The Department of Mechanical Engineering hosts a series each year featuring distinguished speakers in their related fields. Speakers come from all over the country from various schools and industries to present their ground-breaking research. Some speakers have even come from other countries. A reception follows each seminar. This Fall seminars will be held on Fridays, 3:00 pm (reception @ 4:00 pm), in the Warnock Engineering Bldg. (WEB) 2230 (*unless otherwise noted). Please help spread the word that all are invited.
Sept. 5: K. L. DeVries (Larry), Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor; Director, Fracture and Adhesives, Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah
A Walk Down Memory Lane: Successes and Frustrations. Prof. DeVries sees himself as a research opportunist. He will discuss the evolution of his research over the years, and how he learned to take advantage of opportunities that arose in our ever changing world.
Sept. 26: Karthik Ramani, Ph.D.
Donald W. Feddersen Professor; Director, C Design Lab, Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University
Using Hands Naturally for Design and Creative Expression. Dr. Ramani will present new interaction paradigms for creation, interaction and manipulation of 2.5D shapes through natural integration of human gestures with shape modeling schemes.
Oct. 24: Paul Oh, Ph.D.
Lincy Professor of Unmanned Aerial Systems; Director, Autonomous Systems Lab, Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Robotics: Passing the Tipping Point. In the past decade robots have gone beyond the confines of the factory floor to being pervasive in everyday environments. This talk will showcase work in both flying robots (UAVs) and walking humanoids that point towards the field’s near-term future.
Nov. 21: K. T. Ramesh, Ph.D.*
(2:00 p.m., WEB 2250)
Alonzo G. Decker Jr. Professor; Director, Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
Keep your Head in the Game: The Mechanics of Traumatic Brain Injury in Sports. The human brain is a complex soft structure that is subjected to dynamic loading throughout a human lifetime. This lecture describes how this structure is protected, and examines the conditions under which the protection fails during sport activities, leading to traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Dec. 5: Ibrahim Dincer, Ph.D.
Professor; Director, Clean Energy Research Lab, Mechanical, Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Ontario Institute of Technology
New Energy Dimensions for Better Sustainability. This presentation will offer a unique approach in providing sustainable solutions and focus on newly developed multi-purpose energy systems and applications, as well as their performance assessments through energy and exergy efficiencies.