houck2040/tees huggingface dataset:
additionally dr narasimha reddy the jw runyon jr 35 professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering will assume the responsibilities of the associate dean for research and tees associate agency director reddy currently serves as the tees assistant agency director for national global initiatives georghiades joined the college of engineering in 1985 as a faculty member in the department of electrical and computer engineering and served as department head from 2005 until moving to the office of the vice chancellor and dean in 2012 he is the holder of the delbert a whitaker endowed chair reddy earned is phd in computer engineering from the university of illinois at urbana-champaign in 1990 he has received numerous awards and honors and is a fellow of the institute of electrical and electronics engineers
two researchers with the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) have received research instrumentation awards from the us department of defense (dod) dr ibrahim karaman head of the department of materials science and engineering at texas a&m university and chevron professor i received an award from the air force office of scientific research for his proposal multi-material bulk deposition and characterization system dr i-hong hou assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering received an award from the army research office for his proposal equipment for research in network and systems the awards made under the defense university research instrumentation program totaled $501 million and were handed out to 176 researchers from 96 academic institutions across the united states the program supports the purchase of state‑of‑the‑art equipment that augments current university capabilities or develops new capabilities to perform cutting‑edge defense research and associated graduate student research training the awards are the result of a merit competition jointly conducted by three dod research offices: the army research office office of naval research and air force office of scientific research those offices will make the awards which are subject to the successful completion of negotiations with the academic institutions the program is highly competitive and the three research offices collectively received 622 proposals requesting $209 million in support for research equipment the most meritorious proposals were selected to receive support the defense university research instrumentation program awards will range from $53 000 to $14 million and average approximately $300 000 per award
the tees fellows program has provided the opportunity to annually recognize outstanding engineering faculty for more than 30 years the most recent fellows are all from the department of mechanical engineering
dr anastasia muliana a professor in the department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m university was selected as a tees faculty fellow the principal purpose of the award is to recognize long-term outstanding research performance she will be formally recognized at an awards ceremony later this year mulianas research focuses on nonlinear and time dependent constitutive material modeling thermal stress analyses micromechanics of composite analyses of heterogeneous materials subject to coupled thermal electrical and mechanical stimuli time-dependent degradation of polymers and composites nonlinear analyses of flexible and compliant structures activated by non-mechanical (electric field light solvent and thermal) stimuli large-scale nonlinear structural analyses numerical and finite element methods she received her bachelors degree in civil engineering from the bandung institute of technology in 1997 a masters degree in civil engineering from the georgia institute of technology in 1999 and a phd in structural engineering and mechanics from the georgia institute of technology in 2004 she joined the mechanical engineering department in 2004 dr michael moreno and dr partha mukherjee have been selected as a tees young faculty fellows
moreno is an assistant professor in the department of mechanical engineering with joint appointments in the department of biomedical engineering and the college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences he also serves as director of biomechanics research and engineering in the department of orthopedics and sports medicine at houston methodist research hospital his work is focused at the intersection of academic research in experimental and computational biomechanics the medical device industry and clinical practice his currently funded research projects are supported by nih nsf darpa methodist and corporate sponsors these projects include cross-campus interdisciplinary international industry and clinical collaborations he received his bachelors degree in physics from florida international university in 1996 a masters degree in science education from florida international university in 1997 a second masters in biomedical engineering from florida international university in 2003 and a phd in biomedical engineering from texas a&m in 2009 he joined the mechanical engineering department in 2014
mukherjee is an assistant professor in the mechanical engineering department his research focuses on electrochemical energy storage and conversion (batteries fuel cells) he is the director of the energy and transport science laboratory which focuses on developing a holistic approach toward fundamental understanding of the mesoscale physics and stochastics of materials-transport-interface interactions in energy storage and conversion his research is supported by nsf doe nasa and various industrial sponsors mukherjee received his bachelors in mechanical engineering from north bengal university in 1997 his masters in mechanical engineering from the indian institute of technology kanpur in 1999 and his phd in mechanical engineering from pennsylvania state university in 2007 he joined the mechanical engineering department in 2012 prior to joining the department he worked for the united states department of energy laboratories as staff scientist at oak ridge national laboratory (2009-2011) and as a directors research fellow at los alamos national laboratories (2008-2009)
