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Mecheconnects Fall/Winter 2013 Vol. 4, No. 2 Published twice a year Massachusetts Institute of Technology In This Issue: Professor Emeritus Professor Gareth Course 2.678 MechEConnects Woodie Flowers McKinley co-leads teaches students breathed new life into research on fog how to build and News from the MIT the MechE way of harvesting for clean integrate electronics Department of Mechanical Engineering learning by doing... water... into their designs... | > p. 10 | | > p. 14 | | > p. 13 | Innovation in Education: MechE Goes Online Web-based learning technologies enable students to spend classroom time on the type of hands-on >education p. 4 that is so fundamental to the MechE curriculum. MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering 2 Dear Friends, The Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT has been at the forefront of several educational revolutions over the decades, bringing our hallmark creativity and forward thinking to our classrooms in innovative ways. While we are most renowned for our top-notch research and interest in solving the grand challenges facing our society, our top priority has always been preparing MechE students to go forth and become inventors, innovators, and engineering leaders. We strive to provide our students with as many meaningful hands-on learning experiences as possible, because we believe that making and doing add a crucial element to the process of learning, putting the science and math behind mechanical engineering into context and engaging students on a level that sparks true creativity and education. That is why we offer so many project-based classes (such as 2.007, 2.008, 2.009, 2.00b, 2.75, 2.78, 2.739) and why we continue to add more of them to the curriculum, such as debut classes 2.S999: Global Engineering and 2.S997: Biomimetics, Biomechanics, and Bio- Inspired Robots. It is also why we were one of the first departments at MIT to introduce online courses into our curriculum via the edX platform, starting with 2.01x: Elements of Mechanics and 2.03x: Dynamics. Digital learning offers our students several benefits, including instant feedback and online forums, but perhaps even more importantly, it enhances the residential educational programs we offer to our on-campus students by changing the focus of class time from lectures to more meaningful hands-on education. In this issue of MechE Connects, you will read about the innovative educational initiatives the Department has kick-started over the years, from the hands-on robotics competitions of 2.007 that Educational swept the globe to the digitization of residential courses like that of i2.002, the first concurrently run Innovation online and on-campus course at MIT. Our faculty members are award-winning educators and mentors, as well as leading researchers, and have had a big hand in these advancements as they follow their passion for superior education. Professor Sanjay Sarma is leading the online education revolution at the Institute level as the director of the Office of Digital Learning; Professor David Gossard is the first full-time professor to transform a MechE course into an MITx course; and Professor Sang-Gook Kim is teaching a course that incorporates a low-cost 3D printer developed by Associate Professor Nicholas Fang – a great example of our commitment to integrating research into the classroom. I hope you enjoy reading about our great educational initiatives, and, as always, I thank you for your continued support of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Sincerely, Gang Chen, Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering and Department Head Massachusetts Institute of Technology Fall/Winter 2013 Vol. 4, No. 2 Published twice a year News from the MIT MechEConnects Department of Mechanical Engineering > mecheconnects.mit.edu About MechE Table of Contents 4-9 Innovation in Education: MechE Goes Online to Enhance Residential Learning Mechanical engineering was one of the 10 Alumni Spotlight: Professor Woodie Flowers (SM ‘68, MEng ‘71, PhD ‘73) original courses of study offered when classes began at the Massachusetts Institute of 11-12 Alumni Spotlight: Professor David Hu (SB ‘01, PhD ‘06) Technology in 1865. Today, the Department of 13 Course 2.678: Electronics for Mechanical Systems Mechanical Engineering (MechE) comprises 14-15 Faculty Research: Gareth McKinley seven principal research areas: 16-19 MechE Undergraduate Curriculum: Infographic • Mechanics: modeling, experimentation, 20-21 Faculty Research: Kripa Varanasi and computation 22-23 Faculty Research: Tonio Buonassisi • Design, manufacturing, and product 24 Student Spotlight: Guangtao (Taotao) Zhang (SB ‘14) development 25-26 Student Spotlight: Spencer Wilson (SB ‘15) • Controls, instrumentation, 27 New Faculty and robotics 28-30 Faculty Promotions • Energy science and engineering 30-32 Department News 33 Talking Shop with Professor David Gossard • Ocean science and engineering • Bioengineering Contact MechE Newsletter Staff • Nano/micro science and technology Department of Mechanical Engineering Alissa Mallinson Massachusetts Institute of Technology Managing Editor 