation, Design Education, Mechanisms and Robotics, Multibody Systems, Nonlinear
Dynamics, Control, Vibrations, Biomedical Devices, Design for Manufacturing and the
Life Cycle Conference, and Micro- and Nanosystems.
Drawing largely from the 970 draft papers submitted, the conference featured 772 archival
paper presentations and 74 technical presentations across a wide range of session
topics, complemented by plenary and keynote lectures, lively panel discussions, industry
sessions, and informational tutorials and workshops addressing a rich spectrum of
cutting-edge topics related to design, analysis, computation, and academic/professional
success.
Prior to serving as the chair of the ASME IDETC/CIE, he served as the conference chair
of the 2015 ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference and as the Program Chair of the
2014 Mechanisms and Robotics Conference (MR). He is an elected member of the prestigious
ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Committee.
Prof. Anurag Purwar (PI) and Jeff Ge (Co-PI) win a three-year $440,735 prestigious
NSF award for conducting their research on A Computational Framework for Data-Driven
Mechanism Design Innovation
Recent trends in democratization of manufacturing capability such do-it-yourself hobby
shops, 3D printing technology, as well as low-cost sensors, actuators, and microcontrollers,
call for a corresponding democratization of design tools that can help engineers and
tinkerers alike to innovate and invent motion generating devices. Motion generation
is a fundamental aspect of machines, at the heart of which are kinematic mechanisms
that make it possible for motions to be transmitted or transformed. A kinematic mechanism
is a collection of moving pieces linked together through kinematic joints such as
hinge joints and sliders. Mechanism design innovation involves the selection of an
appropriate mechanism type (i.e., the number of moving pieces and joints as well as
the pattern of their interconnections) and the determination of key dimensions in
the mechanism needed to generate the desired motions. Once a mechanism type is selected,
the appropriate dimensions can often be determined by solving a system of polynomial
equations. The task of type selection, however, is not so amenable to mathematical
treatment, and requires a level of intuition that may take many years to develop and
is difficult to pass on. This award supports the development of a set of web-based,
data-driven design tools that unify the type and dimensional synthesis for mechanism
design innovation. The planned MOOC (massive open online course) will help bring these
tools to the masses and help promote interest in science and engineering including
high school students and those from under-represented groups. The research team will
bring together the diverse fields of reverse engineering, computational shape analysis,
and design kinematics to develop a data-driven paradigm for kinematic synthesis of
mechanical motion generation devices. The goal is to advance the science of mechanism
design and lead to practical and efficient design tools capable of solving highly
complex motion generation problems faced by machine designers. Central to this research
is the creation of a new computational framework for simultaneous type and dimensional
synthesis of various mechanisms.
General Motors Research & Development Donates Bosch Palletized Conveyor System to
Stony Brook's Department of Mechanical Engineering
Assistant Professor, Qing (Cindy) Chang received donated Bosch Palletized Conveyor
System from GM, valued at approximately $50K.  The system includes a closed loop Bosch
TS plus conveyor, VFD controller, and set of proximity switches and cords.
The automatic conveyor system can be used for control sequence analysis and control
optimization.  "This will be very useful for research and education in digital manufacturing,
cyber-physical manufacturing, and can be combined with robotic system, which aligns
very well with the current trends in advanced manufacturing." - Professor Chang
Jahangir Rastegar announced into 2015 National Academy of Inventors Fellows
Under the Microscope: Researchers Receive Grant to Improve Engine Tech
Stony Brook’s Got the Power: How One University Earned Four Major Energy Research
Awards in Less Than a Year
It took only six months for Stony Brook University to hit an energy research grand
slam, earning major federal funding on four projects poised to revolutionize the world’s
energy technology.
“These four projects, which together earned nearly $5.7 million in funding, showcase
Stony Brook’s dedication to researching and developing technologies that will have
a major impact on how we generate and consume energy globally,” said Samuel L. Stanley
Jr., MD, President of Stony Brook University
Faculty Ya Wang at Stony Brook Receives $2 Million DOE Grant to Create a New Super
Energy-Saving Air Conditioning Vent
A Stony Brook University research team has been awarded $2 million from the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) to develop an active air
conditioning vent capable of modulating airflow distribution, velocity, and temperature
designed for commercial or residential unions.  The goal of the project is to create
a vent that results in up to 30 percent energy savings through directed localization
of existing building heating/cooling output.
