News | Department of Mechanical Engineering

NSF Awards Launch Prof. Gao into CEAS Millionaire's Club
SBU Robotics Internal Competition Event
CEAS Excellence Awards of 2022
Spontaneous Emulsification Research Awarded NSF Grant
Stony Brook Brings Summer Robotics Curriculum to Urban League Youth Program
Stony Brook 40 Under Forty
Alum Has Lifelong Love of Machines on the Grandest Scale
Anurag Purwar Selected to Receive Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Award
Prof. Shikui Chen and Prof. Jon Longtin Awarded NSF Grant
ASME Conference Paper Nominated For 2022 AT Yang Memorial Award
Collaborative Research on Advanced Materials Science Earns ProFund Seed Grant
Prof. Ladeinde Awarded SBU/BNL Seed Grant
SBIR Funding Granted to Professor Wang
Two MEC Alumni Announced as SBU's 40 Under Forty Honorees
Jason Loprete Receives President's Award for Excellence in Teaching
Serving the Engineering Accreditation Community

NSF Awards Launch Prof. Gao into CEAS Millionaire's Club

Mechanical Engineering professor, Jie Gao, has been awarded back-to-back NSF grants this Jie Gao semester. The first award supports the study of “2D Ferroelectric Nonlinear Metasurface Holograms,” and the project will explore switchable nonlinear metasurface holograms based on 2D materials with high conversion efficiency and only nanometer thickness. This research will benefit many promising photonic applications in optical data memory and logic, optical computing, quantum information processing, and flat optoel Sensing,” will fund Prof. Gao's research in developing ultrasensitive and selective biomolecule sensing platforms based on infrared chiral metasurface. This research will benefit many biomedical and photonic applications in early disease diagnosis, pharmaceutical drug discovery, and quantum sensing.

With these two awards, in combination with previously earned awards for 2021-2022, Prof. Gao was inducted into the Millionaire's Club for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

SBU Robotics Internal Competition Event

RIC 2022 1 The Stony Brook Robotics Team held its annual Internal Competition event on November 12th. This year’s theme was The Hunt, where teams would compete against each other in a free-for-all treasure hunt and retrieval game. Objects of varying shapes and sizes were placed around the play area. A team would receive a certain amount of points for retrieving each object, with the point value depending on the RIC 2022 2 complexity of the shape. Each team spent weeks working on their robots to ensure they were ready to maneuver tricky obstacles, and collect objects with functioning grabbing mechanisms. Congratulations to everyone who participated with a well-built robot!

CEAS Excellence Awards of 2022

In order to signify the end of a prolific year, Interim Dean Jon Longtin announced the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences awards at the annual State of the College Address. The following members of the Mechanical Engineering faculty and staff have been recognized for their exceptional contributions to the Department, the College, and to the University.

Professor Shikui Chen and Professor Jie Gao have been inducted as members of the CEAS Millionaire’s Club for accumulating more than $1 million each in research grants during the 2021-2022 academic year.

The CEAS Excellence in Teaching Award has been conferred to Professor Dimitris Assanis for the outstanding expertise he demonstrates both inside and outside the classroom.

Amanda Flanagan, Assistant to the Chair, has been granted the CEAS Excellence in Professional Service Award due to her continual dedication to improving upon the Mechanical Engineering department, CEAS, and Stony Brook University as a whole.

Congratulations to these award recipients on their well deserved recognition from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences!

Spontaneous Emulsification Research Awarded NSF Grant

Professor Thomas Cubaud from the Mechanical Engineering Department has been awarded a NSF grant of $359,641 to study the dynamics of spontaneous emulsification in microfluidic systems. The project will examine the basic multiphase flow properties of mixtures made of oil, aqueous, and organic solvents at the small scale. The phenomenon of spontaneous emulsification refers to the natural formation of droplets due to the presence of a miscible solvent in oil-water systems and offers great opportunities for tailoring the properties of soft materials and developing innovative methods for the treatment of oil and aqueous products in a range of industries, including pharmaceutical, personal NSF Logo care, food, energy, and in the environment. While the multiphase flow behavior of pure substances is relatively well understood, less is known about the influence of fluid additives, such as alcohol solvents, which significantly alter material properties and multiphase flow arrangements. Alcohols compose an important class of simple organic compounds with a myriad of practical uses as extractants, antiseptics, detergents, biofuels, wetting agents, viscosity modifiers, or emulsifiers. Activities are designed to unravel the physics of multiphase flows in the presence of miscible solvents and develop new predictive knowledge into an array of captivating fluid phenomena of fundamental and practical interests.

Stony Brook Brings Summer Robotics Curriculum to Urban League Youth Program

MTRC Robotics Build "To encourage the exploration of STEM-based careers, the Manufacturing and Technology Research Consortium (MTRC) at Stony Brook University partnered with technology company Mechanismic Inc. to bring the Design, Innovation and Robotics Summer Program to the Urban League of Long Island’s summer youth program. Thirteen students participated in the camp, which took place August 8-19 at Stony Brook’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT)."

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Anurag Purwar, is the Chief Executive Officer of Mechanismic Inc. and the inventor of SnappyXO, the robotics education platform utilized during the STEM camp.

Read more here.

Stony Brook 40 Under Forty

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is proud to honor Adam Siegel '11 and Jean Clifford Brutus '11, '12 at this years' Stony Brook 40 Under Forty. The honorees were joined by Jeff Ge, Department Chair (pictured far left) and Jon Longtin, Interim Dean of CEAS (pictured far right). The event was held on September 13th at the Tribeca Rooftop in Manhattan.

Alum Has Lifelong Love of Machines on the Grandest Scale

Cliff Brutus recounts his journey from working on go-karts as a teenager in Haiti to getting a STEM scholarship and then an internship at Brookhaven Lab. See here for more information.

Anurag Purwar Selected to Receive Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Award

Anurag STEM Award The 2022 Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Award has been granted to Assistant Professor Anurag Purwar.

Margaret Ashida was a significant figure in America’s STEM workforce who strove to connect both businesses with STEM educational leaders in K-12 sectors and colleges nationwide. Her efforts resulted in the creation of the NYS State STEM Hubs, which opened up different STEM career pathways for New York communities.

The New York State STEM Education Collaborative (NYSSEC) honors Margaret Ashida’s memory by granting this award to STEM Leaders who have had remarkable impacts within their community. Due to their ability to unite both STEM educational leaders and industries, the chosen recipients are nominated as role models for STEM Leadership.

Prof. Purwar was nominated for this honor by Marie Wicks, the District STEM Lab Teacher for K-6 in the Franklin Square school district. Ms. Wicks has known Prof. Purwar through his STEM educational initiatives, like SnappyXO Robotics Education kit, MTRC Summer Robotics Program, and Urban League Future of Workforce Development programs. She has first-hand experience working with the SnappyXO Engineering Design curriculum for K-6 students and used it to teach design innovation and creativity to K-6 students.

Prof. Purwar has been invited to attend the 2022 Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Awards ceremony at the NYSSTEC Summer Institute, located at Alfred State College from July 24th to the 26th. The award will be presented on Monday, July 25th. More information about the Margaret Ashida STEM Leadership Award can be found here.

Prof. Shikui Chen and Prof. Jon Longtin Awarded NSF Grant

NSF has funded the Partnership For Innovation-Research Partnership (PFI-RP) proposal "Magnet Topology GE Renewable Energy

Optimization for Electric Machine Design," which was prepared by a team consisting of colleagues from SBU and GE Renewable Energy. The SBU team includes Prof. Shikui Chen and Prof. Jon Longtin of the Mechanical Engineering Department, and Prof. Fang Luo of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. The total amount for this award is $550,000 for three years. General Electric Company (GE) is also sponsoring the project, under the award title "GE Renewable Energy Onshore Wind Project."

The collaborative team aims to advance the design of Rare-Earth (RE) permanent magnet structures for generator systems and improve the architecture and design methodology of future generators and electric motors. This project is expected to significantly increase the applicability of physics-based simulation-driven design technology to the growing volume of electrical engineering problems. The success of this project could change the landscape of the electric generator and electric motor industries.

The SBU-GE team will work closely to develop a Topology Optimization (TO) co-design/co-optimization software tool “Magnet Topology Optimization (MagneTOP)” for electric machine design. The software tool suite consists of a topology optimization engine and a general boundary condition generator. The team will demonstrate this software suite specifically in GE’s 15-Megawatt Haliade-X wind turbine generator, a Rare-Earth permanent magnet high-performance wind energy generator. The proposed software suite is expected to be a plug-in module that can be installed as an add-on to existing design and modeling tools such as Ansys®-EM Simulation, COMSOL, Abaqus, Autodesk-Fusion 360 and other industry standard CAD/CAE tools.

Through the technology development and commercialization of this TO software module, the SBU-GE team aims to reduce the reliance on RE materials in the design of high-performance generators and electric motors, thereby relieving the growing customer pains due to shortages, supply-chain issues, and increasing prices of RE materials.

Click here for more information.

ASME Conference Paper Nominated For 2022 AT Yang Memorial Award

ASME Logo Selected as the winner of the AT Yang Memorial Award in Theoretical Kinematics is Professor Jeff Ge’s paper, “On the Computation of the Average Of Spatial Displacements." The Mechanisms and Robotics honor will be recognized at the 2022 International Design Engineering Technical Conference (IDETC) to be held in August in St. Louis, MO. Co-authors include Dr. Mark Langer, Professor of Clinical Radiation Oncology at Indiana University School of Medicine, Dr. Mona Arbab, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Zihan Yu, PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University. The award comes with a cash prize of $1000 to be split among the four authors.

Collaborative Research on Advanced Materials Science Earns ProFund Seed Grant

Professor Carlos Colosqui from the Mechanical Engineering department and co-PIs Surita Bhatia and Peter Khalifah from the Chemistry department have been funded by the Provost’s Office, in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President for Research for their research project “Advanced Materials Science Including Composites and 2D Materials”.

ProFund Seed Grants are awarded to a maximum of five multidisciplinary research teams at SBU who seek to apply to externally funded research and training initiatives in order to allow them to submit proposals for medium/large scale grants.

Projects reviewed by the ProFund program are assessed based on their innovativeness, how closely they relate to the purpose of the seed grant, overall impact on the community, potential for external funding, group qualifications, and budget practicality. If the project gains external funding, ProFund will provide an additional $100,000/year for two years.

Prof. Ladeinde Awarded SBU/BNL Seed Grant

Professor Foluso Ladeinde from the Mechanical Engineering department has been awarded a seed grant of $34,568 from the 2022 SBU BNL Seed Grant Program in order to develop a new approach to analyzing the unpredictable interactions between aerosol and cloud in the atmosphere. This proposal was created due to the lack of knowledge about their interactions and is reflected in their respective weather and climate models.

As a result of this comprehension gap, essential facets of the vital processes that occur during aerosol-cloud-interactions, such as cloud and aerosol microphysics, turbulent entrainment-mixing between clouds and environmental air, and turbulence-cloud-aerosol interactions are all either misrepresented or excluded altogether.

In order to address these challenges, Prof. Ladeinde, Yangang Liu from BNL’s Environmental and Climate Sciences Department, and Vanessa Lopez-Marrero from BNL’s Computational Science Initiative seek to develop a cross-cutting particle-based direct numerical simulation (DNS) model that detects minute turbulent eddies in the cloud, tracks the evolution of individual cloud and aerosol particles, and encompasses a domain comparable to large eddy simulation (LES) grid size.

The information gleaned from their research will be used to determine what aspects of weather and climate should be prioritized for study onwards.

SBIR Funding Granted to Professor Wang

Lynntech A subcontract for research and development on a project entitled E Plurbius Enum “SBIR Phase 1: Impact Resistant Mortar Baseplate,” sponsored by Lynntech Incorporated, has been awarded to Prof. Lifeng Wang. The project is funded by the United States Army through the SBIR Opportunity Grant and allows small businesses to fulfill their technological ambitions.

US Army SBIR Prof. Wang and his colleagues are currently developing auxetic design concepts that will be used to improve the impact strength of lightweight and powerful carbon composites and involve the utilization of 3D printing during the fabrication process. These composites are in high demand in both military and commercial markets due to their versatility.

Two MEC Alumni Announced as SBU's 40 Under Forty Honorees

Congratulations to Mechanical Engineering alumni Adam Siegel '11 and Jean Clifford Brutus '11, '12. They have been named 2021 Honorees of the JCB Stony Brook University 40 under Forty.

