2016 METRICS DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MAGAZINE A. JAMES CLARK SCHOOL of ENGINEERING www.enme.umd.edu A POWERHOUSE OF ENERGY RESEARCH AT MARYLAND CHAIR’S MESSAGE METRICS IS A NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED FOR Dear Friends, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF THE As cooler weather heralds the arrival of DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL fall, and classes are in full swing here on ENGINEERING AT THE campus, another academic year is upon A. JAMES CLARK SCHOOL OF us. METRICS o ers us the opportunity ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY to re ect back on all of the stellar OF MARYLAND. accomplishments of our faculty members and students over the past year. As you Chair: will see in this issue, not only are our Dr. Balakumar Balachandran faculty achieving noteworthy success and Associate Chair, Research: recognition for their work, but our students Dr. Don DeVoe are also committed to research excellence Associate Chair, Academic Affairs: and gain invaluable hands-on experience Dr. Hugh Bruck through the many opportunities they have E. (Chuck) Taylor Award; the American Editor: Jennifer Figgins Rooks to work in our various labs as graduate and Society for Engineering Education Assistant Editor: Georgia Wood undergraduate researchers. recognized Distinguished University Contributors: Natalie We are pleased to inform you that the Professor Ashwani Gupta with their Grandison, Jennifer Figgins Department of Mechanical Engineering 2015 Mechanical Engineering Division Rooks, and Georgia Wood at Maryland has once again been named Ralph Coats Roe Award; and Professor Graphic Designer: a top 20 mechanical engineering program Michael Ohadi received the American Jennifer Figgins Rooks in the nation. is continued recognition Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Photography: John Consoli, Lisa Helfert, is possible through the unwavering Conditioning Engineers E.K. Campbell Jennifer Figgins Rooks, and Al Santos. commitment of our faculty and sta , the Award of Merit. exceptional caliber and dedication of our We welcome new faculty member, Your alumni news and comments are students, and the strong research capabilities Professor Steven Gabriel. No stranger to always welcome! Please send them to: we have through both the university as well Maryland, Professor Gabriel joins us from [email protected] as a robust community of collaborators and the Department of Civil and Environmental company support. Engineering. He has become the Leader of Visit our website at: In this issue, we have a chance to the Design and Reliability of Systems in the WWW.ENME.UMD.EDU highlight some of our e orts through which unit. we are making great strides in the energy Looking ahead, we know that the success sciences and systems arena. e University and vitality of our programs at Maryland of Maryland is a top funded school for U.S. would not be as robust without the DEPARTMENT NEWS, RESEARCH UPDATES, ALUMNI Department of Energy Advanced Research continued support of our alumni, friends, INFO, & MORE Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) awards, and corporate partners. is past year, the and our faculty, researchers, and students department has forged new and exciting are contributing to the next generation partnerships with Ford Motor Company of technology and solutions for a more that o er both new research opportunities You can now stay in touch sustainable and energy e cient future. From for the Clark School as well as co-op and up to date on the latest a personal cooling and heating robot to and job opportunities for our students. department news by signing improving our understanding and execution We look forward to further building and up for our eNewsletter. Published of better building energy e ciency, our strengthening valuable partnerships like this several times a year, it highlights the department is addressing a wide range of one. With the generous support of friends success and achievements of our energy issues. and alumni, like Bruce Dale highlighted faculty, students, and alumni. Our faculty continue to be recognized in this issue, we continue to enhance our for their exceptional contributions to e orts to educate and inspire the next To see our current issue, their respective elds. is past year, a generation of multi-disciplinary engineers. or subscribe today, visit: few of these recognitions included the go.umd.edu/umd-me-news following: e International Conference on Computational and Experimental Engineering and Sciences honored Professor Emeritus James Dally with a Balakumar Balachandran Lifetime Achievement Medal; the Society Chair and Minta Martin Professor for Experimental Mechanics awarded Keystone Professor and Associate Dean of Engineering William Fourney the 2016 C. PHOTOS BY: LISA HELFERT LISA BY: PHOTOS OPENING SHOT Terps Racing would like to thank all those who supported their incredibly successful 2015 Launch UMD Campaign to raise funds for a new tow vehicle. Thanks to everyone’s generous support, including Ford Motor Company, the team was able to purchase their big, red tow truck ‘Clifford’ that will take the team and their cars safely to