MAEMechanical and Aerospace Engineering | Missouri S&T | 2016

HONEYWELL COLLABORATES WITH S&Tpage 8

100 YEARS OF INNOVATIONpage 2

Sept. 1 Centennial Seminar Series — Dr. Robert Wagner, director of Fuels, Engines and Emissions Research Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Sept. 14 Centennial Kickoff Celebration

Sept. 16 MAE Department Picnic

Oct. 12Centennial Seminar - Dr. Wayne Garrett, managing director, IW Capital Partners

Oct. 13 Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers Induction Dinner

Oct. 14 AMAE membership meeting and Centennial open house

Oct. 22 Pumpkin Chunkin’ Competition

Dec. 8 Centennial Seminar — Dr. Scott White, professor of aerospace engineering, University of Illinois

Feb. 23 Centennial Seminar — Dr. Ronald Dougherty, professor and executive associate chair of mechanical engineering, University of Kansas

Week of March 6 AIAA - Build your own model airplane or rockets

Spring 2017 Centennial Banquet

CELEBRATING A CENTURY WITH MAE

FINISHING STRONGThe Missouri S&T Formula SAE team placed seventh overall out of 120 other schools at the Formula East competition. They had a successful year, competing in three competitions. Here are the overall results:

• Formula East in Michigan: 7th

• Formula North in Canada: 1st

• Formula West in Nebraska: 4th

Read more about the S&T design teams on page 4.

Photo by Bob Phelan

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DEAR FRIENDS:In this edition of our newsletter we are pleased to provide you some highlights from another successful year for the students, faculty and staff of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Missouri S&T. Inside you will find a few of the many significant accomplishments of our faculty and students as well as accolades of our alumni.

As is my tradition in this letter, I am pleased to introduce four new faculty who have joined the department this year. Dr. Lianyi Chen has joined us as an assistant professor after completing his postdoctoral research at UCLA and his Ph.D. in material science and engineering from Zhejiang University in 2009. Professor Chen was hired through the new Signature Area program on campus in the area of advanced manufacturing. Dr. Jillian Schmidt has joined us as an assistant teaching professor after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. Her interests include educational theory and implementation of project-based and other active learning strategies. Professor Schmidt is already receiving teaching awards in recognition of her outstanding efforts with our introductory design courses. Dr. Warner Meeks also joined the department at the assistant teaching professor level after completion of his Ph.D. in our aerospace engineering program with a focus on plasma physics. His expertise in energy systems and aerospace design is addressing critical teaching needs in thermal analysis and aircraft design. Finally, Dr. Charles Wojnar completed his Ph.D. in aeronautics at the California Institute of Technology in 2015 and accepted a position with us as assistant professor. His research interests include the study of the mechanical behavior of active materials, in particular piezoelectricity and ferroelectricity. Together these new faculty add to the department’s current research strengths, and are contributing to our teaching and scholarly accomplishments.

The lead story this year marks a significant milestone for our department as we commemorate our centennial in a year-long celebration. The mechanical and aerospace engineering department has come a long way in the past 100 years. From a department of one full-time and two part-time faculty and three students led by our first department chair, Harold Shields Dickerson, to a department of 40

faculty, 870 undergraduate and 240 graduate students, we are very proud of who we have become. We have outlined in the newsletter several events to celebrate our anniversary, including a distinct Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers celebration during Homecoming week in October, a Centennial Graduate Seminar Series highlighted by several of our accomplished alumni and a Centennial Celebration event in the spring. We ask that you mark your calendar and join us for as many events as possible.

Moving into the next century, we are led by our bold strategic plan aimed at maintaining our strong undergraduate program for which we are known while molding our graduate activities into a top program in several traditional and new cross-cutting multidisciplinary areas. We are immensely proud of our department at Missouri S&T and acknowledge the many alumni and friends for their many and varied contributions. Collectively we have been able to continue to provide the type of engineering education that has formed the foundation for success for many Miner engineers. I look forward to working with all of you in leading the department into our second century.

Warm Regards,

James Drallmeier, Ph.D.Chair, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering PRODUCED BY

Managing Editor: Kimber Crull

Contributors: Dr. Jim Drallmeier, Lila Kolker and Alan Scher Zagier

Photography: Sam O’Keefe and Bob Phelan

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

IN THIS ISSUE4 Design team progress

Seven teams share wrap-ups on their seasons.

9 Senior design: the MAE capstoneGraduating students get hands-on experience.

10 Research by Gao and Yang published in Nature: Scientific Reports The work describes how the metamaterial sensors work.

12 Dr. Yang receives 2016 ONR Young Investigator Award His research has potential to advance optics applications.

13 Introducing our new faculty Department adds four new faculty.

14 Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers Academy inducts and honors alumni.

16 Staff news Four new staff members join the department.

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100 YEARS OF INNOVATION

The handful of students and scholars who took a leap of faith to specialize in mechanical engineering at the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy 100 years ago would scarcely recognize the 21st century version of their former home. With just three faculty members overseeing a similarly small number of students in the department’s early years, professors and their charges were surely well acquainted with each other. Their headquarters was Mechanical Hall, a building also used as a public meeting space, basketball court and weekend social venue. When it came time for school dances, the mechanical drawing tables and woodworking

equipment would be pushed aside into a corner of the campus “ballroom.”

These days, more than 1,100 undergraduate and graduate students and 40 full-time faculty call the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering home, making us the largest academic unit at what is now the Missouri University of Science and Technology. And in place of Mechanical Hall — and its successor, the

Mechanical Engineering Annex — is Toomey Hall, a three-story, 146,500-square-foot facility that opened in 2009 as part of a $28 million construction and renovation project.

As we celebrate the department’s centennial in the 2016-17 academic year, here’s a look at some of its key movers and moments:

1902Mechanical Hall, a 60-by-100-foot, two-story brick building specially designed for mechanical work, is built. The construction milestone comes after an early campus course in mechanical engineering is dropped because of a lack of proper teaching facilities.