Ya Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor and Wei Deng, PhD student
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering Student Roger Carson's Story is featured in Stony Brook University
Happenings
Mechanical Engineering major, Roger Carson '15 is highlighted in the below article,
"Building a Better Future for Engineers of Color"
Mechanical Engineering Faculty Receives Prestigious CAREER Award from NSF
Assistant Professor Qing Chang has been awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation
CAREER award titled "CAREER Collaborative Modeling for Distributed Sensing and Real-Time
Intelligent Control to Improve Battery Manufacturing Productivity and Efficiency"
($400,001) in 2014.
Prof. Anurag Purwar gives a TEDx talk on Machine Design Innovation through Technology
and Education
The democratization of the programmable electronics and manufacturing capabilities
calls for a democratization of design capabilities, which is needed for invention
and innovation of machines. This talk focuses on challenges, opportunities, and possible
solutions for bridging this gap by uniting the teaching of scientific and engineering
principles with the new tools of technology while fostering invention, innovation,
and creativity.
Mechanical Engineering Solar Boat Team Won 1st Place in ASME SolarSplash
Our Solar Boat team has brought home a trophy for winning the first place in SolarSplash
Competition co-sponsored by IEEE Power Electronics Society and ASME Solar Energy Division.
Shown is a photo of our graduating senior Mr. Ankit Tyagi, the team captain, with
the trophy and the plaque. The team has been co-advised by David Hwang, Assistant
Professor of Mechanical Engineering, as well as David Westfield, Assistant Professor
of Electrical Engineering. David Westfield traveled with the team to the competition.
Mechanical Engineering Department sent the first team to participate in SolarSplash
competition in 1998. Last year, the team ranked the 5th overall and this year they
took home the trophy!
William Worek Receives 2013 ASME Church Medal
STONY BROOK, NY, January 24, 2014- Stony Brook’s William Worek, PhD, received the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) Edwin F. Church Medal, a high honor
of achievement that recognizes eminent service in increasing the value, importance
and appeal of mechanical engineering education. Worek was honored for the development
of new courses in combined heat and mass transfer and the establishment of a master
of energy engineering program that gives students the tools to design, execute and
manage new energy projects. Worek is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
andan Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering
and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University. He is a recognized expert in heat
and mass transfer, fluid flow and thermodynamics, as applied to energy efficient,
renewable and sustainable energy systems.
See more at:
Mechanics of Composites Conference to be held at Stony Brook University, June 8-12,
2014
The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University will host the 1st
International Conference on Mechanics of Composites June 8-12, 2014. Please visit
the website for more information about the conference:
William Worek Receives 2013 ASME Church Medal
STONY BROOK, NY, January 24, 2014- Stony Brook’s William Worek, PhD, received the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) Edwin F. Church Medal, a high honor
of achievement that recognizes eminent service in increasing the value, importance
and appeal of mechanical engineering education. Worek was honored for the development
of new courses in combined heat and mass transfer and the establishment of a master
of energy engineering program that gives students the tools to design, execute and
manage new energy projects. Worek is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
andan Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering
and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University. He is a recognized expert in heat
and mass transfer, fluid flow and thermodynamics, as applied to energy efficient,
renewable and sustainable energy systems. See more at:
Mechanical Engineering Faculty and Students attend Naval Academy Conference
Three
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
students and Sotirios Mamalis, a professor in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering
, were honored to be invited to the Fourth Annual
Naval Academy Science and Engineering Conference
(NASEC), held from November 3-6, 2013, in Annapolis, Maryland. Joseph Venezia (senior,
Mechanical Engineering), Sebastian Gomez (senior, Mechanical Engineering) and Morgan
DiCarlo (sophomore, Civil Engineering) came together with undergraduate students from
a wide variety of institutions of higher education to participate in discussions about
STEM and the challenges our nation faces in solving critical issues. Venezia and Gomez
worked on a research collaborative at the conference and proposed Alternative Energy
solutions, while DiCarlo’s project focused on water quality and safety. The students
also met and networked with the influential keynote speakers: Arati Prabhakar, Director
of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; The Honorable G. Wayne Clough, Secretary
of the Smithsonian Institution; and The Honorable Kathryn D. Sullivan, first American
woman to walk in space and the Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and
Acting NOAA Administrator.
