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Department of Mechanical Engineering Fall 2008 www.engr.colostate.edu/me Volume 11, Number 1 Tom Bradley Joins the ME Faculty s of August 2008, Tom Davis, he worked on continuously systems course and was often a guest Bradley has become the variable transmission (CVT) design lecturer on fuel cell systems as well as Alatest member of Colorado and fabrication. His master’s thesis energy technology and policy. He also State’s mechanical engineering dealt with the dynamic simulation was an active lecturer in surrounding faculty. Bradley comes to us from of such transmissions for purposes high schools. His active research Georgia Tech, where he just finished of design. has served as the basis for a strong his Ph.D. with a dissertation entitled Bradley has not only studied record of journal publications and “Modeling, Design, and Energy and applied these advanced energy conference presentations already Management of Fuel Cell Systems conversion topics in academe but numbering close to 30. for Aircraft.” also has applied them in the real As a teacher, Bradley believes He has worked on alternative world. He provided analysis and strongly in hands-on engineering energy systems beginning with his design input for the Electric Power experiences for student learning. undergraduate work at the University Research Institute (EPRI) dealing He says, “In addition to the fun- of California – Davis, where he worked with PHEVs and he helped Ford damentals of engineering science, Professor Tom Bradley on a Chevy Suburban conversion to with simulation, control system engineering education should be Bradley has come to Colorado a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle design, and fuel economy analy- an education in scientific thinking, State because of the department’s (PHEV) for the 2001 SAE National ses for the prototype of the Ford problem solving, group process- excellent reputation in combustion Future Truck Competition. Escape Hybrid. ing, and individual accountability.” and renewable energy research, During his master’s degree stud- At Georgia Tech, he was active as These are values long held high in the its entrepreneurial spirit, and its ies, completed in March 2003 at Cal a co-instructor of a renewable energy ME curriculum at Colorado State. (continued on Page 3) Joint CSU-JNC Workshop s part of Colorado State’s ongoing efforts to encourage Athe internationalization of its research and education efforts, several of the University’s senior administrators and faculty visited various institutions of higher learning around the world, including China, India, South America, Europe, New Zealand, and Russia. In India, the primary institution for engineering and science research and education is the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNC), located in Bangalore. Several of CSU-JNC Workshop Participants, April 2-3, 2008 Colorado State’s faculty and admin- Left to right back row: C. Narayana, Michael Elliott, G.U. Kulkarni, Dieter Hochheimer, S. Bhattacharya, istrators visited JNC over a period Amy Prieto, Swapan K. Pati, James Sites, Tony Rappe, Randy Bartels, Matt Shore, K.S. Narayan, of two years. Tony Frank, Colorado U.V. Waghmare, Bryan Willson, and Mani Manivannan. Front row: A.K. Sood, Allan Kirkpatrick, C. N. R. Rao, State’s provost and senior executive William Farland, and Tony Maciejewski. (continued on Page 4) Charles E. Mitchell Passes Away From the Department Head As a professor of mechanical all greetings from the Department of engineering, Mitchell directed the Mechanical Engineering! I hope that research of more than 30 master’s Fyou have had a good summer. Classes and doctoral students in the general are now in full swing, and again the campus is fields of combustion, propulsion, full of new students embarking on their college and gas dynamics. He developed careers. We have a good-sized freshmen class an international reputation in aero- of 124 students. Eighty two percent are from space propulsion and gave invited Colorado, with Littleton (13), Colorado Springs (12), Loveland (8), and Fort Collins (8) being lectures in the Republic of China the top four cities of the freshmen class. We and at the European Space Agency graduated about 120 students in May, so we in The Netherlands. Federal agencies Allan T. Kirkpatrick remain one of the largest ME departments in such as NASA, the Department of the Rocky Mountain West. Energy, and the National Science In this fall newsletter, we have a variety of articles about events in the ME Foundation sponsored his research department that I hope you find interesting. We were successful in hiring a new on rocket engine combustion. In faculty member this year, Tom Bradley, who recently received his Ph.D. from Professor Charles Mitchell addition, he was the principal or co- Georgia Tech. He will strengthen our new initiatives in the energy systems area investigator on projects funded by the with his interests in hybridized fuel cells and analysis of energy systems. More harles E. Mitchell, professor Colorado