dr xiaoning qian a researcher with the texas a&m engineering experiment stations agrilife center for bioinformatics and genomic systems engineering (cbgse) has received the prestigious faculty early career development (career) award sponsored by the national science foundation (nsf) qian who is also an assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m university received his career award for his proposal "knowledge-driven analytics model uncertainty and experiment design qian proposes a knowledge-driven analytics framework to solve mathematical and computational issues that exist in high-dimensional network-based systems prediction and intervention problems where the models are uncertain he says this framework has strong potential for translating available diverse large-scale data to create reproducible knowledge for driving life sciences and materials science research if successful it could eventually lead to computational tools for more efficient experimental design to maximize the use of existing big data and speed up the processes for effective disease therapeutics and new materials discovery qian believes that the interdisciplinary nature of his proposal promises to foster cross-fertilization of ideas between engineering life sciences and materials science in both the domains of research and education qian received his bachelors and masters degrees from shanghai jiao-tong university china and his phd in electrical engineering from yale university in 2005 prior to joining texas a&m he worked for four years as an assistant professor at the university of south florida his current research interests include computational network biology genomic signal processing and biomedical image analysis some of his interdisciplinary research efforts at texas a&m have been recently funded by an nsf eager grant a usda grant and a grant from the los alamos national laboratory he recently co-organized the international workshop on computational network biology: modeling analysis and control (cnb-mac) he has been serving on the editorial boards for several journals and on the organizing and technical program committees for several international conferences
saving lives improving patient comfort and streamlining procedures in dangerous situations were just a few of the topics covered in the latest aggies invent held at texas a&m university the theme for the weekend first responders was sponsored by the texas a&m engineering experiment stations (tees) center for emergency informatics during the weekend students created prototypes relevant to first responders search and rescue paramedics firefighters and others in the field aggies invent promotes an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset among students at texas a&m it gathers invited students provides them with the needs statements submitted by sponsors allows them to self-select teams and gives them access to industry mentors and support from the engineering innovation center (eic) to create solutions and prototypes in 48 hours grace duoduo mack ragland and milan pandya took first place with the quadcomm an adapted uav with two-way radio transmission they equipped a quadcopter with a microphone and a two-way radio for first responders to have direct conversation with people in hard to reach areas during a disaster situation ragland said he was drawn to the first responders event because it felt like something that would impact others and could potentially save lives finding out what people need during a disaster rescue is just as important as retrieving them ragland said the second-place team was ez triage a fitbit-like device to track and monitor patients during emergency response triage situations the current system of tracking triage patients is outdated and inefficient hence the need for updating the technology austin isburgh maximiliano ortiz pravir singh gupta sagar samant shikha sinha sujoy saha and swetha sridharan comprised team ez triage third place went to team lift with its airboard to assist first responders placing large patients onto stretchers the needs statement was to help reduce the likelihood of back injuries to first responders and increase patient comfort team lifts students included justin samorajski muhammad aun roshan karna samuel mcconnell and trey newman the panel of judges included dr jon mogford texas a&m vice chancellor for research; don lewis director of startup aggieland; dr jerry livingston clinical assistant professor of clinical and transitional medicine and dr debjyoti banerjee professor of mechanical engineering dr robin murphy from the center for emergency informatics spoke to the students about their success and the centers support for their continued innovation the judging panel was so impressed with the results of the competition that mogford decided to award each team a $250 prize the top three teams received $1 000 $750 and $500 respectively for their awards all teams are invited to continue working on their project and have access to the eic and mentors for guidance and advice they also have the opportunity to work with startup aggieland for additional assistance additional coverage from aggies invent: first responders here to learn more about aggies invent visit https://aggiesinventtamuedu/