Adam is a Principal Engineering and Technical Specialist for the Research and Advanced Technolgoy Division of Engine Design and System Integration at Pratt & Whitney Corp. Cliff is a Project Manager for Brookhaven National Laboratory and a member of the Inclusion and Diversity Council for Nuclear and Particle Physics Directorate.

Adam Seigel

The alumni are being honored for the impact that they have already made in Science & Engineering. Adam and Cliff, along with 38 other honorees, will be recognized and celebrated at an upcoming event in September.

See here for more information.

Jason Loprete Receives President's Award for Excellence in Teaching

Jason Loprete Award 1 The 2021-2022 President's Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student was granted to Jason Loprete, Mechanical Engineering PhD student. Jason was recognized for his outstanding work and commitment as a Teaching Assistant and as the primary instructor for MEC 301 (Thermodynamics), a large-scale, required undergraduate course.

One of the challenges Loprete faced was being able to engage students during his lessons as they transitioned from online classes to back to in-person, as the COVID restrictions eased. He prioritized maintaining their interests by making lectures as interactive as possible and by utilizing visual, audio, and kinesthetic mentor styles to encourage ease of learning. Loprete states, “The last thing I wanted to be for my students was an audiobook version of the textbook- I wanted to give them something they couldn't get at home.”

Thanks to Loprete’s efforts in optimizing his lessons, he was able to experience firsthand Jason Loprete Award 3 the impact of his teachings through the appreciation of his students, who express their thanks and inform him of the opportunities and achievements they’ve accomplished since taking his course. Loprete values these moments and believes their continued contact beyond the classroom is a measure of his success in the classroom.

His own experience with Stony Brook’s Mechanical Engineering program allowed him insight to the knowledge students had at this point in the curriculum, so he adapted his lessons according to what they may struggle to learn throughout the course. In addition, his time working as a Teaching Assistant under the guidance of faculty members such as Jon Longtin, Kedar Kirane, and Dimitris Assanis, exposed him to different teaching styles and philosophies. This encouraged him to use pieces of those methods in the classroom to develop his own technique.

Jason Loprete Award 2 Loprete extends his thanks for their support to Mandy and Dee of the Mechanical Engineering Department, as well as to Prof. Jon Longtin, whose mentorship allowed for him to take on the tasks of an instructor and student simultaneously. “I wanted to do for my students what he did for me back when I was in their shoes- and if I was able to do even half that, I would count this as a win.”

This award was presented at a ceremony held in May and hosted by the university’s Graduate School for recipients and their families. Awardees are given a certificate, a monetary award, and are expected to participate in a colloquium for Teaching Assistants prior to the start of the following Fall semester.

Serving the Engineering Accreditation Community

Congratulations to Professor Imin Kao who has been appointed to serve a ASME Logo 5-year term on the Committee on Engineering Accreditation for the (CEA) American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This committee serves several important roles as the main bridge between ASME and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The CEA is responsible for ASME’s role in the accreditation of engineering degree programs through the ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC).

Annual Freshman Design Presentations
Applied Mechanics Awards Prof. Kirane for Best Paper
The Flipped Classroom: Prof. Purwar presents at ASEE Conference
SUNY RF Highlights Prof. Purwar as it Celebrates 70 Years of Innovation
Professor Kirane Awarded CEAS Excellence in Teaching Award
Professor Purwar Awarded $1M for Educational Robotics Framework
Professor Yao Awarded NSF EAGER Funding
Memorializing the Work of Ted O'Brien
Collaborative Research Earns DOE Award to Speed Up the Transition to Electric Vehicles
Presidential Dissertation Completion Fellowship
NIH Funding Awarded to Professor Chen
Welcoming New Members to the Department
Department Chair Honored with ASME DED Award
Orchid Imaging Award
Two SBU-BNL Seed Grants Awarded to Mechanical Engineering Faculty
Mechanical Engineering Department Graduates 155 in the Class of 2021
Sean Vierling Recieves Mountain Mover Award
Professor A. Purwar featured in Stony Brook Magazine
Professor D. Hwang Receieves Award Through Korea Institute of Science and Technology
Robotic Arm-augmented Wheelchair Earns Prof. Chakraborty OVPR Seed Grant
OVPR Seed Grant - Professor Kao
Professor Longtin Awarded $100k Subcontract
Motorsports Club Flourishes Amidst Pandemic
Professor Ge Appointed Co-Editor of the Journal of Mechanical Design

MEC 101: Annual Freshman Design Presentations

MEC Presentation 1 MEC 101, Freshman Design Innovation, recently concluded its first in-person semester since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Taught by Professor Anurag Purwar, the class had 150 students this year. Given its in-person format, the class was able to do its annual presentation outside of a Zoom call, allowing students to see one another’s devices and present their creations face-to-face.

Anar Nurizada, a mechanical engineering PhD student, was one of the TAs for the course. “I took this class myself in 2016, so I was kind of aware of what problems students could face throughout the course,” said Nurizada. The course teaches students STEM concepts through hands-on learning with robot design. Kits are manufactured in Prof. Purwar’s lab and given out to students to assist in their creations. MEC Presentation 2

“I was mainly responsible for manufacturing SnappyXO pieces,” Nurizada explained, “but I also helped students with their homeworks and any other issues they had during the semester. I was delighted that a lot of students were keen on understanding the material and asked good questions.”

During the pandemic, Prof. Purwar and his teaching assistants sent kits to students all over the world and had them work on their robots remotely. This year, students were able to be helped in-person with any mechanical or other difficulties they may have come across during their work.

MEC Presentation 3 Some of the teams featured include Nuts and Bolts, who created a delivery robot that uses a line and color sensor to deliver items to certain locations, The Goofy Goobers, who made a social robotic dog that responds to various stimuli, and Color Turtl.3, who created a green, turtle-appearing robot that performs motions in response to different colors and button inputs.

Nurizada was happy with the results of the course, stating, “At the end of the semester, it was interesting to see what kind of robots the students came up with and, honestly speaking, all students did a great job!”

Applied Mechanics Awards Prof. Kirane for Best Paper

The 2022 Journal of Applied Mechanics Award has been given to Professor Kedar Kirane for his published paper, entitled “Fracture and energetic strength scaling of soft, brittle and weakly nonlinear elastomers.” The award is provided by the Applied Mechanics Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to honor the best paper which has been published in the journal during the prior two years.

Along with the Journal of Applied Mechanics Award, Prof. Kirane will also receive a certificate and an honorarium for his efforts.

The Flipped Classroom: Prof. Purwar presents at ASEE Conference

Introductory engineering classes that follow the traditional lecture format have constricted aspiring students from being able to personally engage themselves in a field that demands hands-on innovation and developed expertise.

The solution Professor Anurag Purwar offers to remedy this issue is the “flipped classroom,” which he implements in MEC 101 - the Design Innovation and Robotics class offered at Stony Brook University. Here he “emphasizes learning STEM concepts in the context of robot design,” while being financially accessible due to the availability of videos on youtube.com, course material free of required textbook use, and an open robot design project site.

This course also “uses a novel, modular, and low-cost robotics kit and a state-of-the-art software for design and prototyping of robot motion,” and is based on the Mechanisms and Robotics research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Prof. Purwar has received outstanding commendations for his approach to teaching; so much so that he was invited to host another workshop during the Fall 2021 ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference on November 13. The workshop entitled, “Scalable and Authentic Robotics and Design Innovation Education from Freshman to Graduate Level,” taught educators a new way to structure their hands-on classes.

For more information on Prof. Purwar’s workshop at the Fall 2021 ASEE Middle Atlantic Section Conference, click here.

SUNY RF Highlights Prof. Purwar as it Celebrates 70 Years of Innovation

Click here to be directed to the post.

CEAS Excellence in Teaching Awarded to Prof. Kirane

In recognition of his abilities in and out of the classroom, Professor Kedar Kirane has been awarded the 2021 CEAS Excellence in Teaching Award. Prof. Kirane was honored for his superior teaching, as well as his innovation and ability to adapt his teaching modality under the unique and challenging circumstances of the past year and a half.

kirane teaching award 2021

“I am very glad the students like my teaching style, and I hope I can continue to improve,” said Prof. Kirane. “I thank all the students for their positive feedback about my teaching. I am also thankful to the TAs and graders assisting with the teaching, and also the entire MEC department (faculty and staff) for the support.”

After the Spring 2020 semester, when COVID had forced the semester online mid-way, many students left positive comments about Prof. Kirane’s teaching of MEC 363, a foundational course of mechanical engineering at the sophomore level. Many described him with glowing remarks; “an incredible professor,” “phenomenal,” and “a gem.” One student went as far as to say that he is, “the golden standard for what MEC classes should be, dare I say, all college classes in general.”

Prof. Kirane is currently supervising two doctoral students as well as three MS students and supervising the research of three undergraduate students. In the past, he has successfully advised eight MS graduates with thesis, and supervised ten recently graduated seniors through the MEC 499 research course, continuing his supervision throughout the pandemic to ensure that the students’ degree progress remained on track.
kirane teaching award
Outside of the classroom, Prof. Kirane is on various committees in the Mechanical Engineering Department and within the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He also serves on several committees within ASME and other academic societies.

“Kedar has been an outstanding junior faculty in the Mechanical Engineering department,” said Prof. Jeff Ge, the Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “He embodies the innovative spirit of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and I am proud to call Kedar my colleague.”

Professor Purwar Awarded $1M for Educational Robotics Framework

Purwar Award 1M Stony Brook University and Mechanismic Inc. have been awarded $1,000,000 by the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Program for their proposal "A Design-Driven Educational Robotics Framework." The Stony Brook University team is led by Mechanical Engineering professor Anurag Purwar, who is the primary inventor of the technology and lead researcher on this project. Professor Kedar Kirane, also from Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Keith Sheppard from the Institute for STEM Education, and Erik Flynn from the School of Health Technology and Management are senior persons on the SBU team. The SBU team will be receiving a share of over $300,000 for two years, as well as an additional $80,000 from Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR).

As described by Prof. Purwar, the framework is a unified platform that is capable of teaching students engineering design, practical electronics and programming all in one place. “[It] brings a new approach to STEM and robotics education, wherein students engage in the entire design innovation cycle from conceptualization to programmable robots.”

SnappyXO Design, originally conceived by Prof. Purwar for teaching purposes, is part of the work he’s doing in this project. In the beginning, it was able to give freshman students the chance to enjoy authentic engineering design in robotics, but now it has been built upon to be something greater. “As part of this project,” he explains, “our research is going to bring together rigid body kinematics and machine learning to develop software and algorithms for an AI-driven mechanism design architecture. This software will democratize design innovation and invention and put the power of creativity in the hands of every student and engineer.”

Through a multidisciplinary approach, the platform can be a first step into a STEM discipline for any student, especially underrepresented groups such as women or minorities.

Purwar Award 1M 2 “As a child, I never got a chance to do anything related to robotics or even play with them,” said Prof. Purwar. “ I grew up in a modest neighborhood and town with little access to electronics or technological toys, which looking back, I can say confidently, would have had a major impact on me. Creating this robotics education product is my way of reliving my childhood playing, tinkering, and learning with robots and machines that I wish I had.”

The SBIR/STTR program focuses on supporting innovation by investing federal research funds with the goal of turning scientific discoveries into products and services with commercial or social benefits. Prof. Purwar’s invention was licensed by Mechanismic Inc., a NY-based C-Corporation, co-founded by him and Professor Jeff Ge which is bringing this technology to the market.

“This award will enable us to develop the next generation of hardware for robot design, software for building invention design capacity, and a standards-aligned curriculum for K-12 and college students,” Purwar explained. “[It] will lead to a design-driven educational robotics product that provides Problem- and Project-Based Learning (PBL) experiences for K-12 and post-secondary students to grasp STEM concepts in a fun, active, and engaging way.”

http://www.snappyxo.com

http://www.motiongen.io

Professor Yao Awarded NSF EAGER Funding

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's diseases) is a common neuromuscular disease that has had a large share of fame whether it be from figures like Lou Gehrig or Steven Hawking, who both famously had it, or from awareness campaigns such as the ALS bucket challenge. Incurable, ALS can result in muscle weakness and atrophy that can make walking, talking and even breathing on one’s own difficult - and as they usually can still perform higher mental processes, the inability to properly communicate with others can lead to depression and anxiety. To try and address this issue, a new proposal was funded this past summer that seeks to make life for those with ALS easier.

