Mechanical Engineering Annual Report 2011–2012

On the cover and inside front page: Highly functionalized aramid building blocks are achieved in the form of 50 nm-diameter nanosheets from commercial Kevlar fibers that are being used by the Arruda group to form complex nanostructures with tailorable macroscopic properties through various chemical treatments. See page 32 for the full story. 18 22 53 56

Contents

2 Message from the Chair 11 ME Faculty Instrumental in Advanced Manufacturing Initiatives 3 Trends & Statistics 11 Kota Working to Enhance US Competitiveness 4 In the News 12 News Media Turn to ME Faculty for Fuel 4 Mazumder Elected to the National Efficiency Insights Academy of Engineering 14 ARC Conference: Harnessing the Power of 4 Fourth ME Professor Wins ASME Future Mobility William T. Ennor Award 15 PHONONS 2012: Sharing Knowledge of 5 Six Faculty Win Seven Early-Career Phonon Physics Awards in 2012 15 CIRP Conference: Focusing on Customer- 7 Meet New Faculty Driven Assembly 8 New ME Research Complex 16 Research Centers & Consortiums Gains Ground 9 ME Growth Drives G.G. Brown Building 26 Advances in Research Major Renovation 46 Excellence in Education 10 Two New Collaborative Research 57 Distinguished Alumni Centers to Call U-M ME Home 61 Awards & Recognitions 02 me.engin.umich.edu

Message from the Chair

“As one of the nation’s top mechanical engineering programs, the University of Michigan Department of Mechanical Engineering continually strives toward excellence on many fronts.”

s one of the nation’s top mechani- accorded an engineer. Six of our junior applied research across many fields, from cal engineering programs, the faculty have garnered seven competi- mechanics, acoustics, energy, transporta- A University of Michigan (U-M) tive young investigator awards in 2012, tion, manufacturing and robotics to bio- Department of Mechanical Engineering from the National Science Foundation, and nano-technologies. Multidisciplinary (ME) continually strives toward excellence National Institutes of Health, Air Force research centers in clean vehicles, on many fronts. I am delighted to share Office of Scientific Research, Office of advanced batteries, heat transfer at mate- the highlights of our efforts, advances and Naval Research and DARPA. Our col- rial interfaces and advanced manufacturing impact over the past year with you in this leagues have been invited to comment on also are highlighted. 2011-12 annual report. important issues related to energy and the environment in national media. ME faculty We continue to launch new education Construction of our department’s new continue to lead many multidisciplinary programs and opportunities for students $46 million, 62,880-square-foot research research activities. Recently we forged two in Ann Arbor and abroad—in classrooms, complex is continuing on schedule, with new collaborations with industry partners laboratories and remote health clinics, to completion expected by spring 2014. BAIC Motor Corporation, Ltd., and FAW name just a few of the learning environ- This new complex will enable transforma- Group Corporation. The two resulting ments. Our student teams—MRacing, Baja tive research activities, integrating core research centers will be housed at U-M and the Solar Car Team—again excelled mechanical engineering with emerg- and led by ME faculty. in the many competitions in which they ing areas, such as micro-, nano- and participated. bio- systems. Two new colleagues are joining our faculty at the start of the 2012-13 academic year: We are proud of the achievements of our In addition, we were thrilled to learn André Boehman, Professor of Mechanical alumni and are grateful for their continued recently that the State of Michigan will Engineering, is a world leader in fuel support of the Department in so very many provide $30 million for a major renovation processing and combustion research; ways. The examples included in this report of the existing G.G. Brown building. This Assistant Professor David Remy brings are only a small sampling. is an approximately $47 million project a wealth of new expertise in robotics, Thank you for your interest, and here is to a focused on creating a modern, world-class mechatronics and biomechanics. Several productive, fruitful year ahead. instructional space for active teaching and new faculty searches for the coming year learning in mechanical engineering. are underway as well. Kon-Well Wang Stephen P. Timoshenko Collegiate Our faculty members are playing leader- On the research front, our discoveries Professor and Chair, Department of ship roles and receiving recognition at the continue to impact both the scientific Mechanical Engineering national and international levels. Professor community and society. As you will read Jyotirmoy Mazumder has been elected in the pages ahead, investigators have to the National Academy of Engineering, made breakthroughs in fundamental and one of the highest professional honors Trends & Statistics 03

Faculty Profile Faculty Trends: Tenured and Tenure-Track

60 50 40 4 30 20 Current NAE Members 10 0 FA07 FA08 FA09 FA10 FA11 FA12 Assistant Assistant 9 10 11 12 14 16 Associate Associate 12 11 12 12 11 8 Professor Professor 34 36 35 36 36 39 Total 71 Total 55 57 58 60 61 63

Society Fellows Annual Research Expenditures

4 $35M $30M NSF PECASE or PFF Awards $25M $20M

$15M

$10M 29 $5M 0 NSF Career 09–10 10-11 11-12 or PYI Awards NIH 1,996,237 2,168,238 2,153,049 DoE 2,390,860 5,407,039 7,797,900 NSF 2,701,330 3,104,779 3,278,770 DoD 10,992,316 9,796,979 9,853,599 All Other 13,792,756 14,092,339 11,804,193 5 Total $31,873,498 $34,569,374 $34,887,511

Current Journal Chief Editors Degrees Conferred

2011-12 BSE 209 75 MSE 120 PhD 47 Current Journal Editorial Board or Assoc. Editor Appts. 04 me.engin.umich.edu

Mazumder Elected to the National Academy of Engineering

rofessor Jyoti Mazumder has laser processing and attempt to under- been elected to the National stand the basic physics of the interac- P Academy of Engineering. He was tion between light photons and material recognized for his work in the area of electrons. "quantitative transport modeling for laser interaction and design and commercializa- Election to the National Academy of tion of direct metal deposition machines." Engineering is one of the highest profes- sional honors accorded an engineer. Mazumder is the Robert H. Lurie Professor Members have distinguished themselves of Mechanical Engineering and directs in business or academic management, in the Center for Laser-Aided Intelligent technical positions, as university faculty Manufacturing (CLAIM), where he and his and as leaders in government or private research group study the plasma present in engineering organizations. Jyoti Mazumder

Fourth ME Professor Wins ASME William T. Ennor Award

he American Society of Mechanical Engineers William T. Ennor Manufacturing Technology Award was established more than two T decades ago. The award recognizes individuals or teams for develop- ing or contributing significantly to innovative manufacturing technology as well as for its implementation. The innovation also must result in substantial eco- nomic and/or societal benefit. This is one of the most prestigious ASME awards in the field of manufacturing.

In 2012 ME Professor S. Jack Hu received the coveted award. Hu is the fourth U-M ME faculty member to be honored with the Ennor medal, joining Yoram Koren Jyoti Mazumder fellow U-M ME colleagues and Ennor recipients Yoram Koren (1999), Jyoti Mazumder (2006) and Jun Ni (2009). Having four awardees on our faculty is an achievement that distinguishes the Department from among peer institutions.

Hu, the J. Reid and Polly Anderson Professor of Manufacturing Technology, received the award “for pioneering the development of innovative methodolo- gies for predicting and diagnosing quality variation in multistage assembly systems and methods for designing manufacturing system configurations and their implementation in automotive body assembly and battery manufacturing.” Jun Ni S. Jack Hu In the News 05

Six Faculty Win Seven Early-Career Awards in 2012

SAMANTHA Daly JIANPING Fu JOHN HART ERIC JOHNSEN ALLEN LIU PRAMOD SANGI REDDY

Assistant Professor Samantha Daly has the first quantitative, full-field, in-situ Fu’s research will employ novel microme- won an Air Force Office of Scientific comparisons between accumulated local chanical tools to characterize the biome- Research Young Investigator damage, fatigue crack behavior, macro- chanical properties and behavior of VSMCs Research Program award for her scopic response and underlying micro- in response to external forces. The insights proposed research, “A New Approach structure. She will pioneer the development gained into how VSMCs transduce such Towards Characterizing Microstructural of a new experimental approach and use forces may ultimately lead to therapies to Influence on Material Behavior Under Very it to examine the microstructural damage prevent or reverse pressure-induced vas- High Cycle Fatigue.” Her goal is to use accumulation of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-2Sn- cular pathologies. new experimental approaches to examine 4Zr-2Mo. Results will be directly applicable local damage accumulation during very to a wide range of materials of interest to As part of Fu’s CAREER award, he will high cycle fatigue (VHCF), an increasingly the Air Force. develop a new interdisciplinary gradu- common and costly problem in aerospace ate course in biomechanics as well as an applications. Assistant Professor Jianping Fu outreach program for K-12 students in the has received a National Science Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti school districts. Aerospace components are being Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award designed for increasingly longer lifetimes, from the NSF Division of Chemical, This 2012 CAREER award is the second NSF usually in high-vibration, high-temperature Bioengineering, Environmental, and award received by Fu. In 2011 he received applications. Accurately predicting when Transport Systems for his proposal, funding for his proposal, “Mesenchymal Stem these components will fail is critically “Biomechanical Phenotyping of Contractile Cells and the Synthetic Micro-environment: important. In order to understand what Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells.” an Integrated Approach.” drives damage accumulation and eventual Assistant Professor John Hart is also a failure at the component level, quantita- With the award, Fu will combine his recipient of a 2012 NSF CAREER Award tive experimental data linking accumulated expertise in both microfabrication and cell for his proposal, “High-Speed Continuous local damage back to the microstructure is mechanics to investigate the biomechani- Assembly of Nanoparticle Monolayers and necessary. Currently no accurate, effective cal responses of vascular smooth muscle Discrete Cluster Arrays.” way exists to make this connection. cells (VSMCs). VSMCs that reside within artery walls play a key role in diseases Hart was granted the prestigious award to Daly’s research approach addresses a such as atherosclerosis and hypertension. develop a manufacturing technology for fundamental gap in the understanding of While studies have characterized VSMC high-speed evaporative self-assembly (ESA) fatigue failure in the VHCF regime. Through responses to mechanical stimuli, their of nanoparticles. Nanoparticle assemblies experiments across a range of applied precise mechanical characteristics remain can be used in photonics, biological and loads and temperatures, she will conduct largely unknown. chemical sensors, solar cells, batteries and continued 06 me.engin.umich.edu

in other applications. However, the through- Assistant Professor Eric Johnsen has won unlike blowing a bubble. The platelets will put and variability of current manufacturing an Office of Naval Research Young be comprised of a combination of biologi- methods are inadequate for scale-up. Hart Investigator Research Program award. cal components that are well understood, plans to develop a novel apparatus for He was granted the award for his proposal, including lipids and proteins. The synthetic continuous-feed ESA that will enable com- “A New Approach to Understanding and molecules will mimic natural platelets’ mercially relevant production rates. Hart’s Predicting Cavitation Erosion using High- role in the clotting process. Liu envisions group will partner with other researchers Fidelity Numerical Simulations.” that such novel cellular devices will have and industry to build novel biosensors and a tremendous impact in medical settings glass coatings. Cavitation, or the formation of vapor around the world. bubbles due to pressure changes, occurs Hart’s proposal also includes educational in external water flows such as along The competitive NIH Director’s New and outreach initiatives to increase the propellers, hulls and rudders, and also in Innovator’s Award is designed to support number of four-year university gradu- internal water flows in pumps and other exceptionally innovative projects that have ates with nanomanufacturing expertise. turbomachinery. Repeated collapse of the potential for unusually high impact. In collaboration with Oakland Community these vapor bubbles generates high pres- College, he will guide development of a sures and temperatures, ultimately leading Assistant Professor Pramod Sangi course on nanomanufacturing processes to erosion of nearby solids. Reddy has received a DARPA Young and help create a lab module on self- Faculty Award. DARPA, or the Defense assembly. Finally, he will work with artists Cavitation has been studied theoreti- Advanced Research Projects Agency, sup- and architects in order to promote aware- cally and experimentally for years, but its ports early-career investigators to enable ness of nanoscale science and technology complexity requires the coupling of both research pursuits related to the military’s through artistic images. His own creative solid and fluid mechanics. Bubble col- technology needs. lapse occurs over a wide range of time and visualizations of small-scale structures have Of the 560 applications DARPA received for been featured in a wide variety of national length scales, and Johnsen’s research will use high-fidelity numerical simulations to its Young Faculty Award program, Reddy and international publications, as well as on was one of 51 who received funding. his Nanobliss website (www.nanobliss.com). visualize bubble collapse and the flow field everywhere at all times, something that has His proposal was entitled, “Nanoscale In addition, Hart received a Young not yet been possible. Engineering of Interfacial Thermal Transport Investigator Program (YIP) Award from in High-Electron Mobility Transistors the Office of Naval Research to explore Johnsen’s team suspects that shocks (HEMTs) for Improved Reliability.” mechanisms of load transfer within carbon generated by bubble collapse dynamically interact with neighboring solids, an interac- Reddy’s focus is on finding new solutions nanotube (CNT) assemblies, such as yarns for reducing the temperature rise in HEMTs and sheets, and to create an experimen- tion that hasn’t been studied previously. He expects to apply his research to guide during operation. Wideband III-V nitrides tal platform for tuning their mechanical are viable for use in high-power transistor properties. the elaboration of reduced-order models to design components and materials that devices because of their unique transport Hierarchical ordering of CNTs can yield have improved efficiency, performance characteristics, including high electron exceptional mechanical and multifunc- and lifespan while decreasing the costs of mobility and high thermal conductivity, but tional material properties, and there have development, operation and maintenance. heat dissipation and subsequent tempera- been many recent, significant innovations ture increases during operation pose an in fabrication and commercialization of Assistant Professor Allen Liu has been obstacle to improvements in performance CNT-enhanced composites and fibers. Still, awarded a National Institutes of Health and reliability. (NIH) Director’s New Innovator’s fundamental knowledge of individual and Reddy plans to improve the reliability collective mechanical properties is lacking. Award for his proposal, “Building Artificial Platelets.” of HEMTs by leveraging his expertise in Hart plans to gain a quantitative under- scanning thermal microscopy, nanoscale standing of the decoupled roles of CNT Platelets are the “first responders” of the transport measurements and compu- alignment, contact area, adhesion and cellular world whenever an injury occurs to tational modeling of interfacial thermal packing density on material properties. the body’s vasculature, but they are con- transport. Towards this goal, he will quanti- Comprehensive characterization will enable tinually in short supply in blood banks for a tatively measure thermal fields and thermal direct interrogation of the relationships number of reasons, including a short shelf- conductivity at the nanoscale. From the between the CNT behavior under load and life and susceptibility to contamination. insights obtained from these studies, he mechanical properties of large-scale CNT Using biological components, Liu plans to aims to lower device temperatures during assemblies. The research is highly relevant develop artificial platelets that exhibit similar operation through appropriate thermal to the use of CNT composites for critical functionalities as their natural counterparts. engineering. Navy missions, such as for lightweight, The artificial platelets, essentially lipid efficient structures that operate in extreme vesicles, will be formed through the environments, embedded sensors and process of microfluidic jetting, which is not energy devices. In the News 07

Meet New Faculty

ANDRÉ BOEHMAN ndré Boehman, a world leader in fuels and combus- achieving 55% brake thermal tion research, is joining the U-M faculty as professor of efficiency in internal combus- A mechanical engineering. After receiving his PhD from tion engines. At U-M, Boehman Stanford and being a postdoc researcher at SRI International, will continue working with Boehman started his academic career as an assistant professor Volvo Group Truck Technology of fuel science at the Pennsylvania State University in 1994. He on its SuperTruck program, was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2000 and funded by the U.S. Department professor in 2006. Over the years, Boehman developed a strong of Energy. He also plans to research program at Penn State and built an outstanding record continue his work on charac- of high impact journal publications in energy and fuels engineering. terization of the nanostructure He is a recipient of the 2009 John Johnson Award for Outstanding and oxidative behavior of diesel Diesel Engine Research and the 2009 Arch Colwell Award from soot as well as begin new, the Society of Automotive Engineers. He has also demonstrated collaborative initiatives in high- excellent leadership in serving the professional community, serving efficiency combustion. as Editor in Chief for Fuel Processing Technology and holding executive committee positions in national and international organi- “I’m looking forward to working with the talented faculty, research- zations. He is a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers. ers and students in the U-M Auto Lab,” he said. “The ME depart- ment is one of the premier departments in the country and does Fuel economy challenges in the automotive industry drive much exceptional work in automotive engineering and many other of Boehman’s future research plans. He has a strong interest in areas.”

C. DAVID REMY P hoto: A . faffendorf David Remy joins the U-M faculty as assistant professor. At U-M, Remy will teach His research is focused on the design, simulation and undergraduate design and C. control of legged robots and other nonlinear systems. graduate dynamics courses. Specifically, he is interested in the effect and exploitation of natural He is excited to be joining the dynamic motions, the role of different gaits and the possibility of Rehabilitation Robotics Cluster. force/torque controllable systems—both in conceptual models and “The ME department is going hardware. beyond classic robotics, and the research here is already Remy draws inspiration from nature, biology and biomechanics highly interdisciplinary,” he and works to build and control better performing robotic devices. said. “There is research being By designing the mechanics in a “smart” way that can be exploited conducted by a number of out- by the controller, the mechanical structure of the robot generates standing faculty that intersects much of the required motion by itself and needs little input from nicely with my work. I’m looking the actuator. Ideally, these robots will be faster and more powerful, forward to learning a lot—every single day.” efficient and versatile. “I’m hoping for cross-fertilization,” he said, “where biomechanics helps robotics and robotics can help biome- Remy earned his PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute chanics, such as for physical rehabilitation,” he said. of Technology and his master’s from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 08 me.engin.umich.edu

New ME Research Complex Gains Ground

onstruction on the new mechanical and contain lab modules and office space and shared equipment will encourage engineering research complex, a for professors, research staff and students. continued multidisciplinary partnerships on C 62,880-square-foot addition to the existing and new projects. existing G.G. Brown Memorial Laboratories The facility will be equipped with stringent building, is well underway and proceed- temperature and humidity control and air Enthusiasm for the research complex ing on schedule. The $46 million project filtration and will be dedicated to research in across the University runs high. The new is partially supported by $9.5 million from imaging and optics; biosystems; nanoen- building is expected to be completed in the National Institute of Standards and gineering; micro-bioengineering; materi- 2014. Technology (NIST). als, mechanics and mechanical testing; microdynamics and nanostructures. Eight + more on the web The U-M ME department continues to special ultra-low vibration chambers Construction updates, architectural render- actively define and shape the future of designed to meet NIST vibration specifica- ings and a webcam with a real-time view of mechanical engineering; this new facility tions will be housed in a below-grade level the project are available at supports those efforts by enabling transfor- of the building. With access to state-of-the- www.engin.umich.edu/facilities/ mative research activities that will integrate art laboratories, investigators will be better ggbrown-construction-project core mechanical engineering with emerging able to conduct research at unprecedented new areas, such as micro-, nano- and bio- levels of precision and accuracy and make systems, and result in landmark outcomes. significant advances in various fields, such Above: An architectural rendering of the new When it is complete, this world-class as energy, manufacturing, health care and ME research complex. Photo: Perkins + Will and Integrated Design research complex will stand three stories biotechnology. Collaborative workspaces Solutions, LLC In the News 09

ME Growth Drives G.G. Brown Building Major Renovation State Approves $30 Million in Funding

s construction continues on the new research complex addition to G.G. Brown Memorial Laboratories, the ME department is about to undertake another major A project: a $47 million interior renovation of the existing building. The driving force is the tremendous growth in the Department.

