News and Announcements
Prof. Anurag Purwar receives prestigious award at the ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference
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.
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
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
http://nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1563413
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.
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
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 
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"
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
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.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.
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/
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
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 whilereducing 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.