ShanShanYao “The overarching goal of this project is to build an unobtrusive hardware-software platform for ALS patients that can capture speech-relevant lip gestures and decode lip movements for speech,” said the project’s abstract. The project, Lip Reading by Unobtrusive Multimodal Sensors and Machine Learning Algorithms, is headed by Prof. Shanshan Yao from Mechanical Engineering as a collaboration with Prof. Petar M. Djurić, Department Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. Renee Fabus, Founder and Chair of the Speech Language Pathology Department at Stony Brook. The project was proposed through the National Science Foundation’s EAGER mechanism - Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research - and was awarded this grant in July.

ALS patients, as well as individuals with speech and hearing disorders, could all benefit from a technology that seeks to improve upon the existing methods for tracking and interpreting facial movements. This project hopes to create a skin-like multimodal strain and electromyography (EMG) sensing system capable of tracking skin deformations and muscle activities associated with lip movements and then convert these inputs into spoken word.

An opportunity for students to participate in cross-disciplinary research as well, the abstract noted that parts of the project will be integrated into coursework and capstone design projects.
This project can lay the groundwork for “developing a truly natural and unobtrusive hardware-software system,” as explained in the abstract. “Our proposed work can fill the gaps in the existing solutions by an intuitive and unobtrusive technology for lip reading.”

Memorializing the Work of Ted O'Brien

The Physics of Fluids journal released a special issue dedicated to the memory of the late Edward E. “Ted” O’Brien,” a Stony Brook University Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering.

Published by the American Institute of Physics, multiple guest editors participated in this special edition including, Professor Emeritus César Dopazo of Zaragoza University, Spain, said to be one of the most celebrated students of Prof. O’Brien in academia; Professor Peyman Givi, a colleague of Prof. O’Brien and a distinguished professor at the University of Pittsburgh; and Professor Foluso Ladeinde, associate professor at Stony Brook University, founding chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at SUNY Korea, and a mentee of Prof. O’Brien.

Professor O’Brien was a Professor of Fluid Mechanics, a member of ASME and New York OBrien Squared Academy of Sciences as well as a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He joined Stony Brook University in 1961, when the university held its first commencement and appointed its first president. He joined the inaugural faculty as a founding professor in the College of Engineering and Applied Science and a member of the Department of Thermal Sciences. Under his leadership the program gained popularity and grew into what is now the Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he served as the Chair from 1983 to 1991.

“I am very pleased to be involved with this effort of immortalizing Ted’s name,” said Prof. Ladeinde. “It is my hope that Stony Brook University will take pride, not only in Ted’s academic accomplishments per se, but also in the international recognition of same.”

Regarded as a pioneer in the field, Prof. O’Brien made a variety of contributions to fluid mechanics and turbulent combustion specifically. From the beginning of his career in the 1950s, he made fundamental contributions to the spectral theory of reactive scalars. In the 1970s-80s, he was widely recognized for introducing and popularizing single- and multi-point probability density functions (PDF) closures within the reactive turbulent flow community. Through the 1990s to present day, his contributions continued to be well-received and highly cited to the end of his research career.

The August issue of the Physics of Fluids journal can be read here.

Collaborative Research Earns DOE Award to Speed Up the Transition to Electric Vehicles

Fossil-fuel vehicles are a leading cause of mass carbon emissions, resulting in the gradual temperature increase on Earth’s surface and exacerbating the acidity in rain during precipitation. In order to combat the detrimental effects this energy source has on the environment, domestic and international organizations alike have set ambitious goals to completely phase out its use in the upcoming decades. Research developments and technological innovations geared towards fully transitioning to electric vehicles and decarbonizing the transportation sector are receiving unprecedented support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other federal agencies.

DOE Energy A collaborative research group led by a material scientist (Prof. Esther Takeuchi) includes electrochemists (Prof. Amy Marschilok, Prof. Kenneth Takeuchi) and a mechanical engineer (Prof. Carlos Colosqui). Stony Brook University has received a DOE award of more than 2.2 million dollars. The funding from this institution will be used to produce new electrolytes for high-performance lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that charge and discharge at accelerated speeds, even while under extreme conditions. To undertake this proposition, the researchers at SBU will consolidate efforts with scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Brown University.

Titled “Fluorinated Ester Local High Concentration Electrolytes for Operation of Li-ion Batteries under Extreme Conditions,” this scientific venture is aimed towards creating a novel class of non-flammable electrolytes for Li-ion Batteries, which are essence complex fluids with a high concentration of nanoparticles that act as charge carriers in a liquid medium. Prof. Colosqui, who currently spearheads this study, strives to further understand and predict fluid flow, rheological properties, and mass and charge transport through these newly manufactured electrolytes.

“This project highlights the critical importance of interdisciplinary research and the key role that fluid mechanics will play in the transition to sustainable technologies and green energy,” Prof. Colosqui states.

SBU will be collaborating with selective research institution groups in order to advance the fundamental science and technological innovations required to decarbonize the U.S. transportation sector and combat climate change.

“[By] partnering with industry and leading research universities, DOE’s investment in these 24 projects will create technologies that will cut vehicle greenhouse emissions and boost America’s competitiveness in the global clean energy market,” the 16th Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm affirms.

Students interested in contributing to this research are encouraged to contact Prof. Colosqui at carlos.colosqui@stonybrook.edu.

Presidential Dissertation Completion Fellowship

As the majority of students return to campus, some are working to recover from COVID’s effect on their work. Vamiq Mohammed Mustahsan was the recipient of the 2021 Presidential Dissertation Completion Fellowship awarded by the SBU Graduate School. The fellowship is awarded to students who demonstrate solid achievement and steady pre-pandemic progress to their degree. It would provide two semesters of stipend support for an advanced doctoral student ($20,000) who has experienced a delay in their degree progress due to circumstances or challenges beyond their control.

Mustahsan had been on track to graduate by May of 2021 after giving his Ph.D. proposal two years prior. His research focuses on customized bone tumor resection and bone reconstruction, increasing the accuracy of bone tumor resections and developing a structurally Vamiq Mustahsan biomimetic and biocompatible implant. Ideally, Mustahsan will develop a methodology that would reduce the overall costs and vastly improve the quality of life in those who suffer from osteosarcoma - one of the most common forms of bone cancer. After the removal of malignant bone tumors, patients can be forced to deal with inaccurately fitted implants that can lead to future complications. “Most patients are forced to undergo multiple subsequent surgeries, sometimes even ultimately an amputation,” explained Mustahsan. “[However], if a very good implant fit is achieved, the lifetime of the implant is significantly improved.”

The original plan was to carry out in-vivo studies by implanting their customized implant or bone graft substitute (BGS) in mice. However, after spending the Fall of 2019 planning and preparing for the experiment, the events of early 2020 quickly forced the study to a stop.

“We started the study in the second week of February 2020 and reached the second stage of our experiment in the second week of March when the nationwide COVID lockdown was implemented,” Mustahsan said. The experiment was conducted in the department of Anesthesiology, which was shut down along with the university hospital as all available lab space was taken for COVID research purposes. The study couldn’t be returned to until October; Mustahsan and his group concluded the second stage in December 2020. Mustahsan still faced problems however, as surgery on the mice were required for the third stage by orthopedic residents and attendings familiar with bone tumor surgeries.

PDC Diagram “Even after the hospital restrictions for researchers were partially lifted in Fall, many attendings and residents were still enlisted in COVID duty. Consequently, we could not get them to do the surgeries,” said Mustahsan. The surgeries couldn’t be completed until April 2021, less than a month before Mustahsan’s planned graduation. There was no other choice but to push his graduation back an entire year in order to complete his research.

Many have seen this fellowship as well-deserved including Professor Imin Kao, Mustahsan’s Ph.D. advisor. “This fellowship reflects his work here at Stony Brook,” said Kao, describing Mustahsan’s advocacy for graduate students at Stony Brook. While managing his own experiments, he has also been working in collaboration with the Stony Brook Office of Government Affairs in the capacity of the Chair for Policy Action for State Affairs for Stony Brook Graduate Student Organization (SBGSO) and actively organizing the Science and Research Awareness Series with the Department of Anesthesiology in Stony Brook Hospital. Mustahsan also worked as a Resident Assistant for over 3 years in Chapin Apartments, a graduate student dorm that mainly houses international students and previously, was recognized with the Outstanding Leadership Award by the SBGSO.

Although COVID interrupted his original plans, Mustahsan will now complete his work and thanks to the fellowship, will complete his degree in May 2022.

NIH Funding Awarded to Professor Chen

The project “Magnetically activated structures for minimally invasive endovascular therapy" has been selected for funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of over $600,000. This collaborative project features Professor Shikui Chen of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Drs. Chander Sadasivan and Apostolos Tassiopoulos from SBU’s Renaissance School of Medicine, and Professor David Gu from the Computer Science Department. Professor Sadasivan is the principal investigator and the contact of this NIH proposal.

The multi-department group hopes to tackle the dangers of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). While heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, AAA is also one of the top 15 leading causes of death in people over the age of 65, directly causing nearly 10,000 deaths per year. Professor Chen hopes to make the process of treating AAA easier with this project.

“The treatment of AAA mainly relies on minimally invasive endovascular therapy,” described Prof. Chen, “[but] the major obstacle to current endovascular treatment is that the structure of the device is not optimal relative to the patient's vascular anatomy.” The proposal seeks to use magnetically activated structures (MAS) to optimize treatment and effectively customize grafts to each patient. A non-invasive magnetic field can be used to deform MAS-grafts inside the patient so that they conform to the vascular wall and prevent leaks, migrations or anything that could lead to AAA.

“The primary goal of this project is to develop numerical schemes for multi-material topology optimization of an endovascular MAS-graft with actively controllable motion and balanced stiffness,” said Prof. Chen. “MAS designs generated from patient-specific AAA geometries will be reduced to a single design via robust design principles. Proof-of-concept of deployment and non-invasive control of the structures will be evaluated in vitro.”

Welcoming New Department Members

The Mechanical Engineering Department is happy to welcome back students and staff alike as the fall semester brings back most people to campus after roughly two and a half semesters of remote learning. The new academic year holds promise as everyone can properly take advantage of everything the Stony Brook University campus has to offer.
As well as welcoming back students returning and new, the department also welcomes back faculty returning and new. There are three new members of the department this year, Austin Giordano, Amin Fakhari, and Jie Gao.

Austin Giordano initially joined Stony Brook University as an undergraduate student in 2015. He completed his Bachelor's of Engineering in 2019, as well as a Master's of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2021, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in our department. In the summer of 2021, Austin joined as an Instructional Support Specialist, where in this role he assists with the lab courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Giordano would like to assist the students with developing their passions for engineering outside of the classroom, through research, clubs or personal projects. “I'd like to welcome back all of our returning students at every level - it's good to be back on campus with all of you!” Giordano continued, “To all of the new students, I would like to welcome you to our department and to our campus. You're in for some great times over the next few years!"

Amin Fakhari joined the Mechanical Engineering faculty this Fall as an Assistant Professor of Practice, though he has been part of the Stony Brook community since 2013. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at SUNY Korea in 2017, and a research scholar in Stony Brook’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2013. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Isfahan University of Technology in Iran. His research interests are in robotics, dynamical systems, control systems, machine learning, and mechatronics. He specializes in anthropomorphic robotic hands, dextrous manipulation planning, force and motion planning, object grasping analysis, soft contact modeling, and slippage control. He aims to develop robotic systems that mimic or surpass human capabilities.

Jie Gao Jie Gao joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering as Associate Professor in the Fall of 2021. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Her research interests include optical and thermal energy harvesting, optical sensing and imaging, nanomanufacturing, opto-mechanics, and quantum optics. The current research projects in her lab range from novel 2D materials, optical nanostructures, infrared absorbers and emitters to light emission devices.

We’re happy to have all three of them join us and look forward to a great, safe school year.

Department Chair Honored with ASME DED Award

Professor and Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr. Jeff Ge, has been awarded the Mechanisms and Robotics Award by the Design and Engineering Division (DED) of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This award is given annually to recognize outstanding engineers who are known to have given a lifetime’s contributions to the field of mechanism design or theory. This prestigious award can only be received once in their career.