the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) and the southwest research institute® (swri) in san antonio texas have signed a formal affiliation agreement that will foster and strengthen research collaborations between the two institutions potential areas of collaboration include cybersecurity unconventionals autonomous systems industrial robotics nuclear technologies student-focused education initiatives water technologies materials and corrosion data analytics manufacturing food-water-energy nexus and smart grid technologies this is a unique opportunity for collaboration between a state agency and a highly regarded research organization said dr dimitris lagoudas deputy director of tees we look forward to a productive relationship as we work together on projects of significant impact the collaboration will allow both organizations to tap into additional technical resources and expertise said susan crumrine vice president of swris automation and data systems division it will also facilitate student-focused education initiatives and allow students to expand their education experience by participating in swri research programs the mou also supports efforts in the areas of participation in business development strategies; development of technical management or cost proposals; and related exchanges of information and reviews of such information swri founded in 1947 is an independent research and development organization that provides contract services in a wide range of advanced science and applied engineering arenas the institute has 10 technical divisions with research capabilities in areas such as advanced electronics materials sciences environmental and health sciences and unmanned vehicles and systems tees operates a statewide network of research centers and institutes focused on six research areas: energy systems and services healthcare information systems and sensors infrastructure materials and manufacturing and national security and safety photo (back row from left): dr cindy lawley executive director of academic initiatives at texas a&m university and lagoudas front from left: dr m katherine banks vice chancellor and dean of texas a&m engineering and director of tees; ron kalmbach executive director of contracts for swri; and crumrine
a student team from texas a&m university led by engineering phd students blake teipel and charles brandon sweeney won the grand prize at the rice business plan competition for its startup company trifusion devices the startup has developed customizable 3-d printed prosthetic leg devices that can be manufactured in hours instead of weeks and would cost far less than anything on the market the trifusion devices team included founders teipel and sweeney graduate students in the department of materials science and engineering and britton eastburn a combined medical student at the texas a&m health science centers college of medicine and an mba student at the mays business school they pitched their inexpensive customizable 3-d printed prosthetic device technology to four separate panels of judges that included venture capitalists angel investors entrepreneurs service providers and local business executives the team developed a carbon nanotube-coated printer filament and a microwave welding process to fuse 3-d printed parts together making them strong and durable they can go from scans of a patient geometry to a finished device in less than 48 hours the aggies collected four checks totaling nearly $400 000 at the competition including the $300 000 investment grand prize from the goose society of texas; the $60 000 tie angel investment prize; the $25 000 medical device accelerator prize and the $10 000 pearland spirit of entrepreneurship prize this was the first time a texas a&m team won the competition more than $169 million in prize money was awarded to 42 companies at the event which is the largest student-centered business plan competition in the world the trifusion devices team beat out student startups from harvard university massachusetts institute of technology northwestern university dartmouth college carnegie mellon university the university of michigan and multiple teams from international universities trifusion devices has the potential to transform the biomedical device industry healthcare military and commercial manufacturing sectors said dr ibrahim karaman chevron professor i and head of materials science and engineering blake and brandon are role models for other students with entrepreneurial aspirations they have set a great example in taking research from labs to commercialization "we were so honored to present our technology and business idea at the rice business plan competition the world stage for entrepreneurship said sweeney trifusion was especially proud to represent texas a&m and have the chance to prove that aggies can compete with and conquer the worlds best universities everyone should know that at texas a&m we like to break a mental sweat too" since spring 2015 teipel and sweeney have taken top honors in multiple competitions winning first place at the mays business schools center for new ventures and entrepreneurship raymond ideas challenge the inaugural sec pitch competition in atlanta and the baylor business plan competition in february 2016
dr teri reed assistant agency director of workforce development for the texas a&m engineering experiment station and assistant vice chancellor of academic affairs for the dwight look college of engineering at texas a&m university has been elected to chair the american society for engineering education (asee) professional interest council iv (pic iv) and will begin her service at the societys annual conference in june in new orleans founded in 1893 the asee is the only national engineering education organization concerned with all engineering disciplines the asee pic iv promotes encourages and facilitates asee activities pertaining to engineering education with an emphasis on teaching and learning and related research diversity libraries graduate studies and technology reed co-authored two landmark journal of engineering education special reports in 2006 that helped establish engineering education as an academic discipline: the national engineering education research colloquies and the research agenda for the new discipline of engineering education this is quite an honor to serve my professional society in this role said reed an advocate for research-informed approaches to an inclusive engineering education my goal is to support and assist the divisions in pic iv as they continue to do the work of the society asees vision of advancing access as well as excellence in all aspects of engineering and engineering technology education is one we should all be behind as educators reeds asee honors include the 2015 william elgin wickenden award recognizing the authors of the best paper published in the journal of engineering education the 2013 sharon keillor award for women in engineering education the 2013 environmental engineering division best paper award the 2008 educational research and methods division outstanding service award and being elected a fellow in 2010
