DIMENSIONSVolume No. 26 | Issue No. 2 May 2019 Department of Mechanical Engineering Dear alumni and friends, I am excited to share the stories and achievements of our students, faculty, staff and alumni of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Iowa State University. This issue includes stories about: • Our graduate program has climbed up 11 spots compared to last year in the most recent U.S. News and World Report rankings; • ME professor Jim Oliver has been named the inaugural director for the Student Innovation Center; • ME assistant professor Soumik Sarkar is a 2019 winner of the NSF CAREER award…he was among three in the entire College of Engineering to earn this honor this year; • ME associate professor Nicole Hashemi has developed a “placenta-on-a-chip” to study ways that caffeine is passed from the mother to her fetus during pregnancy; • ME professor Xinwei Wang will study film thickness using Raman spectroscopy thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of Defense; • Two ME students discuss how they manage their time between the ME curriculum and their participation on Iowa State’s club soccer team; • An ME alum has started a business where he repurposes old lobster traps by turning them into bicycle baskets and bird feeders. • Longtime ME faculty member Judy Vance retired at the end of the 2018-19 school year, read a feature about her and all of her great accomplishments during her career including a new scholarship named in her honor. This year, 2019, marks the 150th anniversary of the first class of students entering Iowa State, which included ME’s first alum Edgar Stanton. To commemorate this event, we will publish a book which tells our department’s history. We expect to publish the book later this summer, so stay tuned for details on how to order your copy. Our alumni are vital to the growth and success of mechanical engineering and industry in the U.S. and abroad. We enjoy hearing about your accomplishments. Please feel free to reach out and share your story. You can contact us at [email protected]. Regards, Caroline Hayes Department Chair Lynn Gleason Professor of Interdisciplinary Engineering On the cover Volume No. 26 | Issue No. 2 Published by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, 2043 Black Sarah Bentil, an ME Assistant Professor and William March Engineering, 2529 Union Drive, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-2030; www.me.iastate. Scholar in Mechanical Engineering, discusses a ruptured edu; [email protected] diaphragm after running a shock tube experiment in her lab with Ling Zhang, a PhD Candidate in ME. Dr. Bentil and Prepared by Engineering College Relations, [email protected] her Soft Tissue and Biomaterial Mechanics lab, also known Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, as The Bentil Group, utilizes the shock tube to conduct national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, research that will increase our understanding of blast- marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries can be directed to the Office of induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) mechanisms. Equal Opportunity and Compliance, 3280 Beardshear Hall, (515) 294-7612. Student Team Updates Cardinal Space Mining Club SAE International Cardinal Space Mining Club (CSM) at Aero had an exciting 3rd year as a team. At Iowa State University is a diverse team the Aero Design West Competition in Los of students that incorporates a variety of Angeles, California, the Aero team had their ideas, backgrounds, and personalities. first successful flight at a competition. Aero Team members range from different plans on taking what they have learned from majors including Engineering, Liberal Arts, the competition and applying it to building a Agriculture, Business and Design. Each more competitive plane for next season. year, CSM designs and builds a specialized rover to compete in NASA’s Robotic Mining Baja has competed at four different Competition at the Kennedy Space Center Engineers Without Borders Visitors Center. The competition consists of competitions over the fall and spring around 50 teams working to collect the most Engineering Without Borders semesters, and they are set to compete simulated Martian material in two 10-minute again in both May and June. At the first trials. Teams compete to win the Joe Kosmo Engineers Without Borders at Iowa State official competition in Tennessee, the Baja Award for Excellence, which is awarded University has been up to incredible things team placed 23rd overall. The second official to the team showing the best all-around this year. Over the past winter break seven competition will take place in California in performance. Included in the competition is of our club members traveled to a small May, and the third official competition will community outreach. Club activities have village in the Upper West region of Ghana take place in Rochester, New York in June. had a positive impact on the community by called Ullo. There, they took the