Dream Course Guest Seminar: Dr. Michael Zavlanos

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Dr. Michael Zavlanos visited AME on February 2, 2017 as part of Dr. Andrea L’Afflitto’s Dream Course, Modern Control Theory and Applications.

Abstract: Current robotic systems have the potential to accomplish a previously intractable scope of tasks. Their ever growing capabilities will soon allow them to operate autonomously outside the lab, in remote, unpredictable, and uncertain environments, where the presence of humans is dangerous or even impossible. For this to become possible, a fundamental challenge is to develop new methods that will enable teams of robotic sensors to collaboratively explore unknown environments and extract concise actionable information. In this talk,we present a novel approach to dynamically synthesize optimal controllers for a robotic sensor network tasked with estimating a collection of hidden states. The key idea is to divide the hidden states into clusters and then use dynamic programming to determine optimal trajectories around each hidden state as well as how far along the local optimal trajectories the robot should travel before transitioning to estimating the next hidden state within the cluster. Then, a distributed assignment algorithm is used to dynamically allocate controllers to the robot team from the set of optimal control policies at every cluster. Compared to relevant distributed state estimation methods, our approach scales very well to large teams of mobile robots and hidden vectors. We also present a distributed state estimation method that allows mobile sensor networks to estimate a set of hidden states up to a user-specified accuracy. This is done by formulating a LMI constrained optimization problem to minimize the worst case state uncertainty, which we solve in a distributed way using a new random approximate projections method that is robust to the state disagreement errors that exist among the robots as an Information Consensus Filter (ICF) fuses the collected measurements. To our knowledge, even though the distributed active sensing literature is well-developed, the ability to control worst-case estimation uncertainty in a distributed fashion is new. We present numerical simulations and experimental results that show the efficiency of the reposed methods.

Bio: Michael M. Zavlanos received the Diploma in mechanical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece, in 2002, and the M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, in 2005 and 2008, respectively. From 2008 to 2009 he was a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. He then joined the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, where he remained until 2012. Currently, he is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke University, Durham, NC. He also holds a secondary appointment in the department of electrical and computer engineering. His research interests include a wide range of topics in the emerging discipline of networked systems, with applications in robotic, sensor, and communication networks. He is particularly interested in hybrid solution techniques, on the interface of control theory, distributed optimization, estimation, and networking. Dr. Zavlanos is a recipient of the 2014 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award, the 2011 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, as well as Best Student Paper Awards at GlobalSIP 2014 and CDC 2006.

GCoE National Society of Black Engineers Update & Awards

nsbe-carouselThe GCoE National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is rebranding who they are and what they represent during the 2016-2017 academic school year. This year’s campaign is titled “The Re-Brand Year” and NSBE is specifically focusing on membership retention, professional development, academic excellence and strengthening the black engineering community.

On November 11-13, the OU NSBE chapter traveled to Houston, TX for the Fall Regional Conference (FRC). Their trip was extremely successful and we’d like to take a moment to share details of their experience with you.

To begin, the OU NSBE chapter exists within Region 5out of 6 total regions. Within Region 5, there are 32 chapters and a total of 1083 students attended FRC this year. Forty-three OU students traveled to FRC. The OU NSBE chapter brought the most students to the conference and this is a record number of attendees in GCoE NSBE history. Of the 43 students, 38 students maintained over a 3.0 GPA

During this trip, our chapter increased our participation in daily events offered and demonstrated great professionalism. As a reward for timeliness, professional dress and for being noticeably engaged in comparison to other chapters, the OU chapter was given exclusive access to the career fair ahead of 1000+ other students. We had several students receive interviews.

nsbe-carousel-2Not only did we participate as a chapter in larger events, we also had 3 students compete in the Elevator Pitch Competition, 4 students in the NSBE Debaters Competition, 7 students in the Academic Bowl, and 6 students in the Talent Show. Witnessing “The Re-Brand Year” take effect beyond OU’s campus was amazing and it was even more amazing to watch our chapter compete well against other universities.