ASME Logo Dr. Ge has made numerous scientific and engineering contributions in kinematics and design and has established himself as a global leader of the community. “This is well-deserved, and a notable achievement for a lifelong career dedicated to mechanism design,” said Professor and Interim Dean Jon Longtin. Another of Dr. Ge’s colleagues, Assistant Professor Anurag Purwar, described the award as the “highest honor in the Mechanisms and Robotics community,” and stated, “I am proud to call myself Jeff’s colleague.”

Having been on the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering since 1993, Dr. Ge has ascended from Undergraduate Program Director all the way to the Chair of the Department while making vast leaps and bounds in the engineering community, including the establishment of a new and developing discipline in computational kinematic geometry. His deserved success in the field and this award is highlighted best in those who are inspired to meet the standards he sets for all those who come after him, such as Assistant Professor Dimitris Assanis. “This is truly a fantastic honor and a testament to the continued contributions [Dr. Ge] makes in the field,” said Assanis. “We are fortunate as a department to be guided by such a strong research-oriented Chair.”

Orchid Imaging Award

Associate professor Shikui Chen is a member of the 2021 winning team, Orchid Imaging, in the SUNY Startup Summer School (S4) Class of 2021 Demo Day quick pitch competition as highlighted in the Stony Brook University News. The competition, which took place on August 11, is designed to showcase grant proposals and research of 153 SUNY students and faculty in emerging technologies fields. This comes after two months of curriculum focusing on entrepreneurship, grants and other skills to ensure the success of the participating startups.

Formed in 2020, Orchid Imaging’s main focus is the early detection of skin cancer by commercializing 3D imaging technologies invented at Stony Brook by the startup’s leader, Professor David Gu. Along with Orchid’s commercialization lead, Professor Rong Zhao, the Orchid Imaging company is partnering with Stony Brook Dermatology and other clinics to develop a 3D full-body scanning system and to demonstrate that its skin analysis software is accurate enough for skin cancer screening.

“Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the US, and if caught and treated early, it is highly curable,” Professor Chen explained. “Our goal is to use the 3D-vision-based skin cancer detection technology to help patients detect abnormal changes in their skin as early as possible. I am thrilled to work with Prof. Gu and Prof. Zhao to transfer this cutting edge technology from lab to market. We look forward to our technology having a positive impact on society.”

The winning S4 teams will receive a $10,000 S4 Technology Accelerator Fund Catalyst Investment, follow-up support from SUNY to identify and create strong grant-funding proposals, as well as business-development mentoring and coaching from the SUNY Research Foundation’s Venture Advisors.

For more information on this year’s SUNY Startup Summer School, click here.

Two SBU-BNL Seed Grants Awarded to Mechanical Engineering Faculty

Two Mechanical Engineering faculty members have each been awarded 2021 SBU-BNL seed Strain sensor grants, positioning them to pursue new external funding. The seed grant is made possible with contributions from both President Maurie McInnis and the Office of Brookhaven Affairs.

One of the teams, consisting of Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Shanshan Yao and Associate Materials Scientist Esther Tsai, have been conferred a $41,000 grant for their project proposal CO LESS 1 “Multiscale Design and Characterization of Soft–Rigid Interfaces for Hybrid Skin-Like Wearable Electronics and Soft Robotics”.

Assistant Professor Dimitris Assanis from the Mechanical Engineering department and Rebecca Trojanowski from BNL’s Energy Conversion Group were awarded $39,680 in funding for their project “Large Eddy Simulations for Superior, Computationally Optimized Oxidation using Biomass (LESS CO₂ using Biomass)”.

The SBU-BNL Seed Grant program is a yearly competition that encourages group coordination from researchers from Stony Brook University and Brookhaven CO LESS National Laboratory. Their target objective is to offer opportunities that expand upon research programs while adhering to the goals of both establishments. At the moment, the SBU-BNL Seed Grant Program aims to start research that will allow their investigators to seek funding from external sources.

Sean Vierling Recieves Mountain Mover Award

Sean Vierling, a senior Mechanical Engineering major, was awarded the Mountain Mover Award during this year’s Student Employee and Supervisor of the Year Awards Ceremony hosted by theUniversity Career Center. This ceremony is held every year to honor exceptional student employees and their supervisors. The Mountain Mover Award in particular recognizes those who have had a significant impact in their workplace.

“When I won the award I was very surprised,” said Vierling, “I was also extremely grateful that I have a great mentor in Professor Purwar to help me earn an award such as this.” Vierling has worked in the lab of Professor Anurag Purwar for several years and is currently a National Science Foundation Fellow there. His main focus is walking machines and robotics. He assists in the creation and development of Professor Purwar’s SnappyXO STEM kit but also designs a variety of walking-based robots. Together, Vierling and Purwar plan to write a book on this robotics work.

“I am working on a multi-degree of freedom robot for a Vertically Integrated Project class where my team and I are testing the effect of walking gaits on various terrains.” Vierling explained. “[Additionally] this semester, my Senior Design team and I are working on a prototype for a sit-to-stand device for children with Cerebral Palsy.”

When the pandemic began, Vierling’s focus shifted to encompass not only his existing projects but how to help frontline medical workers. He worked with them to create a laser cut face shield that could be pivoted away from the users face to allow them to change masks and drink without needing to take it off. He also created a laser cut N-95 face mask holder in which medical workers could keep their masks safe and separate from one another to elongate the lives of their overused masks.

Professor Purwar nominated Vierling for this award, having known him since his first year at Stony Brook. “I first met Sean in 2017 when he was a Freshman student in my MEC 101: Freshman Design Innovation class. Much impressed with his work ethic, I offered him a paid position to work in my lab. Over time, he has proved to be an exceptional organizer and leader... Without a doubt, he is the most competent and accomplished undergraduate student employee I have ever had. I wholeheartedly recommend him for this award.”

After receiving the Mountain Mover Award, Vierling was also chosen to receive the 2021 Provost’s Award for Academic Excellence. This annual award is given to a select number of graduating seniors who show academic excellence not only in the classroom, but outside of it in activities such as research and building a stronger academic community.

Next year, I hope to complete my thesis under Professor Purwar,” Vierling said. “After, I will likely look for a job in industry - preferably in the field of Robotics or Defense.

Mountain Mover Award

Professor A. Purwar Featured in Stony Brook Magazine

Click here to be directed to the article.

Professor D. Hwang Receives Award Through Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Professor Dr. David Hwang recently received a third installment of an award for the ‘Laser Scribing Technology Building Integrated Solar Photovoltaic Module’ from the sponsoring agency, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). In total, Prof. Hwang will collect the equivalent of 460,000,000 KRW (approximately $411,817) over 5 project years (55 months). Congratulations!

Robotic Arm-augmented Wheelchair Earns Prof. Chakraborty OVPR Seed Grant

Professor Nilanjan Chakraborty has been selected as a recipient of the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) Seed Grant, for a research project entitled " Robotic Arm-augmented Wheelchair for Enabling Independent Living for People with Quadriplegia." The development of this technology required for a wheelchair-mounted robot arm could help improve the quality of life for disabled individuals.

“The vision is for people with SLD to carry out essential activities like feeding themselves, going from one room to another, using high level commands.” explained Prof. Chakraborty. “For example, the user can say ‘open the door’ and the robot arm can execute the task of opening the door, so that the user can pass through by controlling her wheelchair.” The robot arm would be interacted with through a tablet interface with hands-free inputs such as eye gaze or voice.

Other collaborators on this project are co-PI Brooke Ellison, PhD, Health Technology and Management, as well as Xiaojun Bi, PhD, Computer Science, Haibin Ling, PhD, Computer Science, and I. V. Ramakrishnan, PhD, Computer Science.

The project seeks to surmount a variety of technical challenges such as ensuring that the robot arm is capable of accurately perceiving the environment, able to understand the user's intent with commands and having the arm reliably execute the tasks in question. Prof. Chakraborty anticipates that the last of the three will be the most difficult. “Manipulation in a home environment is extremely challenging because every home is different, and consequently it is hard to pre-program the robots - as is usually done for industrial manipulation tasks.”

The research team plans to develop methods that would allow the robot arm to understand examples of tasks given to it by a caregiver and subsequently learn from these examples to independently complete tasks later on. “The caregiver will hold the hand of the robot and teach it to do a task, just as one would teach a child,” said Prof. Chakraborty. “And we want to burden the caregiver minimally.”

Pouring Task

Stacking Problem

OVPR Seed Grant - Professor Kao

Professor Imin Kao has been selected as a recipient of the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) Seed Grant, for research into removing cancers known as ‘soft tissue sarcomas’. The primary treatment for soft tissue sarcomas is removing the tumor cells entirely, but the reappearance of the cancer is a major problem in the medical industry if even a slight piece of it is left behind.

In collaboration with Assistant Professor Fazel Khan and Professor Brendan Boyce, doctors of Orthopaedics and Pathology respectively at the Renaissance School of Medicine, Prof. Kao intends to rectify this issue. “Raman spectroscopy is a non-invasive technique, which generates spectra that can reveal structural fingerprints of molecules in tissues by inelastic scattering of photons,”described Prof. Kao. “We have examined if Raman spectroscopy can correctly distinguish tumor tissue from adjacent benign skeletal muscle, dermal collagen and fat in frozen sections from resected tumors from 4 different patients and compared the results with the histologic findings in adjacent H&E-stained frozen sections.”

Through use of Raman spectroscopy, the group intends to create a reliable method of determining that the soft tissue sarcoma has been completely removed during surgery, helping the entire process occur faster and with a lowered chance of the cancer reappearing after the fact.

The funding will allow the research team to conduct experiments and acquire data from patients with soft tissue sarcomas in order to determine if their methods are capable of reliably distinguishing tissue types as well as ascertain if a portable Raman probe could be used with accuracy in the operating room. This will hopefully be a stepping stone and provide results for grant applications that have been submitted to NIH and NSF for additional funding.

Prof. Kao is decidedly optimistic on the project’s future. “Our preliminary results are very promising and show a high correlation between the histologic findings and analysis of the Raman spectroscopic data using a novel computer-generated algorithm…” he explained. “Our group has published our research findings in journals and presented them in international conferences, and will continue to do so as new results of this research collaboration emerge. We envisage that our work will have important clinical applications.”

Figure 1. Spectra of tumor, muscle, dermal collagen and fat at different locations. The spectrum of each tissue type is an average of more than 80,000 spectra among different regions and locations in the tissues, showing consistent peaks with distinct patterns for the tissue types. The horizontal axis is the wave numbers (in cm-1) and the vertical axis is the normalized intensity.

Professor Longtin Awarded $100k Subcontract

Professor Jon Longtin has been awarded a $100k subcontract for research and development on a project entitled “Oil and Gas Combustion Emissions Testing” with Brookhaven National Laboratory. The project is funded by NYSERDA, and focuses on a suite of emissions measurements for combustion heating systems according to Prof. Longtin. The project will look at both different fuel types and different combustion systems. In the wake of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), which seeks to have New York use zero-emission electricity by 2040, information on renewable energy and emissions is in high demand. “This is a dramatic change in the landscape of how energy is used in the state, and represents New York State’s commitment to becoming the national leader in this space,” said Prof. Longtin. “I think this is very exciting to see.”

Motorsports Club Flourishes Amidst Pandemic

For one student organization, the pandemic may have been a blessing in disguise.

Stony Brook Motorsports may not be the biggest or oldest club on campus, but they have made a name for themselves in their own right. Every year the team designs, builds and races an off-road vehicle in the Baja Sae Competition - one of SAE International’s many Collegiate Design Series competitions designed to prepare future engineers for the mobility industry. In light of the pandemic, the competition has been modified from a hands-on test of skill to ‘knowledge events’ based in design, modeling and more for now two years in a row.

“Once the pandemic hit, we weren’t really able to do anything in our shop and office,” saidChristopher Sherling, the club’s

president. The competition is usually held from April-June andtheteam had just gotten to work building last year’s vehicle when Stony Brook switched to remote learning. “We focused all of our work on all-wheel drive and sorts.”

At first, the switch made it impossible to continue their work, but then the club quickly came to realize that this is just what they needed. Sherling explained that the club often had trouble bringing on new team members when it came to explaining everything that needed to be done. “We went

Motorsports

from having 15-20 pages of technical documentation on the car to over 250 pages… This ended up being one of those silver lining things where it sucks that we can’t see each other in person, but it’s had a significant benefit for the team where we can focus on design.”

