Faculty Accomplishments « Mechanical Engineering

Francoeur receives NSF CAREER Award

On May 24, 2013 / Faculty Accomplishments, News

Mathieu Francoeur, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah, has received a five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation. This $400,017 grant is for a project titled “Enhanced Power Generation in a Nanoscale-Gap Thermophotovoltaic Device due to Radiative Heat Transfer Exceeding the Blackbody Limit.” Approximately 58 percent of the energy consumed annually in the United States is lost to heat. Thermophotovoltaic power generators can contribute significantly to capturing large amounts of waste heat by directly converting thermal energy to electrical energy in

Stoll receives NSF CAREER Award

On May 21, 2013 / Faculty Accomplishments, News

Rob Stoll, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Utah, has received a five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation. This $492,091 grant is for a project titled, “A multiscale study of heavy particle transport in sparse canopies.” “I am really excited about this award, which involves studying how particles move through plant canopies and the lower atmosphere,” says Stoll. “This is a new research direction I have started since moving to the University of Utah. The grant will help transition this from

New Faculty, Marc Calaf, Assistant Professor

On April 14, 2013 / Faculty Accomplishments, News

Dr. Calaf just joined the tenure-track faculty. Calaf obtained his PhD in mechanical engineering from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland. His research focuses on characterizing the interaction between wind farms and wind energy harvesting systems with the atmospheric boundary layer. Office: 404C CME E-mail: marc.calaf@utah.edu Phone: (801) 587-3253 Lab: 415 CME

Biomechanics in the Brain

On October 29, 2012 / Faculty Accomplishments, Research

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) contribute to 50,000 deaths annually and many cases of permanent disability in the United States. Each year, approximately 1.7 million people in the U.S. sustain a TBI, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. TBI is a contributing factor to approximately one-third of all injury-related deaths in this country. TBI often results when an object hits a person’s head violently, when an object pierces the brain, or when a bomb explodes nearby. Athletes, soldiers and car accident victims are at high risk for TBI.

Pardyjak Receives Researcher of the Year 2011

On October 1, 2012 / Announcements, Faculty Accomplishments

The University of Utah Department of Mechanical Engineering is pleased to announce that associate professor Eric Pardyjak received the department 2011 Researcher of the Year Award. This well deserved award is based on Faculty Activity Report scholarship, as well as proposal and grant data. Dr. Pardyjak’s research interests are in the areas of fluid mechanics, atmospheric turbulence, urban fluid mechanics, and stratified turbulence. Current Research Projects The GEnUSiS (Green Environmental Urban Simulations for Sustainability) Project: This collaborative multidisciplinary NSF funded project builds on previous NSF and DOE projects. The project,

Composites in Cars: Making Vehicles Lighter, Safer and More Fuel-Efficient

On September 29, 2012 / Announcements, Faculty Accomplishments

Dan Adams holds two carbon/epoxy tube specimens used to assess composite crashworthiness. The one on the right is before testing. On the left is after crush testing, showing the high degree of fragmentation and thus high-energy absorption.

Composite materials may someday have big advantages over steel in automobile manufacturing. Composites are being considered to make lighter, safer and more fuel-efficient vehicles. A composite is composed of a high-performance fiber (such as carbon or glass) in a matrix material (epoxy polymer) that when combined provides enhanced properties compared with the individual materials by themselves. Carbon-fiber composites weigh about one-fifth as much as steel, but are as good or better in terms of stiffness and strength. They also do not rust or corrode like steel or aluminum, and they

Students’ Choice Teacher of the Year 2011-2012: Mathieu Francoeur

On September 20, 2012 / Faculty Accomplishments

Mathieu Francoeur, Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor, University of Utah

Receiving a strong number of student nominations such as, “he is one of the most effective professors that I’ve had in my six years at the University of Utah,” made the difficult task of selecting only one teacher of the year a little easier. Another student noted, “I enjoy having examples in the course, they help make it easier to learn.” The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah is thrilled to announce that the recipient of the 2011-2012 Students’ Choice Teacher of the Year is assistant professor

Realism in a Virtual World: Graphics, Movement, Touch & Smell Combine for a Lifelike Virtual Environment

On September 10, 2012 / Faculty Accomplishments

Although it may sound like futuristic science fiction, the pursuit of virtual reality technology—which allows a user to interact with a computer generated, simulated environment—has been around for years. In fact, in 1968 Ivan Sutherland, a former professor at the University of Utah, created what is widely considered to be the first virtual reality and augmented reality head-mounted display system. Since then, researchers at the U of U continue to develop and refine such technology for purposes ranging from education and training to design and prototyping. One project developed at

Professor Kent Udell works with the elements to seek energy innovations

On August 2, 2012 / Alumni Limelight, Faculty Accomplishments, Research

Kent Udell, left, a University of Utah mechanical engineering professor, talks with graduate student Michael Beeman BS’10 MS’10, who has been helping with work on Udell’s ice-ball experiment at the Sill Center.

Under the lawn behind the University of Utah’s Sterling Sill Center, mechanical engineering professor Kent Udell MS’78 PhD’80 has buried a 35-foot-wide by 40-foot-deep “ice ball” about 10 feet below the surface. On a spring afternoon, he stops to sit on a patch of grass marked by a web of shallow trenches as he checks the tubing covered by green valve boxes that provide the only evidence above ground of his experiment in testing how heat and cold can be stored for later use. Full story . . .

Dr. Coats Receives Career-Starter Grant from Knights Templar

On July 10, 2012 / Faculty Accomplishments

SALT LAKE CITY – Dr. Brittany Coats, an Assistant Professor starting her third year in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Utah, received a Career-Starter Research Grant earlier this year from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation. Dr. Coats will be exploring pediatric ocular biomechanics with the grant, which has been largely neglected in the research community. The mechanical properties of ocular structures in adults were first evaluated in 1971, and they continue to be extensively characterized today. In stark contrast, only three studies have investigated material properties

Faculty Accomplishments