Results of the trip:

  • Most Outstanding Chapter of the Oklahoma Zone
  • Most Outstanding Chapter President
    • Ciore Taylor – ME Senior
  • The Esprit de Corps Award
    • Jayde Williams – Comp E Sophomore
  • Academic Excellence Outreach Award
    • Salomon Mbouombouo Rodriquez, ME/PE Senior
  • 1st Place, Elevator Pitch Competition
    • Michele Tchindge – IE Freshmen
  • Runner-up, Elevator Pitch Competition
    • Salomon Mbouombouo Rodriquez  — ME/PE Senior
  • 1st Place, Academic Bowl – will compete at Nationals
    • Ashley Medice – ME Junior
    • Jared Alex — ME Sophomore
    • Whitney Sennet — EE Junior
    • Juliana France — IE Junior
    • Olivia Smith — Comp E Freshmen
    • Aria Lewis– IE Junior
    • Ernest Hammond — EE Junior
    • Dominique Menser — Environmental Engineering Junior
  • 2 students also won free registration to the National Convention
    • Barbara Namulwana
    • Michele Tchindge – IE Freshmen

For more information on GCoE NSBE, follow their Facebook page.

Written by: Ciore Taylor

 

Engineering GSC 2016 Poster Fair

AME-GSC-poster-fairPlease join AME in thanking the following graduate students and their mentors for participating in the Engineering Graduate Student Community 2016 Poster Fair organized by the GCOE on November 11, 2016. Of the 24 entries, five were from AME:

 

  1. Arun Balakrishnan: Effect of Fuel Aromatic Content on NOx Emission from Petro/Biodiesel Flames.  Mentors:  Gollahalli and Parthasarathy
  2. Tom Boone.  Operational Losses in Space Launch.  Mentor:  Miller
  3. Flavio Ivan Moreno: Combustion and Emission Characteristics of Three Component Fuel Blends in a Porous Media Burner.  Mentor:  Parthasarathy
  4. Anand Balu Nellippallil: A Goal-Oriented, Sequential Design Method for the Horizontal Integration of a Multi-Stage Hot Rod Rolling System.  Mentors:  Allen (ISE) and Mistree
  5. Dana Saeed: Robust Stimulation Method in Eagle Ford Shale.  Mentors: Pournik (PGE), Siddique and Mistree

Congratulations to Anand Balu Nellippallil for receiving the top award!

 

Chevron Guests Present Scholarships to AME Students

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On October 18th, 2016, Chevron Executives Ken Nelson, Bill Hunter and Brent Walton visited AME. Dr. Cengiz Altan and Dr. Zahed Siddique spoke with them about the School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering’s mission, provided a talent overview and presented opportunities to engage with AME students.

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Following the meeting, the Chevron executives attended a lunch and check presentation ceremony. Four AME students received the Chevron-Texaco Scholarship for the Fall 2016 semester. The scholarship recipients, Patrick Ahearn, Joseph Esparza, Ciore Taylor, and Joshua Tims, were invited to the luncheon where the guests presented the donation check. Congratulations!

Guest Lecture: Design of Active Composites for 4D Printing Applications with Dr. H. Jerry Qi

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AME hosted a guest lecture given by Dr. H. Jerry Qui on Monday, October 24, 2016. Dr. Qi presented his research regarding the design of active composites for 4D printing applications.

Recent advances in multimaterial 3D printing allow the precise placement of multiple materials at micrometer resolution with essentially no restrictions on the geometric complexity of the spatial arrangement. Complex 3D solids thus can be created with highly non-regular material distributions in an optimal fashion, enabling the fabrication of devices with unprecedented multifunctional performance. This also enables the emerging concept of 4D printing.

In his talk, Dr. Qi started with the concept of 4D printing, where he prints a composite in a relatively simple shape; after printing and some thermomechanical programming, the composite can change its shape as a function of time, the 4th dimension of the shape forming process. He further showed different designs to achieve the shape change, such as printed active composites and direct printing shape memory materials. To further enhance the functionality of the 4D printing, Dr. Qi explored the printing of conductive wires that can be used either for electric signal transfer or as heating elements. He investigated how different curing methods of the conductive ink can affect the electric properties as a function of strain.

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Based on the knowledge learned, Dr. Qi can fabricate a stretchable electronic device in a sequential process. He demonstrated a stretchable LED circuit, a heating element for shape memory polymers, and a sensor to detect shape change. This method provides the opportunity to print complex 3D stretchable electronics, which will be integrated with 4D printing for topology transferring devices. Finally, Dr. Qi discussed the challenge and future directions for 4D printing.