The threat of a knowledge gap became a serious concern of the club, not only because the pandemic is preventing them from doing any physical vehicle work, but also because a large portion of the club’s experienced members are in their senior year and won’t be present when the club makes a shift back to in-person activities. This is only exacerbated by the fact that SAE plans to enforce a major design change requirement where all vehicles will be required to have four-wheel drive starting in 2022 rather than a standard design - something they’ve never done before.

“We’ve been able to do a lot of documentation, more so than what we’d normally be able to do,” said the club’s vice president, Nicholas De Marco. “And that’s going to help [the team] in the Motorsports futureto be able to see how people design things. We’regoing to start writing up how we fabricate things so that people in the future can know what we did and how we did it.”

Beyond vehicle work, the club does it’s best to stay together. Christian Funes, one of the club’s System Leaders described organizing game and movie nights in order to keep the club connected while being scattered across the country. “We try to keep together by doing events, like a little game night to keep the community together,” Funes explained. “It honestly really helps. Helps us come together without having to do work which, in my opinion, is a good way to build a team.”

Professor Ge Appointed Co-Editor of the Journal of Mechanical Design

Professor Jeff Ge has received an appointment as Co-Editor of the Journal of Mechanical Design by the ASME Technical Committee on Publications and Communications. Professor Ge will serve as Editor of Mechanisms and will be responsible for papers in the area of mechanisms, robotics, and design innovations. His appointment as Co-Editor will run from January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2025. Congratulations!

Freshmen Design 'SnappyCat'

One class brought the remote fall semester to a close more connected than ever.

Professor Anurag Purwar teaches MEC 101, a large Freshman Design Innovation class, but was faced this year with the obstacle of holding this hands on class virtually during the pandemic. In the class, students learn STEM concepts in the context of robot design. A robot kit produced in Purwar’s lab is usually provided to each student in class. This year however, rather than being in the same room, students were scattered across the globe.

SnappyCat Group “I have seen students in my class bond over the project, make friends, and become comfortable knowing their professors and seniors who serve as mentors.” said Purwar. “I was not prepared to let go of this valuable aspect of their presence on campus.”

Despite all the limitations and constraints, Prof. Purwar and the Teaching Assistants made kits and sent them to students wherever they were in the world and had them work on their robots remotelyand virtually. This year's theme was "Design a robotic solution for someone who was affected by COVID-19".

Students bonded over this hands-on project during the last five weeks and found a way to design, build, make circuits, and program their robots, overcoming despite the hardships of their diversity in location the challenge presented by physical distance. The Mechanical Engineering Department Chair, Professor Jeff Ge, and CEAS Acting Dean Professor Rob Kukta, attended the final robot

SnappyCat Correct Answer

demonstrations over Zoom, providing a morale boost for the freshman students, many of whomhave not seen the campus in-person at all. Of the 33 projects presented, one of the class’s favorites was a device named ‘SnappyCat’. This “walking” cat-shaped robot is capable of quizzing the user on basic math equations and reacting accordingly to correct or incorrect answers.

Purwar was proud of the odds the students overcame, stating, “I like to believe that it gave them a sense of community and purpose and most importantly, hopefully they made some friends and had fun in the process.”

Professor Purwar Awarded 2021 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Distinguished Teaching Award

Assistant Professor, Anurag Purwar, has been selected as the winner of 2021 ASEE Mid-Atlantic Distinguished Teaching Award. The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Mid-Atlantic Section is committed to excellence in engineering and engineering technology students' instruction and annually recognizes an outstanding engineering or engineering technology educator from the section. This award is in recognition of Prof. Purwar's outstanding contributions to teaching and learning at Stony Brook University.

The award consists of an honorarium and a certificate of recognition, which will be presented at the Awards Ceremony of the 2021 virtual spring meeting, hosted by Villanova University on April 9-10. Prof. Purwar will share his expertise and experience as an educator with the ASEE community at the conference.

Additionally, Prof. Purwar has been nominated as the Mid-Atlantic Section’s representative for the ASEE National Outstanding Teaching Medal for 2021.

While the award recognizes his dedication to his students and his continued development as an exceptional instructor, Prof. Purwar humbly believes that this award is also a nod to the Mechanical Engineering department, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Stony Brook University as a whole.

Manufacturing Day 2020

To celebrate the national Manufacturing Day on October 2, members of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences joined Long Island’s manufacturers, SBU alumni and advocacy groups to spread some much-needed knowledge about the industry. Local high school students and parents Manufacturing Day attended ‘Long Island Manufacturing Day 2020’ held by Summit Safety & Efficiency Solution and explored career possibilities in the industry. They learned from recent graduates about the early years in a manufacturing career, experienced virtual tours of manufacturing factories, and enjoyed a virtual robotics camp at the end of the event.

Joseph Schurz, Machinist for the CEAS and Mechanical Engineering (MEC) instructor for Machining Practices, is one of many who appeared in panels and Q&As to impart advice on those who attended. “Although it can be hectic at times, seeing the students grow into the engineers they came here to be is what makes me proud to be a part of the MEC department,” Schurz said. When presented with the opportunity to participate in Manufacturing Day and speak to younger students on the possibilities within the field, he “couldn’t turn it down”.

Professor Noah Machtay also attended this event for similar reasons, stating that, “Outreach efforts to primary and secondary school students has been a consistent part of my work throughout my career. I'd hate to think some promising young engineer might miss their calling to our field just because no one ever showed up to tell them about it.” Machtay instructs the Manufacturing Processes course at Stony Brook as well as supervises the MEC department's Manufacturing Automation Laboratory.

The manufacturing field has a variety of possible careers within it usually related to creating new products from raw materials or simple components - factories are usually what comes to mind for most people but it’s so much more than that. “Engineers solve problems,” Machtay explained. “And for mechanical engineers, that often means designing a physical structure or device of some kind. I like that by incorporating the manufacturing field, we can ensure that the things we design are genuine solutions that work both on paper, while also being feasible in the real world.”

The typical jobs that MEC students get when they take the manufacturing track range from machinists and manufacturing engineers to working in aerospace and robotics. Some of the brightest outlooks can be found for industrial engineers and sales representatives in the industry.

Industrial engineers design, develop, test and evaluate integrated systems for managing industrial production processes - such as managing a facility or plant, ensuring quality in products or working with research and development. Sales representatives on the other hand, work to sell the created products on behalf of the manufacturers to businesses. Having an engineering background and substantial knowledge about the items that are being sold are key skills that can set you apart from the competition.

Schurz described manufacturing as having good and bad attributes, stating “Being able to design and manufacture something by hand is a challenge that I love to take on. The thing to dislike is occasionally on the job you have to deal with poorly conceived designs and improperly drawn blueprints.”

When it comes to people entering the field, he posed a simple piece of advice. “Understand the field you are about to dive into…It's not all about sticking your nose in the books and studying for 50 hours a week but it's also important to be hands on in order to become a well-rounded asset to your job/community and embrace the challenges that lie ahead.”

SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund S4 Catalyst Investments

One class just made it big with a little platform known as SnappyXO (www.snappyxo.com). Stony Brook’s team placed first in the inaugural 2020 SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund S4 Catalyst Investments competition from the SUNY Research Foundation. The SUNY-wide competition is the capstone of the SUNY S4 Startup school and grants two winning teams $10k each.

This year’s victor, SnappyXO, is a state of the art STEM and Robotics education platform to encourage students from K-12 and higher-education to learn STEM concepts using project-based and experiential learning.

The product was invented in Professor Anurag Purwar’s Computer-Aided Design and Innovation Lab in the Mechanical Engineering department and builds upon years of research in the Mechanisms and Robotics area. It comes with a patented hardware and an app for motion design of mechanisms and robots. The technology behind the product has been licensed to a NY-state startup Mechanismic Inc., which is bringing this to the world-wide market now.

Ameya Kale, a recent Stony Brook graduate with an MS in Mechanical Engineering, is now leading the product and business development efforts at Mechanismic Inc. “There were a total of 14 teams that participated in the competition, and each of us had really good and innovative ideas.” Kale pitched the product at the competition, helping SnappyXO impress the judges.

“Personally, I had never pitched before in my life and so I was going in with big expectations of myself. It was a great learning experience for me, and I am happy that my efforts led to positive results in terms of the competition!”

Stony Brook University and Mechanismic Inc. have been jointly developing the technology and the product with the funding from the National Science Foundation, Manufacturing Technology and Research Consortium (MTRC), SUNY Research Foundation, SensorCAT, and the NY-state SPIR program.

US Navy Awards Professor Kedar Kirane

ONR logo The Office of Naval Research (ONR) may provide technical advice to the Navy, but where would they get this research information but from one of our very own? Professor Kedar Kirane of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has become one of the lucky researchers to receive a grant from the ONR this summer, enabling him to bring his research to new heights.

Professor Kirane received an award of $490,000 that will be given over the course of a three year long project to investigate the size effects in fabric composites failing under compression. Woven fiber reinforced composites under compression predominantly fail by the formation and propagation of a fiber kink band. While the underlying physical micro-mechanisms have been widely analyzed, the ensuing scaling in the strength has not. This is essential to understand, in order to assess the load bearing capacity of composite structures of different sizes under compression, by using strength measured on lab-scale coupons. This project will pursue this understanding via a combined experimental and computational approach.

Just recently, Professor Kirane was announced for winning ASME’s ORR Early Career Award for his research on understanding the fatigue, fracturing and scaling behavior of various conventional and advanced composite materials. And last year, he won the Army’s Young Investigator Program with his proposal to quantify how much energy composites can safely absorb. His extensive research in these specific facets certainly caught the eye of the ONR.

ORR Early Career Award Recieved by Professor Kedar Kirane

Professor Kedar Kirane has been awarded the ORR Early Career Award by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The award recognizes Professor Kirane for notable research excellence for his work with solid mechanics, focusing on the fracture, fatigue and scaling in heterogeneous quasi-brittle materials such as composites and concrete.
Many Stony Brook professors have made names for themselves within ASME, including Professor Toshio Nakamura, the current chair of the ASME Materials Division, and Professor Jeffery Ge who is the current past chair of ASME Design Engineering Division. Students are no exception with the ASME Student Chapter at Stony Brook participating in many projects of their own, including the ‘Go Baby Go’ Program that provides hundreds of mobility disabled children specialty cars that cater to their needs.

Professor Kedar Kirane Established in 2004, the ASME ORR Early Career Award is given by the Orr family through the Materials Division of ASME and consists of a $3,000 honorarium and certificate. It is given annually at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, and will be presented virtually to Professor Kirane in November.

Professor Purwar Recieves ASME Outstanding Student Section Advisor Award

Following his election to the rank of Senior Member by the National Academy of Investors, Professor Anurag Purwar received the ASME Outstanding Student Section Advisor Award for the year of 2020. This award recognizes the leadership and service qualities of a Student Section Advisor and their contribution to the success of a section and its students. The certificate is awarded to Professor Purwar for “four years of outstanding service as ASME Student Section Advisor at Stony Brook University; for service as a prolific researcher, inventor, educator, and entrepreneur and as an inspirational leader to the student chapter.” Congratulations!

ASME Award Certificate

Professors Elected to the Rank of Senior Members by National Academy of Investors

nai senior members logo Professors Fu-Pen Chiang and Anurag Purwar have been elected to the rank of Senior Members by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The NAI senior Member Advisory Committee and Board of Directors elected Purwar and Chiang for their “success in patents, licensing, and commercialization” and for producing “technologies that have brought, or aspire to bring, real impact on the welfare of society”. Senior Members also foster a spirit of innovation within their communities through enhancing an inventive atmosphere at their institutions, while educating and mentoring the next generation of inventors. They have been invited to attend the NAI 10th Anniversary Annual Meeting on June 7-9, 2021 at the JW Marriott Water Street in Tampa, Florida, where they will be recognized as newly elected NAI Senior Members.