Stony Brook professor develops lift for seniors
Published: March 28, 2013 6:44 PM
By JOE RYAN
joe.ryan@newsday.com
Photo credit: Daniel Brennan | Stony Brook University professor Anurag Purwar with
his Mobility Assistant device, used by Michael Geronimo, 90. (March 27, 2013)
The idea for the product came to Anurag Purwar when his friend, a retired physician,
complained of struggling to do what so many younger people take for granted: sitting
and standing.
So Purwar, a
Stony Brook University
mechanical engineering associate professor, designed a device resembling a walker
that's equipped with an electric motor to lift seniors from chairs, then ease them
back down. Now he is working with Biodex Medical Systems Inc. of
Shirley
to develop it into a full-blown product.
"There are so many people who need help standing and sitting as they grow older,"
Purwar said.
The collaboration between the professor and Biodex is part of a growing push on
Long Island
to commercialize technology from Stony Brook and other research facilities. Officials
hope the brainpower of local laboratories will spawn a culture of high-tech start-ups
to boost the region's struggling economy.
Purwar and Biodex have $80,000 to develop the invention, primarily from The Research
Foundation for SUNY. They plan to target nursing homes, hoping to sell about 500 of
the products annually for around $5,000 apiece. They plan to pitch the device as a
way to help
nurses
and other employees avoid back injuries while helping patients out of chairs.
The challenge, industry experts say, will be making the device lighter, cheaper and
more versatile than existing products.
"Back injuries are a huge issue, and there are already products out there," said Robert
Heppenheimer, chief executive of the
Nesconset
Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, who isn't associated with the product. "But
if this one is cheaper and easier for nursing homes to use, there could be a market."
The bigger potential, however, could be selling the product for seniors to use in
their homes, Heppenheimer said.
Purwar designed the device, called the Mobility Assistant, with help from a student,
Thomas Galeotafiore. It's powered by a 12-volt battery, weighs about 30 pounds and
is equipped with wheels to function also as a regular walker -- a feature Purwar says
sets it apart from other products.
Ed Behan, a Biodex vice president, met Purwar last year at a workshop at Stony Brook
for aspiring entrepreneurs. The company, founded in the 1950s as
Atomic
Products Corp. to develop equipment for researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory,
manufactures a variety of medical devices. Behan hopes to have Purwar's invention
on the market within 18 months.
"More and more people want to maintain their independence and mobility," he said.
"And this fits that need perfectly."
Gov. Cuomo's announcement of the device
US Rep. Timothy Bishop remarks about Assistant Professor Lei Zuo's research to Congress
on November 27, 2012
Assistant Professor Thomas Cubaud has been awarded the prestigious NSF CAREER award
Titled "CAREER Microflow of highly viscous fluids: mixing and dissolution processes"
($401,653) from the Fluid Dynamic Program of the CBET division of the NSF in 2012.
He has also received the 2012 Frenkiel Award for Fluid Mechanics.  The Award is sponsored
by the Division of Fluid Dynamics of the APS, and is given annually to a young author
of a paper that has been published in Physics of Fluids, during the calendar year
preceding the presentation.Following is a link to the award announcement:
Stony Brook Team Wins National Award For Technology that Harvests Energy from Railroad
Train Vibrations
STONY BROOK, NY, November 15, 2012 – Stony Brook University engineers have won a national
award for an innovative energy harvester that has the potential to save millions of
dollars in energy costs for railroads while
reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The team’s work, “Mechanical Motion  Rectifier
(MMR) based Railroad Energy Harvester,” was awarded “Best Application of Energy Harvesting”
at the Energy Harvesting and Storage USA
2012 conference, held in Washington, DC on November 7-8, 2012.The Stony Brook team,
led by Professor Lei Zuo and two graduate students  Teng Lin and John Wang from the
Department of Mechanical Engineering and
Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center, developed a new type of  energy harvester
that converts the irregular, oscillatory motion of  train-induced rail track vibrations
into regular, unidirectional motion,
in the same way that an electric voltage rectifier converts AC voltage  into DC. Professor
Zuo estimates that the invention could save more than $10  million in trackside power
supply costs for railroads in New York State
alone, along with a reduction of 3000 tons per year of CO2 and a half  million dollars
of electricity savings.
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