educators from across the united states and mexico gathered in college station march 30 -april 1 to explore how to help engineering students successfully make the transition from their sophomore to junior years during which the emphasis shifts from core engineering classes to discipline-specific professional preparation coursework the mid years engineering experience conference (myeec) showcased two keynote addresses and nearly 30 presentationsall focusing on new ways to engage engineering students so they not only survive the typical sophomore slump but also achieve great success as students and professionals the dwight look college of engineering at texas a&m university and the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) hosted the myeec keynote speaker dr chuck krousgrill a mechanical engineering professor at purdue university introduced his highly interactive teaching approach for large engineering classes called freeform with freeform students create their own textbooks throughout the semester while also interacting with other students and faculty online and accessing hundreds of instructional videos and animations to help guide their studies this creative approach has another benefit: the rate of freeform basic mechanics ii students who received ds and fs or who withdrew altogether dropped from 21 percent in 2009 to 9 percent in 2014 with freeform students are much more actively engaged in learning than they would be by simply listening to a faculty member lecture said krousgrill and when students have to create their own textbooks they have to work together and with faculty to find solutions to the presented problems because there are no formal solution manuals to be found the myeecs second keynote featured dr catherine didion formerly with the national academy of engineering didion encouraged myeec participants to embrace opportunities to be more creative and involved in their work with students cohorts mentors advisors and summer bridge programs are necessary for student success said didion we also need to create safe places for engineering faculty to seek clarity and ask questions we want myeec to be one of those safe places said dr teri reed assistant vice chancellor of academic affairs for texas a&ms college of engineering and assistant agency director of workforce development for tees at myeec we create a safe and engaging environment where engineering educators come together to learn new things ask questions and return to their institutions motivated and prepared to inspire the next generation of engineers
the texas a&m energy institute hosted a one-day conference on monday april 4 2016 to create an opportunity for researchers across the state to share their research and educational developments in the field texas optimization day made possible by sponsorships provided a chance for researchers practitioners and policymakers in the state of texas to collaborate and as a result build a community to promote fundamental and applied optimization research in the region
dr sergiy butenko professor and donna and jim furber ‘64 faculty fellow in the department of industrial and systems engineering at texas a&m university was one of the organizers of the inaugural event since this is the first year for this event a goal of ours is to decide on the format locations and potential sources of funding for the texas optimization day in the future butenko said dr christodoulos a floudas director of the texas a&m energy institute and erie nye ‘59 chair professor for engineering excellence in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering at texas a&m was pleased with the response they received for the event i am excited to see so many people from the various institutions around the state floudas said we were pleased to welcome representatives from the university of texas at arlington prairie view a&m university houston baptist university rice university the university of texas at dallas southern methodist university the university of houston and texas a&m university presentations covered topics from improving the flow of the shipping industry to finding cohesive groups within graphs to social media advertisement costs dr stratos pistikopoulos associate director of the texas a&m energy institute and tees distinguished research professor in chemical engineering was impressed with the vast range of topics that were presented it was very interesting to hear the kinds of things our peers are working on he said i am excited to see the partnerships that develop as a result of the event today floudas is passionate about impacting society through energy research and looks forward to the future of the event the energy institute is focused on important scientific and technological energy challenges that impact our society he said with events like the texas optimization day we are creating relationships among researchers that will help conquer those challenges