The project will achieve several important goals for ME, including the ability to create a world class educational facility. We will consolidate undergraduate instructional design, fabrication and laboratory spaces so they are conducive to collaborative, cross-disciplinary work and develop innovative spaces for the “Design, Build, Test” pedagogic paradigm. Modernizing building infrastructure systems will improve energy efficiency. In addition, the project will create more accessible, efficient administrative and public spaces to better serve faculty, students, staff and visitors.

State-of-the-art academic spaces are a fundamental part of the renovation. These new spaces will be connected with an open staircase to promote visibility and interaction. Public areas will be refinished with new ceilings, flooring and paint and will be connected aesthetically to both the newly renovated spaces and the research complex addition.

The University has received $30 million for the renovation from the State of Michigan through a capital outlay bill, which Governor Rick Snyder signed in June 2012. The remaining costs will be funded by the College of Engineering and the U-M Office of the Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Provost.

Mass excavation of the area where the new ME research complex will be is almost complete. 10 me.engin.umich.edu

Two New Collaborative Research Centers to Call U-M ME Home

he University of Michigan’s long-standing will focus on weight reduction strategies and and highly regarded programs in auto- lightweight vehicle designs and technologies. It T motive research have led to two new will provide a rich collaborative research environ- Collaborative Research Centers with industry ment for U-M faculty, students, visiting scholars partners in China: China FAW Group Corporation from BAIC and visiting students from Chinese of Changchun and BAIC Motor Corporation, Ltd, universities. of Beijing. On September 20, in Shanghai, Michigan “U-M’s outstanding and sustained automotive Governor Rick Snyder joined U-M and FAW research programs, particularly in the areas representatives for the signing of a strate- greg hulbert of vehicle lightweighting and safety, were key gic framework agreement between FAW and factors in why these two visionary companies the University. The focus of this Collaborative sought to establish collaborative research efforts Research Center is on lightweight vehicle design here,” said ME Professor Greg Hulbert. He and and vehicle safety. It is anticipated that 15 to Dr. Zheng-Dong Ma, a research scientist also in 20 U-M faculty, students, FAW visiting scholars ME, will co-lead the two centers with representa- and visiting students from Chinese universities tives from both companies. will be involved with the Center. The scope of the agreement is proposed initially for five years, A strategic cooperation agreement was signed with the opportunity to expand the collaboration between BAIC and U-M on September 19, 2012, into other areas in Michigan. in Beijing. This Collaborative Research Center Zhend-Dong Ma

U-M ME Professor Volker Sick, Associate Vice President for Research, and Dr. Kang Li, Vice Chief Engineer and Executive President of the FAW R&D Center, sign a Strategic Framework Agreement, with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder as witness at the opening of the Michigan Center China on September 20, 2012, in Shanghai, China. In the News 11

ME Faculty Instrumental in Advanced Manufacturing Initiatives

n June 2011 President Obama selected U-M as one of six related story below). ME Professor S. Jack Hu has been leading universities to represent higher education in the Advanced U-M in the collaborative AMP effort. I Manufacturing Partnership (AMP). The AMP was designed to help the United States improve its economic competitiveness The AMP Steering Committee recently submitted a final report to by spurring development and implementation of new technologies. President Obama. Both Hu and Kota served as advisors to the steering committee. The report’s recommendations­ span three Although the US historically has been a leader in research and critical areas: enabling innovation, securing the talent pipeline and development, many discoveries have not been successfully improving the business climate. “translated” into manufactured goods. The goal of the AMP was to develop recommendations for a national advanced manufacturing Both Hu and Kota were instrumental developing the recommenda- roadmap and improved infrastructure for research, development tion for the creation of a national network of manufacturing innova- and commercialization. tion institutes (MIIs), which the President announced in March 2012. The MIIs will serve as a hub to accelerate the maturation of ME professor Sridhar Kota played a critical role in the creation of emerging technologies. The first pilot institute was just announced, AMP in his role as assistant director for advanced manufacturing and the President has proposed $1 billion to fund the additional in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (see institutes over the coming year.

Kota Working to Enhance US Competitiveness

echanical Engineering professor expanding the program to other com- Sridhar Kota’s service to the munity colleges in the region to build M White House Office of Science and advanced manufacturing job skills. Technology Policy (OSTP) as assistant direc- tor for advanced manufacturing may have Helping SMMs in the Midwest gain access ended, but his work promoting advanced to high-performance computer model- manufacturing and devising strategies to ing and simulation tools also has been a improve U.S. competitiveness continues. priority for Kota. Such tools provide com- petitive advantages by reducing product Nationally, Kota played an instrumental development time and cost, yet they often role in launching Manufacturing Innovation are beyond the budgets and expertise of Institutes (MIIs) to mature emerging tech- smaller companies. Kota helped spear- nologies and their manufacturing readiness head the National Digital Engineering through translational research (see related and Manufacturing Consortium, a public- President Clinton met CGI-America advisor story above). The MIIs will accelerate matu- Sridhar Kota and thanked him for his private partnership including Boeing, ration of emerging technologies through contribution. GE, John Deere, Lockheed and P&G investments in relevant manufacturing along with Purdue University and the technologies with widespread application. manufacturers (SMMs) to learn about US Ohio Supercomputer Center. Purdue’s Department of Defense (DoD) opportunities ManufacturingHub.org provided the Kota also serves as advisor to the Clinton and for the defense industry to locate US needed cyber infrastructure for a virtual Global Initiative Advanced Manufacturing suppliers for its manufacturing needs. community of resources and interactive Working Group, which develops strategies simulation tools. for education and workforce training, As White House OSTP representative sustainability and supporting local in Detroit for the Strong Cities, Strong “It’s critical to reach out to these smaller manufacturers. Communities (SC2) initiative, Kota helped suppliers and manufacturers in a number institute The Right Skills Now – Precision of ways and bridge the gap between In November 2011, Kota helped initiate Manufacturing program at Wayne County resources and opportunities,” Kota said. the Connecting American Manufacturing Community College District. He is con- “That trickles down and helps our economy program—a virtual marketplace that makes tinuing his SC2 work through U-M and and national security.” it easier for small- and medium-sized 12 me.engin.umich.edu

News Media Turn to ME Faculty for Fuel Efficiency Insights

hen National Public Radio, Stefanopoulou and Wooldridge discussed and barriers to commercial deployment of Scientific American and Popular the engineering challenges to improving technologies that might be employed from W Mechanics were reporting recently fuel economy and also about consumer 2020 to 2030. on technological advances in automotive expectations—including of creature fuel efficiency, they turned to ME experts comforts such as air conditioning and Scientific American also spoke with for input. power windows—that automakers must Wooldridge for an article entitled “Diesel consider. There are a few relatively inex- Cars Make a Comeback in the U.S.” In it, NPR reporter Sonari Glinton visited the pensive gas-powered cars that achieve Wooldridge explained how diesel fuel and U-M Automotive Research Center (ARC) more than 40 mpg, but a systematic the way it’s used enable vehicles to be to learn more about new fuel-efficient approach to increase the fuel efficiency of more thermodynamically efficient, getting technologies being developed. Glinton all cars, on-average, without compromis- more power out of the same amount of toured the engine lab with Professor Anna ing luxury or increasing price is tricky and fuel. Stefanopoulou, ARC director, and spoke being feverishly pursued by automotive Both professors appreciate media cover- with Professor Margaret Wooldridge for manufacturers. a report aired on NPR stations across the age that highlights work in the ME depart- country. The report was the final segment Stefanopoulou is serving on the National ment, especially when it has the potential in a special series focused on the Obama Academies committee that advises on the to engage the public. “These articles reach Administration’s initiative to double fuel Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and inform people far outside engineering economy requirements to 55 mpg by policy. The committee is assessing the and the sciences,” said Wooldridge. 2025. cost, potential efficiency improvements

left: Professor Anna Stefanopoulou (left) examines a V8 internal combustion engine with students Jacob Larimore and Xinfan Lin at the University of Michigan’s Automotive Research Center. The researchers model engine performance to improve efficiency. right: Professor Margaret Wooldridge (left) works with her graduate students (from left to right) Andrew Mansfield (background), Mohammad Fatourai (foreground), Dimitris Assanis, Steve Morris and Scott Wagnon on strategies to improve efficiencies and reduce energy use in the transportation and stationary power sectors. In the News 13

New fuel economy standards will interact with decisions regarding how to set vehicle footprint. ME Professor Steve Skerlos and Dr. Katie Whitefoot have teased out these incentives and have measured their potential impact on fuel economy and carbon emissions.

Popular Mechanics interviewed ME Academy of Engineering, concluded that reduce the incentive: flattening the slope of Professor Steve Skerlos about a research automotive manufacturers would have the function that determines fuel economy article he co-authored, which sparked an incentive to increase the footprint of targets and allowing modifications to the much discussion of the recently amended their vehicles under the new standards. standards if it becomes clear environmen- U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy Historically consumers have preferred tal emissions targets won’t be reached. (CAFE) standards and their effect on Longer term, the authors recommend vehicle size. alternative policy options to address fuel- economy goals and traffic safety concerns. The paper, “Design Incentives to Increase Vehicle Size Created from the U.S. “These articles reach “The revised CAFE standard is a positive Footprint-based Fuel Economy Standards,” and inform people far step environmentally, but it is roughly a was published in the January 2012 issue 20% smaller step forward than would be of Energy Policy. While intuitively fuel outside engineering expected before our analysis—and has economy standards are expected to and the sciences.” the potential for other unintended conse- decrease vehicle size, the findings suggest quences in the domain of safety. We would that the newly revised fuel economy stan- like to see more research in the domain we dard might increase vehicle size. are charting, particularly at the intersection bigger vehicles, which further boosts the of engineering design, performance model- CAFE regulations for vehicles produced auto industry’s incentive to produce cars ing, market analysis and public policy,” from 2011 to 2016 are based on the with larger footprints, even under new fuel Skerlos said. vehicle’s “footprint,” a measurement economy regulations. In addition, larger determined by the wheelbase multiplied by cars may increase in size faster than track width. Vehicles with a larger footprint smaller cars, raising questions regarding are not required to meet as stringent a the impact of CAFE on traffic safety. standard as smaller vehicles. Skerlos and Whitefoot propose several Skerlos and co-author Kate Whitefoot, short-term measures that could help senior program officer at the National 14 me.engin.umich.edu

ARC Conference Harnessing the Power of Future Mobility

ver 300 members of the automotive research commu- U-M assistant research scientist, demonstrated novel technology nity, representing academia, government and industry, developed at the ARC: Internet-distributed hardware-in-the-loop O converged on North Campus in May for the 18th annual (ID-HIL) simulation. The system simulated a hybrid electric vehicle conference of the Automotive Research Center (ARC). whose components were distributed across campus. “ID-HIL allowed them to operate together in real-time as if they were Led by U-M, the ARC is a Center of Excellence for ground vehicle physically connected and enabled researchers to compare differ- modeling and simulation, sponsored by the U.S. Army Tank ent power management strategies,” said Ersal. “This technology Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center opens up new possibilities for research collaborations.” (TARDEC). The ARC focuses on basic scientific research in three areas: vehicle power and energy management, mobility and surviv- A second case study demonstrated reliability-based design ability of the complete vehicle system, including human operators. optimization tools that have been developed in the ARC with the University of Iowa. Ford engineers have used the tools to minimize The conference theme, “Powering Future Mobility,” addressed weight and improve crashworthiness of a vehicle structure, and the pressing need for sustainable mobility in an era of economic ME Associate Professor Bogdan Epureanu optimized the struc- downturn and diverging requirements in commercial and mili- tural frame of a military vehicle to weigh as little as possible yet be tary vehicle systems. “Cost-effective vehicle designs need to be able to withstand the heavy vibrations of combat operations. analyzed, evaluated, integrated and validated using a range of experimental and simulation capabilities, even if those resources “The ARC provides a unique platform for identifying the basic are distributed around the world,” said William Lim, ARC research questions that could create dual-use pathways despite program manager. “Such global concurrent engineering requires diverging requirements between commercial and military systems,” new methodologies.” said Professor Anna Stefanopoulou, ARC director. “Our partner- ships with industry and government have helped us build world- The two-day event brought researchers together to highlight class research facilities to train students to tackle these complex advances in modeling and simulation tools. In addition to over 20 systems issues.” technical presentations and two poster sessions, Tulga Ersal, In the News 15

PHONONS 2012 Sharing Knowledge of Phonon Physics

ore than 200 researchers conversion. In particular, the use of nanostructures to engineer from academia, international phonon scattering has recently emerged as an important topic. M research laboratories and industry convened in Ann Arbor for Daily sessions over the five-day conference included five plenary the 14th International Conference talks, 18 invited talks, more than 100 contributed talks and a on Phonon Scattering in Condensed poster session. Topics included phonon scattering in nanoscale Matter (PHONONS 2012) in July. The structures and MEMS, coherent phonons and ultrafast acoustics, conference, hosted this year by U-M acoustic solitons, electron-phonon interactions, phonon micros- and chaired by ME Associate Professor copy and imaging, Raman scattering, neutron and x-ray inelastic Kevin Pipe, is the premier international scattering, phonons in disordered materials, phonon transport forum for theoretical, computational and at interfaces, surface acoustic waves, phononic crystals and experimental work in phonon physics metamaterials, optomechanics, thermal phonon transport, and and related phenomena. phonons in electronic devices.

As photons are the fundamental units for electromagnetic waves, Pipe actively reached out to graduate students, postdoctoral phonons are the fundamental units for vibrations. Because phonon- fellows and young faculty worldwide to encourage early-stage phonon and phonon-electron interactions govern important researchers to participate in the conference and give presentations. transport properties for a material, electrical mobility and thermal The high-profile conference drew prominent experts from 23 conductivity (see related story on page 16), phonon physics impact countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and numerous areas of scientific and technological inquiry, includ- Asia. “Their participation and enthusiasm reinforces U-M’s role as ing electronic devices, heat transfer and thermoelectric energy a leading scholarly institution among investigators working at the forefront of phonon research,” said Pipe.

CIRP Conference Focusing on Customer-Driven Assembly

ver 100 researchers from around the world gathered in Ann Arbor in May for the 4th International Academy for O Production Engineering (CIRP) Conference on Assembly Technologies and Systems. This year’s conference theme was “Responsive, customer-driven, adaptive assembly.” The event brought together active researchers in assembly technologies and Massachusetts Institute of Technology shared his vision of assem- systems to exchange ideas and explore future research directions. bly technologies in a keynote address that focused on the under- Assembly research is critical to maintaining manufacturing com- researched aspects of assembly design. petitiveness and developing successful products. The relatively young conference continues to gain traction and ME professors S. Jack Hu and Yoram Koren served as co- attract additional attendees each time it’s held. “Feedback on the chairs of the conference, which included tours of ME research conference was very positive, and attendees were impressed with laboratories and a presentation by General Motors. Forty-five the organization and the quality of the papers presented,” said Hu. technical papers were presented in six topical areas: Assembly Processes and Technologies, Reconfigurable Assembly Planning is underway for the next CIRP Conference on Assembly Systems, Assembly System Planning, Ideas, Assembly Technologies and Systems, to be held in Dresden, Germany, in Quality and Man-made Collaboration. Dr. Daniel Whitney of May 2014. 16 me.engin.umich.edu

A Multi-University Collaboration Understanding heat transfer at interfaces

nderstanding how heat travels Electrical and Computer Engineering, and and are subsequently measured to between materials is critical to Applied Physics departments at U-M and determine how the interface affected their U improving the performance, Stanford, Brown and Purdue universi- propagation. efficiency and reliability of many military ties. Together the MURI team has made and commercial systems. Thermoelectric a number of recent advances. Its work Other measurement tools the group has refrigerators and power generators, heat aims to develop a set of design rules for developed include a high-speed thermal sinks, power electronics, thermal barrier engineering interfaces with desired thermal imaging system that can take snapshots coatings and thermal interface materials all properties. of temperature with a time resolution of rely upon either maximizing or minimizing 800 picoseconds—approximately the time heat transfer. While the photon is the fundamental unit it takes light to travel nine inches—and a by which electromagnetic waves (such time-resolved x-ray diffraction system that Within these systems, thermal behavior at as light) are transmitted, heat typically can measure atomic motion with a time the macroscale is related to the physical is carried in solids by acoustic waves, resolution better than 100 picoseconds. and chemical structure at the nanoscale, for which the fundamental vibrational particularly where different materials meet. unit is known as a phonon. Interfaces “While precision interfaces created in a within materials can scatter phonons and laboratory setting are important for our “In many ways we are now able to consequently impede heat transfer; the ongoing fundamental studies because they precisely control the physical and chemi- more scattering an interface produces, the have controllable structure,” Pipe said, cal structure at material interfaces, but greater a thermal resistance it will have to “eventually it will be important to look at predicting how changes to this low-level heat flow. interfaces as they currently exist in practical structure will affect thermal behavior is still applications, where they are much more a challenge,” said Kevin Pipe, associate Pipe and colleagues have used sophis- ‘messy’ and complex. That is where the professor. “Better understanding will enable ticated material deposition systems, understanding we are currently building us to better engineer interfaces and poten- simulations of molecular motion, and highly can make a real difference.” tially create radical enhancements in how precise measurement tools to study the an interface conducts or blocks heat flow.” ways in which chemical bonds formed More than two-dozen doctoral students across an interface affect the efficiency and two post-doctoral researchers have Pipe heads an Air Force Office of Scientific at which heat is transferred. One of their been involved in the MURI project since Research Multidisciplinary University measurement tools, for example, uses its inception in 2009. The initiative runs Research Initiative (MURI) to address ultra-short laser pulses to generate high- through 2013. this gap in understanding. Collaborators frequency acoustic waves in a material. include investigators from the Materials These waves scatter off a buried interface Science and Engineering, Physics, with an engineered nanoscale structure