Bio: Dr. H. Jerry Qi is Professor and the Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his bachelor degrees and graduate degree from Tsinghua University and a ScD degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After one year postdoc at MIT, he joined the University of Colorado Boulder as an assistant professor in 2004, and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2010. He joined Georgia Tech in 2014 and was promoted to a full professor in 2016.

Prof. Qi’s research is in the broad field of nonlinear mechanics of soft materials and focuses on developing a fundamental understanding of multi-field properties of soft active materials through experimentation and constitutive modeling then applying these understandings to application designs. He and his collaborators have been working on a range of soft active materials, including shape memory polymers, shape memory elastomeric composites, light activated polymers, covalent adaptable network polymers, for their interesting behaviors such as shape memory, light actuation, surface patterning, surface welding, healing, and reprocessing. Recently, he and his collaborators pioneered the 4D printing concept. Prof. Qi is a recipient of NSF CAREER award (2007). He is a member of Board of Directors for the Society of Engineering Science. In 2015, he was elected to an ASME Fellow.

Former AME Board Member and Educator Donna Shirley Receives the Annie Oakley Society Award

 

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It is no secret that each day at AME we salute the work of our students, staff and faculty members past and present. On October 13, 2016, we were fortunate enough to celebrate the work of our own alumna and former College of Engineering Assistant Dean & Instructor Donna Shirley, who was presented with the Annie Oakley Society Award at the society’s sixth annual luncheon and award ceremony. Notably in attendance were Governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, Gallogly College of Engineering Dean Tom Landers and other GCoE leadership, AME Professor David Miller and members of the Sooner Rover Team. The Annie Oakley Society is comprised of women leaders and philanthropists who, like Annie Oakley, play significant roles in shaping our communities and creating new horizons.[1] Also recognized at the award ceremony was Jo Rowan, receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions in the field of dance and creative arts.

Meet Donna

At age 17, Donna Shirley earned her pilot’s license, won the Miss Wynnewood, OK crown, and competed in the Miss Oklahoma pageant. Following high school, she enrolled at the University of Oklahoma, obtaining a technical writing degree in 1962 and a bachelor’s degree from AME in 1965. She went on to enjoy a more than 30-year career at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and retired in 1998 as the Manager of the Mars Exploration Program. During her time at NASA, Ms. Shirley lead the team that built and successfully landed the Mars rover “Sojourner” in 1997. Ms. Shirley remarked that the was the lone female of 2000+ person group at JPL at that time. She then became assistant dean of the College of Engineering at OU, where in the past she was told that girls could never be engineers – she has fought successfully to help transform that attitude. After a brief introduction, the conversation with Ms. Shirley spearheaded into a discussion of the role and importance of women in engineering.

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It’s “easier” now…

Ms. Shirley gave clear and concise advice to all in attendance regarding the state of affairs for women in highly scientific fields like Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering. She said, “It’s easier [being a female in engineering] now but remember, you must be good [at whatever you’re doing].” She went on to explain that in the competitive hiring and retention environment of engineering, we must all strive to be the best at what we do. “Learning is ultimately important and not relying solely on grades”, she explained. Donna casually outlined one story she thought was important to note in which a disagreement developed between her and a male colleague. She handled the situation by relying only on the technical work she had done – outshining the negative attention only by being better. This an attitude she hopes all engineers (not only women) will adopt.

Congratulations!

We at the School of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering congratulate Donna Shirley on her award and applaud her for the way she continues to advocate for women in engineering. To celebrate her efforts, AME pledges to strive to always be an environment conducive to the success of everyone we interact with. Please join us as we recognize her hard work.

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  • By: Jawanza Bassue – MS Aerospace Engineering Candidate 2017

[1] http://nationalcowboymuseum.org/join-give/the-annie-oakley-society/

AME Alumnus Kevin R. Bagnall Gives Guest Lecture on Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Devices

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Kevin R. Bagnall visited AME Tuesday, October 4, 2016, to discuss his research on gallium nitride (GaN)-based semiconductor devices. Currently, most electronics use semiconductor devices based on silicon, which cannot meet the demands of many high-performance applications due to its intrinsic material limitations. The goal of his research is to understand and characterize the performance and reliability of GaN-based devices.