Introducing STEM Concepts at a Freshman Level via a New Design-Driven Robotics Class

The American Society for Engineering Education hosted their annual conference virtually this year, giving Professor Anurag Purwar the opportunity to host a workshop for fellow educators. Prof. Purwar's objective: "For too long, a large majority of Engineering departments have sought to introduce Engineering concepts to Freshman students by creating watered-down, lecture-driven “Introduction to Engineering or XYZ” classes. However, in recent years, Engineering educators have mandated an introduction of design concepts, innovation, entrepreneurship, and projects early in a student's education, promote teamwork, and introduce modern engineering tools. The National Academy of Engineer's “The Engineer of 2020" report concludes that the passive, lecture-based instruction should be replaced or supplemented by active, integrated, project-based learning with significant design components. It is not uncommon to see various academic institutions introducing design and innovations early in the curriculum and emphasize preparing and educating engineers who can excel in a creativity- and innovation-based economy.

The goal of this workshop is to introduce Engineering educators to a new hands-on, project-based, and flipped Freshman Design Innovation and Robotics class offered at Stony Brook University and created with a Teaching Innovation grant from the State University of New York (SUNY). The class emphasizes learning STEM concepts in the context of robot design and is enabled by a set of videos freely available on youtube.com, text-book free course material, and open robot design project site. The class also uses a novel, modular, and low-cost robotics kit and a state-of-the-art software for design and prototyping of robot motions. The software is built upon the NSF-funded research in Mechanisms and Robotics. The software and the robot kit are also being used in undergraduate and graduate Kinematics classes at Stony Brook University."

padlet

Mid-Career Faculty Diversity Award

Associate Professor Carlos Colosqui is one of eight recipients of the Mid-Career Faculty Diversity Awards. These awards, with financial support from the President's Office and Chief Diversity Officer, recognize faculty at the mid-career stage who have a strong record of research, teaching, and service; and who advance Stony Brook University's goals of a diverse and inclusive campus. The awardees can be found on Provost's website.

PhD Students Receive NSF fellowship in Quantitative Analysis of Dynamic Structures

PhD students, Jason Loprete (pictured) and Troy Singletary, have been awarded a one-year loprete fellowship sponsored by the NSF Research Traineeship program. The interdisciplinary research of polymers, biomaterials, metal oxides, nanoparticles, and colloids is comprised of various research groups. The Mechanical Engineering fellows will be working closely with Professor Carlos Colosqui to develop new methods of data analysis, focusing on data-intensive X-ray characterization and simulation of material structure and dynamics. Read more

Professor awarded NCI funding for research in engineering-driven medicine

Professor Jeff Ge has been awarded a two-year grant in the amount of $173,375 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for his project entitled, "A Dual Quaternion Based Method for Estimating PTV Margins in Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy." The specific aim of this project is to construct a space around an imaged anatomic target, termed Planning Target Volume (PTV), that will encompass its expected positions as the body moves during image guided therapy. Current methods do not accurately capture displacements produced by rotations of the body. Consequently, treatment is directed at target volumes that are exaggerated or inadequate, jeopardizing the tolerance and efficacy of treatment. Margin differences as small as 2mm have been found to substantially increase doses to critical structures in radiation therapy. The objective of this project is to develop a method for computing planning target volume that minimally encloses the space to be occupied by the target as a convex hull of boundary positions using dual quaternions to represent the anatomic translations and rotations. The long term goal of this research is to reduce the morbidity of treatment and provide greater assurance of target coverage by a more rigorous formulation of target margins. This research will be carried out in collaboration with Mark Langer, MD, Clinical Professor, Radiation Oncology Department, Indiana University Medical School.

NSF award granted for research in electrokinetic flow

Associate Professor Carlos Colosqui has been awarded $300k from the National Sciene Foundation (NSF) for research of electrokinetic flow on nanostructured superhydrophilic and syperhydrophobic surface. Contributing to this research are two of Prof. Colosqui's Ph.D. students, Aktaruzzaman Al Hossain and Dhiraj Nandyala. Read more

Engineering-Driven Medicine: CoreVent 2020

As the coming storm of the COVID-19 pandemic loomed in the New York metropolitan region in early March, the faculty and staff of Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) started mobilizing to address the grim predictions of shortages of critical equipment needed to empower clinicians to save lives. In response to the crisis, the CoreVent 2020 was developed by a team of mechanical engineering faculty, respiratory care clinicians, and physicians, in an extraordinary example of engineering-driven medicine. Using only readily available components, the team took on the daunting task of conceiving, designing, building and testing a ventilator that could be made available to SBUH and other clinicians when and if a critical shortage arose, thereby saving lives when the number of patients needing mechanical ventilation exceeded ventilator reserves.The team was led by Jon Longtin, professor of mechanical engineering and CEAS Associate Dean of Research and Entrepreneurship, and included Dimitris Assanis, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Discussions are underway with Long Island-based company Biodex Medical Systems to manufacture the initial CoreVent 2020 units as the COVID-19 crisis dictates. The team has also engaged the appropriate regulatory agencies to explore pathways that will allow emergency use of the device at Stony Brook Hospital and other institutions as well. Read more

A Tribute to the Late Emeritus Professor Edward E. O'Brien

If there was a conference that Edward E. O'Brien attended consistently during his lifetime, it was the Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) of the American Physical Society (APS), of which he was a Fellow. At the November 2019 APS/DFD meeting in Seattle, WA, three colleagues of the Emeritus Professor, affectionately known as Ted, organized two sessions to honor his seminal contributions to the theory of turbulence. ted

Cesar Dopzao (Spain), Peyman Givi (University of Pittsburgh), and Foluso Ladeinde (Stony Brook University) compiled and shared 18 presentations at two sessions honoring Ted. Presenters came from all over the world: China, Peru, Spain, England, and of course the US. By far the most emphasized credential of Ted, besides superior intelligence, was humility. It has been said that Ted may have contributed more to Turbulence Theory than any other person in the world since the 1960s. Yet, unlike most of his colleagues, Ted was unusually modest about his acheivements.

Ted was a founding member of the Department of Thermal Sciences at Stony Brook University in 1961. The program quickly gained popularity and developed into the Department of Mechanics, later becomming the Department of Mechanical Egineering, of which Ted served as Chair.

The compilation has been made available to the public as a celebration of the legacy that Ted left behind on Theoretical Mechanics and the particular subject of turbulence theory.

Faculty & Staff Honored at Annual Awards & Recognition Dinner
Five Department Members Earn Promotions
US Army Awards Kedar Kirane for Research to Protect Soldiers in Combat
Alumnus Acacia Leakey Develops Sustainable Off-Grid Technologies
Go Baby Go!
ASCE 2018 Outstanding Reviewer
Summer Camp Earns Faculty "Innovator of the Year" Award
MEC Graduate Program Rises in US New Rankings
Graduate MEC Student Publishes Sci-Fi Mystery Novel
Professor Lands NSF Funding to Teach Robotics to Kids
Professor Anurag Purwar to be inducted into the National Academy of Inventors - Stony Brook Chapter
MEC Graduate, Steve Hansen '90, Serves as Chief Engineer for Honda R&D

Faculty & Staff Honored at Annual Awards & Recognition Dinner

SUNY Distinguished Professor, Fu-Pen Chiang, Assistant Professor Kedar Kirane, and Custodial Services Staff Member, Martha Genao were honored at Stony Brook's Annual Awards and Recognition Dinner on Thursday, October 3rd. Prof. Chiang received the William M. Murray Lecture Award and Ms. Genao received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Classified Service, for her dedication and support in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Prof. Kirane was recognized for being awarded the Haythornthwaite Research Initiation grant in 2018. Congratulations to our colleagues!

FuPen Martha

Five Department Members Earn Promotions

promotions

Faculty and staff of the Mechanical Engineering Department celebrated several changes and promotions to kick off the new academic year. Professors Shikui Chen, Carlos Colosqui, Sotirios Mamalis, and Lifeng Wang have all been awarded the promotion of Associate Professor with tenure. Former Mechanical Laboratory Technician, Rafael Tejada has been selected for a promotion into the position of Mechanical Laboratory Specialist. Also effective this Fall semester is the start of Professor David Hwang's term as Undergradute Program Director. Mechanical Engineering would like to congratulate all of these folks in their new roles!

US Army awards research to protect solidiers in combat

Investigating the effectiveness of composite materials in combat situations is the focus of newly funded research by Kedar Kirane, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Professor Kirane studies and predicts the ability of composites to withstand blasts and other impacts by creating a computer model that will capture crack branching and the transitions in failure mechanisms. The U.S. Army's Young Investigator Program (YIP) awarded him a grant of $359,000 over three years, allowing him to demonstrate how these materials will perform under relevant scenarios, particularly impacts and blasts. Read more

kedar

**MEC Students Make an Impact with Go Baby Go Project**

In a collaborative effort, students from the SBU-student chapter of ASME, faculty advisor Anurag Purwar, and physical therapy outpatient center Keep Moving Forward, took part in the "Go Baby Go" project. The group modified off-the-shelf toy cars for young children with mobility issues. Patrick O'Donnell '19, explained that, "the impact and potential of this program is incredible and far reaching. It provides an excellent outlet for engineering students to use their knowledge and expertise to make a great impact." Read More Go Baby Go

National Academy of Inventors Inducts Professor Anurag Purwar into SBU Chapter

The Stony Brook University Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI-SBU) held its 2019 Annual Meeting at the Charles B. Wang Center on May 1, and inducted 16 new members and 4 honorary members to the Academy. The newly inducted academic inventors have held patents issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office and from various departments, including Anesthesiology, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Orthopedics, Physics and Astronomy, Radiation Oncology, and Radiology. With these 20 new members, NAI-SBU now holds 88 NAI members, including 8 NAI fellows.

nai sbu

Faculty Selected as "ASCE 2018 Outstanding Reviewer" of the Journal of Aerospace Engineering

The American Society of Civil Engineers has honored Associate Professor Foluso Ladeinde as an "ASCE 2018 Outstanding Reviewer". He was selected by the editor of the Journal of Aerospace Engineering for his thoroughness and dedicated contribution.

Summer Camp Earns Faculty "Innovator of the Year" Award

InnovateLI honored Professor Anurag Purwar, and Professor Imin Kao, with the "Innovator of the Year" award for the Design Innovation and Robotics Camp for 6th-11th grade students sponsored by Stony Brook University's Manufacturing and Technology Resource Consortium (MTRC). The two-week camp is a STEM based program that offers hands-on experiential learning.

innovateli

MEC Graduate Program Rises in US News Rankings

Stony Brook graduate schools and programs have again been rated impressively in the U.S. News and World Report annual graduate school rankings. In the 2020 edition of Best Graduate Schools, Stony Brook University was named a top school in both Engineering and Medicine. The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences rose from being ranked 66 in 2018 to 64 (tie) as a Best Engineering School. The Mechanical Engineering graduate program rose from 70 to 52.

MEC Graduate Student Publishes Sci-Fi Mystery Novel

Ameya Kale, a graduate student in his final semester of the Masters program in Mechanical Engineering, has published his first sci-fi mystery thriller novel. His book, Sacrifice, stemmed from his own thoughts on what the fate of the world would be if there were no humans to begin with. In addition to being an aspiring novelist, Ameya is also a mentor for WISE where he works with high school students interested in STEM fields. Moreover, he is a GSO senator, a volunteer writer for the Statesman, and a grader for MEC 512. After he graduates this coming May, he plans to begin his career in the mechanical engineering industry. Ameya shared his ambition in a meeting with President Stanley; he hopes that his story of becomming a published author inspires other students to be vocal about their talents with the campus community. His book is available for purchase on Amazon and Google Play.

ameya

Professor Lands NSF Funding to Teach Robotics to Kids

snappy Robotics is part of nearly all fields of science and has helped to transform work ranging from manufacturing to vehicle technology to surgery. To help students from elementary school through high school to advance their knowledge and creativity using robotics in STEM fields, Anurag Purwar, PhD, Research Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University, has received a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct research and development of SnappyXO, a robotics education platform.

Professor Selected to Join National Academy of Inventors

Research Associate Professor Anurag Purwar has been selected to become a Member of the National Academy of Inventors through the Stony Brook Chapter (NAI-SBU). The National Academy of Inventors was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors who have a patent issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); enhance the visibility of university technology and academic innovation; encourage the disclosure of intellectual property; educate and mentor innovative students; and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. The Stony Brook University Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors was established in 2016 to recognize the contributions of scientist-inventors across all disciplines in the university community. The inaugural NAI-SBU Chapter Members will be honored at the Induction Ceremony on Wednesday, May 1, where a Member Certificate will be awarded to each inductee. Professor Purwar is the sixth Mechanical Engineering faculty inducted into the NAI-SBU. He joins the company of Jahangir Rastegar (NAI Fellow), Jon Longtin, Imin Kao, Fu-Pen Chiang, and Satya Sharma.