the texas a&m engineering experiment stations smart grid center will host the fourth annual smart grid workshop at the memorial student center on the texas a&m university campus on april 28 this years workshop will focus on smart grids big data big data in smart electric grids comes from many domains associated with power system operation (generation transmission and distribution customers services and markets) as well as other seemingly unrelated yet synergistically intertwined domains such as other energy commodity markets (gas and oil) environment and weather the significance of this type of data is in the diversity of its sources growth rate and spatiotemporal characteristics the workshop will include invited talks panels and focus group discussions as well as a student poster session there will be opportunities to interact with faculty and students from a number of universities as well as with professionals representing industry government/national labs and several other organizations interested in the topic registration includes workshop participation refreshments a post-workshop reception and student poster displays the registration deadline is april 21 after this deadline the registration fees remain the same but registration includes only workshop participation with no lunch or post-workshop reception due to the catering arrangement deadlines for more information on the event visit https://smartgridcentertamuedu/
dr alan palazzolo tees professor in the department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m university recently published a book vibration theory and applications with finite elements and active vibration control the book provides extensive coverage of vibration-related topics with particular emphasis on the three basic areas of modeling analysis and applications palazzolo recognizes that a thorough understanding of mathematical and modeling techniques is essential before progressing to methods of analysis and there is a complete section covering the relevant math and programming techniques in matlab and maple by using a wide range of practical examples and exercises palazzolo demonstrates how the math relates to engineering and its applications connecting theory to engineering practice and problem solving palazzolo has taught classes and led research focused in the area of vibration theory these topics include failure models kinematics and modeling unstable vibrating systems rotordynamics and finite element methods utilizing truss beam plate and solid elements the book provides the modeling skills and knowledge required for modern engineering practice plus the tools needed to identify formulate and solve engineering problems effectively including symbolic math codes the book is currently available for purchase and can be found here
the national security agency (nsa) and the department of homeland security (dhs) recently designated texas a&m university as a national center of academic excellence both in education and in research this well-regarded designation places texas a&m among a select group of only 30 universities that have earned both distinctions texas a&m has been dedicated to the advancement of cyber defense since the 1990s when the very first academic course utilizing an active attack-defense laboratory was created since that time the university has continued to build a robust body of cybersecurity research under the direction of a strong faculty and has graduated an impressive number of cybersecurity students this coveted distinction aligns with the cybersecurity centers vision to collaborate with strategic partners and in doing so move to the forefront of cybersecurity research the centers mission in education and research is to develop novel and innovative methods for cybersecurity education and to facilitate the conduct of ground-breaking basic and applied cybersecurity research as stated in the nsa designation letters [texas a&m universitys] ability to meet the increasing demands of the program criteria will serve the nation well in contributing to the protection of the national information infrastructure the texas a&m cybersecurity center is jointly run by the university and the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) director dr daniel ragsdale was chosen to lead the center in 2015 ragsdale along with deputy director lynn schlemeyer and many faculty and staff have since galvanized the effort for cyber defense within the texas a&m university system the center will be formally recognized by the nsa and dhs at the national cyber security summit in huntsville alabama on june 8
the texas a&m engineering experiment stations (tees) external advisory board held its spring meeting may 20 at the national center for therapeutics manufacturing building in college station texas advisory board members shared updates from their subcommittees and also heard updates from tees administrators about plans for future growth and new research initiatives being pursued by the agency m katherine banks vice chancellor and dean of engineering and director of tees presented tees current initiatives banks also emphasized the importance of receiving input from the board and industry regarding the development of the rellis campus a research and development campus which will help companies move ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace while also offering students a new path toward a college degree three presentations highlighted some of tees current initiatives dr sam mannan director of the mary k oconnor process safety center (mkopsc) talked about the growth of his center from starting with funding over $200 000 at its inception to an annual budget of over $4 million last year the mkopsc will continue to expand with the development of the rellis campus where the center will have new facilities john barton assistant vice chancellor for strategic initiatives presented tees work with autonomous and connected vehicles barton detailed the ways in which texas a&m university is positioned to be a leader in the field including new testing facilities at the rellis campus and a campus initiative to increase collaboration across departments and disciplines dr satish bukkapatnam director of the institute for manufacturing systems gave a presentation that detailed the centers ongoing effort to be a national leader in advanced manufacturing emphasizing what he called an unmatched range of expertise in several facets of the subject the spring meeting concluded with a tour of the recently announced rellis campus the three primary tenants at the new campus are tees the texas a&m engineering extension service (teex) and the texas a&m transportation institute (tti) each agency currently has facilities at the current riverside campus with plans for new construction the next advisory board meeting will be held in november