1916Under the leadership of Chair Harold Shields Dickerson, the new Department of Mechanical Engineering replaces what had been known as the Department of Shopwork and Drawing. The

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initial curriculum includes courses in boilers and engines, forge work, foundry and valve gears.

1924Developments in refrigeration and air-conditioning fuel the growth of mechanical engineering in Rolla — and the world at large. By the late 1940s, the department would assume the title of largest on campus — a distinction it has continued to hold throughout the subsequent seven decades.

1930The local chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers holds its first meeting.

1938Courses in aerodynamics and airplane structures are added in a precursor to the elevation of aerospace engineering amid the global space race.

1942Aaron J. Miles, a Missouri School of Mines graduate whose tenure in Rolla started as a campus janitor, is named department chair. He remained in that position for 22 years before becoming MSM’s first dean of engineering.

1948The Missouri Legislature appropriates $500,000 for the construction of the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory Building, which would be completed three years later. The project helps alleviate a space crunch that required the department’s students to shuttle between three sites: Mechanical Hall for classes in drawing and shop practice; the campus power plant for experimental labs; and Norwood Hall for junior and senior engineering lectures, as well as drafting rooms.

1948Lloyd Wilson receives the school’s first master’s degree in mechanical engineering.

1964After a decade of offering degrees in mechanical engineering with an option to specialize in aeronautical engineering, the university

upgrades to an aerospace engineering preference program. A name change to the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering follows four years later.

1966The university receives approval to award doctoral degrees, including in such specialties as aerospace engineering and mechanical design.

1970Enrollment in the department surpasses 1,000.

1984The Institute for Flexible Manufacturing and Industrial Automation opens, uniting mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty with interdisciplinary colleagues across other campus departments.

1995The Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers is founded to recognize outstanding alumni, who then serve as advisers to the department.

2009Toomey Hall is completed, replacing the old Mechanical Engineering Annex (the former Mechanical Hall), which is demolished to make room for the new building.

2016The department commemorates its 100th anniversary with a yearlong celebration featuring exciting student competition and events, esteemed guest lecturers and a commemorative banquet to honor this milestone in the spring.

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DESIGN TEAM PROGRESSSeven design teams share wrap-ups on their seasons, what they’ve learned and what’s next.M-SATIn January, the Missouri S&T Satellite Research Team (M-SAT) traveled to Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico to compete in the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Nanosat-8 competition. The team placed first while competing against nine other strong teams, including those from Georgia Tech, Colorado, UCLA, SUNY-Buffalo, and Boston University. The team presented and defended the design of its MR SAT (Missouri Rolla Satellite) and MRS SAT (Missouri Rolla Second Satellite) spacecraft, which will both launch to low Earth orbit and fly in formation with each other. Functional engineering models of both spacecraft were presented to the judging panel. By winning the competition, the team will work with the Air Force to integrate the two spacecrafts into their final flight configurations, ground-test them and then arrange for them to be launched to low Earth orbit. One possible opportunity discussed at the competition for the launching of MR and MRS SAT would involve astronauts aboard the International Space Station deploying the spacecraft into orbit off a robotic arm attached to the station after first being launched there with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The team is now busy making final component purchases for the flight versions of both spacecraft, which will involve some fundraising (as space-qualified components typically cost much more than terrestrial versions). Air Force personnel were on campus this spring for a “deep dive” design review of the team’s current mission and readiness level for launch. The team is advised by Dr. Hank Pernicka, with valuable assistance from many other faculty including Drs. Kyle DeMars, Josh Rovey, and Jonathan Kimball.

AAVGThe Advanced Aero Vehicle Group (AAVG) is a group design experience with two distinct teams. One team, the High Power Engineered Rocket (HPER) Design Team,

designs and builds a rocket for competition. The other, SAE Aero Design Competition Team, focuses on the designing and building an aircraft for competition.

HPER competes in the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition, in the advanced category. The rocket has to achieve a target altitude between 10,000 and 23,000 feet using a student-designed and built propulsion system and air frame with 10 pounds of engineering payload. The team competed in the 2016 IREC competition in Utah with their rocked named Helios. A test launch was first performed in May, with the rocket fully recovered by parachute. It reached a maximum altitude of 9,880 feet, missing the targeted altitude of 10,000 feet. At competition, the rocket sat in the 100 degree heat for hours before finally being launched. As a result, the altimeters misfired at 8,000 feet, causing a recovery sequence outside the design envelope. The landing was rough but all components were recovered. Despite the difficult launch, Helios placed 12th out of 44 competitors.

The airplane design group competed in the SAE Aero Design East competition near Ft. Worth, Texas on March 11–13. Scoring in this event is based on the written design report, an oral presentation and flight scoring calculated using an algorithm that accounts for weight carried and drop

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accuracy. Design and construction began in August and resulted in two aircraft, the first of which was available for flight testing in January. The important design modifications compared to last year were weight reduction in the airframe construction, a shorter aft fuselage, an increased horizontal stabilizer area and improvements in the payload drop algorithm. Engine performance continued to be an issue, resulting in the necessity to fly at slightly below the design gross weight. Fifteen AAVG students, two pilots and the faculty advisor went to the competition and worked well as a team. Nineteen teams from the U. S., Poland, Brazil and India participated in the advanced class. Aircraft flight performance was very good, according to the pilot. The team earned fifth place in the written report, sixth place in the payload drop and sixth place overall. Results suggest that other teams are becoming much more competitive, requiring AAVG to continually improve design, construction, electronics, flight test and management methods.