“Better understanding will enable us to better engineer interfaces and potentially create radical enhancements in how an interface conducts or blocks heat flow.” Research Centers & Consortiums 17

A Interface Density in nm-1 0.17 0.1 0.07 0.05 0.04 1.2 0.4 MODEL EXPERIMENT 1.0 0.3 IN-PHASE

(K) 0.2 ω 2

0.8 T 0.1 OUT-OF-PHASE

0.6 0 101 102 103 CuPc 0.39W/mK f(Hz) 0.4

Thermal conductivity in W/mK 0.2

6810 12 14 16 18 20 Layer Thickness in nm

B

Ag/Ni CuPc CAP CuPc Ag 400 nm Ag CuPc Ag CuPc Ni 40 nm Ag CuPc/Ag Silicon 100 nm 20 nm 50 nm Glass

Improving the thermal conductivity of a material is important for many applications (e.g., thermal epoxies). While a solution to this is often to mix in a material with high thermal conductivity such as silver (Ag), the team has shown that the interfacial thermal resistance between silver and common organic materials (here: copper phthalocyanine, CuPc) can strongly affect the thermal conductivity of the composite. As shown above, if the Ag/CuPc interfaces within a composite are mixed (above, for Ag thicknesses less than 8 nm) or if the Ag content is large (above, for Ag thicknesses greater than 16 nm), the thermal conductivity of the composite is improved beyond that of CuPc alone. In the intermediate range, however, the interfacial thermal resistance dominates, and the thermal conductivity of the composite is lowered below that of CuPc, even though Ag has a thermal conductivity more than a thousand times greater than that of CuPc. Figure credit: Y. Jin, A. Yadav, K. Sun, H. Sun, K. P. Pipe, and M. Shtein, Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 093305 (2011). 18 me.engin.umich.edu

Advanced Battery Coalition Optimizing battery cycle life and performance

ehicle electrification has the Advanced lithium ion battery study plays and it is being fed into a control algorithm potential to significantly reduce an important role here,” said Associate in order to optimize battery cycle life and V pollution and conserve energy. At Professor Wei Lu, principal investigator performance. the GM/UM Advanced Battery Coalition for and ABCD co-director. Drivetrains (ABCD) research center, teams “The degradation mechanisms are related are working to transform that potential into One of the greatest challenges to vehicle to a number of electrochemical, thermal reality. electrification is battery life. By working and mechanical processes,” Lu said. across disciplines, Lu and his team have “By integrating modeling, simulation and Research in the ABCD focuses on creat- developed a critical understanding of experimental techniques, we developed a ing validated battery material, cell and battery fading mechanisms across multiple systematic and quantitative understand- pack models; speeding their insertion into length and time scales. More specifically ing of several key material properties and advanced electrified drivetrains; and edu- Lu and colleagues are exploring fading processes that contribute to degradation.” cating successive generations of individu- mechanisms related to everything from als to execute resulting technology plans. solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer forma- The center has established state-of-art “Converting a large portion of the trans- tion to mechanical stresses. Their research research facilities for lithium-ion cell char- portation sector to electricity is critical to has provided the first integrated picture of acterization and testing. Researchers also solving our energy and pollution problems. the complicated battery fading process, have carried out systematic experimental Research Centers & Consortiums 19

investigation and validation supporting element approach for prediction of battery The virtual battery system that has been model development; characterized and life during charge/discharge cycles. The developed will significantly reduce the need developed fundamental understanding and team developed an approach to generate for lengthy battery fading tests, which are modeling of SEI layer growth, manganese realistic three-dimensional aggregation of required before a battery can be used dissolution and fracture of electrodes; carbon black and active material particles, in electrical vehicles. The system also and revealed battery performance under and studied the transport and fracture provides important guidance for improved external mechanical loadings. Other work behaviors of the network. With realistic battery and battery system design, and it includes micro- to cell-based electrode particle network geometry constructed will lead to advanced control systems for modeling and optimization; development from experimental measurements and optimized battery performance and of advanced comprehensive battery cycle simulations, battery performance now can battery life. and calendar life models; and control algo- be predicted much more accurately. rithms based on integrated physics-based Lu emphasizes the importance of an integrated team effort to address battery fading. “This is a very challenging problem since it involves multiple disciplines. By “These studies have significantly advanced the looking at all the pieces, and then integrat- ing them, the ABCD’s talented team of fundamental understanding of battery fading.” faculty, staff and student researchers has provided a comprehensive and validated predictive tool,” he said.

The ABCD’s work has been supported by battery models. “These studies have signifi- In recent experimental work, the research numerous donors, partners and collabora- cantly advanced the fundamental under- team used x-ray photoelectron spectros- tors, including General Motors, LG Chem, standing of battery fading,” Lu said. copy to investigate whether the SEI layer University of Colorado Colorado Springs, on an anode is stable at elevated tempera- Oak Ridge and Argonne national labora- In a recent project, Lu and his team have tures. By looking at the configuration and tories, the U.S. Department of Energy and shown quantitatively how coupled phase thickness of the SEI layer stored at differ- many others. transition and lithium intercalation con- ent temperatures, investigators found how tribute to the stress evolution in electrode high temperature affects the layer during materials and the subsequent crack storage and used the data to develop a formation and loss of active materials predictive model. The team used induc- during charge and discharge. The work tively coupled plasma optical emission has revealed how dissolution in both active spectrometry to determine the amount and inert material phases contributes to of dissolved and deposited manganese, the degradation of composite lithium- which validated the team’s modeling of ion electrodes. The changes in effective capacity fade due to manganese transport properties result in a reduction in dissolution. They developed the electrochemical reaction rate and an an advanced atomic force increase in cell resistance, thereby reducing microscopy technique to capacity. measure local lithium diffusion, which was compared to and used The molecular and continuum models in the modeling. The team also measured developed by Lu and his team revealed the temperature distribution in cells from SEI layer composition, formation and resistance temperature detectors. Their growth, and the effect of SEI porosity on hybrid pulse power characterization tests battery impedance. These studies have and models revealed the battery perfor- led to a three-dimensional mechanical- mance under various face pressures. thermal-electrochemical model and finite

opposite page: Electric current density distribution in a realistic three dimensional Li battery electrode at 43% state of charge. Red indicates high current density and blue indicates low current density. The inset shows the electric current density in the electrolyte.

Top right: Atomic force microscope image shows volume change of a LMO particle due to Li intercalation. 20 me.engin.umich.edu

Clean Vehicle Consortium Collaboration speeds progress

he U-M led Clean Vehicle Consortium (CVC), part of the $150 T million U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, is on a mission: to speed dramatic advances in technologies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce oil con- sumption. The CVC has made strides in the past year, both in its six technical focal areas and its overarching goals.

Scientists and engineers from academia, national laboratories and industry partners in both countries work side by side in the CVC’s six research thrusts, which include advanced batteries and energy conversion; advanced biofuels and clean combustion; vehicle electrification; advanced lightweight materials and structures; vehicle-grid inte- gration and energy systems analysis.

“What distinguishes the CVC is not only the breadth and depth of work and our aim to conduct long-range rigorous, transforma- tional research but to bring our discoveries and new technologies to market,” said Professor Huei Peng, CVC U.S. director. above: Schematic of a lithium-oxygen cell under discharge and charging conditions. The precipita- The CVC has made progress in several tion and dissolution of the LixOy reaction product is illustrated in the magnified inset. areas. Advanced batteries and energy conversion researchers, including ME “What that means today is that with these Teams also have made progress in the Assistant Professor Don Siegel, have new technologies, it will be possible to modeling and manufacture of lightweight been developing molecular-level models produce a 500- to 1000-watt thermoelec- materials. The biggest barrier to wide- of reactions that take place inside lithium tric vehicle waste heat recovery device,” spread use of such materials as aluminum air batteries. Investigators also are doing Peng noted. Experimental work is ongoing and carbon fiber is not the cost of the experimental work on prototype lithium and a 500-watt device currently is being materials themselves, but manufactur- ion batteries, measuring their physical and tested and refined. ing. The CVC is developing new joining chemical behavior with use and age in methods, including riveting and welding, order to improve performance and extend In the electrification thrust area, U.S. that are applicable to lightweight materials. battery life. researchers have developed a highly effi- cient computational method that reduces The collaboration evident in the past year’s Investigators from the U-M departments simulation time by three orders of mag- accomplishments is intrinsic to the CERC of Mechanical Engineering, Materials nitude, or 1,000 times faster than current as a whole. “We were founded to contem- Science and Engineering and Physics methods. Chinese researchers are testing plate the question, How can the world’s along with researchers at Wuhan University production methods for amorphous silicon two biggest energy consumers leverage of Technology are measuring physical used to reduce iron loss in electric motors, each other’s research investments so that and performance behavior of prototype and new motor designs now can be efforts complement and augment each thermoelectric materials. The team already simulated quickly, with the most promising other and we don’t waste money on dupli- has improved the figure of merit of these identified and moved to the prototyping cation?” Peng explained. materials by 20%. stage right away. Research Centers & Consortiums 21

above: A hypothetical B-pillar made of carbon fiber composite and steel integrated with a body-in-white finite element model of a mid-size passen- ger vehicle. Image: Dr. Karim Hamza

The $150 million joint research and development consortium on clean energy “We were founded to contemplate the question, How can technology is a flagship initiative started in 2009 and funded equally by the United the world’s two biggest energy consumers leverage each States and China. Each country funds its own research projects. Money from U.S. other’s research investments so that efforts complement sources supports U.S.-based research; and augment each other and we don’t waste money on funds from Chinese sources support China-based projects. duplication?”

“Having shared goals is motivating,” Peng said. “Vehicles consume about one-third of the energy used by society and produce a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. We’re working together to produce cleaner vehicles and reduce our carbon footprint. We’ve made good initial progress, and I expect we will make a great deal more in the CERC’s remaining three years.” 22 me.engin.umich.edu

Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation Multidisciplinary research for vehicle-to-grid integration

lug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and society leverage the synergies and provide offer electric utilities a huge advantage in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles both transportation and power in a more terms of flexibility to distribute power. They P (PHEVs) can reduce the use of sustainable and resilient way,” Stein said. reduce the need to tap ancillary genera- petroleum and lower greenhouse gas tion services—that often cost and pollute emissions in comparison to conventional The research team includes investiga- more—to meet higher demand,” Stein said. vehicles, but that’s not all: they also can tors from Pennsylvania State University, improve efficiency of the U.S. electrical the University of California, Berkeley, and The research team has developed and grid. the Missouri Institute of Science and implemented a hierarchical control Technology as well as industry partners. algorithm that effectively balances both ME Professor Jeffrey Stein is leading a At U-M the group consists of investigators charging need and electric service quality multidisciplinary effort supported by the from several engineering departments as and cost. The algorithm enables 99.5% National Science Foundation Emerging well as from School of Natural Resources of PEVs to be fully charged while reduc- Frontiers in Research and Innovation and the Environment. Together, the group ing energy costs and mitigating grid load Program on infrastructure systems coupled has produced several important findings fluctuations. by hybrid electric and electric vehicles: “A over the past year. Multi-Scale Design and Control Framework Researchers also have demonstrated the for Dynamically Coupled Sustainable and One of the greatest advantages to EVs is need to accurately characterize vehicle Resilient Infrastructures, with Application to their deferrable demand on the grid. As consumption profiles based upon natural- Vehicle-to-Grid Integration.” long as a vehicle is charged by the time istic, real-world driving data. Their results the driver next needs it, electric companies showed significant differences in electricity “Integrating the two systems—grid and can delay the load until times when overall demand and greenhouse gas emissions vehicle—in smart ways can help our grid demand is lower. “Deferrable loads Research Centers & Consortiums 23

“Integrating the two systems—grid and vehicle—in smart ways can help our society leverage the synergies and provide both transportation and power in a more sustainable and resilient way.”

when naturalistic, as opposed to average, The work has shown some of the benefits “Future research requires careful assess- consumption data are used in models. of coupling the transportation and elec- ment of as many codependent effects as tric grid infrastructures as well as where possible,” said Stein. “Towards this end Using rigorous optimal control methods, potential problems arise. For example, in we’re working on an integrated case study investigators also found no significant dif- Michigan, a substantial amount of the base to include the issues being explored by ferences in operation costs between two electricity load is produced from burning all of the researchers involved. The results popular power management strategies. coal. Increasing the base load means should provide us all with a lot of new Costs were comparable across distances burning more coal, which increases some insights.” and gas-to-electricity price ratios, except polluting emissions. when gas costs less than $1 per gallon, an unlikely scenario. The findings contrast with previous research in the field, providing the PEV community with new insights.

The team has developed a way to monitor the accuracy of predictions of short-term grid disruption (less than one minute) that could result from widespread PEV use. The new metric is believed to be the first of its kind.

Team members working on battery optimi- zation have designed controllers that can determine the best way to use vehicles’ gas engines and electric motors to save money as well as the best way to manage the grid for charging vehicle batteries. The controllers manage battery health, too, avoiding behavior that would prematurely age it. In a departure from previous work in the field, the novel models incorporate real driver data from studies conducted by the U-M Transportation Research Institute. Human behavior is an essential factor but hasn’t been routinely integrated into previ- ous models.

opposite page, top: PhD student Joel Forman and Xin Zhou are working on battery experi- ments that will help understand and control battery aging. 24 me.engin.umich.edu

Going the Distance Collaborative Research Laboratory transfers technology from lab to plant

ince its inception in 1998, the The collaborative, multidisciplinary and Battery Assembly Plant, monitors the 16 GM/U-M Collaborative Research solution-focused work in the CRL recently kWh lithium-ion battery system used in the S Laboratory (CRL) in Advanced has led to a novel quality assurance system Chevrolet Volt. Vehicle Manufacturing has translated many for monitoring the joining processes of of its lab innovations to solutions imple- lithium-ion batteries. The new technol- “Where the CRL really shines is in ‘use- mented on the factory floor. ogy, implemented in GM’s Brownstown inspired basic research,’” said Professor Research Centers & Consortiums 25

S. Jack Hu, referring to a research method to support lightweight structures and described in Pasteur’s Quadrant. Hu is the vehicle electrification. CRL’s university co-director and J. Reid and Polly Anderson Professor of Manufacturing Hu and his students and collaborators also Technology. “We look at a need, a problem, won the best paper award at the ASME and then we do the research to develop a Manufacturing Science and Engineering fundamental understanding of the problem. Conference, held at Notre Dame University From there we create solutions that are realistic and feasible to implement. It takes a rare combination of skills, and our “Where the CRL really strengths in this area have only grown over shines is in ‘use-inspired the years.” basic research.’” The quality assurance system developed in the U-M CRL monitors several important parameters of welds under process condi- tions. Welding is critical to the assembly of in June 2012, for their innovation in high battery packs, and inappropriate weld con- definition metrology-based process control. ditions during the assembly process could result in less than optimal battery perfor- “Our collaboration in general, and the new mance. That performance is paramount; quality assurance system in particular, are the Volt carries an eight-year, 100,000-mile wonderful examples of how new technolo- warranty on its battery system. gies can make their way from the labora- tory environment to the factory floor and The CRL researchers also have developed become part of a productive manufacturing an assembly system configurator that func- system,” said Hu. tions as a computer-aided tool for battery assembly system design and reconfigu- ration. An article about the work won a best paper award at the International Conference on Frontiers of Design and Manufacturing, held in China in June 2012.

Investigators from U-M and GM have been working together for many years on research of critical importance to GM’s vehicle manufacturing operations, including key manufacturing processes and systems

opposite page: An on-line quality monitoring system for ultrasonic welding in battery assembly. 26 me.engin.umich.edu

Blind Deconvolution Clarifying Sound in an Unpredictable Ocean Environment

nderwater sonar systems are used deconvolution. It is a difficult problem in the “It is possible to separate the source signal for a range of purposes, from ocean because sound may travel from its from the sound-path characteristics of U detecting, identifying and localizing source to the receiving array along many the environment if you require the sound- everything from pods of whales to enemy unknown paths that include reflections path characteristics to satisfy commonly submarines. But sonar hydrophone arrays from the ocean’s surface and bottom. observed underwater sound propagation and signal processing techniques have to “In mathematical terms it’s an ill-posed scenarios and assumptions,” Dowling said. contend with a number of uncertainties: problem,” Dowling said. “There are many noise, echoes, reverberation and variations possible pairings of source signal and For example, just as light travels to the in time of the ocean environment. Other travel paths that lead to the same set of receiver’s eye on ray paths, sound waves acoustic properties and ocean floor topog- final measurements.” underwater may travel on rays when their raphy and materials typically are unknown frequency is high enough. “If I assume as well.