an innovative approach to recycling consumer electronics to reclaim the essential elements inside of them is a step closer to reality after startup company reecycle was awarded $50 000 in funding as the top company at the 2016 texas a&m new ventures competition (tnvc) at texas a&m university the houston-based based company headed by co-founder and ceo casey mcneil was named first-place winner of the competition the competition which awarded a total of $150 000 in cash prizes this year promotes the commercialization of emerging technology by recognizing companies with high growth potential it was hosted by the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees)
the third eng-life workshop a faculty-led workshop designed to increase potential for multidisciplinary research between engineering and the life sciences took place on april 29 in the emerging technologies building at texas a&m university the tagline for the event was at the interface of engineering and life sciences and the presenters at this years event reflected the goal the keynote was delivered by dr ken muneoka a professor in the college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences and other speakers represented the colleges of science engineering and agriculture and life sciences as well as the texas a&m health science center at the end of the day a poster session allowed attendees to network and see each others research dr arum han associate professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering and chair of the organizing committee said the purpose of the event is to encourage faculty to engage in multidisciplinary research especially those who are new to the campus or may not be aware of how research in other colleges could relate to their own i wanted to open that opportunity to other people who might not have contacts and i think these types of activities in general are good for the future of our college and our university han said the trend nationally from a funding perspective is toward multidisciplinary research they want to focus on big problems and whole package proposals instead of just one aspect the event had more than 130 attendees from 11 colleges across the texas a&m campus with more than 30 researches presenting posters at the poster session according to han even if the event doesnt directly lead to new collaborations right away there is benefit in having researchers from different colleges become familiar with each others work some of these things are going to take time but its about building contacts he said you might not have an idea now but knowing people with different areas of expertise you keep that in your head you might see a grant opportunity that you would have ignored previously but now that person pops into your head and it opens up the possibility for more collaboration really the purpose is to have an opportunity for engineers to engage much more broadly with the various life science researchers the hope is there will be new collaborations between physical sciences and the life sciences the division of research played a vital role logistically in putting on the workshop this year and the organizing committee chaired by han included dr paul hardin of the college of science dr arul jayaraman from the college of engineering dr allison c rice-ficht from the college of medicine dr won-bo shim from the college of agriculture and life sciences and dr c jane welsh from the college of veterinary medicine and biomedical sciences
dr cable kurwitz and undergraduate researchers aldo sosa juan duran and victor ibarra has completed a successful flight-test program aboard nasas reduced gravity aircraft of the demonstration of a variable heat rejection (dovr) system the experiment served as a demonstration of several fluid handling technologies for an advanced radiator system to be used in future spacecraft kurwitz is a texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) associate research engineer and senior lecturer with the department of nuclear engineering at texas a&m university duran and ibarra are both nuclear engineering majors while sosa is an electrical engineering major according to kurwitz the flight is a major step toward future suborbital testing aboard virgin galactics first research flight kurwitz who is the director of the interphase transport laboratory at texas a&m has been carrying out thermal fluid experiments related to this technology for over 25 years the undergraduate student researchers assisting with this project are part of an undergraduate enrichment program sponsored by the nuclear power institute (npi) the program tasks students with engineering projects that are of interest to industry and government provides them with mentorship opportunities and allows them to develop practical engineering experiences according to kurwitz development of the dovr system will allow future spacecraft to handle a wide variety of thermal loads and conditions
dr darren hartl tees research assistant professor at texas a&m university and a team of researchers is using extensive data on avian biological systems in the hopes of creating unmanned aircraft with wings that morph and change during flight much like a bird