BAJAMiner Baja SAE design team had a rough 2014-15 season. Missed manufacturing deadlines and a lack of experienced members prevented the team from competing a year ago. Going into the next season, members of the team took a step back in order to gather themselves and reorganize the team’s structure before going to a competition hosted by Tennessee Tech on April 14-17 of this year. The two biggest hurdles facing the team were designing a fuel tank box that meets SAE’s strict rules and designing body panels that are strong but cost-effective. They ended up utilizing the Student Design and Experiential Learning Center’s new 5-axis water jet for both components, which greatly expedited the development phase. The fuel tank box made from sheet aluminum passed tech, and the newly designed, high-impact- resistant ABS body panels performed just as well as the previous car’s carbon-fiber panels – at a fraction of the cost and time.

Out of 96 teams, Miner Baja SAE placed 12th in the sled pull, 22nd in the suspension course, 29th in cost, 52nd in design, 63rd in maneuverability and 68th in acceleration. A faulty clutch slave cylinder (a purchased part) delayed the car’s start in the 4-hour endurance race by an hour, and a rear suspension trailing link broke, limiting the car to a 54th place finish with 11 laps

completed. The combined results gave the team an overall ranking of 55th.

Going forward, the team plans to focus on real-world testing and validation to improve its design score and ensure that suspension parts are strong enough for the endurance race. Members are also developing new suspension and drivetrain designs that will give the car better maneuverability and acceleration/reliability.

HPVEvery year the Missouri S&T Human Powered Vehicle team builds a bike from the ground up and competing at competitions on the East and West Coasts. This year, the team wanted to include an innovation of incorporating a gyroscopic control. However, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers was very concerned with safety, forcing the team to have the mechanism professionally balanced. Due to some obstacles in the build, the team fell behind and was forced to sit out during the West Coast competition.

The second major competition was held May 13-15 in Athens, Ohio. The team placed fifth in the female drag race competition and third in the male drag race competition. In innovation, the team placed ninth and in the

two-and-a-half-hour endurance race the team finished second. Overall, the team placed fifth out of 34 teams at the HPVC East competition.

The 2016 bike had a significant place in the Missouri S&T Human Powered Vehicle Team’s history, with the upcoming team president producing an amazing piece of art work. Missouri S&T has a tradition of racing as No. 24 in competition. To commemorate that choice, Emily Amerson, a senior from Peculiar, Missouri, painted the bike depicting it as a World War II B-24 bomber. The design is complete with nose art of the era, and the metal peels away to display modern carbon fiber.

Preparations for the 2017 race season are already under way, with progress this summer in the design process. The team is looking to create a leaning tricycle while also incorporating 3-D printing carbon fiber technology to create an overall lighter machine.

MINERS IN SPACEThis year the Miners in Space microgravity research team joined NASA’s Micro-g NExT challenge. Held at NASA’s 6.2 million-gallon pool, the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, this challenge tasked undergraduate students with designing mission tools for the upcoming Asteroid

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Redirect Mission. Teams could choose from among six different tools and objectives, including an anchoring device, core sample device and float sample grabber.

The Miners in Space team designed and manufactured an anchoring device that would secure a spacecraft into the regolith on an asteroid. The design constraints were to make a device that would anchor at least 10 pounds, minimize weight and fit within a specified volume. NASA also imposed a requirement that the tools should be neutrally buoyant in water to better simulate microgravity in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab. The team took advantage of 3-D print technology to produce double-fluted augers for anchoring, and the print material itself had near water density, making it neutrally buoyant. The tool was tested in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab by the NASA dive team and held a force of 22 pounds, which exceeded expectations. The team was also praised for the effectiveness and simplicity of the design.

Next year the Miners in Space team plans to improve on its anchoring device design with an optimized auger system that can be used to deploy multiple anchors and by developing a new tether attachment system.

FORMULA SAE ELECTRICThe Missouri S&T Formula SAE Electric team returned from its mid-June competition in Lincoln, Nebraska ecstatic to have improved drastically upon the previous year’s car. The competition began with a rigorous technical inspection that ensured every aspect of the car was safe enough to compete in the dynamic events. This event proved to be the biggest obstacle in 2015 and drove the team to innovate and design this year’s vehicle to achieve much more than before.

The 2015-16 year was focused on making a car that would successfully reach the other side of the inspections. The team was faced with many unforeseeable setbacks throughout the year; metal for the frame did not arrive until long after it had been planned to start fabrication, and a new set of rules came in part way through the year that made the team reconsider the frame design. Nevertheless, members continued working diligently and within the last month of school, the pace really started to pick up. The car had not been built, and the competition was rapidly approaching. Determination never left the team, and deadlines for systems on the car were met. When the

time came, the team set off to Lincoln with high hopes for the car known as “Artemis.”

The strong work ethic and detail-oriented design that had taken place over the previous year prevailed over the first step of the technical inspection. In quick succession, and to the team’s great delight, the remaining four steps to the inspection were passed one after the other. The following day, the S&T Formula SAE Electric team was the very first squad, out of nearly 100 placed into the acceleration event. The rest of the week followed in a similar fashion, and for the first time, S&T’s Formula SAE Electric team successfully competed in every dynamic event.

Formula SAE Electric placed fifth in the competition and was only beaten by one other U.S. team. Alongside placing high, the team learned a great deal about how to be competitive at these events. While the car was greatly improved from last year to this year, Formula SAE Electric plans on improving even more in the year to come.

FORMULA SAEJune 2016 marked a special time for the Missouri S&T Formula SAE design team — the end of one of the most successful seasons in the team’s history. The first competition, Formula SAE Michigan, saw the team post a seventh place overall finish. This was followed by a history-making win at Formula North in Canada, with S&T Racing being the first American team to win. To wrap up an already incredible season, the team took home fourth place at Formula SAE Lincoln. The team brought home a very impressive load of hardware from each competition, including seven trophies, three plaques and a champion belt.

The team established goals early in the season, including a dedicated testing

season and a refined design. This year’s testing season was the longest the team has experienced in many years, giving members many opportunities to bring out optimal performance. The members of S&T Racing have an incredible dedication to the team, with most putting in 40 hours or more a week. The drive of the core members made this season a success.