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 3-174 Each of these disciplines encompasses Cambridge, MA 02139 Sucharita Berger Ghosh several laboratories and academic programs Administrative Officer E-mail: [email protected] that foster modeling, analysis, computation, B. Harris Crist and experimentation. MechE educational Webmaster programs remain at the leading edge by Wing Ngan providing in-depth instruction in engineering Social Media: /mitmeche Designer principles and unparalleled opportunities for John Freidah, Candler Hobbs, students to apply their knowledge. Tony Pulsone, Bryce Vickmark, Dr. Mark Winkler, Wikipedia Photography Credit MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering 4 Innovation in Education MechE Goes Online to Enhance Residential Learning by Alissa Mallinson The online learning natural leader of the innovative mens et programs everywhere were emulating revolution isn’t the first manus way. The passion of our faculty his hands-on approach (see page 10). time that the Department of and students, both then and now, for Let’s fast forward to a more Mechanical Engineering – pushing boundaries and developing contemporary example of MechE’s nor the Institute as a whole creative solutions to the world’s problems tendency toward innovative for that matter – has been at has led to a remarkable number of educational initiatives: the the forefront of educational discoveries along the way, from the incorporation of breaking research breakthroughs. wind tunnel built by MechE student Albert Wells that launched the field into the classroom. It’s not a new From the very beginning, MIT was the of aeronautics to the artificial skin practice to bring ideas that were natural outgrowth of a different state developed by Professor Ioannis Yannas, first discovered in the lab into the of mind, one that is inextricably linked to Professor Dick Yue’s idea for the classroom after the years-long process to making, building, and doing. The OpenCourseWare program of offering of review, approval, and codification. MIT motto mens et manus (“mind and free MIT course materials online, and All important phases, of course, but hand”) was as distinctive a principle many in between. Several of our faculty there’s just one problem: Once it’s in 1865 as it is now on which to build have also been the authors of seminal complete, the discovery is no longer a new kind of higher education. At textbooks that codified the framework of cutting edge. that time, rote memorization was fundamental mechanical engineering In MechE, there are several professors considered the standard method – and principles, such as Professor Lionel swiftly incorporating cutting-edge indeed a perfectly respectable one – by Marks’ Marks’ Standard Handbook for research from their labs into the which to learn at any level. Mechanical Engineers and Professor classrooms. Professor Sang-Gook Stephen Crandall’s An Introduction to the MIT’s founder William Barton Rogers Kim’s Course 2.674: Micro/Nano Mechanics of Solids (see page 30). had a different idea. He founded MIT Engineering Lab integrates Professor to think and to do – to teach craftsmen By the time Professor Emeritus Woodie Nick Fang’s low-cost, optics-based and farmers, as well as engineers and Flowers had transformed Course 2.70 3D printer; Professor Amos Winter’s academics, to “democratize science” as (now 2.007) into the project-based, get- Course 2.S999: Global Engineering Sanjay Sarma, professor of mechanical your-hands-dirty, robotics-competition- builds upon his own inventions for engineering and director of the recently focused experience in the 1970s, emerging markets; and the foundation formed Office of Digital Learning, puts MechE’s reputation for innovation was for Professor Sangbae Kim’s Course it. And from that moment on, it’s been already solidified. Nevertheless, the 2.S997: Biomimetics, Biomechanics, in our destiny to up-end traditional magnitude of the educational revolution and Bio-Inspired Robots is his own ways of teaching and to democratize he helped to evolve was profound. By bio-inspired robotic cheetah. science and technology for the giving an identifiable context to the As the idea of online learning started betterment of all. more academic ideas behind the course gaining momentum, it was no – adding a tangible element of fun and The Department of Mechanical surprise that MIT was leading the community – he triggered a domino Engineering, the second course of charge – and, within the Institute, effect across the country and then the study to be offered at MIT, was a that MechE was an early adopter and world, and eventually engineering pioneer in bringing online learning > mecheconnects.mit.edu MechE Connects Fall/Winter 2013 5 Innovation in Education MechE Goes Online to Enhance Residential Learning technologies to its classrooms. Online Learning: A Residential the capability for students to do their While massive open online courses Revolution homework online and receive instant (MOOC) receive a lot of press – and According to Sarma, there have been feedback on whether or not they with good reason, as they truly are two converging trends in MIT education.
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