a five-year $6 million grant sponsored by the air force office of scientific research teams hartl with engineering researchers from the university of michigan stanford and ucla in hopes of dramatically transforming aerodynamic performance dr daniel inman chair of the department of aerospace engineering at the university of michigan will serve as the principal investigator for the project by delving deeper into avian neurology and musculature the team hopes to create unprecedented efficiency and flight longevity in small aircraft and uavs to this end the team will work closely with bird biologists from the united kingdoms royal veterinary college the university of british columbia and stanford to closely examine the complex systems birds use to alter their wings for flight control research will delve into multiple aspects of bird flight: control aerodynamics structure and adaptive structures looking at the muscular-skeletal structures and how bird wings move and adapt in flight although previously studied morphing wings have been inspired by avian biology the grant will be the first to examine the biological systems in such depth modern airplanes use drag-inducing flaps and slats for control but birds manipulate individual feathers or clusters of feathers on their wings adjusting them to create a fluidly morphing reduced-drag surface suited to their needs it has long been a goal to recreate such a flight system and cutting-edge technology has been developed to examine these mechanisms of flight extending the paradigm of the muscular-skeletal structure of birds the grant will also focus on using distributed multifunctional materials to drive morphing hartl will leverage years of experience in shape memory alloy (sma) aerospace actuators to develop new muscular architectures focusing on the active material that could be used to affect the morphing henry sodano (university of michigan) will explore new piezoelectric material forms and functions piezoelectric materials generally move at higher speeds with lower strengths and smaller motions while smas are slower and have higher strength and larger motions both systems will be needed depending on whether the wing needs to morph slowly versus when it needs to move quickly
new distributed sensing systems (fu-kuo chen of stanford) and neuromorphic computation for control (yong chen of ucla) will also be part of the discovery and implementation process a parallel effort on bio-inspired evolutionary structural design approaches has also been initiated within the air vehicles division of the aerospace systems directorate at the us air force research laboratory where hartl also holds a position as a contracted research scientist it used to be that a biologist would just go out in the field with a pair of binoculars said inman but the technology has advanced drastically in recent years hartl added we plan to go far beyond simple qualitative imitation; we will quantify effects at the platform scale and muscular-skeletal configurations at the structural scale to develop new solutions to the morphing aircraft problem while inman works on the whole bird or the plane hartl will drill down into the bone and muscle and focus on the structure of the wing particularly the parts needed to move the structures using new kinematics and dynamics data from avian researchers the engineering team aims to make small airplanes and uavs lighter faster and more efficient enabling longer flights drawing on bird biology and recent advancements in active materials the team will research a morphing wing structure with distributed actuation and sensing that is capable of independent deflections throughout the wing hartl will start with ideas that are bio-inspired including looking at novel energy circuits for active material actuation much akin to the supply of energy via the bloodstream to the muscles in birds were looking at supplying electrical energy to shape memory alloy muscles using liquid metals and then using that same liquid metal to flow the waste heat away said hartl well start researching that concept as we await the quantitative data corresponding to observation of the birds research will officially begin with a meeting in ann arbor michigan on may 13 hartls research begins in the fall when he joins the department of aerospace engineering at texas a&m as a tenure-track assistant professor his team at texas a&m will include two graduate students and three undergraduate students hartl is in the process of building a dedicated space for the project including a new experimental wind tunnel test section in the basement of the hr bright building on the texas a&m campus the test section will allow the team to test the muscular solutions with some kind of wing-type structures before integrating them with testing to be done at michigan ultimately the team of collaborators hopes to create a new morphing wing structure capable of dramatically altering aerodynamic performance allowing for planes that should be lighter faster and dramatically more maneuverable than todays stiff-winged aircraft
texas a&m engineering is expanding its research and education capabilities as part of the recently announced rellis campus the new campus which will be located at a revamped and renamed riverside campus was announced monday by texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp sharp unveiled plans for the texas a&m system to invest $150 million to create a new research and development campus to help companies move ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace while also offering a new path toward a college degree the rellis campus initially will include a cluster of seven new buildings and test beds to encourage the private sector to develop research facilities adjacent to the texas a&m systems site the focus will include robotics driverless and connected vehicles advanced manufacturing large-scale testing as well as smart power grids and water systems we must offer new transformative business models whether we are moving our research from the laboratories into the marketplace or helping more students to achieve a college education said sharp we are extremely excited to be working on this visionary project said m katherine banks vice chancellor and dean of engineering and director of tees the facilities will be designed to meet the private sectors needs from creating prototypes to testing" banks said teex is excited to be a part of this initiative said gary sera director of the texas a&m engineering extension service the rellis campus will significantly enhance our ability to serve our customers and ensure they are training at the very best facilities utilizing the latest technology