With the momentum from the numerous wins at every competition the team attended, the push now is to expand their public relation and business efforts. While the engineers are producing consistently high-performing cars, they have to be funded somehow, and this responsibility falls to the team’s business department. As members graduate, more students are needed to fill those roles, so public relations comes in to recruit new students, as well as make our program better known. With the growth of the team, another goal is an emphasis on knowledge transfer and making sure the valuable information accumulated over the years is not lost. The alumni of the team have so much of that information. Another goal for the 2017 season is to reconnect with our alumni, making those relations stronger.

S&T Racing would like to thank all of the sponsors for the continued support of this incredible project. All the students on the team put so much time and passion into designing, producing and racing these cars, but they couldn’t do it without every one of the sponsors.

They would like to give a shout-out to the following: Hunter Engineering, Ford, Nucor, Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers and the Student Design and Experiential Learning Center.

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REMEMBERING JOE BOZE

It is with much sadness to report that Joe Boze, engineering technician II, died on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015. Joe was employed by S&T for 15 years. You could typically find him in the shop of MAE machining parts for a research project or helping out a student design team.

He was a gracious, soft-spoken man who was a wonderful teacher, advisor, friend and colleague. He will always be remembered for his dedicated support to the department and campus.

The Formula SAE team included a memorial to Joe Boze on the cover of this year’s vehicle.

MAE RESEARCHERS PUBLISH

NEW DISCOVERY IN MANUFACTURING LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES

Dr. Heng Pan and doctoral student Brandon Ludwig, lead author, working in a sterile laboratory chamber. Doctoral student Wan Shou, the study’s author, is not pictured.

A new manufacturing process to reduce the cost in lithium-ion battery manufacturing has been discovered by a team of researchers led by Dr. Heng Pan. The team has developed a technique to completely remove solvents which are used in conventional battery electrode manufacturing. The new solvent-

free manufacturing process greatly reduces the time and resource-demanding solvent evaporation process needed with conventional electrode manufacturing.

The article “Solvent-Free Manufacturing of Electrodes for Lithium-ion Batteries,” in Nature: Scientific Reports (nature.com/articles/srep23150) describes the new manufacturing based on dry powders. By understanding the surface energies of various powders which govern the powder mixing and binder distribution, bonding tests of the dry-deposited particles onto the current collector show that the bonding strength is greater than slurry-cast electrodes. Electrochemical tests show that the new electrodes outperform conventional slurry processed electrodes, which is due to different binder distribution. Removing the solvent and drying process allows large-scale Li-ion battery production to be more economically viable in markets such as automotive energy storage systems.

This work is in collaboration with Dr. Yan Wang from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and supported by the Intelligent Systems Center and the Material Research Center at Missouri S&T and the National Science Foundation.

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Missouri S&T officials announce a master collaboration agreement with Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies that will allow the two organizations to work more closely on research and development of new technology to meet national security needs.As part of the Honeywell-Missouri S&T research collaboration agreement, a five-year project entitled “Metal Additive Manufacturing Materials Analysis” has been established at Missouri S&T with research funding provided by Honeywell. The total amount of funding for the project is about $5 million over five years for project expenses and about $1.5 million for research equipment being purchased by Honeywell to loan to Missouri S&T for project use. Dr. Ming Leu is the project director. The other senior team members consist of seven other professors: Frank Liou, Joe Newkirk, Ed Kinzel, Robert Landers, Doug Bristow, Don O’Malley and Lianyi Chen, all from the mechanical and aerospace engineering department and the materials science and engineering department. The

project personnel also includes one postdoc and six graduate students with plans to involve five to 10 undergraduate students starting the second year. Rex Brown is the manager of this project from Honeywell.

This project is aimed at performing materials analysis for the selective laser melting (SLM) process, which is a powder bed-based metal additive manufacturing process. The research objectives are to improve the properties of the built parts, control microstructures for achieving desired properties, maximize powder reuse and increase process sustainability.

The goal of this project is for Missouri S&T to perform fundamental and basic research in order to assist Honeywell in understanding the interworking issues in the structure, processing, properties and relationships for the selective laser melting process. The research is expected to generate knowledge, create methodologies and develop tools useful to the Honeywell managed National Security Campus in Kansas City, Missouri in addressing issues that arise in implementing the selective laser melting process for additive manufacturing of 3-D parts from 304L stainless steel and other related materials. This project is also expected to contribute significantly to the education and training of graduate and undergraduate students, creating a pipeline of capable engineers and researchers for the next-generation manufacturing.

The centerpiece of equipment in this project is a Renishaw AM250 laser melting machine capable of producing fully dense metal parts of any complex shapes and internal features directly from CAD models. The other major pieces of equipment include a plasma powder spheroidizer, a wire EDM machine, a tensile tester, an automated ball indenter and a thermal imaging camera. The plasma powder spheroidizer will be used to make and recondition metal particles into spherical powder, thereby decreasing powder porosity, increasing powder density and improving powder flowing properties. The wire EDM machine will be used to cut off the built parts from the substrate. The tensile tester will be used to measure yield strength, ultimate strength and stress-strain relationship for specimens built by the AM250 machine. An automated ball indenter will be used to investigate its capability of measuring yield strength, ultimate strength, stress-strain relationship, hardness, toughness and other mechanical properties using a non-destructive evaluation method with ball indentation. The thermal imaging camera will be used to perform real-time measurement of the temperature distribution of the melt tool and surrounding area during the selective laser melting process for purposes of controlling the part’s microstructures and mechanical properties.

