Prof. Savas Tasoglu is working on an inexpensive and portable method of monitoring and predicting sickle cell related strokes by measuring sickle cell disease with a smart phone.
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Lee Langston Receives ASME Sawyer Award
By Kristi Allen
Mechanical Engineering professor emeritus Lee Langston is the 2015 recipient of the R. Tom Sawyer Award presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The Sawyer award is conferred on an individual “who has made important contributions to the toward the advancement of the gas turbine industry.” Forty-three men from all over the world have received the award, which is a major industry honor. 
In his 30 year career at Pratt & Whitney and UConn, Langston pioneered the measurement, understanding and prediction of secondary flow in gas turbines, or jet engines. His research in gas turbine flows is known collectively as the Langston cascade. He has also authored more than 75 scholarly journal articles and holds one patent. “I started working on the problem [of complicated flows in gas turbines] in 1974…All the work is still referred to,” said Langston. The R. Tom Sawyer award is closely tied to the history of the gas turbine engine. The award was named for Robert Thomas Sawyer, an earlier pioneer in the industry who founded the ASME’s International Gas Turbine Institute, which grants the award.
Langston has been involved with the International Gas Turbine Institute since 1974, serving as a member of the board of directors several times and as vice president between 1997 and 2000. The list of Sawyer award recipients includes English engineer Sir Frank Whittle and German physicist Hans von Ohain, the two men credited with independently developing the first jet engines in the late 1930’s. “I’m honored to be included on the list, especially with those two men,” Langston said. The award was presented to Langston this summer at the annual International Gas Turbine Institute conference, TURBO EXPO, held this year in Montreal. Langston earned his bachelor of science in mechanical engineering at UConn in 1959 and his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1964. He returned to Connecticut and worked as a research engineer at Pratt & Whitney from 1964 until 1977 when he joined the UConn engineering faculty as an associate professor.
Langston became a full professor in 1983, served as interim dean of the School of Engineering from 1997 to 1998 and was awarded the title of professor emeritus in 2003. Langston has seen the gas turbine industry transform and grow immensely over the course of his career. The efficiency and reliability of gas turbine engines has allowed both commercial and military aviation to expand to once unimaginable places. “It’s fantastic; aviation is booming,” said Langston. “For some reason, it doesn’t get the same kind of attention that other technologies get.” Gas turbine engines cost about 10 to 20 percent of what the original aviation piston engines cost to maintain and average just one in-flight failure about every 30 years. The engines themselves have improved in efficiency over the years, creating major cost savings for airlines and making air travel affordable for the masses. There are currently almost 20,000 planes in the worldwide air transport fleet, with that number projected to grow 75 percent by 2030 . In 2011, the total aviation gas turbine engine market totalled $32 billion.
Gas turbines engines are also used in a growing number of applications on land, particularly in power plants. Langston helped bring some of this technology to UConn in the form of the co-generation power plant opened in 2006. The plant uses three gas turbine engines to generate power for the campus. They’re more efficient and environmentally-friendly than the original oil-burning engines the plant used because they use cleaner natural gas and harness both electrical energy and steam energy from a single source. “Gas turbine engines reduce CO2 emissions by almost 75 percent when they replace coal-fired power plants,” said Langston. “I was really proud to be a part of updating UConn’s power plant.” In addition to his work as a researcher and professor, Langston has also had a distinguished career as a mountain climber. Two of his most notable climbs include summiting Chimborazo Volcano in Ecuador, the farthest point from Earth’s center, and the first ascent of a peak in Pakistan known as T3 led by legendary climber Willi Unsoeld. When asked what it’s like to stand at the top of a mountain, Langston said “there’s this moment of exhilaration, but then you have to go down…
Most accidents happen on the descent.” Langston said caution has been the key to avoiding disaster during a climb. He spoke about turning around just a few hundred meters from the summit of a volcano in Ecuador which had begun to spew intense sulphuric gases. Langston and his wife continue to travel frequently. He currently writes a quarterly column and an annual review of the gas turbine industry for Mechanical Engineering magazine and serves on the ASME’s Technical Committee on Publications and Communications and the History and Heritage Committee. Langston has spent his career contributing to a field that has revolutionized global transportation and energy production, a field which looks to be no less innovative in the coming decades. He looks forward to watching the growth of the industry in the future. Published: November 18, 2015
2012 D. E. Crow Innovation Prize Winners
2012 D. E. Crow Innovation Prize Winners
Thirteen student teams competed for 20,000 of prize money on May 10, 2013 presenting their proposed projects and inventions to a panel of seven judges.