the entire $150 million is committed either from state appropriations or gifts from donors banks said consultants are surveying the site now and $25 million in upgrades should be completed by the end of 2017 construction on the first building could begin as early as september of this year the three primary tenants at the new campus are the a&m systems engineering agencies: the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) the texas a&m engineering extension service (teex) and the texas a&m transportation institute (tti) each agency currently has facilities at the current riverside campus with plans for new construction including: the $73 million center for infrastructure renewal authorized by the texas legislature that will develop new methods and better materials for the nations ailing infrastructure and train the private sector in how to apply new techniques and materials a $12 million cyber-physical research and development center that will be dedicated to robotics autonomous and connected vehicle technologies and associated cyber-security facets a $9 million tees headquarters and research center – a centralized office and research facility for tees researchers and staff a $6 million safety process center that will test and develop the safest methods to operate in large chemical operations the facility will house the mary kay oconner process safety center which fosters the development of safer processes equipment procedures and management strategies to minimize losses within the processing industry a $6 million industrial distribution center that will investigate the best way to manufacture and distribute products the center will be home to the thomas and joan read center for distribution research and education the only distribution focused research center in the world as well as the global supply chain laboratory and the talent incubator a $7 million teex training facility primarily for law enforcement a $12 million advanced research in transportation technology building for research design and testing in the growing field of automated and connected vehicles the college of engineering at texas a&m will also be engaged in the proposed education center which will offer four-year degrees to students not admitted to texas a&m university through affiliations with other universities in the texas a&m system the education center would be available for continuing education short courses and other professional development programs details of the proposed $38 million education center are still being formalized and must be approved by the board of regents and reviewed by state authorities companies that take advantage of these incredible opportunities to establish facilities at the revamped riverside campus will be exposed to our outstanding faculty and students creative energy and the students would have the opportunity to experience cutting-edge research in the field said texas a&m president michael young we are extremely excited to be working with the texas a&m system on this endeavor for more information about rellis campus view the brochure
the nuclear security science and policy institute (nsspi) held an event on april 25 to celebrate its 10th anniversary nsspi students faculty and staff joined with administrators and collaborators from the department of nuclear engineering at texas a&m university the bush school of government and public service and various other departments across the texas a&m university system to mark this milestone as part of the program current nsspi director dr sunil chirayath along with founding nsspi director dr william charlton and nuclear engineering department head dr yassin hassan spoke about the history of nsspi and its success over the past 10 years the texas a&m university system board of regents established nsspi as a joint institute of texas a&m and the texas a&m engineering experiment station during their meeting on march 23-24 2006 nsspi was the first university-based institute with a higher-education mission in the us to focus specifically on the technical aspects of nuclear security and the interface between nuclear security science and national and international policy nsspis earliest activities focused on promoting graduate-level education and research in nuclear material safeguards and enhancing national security against nuclear terrorism this was done largely in collaboration with the bush school more recently nsspi has also become very involved in nuclear security workforce development abroad in countries such as india indonesia brazil jordan and nigeria in the past 10 years nsspi students in the department of nuclear engineering earned 49 master of science degrees three master of engineering degrees and 18 phd degrees through sponsored research in nuclear security and related topics these students have gone on to jobs in various national laboratories federal agencies academia and the nuclear industry nsspi research projects have also supported numerous graduate students in other research areas within nuclear engineering as well as other departments across campus including the bush school mathematics industrial and systems engineering electrical engineering political science computer science chemical engineering and statistics not only do nsspi students learn about nuclear security through traditional classes and laboratory exercises on campus but they also get to experience nuclear security through hands-on short courses at national laboratories international and domestic nuclear facilities experiences interactions with other young nuclear security professionals around the world through international workshops and meetings and research projects in nuclear security topics texas a&m also founded the first student chapter of the institute of nuclear materials management (inmm) which is advised by nsspi faculty and has led to the creation of similar student inmm chapters in the us and around the world as part of the celebration nsspi compiled a video of interviews from people who were instrumental to the founding and continued success of nsspi as an organization as well as videos from former students current students and collaborators