MEC Graduate Serves as Chief Engineer at Honda R&D

Halfway through his interview at Honda, Steve Hansen ’90 felt certain he wasn’t going to get the job. It wasn’t until he pulled out a photo of the senior design project he had completed at Stony Brook that the interview really turned around. Now, nearly thirty years later, Hansen is a Chief Engineer for Honda R&D Americas, Inc., and he still credits his work at Stony Brook with landing him the job. Today, Hansen has led the development of several Honda and Acura models, most recently leading the global development of the 2019 Acura RDX.

URECA Names MEC Senior "Researcher of the Month"

Andrew Nwuba began doing research in his sophomore year, and joined two different research groups in the Department of Mechanical Engineering: one specializing in fluid mechanics, one focused on solid mechanics. In Professor Carlos Colosqui's research group, Andrew currently investigates the behavior of fluids, quantifies data-powder wettability, contact angles and surface tension in MATLAB, and seeks to develop new technologies related to hydrophobic materials. In the research group of Professor Fu-Pen Chiang (where Andrew worked for ~ 3 semesters until April 2018), Andrew used laser speckle interferometry to measure the strain and roughness of objects. This research involved using MATLAB scripts to generate random speckle patterns. An in-depth interview with Andrew can be found here.

BNL Senior Scientist Selected for ASME Freeman Scholar

Upendra S. Rohatgi, Ph.D., has been selected to receive the 2019 Freeman Scholarship Award for his paper entitled, "Validation, Verification, Scaling and Uncertainty Quantification for Thermal-Hydraulics." Dr. Rohatgi is a Senior Scientist at Brookhaven National Lab and Adjunct Professor for the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He will present the paper at the ASME-JSME-KSME Joint Fluids Engineering Conference in San Francisco, California in July.

MEC Alum and NASA Engineer Speaks with MEC Students

NASA Engineer, artist, and alum of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sabrina Thompson '07, has been recognized by Stony Brook University as a 40 under Forty honoree. This semester Sabrina spent time on campus, speaking with aspiring engineers and, in particular, encouraging young females to dive into STEM fields.

sabrina thompson

Researcher Joins CEAS Millionaire's Club

Pictured below, Prof. Sotirios Mamalis is inducted into the Millionaire's Club of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences for securing over $3.8M worth of grants in 2018 from the Department of Energy. Funding will go towards research on "Hybrid Electrochemistry and Advanced Combustion for High Efficiency Power" and "Naphthenic Biofuel-Diesel Blend for Optimizing Mixing Controlled Compression Ignition Combustion." mamalismillionaire

SBUHacks Marathon

Research Associate Professor Anurag Purwar (third from left) and Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Fotis Sotiropoulos (fourth from left) participated in the 2018 SBUHacks. This annual 24-hour event offers aspiring computer programmers, software developers, graphic designers, and interface designers a chance to collaborate under the guidance of academic and industry mentors.

sbuhacks

Society of Experimental Mechanics awards Prof. Fu-Pen Chiang the WM Murray Lecture Award

Fu-pen Chiang's research emphasis is on the development of optical and other experimental mechanics techniques and their applications to stress analysis (including NDE), fracture and fatigue of engineering and biological materials and structures. He has written over 400 journal and conference articles published in 58 archival journals and numerous conference proceedings. He has given invited lectures at 23 institutions in 17 countries and was a visiting faculty of Cambridge University (Cavendish Laboratory), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Lausanne), National Taiwan University, Tsinghua University (Beijing and Taiwan), among others. His research has been supported by NSF, ONR, AFOSR, ARO,, NIH, DOT and industrial concerns. He received Theocaris Award (2015), Frocht Award (2008) and Lazan Award (1993) from the Society of Experimental Mechanics and the Life Time Achievement Medal (2012) from the International Conference of Computational and Experimental Engineering and Sciences. In 2016 he received the Life Time Achievement Award from the European Society of Experimental Mechanics at the 17th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics held in Rhodes, Greece. He served as Editor of Int. J. Optics of Lasers in Engineering, Associate Editor of J. of Experimental Mechanics and ASME J. of Engineering Materials and Technology. He also served as Guest Editor for four special issues of J. Optical Engineering and has organized many international and national conferences.

Prof. Jon Longtin receives $50K seed grant from Energy Systems for Sustainability Research for Energy-Harvesting Fusion project
New occupancy detection device designed to save home energy use
Prof. Jon Longtin & Prof. Ya Wang receive $1M ARPA-E award for developing advanced, low-cost occupancy sensor for residential homes by building upon commercially available pyroelectric infrared sensor technology to detect human presence
Prof. Fu-Pen Chiang receives $150,000 2 year grant from US Navy Office of Naval Research for conducting research on using digital volumetric speckle photography to map interior deformation of composites
Prof Cindy Chang promoted to associate Professor
Prof. Ya Wang's advisee advances to Regeneron STS scholar
Prof. Anurag Purwar speaks at the final lecture of the Spring 2017 University Libraries STEM Speaker Series
Prof. Imin Kao discusses the future of biotechnology on Long Island
Prof. Ashish Singla from Thapar University and Prof. Ekta Singla visit Prof. Anurag Purwar's research lab for summer

The ASME Student Club was at the Power Racing Competition held at the 2017 World Makerfaire in NY.

Start with $500 and a Power Wheel. (Or any electric kids’ ride on vehicle.) Get some new batteries. A new motor. Heck, some nice new tires. Tie LEDs to the hood. Sprinkle it with glitter. Maybe a feather for class. Haul it to one of our many races.

Makerfaire

Department welcomes new Undergraduate Program Coordinator

The Department of Mechanical Engineering welcomes Amanda Flanagan as the Undergraduate Program Coordinator.

Amanda has a master's degree in Business Administration (MBA '11) and a Bachelor of Science in Advertising (BS '09) from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. While completing her graduate degree, she began a career in education with the Career Services department. Since returning to Long Island in 2011, Amanda worked as a Career Advisor for students pursuing a vocational education in the healthcare industry.

Amanda comes to Stony Brook with strong administrative and interpersonal skills. She has already become an active member of the Stony Brook University community by attending workshops and volunteering in Academic Advising. Amanda strives to create a positive experience for the students and faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Prof. Anurag Purwar receives prestigious award at the ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference

Anurag Purwar receives the award Anurag Purwar, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and his PhD student Shrinath Deshpande were honored with A. T. Yang Memorial Award in Theoretical Kinematics in recognition of their prize-winning paper “A Task-driven Approach to Optimal Synthesis of Planar Four-bar Linkages for Extended Burmester Problem” at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 41st Mechanisms and Robotics Conference, held August 6 through 9 in Cleveland, OH as part of the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences.

The award carries an inscribed plaque and an honorarium sponsored by the A. T. Yang Memorial founded in recognition of late Prof. A. T. Yang's seminal contributions to the field of theoretical kinematics.

Ms. Dominique Barone Receives Permanent Appointment

The Department of Mechanical Engineering would like to congratulate Dominique Barone, Assistant to Chair, for receiving permanent appointment in her position as Senior Staff Assistant.

Dominique joined the University community in 2001 as an undergraduate transfer student studying sociology. Following graduation, she began working for Clinical Practice Management Plan at Stony Brook Hospital, and soon after began pursuing a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management through the School of Professional Development. After receiving her graduate degree, she worked for several years in private industry as a recruiter, and then returned to Stony Brook where she worked first as the Assistant to the Assistant Vice President for Campus Residences for five years before joining Mechanical Engineering for a promotional opportunity in November 2014.

Dominique is an active member of the campus community and has served on various committees and volunteer assignments, notably, as a Judicial Board Member for University Community Standards, an ADV101 Instructor and Transfer Orientation Advisor for Academic & Transfer Advising Services, a LEAD/GOLD Mentor for the Department of Residential Programs, a member of the Student Employee of the Year Awards Selection Committee with the Career Center, as well as a Homecoming Banner Judge for Athletics. She is also the recipient of her former Division’s Outstanding Service Award in Spring 2014.

Dominique is excited for the opportunity to continue her work as an administrator in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and remain an active community member at Stony Brook University.

Prof. Jon Longtin and Prof. Benjamin Lawler are awarded with the Student's Choice Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Department of Mechanical Engineering's 2017 Graduation Ceremony

Ben Lawler receives award Jon Longtin receives award

Dr. Ashish Singla visits from India

Dr. Ashish Singla, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Thapar University, Patiala visited during Summer 2017 as Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He worked with Dr Anurag Purwar on development of assistive devices for rehabilitation.

Ashish Singla, Jeff Ge, and Anurag Purwar

Dr. Ekta Singla visits from India

Dr. Ekta Singla, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Ropar also joined as a Visiting Assistant Professor in our department. She worked with Dr. Anurag Purwar on developing a unified framework for redundant manipuator designs.

Ekta Singla, Jeff Ge, and Anurag Purwar

Prof. Carlos Colosqui (PI), Thomas Cubaud (Co-PI), and David Hwang (Co-PI) receive a three-year $328,441 award from the National Science Foundation CBET to develop novel capillary “diodes” for water treatment and separation of immiscible fluids.
Stony Brook Hosts 2016 M & M International Symposium for Young Researchers
Martin Giordano honored with SUNY Chancellor’s award for excellence
17th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics Names Two Symposia in Fu-Pen Chiang's Honor
Mechanical Engineering Alumni Md Islam B.E. Class of 2006 Accepted into Prestigious University of Chicago's Booth Executive MBA Program
Intern Adarsh Karnati Announced as Semi-Finalist for 2016 Intel Science Talent Search

Mechanical Engineering partners with the WISE program, which receives a Grant to Continue Supporting STEM Education

TechPREP — a STEM program for middle school students on Long Island — has received a $20,000 grant from the Long Island Community Foundation. TechPREP is a collaborative effort that includes Stony Brook University’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program, Department of Technology and Society, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Research Technologies and Innovation, along with local school districts. The grant will provide funding and facilitators for a one-week summer STEM program, which will serve as many as 100 students from high-need school districts.

As part of the TechPREP program, Prof. Anurag Purwar will offer a Robotics Workshop to the middle school girls from the disadvantaged school districts in Long Island. He says, “the TechPREP program generously funded by the LICF seeks to address the gender imbalance in engineering, and the Women in Engineering Day will introduce students to the art, practice and excitement of doing engineering design and ultimately help them make better career choices.”

http://www.stonybrook.edu/happenings/oncampus/techprep-grant-2016/

Prof. Carlos Colosqui (PI) wins a three-year award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the interaction of colloidal micro/nanoparticles with lipid bilayer membranes forming the outer wall of biological cells and 2D biomaterials

Prof. Carlos Colosqui (PI) wins a three-year award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the interaction of colloidal micro/nanoparticles with lipid bilayer membranes forming the outer wall of biological cells and 2D biomaterials. The project is a NSF collaborative effort with Prof. Howard Stone at Princeton University and Yuan-nan Young at NJIT and is co-funded by the NSF Divisions of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) and Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET). The total award amount ($505,000) is split between the three academic institutions involved, with $150,000 awarded to Stony Brook University.
link: https://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1614892

Prof. Anurag Purwar served as General Conference Co-Chair for IDETC 2016

Prof. Anurag Purwar from our department recently served as the General Conference Co-Chair for the 2016 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (IDETC/CIE) held in Charlotte, NC and attended by more than 1400 people. This flagship meeting for the ASME Design Engineering Division and the Computers and Information in Engineering Division consisted of the 11 conferences on topics ranging from Advanced Vehicle Technologies, Design Automation, Design Education, Mechanisms and Robotics, Multibody Systems, Nonlinear Dynamics, Control, Vibrations, Biomedical Devices, Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference, and Micro- and Nanosystems.

Drawing largely from the 970 draft papers submitted, the conference featured 772 archival paper presentations and 74 technical presentations across a wide range of session topics, complemented by plenary and keynote lectures, lively panel discussions, industry sessions, and informational tutorials and workshops addressing a rich spectrum of cutting-edge topics related to design, analysis, computation, and academic/professional success.