HONEYWELL COLLABORATES WITH S&T ON METAL ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

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SENIOR DESIGN: THE MAE CAPSTONE It’s been another great year with the capstone courses for mechanical and aerospace engineering, sending graduating students into the world with hands-on experience in their fields. Undergraduates pursuing degrees in both majors finish their bachelor’s requirements with a comprehensive course that encompasses many of the areas that they have studied throughout the years. For aerospace engineering, students are presented with two options including aerospace systems design and spacecraft design. Mechanical engineering offers one option: engineering design. These courses walk students through the fundamentals of design, conceptualization, modeling and optimization and end with a final product. These courses also encourage team work, communication and leadership since students are grouped into teams to complete their projects.

At the end of the course, students are required to present their projects in a professional manner, explaining their design, costs, decisions and final conclusion. The Engineering Design and Aerospace Systems Design courses culminate in a design showcase where project sponsors, alumni and families are invited to critique and enjoy the presentations. The students are expected to appear in a professional manner as if they were working in their field and present to the audience as if these were employers or stakeholders in their product. This gives the students a special sense of how it will be when they begin their careers at some of the university’s top employers. The students, their guests and sponsors are treated to a luncheon where they can mingle and talk about their undergraduate careers and their futures before heading off to Commencement the following day.

Top photo: A team working on a project for Par-Way Tryson wraps up their presentation by thanking the audience and answering questions from sponsors and alumni. Bottom photo: The hallway is lined with Aerospace Systems Design II projects and posters for visitors to observe between presentations.

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RESEARCH BY GAO AND YANG PUBLISHED IN

NATURE: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS

RESEARCHERS EARN 2016 SPIE BEST PAPER AWARDA group of faculty and students from the Department of mechanical and aerospace engineering was honored at the 2016 SPIE Photonics West conference, receiving the Best Paper Award for its work on printing glass. The work is an ongoing collaboration between Drs. Edward Kinzel, Douglas Bristow and Robert G. Landers and graduate students Luke Gilbert and Junjie Luo.

Glasses such as fused quartz have significant scientific and engineering applications including optics, communications, electronics and hermetic seals. This paper investigated a filament-fed process for additive manufacturing of fused quartz. Additive manufacturing has several potential benefits including increased design freedom, faster prototyping and lower processing costs for small production volumes.

From Air Force Research Laboratory, Drs. Jonathan Goldstein and Augustine Urbas have contributed in developing the concept. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation.

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Drs. Jie Gao and Xiaodong Yang have been published in Nature: Scientific Reports again! Their latest effort showcases their work demonstrating ultrasensitive detection and characterization of molecules based on infrared plasmonic metamaterials, which are ion-beam milled nanoscale patterns in 25nm gold thin film on top of a glass slide). The article, “Ultrasensitive detection and characterization of molecules with infrared plasmonic metamaterials,” in Nature: Scientific Reports (rol.la/nature2016) describes how the metamaterial sensors work. The resonance frequency of the metamaterial nanostructure is tailored to match the vibrational fingerprint of the target molecule. Significantly enhanced absorption signal of molecules in the infrared spectroscopy are obtained, enabling ultrasensitive detection of only minute quantities of polymer molecules. The enhancement of molecular absorption up to five orders of magnitude is obtained, and sensitive detection of molecules at zeptomole levels (corresponding to a few tens of molecules within a unit cell) is achieved with high signal-to-noise ratio. The demonstrated infrared plasmonic metamaterial sensing platform offers great potential for improving the specificity and sensitivity of label-free biochemical detection.

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DR. ROVEY RECEIVES 2016 AIAA LAWRENCE SPERRY AWARDDr. Joshua Rovey, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Lawrence Sperry Award for 2016. This award honors Lawrence B. Sperry, pioneer and inventor, and is presented for a notable contribution made by a young person to the advancement of aeronautics and astronautics.

Rovey was nominated by Dr. Lokeswarappa Dharani, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, for “exceptional contributions to research in the areas of plasma dynamics and space propulsion, and to the Missouri S&T AIAA student branch.” He received a medal and certificate of citation at the AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition in San Diego on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

MAE FACULTY AWARDS MAE has many faculty who are honored for their outstanding research, service and teaching. Here are some campus honors awarded in 2015-2016.

2015 Faculty Research AwardDr. S. HosderDr. X. Yang

2015 Faculty Teaching AwardDr. D. BristowDr. X. Du

2015 Achievement AwardDr. R. Hutcheson

2014-15 Outstanding Teaching AwardDr. X. Du

Global Learning 2015 Outstanding Teaching Excellence AwardDr. V. BirmanDr. L. Dharani

Intelligent Systems Center’s 2015 Distinguished Investigator AwardDr. F. Liou

BRISTOW TO LEAD CENTER FOR AEROSPACE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIESDr. Douglas Bristow, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, has been named the director of the Center for Aerospace Manufacturing Technologies at Missouri S&T. His appointment began Thursday, May 19.

The center specializes in fabrication and assembly technologies that are applicable to aerospace and other manufacturing industries.

Dr. Bristow has served as CAMT’s associate director for the past two years and has demonstrated strong leadership quality. “CAMT is a strong organization because we have top-tier industrial members who represent the best elements of the aerospace manufacturing industry, large and small, and who are dedicated to technological innovation and the transfer of academic research into industry,” Bristow says. “Those members are mirrored by a group of exceptional faculty who understand the needs of industry and create tremendous value for the members. Our focus for the coming years will be on finding innovative methods to further increase that value and expand our footprint.”

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Dr. Xiaodong Yang, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has recently received the 2016 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (known as the ONR YIP) for his optical metasurfaces research, which has the potential to advance many optics and photonics applications in optical nanoelectromechanical systems, microfluidics, nanomechanical sensing, and optomechanical energy harvesting.

According to the Office of Naval Research, “the ONR YIP is one of the oldest and most selective scientific research advancement programs in the country. Its purpose is to fund early-career academic researchers — called investigators — whose scientific pursuits show outstanding promise for supporting the Department of Defense, while also promoting their professional development.”

This year, 47 scientists from 34 academic institutions across the country have been selected from 280 highly qualified applicants “based on past performance, technical merit, potential scientific breakthrough and long-term university commitment,” and Dr. Yang is one of the awardees “whose exceptionally creative research

holds promise across a range of naval-relevant science and technology areas.”