“When you put a hydrophone array in the water and listen, you’re faced with two sets “If we can validate our results with ocean-measured signals, of unknowns,” said ME Professor David Dowling. “The first set is everything asso- this method could significantly change the way sonar ciated with the sound source. You don’t engineers design hydrophone arrays.” know what it is, what sound it has made or where it is. The second set of unknowns is everything associated with the ocean, which is an environment that varies in time. So you can’t readily identify the sound Over the years researchers have taken the sounds recorded at the elements of source or its location or the parameters varied approaches to blind deconvolution the array have to have traveled on mul- of the environment that are distorting the for different types of source signals and tiple unknown ray paths from the source, sounds—you only have one set of mea- acoustic environments. In order to work, including ones that have bounced off the surements from your array.” underwater blind deconvolution methods ocean’s surface or bottom, that assump- usually rely on statistical assumptions tion alone provides enough extra informa- Reconstructing an unknown signal about the source signal or the sound- tion to separate the source sound from the from remote measurements made in paths’ characteristics. Dowling and his environment,” he explained. an unknown and complicated wave- research group have developed a new propagation environment is a common blind deconvolution technique that differs Dowling’s researchers take measured remote sensing problem known as blind from previous approaches. signals and analyze them based on an Advances in Research 27

algorithm they developed. The result is an Currently Dowling is working to determine even has led him to discover a way to estimate of the original waveform broad- how much time variability the technique convert a high frequency signal into a low cast by the source and a set of transfer can tolerate. Tides, surface waves, frequency signal, which greatly facilitates functions that characterize the sound-path movements within the ocean caused localization. Through a unique way of structure of the environment between the by tidal surges against the continental beamforming, his group has been able to source and each array element. His team shelf, weather above the surface and take high frequency signals between 10 has achieved cross correlation coefficients other factors cause ray paths to change. and 20 kiloHertz and process them as if of between 92 and 96% between esti- To account for the shifting ray paths, he they were 500 Hertz, or even lower. mated and actual signals using real data and his group are partitioning signals into from the ocean; in simulations, with high smaller duration pieces, on the order of “If we can validate our results with ocean- signal-to-noise ratio, the correlation rises tens of milliseconds. They apply the blind measured signals, this method could sig- to 99%. In other words, the approach is deconvolution technique to each piece nificantly change the way sonar engineers successful. In addition, the sound source to reconstruct the signal for that piece design hydrophone arrays,” he said. location can be estimated from the set of and then recombine them to recreate the The U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research transfer functions when a little environ- original signal. supports Dowling’s research on underwater mental information at the array location is acoustics and sound source localization. available. Dowling’s blind deconvolution technique works across a range of frequencies and

opposite page: Simulated received-sound direction map (in dB) from a vertical hydrophone array vs. acoustic frequency. Here the central horizontal structure at 0° is the signal and the slanted curving structures are unintentional interference produced by the unique beamforming algorithm. When averaged across frequency, the signal direction reinforces itself while the interference loses its prominence.

top: Sample blind deconvolution signal waveform shapes. The top plot shows the ideal signal, a tapered frequency sweep, that was broadcast by the source. The middle plot shows a sample received signal from a vertical recording array 2.2 km away from the source in an ocean environment 92 m deep; it has a cross correlation of 57% with the signal shown in the top plot. The bottom plot shows the signal reconstructed from the array measure- ments alone; it has a cross correlation of 98% with the signal shown in the top plot. 28 me.engin.umich.edu

Fracture Mechanics and Adhesion Spanning DNA analysis to automotive glazing

rofessor Michael Thouless and “We need a different approach for regimes coated polymers that could one day take his students have made a number where fracture mechanics doesn’t work.” the place of glass in automobile wind- P of important contributions to the shields. But the coatings have to absorb fundamental understanding of mechani- In these regimes, an additional failure ultraviolet radiation without yellowing and cal properties of materials, particularly in parameter—the cohesive strength of the be hard enough to withstand scratching the areas of fracture and adhesion. From interface—needs to be determined and and chipping from dirt, pebbles and other applications that span lightweight auto- included in the analysis. Thouless has objects. “We’re trying to understand what mobile structures to the analysis of DNA developed cohesive-zone approaches that failure mechanisms might be at work here molecules, the uses and technologies to incorporate both the strength and energy and subsequently how we might design which his research results are applied are parameters to provide a smooth transition coatings to last the lifetimes of cars,” he numerous. between the different failure regimes. He explained. also has developed experimental tech- Thouless and his students have been at niques to measure the two parameters. In collaboration with ME Professor Ellen the forefront of efforts to develop cohesive- Arruda and other colleagues in the zone models to analyze and predict the Thouless’ models have proven exception- College, Thouless is modeling the fracture failure of bonded interfaces in lightweight ally accurate and were some of the first and energy aspects of materials design for materials. Design approaches for tough, ever to characterize failure of adhesive blast and ballistics protection (see related lightweight materials are necessary for joints that were dominated by plasticity story on page 32). “The challenge here is the widespread adoption of newer, lighter (irreversible deformation)—an integral part that, at a fundamental level, you have to materials for energy-efficient applications in of ensuring crashworthiness in automotive come to grips with what exactly you’re the transportation and energy-generation applications—rather than elastic (revers- designing against,” he said. “We may know industries. However, the analytical models ible) deformation. He has expanded the we need better armor or a better helmet, available to date have been limited in their techniques so that the models include the but how do you convert the blast into applicability. Classical approaches to frac- fracture of bonded composites and ultra- something you can dissipate as energy in a ture analysis rely on an energy parameter— sonic welds, too. particular protective system?” that is, toughness—as the failure criterion, Thouless’ work also has suggested that and they require several assumptions to Currently, the group is investigating how to efficient energy-absorbing composites be made, including the pre-existence of tailor a multi-layered composite to make can be designed by tuning the cohesive relatively large cracks, relatively brittle inter- this conversion and then design and fab- strength of interfaces to deflect cracks into faces, and materials that deform linearly ricate the individual layers from nanocom- tough, energy-absorbing interfaces. This and elastically. posites to dissipate the energy efficiently is a significant departure from the con- through either visco-elasticity or fracture. “If these various assumptions are met, ventional wisdom, which held that brittle, we can use classical fracture mechan- or non-energy absorbing, interfaces are In collaboration with Professor Shu ics to predict the strength of an interface, required in order to deflect cracks. Takayama of Biomedical Engineering, but the assumptions are fairly limiting for Thouless has been applying his knowledge Working in collaboration with scientists many useful applications,” said Thouless. of the failure mechanisms of coatings and from Ford Motor Company, Thouless is thin films at the nanoscale. The research currently investigating use of lightweight Advances in Research 29

“We need a different approach for regimes where fracture mechanics doesn’t work.”

group found by applying a tensile strain to a brittle thin-film—no more than a few nanometers thick—on a soft polymer substrate, investigators could create cracks. The surfaces of the cracks could then be coated with proteins to act as an extracellular matrix (ECM) to support cel- lular growth. This can serve as a miniature laboratory to provide valuable insights into nanoscale transport phenomena and cellular signaling mechanisms vis-à-vis the ECM.

If the thin, brittle film is sandwiched between two polymers, cracks tunnel through the film and form flexible nano- channels that can be open and shut, opposite page and above: When tension is applied to a system consisting of a thin gold film on simply by controlling how much the an elastomeric (PDMS) substrate a series of periodic and parallel cracks channel across the polymer is stretched. The technique allows surface (with concomitant buckling between the cracks). The huge modulus mismatch results in large biomacromolecular complexes to the cracks being driven deep into the soft substrate. A similar phenomenon of periodic cracking be introduced into the nanochannels and into the flesh of a tomato can be seen when rain swells the tomato after a summer drought, and stretched extensively without damage causes the skin to split! Tomato photo: Michael Thouless, Research Images: J. Huang caused by opening and closing the chan- nels. The team has been able to insert a short segment of DNA and stretch it to 97% of its full length. The ability to manipulate large single molecules in this fashion could prove useful for biopolymer mapping applications in genetics and for epigenetics.

“Many people tend to think of fracture as a bad thing—after all, it represents a material failure,” said Thouless. “Sometimes it really is a nuisance to be avoided. But, other times, it can be exploited to play an impor- tant role in structure design, in dissipating energy or even in providing a step in a manufacturing process.” 30 me.engin.umich.edu

Improving Damping and Stiffness New Meta-Materials and Structural Designs for Dynamic Applications

ightweight materials that can dis- varying the spacing and curvature of the amplification in conventional materials sipate energy while remaining stiff CNT pillars. This maximizes both damping such as steel, aluminum and standard L and strong are in high demand for and stiffness. damping materials to improve the damping any number of applications, including crash capacity of structural systems while, at the and blast protection and noise suppression Hulbert’s simulations have been validated same time, maintaining structural stiffness. in military and passenger vehicles as well by comparing them with data gleaned from Geometric amplification refers to devices as aircraft. mechanical testing. The new composite that can increase motion at specified is predicted to have improved stiffness design points, similar to a reversed lever. “But materials that offer a high degree of and damping properties over conventional The systems under development also will damping tend to be soft, so they’re not engineering materials, such as rubber and have compact designs and be incorpo- good candidates for any of these applica- steel. rated into existing structures or used to tions,” explained Professor Greg Hulbert. replace conventional load-bearing struc- The computational framework and simula- Hulbert is part of a collaboration that tural components. aims to design nanocomposite materials tions Hulbert has devised are guiding the with microarchitectures that make them analytical capabilities for, as well as optimal The team’s demonstration project included simultaneously stiff and also able to damp design of, new meta-materials with high a prototype beam for an aircraft wing out energy. The team includes several stiffness, high damping and low weight. spar, a structural member that spans the College of Engineering faculty members “The architectures we’ve come up with…I length of a wing and bears much of the and is funded by the Defense Advanced haven’t seen anyone else with these kinds weight and loading. The prototype design Research Projects Administration (DARPA). of geometries,” he said. “We’re heading was directly embedded into a pre-existing toward creating unique materials that don’t structural frame and could be adapted The group has been developing materi- exist in standard form.” for varying target levels of stiffness and als that employ a stiff, three-dimensional damping. microarchitecture of carbon nanotube In a second project funded by DARPA, (CNT) pillars and trusses, which are Hulbert and Research Scientist Zheng- The work builds on previous research embedded in a nano-engineered polymer Dong Ma are working to design structural conducted at U-M by Dr. Ma and Professor that has excellent damping properties (see systems that can mitigate the effects of Noboru Kikuchi. “We’ve been inspired related story on page 32). To determine high g-force shock loads. Such structural by their designs,” said Hulbert, “and, as a the properties of the resulting composite systems have wide application in ground result, we’ve been able to come up with materials, Hulbert simulates their response and aerospace vehicles and watercraft. some very interesting concepts.” to dynamic loading. The results from his In collaboration with Raytheon and Georgia computational models are then used to Tech, Hulbert and Ma are using geometric tune, or modify, the microarchitecture by Advances in Research 31

“The architectures we’ve come up with…I haven’t seen anyone else with these kinds of geometries. We’re heading toward creating unique materials and structures that don’t exist in standard form.” 32 me.engin.umich.edu

Achieving Material Toughness High performance nano-building blocks for composites

chieving material toughness, or the properties in nanocomposites for light- ability to deform without failing, is weight body armor. A one of the greatest challenges in materials design. Professor Ellen Arruda Arruda and her team are working with and the research team in her laboratory are poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide, TM addressing the challenge head-on, inves- commonly known as Kevlar . With its tigating material structures and topologies strong molecular backbone, Kevlar fibers at the nanoscale that confer, among other are stiff and strong along the fiber axis, but properties, toughness. changing the material’s geometry lessens its strength and stiffness. Its surface also is “Many applications—from trash bags to largely inert, so it doesn’t bond well within lightweight armor to protect soldiers— a polymer matrix. Well-bonded interfaces demand materials that are as tough as are critical to composite stiffness and possible and that simultaneously can strength and only slightly less important to L to R: Brandon Hazelton, Tyler Olsen, Ellen perform their intended functions in a practi- toughness. “But without at least moderate Arruda, Tanaz Rahimzadeh, Keqin Cao cal way,” said Arruda. Her research group bonding, the resulting composites are not is using high performance polymers as tiny very exciting,” she said. building blocks to achieve and tailor these Advances in Research 33

“This project is the perfect example of how researchers with a wide range of expertise and from multiple disciplines can come together around the long-standing problem of how you translate molecular structure into a property such as toughness.”

Arruda’s group has developed a technologies to reduce the effects method to dissolve and further of blasts and ballistics encounters,” process the KevlarTM into aramid Arruda said. The materials also could nanofibers (ANFs). These fibers be used in automotive applications to are stiff, strong and heat resistant, improve vehicle crashworthiness and and they have a significantly higher protect civilians from auto-related surface to volume ratio than the bulk injuries. material. The increased surface area means the material is more reactive “One of the exciting things about and able to bond to other materials using ANFs and the ability now to and form networks within a polymer combine them with other materials matrix. means we can start realizing some of their exceptional properties and By varying the treatment process, use them in more versatile ways,” researchers have been able to tailor said Arruda, “not only as fibers but and control the nanostructure of the in sheets and likely other geometries ANF building blocks, the formation as well.” of networks and their macroscopic properties. The advances suggest The research has been presented a new versatile building block and at conferences in Europe and has chemical methodology that could be generated a lot of interest and applicable to a large family of high positive feedback. “This project is the performance polymer nanocom- perfect example of how researchers posites able to withstand extreme with a wide range of expertise and loading. from multiple disciplines can come together around the long-standing The research builds on Arruda’s work problem of how you translate molec- for the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval ular structure into a property such as Research on developing lightweight toughness,” Arruda said. materials that are blast- and ballistic resistant. The materials under devel- The research represents the efforts of opment potentially could be applied a number of faculty members across as clear coatings and interface layers the departments of Mechanical to mitigate harmful effects of blast Engineering, Chemical Engineering and to dissipate energy away from and Aerospace Engineering as well soldiers in combat situations. as both graduate and undergraduate students. “Our goal is to improve the state of the art in body and vehicle armor

opposite page, bottom: PhD candidate Keqin Cao aligns a camera on her nano- composite film specimen for simultaneous digital image correlation analysis of the deformation field during tension testing.

Right: Kevlar nanocomposite building blocks imaged via transmission electron microscopy (top) nanosheets of approximately 50 nm diameters, (middle) 13 nm diameter nanofibers and (bottom) a cross-linked KevlarTM nanofiber network. 34 me.engin.umich.edu

Novel Nanomanufacturing Patterning graphene nanostructures

raphene, a two-dimensional mate- Liang’s method involves the application of as low dissipating channels for transporting rial comprised of a single layer voltage to the graphite stamp to create an electrons.” G of carbon, has unique electronic electrostatic force that attaches graphene properties, particularly at the nanoscale. features to a target substrate. The desired For the GNRs to transport electrons with But to date no effective method for pro- structures can be exfoliated and printed. little dissipation, however, the one-dimen- ducing sub-10 nanometer scale graphene “In principle, the process is similar to laser sional ribbons need to have atomically nanostructures over large areas exists. printing, only here we use high voltage to precise, smooth edges. Plasma etching, Assistant Professor Xiaogan Liang is create the electrostatic attraction between commonly used in semiconductor lithogra- working to change that. the GFET and the substrate,” he said. phy, can leave rough edges and chemical contamination. Instead, students in Liang’s “One of the most exciting and pressing The technique Liang invented enabled laboratory are exploring new plasma-free needs when it comes to graphenes is to patterning over a small area, adequate for processes based on new nanomechanical examine how nanolithographic technolo- investigational purposes but not com- and chemical processes, aiming to achieve gies used in the semiconductor field can mercial application. Now at U-M he is atomically smooth graphene nanostruc- be adapted and refined. We can use similar leading efforts to scale up fabrication to tures with controllable layouts. ideas and technologies to pattern gra- larger areas in a continuous fashion. Those phene sheets into nanostructures that we improvements will open the door to a host Liang’s group is applying its breakthroughs can engineer with specific electronic char- of applications, including flexible electronic in nanolithography to an emerging and acteristics and functionalities,” Liang said. and optoelectronic devices such as thin extremely promising area of applied films and many others. physics and engineering: topological Conventional lithography has enabled good insulators, or TIs. These unique materials control of device layout for large-scale In related work, Liang’s group has devel- act as a conductor on their surface and an applications, such as the integrated circuits oped a block copolymer self-assembly insulator or semiconductor in the interior. inside computers. But newly emerging method to pattern nanostructures and The surface state offers advantages when nanomaterials differ markedly in structure create two-dimensional graphene nano- it comes to electron transport. “Electrons from silicon and also in their compatibility meshes and one-dimensional graphene have the ability to tunnel through defects with current lithography processes. nanoribbons (GNRs) (see figure 2). His without any loss of energy,” Liang said. method improves the resolution of current “These are fascinating materials; they “The challenging questions for us are: How nanolithographic techniques. behave very differently from conventional do we achieve a higher resolution with semiconductors.” nanolithographic processes, and how do “Graphene is two-dimensional. If we can we develop a very specific and appropri- pattern it into one-dimensional nanorib- The potential applications for TIs include ate nanofabrication tool for making devices bons, we can explore some new transport low-dissipation switch devices and other with these new materials? Those are the properties,” he said. “In terms of the energy electronics, thermoelectric devices, problems we want to solve,” said Liang. efficiency, these nanoribbons can be used magneto electronics, spintronics and

While working as a staff scientist at The Molecular Foundry at Lawrence FIGURE 1 Berkeley National Laboratory, Liang Pre-structured Graphite Stamps devised a solution. He invented a new nanofabrication method based on lithography to structure the surface of crystalline graphite and massively produce nanoscale graphene field effect transistors, Printed Graphene Nano-/Microstructures or GFETs (see figure 1). Once the graphite substrates are patterned, they can be used repeatedly as a stamp to manufacture pristine gra- phene nanostructures. Advances in Research 35

“If our methods work, and we believe they will, we could one day realize the future of nanomanufacturing of functional device arrays of topological insulator nanostructures.”

biological sensors. Fundamental research FIGURE 2 Graphene Hexagonal Mesh with 10 nm Ribbon-width done to date has been performed only at extremely low temperatures, which are not Graphene Hexagonal Mesh with 10 nm Ribbon-width feasible for practical applications. Such low temperature is required to suppress the d residual bulky conductance in TIs.

