Department of Mechanical Engineering

Sehee Lee and Kamran Mohseni elected Fellows of the new Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute.
The Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute have recently announced that its inaugural group of RASEI Fellow includes two faculty members at the Department of Mechanical Engineering -- Sehee Lee and Kamran Mohseni (joint with Aerospace Engineering). RASEI is a new joint institute between CU-Boulder and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. Its focus includes forming one of the world's leading university and federal laboratory partnerships in the development and commercialization of renewable energy technologies. This fellowship will be three-year appointments, officially beginning Nov. 1, 2009. The RASEI Council of Fellows will will be considering important issues such as beginning a search for a permanent director, a strategic hiring plan for new faculty, detailed governance plans, and research thrust areas for the institute.

Patrick Wiedman considers the shape of the Eiffel Tower
Professor Patrick Wiedman has published another paper on the Eiffel Tower. In this paper he presents solutions for what the tower would look like if Eiffel had designed it for a realistic turbulent wind profile over Paris. The work appeared in June (Modified shape of the Eiffel Tower determined for an atmospheric boundary-layer wind profile, Physics of Fluids, 21, 067102 (2009) and has been acknowledged by both the Physics of Fluids journal and by the American Institute of Physics. See the article on InsideScience.org

The department is now offering a new Graduate Design Track
The department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder is now offering a new Graduate Design Track. This new program teaches graduate courses in the art of product design. These courses aim to expose students to a broad range of design topics so that they can turn their ideas from dreams into reality. For more information see the Design Track page or the flyer.

New Building Opened for MSC-CU ME Partnership Program
A newly-renovated building was opened on August 19 for the Mesa State College-CU Mechanical Engineering Partnership Program on August 19 at Mesa State. The building will house the Mechanical Engineering program as well as a new Construction Management program at Mesa State. See news items at KREX TV News Channel 5 and NBC 11 News.

Rishi Raj, Teledyne Team, Win NASA/Air Force National Hypersonic Science Center for Hypersonic Materials and Structures
Professor Rishi Raj is part of a team that was awarded one of three National Hypersonic Science Centers through a joint NASA/Air Force competition. Raj's team is led by Teledyne LLC, Thousand Oaks, CA (Dr. David Marshall, PI) and in addition to CU, includes participants from the University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Miami, Florida, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Texas at Arlington. The National Hypersonic Science Center for Hypersonic Materials and Structures aims to revolutionize the design of hypersonic vehicles by creating a new class of hybrid, hierarchical materials that achieve substantial breakthroughs in oxidation resistance, maximum useable temperature, and maximum supportable heat flux. The research will develop basic science needed to guide materials design, and engineering science needed to enable designers to use the new materials with efficiency and confidence.

Harold Park Receives Gallagher Young Investigator Award from US Association for Computational Mechanics
Harold Park received the U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics Gallagher Young Investigator Award for 2009 for his “groundbreaking work on computational nano mechanics and materials.” The award is made every two years and recognizes outstanding accomplishments, particularly outstanding published papers, by researchers of 40 years or younger. It was presented to Professor Park at the Congress Banquet during the 10th U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics, being held July 16-19, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio.

Se-Hee Lee, NREL Team, Win 2009 R&D 100 Award for Thin-Film Solid State Battery
Professor Se-Hee Lee and his team of collaborators at NREL were awarded a 2009 R&D 100 Award for their invention for the PowerPlane UX Microbattery - a solid-state thin-film battery. This award recognizes the 100 most technologically significant products introduced the past year. The winning of an R&D 100 Award provides a mark of excellence known to industry, government, and academia as proof that the product is one of the most innovative ideas of the year. R&D 100 Award winners are selected by an independent judging panel and the editors of R&D Magazine. The publication and its online portal serve research scientists, engineers, and other technical staff members at high tech industrial companies and public and private laboratories around the world. Professor Lee and his team will be recognized at the R&D 100 Awards Banquet on Nov. 12, 2009, in Orlando.

Ronggui Yang Selected to Participate in National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Symposium
Ronggui Yang was among eighty-eight of the nation's brightest young engineers to be selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering's 15th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. The annual symposium brings together engineers ages 30 to 45 who are performing exceptional engineering research and technical work in a variety of disciplines to discuss cutting-edge issues in engineering and innovative ways to address them and significantly impact the U.S. economy. Professor Yang joins Se-Hee Lee as the second ME faculty to be selected for participation in this prestigious event in as many years.

Subhendu Datta Publishes New Book on Wave Propagation
Professor Subhendu Datta has published a book on wave propagation in composite materials: Wave Propagation in Composite Media and Structures: with Applications to Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation *. The book presents effective analytical and numerical techniques to study the characteristic features of elastic guided waves in fiber reinforced laminated media. The book closely examines the salient features of dispersive guided modes and how they are modified by defects, inhomogeneities, and boundaries. An accompanying CD-ROM contains executable computer programs, which can be used to simulate different scenarios for designing and interpreting ultrasonic experiments.
* - The above link to a non-university site does not represent endorsement by the University of Colorado at Boulder or its affiliates.

Reamon receives Boulder Faculty Assembly Teaching Award
Derek Reamon has been chosen by the Boulder Faculty Assembly to receive the BFA's annual awards for faculty excellence in teaching.