Supported by this award, Dr. Yang will conduct his innovative research work on “Negative Optical Torque Generation in Plasmonic and Dielectric Metasurfaces.” “The goals of this research are to explore and demonstrate the new concept of tunable optical torque generation in metasurfaces based on spin and orbital angular momentum conservation of light, in order to study the light-matter interactions between optical angular momentum and metasurfaces and analyze the optical torques applied on the metasurfaces,” Yang says.

Yang explains, “In mechanical and aerospace engineering, gas, steam and water turbines have been widely used, which are rotary mechanical devices that extract energy and power from the fluid flow and convert the mechanical rotation into useful work. Here, we will use metamaterials to realize microscale optical turbines, so that mechanical torques will be extracted from the angular momentum of light, instead of the fluid flow. Furthermore, the tunable optical torque generation in metasurfaces will be demonstrated, including the counterintuitive negative torque. ”

Yang joined the Missouri S&T faculty in 2011 from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Columbia University in 2009. Yang has successfully established the Nanoscale Optics Laboratory at Missouri S&T and his group has made tremendous research progress in the field of nanoscale optics and photonics, especially in metamaterials and metasurfaces. Yang also won the NSF CAREER Award early this year.

XIAODONG YANG RECEIVES

THE 2016 ONR YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARD FOR METASURFACES RESEARCH

DR. CHEN MAKES LIGHTWEIGHT, STRONG METALDr. Lianyi Chen, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and materials science and engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, has created a lightweight but very strong structural metal with potential applications in the aerospace, automobile, defense, mobile electronics and biomedical sectors. The findings were published in Nature on Dec. 24, 2015 and picked up by over 50 news outlets worldwide.

Magnesium is a light metal with two-thirds the density of aluminum. It’s also abundant on Earth and is biocompatible but it is not strong enough for many applications. Conventional synthesis and processing methods have reached certain limits in improving the properties of magnesium. Dr. Chen and his colleagues at UCLA found a way to mix silicon carbide nanoparticles into a molten magnesium alloy that uniformly dispersed and stabilized the nanoparticles, making a super strong and lightweight metal. “The evenly dispersed nanoparticles provide strength throughout the metal and improve plasticity simultaneously,” Chen says.

The new metal potentially can make cars, airplanes and space vehicles lighter and more fuel efficient without compromising strength and safety. Cell phones could be made even lighter than they are today, and with its high strength and biodegradability, the new metal also could be used as a degradable bio-implants.

“The approach can be applied to other metals as well. The results we obtained open a new way to break the property ceilings of metals,” Chen says.

13MAE.MST.EDU

INTRODUCING OUR NEW FACULTYLIANYI CHENAssistant Professor

Ph.D., materials science and engineeringZhejiang University, 2009

B.E., metallurgical engineeringYanshan University, 2004

Research interestsMy research integrates manufacturing, metallurgy and nanotechnology to explore new metal development and manufacturing paradigms to drive the performance and manufacturing of metals to a new level. I use the combination of experiments, theoretical analysis, and computer modeling/simulation to accelerate the implementation of new concepts and development of new materials and manufacturing processes. I use advanced characterization tools, particularly in situ synchrotron radiation based X-ray scattering/imaging and in situ scanning/transmission electron microscopy, to investigate the microstructure, morphology and stress evolution of materials during processing or under loading, to establish the processing-structure-property relationships. My research program includes four thrust areas: metal nanomanufacturing, metal additive manufacturing, lightweight and novel metals and in situ microstructure characterization.

Select honors• First-Class Award of China Postdoctoral Science Funding, 2009• Fellowship for Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation,

Zhejiang University, 2008

WARNER MEEKSAssistant Teaching Professor

Ph.D., aerospace engineeringMissouri S&T, 2015

M.S., aerospace engineeringMissouri S&T, 2013

B.S., aerospace engineeringMissouri S&T, 2010

Research interests My research interests include how to teach creative problem-solving and cultivate critical thinking skills to promote highly adaptable and successful engineers for the future. My graduate studies focused on plasma physics and energy analysis of pulsed plasma systems with an emphasis in high power electric space propulsion applications.

Select honors• Honorable Mention, Chancellor’s Fellows

Research Competition, 2014 and 2015• AMAE Student Excellence Award, 2010• Air Force Research Laboratory Space Scholar, 2009

JILLIAN SCHMIDTAssistant Teaching Professor

Ph.D., materials science and engineeringUniversity of Minnesota, 2015

B.S., aerospace engineeringUniversity of Minnesota, 2009

Research interestsMy research interests include educational theory and implementation of project-based and other active learning strategies in undergraduate courses, particularly within the introductory engineering curriculum. My graduate work focused on the design, development and characterization of a new material for cardiovascular tissue replacement, and I am excited to share my experiences working on an interdisciplinary design team of engineers, scientists and medical professionals with my students.

Select honors• Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 2009-14• Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award, University of Minnesota, 2011-12• Graduate School Fellowship, University of Minnesota, 2009-10

CHARLES S. WOJNARAssistant Professor

Ph.D., aeronauticsCalifornia Institute of Technology, 2015

M.S., aeronauticsCalifornia Institute of Technology, 2011

B.S., aerospace engineeringUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2010

Research interests I study the mechanical behavior of active materials, in particular piezoelectricity and ferroelectricity. I seek to understand how physical processes on the microscale of the material influence its macroscopic response through experiments and simulations. Structures incorporating active materials allow for their mechanical properties such as stiffness and mechanical damping to be controlled. In addition, the overall shape of the structures can be changing by carefully controlling its active components. The ultimate goal is to create deformable and tunable structures for space applications, e.g. deformable mirrors for space telescopes and deployable structures. Thus I also study the behavior of these materials under the extreme conditions in space, in particular their stability and fatigue life.