The critical step now is to manifest the d surface effects of TIs by increasing the surface to volume ratio. Liang and his Back Gate (p+ Si) group are looking at patterning nanostruc- tures on the surfaces of TIs to increase Back Gate (p+ Si) Densely Aligned Graphene Nanoribbons (GNRs) surface transport and also depress the leakage path through the bulk. PS-b-PDMS FIGURE 3 Densely Aligned Graphene Nanoribbons (GNRs) Gate The challenge will be to manufacture highly PS-b-PDMS Source uniform TI nanostructures over large areas Gate and with good ordering. “Currently, there is Source no way to do this,” Liang said. “But if our methods work, and we believe they will, we could one day realize the future of nano- Drain manufacturing of functional device arrays of topological insulator nanostructures.” As-patterned GNRs Capped with Drain Sub 10 nm GNRs Residual PDMS

As-patterned GNRs Capped with Sub 10 nm GNRs Residual PDMS

opposite page: Schematic illustration of electrostatic printing of functional graphene nanostructures (left inset); high-quality graphite surface lithographically structured with various micro- and nanostructures (upper inset); graphene nanostructures faithfully transfer-printed from structured graphite stamps (bottom inset). top: Graphene-based field-effect transistor (GFET) made from graphene nanomeshes (GNMs) with sub-10 nm inter-mesh-hole spacing. A GNM can be regarded as a network of multiple graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) arranged into a percolating structure. The quantum confine- ment effect at the bottle neck regions of GNRs can open a bandgap for semiconductor-related applications. The inset SEM shows a GNM patterned by using block-copolymer self-assembly in combination with nanoimprint lithography, which could be further implemented as an upscalable nanomanufacturing process. bottom: Densely aligned sub-10 nm half-pitch graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) produced by using directed self-assembly of block-copoly- mers with cylindrical morphology (these are GNRs with the highest density and large-area uniformity to date) and fabricated FETs bearing such densely aligned GNRs. Such well-oriented nanoribbon arrays over wafer-scale areas can provide the higher scalability and uniformity for large-scale electronic and bio/chemical sensor applications. 36 me.engin.umich.edu

Sensory Feedback Using haptics to advance prosthetic control and sensation

n a multi-institution initiative while you’re fumbling for the keys in your The design paradigms for prosthetic funded by the National Science pocket that you realize how much you rely devices have changed little since the I Foundation, Associate Professor on the sense of touch.” mid-twentieth century. Devices typically Brent Gillespie is working to improve rely on myoelectric control, or electrical control for upper limb amputees using The subtleties and complexities make signals derived from muscles in the residual smart prosthetic devices. designing experiments “surprisingly dif- limb. The signals can enable a terminal ficult,” Gillespie said. “It’s almost impossible device to make simple movements such “When it comes to prosthetics, haptic feed- to take away the sense of touch from a as opening or closing around an object. back often is overlooked,” said Gillespie, non-amputee, but at the same time, that But the user must watch the gripper or who heads the Haptix Laboratory at U-M. sense is completely missing in individuals listen for changes in the sound of its motor “We have so much sensory feedback with missing limbs. Although a prosthetic to ascertain the size of the aperture or embedded in our bodies that we take it for device can return some functionality, the whether too little or too much force is being granted. It’s not until your fingers are cold sense of touch is very difficult to replace.” applied to grip or lift a particular item. More

above: Encephelography and functional Near Red Spectroscopy are used to monitor the neural activity of Brandon Johnson, a member of the Haptix Lab, as he prepares to grasp and lift an object using a prototype smart prosthetic device. The instrumented terminal device that Brandon holds and motorized exoskeleton he wears about his elbow models the myoelectric control and sensory feedback being devel- oped for use by upper limb amputees. Advances in Research 37

recently, some mechanical design changes Early brain imaging studies using electroen- and then replace myoelectric signals with have been made to prostheses, but the cephalography (EEG) and functional near- the EEG signals. The user imagines per- availability of sensory feedback—other infrared (fNIR) techniques have indicated forming a particular behavior, such as lifting than vision and audition—has remained a that sensory feedback may indeed make a cup, and the EEG signals can actuate unique challenge. the process of using a prosthetic device the terminal device to carry it out. Sensory easier and more natural. Results suggest feedback could potentially enhance BMI Gillespie and collaborators from Drexel that cognitive demands on the brain are strategies as well. University, Rice University and the lower in users who receive such feedback University of Houston are overcoming the than in those who don’t. The number of new directions in related obstacles. Together the team has devel- research is virtually unlimited, thanks to oped a prototype interface system that “We believe by coupling myoelectric control an innovative and multidisciplinary group provides sensory feedback through an exo- with sensory feedback, users will be able at U-M. Gillespie works with colleagues skeleton worn on the user’s residual limb. A to pay less attention to their device,” said both inside and outside the College of force sensor on the terminal device relays Gillespie. “For example, maybe they could Engineering, including investigators from feedback to a motor on the exoskeleton. lift a cup while conversing, whereas now Plastic Surgery, Kinesiology, the U-M When force develops as the user squeezes they might have to stop what they’re doing Orthotics and Prosthetics Center and other an object, he or she will feel an extension and watch the device as it takes ahold of departments.

“Some of the most forward-thinking work is happening right here at U-M....It’s not simply about building an appliance that works; it’s about developing an interface that requires a deep understanding of its human users.”

moment at the elbow in direct propor- the cup. And they might have to listen to “Some of the most forward-thinking work tion to the force generated at the terminal the motor to sense how much force they’re is happening right here at U-M,” said device. Other types of feedback the team applying—the process can demand a lot of Gillespie. “That forces us to dive into fields is exploring include vibrotactile, skin stretch attention.” not our own. It’s not simply about building and squeezing cues. Studies have begun an appliance that works; it’s about devel- to delve into which type or combination is In addition to enhancing myoelectric oping an interface that requires a deep most effective. control with sensory feedback, Gillespie understanding of its human users. Sensory and collaborators are working in the feedback is going to be part of the game, Although the system requires the user to realm of brain-machine interfaces (BMI), and that makes this all the more exciting.” adapt to the idea that feedback received looking at ways to increase the number at the exoskeleton pertains to a distal, of channels in targeted muscle reinnerva- mechanized device, “It’s not such a stretch tion and to replace myoelectric control since humans are very good at wielding with EEG control. “The head cap we ask tools. To borrow an example from philoso- study participants to wear for purposes of pher Martin Heidegger, think about using a monitoring is potentially useful as a control hammer: After a short period of time, you modality as well,” Gillespie noted. become less and less aware of holding the handle—the interface—and more attuned A decoder the team is developing can take to what’s happening at the head, where the EEG signals, search for correlations you’re hitting the nail,” Gillespie said. between the signals and motor behavior 38 me.engin.umich.edu

Personnel Tracking Systems Ensuring the safety of soldiers and emergency responders

oldiers and emergency person- nel face substantial risk in combat S and disaster situations. Working inside burning or booby-trapped build- ings, searching for victims among rubble or rescuing survivors all potentially put these individuals in harm’s way.

“The single greatest problem in rescu- ing downed firefighters is knowing where to find them,” said Research Professor Johann Borenstein, who heads the U-M Mobile Robotics Laboratory. His goal is to lower that risk through an innovative personnel tracking and position estimation system.

Known as personal dead reckoning, or PDR, the system measures the posi- tion and direction of an individual moving throughout a building relative to a known starting position. The system does not require any external references, such as GPS.

Co-developed by Borenstein and Assistant Research Scientist Lauro Ojeda, the PDR system is simple, comprised of a small sensor—an inertial measurement unit, or IMU—and a wearable computer to process sensor data. A radio modem transmits data regarding the subject’s position and elevation to the monitoring individual. The combined sensor-radio pack is small enough to be mounted on the subject’s boot and in the boot heel. It also can be attached to the side of a shoe so it can be easily detached and used by other “The single greatest problem in rescuing downed individuals. firefighters is knowing where to find them.” The PDR system is able to track diverse types of movement often used by emer- gency responders: walking, jumping, running, carrying or dragging heavy objects, crawling, retracing steps and moving in non-linear ways, such as walking around to the back of large equipment or Advances in Research 39

body. “Small errors from the IMU can be corrected with every step, when the instru- mented foot is firmly on the ground and its true velocity at that moment is known to be zero,” Borenstein explained.

For that reason, the system can eliminate undesirable “drift” from the IMU’s acceler- ometers. Since, on footfall, the IMU’s true velocity is zero, the system corrects accel- erometers that indicate otherwise. Similarly, the system assumes corridors are straight and/or intersect at 90 degrees. If the sys- tem’s gyro indicates otherwise, the system corrects it. The PDR also can be optimized for urban and other outdoor environments in addition to buildings.

In numerous tests, the PDR system has proven highly accurate. Position errors have been less than one percent of the distance traveled; directional errors have been near zero degrees in indoor walks of unlimited duration; and elevation estimates have been off by less than one meter. above: During some of the experiments with the PDR system, a separately housed Future work includes improving the transmitter was used in order to test com- system’s performance when the user is munication issues. crawling on hands and knees, a method opposite page: The PDR system comprises often employed by firefighters to reduce a removable IMU sensor in the heel of the exposure to heat and smoke. An effort also boot and a computer/power/transmitter is underway to adapt the PDR system to unit attached to the shaft of the boot. tracking the location of autistic children who exhibit wandering behaviors. behind obstructions. It also can track users Support for the PDR system has been regardless of individual gait characteristics. provided by government agencies includ- It requires a seven-second initialization ing the U.S. Department of Energy, the period prior to the mission, but no calibra- Department of Defense, Idaho National tion for individual users is necessary. Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory as well as numerous nonprofit and private Borenstein’s research team has made the organizations, including MITRE, McQ, PDR system significantly more accurate MDA Corporation, Robotic Research, than conventional IMU-based systems. Mercury Data Systems and the Center Since the IMU is attached to the user’s for Commercialization of Advanced foot, error correction techniques can be Technologies. applied that will not work elsewhere on the 40 me.engin.umich.edu

A Rare Look Shedding light on fuel ignition with novel experimental methods

dvanced combustion technolo- tool. Wooldridge’s team has developed a The diluents have thermophysical effects gies have the potential to increase method of high-speed gas sampling com- on combustion that are well recognized. A the efficiency of many types of bined with gas analysis that it uses with However, Wooldridge’s research team engines, reduce polluting emissions and RCF studies of ignition. has identified chemical effects of diluent improve operational safety and combustion composition that also are significant at low performance. But these technologies are “We’re one of very few facilities in the temperatures. limited today by the chemical kinetics of world able to quantify intermediate species the fuels they use. formed and consumed during ignition,” In another U.S. Department of Energy- Wooldridge said, “and we do that in an supported project, Wooldridge is inves- Low-temperature combustion strategies extremely rigorous way. These are direct tigating the chemistry of high hydrogen and lean premixed fuels in particular can measurements of reaction pathways con- content (HHC) fuels for gas turbines dramatically increase device efficiency trolling combustion rates and the formation and stationary power applications. HHC while reducing emissions. But applying the of air toxics.” fuels can be produced from a number of strategies to modern engine design pres- sources with some synthesis methods ents several challenges. When combustion Darshan Karwat and Scott Wagnon, holding the promise of reducing carbon temperature is lowered, chemical reactions graduate students in Wooldridge’s research emissions of the power sector. However, slow. Few experimental data exist that group, have quantified dozens of inter- variability in HHC fuel composition can identify critical behavior as a function of mediate species formed during ignition. be problematic. The Wooldridge group is temperature, pressure and composition at Their data highlight uncertainties and build working with ME Professor Hong Im to conditions consistent with modern engines. confidences in the understanding of how develop a domain map of the chemical Yet this information is required to quantify fuels burn and how air toxics are formed. behavior of HHC fuels at different tempera- reactivity, validate models and, ultimately, The new data are challenging targets for ture, pressure and composition conditions, safely and efficiently design combustors for combustion chemistry of important fossil as well as to characterize the sensitivity of aviation, ground transportation and station- fuel standards, such as heptane, as well as the fuels to ignition and flame propagation, ary power and heating applications. biofuels such as butanol and biodiesel. important safety concerns in combustor design. Margaret Wooldridge, Arthur F. Thurnau In work supported by the U.S. Department Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is of Energy, Wooldridge and her research “Hydrogen and HHC fuels have great addressing these complex questions in group have identified unexpected synergis- properties, but there are significant practi- the U-M Combustion Laboratory using a tic effects of biofuel and fossil fuel blends. cal challenges to using these fuels. HHC novel methodology she and her research “Whether you look at the transportation fuels are extraordinarily sensitive to local team have developed to characterize fuel or stationary power sector, we won’t have conditions in the combustion chamber, and chemistry. enough feed stock to use biofuels exclu- there is a significant, unresolved difference sively. We need to understand the effects between predicted and observed behav- “We know a lot about ignition chemis- of different blends and how to optimize ior of hydrogen combustion at conditions try at high temperatures, but nowhere fuel composition. Controlling reaction rates relevant to gas turbine combustors. We are near as much at low temperatures,” said becomes harder at lower temperatures, trying to resolve the physical and chemical Wooldridge, who has developed a rapid but operating at lower temperatures to gain mechanisms at the heart of these discrep- compression facility (RCF) to compress test improvements in efficiencies and minimize ancies,” Woodridge explained. gas mixtures to pressures and tempera- pollution is a need that can’t be ignored,” tures found in internal combustion engines she said. and other combustion systems. The Wooldridge group also has studied While there are some other research how diluents such as exhaust gases and groups using similar experimental methods, steam, which are commonly employed opposite page: the RCF at the University of Michigan is a to reduce pollutant emissions, affect Still images from high-speed imaging of n-heptane ignition. unique and decidedly powerful research low-temperature combustion chemistry. Advances in Research 41

“We’re one of very few facilities in the world able to quantify intermediate species formed and consumed during ignition, and we do that in an extremely rigorous way. These are direct measurements of reaction pathways controlling combustion rates and the formation of air toxics.” 42 me.engin.umich.edu

Combustion Science and Technology Shrinking the carbon footprint of US manufacturers

onsumers may complain about and Indiana on how to lower their energy energy and the environment. He and his the high costs of energy at the expenditures. The program is free to manu- group have developed and demonstrated C gas pump, but those costs pale facturers. “They’re very receptive to finding a transformational combustion technology in comparison to the expenses incurred out about new methods that can save for high-temperature furnaces to reduce by industry. Professor Arvind Atreya has energy, cut costs and improve operations,” energy use and the carbon footprint of U.S. been working with manufacturers to reduce Atreya said. manufacturers. This technology has been their energy costs in a number of ways. patented by U-M. Thinking about energy savings and opera- In a program funded by the U.S. tional improvements has led Atreya down The large industrial furnaces used in the Department of Energy, Atreya has been new research paths in his U-M labora- production of steel, aluminum and glass advising manufacturers in Michigan, Ohio tory, which focuses on combustion, fire, as well as for metal casting and petroleum

“The radiative flameless combustion approach would save manufacturers significant amounts of money in the United States and abroad if adopted.” Advances in Research 43

refining consume tremendous amounts inside the furnace, radiation increases by furnaces. “It would save manufacturers of fuel. “One of these furnaces might the fourth power. “You’re burning much significant amounts of money in the United consume a quarter-million dollars of natural more uniformly and homogenously and, States and abroad if adopted,” he said. gas per day,” said Atreya. “And right now because you have a larger reaction zone, they’re no more than 50% efficient.” you’re radiating heat more efficiently to the The approach is an example of a practical material,” he said. and useful technology that was developed Currently, inside an industrial furnace, through a confluence of ideas, Atreya flames heat the furnace walls and the metal Atreya has demonstrated the radiative noted. However, a large number of fun- in turn is heated to its melting point not by flameless combustion (RFC) approach on a damental problems remain to be solved. the flames directly but by radiation from the laboratory-scale furnace and was recently “We know it works but we don’t exactly furnace walls. “Right now, we’re heating granted a patent. He also has developed know why. The ‘why’ is important for better something other than the metal with flames real-time sensor technology for furnace quantitative design and control, but the and that something else radiates heat back monitoring since current flame sensors do science has yet to be developed. My stu- to melt the metal. It’s the same process for not work for RFC. dents and I are working on it,” he said. aluminum or steel or other metals, and it becomes very inefficient and very pollut- The RFC approach reduces fuel con- In another energy-related project, Atreya is ing,” said Atreya. sumption per unit of output by more than looking at novel methods to generate fuel 50%. At the same time RFC improves from woody biomass. His thermochemi- The indirect process means that gas inside furnace productivity, cuts pollutants and cal approach would capture the pyrolysis the furnace must be heated to, and remain greenhouse gas emissions and improves products from wood in a narrow time at, temperatures significantly higher than product quality by eliminating the dross and temperature range. These pyrolysis the melting point of the material being pro- and other waste products that form inside products would then be condensed, de- cessed. “There’s nothing you can do with oxygenated and refined. this gas—you can’t let it cool or the metal will solidify again, so you have to exhaust it. “Once you have this liquefied bio-oil, you Right now all that heat in the exhaust gas need to remove chemically-bound oxygen is wasted.” from it before you can send it to an oil refin- ery,” said Atreya. He is currently investigat- Atreya is approaching the problem with ing the use of novel regenerative catalysts a two-fold solution: First, recirculate the to de-oxygenate the bio-oil prior to refining. exhaust energy back into the furnace “We’ve introduced real innovation; we’re with an internal and/or external flue gas finding ways to generate fuels from renew- recirculation device; second, enhance the able resources and we’re learning how to radiation from the combustion process so do it very efficiently and all in one shot.” that materials are heated directly by flames rather than indirectly. This method enables the biomass reactor to be transportable and autonomous such Preheating the combustion air with recir- that it can be used in remote areas of the culated exhaust gas, though, raises the forest. “If the excess biomass is removed flame temperature and pollutant formation. from the forest to generate green fuel, we Atreya has addressed this problem as well will also significantly reduce the danger of by diluting and simultaneously preheat- forest fires,” Atreya said. “The economics ing the air to particular temperatures that of doing this are compelling, and it creates result in flameless combustion. This both numerous new jobs producing carbon- improves efficiency and reduces pollut- neutral transportation fuel.” ant formation. “We’ve found that pollution actually falls by a factor of 10,” he said.