Energy Research Institute, information about him is given in the article on Page 1. In other news, our senior design teams performed at a very high level at the of mechanical engineering, the Air Force Office of Scientific national competitions. Two competition groups deserve special recognition. passed away on Saturday, Research (AFOSR), and the National C The CSU SAE Aero Design West Team placed second in the open class, lifted 55 March 8, 2008, of a heart attack. Renewable Energy Laboratory. pounds, and won the Design Innovation Award for their takeoff assist system. Mitchell was 66 years old. He is A memorial tree honoring The ASME Human-Powered Vehicle Team placed first in the utility event and survived by his wife, Veta, and three Mitchell will be planted just outside second overall with their tadpole design. Please refer to the photos of the groups children, Charlie, Lynn, and Darla. the mechanical engineering depart- throughout this newsletter. Your continuing support of our students, particularly Mitchell was a highly respected ment office. A fellowship is also the Senior Design students, makes our participation in these events possible. educator and researcher. planned to honor Mitchell. Thank you, and best wishes for the fall. Mitchell joined Colorado State For more information or to University in 1967 as an assistant make a donation to the fellowship, professor of mechanical engineering. please contact Shannon Mosness, Allan Kirkpatrick A Princeton University alumnus, [email protected], he earned a bachelor’s degree in (970) 491-7028. aeronautical engineering in 1963 and master’s (1965) and Ph.D. (1967) degrees in aerospace and mechanical engineering. He was considered an outstanding teacher and adviser by his colleagues and students. Over the course of his career, he taught a broad range of undergraduate courses in thermodynamics and engineer- ing principles and developed new courses in aerospace propulsion and compressible fluids. At the graduate level, he created and directed several new courses, including mechanics and thermodynamics of propulsion, combustion, and wave propagation. SAE Aero Design West Team ASME Human-Powered Vehicle Team Fort Worth, Texas Reno, Nevada April 2008 April 2008 Student Competitions Oct. 10 COE 50th and Prior Reunion Breakfast Calendar of Events (dates and locations to be announced): Internet Café/Engineering Building • SAE Aero Design West Oct. 10 MEAP Board Meeting, Lory Student • ASME Human-Powered Vehicle Center 214-216 • SAE Formula Hybrid Competition Dec. 20 Fall Undergraduate Commencement LSC Main Ballroom • Formula SAE Race Car Competition Mar. 28 Alumni and Friends Awards Dinner ME/College of Engineering/ LSC Cherokee Park University Events: Apr. 17 Engineering Days/ME Senior Design Practicum Project Demos 2007-2008 Robotic Eagle Lure Oct. 9 Annual 50th and Prior Reunion Dinner Senior Design Team Fort Collins Hilton Apr. 17 MEAP Board Meeting, LSC 214-216 2 Phillip Gibson Receives Distinguished Alumni Award hil Gibson (B.S.M.E. 1963) choice among his classmates and was awarded the Mechanical because the mechanical engineering PEngineering Distinguished department fit his interests very well. Alumni Award in April 2008. The After leaving Colorado State, he College of Engineering alumni headed to Northwestern University awards recognize former students for graduate study. whose accomplishments in their After he left Northwestern, Gibson careers, their service to industry was hired at Battelle-Columbus and the public, and/or their volun- in Ohio to work in their research teer efforts have brought honor to labs. He worked on a project to test that individual, to the College of cables for marine applications. He Engineering, and to Colorado State then moved with Battelle to a testing University. facility located in Long Beach, Calif. Gibson is president of TMT Labs Gibson’s engineering team came to in Huntington Beach, Calif., a busi- have a reputation for being experts ness he started that conducts testing at testing cables, and, as a result, they of wire rope and large cables for began to have an increasing number bridges, marine towing applications, of repeat customers. Business was Phillip Gibson received the Distinguished Alumni Award. structures, off-shore drilling rigs, and booming. Gibson and his engineers many other similar applications. decided to launch their own com- a Russian submarine. Gibson now deal with the performance of wire Before starting at Colorado State, pany to do this work as a private owns and runs several different rope and cables in many applications Gibson had lived in many locations company. companies, though TMT is the from high-strength steel cables to around the Midwest and attended Much of their equipment was largest. It has more than 20 engineers copper. In the proud tradition of several schools. His father worked donated by an initial investor, and on staff and about 40 employees. His Colorado State mechanical engineer- in sales for Studebaker, and they they were able to use it as collateral to daughter, Kristen, is vice president.