Select honors• Donald Coles Prize, 2015• Charles Babcock Memorial Award, 2014

14 MAE NEWSLETTER 2016

ACADEMY OF MECHANICAL AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERSThe Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers held its 20th annual induction events on Oct. 22 and 23, 2015. More than 150 academy members, spouses and mechanical and aerospace engineering department faculty, emeriti and staff attended the induction gala. Also attending were AMAE scholarship and graduate teaching awardees and their guests.

The event was held at the Havener Center at Missouri S&T in Rolla. John Eash, the university’s executive director of corporate relations at Missouri S&T, assumed the presidency for 2015-2016. The academy is now 159 members strong, making it the largest and most active academy at Missouri S&T.

Also honored and attending were 11 scholarship winners and two graduate teaching awardees. The graduate teaching awards were given to Abdulaziz Abutunis (Graduate Teaching Award Fall 2014) and Benjamin Gruenwald (Graduate Teaching Award Spring 2015).

Scholarship and Graduate Teaching Awardees (from left to right): Joshua Riefer, Tim Victor, Alexander Brinley (McGovern Scholarship), Aaron Thiesen, Tiffany Newburry, Nicholas Reuther, David Hobbs, Benjamin Gruenwald (Graduate Teaching Award Spring 2015), Austin Holmsley, Alex Mundahl (Past Presidents’ Scholarship), Rebekah Hallier, Abdulaziz Abutunis (Graduate Teaching Award Fall 2014), and Matthew Achelpohl. Not pictured: Zachary Lambros

Seven new members were inducted (above from left to right): Craig A. Barnes (ME‘78), Robert G. Steinhoff (ME‘80), Michael B. Calandro (ME‘81), Gregory C. Busche (AE‘85), Doug E. Duchardt (ME‘87), Gerald “Jerry” L. Canfield (MS ME‘99) and John M. “Mike” Evans (ME‘67).

15MAE.MST.EDU

John Eash presented Gery Armaly, wife of Dr. Bassem Armaly, with a floral bouquet in honor of her late husband. Dr. Armaly, professor of mechanical engineering, served as a chair of the department as well as an honorary member of the Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers.

2015 AMAE INDUCTEESCraig A. Barnes, ME‘78, executive director, Cummins Inc., Columbus, Indiana

Gregory C. Busche, AE‘85, senior manager, St. Louis Design Center, The Boeing Company, Hazelwood, Missouri

Michael B. Calandro, ME‘81, engineering manager, flight operations, Boeing Defense Systems, St. Louis

Gerald “Jerry” L. Canfield, M.S. ME‘99, chief operating officer and chief technology officer, D&S Car Wash Equipment Company, High Ridge, Missouri

Doug E. Duchardt, ME ‘87, executive vice president and general manager Hendrick Motorsports, Charlotte, North Carolina

John M. “Mike” Evans, ME‘67, director and past chair, Midcontinent ISO Board of Directors

Robert G. Steinhoff, ME‘80, engineering fellow, Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies LLC, Kansas City, Missouri

15MAE.MST.EDU

TWO ALUMNI HONORED WITH PROFESSIONAL DISTINCTIONThe past year, two outstanding MAE alumni were recognized for their professional achievement and awarded honorary professional degrees.

Louis P. Steinhauser, vice president of new product development and chief technology officer for Watlow Manufacturing Co., earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Missouri S&T in 1980. He holds over 30 issued U.S. patents, with many others pending. Steinhauser has held a variety of progressively more responsible positions within Watlow since joining the company over 30 years ago. Before that he was a machine designer with Industrial Automation Inc. and a project engineer with Orchard Corp. of America. He enjoys helping young people gain confidence and realize their potential through a monitoring program for high school students. He initiated and now oversees Watlow’s George Desloge Memorial Scholarship Program, which awards annual scholarships to Missouri S&T students pursuing manufacturing engineering degrees. He is also a member of the Missouri S&T Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers.

Craig A. Barnes, retired in January as executive director of technology planning for Cummins Inc. and is now working as

a part-time engineering consultant. He earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Missouri S&T in 1978. Barnes began his career as a co-op student with John Deere in 1975 and worked there until 1983, when he returned to Rolla for graduate studies. In 1985, he returned to John Deere before joining Cummins Inc. in 1988. In 2005, he became chief technical officer for Cummins Emission Solutions and in 2008, he became chief technical officer for Cummins India and CEO and managing director of Cummins Research and Technology India. In 2011 he became chief technical officer of the Cummins Component Business until taking the position of executive director of technology planning in 2013. Barnes isa 37-plus-year member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He has served as co-chair of the SAE Off-Highway Board of Directors, chair of the steering committee for the 2011 SAE Baja Competition and amember of the steering committee for the 2011 Asia Pacific Automotive Conference. In 2015, he was inducted into the Missouri S&T Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers.

Chancellor Cheryl B. Shrader honors Louis P. Steinhauser (left) and Craig Barnes (right) with awards of professional distinction at the December 2015 and May 2016 commencement ceremonies.

16 MAE NEWSLETTER 2016

WELCOME NEW STAFF TO MAEOver the course of the past year, four new staff members joined the department. In the machine shop, a vacancy was created when Joe Boze, engineering technician, passed away in the fall. In the electronics shop, Benjamin Sprouse, electronics technician III, moved to Colorado Springs with his wife as she reenlisted in the military. A vacancy was also created when Cathy Williams was promoted to a newly reclassified position of graduate support assistant, opening up her previous position of undergraduate senior secretary. The department has also carried a vacancy since the 2010 retirement of Ted Davis, research electronics technician.

Doug Morehouse joins MAE as an electronics technician II. He brings a diversified skill set to the department and says he “can fix anything.” Doug was in the United States Navy aboard the USS Independence CV-62 for four years and traveled the world. He enjoys working on old cars and has a 1953 Chevy pickup that he is making into a hot rod. He has been married for 35 years and has two grown sons.

