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UConn ME selected by NASA to Develop Moon to Mars Mission Design Ideas

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UCONN has been selected as one of six universities to participate in NASA’s 2022 Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) Challenge. NASA’s selection, in partnership with the National Space Grant Foundation, will develop innovative design ideas that will help NASA advance and execute its Moon to Mars exploration objectives. 

This year’s winning M2M X-Hab Challenge teams will design, manufacture, assemble, test, and demonstrate functional prototype subsystems and innovations that enable increased functionality for human space exploration missions.

Profs. Vito Moreno and Jason Lee are leading the charge at UCONN in collaboration with Jorge Paricio Garcia and Ed Weingart, the Co-Directors of the UCONN Krenicki Arts and Engineering Institute, Patrick Kumavor (Biomedical Engineering), and Christopher Sancomb (Art/Industrial Design). The multidisciplinary concepts that they submitted will be developed into proof of concept 1/6-G suited prototypes to be applied in field environments. The first design will use weather balloons and drones and associated control and feedback software with a wearable harness. The weather balloon will offset the analog astronaut’s weight, while the drone and sensors will fine-tune responses to movements, produce a lifting force needed to simulate reduced gravity, and keep the balloon hovering above the astronaut. The second design, using the NASA ARGOS concept as a base, will incorporate a mobile platform that moves with the individual, and a counterweight system to simulate reduced gravity. Both projects will be an important element of the Senior Design projects for the departments of Mechanical Engineering as well as Biomedical Engineering in collaboration with the Industrial Design and Fine Arts programs. A diverse student team will also work with Aquiline Drones (Hartford) and Wallingford K-12 Public School’s Center for Innovation and Design: An Aerospace Experience to Mars.

Prof. Norato joins the Editorial Board of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design

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Dr. Julián Norato, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, has been named Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design. This archival journal publishes papers on and embraces broad, interdisciplinary aspects of engineering design research.

His current research interests lie in incorporating failure, geometric, manufacturing and cost requirements in computational topology and shape optimization techniques for the design exploration of novel and highly efficient structures and architected materials. Dr. Norato is a 2020 Air Force Research Lab Summer Fellow, the recipient of the 2019 ASME Design Automation Young Investigator Award, a 2018 NSF CAREER awardee and a recipient of the 2017 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program award. He also serves as Review Editor for the Journal of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization.

Prof. Nguyen to Develop Self-Administered Microneedle COVID-19 Vaccine Technology

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Prof. Thanh Nguyen has received funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA) to develop a single-use, self-administered microneedle vaccine technology for infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

For more details, read the full story on UConn Today:

 

UConn Faculty Receive Federal Funding to Develop Self-Administered Microneedle COVID-19 Vaccine Technology

Two Faculty Searches for the 2019-2020 Academic Year

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For the 2019-202 academic year we have two open positions: one open rank and the second at the Assistant or Associate professor levels. The start date is August 2020.

We are looking for exceptional candidates in advanced and digital manufacturing. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • intelligent robotics and automation,
  • applied controls,
  • additive manufacturing,
  • computational design of products and processes,
  • uncertainty quantification and reliability, and
  • data analytics and machine learning informed by physics.

To apply follow this link.

 

Fueling the Fire: Studying Flame Behavior to Improve Combustion Systems

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The power you feel underneath you when you’re on a plane as it takes off is tremendous. The physics that enable the remarkable feat of lifting a 175,000-pound midsize commercial aircraft into the sky and keeping it there are just as incredible – and complicated.

There are four components to a commercial aircraft gas turbine engine: the fan that produces most of the thrust, the compressor, which compresses the incoming air, the combustor which burns the fuel to create high-energy gas, and the turbine that produces work from that gas to power the fan and exhaust to produce additional thrust.

The challenge in this system is keeping the flame in the combustor burning. Flame blowoff can occur when the air flow speed is very high, or the fuel-air mixture is weak so that the flame cannot be stabilized, so it moves downstream and eventually extinguishes itself.

University of Connecticut professor of mechanical engineering, Baki Cetegen has received $320,000 from the National Science Foundation to study this problem by investigating how different fuels and high levels of flow turbulence affect the occurrence of flame blowoff.

Read more on UConn Today

Chih-Jen (Jackie) Sung Named Combustion Institute Fellow

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By: Eli Freund, Editorial Communications Manager, UConn School of Engineering 

The UConn School of Engineering is proud to announce that Mechanical Engineering Professor Chih-Jen Sung has been recognized as one of the 2019 Class of Fellows for The Combustion Institute.

Sung joins a class of 38 accomplished international scholars from industry, academia, and the public sector, and was recognized for “novel contributions to flame dynamics and structure, and development of rapid compression machines to enhance understanding of low-temperature chemistry.”

Read the School of Engineering announcement.

A new, nature-inspired self-healing rubber developed by Prof. Li and his collaborators from USC.

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A severed 3D-printed shoe pad repairing itself (Submitted Photo/An Xin and Kunhao Yu)

A new paper published by Prof. Ying Li and his collaborators from University of Southern California in NPG Asia Materials provide the details of a new class of self-healing rubber that is inspired by the healing of natural tissues.

For more details, please see the news article from UConn Today.

 

 

Jiong Tang to serve as the General Chair for ASME IDETC & CIE 2019

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Prof. Jiong Tang will serve as the general conference chair for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ international annual design conference in Anaheim CA. The 2019 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference (IDETC) and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (CIE) will take place between August August 18 – 21, 2019  at the Anaheim Convention Center.