ME in the News
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May 2008
Post Doc Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed has won the Dan David Prize Scholarship, $15,000, for the Present Time Dimension in the field of Social Responsibility with Particular Emphasis on the Environment. He works with Professor Jane Davidson. The Dan David Prize recognizes and encourages innovative and interdisciplinary research that cuts across traditional boundaries and paradigms. It aims to foster universal values of excellence, creativity, justice, democracy and progress and to promote the scientific, technological and humanistic achievements that advance and improve our world.
Professor Caroline Hayes will be giving a keynote lecture, Friday May 2, 10-11 AM, for the department of Writing Studies Spring Coloquium at the Continuing Education and Conference Center in St. Paul. Abstract (pdf)
April 2008
Technologies developed at the university will be used by Rushford Hypersonic on products in the industrial tooling and coating applications industries. The company eventually expects to create 40 to 60 jobs at its facility in Rushford, Minnesota. The nanoparticle film deposition technologies developed over the past decade by professors Steven Girshick, Joachim Heberlein and Peter McMurry in the university's mechanical engineering department, William Gerberich in chemical engineering and materials science and Nagaraja Rao, formerly in mechanical engineering.
The agreement will be marked at an open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 23 at the Rushford Hypersonic facility, 1000 Technology Drive in Rushford. Representatives from the university, Rushford Hypersonic, the city of Rushford and the state of Minnesota will be on hand.
"The University of Minnesota produces some of the world's best nanotechnology, and we are very pleased to sign this agreement with them," said Daniel Fox, Rushford Hypersonic's chief executive officer. "The university worked closely with us throughout the entire process and helped structure the agreement so that we can bring these technologies to market very quickly."
"The university aims to be an effective partner with industry," said Jay Schrankler, executive director at the university's Office for Technology Commercialization (OTC). "This agreement with Rushford Hypersonic is a great example of how we can make it easy for companies to find what they're looking for at the university and establish long-term partnerships."
Rushford Hypersonic will manufacture parts locally in Rushford and employ the area's skilled work force. They will use Web-based technology to market and sell their products, and will partner with a global distributor. Expansion into other markets will take place as new applications are developed for industrial and automotive surfaces (e.g., camshafts, valves, bearings) and medical applications, such as the ball and socket in an artificial hip. The company also will join forces with the university by providing funding for a graduate research assistantship in the nanotechnology research program.
Professor Susan Mantell has been selected as a recipient of The George Taylor Distinguished I.T. Alumni Society Teaching Award for 2008.
Professor Frank Kulacki is serving as Visiting Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Assistant Provost at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, UAE. In his role as Assistant Provost, he has been responsible for overall strategic planning and formulation of faculty and administrative policies and procedures for the Institute. The Petroleum Institute is a new engineering school focusing on the needs of the oil and gas industries in the UAE, as well as the broad field of fossil and renewable energy resources. The PI was established in 2000.
The Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power, along with Twin Cities Public Television and the National Fluid Power Association, has produced a half-hour documentary on fluid power called "Discovering Fluid Power" that is set to air on Minnesota TPT channel 17 on Sunday, April 6, 8:00 p.m. and again on Saturday, May 10, 9:00 p.m.
In addition, a second half-hour documentary produced by TPT and NFPA, titled "Fluid Power - A Force for Change" will be aired one week after the first documentary on Sunday, April 13, 8:00 p.m. repeated on Saturday, May 17, 9:00 p.m. Channel 17
The first program is an overview of fluid power, and the second is a more in-depth look at the fluid power industry. Faculty members and graduate students from the Center and local industry members were interviewed for both programs. February 2008
Traian Dumitrica, a Nelson Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been awarded a 5-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant "Nanomechanics from First Principles" to develop a novel multiscale methodology that will derive practical continuum models for nano-objects directly from their first-principles atomistic description. In addition to providing a fresh perspective on the fundamental principles governing mechanics at the nano scale, Dumitrica's NSF-funded research will facilitate the incorporation of nanomechanics into the engineering curriculum. Research results will be incorporated into the courses he teaches, including ME 8253 Computational Nanomechanics.
Professor Alptekin Aksan has been awarded a McKnight land-grant professorship for 2008-2010.
Professor Caroline Hayes appears on the February 3 episode of the University's program "Tech Talk," to discuss how design affects technology. The program airs in the Twin Cities on Sundays at 9 PM on channel 17.
January 2008
Professor Jane Davidson appears on the January 13 episode of "Tech Talk", a program produced by the University that discusses the latest technologies that affect everyday lives, Sundays, 9 PM, on Twin Cities public television. This program discusses Technology and Renewable Energy. |
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