Kyle Stagner, senior electronics technician, joins the department after working five years for 3M in Columbia, Missouri as an electrical mechanical technician. He has two associate degrees from Linn State in industrial electricity with a PLC emphasis and a construction emphasis. Kyle enjoys working on and learning new things, going camping, playing cornhole and soccer. He is also engaged to be married in October.

Ian Wille brings much experience to the machine shop as an engineering technician II. He began training as a machinist in 2009 after his hobby of blacksmithing and creating things led him to his profession. After completing his training, he went to work for a computer-aided manufacturing reseller firm troubleshooting machining issues and training users in software. Besides blacksmithing, Ian enjoys knifemaking, painting, cooking, a good scotch or beer, hiking, reading and trying new things.

Deborah “Debi” Willy joins the secretarial staff as the undergraduate senior secretary. Debi was born and raised in Rolla where she married George “Pete” Willy, a ‘78 alumni of Civil Engineering. Debi has her associate’s degree from Columbia College in general studies and hopes to continue her education with a bachelor’s degree from S&T. Debi and Pete have one daughter, Kaitlyn, who is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of North Texas. Debi enjoys music of all kinds and has played guitar in a contemporary church choir, a small band called “Eclectic Souls” and a spinoff trio called “Acoustic Souls.”

She is interested in quilting, jewelry designing and creating, stamping and many other crafts.

SATTERFIELD JOINS EMSE DEPARTMENTAfter almost three years of service in the MAE department, Jessica Satterfield has accepted a position in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering as an Office Support III working with graduate students.

During her time in MAE, she’s been the face of the department, greeting all visitors who crossed through the door. She supported many faculty with processing paperwork, coordinating seminar speakers and assisting students. She was greatly appreciated for her hard work and dedication to helping students and the department. We wish her the best in her new position and her career.

WILLIAMS PROMOTED TO GRADUATE SUPPORT ASSISTANT

MAE NEWSLETTER SUMMER 201616

After nearly a decade as the undergraduate senior secretary, Cathy Williams has accepted the position of graduate support assistant where she processes all ME and AE graduate paperwork, researches and tracks rubrics and data, assists with faculty searches and holds many other responsibilities. She will be missed in her previous role as she had been the main support for the Academy of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineers, coordinating all board meetings, the annual induction banquet and the membership meetings. She also handled payroll, undergraduate student appointments and the department scholarship program.

With her assorted skills and expertise, she continues to serve faculty and students with finesse and a positive attitude.

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Over the past century, the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Missouri S&T has grown from an initial department of three into the university’s largest academic unit, with more than 1,100 students and 40 faculty members. That departmental growth comes as the university anticipates another year of record enrollment in 2016-17.In honor of our centennial celebration, the department seeks gifts to create endowments for graduate fellowships and professorships and a distinguished lecture series. These commemorative naming opportunities are an investment in the department as we look to continue our progress and innovation for another 100 years, and longer. Here’s how you can help:

1) Centennial Professorship Endowed professorships allow a university to successfully recruit and retain national and world-caliber faculty by making the necessary resources available to them to support new initiatives in education and research. The Centennial Professorship is vital for the department to keep its place among our peers at the top national research universities. The professor who holds this named professorship will be a distinguished scholar, celebrated for teaching and research and for the caliber of intellectual rigor that inspires both. The funds generated by the Centennial endowment will be available to the Centennial Professor to use at his or her discretion in the pursuit of the institutional and departmental goals of world-class scholarship and research productivity.

The MAE Department is seeking to build two endowments for Centennial Professorships.

Centennial Professorship Endowment: Requires $1 million total, currently $500,000 raised. Gifts larger than $1 million include naming rights.

2) Centennial Fellowship Supporting students who pursue advance degrees in mechanical, aerospace and manufacturing engineering remains a top priority of the department. Graduate fellowships provide support vital to recruitment, retention and recognition. Our graduate students inspire the undergraduates they teach and also serve as creative and productive members of research teams. To attract the best students, it is essential to compete with the very best universities across the nation and around the world. Though our department provides outstanding educational and research opportunities through its excellent faculty, staff and facilities, we must also remain competitive in terms of the amount of financial support we can offer. The Centennial Fellowships will allow our department to attract the highest quality graduate students, those who aspire to become the next generation of leading research engineers and faculty members.

The MAE Department is seeking to build four endowments for Centennial Graduate Fellowships and unlimited one-year Graduate Fellowships.

Centennial Graduate Fellowship Endowment: $50,000 gift, includes naming.

One-Year Graduate Fellowship: $5,000 gift, includes naming.

3) Centennial Distinguished Lecture Series The department seeks an endowment to fund the MAE Centennial Distinguished Lecture Series featuring world-renowned leaders in the mechanical, aerospace and related engineering disciplines. Each year, the department will invite and host a Centennial Distinguished Lecturer for a duration long enough to allow sufficient time to interact with S&T students and faculty.

Exposure to world-class practitioners in our fields will provide MAE department students and faculty with a broader perspective and concomitant inspiration to generate world-class ideas of our own.

The MAE Department is seeking to build one endowment for the Centennial Lecture Series.

Centennial Lecture Series: $100,000 gift, includes naming.

LAYING A FOUNDATION FOR THE NEXT 100 YEARS AND BEYOND

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering400 W. 13th St.194 Toomey HallRolla, MO 65409-0050

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT NO. 170

ROLLA MO 65401

WITH YOUR SUPPORT, THERE’S NO LIMIT TO WHAT WE CAN ACHIEVE. Thank you to everyone who made contributions to last year’s Phonathon. This fall the Phonathon will be held Sept. 6-18. When the phone rings, please take a moment to speak with one of our student representatives.

Every gift helps make a difference and supports MAE’s mission of enhancing students learning. Make this year’s fundraising the best yet on record!

We look forward to speaking with you soon!