competition. Meet some of the students you helped support: go.umd.edu/tr-students CONTENTS 2 Features 14 Philanthropy at Work A POWERHOUSE OF ENERGY WHY I GIVE: Bruce Dale 2016 RESEARCH AT MARYLAND on the cover 16 Alumni News SPOTLIGHT ON Clockwise: RoCo, the Roving Comforter, under- UNDERGRADUATE 17 Visiting Committee graduate David Hymas in the Small and Smart STUDENT RESEARCH Thermal Systems Lab, faculty members Reinhard Radermacher, Michael Ohadi, Jelena Srebric, Yunho Hwang, Bao Yang, and Jungho Kim. 8 Research Highlights image credits John Consoli, Lisa Helford, and Al Santos 9 Faculty News 12 Student News ON THE WEB AT ENME.UMD.EDU A. JAMES CLARK SCHOOL of ENGINEERING . UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND 1 FEATURE RESEARCH A POWERHOUSE OF ENERGY RESEARCH AT MARYLAND From improving energy use here on campus to creating Roving Comforters that may one day provide you with on-the-go cooling, faculty, researchers, and students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering are nding new ways to improve energy consumption strategies, develop more e cient energy technologies, and create sustainable solutions to some of the most challenging energy questions. via a wireless interface where the person uses a wearable device— think Fitbit—that transmits biometric data, like heart rate and skin temperature, to RoCo, which can automatically adjust its output to keep the user comfortable automatically. Professor and CITY@ UMD Director Jelena Srebric and her team are currently working on developing RoCo’s wearable interface. When completed, it could help interpret a user’s thermal comfort level and communicate to that information to RoCo so it can best target warm or cool air to the parts of the individual that can bene t most. In addition, the team anticipates a future RoCo that could be fully customizable based on users’ needs, and feature a variety of accessories such as Hepa lters, USB outlets, tool caddies, and more depending on where RoCo is operating. It could even come with facial recognition software to allow features such as security access checks. RoCo also features a next generation miniature heat pump system with built-in phase change material (PCM) storage. e storage system allows RoCo to store its own produced heat and release it outside the building or space at a later point in time. is way, RoCo not only keeps its user comfortable, but reduces its own energy footprint. While originally envisioned as a thermal management system for large open buildings where only a few individuals might work, like a shipping facility or factory, the team doesn’t rule out the possibility that RoCo could one day become a household name. “ e imagination is our only limit, but we are optimistic that the unit will be a ordable based on ever evolving technology and the lowering cost of manufacturing,” explained Associate Research Scientist and RoCo team member Vikrant Aute. RoCo has garnered a lot of media buzz, and in 2016, media outlets from IEEE Spectrum to e Washington Post and MEET ROCO, Smithsonian.com highlighted this cool robot. THE COOLEST ROBOT AT MARYLAND Read more at go.umd.edu/roco-news n the Center for Environmental Energy Engineering (CEEE), Iresearchers have been developing a new robotic cooling device that one day could lead to energy savings of 12-30% over typical conditioned building systems. Dubbed RoCo, or Roving Comforter, the R2D2-like robot can follow users around while delivering cool or warm air depending on the comfort needs of the user. e project, sponsored by Advanced Research Projects Agency- Energy (ARPA-E) through a three-year contract, is led by CEEE Director and Professor Reinhard Radermacher and includes colleagues in CEEE, the Cluster for Sustainability in the Built Environment at the University of Maryland (CITY@UMD), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. ROCO TEAM MEMBERS JAN MUEHLBAUER AND e team envisions that the nal robot will respond to each user DR. JIAZHEN LING DEMO ROCO DURING MARYLAND DAY 2016. 2 METRICS NEWSLETTER . 2016 FEATURE RESEARCH IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCIES ON CAMPUS THROUGH RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND WIN-WIN COLLABORATION n 2014, UMD President Wallace Loh helps determine what low or no-cost system Iannounced an energy initiative on campus changes, or ‘energy conservation measures’ aimed at reducing overall energy use 20% (ECMs), that could be implemented to by 2020. As part of this plan to enhance improve e ciency and reduce building sustainability and reduce energy expenses on energy costs. campus, researchers and students in Professor According to Ohadi, better calibration Michael Ohadi’s Small and Smart Thermal of just one campus building’s systems could Systems Laboratory (S2TS) are conducting save several hundred thousand dollars a year. CAMPUS BUILDINGS SERVE AS RESEARCH building audits across campus to develop And if we could evaluate and apply that LABORATORIES: UNDERGRADUATE XIAO LIN models that pinpoint areas of improvement approach across campus, the immediate cost (CENTER) AND GRADUATE EXCHANGE STUDENTS FLORIAN BLANCHET (LEFT) AND GRADUATE or change for building systems that could savings could be enormous.