Atreya’s solution works by creating a larger reaction zone inside the furnace without top: Flameless Combustion burning more fuel. As the temperature rises bottom: Flaming Combustion 44 me.engin.umich.edu

“There are three things we want to improve in multi-vehicle systems: safety, particularly fatal accidents; congestion, which costs billions of dollars annually in the United States; and energy consumption.” Advances in Research 45

Dynamics of Vehicle Flows: Optimizing technologies to make traffic flow

he problem of traffic congestion is Technology that interconnects vehicles, Although the connections among the as old as the Model T. For decades such as autonomous or adaptive cruise robotic vehicles rely on laser range finders T now, researchers from many scien- control that enables drivers to follow rather than the radar that current autono- tific and engineering disciplines have tried to another vehicle or stay in one’s driving lane, mous cruise control systems employ, tackle the problem using complex formulas for example, currently is available in pas- “they’re pretty realistic in terms of behaving and tools and by drawing analogies to other senger cars. Such systems rely on radar, the way real vehicles do—only at a much types of flows, such as fluid and gas. But, a well-understood and widely adopted smaller scale and in a safe way,” he said. as ME Assistant Professor Gabor Orosz technology. Systems that employ radio and colleagues wrote in a 2010 article in transmitters are under development, but One of the challenges Orosz will continue Philosophical Transactions of The Royal these increase the complexity significantly to overcome with his research is how to Society A, “it is becoming more and more because of the network structure of con- interpret different types of motionand iden- obvious that traffic flows like no other flow nected vehicles. tify dynamic patterns. in the Newtonian universe.” To characterize the constraints of such In fact, Orosz and his team have dis- Orosz and his research group focus technologies when employed at the covered that collective motions, such as on modeling and analyzing the dynam- systems level, Orosz is working with the waves and patterns, reveal a lot about ics of vehicular traffic flows in order to U-M Transportation Research Institute a system. Now he is working to classify understand precisely why and how traffic (UMTRI). Data from an upcoming UMTRI different types of motions and, ultimately, jams form, propagate and dissolve. Such study will help Orosz and colleagues identify how controllers could be employed in a knowledge is critical to the development of the limits of present technologies so that multi-vehicle system to prevent them. “And effective control strategies. the constraints can be considered when you almost always want to prevent them; designing connected vehicle systems. any kind of traffic pattern that is not simply Unlike much automotive research that a homogenous flow is usually bad.” centers on particular components or Given the size, not to mention sticker price, individual vehicles, Orosz’ work focuses on of vehicles today, Orosz and his team have Orosz and his collaborators are one of the multi-vehicle dynamics. His research takes built 1/8 scale ground robots to reproduce few groups employing network theory to a systems approach and employs network vehicle behavior. Based on data from the address the dynamics of traffic flows at the theory to investigate vehicular traffic flows, UMTRI study, he and his team can then systems level. “With all of the resources including the effects of driver behavior. continually modify the network of vehicles at U-M,” he said, “Ann Arbor really is the in order to develop effective controllers. center of this research.” “There are three things we want to improve in multi-vehicle systems: safety, particularly fatal accidents; congestion, which costs billions of dollars annually in the United States; and energy consumption. These are the big problems we target with our research,” Orosz explained.

But working at the systems, rather than vehicular level, means added complexity when it comes to modeling, analysis, pre- v1 v2 vL diction and control. “Predicting the behav- ior of one vehicle can be complicated, but when you talk about hundreds or thou- h1 h2 sands of vehicles as well as their human drivers, the complexity is compounded. It’s not enough to know what that one vehicle will do, because you don’t know how the above: A platoon of connected vehicles. Apart from sensing the motion of the car in front, infor- system will behave; you have to look at the mation about the motion of distant vehicles can be transmitted using wireless communication. interconnections among vehicles.” Combining this technology with intelligent control design may allow one to avoid accidents and congestion. 46 me.engin.umich.edu

Engineering Cornerstones Integrating experimentation with theory and communication

or many students, ME 395 and 495, Laboratory I and II required experiment and subsequently determine which data, respectively, mark a turning point in their undergraduate related information and conclusions to include in the “client” report. F education. In ME 495 the experiments become more complex, typically span- “I often see a transition from what I call being a technician to ning several weeks, and the required technical communications becoming a genuine engineer,” said Professor David Dowling, take multiple forms: written reports, posters and oral presenta- who teaches ME 395. tions. “The 495 curriculum often adopts some of the personal- ity and expertise of the instructors of a particular term,” said That’s because the courses are designed not only to emphasize Professor Bill Schultz, who frequently teaches ME 495. Student the fundamentals of experimentation—including experimental work is evaluated on both technical and communications merit. design and uncertainty, safety and ethics—but technical communi- cations as well. The process of communicating results is a valuable learning expe- rience, if not a frustrating one at times. “At the start, many stu- “When students get to these lab classes they have to find the dents aren’t comfortable with the ambiguity that is inherent in the correct answers to problems, but they also have to produce a laboratory scenarios and that is an intended part of the courses, report that convinces someone who’s likely to be skeptical of the but that’s how things work in industry. Engineers invariably deal correctness of their results, based on the theoretical underpinnings with ambiguity,” said Dowling. from their core ME courses. The courses force them not only to perform like an engineer, but to think like one,” Dowling said. Alumni agree the courses benefit their careers and provide a posi- tive edge. “I often hear from graduates who say they’re very thank- Experiments in both courses are presented as technical scenarios ful they took the classes,” Dowling said, “even though they did not that become more open-ended as the courses progress. Student always appreciate their value at the time.” teams assume the role of consulting firm and must conduct the

ME250 students compete in the Fall 2011 “Balltower” competition at the CoE Design Expo, while the staff and audience look on. Excellence in Education 47

ME Design and Manufacturing Accelerating innovation

he ME department’s core design curriculum is recognized nationally T for its breadth and depth as well as the many hands-on experiences for students. In Design and Manufacturing I, II and III (ME 250, 350 and 450 respectively), students learn to take an idea and shep- herd it through prototyping and testing. From concept to build, they gain the knowledge and skills to turn concepts into manufacturable products and functional physical systems.

Design, Materials and Manufacturing In Design and Manufacturing I, course lectures center on three themes: the design process, materials and manufacturing. Students learn to visualize concepts in numerous ways and communicate their ideas to others. In the machine shop, they experience firsthand the capabilities “MacroHard,” built by students Alex Nagler, Alex Vigran, Nelson Worner and Jesse Staub, com- petes in the ME250 Balltower competition. and limitations of different manufacturing processes, including traditional machining, waterjet and laser cutting, rapid prototyp- ing and assembly. mechanical elements and mechatronics, and manufacturing experience through or the synergetic integration of mechani- an open-ended, real-world engineer- The course culminates in a “Balltower” cal disciplines, electronics, controls and ing project. Projects come from industry competition at the College’s Design Expo. computers. In past semesters, student partners and university research labs and Student teams compete using a remote- projects have included golf-club swinging involve the design, fabrication and testing controlled machine built during the semes- machines, catapults and an inverted pen- of a new device, machine or system based ter. The team whose machine acquires the dulum. In 2011-12, student teams tackled on customer needs. most ping-pong and squash balls from a new challenge: a mobile backpack carrier features on the two-by-eight-foot “arena” for a wheelchair. These sponsored projects have become wins. In 2011-12, the arena took on an increasingly more mechatronic in nature, added degree of difficulty with new features “Through these projects, students are intro- requiring system-level integration of conceived by course leader Assistant duced to sensors, actuators and control- mechanical design, sensors, actuators Professor John Hart and modeled after lers and learn how to integrate them into and controls. To address this need, the the North Campus bell tower, wave field high-performing mechanical systems. It Department has invested in creating a and buildings. turns out to be one of their favorite subject world-class mechatronics instructional areas in the 350 course,” said Assistant lab facility equipped with state-of-the- Model-Based System Professor Shorya Awtar, course leader. art instrumentation. In recent years, Design the Department has hired a lecturer, Mike Umbriac, and an engineer, Toby Design and Manufacturing II introduces Sophisticated Prototypes Donajkowski, to support the ME 250, the model-based design of mechanical for Industry Sponsors 350 and 450 classes. and electromechanical systems. Lectures Design and Manufacturing III offers focus on system analysis and synthesis, students a complete capstone design

continued 48 me.engin.umich.edu

ME250 Fall 2011 First Place team, “The Original Three” (Corey Zwegers, Tim Bello, Kelsey Arens, Michael Erickson), with course instructors Prof. John Hart and Mike Umbriac, Jean Chu (GSI), and representatives from prize sponsor Harris Corporation.

Successful projects have included interac- startup companies, too. FlexDex LLC, and 350) as well as the rest of the Design tive inverted pendulum and ball-on-plate for example, designs affordable tools for and Manufacturing curriculum, students balancing exhibits for the Ann Arbor enhanced dexterity and intuitive control in are quite ready to deliver solutions beyond Hand-On Museum and a minimally invasive minimally invasive surgery. what would be expected of your typical skin biopsy device. During 2011-12, mechanical engineer.” students developed a tool to align satel- “The added instruction in mechatronics lites prior to launch for Lockheed Martin, really pushes the industry projects in ME an anti-whiplash headrest for Johnson 450 to a whole new level,” said Gordon Controls Inc., and a surgical assist device Krauss, course coordinator. “Having for use in awake-craniotomies at University been exposed to mechatronics in their Hospital. Course projects have led to sophomore and junior year (in ME 250 Excellence in Education 49

Design for Global Health

t’s not every day that undergradu- ate students have the chance to I improve health care in the devel- oping world. ME alumnus Keval Patel (BSE ‘12) and several classmates had this opportunity, however, thanks to an innovative Design for Global Health experi- ence conceived of and coordinated by ME Assistant Professor Kathleen Sienko in collaboration with Dr. Aileen Huang-Saad of the Biomedical Engineering department.

“The experience gives students a unique opportunity to address major global health challenges both through clinical immersion and collaborative hands-on design,” Sienko right: Professor Sienko stops en route from said. The program’s four cornerstones Kumasi to Accra to watch as a young woman include co-creation with the end-user sells her wares by the roadside. community, experiential learning, intercul- Above: View of the small village behind the tural training, and in-depth exposure to a woman, left. specific thematic area.

Patel was part of a student team that “The input from Ghanaian physicians and The Global Health Design experience has visited Ghana during the 2011-12 aca- our clinical observations really helped show been recognized as a model for medical demic year to investigate maternal health. us what challenges were truly important technology co-creation in resource-limited The experience began with background to physicians on the ground,” Patel said. settings. In 2011 and 2012 it received reading and observation on the obstetrics Alternative methods are required because funding from multinational medical device ward of U-M’s University Hospital. Next, of the often-poor road conditions that companies to support similar programs in the team traveled to Ghana for an eight- exist between outlying villages and health China in minimally invasive surgery, cardiac week clinical immersion at Komfo Anokye facilities as well as a shortage of trained surgery and cancer treatments. Sienko Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi. From care providers in rural areas. These factors also has piloted the first U-M - African engi- there, the team traveled among rural can mean life-threatening delays when neering student clinical observation team in communities in northern Ghana and then complications such as ectopic pregnancy collaboration with the University of Ghana spent two weeks at the Korle Bu Teaching and prolonged labor arise. and Makerere University at KBTH. Hospital in Accra (KBTH). The team developed potential solutions Also in 2011, five U-M graduates founded “Our observations helped us develop a far through the senior capstone design a company to commercialize several greater sense of the condition of health- course, ME 450. With ongoing input from devices they developed in the Global care in the region and the needs pressing and evaluation by physicians in both Health Design program. healthcare providers,” Patel said. In addition countries, the team ultimately developed to observing physicians in the clinic and an alternative to forceps, which require Students who choose to complete two health care workers at rural sites, the team extensive training to avoid injury to the semesters of design in ME 450 and ENGR performed a needs assessment, recording infant. The concept employs a nylon sock 455 typically enroll in the Multidisciplinary the challenges noted while observing. applied to the baby’s head using a compli- Design Minor Global Health Design Specialization. Upon returning to U-M, the team analyzed ant plastic applicator. The individual assist- the needs assessment and, in collabora- ing in the delivery then uses the sock to tion with physicians in Ghana and at U-M, help extract the baby. “Our concept would + more on the web selected one particular challenge: devising allow a lesser trained provider to still be alternative methods for infant delivery. able to perform a life-saving delivery during For more information on the Specialization: an emergency,” Patel said. http://sitemaker.umich.edu/ specialization/Home 50 me.engin.umich.edu

Engineering Collaboration ME faculty forge relationships in Ghana

he complexity of engineering research today demands both mul- T tidisciplinary and global approaches to identifying and implementing solutions. In a new initiative supported by the U-M Rackham Graduate School, the Mechanical Engineering department and the College of Engineering, three ME faculty have initiated relationships with universities in Ghana. The goal is to establish long-term research and education collaborations and further strengthen the global dimension of the U-M ME doctoral program.

“We want to reinforce and build upon our existing relationships with two institutions in Ghana—Kwame Nkrumah University Some of the participants of the UM-KNUST STEM-Africa Conference in Kumasi, Ghana, of Science and Technology (KNUST) in May 2012. Kumasi and University of Ghana (UG) in Legon—that already have been productive technology will enable monitoring of the plants and micro-turbines to provide power and insightful for everyone involved,” said effectiveness of an individual’s antiretroviral to rural villages. Professor Elijah Kannatey-Asibu, who is therapy and identify HIV-positive patients leading the effort. who would benefit from such treatment. During the 2012-13 academic year, there Chronis met with doctors and local health- are opportunities for other ME faculty The three-year grant enables three ME care workers and is hoping to test a proto- to spend up to four days in Ghana, and faculty per year to visit Ghana. Three to type within the coming two to three years. additional U-M ME doctoral students four PhD students each year also will can spend up to two months in Ghana. be supported during one- to two-month Sienko has been working with Komfo Three Ghanaian faculty members also are internships in Ghana. Similarly, Ghanaian Anokye Teaching Hospital since 2008. She expected to visit Ann Arbor. faculty will visit U-M to facilitate research has led two groups of Global Intercultural collaborations and joint education pro- Experience for Undergraduates (GIEU) stu- Previously, Kannatey-Asibu led three posals. Research focus areas include dents and three cohorts of Global Health U-M GIEU student-teams to Ghana to global health, energy, manufacturing and Design Specialization students to Ghana address plastic recycling issues. He has other areas of mechanical engineering. (see related story on page 49). Her work co-organized several conferences between focuses on creating a framework for appro- U-M and African institutions to help foster In August 2011, Kannatey-Asibu and two priate engineering design in healthcare in collaboration among scientific researchers. ME co-investigators, assistant professors resource limited settings. He organized and co-chaired sessions on Nikos Chronis and Kathleen Sienko, manufacturing innovation and sustainable returned from a four-day fact-finding visit to Three PhD students are completing two- energy and design at a U-M - KNUST both Ghanaian universities. Kannatey-Asibu month internships in Ghana in the summer conference in May 2012. He also repre- discussed collaborations in the area of mate- of 2012. Ibrahim Mohedas is studying the sented U-M at the Pan-African University rials and manufacturing, including a project diagnosis of pre-eclampsia, a hypertensive Workshop on Curriculum Development on using recycled plastics and natural fiber disorder during pregnancy, in rural settings in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2011. He has been composites for low-cost wind turbines. and developed user requirements for an involved in shaping the engineering cur- improved blood pressure device for use by ricula at the university, which was only Chronis and Sienko met with biomedi- community healthcare workers. Amir Sabet recently established by the African Union. cal engineering colleagues and visited (BSE BME ‘09, MSE BME ‘10) is exploring Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to + more on the web the engineering design process for medical explore joint projects. Chronis is developing devices and technologies in resource-lim- point-of-care biochips for HIV monitor- For more information on Global Engagement ited settings, and Serge Gregory (MS ME ing in resource-limited settings that don’t of Doctoral Education and related activities: ‘06) is investigating solar thermal electric require hospital or clinic accessibility. The http://sitemaker.umich.edu/me-ghana/ Home Excellence in Education 51

International Engineering Summer School Participation in popular study abroad program in Berlin triples

he International Engineering Summer School (IESS) at TU gasification, fluid mechanical design to achieve drag reduction, Berlin, now in its seventh year, has again drawn a record or efficient programming of a microcontroller to build a musical T number of U-M Engineering undergraduates to study and tuner. The next IESS will include two additional projects, one on live in Germany’s capital. IESS participation has steadily grown advanced internal combustion engine studies and one on sustain- from 10 in the inaugural class in 2006 to 32 in 2012. The program able energy concepts. has been popular among all classes and welcomes students from all College of Engineering departments. Seven of the 32 partici- A significant number of the IESS participants use the summer pants in 2012 were Mechanical Engineering students. experience to fulfill several requirements for the International Minor. This minor, the first offered by the College of Engineering, was “TU Berlin Professor Frank Behrendt, the IESS co-founder, and his co-developed in 2008 by Sick and Dr. Amy Conger, who serves team worked tirelessly and with above-and-beyond enthusiasm as the College’s director of International Programs. It quickly to accommodate the increased number of students who wanted has become the most popular minor for engineering students to come to Berlin,” said Professor Volker Sick. Sick conceived of with some 200 students currently enrolled and more than 100 and developed the IESS in close collaboration with Behrendt. graduates.

The IESS continues to benefit from the support received from Sick, who has served the College of Engineering as faculty automotive engineering firm IAV GmbH and IAV, Inc. As a result the advisor to International Programs since 2007, is starting a new program has been able to offer a broader portfolio of projects as appointment as Associate Vice President for Research for Natural well as reduced fees to students. Participants in the summer 2012 Sciences and Engineering in September 2012. He will continue session chose from one of three research projects. Teams investi- co-teaching the IESS. gated the production of alternative energy via fluidized-bed wood

IESS participants visit the Sans Souci castle in Potsdam near Berlin. 52 me.engin.umich.edu

U-M - SJTU Joint Institute Cementing a strong foundation

ince it was founded in 2006, the University of Michigan - The JI has produced over 600 graduates to date. Over 80% have Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute (U-M - SJTU pursued graduate study in China and the United States (10% and S JI) has made strides toward its mission to build a global 70%, respectively). Among the students who came to study in the partnership and world-class institute for engineering education in United States, almost all have been admitted by top U.S. schools. Shanghai. Its many successes to date have led to a number of “This is a remarkably impressive record of graduate placements,” milestones in 2011-12 that further strengthen its foundation and Ni said. enable future growth. In addition, the scope and scale of JI programs continue to “Both sides reviewed all that has been done over the past six expand. “We’re working simultaneously to bring new disciplines years, and everyone was quite happy with how the JI has been into the JI and also trying to find ways for more U-M students to developing,” said ME Professor Jun Ni, who currently serves take advantage of such a unique opportunity.” as dean of the JI and who was instrumental in its founding. As a result, the two universities signed a 10-year master collabora- One of the strategies for making JI study-abroad experiences tion agreement in June 2012. “Both institutions were enthusiastic possible for greater numbers of U-M students includes fundraising, about committing to the JI for an additional 10 years,” he added. and both universities have undertaken joint advancement activities. “It’s important to both institutions to increase scholarship funds so The U-M - SJTU Joint Research Collaborative is now in its third that more U-M students can study in Shanghai and SJTU students year, with another group of projects recently funded. Since its can study in Ann Arbor,” said Ni. inception, several ME faculty, including professors Volker Sick, Albert Shih and Don Siegel, have been recipients of research A number of other efforts to build capacity are underway, includ- support for collaborative projects with SJTU faculty. ing new faculty and staff hires and facilities improvements. A new, 200,000-square-foot building for the JI has been approved and is Close to 100 undergraduate students from SJTU arrived in Ann scheduled to be completed in 2014. Arbor for the fall 2012 semester, joining some 80 seniors who cur- rently are studying in Michigan. The U-M also granted admission The JI is receiving extremely positive feedback. In October 2011, to more than 90 graduate students, primarily through the College JI administrators commissioned an external evaluation by a panel of Engineering. In addition, more than 40 U-M students are study- of expert reviewers. The panel determined that the caliber of JI ing in Shanghai. Nine U-M faculty, from both within and outside students and faculty are comparable to those at top universities in the College, taught courses at the JI during the 2012 summer the United States. China’s Ministry of Education, which oversees semester. over 3,000 Sino-international cooperative educational programs, also declared the JI a model to emulate. As a result, the Chinese government issued a case study of the JI, which has been provided to a number of colleges and universities throughout China so that they can adapt some of the JI’s best practices and features to create and improve their own programs.