A Portable water purification system (First Place Prize)
Team Members: Saeid Zanganeh (ECE), Navid Zanjani (ME)
Nanotechnology has the potential to impact many aspects of food and agricultural systems. A high yield fabrication of a unique morphology of ZnO nanoparticles in the form of a thin film has been conceived which has a big potential for use in the public health and food industry. As the first part of this project, the antibacterial and antimicrobial activities of this thin film in a liquid media has been investigated. The objective of this study is to fabricate a low priced water purification system using this new morphology of zinc oxide to help people who do not have access to a safe and permanent water purification system.
Energy Star Retrofit (Second Place Prize)
Team Members: Nishang Gupta (ME, BUS), Dana Boyer (CEE)
Appliance repair is a dying art since it is cheaper to buy a new appliance than to get an old one repaired. We aim to reinvigorate this dying art by flipping the business model upside down and seek to have a constant stream of repairable appliances coming to repair. Using small appliance retail stores that offer appliance removal services for their customers as our supply chain, we can streamline the entire appliance repair process. With a streamlined repair process that saves on labor time, this model will be able to not only repair broken appliances, but to also retrofit them with energy efficient parts for Energy Star certification, to reduce US energy consumption by 600 million kWh annually.
Clamp and Pivot Sawstop (CAPS) System (Third Place Prize)
Team Members: Stephen Harmon (ME) Sam Masciulli (ME)
The implementation of large windows in commercial building projects is fueling a billion dollar business for industrial glazing companies across the country. Window frames arefabricated in a machine shop. Currently, aluminum frame stock is braced against a rail which runs the length of the table. All the cuts of one length must be completed before the footing is relocated for the next cut. When the stock length is not evenly divisible by the working cut length, there is a large “drop piece” remaining. The CAPS system will eliminate non3scrap drop pieces from the operation and the need for a working stockpile, replacing the time consuming and arduous job of handling drop pieces with the quick and easy lift3and3pivot operation of the CAPS system.
Symbolhound (Third Place Prize)
Team Members: Thomas Fedtmose (BUS), David Crane (CSE)
This project entails a search engine specifically designed for programmers that enable searching for nonValphanumeric characters on web searches.
UConn Formula SAE places in the top group in the International Competition
UConn Formula SAE places in the top group in the International Competition by Timothy Thomas, B.S., ME 2014, UConn SAE Team Leader
After an eighteen hour trek across the country and a days rest thereafter, the 
team began the four day Formula SAE Competition at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The Formula SAE® Series competitions challenge teams of university undergraduate and graduate students to conceive, design, fabricate and compete with a small, formula style, competition vehicle. To give teams the maximum design flexibility and the freedom to express their creativity and imagination there are very few restrictions on the overall vehicle design. Teams typically spend eight to twelve months designing, building, testing and preparing their vehicles before a competition. The international competitions themselves give teams the chance to demonstrate and prove both their creation and their engineering skills in comparison to teams from other universities around the world. The University of Connecticut has fielded a vehicle in the largest of these competitions, Formula SAE Michigan, 
located at the Michigan International Speedway since the team began just seven years ago. With over 120 colleges and universities registered, Formula SAE Michigan is the largest of its kind. Over the course of four days, the cars are judged in a series of static and dynamic events including: technical inspection, cost, presentation, and engineering design, solo performance trials, and high performance track endurance. These events are scored to determine how well the car performs. Come close of competition the team executed an incredible performance placing 20th overall
out of the 120 teams in attendance at one of the most competitive events of the year. This milestone places UConn Formula SAE amongst the elite, solidifying that they are a force to be reckoned with. In the midst of teams with decades of experience, a sizable team base, and much larger budgets, UConn Formula SAE is still considered in its youth as building a successful vehicle involves extensive growth in both engineering and team dynamics. With the continuing support of sponsors and the department of mechanical engineering, UConn Formula SAE is working towards even greater success with the refined design and manufacture of the 2014-2015 vehicle already underway.
Prof. Baki M. Cetegen is the President (2018-2020) of Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.
Prof. Baki M. Cetegen has been elected to serve as Vice President & President elect (2016-2018), President (2018-2020) and Past President (2020-2020) of Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.
Three Generations of Engineering at UConn
When Robert Valley Sr. entered the doors of Castleman in 1946, he did not know that he was starting a legacy. Now – almost 70 years later – three members of the family have walked through those doors and graduated in 1950, 1978 and 1981. And another generation is expected to graduate in May of 2016.
This is one of the Legacy Families that the School of Engineering is trying to find and chronicle – families that return to UConn’s School of Engineering and consider it home. (Contact information below.)