design plans promoting STEM and will continue until the created by the eighty member organization Clean Snowmobile Challenge competed in the end of the academic year. and implemented a water distribution system International Clean Snowmobile Challenge five years in the making. This system now in Houghton, Michigan this year. The team Since last year, the team has gone over three delivers water from a borehole, similar to a placed 1st in the subjective handling event, major design reviews and is currently in the well, approximately 1.6 kilometers away to 3rd in the acceleration event, and tied for process of manufacturing the robot. NASA 3rd in the objective handling event. The team had to make the competition virtual this the boarding school located in Ullo. Due to this system, students no longer have to walk placed 8th overall in the “spark ignited” year due to impacts from the government (gasoline) class of snowmobiles. shutdown. The University of Alabama (UA) through the night and wait in lines to get the necessary amount of water to survive a single has graciously arranged the Robotic Mining The Formula team is currently preparing for day. The students are now able to access Challenge to be held during the same week their competitions in Barrie, ON at the end the water from this system through three as the NASA RMC. CSM has decided to take of May, and Lincoln, Nebraska at the end of different distribution points at the girls dorm, part in the Robotic Mining Challenge at UA. June. Some new things for the CR-24 include boys dorm, and the school kitchen. While the mechanical team is busy with a custom display with gear indicator, and a manufacturing, the controls team is wrapping redesigned front wing to position flow around up the power and software of the robot. Now that this project has been completed the Autonomous operation is one of the major club is looking ahead with ambitious plans to the front wheels. goals for this year and the team is working execute: three assessments of the viability Supermileage will be competing at hard to finish the software and hardware of future projects; one implementation of competition this spring, and will be implementation before testing it on the robot. an improved school kitchen space; one pilot reusing the same vehicle as last year with program of a rainwater catchment system for some improvements made. Last year at So far, all NASA deadlines have been met growing tomatoes; and to monitor the water competition, the Supermileage team was able and the team is in good shape to compete in distribution system. to achieve over 400 mpg and will be looking May at UA and NASA. Submitted by EWB Submitted by CSM to further improve this at competition this year. Submitted by SAE International Follow Us facebook.com/ ISUMechanicalEngineering @ ISU_ME 3 Oliver named director for Student Innovation Center Student Innovation Center director Jim Oliver during a Jan. 9 tour of the construction site. Photo courtesy of Amy Vinchattle. James Oliver has been named the first director of the Student learning, research and economic development, as well as outreach Innovation Center. Oliver began the full-time appointment Jan. 1. and community engagement." "Jim is a proven innovator in his teaching, research and Oliver earned a bachelor's degree from Union College, technology transfer," said senior vice president and provost Schenectady, New York, and master's and doctoral degrees Jonathan Wickert. "He has built programs and relationships from Michigan State University, East Lansing, all in mechanical across campus -- exactly the culture that will be enhanced by the engineering. He held faculty roles at Michigan State and the State Student Innovation Center." University of New York, Buffalo, before joining the Iowa State faculty in 1991. Oliver, University Professor and Larry and Pam Pithan Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has directed the Virtual In addition to his Iowa State responsibilities, Oliver cofounded Reality Applications Center since 2004, and the university's BodyViz, a technology startup focused on low-cost, easy-to- interdisciplinary graduate program in human computer interaction use medical visualization with sales in the medical, education, since 2003. Both programs combine faculty expertise in diverse veterinary and legal markets; and formerly headed product areas such as psychology, biology, graphic design, architecture, development for Engineering Animation Inc. English, computer science, music, engineering and education. Oliver also teaches a course on technology and global culture with The Student Innovation Center, under construction on the west the department of world languages and cultures. side of campus, will be completed in 2020. Oliver will provide overall leadership, vision and direction for the facility -- including "I look forward to the opportunity to lead this facility and the planning and implementing academic programming -- and foster investment it represents in Iowa State's future," Oliver said.