“The JI truly is a model educational partner- ship. That was our vision when we founded the JI in 2006, and it’s our vision today,” said Ni. “We were pleased to have our work validated by both the expert review- ers and the Chinese government. With the new 10-year collaboration agreement, we can continue moving forward to make that vision a reality.”

U-M-SJTU Joint Institute administrators in Shanghai during the signing ceremony of a 10-year partnership agreement. Excellence in Education 53

BLUElab Engineering for Global Impact

tudent members of BLUElab, project was a 2012 Dell Social Innovation of the poorest, most isolated regions in the Better Living Using Engineering, Challenge People’s Choice Winner and Western hemisphere. S are finding innovative solutions to earned a $1,000 prize. real-world problems locally and across the LASTING IMPACT globe. Project teams focus on developing TURNING WASTE AND SCRAPS This year a new student team formed sustainable technologies that can have a INTO SAFE FUEL lasting impact environmentally, culturally to provide solar heating to rural homes, and economically. Another BLUElab team has been working also in Guatemala. Several other projects on installing an anaerobic digestion system are ongoing, too. “BLUElab members BLUElab projects are as diverse as the in Liberia. The team’s biodigester takes are continually conceiving of diverse new organization’s membership, comprised of animal and human waste and food scraps projects—all with the potential for real over 100 students across all College of and combines them with bacteria, which and positive impact for individuals,” said Engineering departments and disciplines convert the mix into biogas comprised Skerlos. outside of engineering as well. “Students of between 60% and 70% methane. The campus-wide are encouraged to pursue biogas then can be used to produce elec- Closer to home, BLUElab has continued their passions in sustainability and create tricity and odorless fertilizer, to heat water its successful campus job fair and well- projects that improve living conditions and and to prepare food. Biogas is a healthier attended Sustainability Speaker Series. lives,” said Professor Steve Skerlos, the and more sustainable source of cooking + more on the web organization’s co-founder and faculty fuel than wood. advisor. For more information, visit http://bluelab. COLLECTING AND PURIFYING engin.umich.edu/ WOVEN WIND WINS PEOPLE’S WATER CHOICE AWARD BLUElab students have partnered with A BLUElab team is continuing its initiative Nicaraguan-based blueEnergy, a non-gov- to generate a low-cost source of electric- ernmental organization working with the Above left: Students outside of Freetown, ity to a small town in the mountains of United Nations, to build and implement a Liberia learn about the operation of a new system installed at their school that converts Guatemala. For this pilot program, students rainwater collection and purification system animal waste into bioenergy. have built a small wind turbine crafted of in the Bluefields region of the country. The inexpensive, locally sourced materials. team is using low-cost, indigenous materi- above right: Project Leaders of the Guatemalan Local women generate personal income by als to build the system and to provide Solar Team examine a solar panel (near Santa weaving fabric for the turbine blades. This clean water and sanitation services to one Cruz, Guatemala). 54 me.engin.umich.edu

Formula SAE MRacing Extends Successful Streak

he University of Michigan Formula SAE® team, MRacing, The continued success of MRacing has increased the team’s recently returned from another successful run at Formula stature on campus and helped recruit committed new participants. T Student Germany 2012 where it placed tenth overall, With a nearly 30 percent increase in membership over the past second in acceleration and fourth in endurance. year, the team now has added capacity to focus on important mechanical details, testing and its aggressive build schedule. MRacing and its vehicle, MR-12, were well prepared after the “Manufacturing the car takes a lot of foresight, planning and lead Formula SAE Michigan race in May 2012, in which they placed time,” Fallin said. 5th, giving MRacing its eighth consecutive top 10 finish. That experience is excellent preparation for landing a job in “This consistently high placement is incredibly rare among all industry. Since 2009, the team’s seniors have all been employed teams,” said Brian Fallin, 2012 MRacing co-captain. He attri- or had job offers by graduation. “Our participation in MRacing butes the “record hot streak” to a number of positive changes: the and Formula SAE in general has radically benefited each of us,” recent expansion of the Wilson Student Team Project Center, an Fallin said. “I know, at least for me, it’s given me the opportunity to increase in membership and even more support from both alumni choose my future.” and sponsors. As competition stiffens and vehicles become more expensive to build each year, that support is much welcomed and Reed Sullivan, 2013 captain and a ME junior, plans to continue appreciated. the winning streak. “Our team goal is to finish top three in both competitions we attend next year.” “We’re really standing on the shoulders of giants. Team alumni support us as informal advisors and help transfer knowledge + more on the web to new members. The University’s alumni base and location in southeastern Michigan are key to helping us find sponsors in the For more information, visit the team website at automotive industry. This year we had two companies approach http://mracing.engin.umich.edu/ us and go on to become platinum sponsors,” Fallin said.

Reed Sullivan races MR-12 during the Formula Student Germany endur- ance event at the Hockenheimring. Excellence in Education 55

U-M Solar Car Team A record-breaking win

hrough intense weather and an exceptionally challenging route, T the U-M Solar Car Team and its vehicle, Quantum, prevailed, winning the 2012 American Solar Challenge with the largest margin of victory in the history of the race. The eight-day competition for solar-powered vehicles covers 1,650 miles, from Rochester, New York, to St. Paul, Minnesota. Quantum crossed the finish line just shy of 45 hours, a full 10 hours ahead of the closest vehicle. Quantum’s time broke the existing record, set by U-M’s 2008 car, Continuum. The win also was the U-M team’s fourth consecutive title.

Quantum is the lightest vehicle in the team’s history and weighs 200 pounds less than its 2009 predecessor, Infinium. It’s also 30% more aerodynamic, which proved beneficial when the racers encoun- tered heavy rain on the race’s second day. Many teams were severely affected, and Quantum acquired hours’ of lead-time. plenty of experience—in wet, rainy condi- a lot of experience in the rain,” said A.J. tions. “The car performed well despite Trublowski, 2012 lead strategist and ME Although inclement weather poses serious the adverse weather conditions, and that senior. challenges, the team had made it a prior- can be attributed in large part to the skill ity to test the vehicle—and give drivers of our drivers. We made sure they had The route itself also proved a challenge as it took racers through more developed, urban areas than in previous years. Heavy traffic, busy roads and harried commuters made navigation more difficult, although passing through more cities and towns increased interactions with supporters along the way.

In the fall 2011, the U-M team finished third in the World Solar Challenge, a 1,800- mile race across the grueling Australian outback.

More than 100 students from across campus are part of the U-M Solar Car Team, including 15 members of the ME department.

+ more on the web

For more information: Top: Andrew Huang (ME) tightens a hub nut after changing a tire during the Ann Arbor stage stop of the 2012 American Solar Challenge, while teammates Evan Fletcher and Sarah Spitzer look on. http://solarcar.engin.umich.edu/ @umsolarcarteam Bottom: The team celebrates its fourth consecutive and seventh total national championship with a chorus of “The Victors” at the American Solar Challenge finish line in St. Paul. 56 me.engin.umich.edu

Experience Energizes Baja Racing

ith the energy and experience of many returning team- bring two vehicles to the first competition of the year. That helped mates, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) new members get to experience the excitement of driving in the W Michigan Baja Racing Team remained a competitive force endurance race as well as the stress of doing mid-race repairs.” throughout the 2011-12 race season. The team placed ninth overall out of 175 teams. Members attri- The team was motivated to work during summer 2011 so it could bute much of their success to having that extra time for testing— begin the design and manufacturing process as early as possible. and a place to do it. Michigan Baja worked with the College of Seasoned team members helped push Michigan Baja to complete Engineering and North Campus Facilities and Grounds groups to its vehicle a full week earlier than in recent years. The extra week locate a suitable test track with terrain similar to what they’d face paid off. “We had time for significantly more testing, which helped during competition. us discover and fix unforeseen problems,” saidCalvin O’Brien, the team’s technical director and an ME senior. Testing and data will continue to play a critical role in the coming year’s vehicle. The team hopes to procure a data acquisition Michigan Baja competed in all three races during the year, “a system that will allow it to more accurately determine loading. challenge in itself and one not accepted by many teams,” added “With this new information, we should be able to further lighten O’Brien. The team also managed to bring a second car to events and strengthen the car,” said O’Brien, “because our goal for next in Alabama and Oregon. “We were one of the only teams able to year is to win.”

top: ME senior Calvin O’Brien at the Auburn, Alabama, competition’s endurance race. The team finished twelfth. Distinguished Alumni 57

2012 Korybalski Lecture Brings Cristina Amon to Campus

ristina Amon, a renowned scholar, committed edu- cator and gifted institutional leader, delivered the fifth C annual Korybalski Distinguished Lecture in Mechanical Engineering. Amon currently serves as dean of University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Her May 2012 address focused on “Emerging Trends, Opportunities and Responsibilities for Engineering Education.”

Amon’s lecture expanded upon the challenges identified in recent reports by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The NAE’s Engineer of 2020 urges the profession to anticipate and adapt to a changing engineering practice, and it encourages engineering schools to attract exceptional students and explore new teach- ing and training approaches. In her talk, Amon articulated the importance of diversity and system thinking in engineering educa- tion and stressed the value of instilling professional, transferable skills such as leadership, entrepreneurship and problem solving from a global perspective. In her own work, she aims to integrate education, research and engineering practice. She is dedicated to promoting women and minorities in engineering and has devel- oped several successful outreach initiatives.

After receiving her mechanical engineering undergraduate degree from Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela, Amon spent two years Dean Cristina Amon and Michael Korybalski in engineering practice and teaching then continued her education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a master’s and doctoral degree. Prior to her appointment at the Amon’s talk was a part of the annual lectureship endowed by University of Toronto, she was the Raymond J. Lane Distinguished one of our distinguished alumni, Michael Korybalski, chair of the Professor and Director of the Institute for Complex Engineered ME External Advisory Board and former chief executive officer of Systems at Carnegie Mellon University. Mechanical Dynamics. Each year, the lectureship brings prominent speakers to U-M in order to engage engineers across disciplines and Amon’s research pioneered the development of computational inspire them to think about their role in solving societal problems. fluid dynamics for formulating and solving thermal design prob- lems subject to multidisciplinary competing constraints, and she Previous Korybalski lecturers have included Marshall Jones, an devised a multi-stage concurrent thermal design methodology. eminent researcher in laser technology; Charles Vest, president of Her work has advanced the scientific foundation of heat transfer the NAE and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of enhancement and made significant contributions to concurrent Technology; Roger McCarthy, chairman emeritus and retired chief thermal designs, innovation in electronics cooling and transient executive of Exponent, Inc.; and Larry Burns, retired vice president thermal management of wearable computers. of research and development and planning for General Motors.

The lectureship brings prominent speakers to U-M in order to engage engineers across disciplines and inspire them to think about their role in solving societal problems. 58 me.engin.umich.edu

Alumni Remember Their U-M ME Experience

Our ME alumni are a distinguished group. Graduates are making discoveries, conceiving of and creating new technologies, and improving society as scholars, engineers, public servants, global volunteers, innova- tors and entrepreneurs. Below, several reflect on how their U-M experience helped shape their careers and accomplishments.

Marshall Jones (BSE ME ‘65) STEM (science, technology, engineering, in the lab, where LaCrosse and colleagues math) careers. He also has taught at the worked on improving engine efficiency long The transition to the University of Michigan college level. “I found that I was model- before “clean energy” and hybrid vehicles Mechanical Engineering department ing my teaching approach on what I had had gained traction, boosted her confi- from a two-year college was a major one experienced in the U-M ME program,” he dence. As faculty and guests toured the for Marshall Jones (BS ME ‘65). A self- said. “It worked for me, and I knew it would lab and students presented their work, she described “farm boy” raised on a duck work for others.” realized their efforts could—and would— ranch on Long Island, New York, he was have an impact. “It felt like what we were the only African-American undergraduate in But that hasn’t been the only benefit of his doing mattered.” the College of Engineering at the time. U-M experience: “Throughout my career, folks have taken notice that my undergrad LaCrosse says the experiences gave her far “Being at U-M was a totally different experi- engineering education was from U-M. I more than valuable work and professional ence for me, and [right from the start] I felt have no doubt they know how strong the experience; they taught her a methodology like I belonged there,” Jones said. U-M ME program was, and still is.” for solving problems and an appreciation for For one, he excelled academically. “The innovative approaches that can be trans- things I was learning in ME were truly lated and applied to any field or challenge. Stephanie LaCrosse (BSe “My U-M mechanical engineering degree my cup of tea. I was definitely a design- ME ‘97, MSME ‘99) oriented person; I was able to see things in has really given me an edge in knowing three dimensions and understand how they Since earning her master’s degree in how to think through problems.” work,” he said. Mechanical Engineering from U-M, Stephanie LaCrosse’s career has taken her Jones also excelled as an athlete. He won Michael Leamy (MSME ’95, from a mechanical and electrical engineer PhD ’98) the U-M campus wrestling championship at Ford Motor Company to Hyundai, where and was invited to try out for the team, but she was in charge of technical planning for Michael Leamy, an associate profes- declined in order to focus fully on his the United States, and to Nissan to manage sor at Georgia Institute of Technology, studies. concept vehicles and head the advanced applied only to one graduate program: planning group. Her entrepreneurial spirit, U-M Mechanical Engineering. At Michigan, The decision paid off. “My ME undergrad also nurtured at U-M, led to her launch Leamy studied under and learned from top education was tough but excellent,” says several start-ups including the popular con- researchers in Mechanical Engineering, one of the world’s foremost experts on sumer car review website, Honk.com. particularly in vibrations engineering and laser materials processing and member computational mechanics. He also made of the National Academy of Engineering. At U-M, LaCrosse had the opportunity great friends from diverse backgrounds. Since 1974, he has worked for GE Global to work closely with her faculty mentor, “We did a lot of things outside of the class- Research, where he currently serves as leading to a teaching assistantship and room: intramural softball, hiking and a little principal engineer in Manufacturing & valuable research experiences in the Lay road tripping.” Materials Technologies. Automotive Lab. Teaching gave her a new perspective: from a focus on her own After a teaching assistantship his first year, Jones is passionate about education, and classes to helping others and seeing the Leamy knew he wanted to pursue an aca- he has volunteered in a number of capaci- many ways people learn. The camaraderie demic career. “Both teaching and research ties to encourage young people to pursue Distinguished Alumni 59

marshall jones stephanie lacrosse michael leamy roger mccarthy sheri sheppard charles vest

are done at a very high level at Michigan “Not being particularly fast on the uptake I influence on her, both then as a graduate with a great deal of integrity; it’s hard not to said, ‘But I’m not sure I want a PhD.’” Still, student and now as a professor herself. get sucked in. Having a U-M degree also is McCarthy completed the application, won a highly respected in academic circles, and fellowship and, after earning bachelor’s In the past decade, Sheppard has led that helped me ultimately land a position at degrees in both philosophy and mechanical several national studies on engineering another great university.” engineering from U-M, went on to earn a identity and engineering education. PhD in ME at Massachusetts Institute of Roger McCarthy (BSE ME Technology. Charles Vest (MSME ’64, ‘72, AB Philosophy ‘72) In 1978, McCarthy joined Failure Analysis PhD ’67) In a sense, you could say that Roger Associates, Inc., as an engineer. The Charles Vest, president of the National McCarthy (BSE ME ‘72, AB Philosophy company, now known as Exponent, Inc., Academy of Engineering and president ‘72) came to mechanical engineering late. investigates engineering failures. McCarthy emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of McCarthy was a philosophy major in the took the company public and held the Technology, was hardly unfamiliar with U-M School of Literature, Science, and the Arts positions of chief executive and chairman. when he chose to pursue graduate work in and a junior when he first began taking In 2004 he was elected to the prestigious mechanical engineering. His undergraduate mechanical engineering courses on the National Academy of Engineering. Today, mentor at West Virginia University urged advice of a housemate. He was hooked. In he is the founder and owner of McCarthy him to apply; some of his undergraduate his combined six years as an undergradu- Engineering. textbooks had been written by U-M faculty; ate, he never once missed a class. and his father, Lewis Vest, had earned a Reflecting on his storied career and many doctorate in mathematics at the University. “The reason was simple,” he said, “Every accomplishments, McCarthy credits his day, day after day, I remember leaving each U-M ME experience. “It would be difficult While at U-M, Vest’s research interests and and every class feeling more valuable. I had to overstate the impact of U-M ME on my academic work focused on heat transfer this feeling every day, year and year out. career path and my success,” he said. and fluid mechanics. The most important With each class I understood more, and part of his graduate education, he says, could do more, than I could that morning. Sheri Sheppard (PhD ’85) was the opportunity to study with and be For a 20-year-old this was heady stuff.” mentored and advised by excellent faculty, Now a professor of mechanical engineer- who taught Vest how to formulate and After two years of ME coursework, ing at Stanford University and co-director solve problems. McCarthy recalls that the late Professor of the Center for Design Research, Sheri Emeritus Leland Quackenbush stopped Sheppard chose the U-M ME graduate him in the hall of the old West Engineering program for the quality—of the faculty, building one day. “He shoved a pile of facilities and reputation—and the breadth forms in my hands and demanded I fill of course offerings, from theoretical to them out.” McCarthy asked what they practical. Her advisors, who had high were. The professor explained they were expectations and always found time to an application for a National Science talk and answer questions, had a strong Foundation fellowship for doctoral study. 60 me.engin.umich.edu

Alumnus Patrick V. Farrell Wins ME Department Alumni Merit Award

atrick V. Farrell (BSE ME ’76, PhD ’82) is the recipient of Madison campus and led the the 2011 Department of Mechanical Engineering Alumni university’s two-year reaccredi- P Merit Award. Alumni Merit awards are bestowed annu- tation self-study initiative, which ally as part of Michigan Engineering Homecoming Weekend and involved input from thousands recognize an alumnus/a who has demonstrated sustained and of people on and off campus. outstanding professional accomplishments. In addition, he was elected Dr. Farrell received his BSE ME from the U-M, MSME from the to the UW-Madison Teaching University of California at Berkeley, and his PhD at the U-M. His Academy, whose members research involved combustion, fluid mechanics and heat transfer, developed methods colleagues and applications of optical diagnostics to internal combustion could draw on to help each engines. He remains active in Michigan Engineering, serving on the other improve and evalu- Dean’s Engineering Advisory Council. ate teaching. The resulting document is now used extensively at UW-Madison and other universities. Dr. Farrell joined Lehigh University as provost and vice president for academic affairs in 2009. As provost, he serves as the univer- Among his honors, Dr. Farrell received the Benjamin Smith sity’s chief academic officer. His responsibilities include leading Reynolds Award for Excellence in Teaching at UW-Madison, and he efforts to attract, recruit and retain highly-talented individuals to recently received an Honorary Degree from City University London Lehigh and working to ensure the success of the campus strategic in recognition of his long-standing contributions to research and plan over the next decade. education in mechanical engineering. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers and a member of the National Before going to Lehigh, Dr. Farrell served as the provost and vice Science Foundation’s Engineering Advisory Committee. chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin- Madison from 2006 until December 2008. During his time as The ME department congratulates Dr. Farrell on this recognition of provost at UW-Madison, he served as chief operating officer for the excellence and achievement.

