MechE News - October 2021
Department Highlights
Provost announces new search committee for engineering dean
CU Boulder Provost Russell Moore has named the members of the advisory committee to conduct a national search for a new dean for the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS).
Department surpasses annual research funding record
Researchers in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering received 118 research awards in 2020, totaling more than $19.5 million.
Meet the department's three new faculty members
They are researchers, educators and entrepreneurs who are bringing the Department of Mechanical Engineering new industry and research opportunities.
CU celebrates Western partnership program's new engineering building
CU Engineering leaders attended the grand opening of Western Colorado University's Paul M. Rady Building on Oct. 8, praising the facility as a valuable addition to the Western-CU Boulder Partnership Program.
Alumni Spotlight
ME Alumni Connect Day returns with an engaging in-person experience
ME Alumni Connect Day 2021 was a success thanks to the nearly 40 alumni who attended and up to 500 students they engaged with. Students connected with alumni over lunch, during class panels and while participating in mock interviews.
Research Spotlight
Simple safety measures reduce musical COVID-19 transmission
ME professor Shelly Miller, a co-author of the study, finds masking instruments, social distancing and implementing time limits significantly reduce the risk of emitting COVID-19 airborne particles.
CU Boulder spinoff company develops technology that could treat COVID-19 complications
After a year when the nation experienced a shortage of mechanical ventilators to help treat patients with severe COVID-19 complications, Professor Mark Borden's company Respirogen presents another treatment option: oxygen microbubbles.
Amid wildfires and a pandemic, here’s how to keep your indoor air clean
Professor Marina Vance shares easy and effective ways to keep our indoor air clean from ozone, wildfire smoke and COVID-19.
Engineers uncover the secrets of fish fins
New research led by the University of Colorado Boulder has uncovered the engineering secrets behind what makes fish fins so strong yet flexible. The team’s insights could one day lead to new designs for robotic surgical tools or even airplane wings that change their shape with the push of a button.
Video: Membrane-Powered Prosthetics
Mechanical Engineering professors teamed up with the Department of Veterans Affairs to use glucose from our body to power small medical devices.
Video: Kaushik Jayaram on Bio-Inspired Engineering
Inspired by the natural world, Kaushik Jayaram heads up the Animal Inspired Movement and Robotics Laboratory (AIM-RL) at CU Boulder. The group aims to develop robotic devices that benefit and enhance human capabilities in the areas of search and rescue, inspection and maintenance, personal assistance, and environmental monitoring.
Student Spotlight
Graduate students join forces to improve underrepresented student experiences
The Committee for Equity in Mechanical Engineering wants to expand its outreach in the 2021-22 academic year and needs help to do it. The only qualification to join the team of graduate students is a willingness to be open.
Engineers win $500,000 in international underground robotics competition
A CU Boulder team has taken home third place and $500,000 in prize money in an international competition that sends teams of robots deep underground to conduct search-and-rescue operations.
Undergraduate gains valuable skills as a COSINC student lab assistant
The COSINC facility has given Jared Lewis, a junior in mechanical engineering, opportunities that he might not have ever experienced as an undergraduate.
A new design workflow for an integral piece of soft robotic systems
Three mechanical engineering students and Professor Robert MacCurdy developed the novel workflow and published it in a paper that won the IEEE-CASE Best Application Paper Award at the 2021 CASE Conference in France.
Four mechanical engineering students receive SWE scholarships
The Society of Women Engineers has awarded 289 scholarships in all, totaling more than $1,200,000, to undergraduate and graduate students for the 2021-22 academic year.
Education and Outreach
Dan Riffell earns the Frank Moyes Award for innovation and entrepreneurship
The award recognizes an outstanding faculty or staff member who has demonstrated exceptional interest and accomplishments in innovation and entrepreneurship. Riffell is the first mechanical engineering faculty member to win the award.
ME graduate student wins a prestigious college teaching award
PhD candidate Jeff Glusman, who was working as a Graduate Part-time Instructor at the time, is the first graduate student to receive the John and Mercedes Peebles Innovation in Education Award.