From left to right: Robert Valley Sr., Stephen Mierz, and Matt Mierz
For Robert Sr., engineering seemed natural. He had always wanted to be an engineer. “Early on, I got into ham radios,” he said. “It was fascinating to have a piece of block and a coil and some headphones and tune into your local radio station.” Those days of tinkering were a great time for people with an engineering bent. But today’s devices are too complex, said the Branford resident. “You can’t even take them apart and understand what’s inside. The circuitry is not accessible.”
His son, Robert Valley Jr., chief engineer with Branford-based Analytica, recently acquired by PerkinElmer, felt the same affinity for Engineering. “It just seemed to be the appropriate path,” said the man who started his own business at age 15. Bob Jr. created “Rapid Robert’s Repair Services,” during a summer vacation to fix tape recorders for SoundScriber Corp., then his father’s company. From there, the path was natural. Bob Jr. graduated from UConn with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1978 without even discussing it with his father, the men said.
The legacy does not stop there. Robert Sr.’s daughter Diane met her future husband Stephen Mierz here at UConn. He graduated in 1981 with a Mechanical Engineering and Materials Engineering degree. Steve caught the engineering bug from his father, who did engineering work, but did not have a degree. His father encouraged Steve to pursue his degree so that he would have more career options.
Taking his father’s advice, he attended Engineering career fairs and met with Sikorsky, where he has worked ever since. He now handles forensic engineering, inspecting brakes, wheels and other parts that have failed, and figures out how each failure occurred. “At the end of the day, to be contributing to something that makes the company more successful, that’s a good feeling,” he said. “Money’s good, but I think you need to have job satisfaction that makes every day interesting and fun.”
Steve’s worn a lot of different hats at Sikorsky, and advises his son and other UConn Engineering students to be adventurous and flexible. “Be open to things at whatever company you go to,” he said. “Don’t decide that you’re going to do just one thing. Be open to possibilities. There is a lot of neat stuff that you can do, especially if you go to a big company.”
His son, Matt Mierz, who’s carrying on the family legacy at UConn, is scheduled to graduate next year with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Matt said he and the elder engineers in his family will occasionally talk about how the field has changed, and how much the UConn Engineering School has expanded. His interest in engineering includes cars and motorcycles. “I went into it because I enjoyed it.”
The UConn School of Engineering is proud of the families making engineering a part of their family tradition. Alumni and students who are the children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents or siblings of School of Engineering graduates are legacies. Please keep in touch with your School and confirm your legacy status with the Director of Engineering Alumni Relations, Heidi Douglas (hdouglas@engineer.uconn.edu). We hope to hear from you.
Prof. Horea Ilies serves as the general co-chair of the 2015 SIAM/ACM conference on Geometric and Physical Modeling.
Prof. Horea Ilies serves as the general co-chair of the 2015 SIAM/ACM conference on Geometric and Physical Modeling.
Profs. Tianfeng Lu and Ugur Pasaogullari have been named UTC Associate Professor of Engineering Innovation and Castleman Associate Professor respectively.
Profs. Tianfeng Lu and Ugur Pasaogullari have been named UTC Associate Professor of Engineering Innovation and Castleman Associate Professor respectively.
Technologies passed down three generations
John Krenicki, Jr. (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, ’84; Hon.D.Sc. ‘07) was appointed to the board of directors of CHC Group Ltd. (HELI) and will serve as chairman. Initially, he will also serve on the company’s newly created Chairman Search Committee. Krenicki joined CD&R in 2013 after a 29-year career at General Electric. He currently serves as chairman of Wilsonart International, chairman of The ServiceMaster Company and lead director of Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services, Inc. He holds an M.S. in Management from Purdue University. Moore Engineering, founded by Wade Moore, a recent graduate of UConn, was recently named “Murphy’s Monday Manufacturer” by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy. Moore, 23, who graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, founded the company in 2010 after being inspired by his great-grandfather, Richard Moore, who established the well-known Moore Special Tool Company. Today, Moore Engineering is based in Milford and operates out of an 800-square-foot facility and is run by Wade with the part-time help of his three brothers. The company uses measuring and machining technologies that have been passed down three generations from Richard Moore. 
Manuel A. Santos (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, ‘99) was elected mayor of the City of Meriden, Connecticut in December 2013. When elected, Santos was a senior mechanical design engineer at Ultra Electronics, Measurement Systems Inc. in Wallingford, CT. Prior to that position, he was a design engineer with Ripley Tools, formerly a division of Capewell Components Co. LLC, designing innovative hand tools for the fiber optic industry.