ME External Advisory Board

Nearly twenty distinguished friends and alumni of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, from industry, academia and government, comprise the ME External Advisory Board (EAB). The EAB is a valuable resource to the ME chair and the Department as a whole in shaping and meeting strategic goals. The EAB members meet on campus twice every year to discuss departmental vision, strategies and issues and provide advice to the chair.

ME External Advisory Board members at their fall 2011 meeting. Left to right (standing): Doug Smith, Tom Shih, Chuck Gulash, Roberta Zald, Davor Hrovat, Alan Woodliff, Roger McCarthy, Michael Korybalski; (seated): David Cole, Kon-Well Wang, Walter Bryzik Awards & Recognitions 61

Barber Receives the Jon and Beverly Holt Professorship in Engineering

E Professor James Barber has been appointed the Jon and Beverly Holt Professorship in Engineering in recogni- M tion of outstanding career accomplishments and exem- plary service and leadership.

Barber has an impeccable record as a scholar and educator. He has demonstrated a deep commitment to both teaching and men- toring. The textbooks he has written have been used by students across the globe. He has been recognized previously with the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship at U-M, which rewards outstand- ing contributions to undergraduate education. He also received the American Society for Engineering Education Archie Higdon Distinguished Educator Award.

Barber is a leading authority in thermoelasticity and contact mechanics. He has made seminal research contributions and been recognized with some of the most prestigious honors in the discipline of solid mechanics, including the ASME Daniel C. Drucker Medal. Beverly Holt, Maria Comninou, James Barber and Jon Holt at Barber’s Professorship lecture and ceremony.

Skerlos Named Arthur F. Thurnau Professor

E Professor Steve Several ME professors have received this prestigious honor: Skerlos has been James Barber, Noel Perkins, Ann Marie Sastry, Alan M named an Arthur F. Wineman and Margaret Wooldridge. Thurnau Professor in recogni- tion of his outstanding con- Skerlos served as ME Associate Chair for Graduate Education tributions to undergraduate and heads the U-M Environmental and Sustainable Technologies education. He will retain the title Laboratory. He is the co-founder and faculty advisor of BLUElab throughout his career at the (Better Living Using Engineering), which develops environmentally, University. culturally and economically sustainable solutions to development problems locally and abroad. Each year U-M recognizes a select group of tenured Thurnau professorships are named after alumnus Arthur F. faculty as Thurnau Professors. Thurnau and supported by the Thurnau Charitable Trust, which The individuals chosen all demonstrate a strong commitment to was established through his will. undergraduate education and to working with a diverse student body. They are innovative in their teaching approaches and have a demonstrable impact on students’ intellectual development. 62 me.engin.umich.edu

Flynn Wins Staff Service Award

enior Accountant department in 2005, she took the initiative to review all charges on Sarah Flynn has won her accounts and investigate and remove unnecessary expenses. S a 2012 Excellence Her efforts have since resulted in significant salvaged funds and in Staff Service Award. The cost savings. College honored Flynn for her meticulous attention to detail, Flynn maintains, updates and monitors over 900 projects in the problem-solving skills and Mechanical Engineering project database, making her a valuable unswerving commitment to co- asset to contract and grant specialists. She also has analyzed workers and customers alike. endowment fund schedules and compiled a comprehensive endowment package, providing the Department a much-used tool In addition to sound fiscal man- for making investment and award decisions. agement, Flynn is an outstand- ing collaborator and critical The Department congratulates Flynn for the much-deserved thinker. From the time she joined the Mechanical Engineering recognition.

ME Faculty Take University and College Leadership Positions

esearch Professor James In this role, Sick supports the research for strategically defining its mission and Ashton-Miller has been efforts of faculty in the natural sciences and aligning its goals to continue to provide an R appointed Associate Vice engineering disciplines. He also serves as outstanding academic program. President for Research - Research Policy OVPR liaison to the U-M Energy Institute, and Compliance in the Office of the Vice U-M Transportation Research Institute, Papalambros’ research interests include President for Research (OVPR). Women in Science and Engineering and design optimization; large-scale system syn- the Center for Statistical Consultation and thesis; automotive systems design, includ- In his role, Ashton-Miller facilitates research Research as well as OVPR’s representative ing hybrid vehicles; eco-design and product policy development and selected compli- on the Graham Environmental Sustainability design. He is currently the Chief Editor of the ance and integrity activities of the OVPR. In Institute Executive Committee. ASME Journal of Mechanical Design. particular, he serves as the campus officer responsible for U-M efforts in the following Sick’s own research includes the devel- Professor Steve Skerlos has been areas: conflict of interest in research and opment of laser-based and other optical named Director of Sustainability Education technology transfer, human subjects review measurement techniques to enable studies Programs within the College of Engineering. and approval, biosafety issues, research of mass and energy transfer at high pres- Skerlos, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, joined misconduct, research ethics training and sures and high temperatures in mechani- the U-M ME faculty in 2000. His research stem cell research oversight. cally restricted and vibrating environments. centers on environmental and sustainable Sick has served on the U-M faculty since technology systems; life cycle product Ashton-Miller joined the U-M faculty in 1997. He is currently director of the W. E. design optimization; pollution prevention 1983 and currently holds the title of Albert Lay Automotive Laboratory Schultz Collegiate Research Professor technologies for manufacturing; metal- in Mechanical Engineering. His research Professor Panos Papalambros has been working fluid formulation and performance; interests include biomechanics, includ- named Executive Director of Michigan supercritical fluid delivery of lubricants; and ing mobility impairments in the elderly; Interdisciplinary Professional Engineering technology policy analysis. birth-related injury; female stress urinary (InterPro) and Academic Programs in the As Director of Sustainability Education incontinence; spine biomechanics and College of Engineering. Programs, Skerlos acts as a liaison to athletic injuries. Papalambros is the Donald C. Graham connect students with sustainability Professor Volker Sick has been appointed Professor of Engineering and Professor opportunities within the College. He works Associate Vice President for Research - of Mechanical Engineering. He joined the to broaden campus-wide initiatives related Natural Sciences and Engineering in the U-M ME faculty in 1979 and has served to sustainability education, directs the Office of the Vice President for Research as ME department chair. As executive program in Sustainable Engineering and (OVPR). director of InterPro, he is responsible the joint master’s program in Engineering Sustainable Systems. Awards & Recognitions 63

Faculty Awards & Recognition

External Awards Noboru Kikuchi Dawn Tilbury Shorya Awtar USACM Computational Structural SWE Distinguished Engineering ME Department Achievement Award, Mechanics Award, 2011 Educator Award, 2012 2011 Ellen Arruda American Orthopaedic Society for Sridhar Kota Galip Ulsoy James Barber Sports Medicine (AOSSM) Excellence in ASME Freudenstein/General Motors TÜBİTAK Special Award, 2012 Jon and Beverly Holt Professorship in Research Award, 2012 Young Investigator Award, 2011 Engineering, 2011 Kon-Well Wang James Ashton-Miller Tae-Kyung Lee SPIE Smart Structures & Materials Johann Borenstein Best Paper Award Cabaud Memorial Donald Julius Groen Award - Institution Lifetime Achievement Award, 2011 OVPR Research Faculty Recognition Award, 2011 of Mechanical Engineers, 2011 Award, 2011 Hui Wang Shorya Awtar Allen Liu ASME Mfg Science & Engr Conference Diann Brei ASME Leonardo da Vinci Award, 2011 NIH New Innovators Award, 2012 Best Paper Award, 2012 CoE Ted Kennedy Family Team Excellence Award, 2011 SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Jyoti Mazumder Margaret Wooldridge Engineer Award, 2011 National Academy of Engineering, 2012 ASME George Westinghouse Silver Nikos Chronis ASME Freudenstein/General Motors Medal, 2011 ME Department Achievement Award, James Moyne Young Investigator Award, 2011 2011 Semiconductor Equip and Materials Int’l SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award, (SEMI) Outstanding Achievement Award, Tim Gordon 2012 2011 New Fellows CoE Kenneth M. Reese Outstanding Research Scientist Award, 2012 James Barber Jwo Pan Diann Brei Text and Academic Authors Association SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award, 2011 ASME Fellow, 2011 John Hart (TAA) , 2012 CoE 1938E Award, 2012 SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit Award, 2012 Dave Dowling Robert Caddell Memorial Faculty/ Diann Brei ASEE Archie Higdon Distinguished ASME Fellow, 2011 ASME Dedicated Service Award, 2011 Student Achievement Award, 2011 Educator Award, 2012 American Physical Society Fellow, 2012 Wei Lu Samantha Daly Panos Papalambros ASME Orr Early Career Award, 2011 Jack Hu Faculty Recognition Award, 2012 IJRM Best Paper Award, 2011 CIRP Fellow, 2012 Hetenyi Award from Society of Jonathan Luntz Noel Perkins Experimental Mechanics, 2012 Hong Im CoE Ted Kennedy Family Team ASME N. O. Myklestad Award, 2011 ASME Fellow, 2012 Excellence Award, 2011 AFOSR Young Investigator Research Kazu Saitou Program Award, 2012 Massoud Kaviany Sridhar Kota Achievement Award - Design and American Physical Society Fellow, 2011 ME Department Achievement Award, Jianping Fu Systems Division of the Japan Society of 2012 NSF Career Award, 2012 Mech. Engrs., 2011 Jun Ni Int’l Society for Nanomanufacturing Jyoti Mazumder Vikram Gavini Pramod Sangi Reddy (ISNM) Fellow, 2012 Distinguished University Innovator NSF Faculty Early Career Development DARPA Young Faculty Award, 2012 Award, 2012 Award, 2011 William Schultz Ann Marie Sastry American Physical Society Fellow, 2012 Albert Shih Humboldt Foundation Research ASME Frank Kreith Energy Award, 2011 Fellowship, 2012 CoE George J. Huebner, Jr. Research Dawn Tilbury Excellence Award, 2011 Albert Shih ASME Fellow, 2012 John Hart ASME Mfg Science & Engr Conference Volker Sick AFOSR Young Investigator Research Best Paper Award, 2012 Michael Thouless CoE Education Excellence Award, 2012 Program Award, 2011 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Volker Sick ONR Young Investigator Award, 2012 Mining Fellow, 2012 Rackham Master’s Mentoring Award, SAE International Leadership Citation, 2012 NSF Faculty Early Career Development 2012 Kon-Well Wang Award, 2012 American Association for the Kathleen Sienko Jeff Stein Advancement of Science Fellow, 2011 CoE Raymond J. & Monica E. Schultz Jack Hu ASME DSCD Michael J. Rabins Outreach & Diversity Award, 2011 ASME Mfg Science & Engr Conference Leadership Award, 2012 Best Paper Award, 2012 ME Department Achievement Award, Bruce Tai UM Awards 2012 ASME William T. Ennor Manufacturing ASME Mfg Science & Engr Conference Technology Award, 2012 Best Paper Award, 2012 Provost’s 2012 Teaching Innovation Ellen Arruda Prize (TIP), 2012 CoE Ted Kennedy Family Team Eric Johnsen Michael Thouless University Undergraduate Teaching ONR Young Investigator Award, 2012 Overseas at Churchill College Fellow, Excellence Award, 2012 Award, 2012 2011

continued 64 me.engin.umich.edu

Steve Skerlos Galip Ulsoy Faculty Promotions Katsuo Kurabyashi Arthur J. Thurnau Professorship, 2012 CoE Stephen S. Attwood Award, 2012 to Professor with Tenure CoE Neil Van Eenam Memorial Angela Violi Diann Brei Steve Skerlos Undergraduate Teaching Award, 2011 Rackham Henry Russel Award, 2012 to Professor with Tenure to Professor with Tenure Anna Stefanopoulou Margaret Wooldridge Nikos Chronis CoE Research Excellence Award, 2012 CoE Service Excellence Award, 2012 to Associate Professor with Tenure Michael Thouless Krishna Garikapati CoE Trudy Huebner Service Excellence to Professor with Tenure Award, 2011 SACUA Distinguished Faculty Governance Award, 2012

Student Awards

Graduate Student David Hiemstra David Lipps Gregory Teichert William Mirsky Memorial Fellowship, Cabaud Memorial Award for Excellence NSF Fellowship, 2012 Awards 2012 in Research, 2011 Johnny Tsai Justin Beroz Jessandra Hough Kaitlyn Mallett Outstanding Student Instructor Award, NSF Fellowship, 2011 NSF Fellowship, 2012 NSF Fellowship, 2012 2011 William Mirsky Memorial Fellowship, Brian Justusson Ibrahim Mohedas Steven Vozar 2012 1st Place in Army Research Laboratory NSF Fellowship, 2012 Distinquished Leadership Graduate Summer Student Research Symposium, Award, 2011 Christopher Bynes 2011 You Keun Oh NSF Fellowship, 2012 Cabaud Memorial Award for Excellence Ethan Wampler Adam Kammers in Research, 2011 U-M International Institute Fellowship, Keqin Cao Azarkhin Scholarship, 2012 2011 Alexander Azarkhin Scholarship, 2011 Gaurav Parmar Yoon Koo Lee NIST-ARRA Graduate Fellowship, 2011 Hai Wang Indranil Dalal Graduate Distinguished Achievement William Mirsky Memorial Fellowship, Ivor K. McIvor Award, 2012 Award, 2011 Shrenik Shah 2011 William Mirsky Memorial Fellowship, Mathieu Davis Peter Lillo 2012 Young Investigator Award - International NSF Fellowship, 2012 Society of Biomechanics, 2011 Siddharth Sood NIST-ARRA Graduate Fellowship, 2011

Undergraduate Student Michael Erickson Brennan MacDonald Adam Stevens R & B Machine Tool Company J.A. Bursley Prize, 2011 Robert M. Caddell Memorial UG Award, Awards Scholarship, 2012 2012 Brett Merkel Sergei Avedisov Brandon Evans MESLB Impact Award, 2011 Jacob Suchoski Lloyd H. Donnell Scholarship, 2012 ME Academic Achievement Award, R & B Machine Tool Company ME Spirit Award, 2011 Katie Bevier 2012 Scholarship, 2011 Bernard Murphy R&B Tool Scholarship, 2011 Grace Gu Craig Tenbusschen Robert M. Caddell Memorial UG Award, ME Spirit Award, 2012 Cooley Writing Prize - Fiction, 2011 Catherine Blair 2011 R&B Tool Scholarship, 2011 Dong Guan Nathan Van Nortwick Tyler Olsen MESLB Transfer Student Award, 2011 MESLB Outstanding Service Award, Kendra Borchers R & B Machine Tool Company 2011 R & B Machine Tool Company Jingjie Hu Scholarship, 2012 Scholarship, 2012 Robert M. Caddell Memorial UG Award, Edward Zinger Jeffrey Plott 2012 R & B Machine Tool Company Gregory Cass Lubrizol Scholarship Award, 2011 Lubrizol Scholarship Award, 2011 Vaishnavi Ilankamban Scholarship, 2011 R & B Machine Tool Company Kyle Safford Daniel Cox Scholarship, 2012 Outstanding Service Award, 2011 Lloyd H. Donnell Scholarship, 2011 Yiqun Liang Bryan Skulsky Michael Czarnecki Robert M. Caddell Memorial UG Award, MESLB Future Leader Award, 2011 Robert M. Caddell Memorial UG Award, 2011 2012 University of Michigan The Regents of the University of Michigan: College of Engineering Julia Donovan Darlow, Ann Arbor; Laurence B. Deitch, Bloomfield Hills; Denise Department of Mechanical Engineering Ilitch, Bingham Farms; Olivia P. Maynard, Goodrich; Andrea Fischer Newman, 2250 G.G. Brown Laboratory Ann Arbor; Andrew C. Richner, Grosse Pointe Park; S. Martin Taylor, Grosse 2350 Hayward Street Pointe Farms; Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor; Mary Sue Coleman, ex officio Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2125 Nondiscrimination Policy Statement http://me.engin.umich.edu The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, Phone: 734-764-2694 complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimina- Fax: 734-647-3170 tion and affirmative action. The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of Executive Editor race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender Kon-Well Wang identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries Managing Editor or complaints may be addressed to the Senior Director for Institutional Equity, Merlis Nolan and Title IX/Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Office of Institutional Equity, 2072 Writing Administrative Services Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1432, 734-763- Outword Communications, LLC 0235, TTY 734-647-1388. For other University of Michigan information call Kim Roth 734-764-1817.

Design MC 120354 Michigan creative

inside back cover image: ME new research complex construction site. See page 8 for details. Photo: Marcin Szczepanski, University of Michigan, CoE, Multimedia Producer University of Michigan College of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering 2250 G.G. Brown Laboratory 2350 Hayward Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2125

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