Prior to serving as the chair of the ASME IDETC/CIE, he served as the conference chair of the 2015 ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference and as the Program Chair of the 2014 Mechanisms and Robotics Conference (MR). He is an elected member of the prestigious ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Committee. https://www.asme.org/events/idetccie/about/organizing-committee

Prof. Anurag Purwar (PI) and Jeff Ge (Co-PI) win a three-year $440,735 prestigious NSF award for conducting their research on A Computational Framework for Data-Driven Mechanism Design Innovation

Recent trends in democratization of manufacturing capability such do-it-yourself hobby shops, 3D printing technology, as well as low-cost sensors, actuators, and microcontrollers, call for a corresponding democratization of design tools that can help engineers and tinkerers alike to innovate and invent motion generating devices. Motion generation is a fundamental aspect of machines, at the heart of which are kinematic mechanisms that make it possible for motions to be transmitted or transformed. A kinematic mechanism is a collection of moving pieces linked together through kinematic joints such as hinge joints and sliders. Mechanism design innovation involves the selection of an appropriate mechanism type (i.e., the number of moving pieces and joints as well as the pattern of their interconnections) and the determination of key dimensions in the mechanism needed to generate the desired motions. Once a mechanism type is selected, the appropriate dimensions can often be determined by solving a system of polynomial equations. The task of type selection, however, is not so amenable to mathematical treatment, and requires a level of intuition that may take many years to develop and is difficult to pass on. This award supports the development of a set of web-based, data-driven design tools that unify the type and dimensional synthesis for mechanism design innovation. The planned MOOC (massive open online course) will help bring these tools to the masses and help promote interest in science and engineering including high school students and those from under-represented groups. The research team will bring together the diverse fields of reverse engineering, computational shape analysis, and design kinematics to develop a data-driven paradigm for kinematic synthesis of mechanical motion generation devices. The goal is to advance the science of mechanism design and lead to practical and efficient design tools capable of solving highly complex motion generation problems faced by machine designers. Central to this research is the creation of a new computational framework for simultaneous type and dimensional synthesis of various mechanisms.

http://www.stonybrook.edu/happenings/facultystaff/mechanical-engineering-professors-purwar-and-ge-win-nsf-award/

http://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1563413

General Motors Research & Development Donates Bosch Palletized Conveyor System to Stony Brook's Department of Mechanical Engineering

Assistant Professor, Qing (Cindy) Chang received donated Bosch Palletized Conveyor System from GM, valued at approximately $50K. The system includes a closed loop Bosch TS plus conveyor, VFD controller, and set of proximity switches and cords.

The automatic conveyor system can be used for control sequence analysis and control optimization. "This will be very useful for research and education in digital manufacturing, cyber-physical manufacturing, and can be combined with robotic system, which aligns very well with the current trends in advanced manufacturing." - Professor Chang

Bosch Palletized Conveyor System

Stony Brook’s Got the Power: How One University Earned Four Major Energy Research Awards in Less Than a Year

It took only six months for Stony Brook University to hit an energy research grand slam, earning major federal funding on four projects poised to revolutionize the world’s energy technology.

“These four projects, which together earned nearly $5.7 million in funding, showcase Stony Brook’s dedication to researching and developing technologies that will have a major impact on how we generate and consume energy globally,” said Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, President of Stony Brook University

http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/happenings/research/arpae-grand-slam/?=marquee4

Faculty Ya Wang at Stony Brook Receives $2 Million DOE Grant to Create a New Super Energy-Saving Air Conditioning Vent

A Stony Brook University research team has been awarded $2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) to develop an active air conditioning vent capable of modulating airflow distribution, velocity, and temperature designed for commercial or residential unions. The goal of the project is to create a vent that results in up to 30 percent energy savings through directed localization of existing building heating/cooling output.

Ya Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor and Wei Deng, PhD student
Department of Mechanical Engineering wanglab1

http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/news/research/150108superenergysavingACvent.php

Mechanical Engineering Student Roger Carson's Story is featured in Stony Brook University Happenings

Mechanical Engineering major, Roger Carson '15 is highlighted in the below article, "Building a Better Future for Engineers of Color"

http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/happenings/student-spotlight/building-a-better-future-for-engineers-of-color/?=marquee4

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Receives Prestigious CAREER Award from NSF

Assistant Professor Qing Chang has been awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award titled "CAREER Collaborative Modeling for Distributed Sensing and Real-Time Intelligent Control to Improve Battery Manufacturing Productivity and Efficiency" ($400,001) in 2014.

http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/news/research/01292014Chang.php

Prof. Anurag Purwar gives a TEDx talk on Machine Design Innovation through Technology and Education

The democratization of the programmable electronics and manufacturing capabilities calls for a democratization of design capabilities, which is needed for invention and innovation of machines. This talk focuses on challenges, opportunities, and possible solutions for bridging this gap by uniting the teaching of scientific and engineering principles with the new tools of technology while fostering invention, innovation, and creativity.

Mechanical Engineering Solar Boat Team Won 1st Place in ASME SolarSplash

Our Solar Boat team has brought home a trophy for winning the first place in SolarSplash Competition co-sponsored by IEEE Power Electronics Society and ASME Solar Energy Division. Shown is a photo of our graduating senior Mr. Ankit Tyagi, the team captain, with the trophy and the plaque. The team has been co-advised by David Hwang, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, as well as David Westfield, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. David Westfield traveled with the team to the competition. Mechanical Engineering Department sent the first team to participate in SolarSplash competition in 1998. Last year, the team ranked the 5th overall and this year they took home the trophy!

William Worek Receives 2013 ASME Church Medal

STONY BROOK, NY, January 24, 2014- Stony Brook’s William Worek, PhD, received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) Edwin F. Church Medal, a high honor of achievement that recognizes eminent service in increasing the value, importance and appeal of mechanical engineering education. Worek was honored for the development of new courses in combined heat and mass transfer and the establishment of a master of energy engineering program that gives students the tools to design, execute and manage new energy projects. Worek is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering andan Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University. He is a recognized expert in heat and mass transfer, fluid flow and thermodynamics, as applied to energy efficient, renewable and sustainable energy systems.

See more at: http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/news/general/01242014_Worek.php?=marquee1#sthash.pGRpe5yG.dpuf

Mechanics of Composites Conference to be held at Stony Brook University, June 8-12, 2014

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University will host the 1st International Conference on Mechanics of Composites June 8-12, 2014. Please visit the website for more information about the conference: https://sites.google.com/site/mechcomp2014/

William Worek Receives 2013 ASME Church Medal

STONY BROOK, NY, January 24, 2014- Stony Brook’s William Worek, PhD, received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) Edwin F. Church Medal, a high honor of achievement that recognizes eminent service in increasing the value, importance and appeal of mechanical engineering education. Worek was honored for the development of new courses in combined heat and mass transfer and the establishment of a master of energy engineering program that gives students the tools to design, execute and manage new energy projects. Worek is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering andan Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University. He is a recognized expert in heat and mass transfer, fluid flow and thermodynamics, as applied to energy efficient, renewable and sustainable energy systems. See more at:http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/news/general/01242014_Worek.php?=marquee1#sthash.pGRpe5yG.dpuf

Mechanical Engineering Faculty and Students attend Naval Academy Conference

Three College of Engineering and Applied Sciences students and Sotirios Mamalis, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, were honored to be invited to the Fourth Annual Naval Academy Science and Engineering Conference (NASEC), held from November 3-6, 2013, in Annapolis, Maryland. Joseph Venezia (senior, Mechanical Engineering), Sebastian Gomez (senior, Mechanical Engineering) and Morgan DiCarlo (sophomore, Civil Engineering) came together with undergraduate students from a wide variety of institutions of higher education to participate in discussions about STEM and the challenges our nation faces in solving critical issues. Venezia and Gomez worked on a research collaborative at the conference and proposed Alternative Energy solutions, while DiCarlo’s project focused on water quality and safety. The students also met and networked with the influential keynote speakers: Arati Prabhakar, Director of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; The Honorable G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; and The Honorable Kathryn D. Sullivan, first American woman to walk in space and the Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Acting NOAA Administrator.

Stony Brook professor develops lift for seniors

Published: March 28, 2013 6:44 PM
By JOE RYAN joe.ryan@newsday.com

Photo credit: Daniel Brennan | Stony Brook University professor Anurag Purwar with his Mobility Assistant device, used by Michael Geronimo, 90. (March 27, 2013)

The idea for the product came to Anurag Purwar when his friend, a retired physician, complained of struggling to do what so many younger people take for granted: sitting and standing.

So Purwar, a Stony Brook University mechanical engineering associate professor, designed a device resembling a walker that's equipped with an electric motor to lift seniors from chairs, then ease them back down. Now he is working with Biodex Medical Systems Inc. of Shirley to develop it into a full-blown product.

"There are so many people who need help standing and sitting as they grow older," Purwar said.

The collaboration between the professor and Biodex is part of a growing push on Long Island to commercialize technology from Stony Brook and other research facilities. Officials hope the brainpower of local laboratories will spawn a culture of high-tech start-ups to boost the region's struggling economy.

Purwar and Biodex have $80,000 to develop the invention, primarily from The Research Foundation for SUNY. They plan to target nursing homes, hoping to sell about 500 of the products annually for around $5,000 apiece. They plan to pitch the device as a way to help nurses and other employees avoid back injuries while helping patients out of chairs.

The challenge, industry experts say, will be making the device lighter, cheaper and more versatile than existing products.

"Back injuries are a huge issue, and there are already products out there," said Robert Heppenheimer, chief executive of the Nesconset Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, who isn't associated with the product. "But if this one is cheaper and easier for nursing homes to use, there could be a market."

The bigger potential, however, could be selling the product for seniors to use in their homes, Heppenheimer said.

Purwar designed the device, called the Mobility Assistant, with help from a student, Thomas Galeotafiore. It's powered by a 12-volt battery, weighs about 30 pounds and is equipped with wheels to function also as a regular walker -- a feature Purwar says sets it apart from other products.

Ed Behan, a Biodex vice president, met Purwar last year at a workshop at Stony Brook for aspiring entrepreneurs. The company, founded in the 1950s as Atomic Products Corp. to develop equipment for researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory, manufactures a variety of medical devices. Behan hopes to have Purwar's invention on the market within 18 months.

"More and more people want to maintain their independence and mobility," he said. "And this fits that need perfectly."
Gov. Cuomo's announcement of the device

US Rep. Timothy Bishop remarks about Assistant Professor Lei Zuo's research to Congress on November 27, 2012

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r112:E27NO2-0055:/
http://capitolwords.org/date/2012/11/27/E1816_congratulating-professor-lei-zuo/

Assistant Professor Thomas Cubaud has been awarded the prestigious NSF CAREER award

Titled "CAREER Microflow of highly viscous fluids: mixing and dissolution processes" ($401,653) from the Fluid Dynamic Program of the CBET division of the NSF in 2012. He has also received the 2012 Frenkiel Award for Fluid Mechanics. The Award is sponsored by the Division of Fluid Dynamics of the APS, and is given annually to a young author of a paper that has been published in Physics of Fluids, during the calendar year preceding the presentation.Following is a link to the award announcement:

http://scitation.aip.org/getpdf/servlet/GetPDFServlet?filetype=pdf&id=PHFLE6000025000001010201000001&idtype=cvips&doi=10.1063/1.4767533&prog=normal

Stony Brook Team Wins National Award For Technology that Harvests Energy from Railroad Train Vibrations

STONY BROOK, NY, November 15, 2012 – Stony Brook University engineers have won a national award for an innovative energy harvester that has the potential to save millions of dollars in energy costs for railroads while
reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The team’s work, “Mechanical Motion Rectifier (MMR) based Railroad Energy Harvester,” was awarded “Best Application of Energy Harvesting” at the Energy Harvesting and Storage USA 2012 conference, held in Washington, DC on November 7-8, 2012.The Stony Brook team, led by Professor Lei Zuo and two graduate students Teng Lin and John Wang from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center, developed a new type of energy harvester that converts the irregular, oscillatory motion of train-induced rail track vibrations into regular, unidirectional motion, in the same way that an electric voltage rectifier converts AC voltage into DC. Professor Zuo estimates that the invention could save more than $10 million in trackside power supply costs for railroads in New York State alone, along with a reduction of 3000 tons per year of CO2 and a half million dollars of electricity savings.

News and Announcements