According to Bagnall, this work has provided exciting new insights into the fundamental physics of self-heating in this revolutionary technology and has opened new avenues to simultaneously probe thermal, mechanical, and electrical behavior in these devices as never before.

The application of this technology could be used in utility, transportation, and consumer products, such as electric cars or laptops. Although GaN allows for reduction in the size of electronic components, the high dissipated power densities in these devices leads to elevated channel temperatures and degraded lifetime and performance. Using micro-Raman spectroscopy, Bagnall measures the temperature, stress, and electric field distributions to help understand the physics of failure.

“We are very pleased to host Kevin’s visit to the University of Oklahoma. He has been carrying out cutting-edge research at MIT, advancing the science and technology of advanced materials used in semiconductor industry,” said AME Director Cengiz Altan. “It is truly rewarding to see our alumni be so successful and perform world-class research in a highly collaborative environment.”

Kevin Bagnall is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) working under the supervision of Professor Evelyn N. Wang. Kevin is an alumnus of the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at OU, having earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in May 2009. He is the recipient of the Rohsenow Graduate Fellowship at MIT and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship sponsored by the Department of Defense and Air Force Office of Scientific Research. For the past five years, he has been working on GaN transistor research in a highly collaborative research center at MIT, which includes the involvement of multiple departments and several industrial partners.

“I really appreciate the undergraduate education I received from AME at OU. It has enabled me to pursue graduate research and a career in academia,” said Bagnall. “I will always be proud to be part of the scholarly, warm and caring AME family.”

Sooner Racing Team Competes at FSAE

Sooner Racing Team (SRT) recently attended Formula SAE® Lincoln. The competition took place in Lincoln, Nebraska hosting 80 teams. Out of those 80 teams, SRT finished 18th overall. In addition to their overall finish, they placed 16th in endurance and received 3rd place in fuel efficiency. With their 3rd place finish, SRT brought home a trophy for the first time in several years!

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Formula SAE® is a student design competition organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The concept behind Formula SAE® is that a fictional manufacturing company has contracted a design team to develop a small Formula-style race car. The prototype race car is to be evaluated for its potential as a production item. The target marketing group for the race car is the non-professional weekend autocross racer. Each student team designs, builds and tests a prototype based on a series of rules whose purpose is both to ensure onsite event operations and promote problem solving.

Congratulations, Sooner Racing Team! We are proud of your hard work and performance!

Sooner Rover Team Breaks Record at NASA Competition

Sooner Rover Team recently took home the gold at the 6th Annual RASC-AL Robo-Ops Challenge sponsored by NASA. Not only did the Sooner Rover Team win the national competition, they set records, beating the standing rock yard record by over 200%. The team finished with a final score of 132. The second place team trailed behind with a score of 48.

The Robo-Ops Challenge took place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The selected student teams had to design life-sized rovers that could move and climb through various terrain, collect rock samples and store them, and navigate through the rock yard all while being controlled remotely from each team’s home university with real-time video feeds from the rovers’ cameras. Teams had one hour to collect and secure the rock samples along with bonus challenges. In addition to the rock yard challenge, teams also had to present a technical paper, a poster and carry out a public outreach program.

Among the eight teams at the competition, Sooner Rover Team stood out from the beginning with their unique design. Rovie McRoverface (the rover’s given name) was modeled after a 1980’s Russian lunar rover featuring a spine, six cone-shaped wheels and a robotic arm. This allowed the rover to bend and travel through various terrain at the competition more easily. Clearly, the unique design paid off.

Rovie McRoverface collected all 26 rock samples and completed all four bonus challenges flawlessly. The team’s score was recorded on the scoreboard by NASA followed with a “WOW.” But, seriously.

“I felt a little like I was dreaming that the rover was performing so well,” said Dane Schoelen, Sooner Rover Team Project Lead. “When mission control successfully completed the contingencies task through amazing teamwork and improvisation, I felt like there was no way I wasn’t dreaming. It is satisfying that after all of the blood, sweat, and tears that went into creating our rover, we were able to put on an outstanding performance.”

The team is made up of all Gallogly College of Engineering students and advised by AME Professor David Miller, Ph.D. The team members at mission control were Bill Doyle, Brent Wolf, Alex Borgerding, Jacob Jordan, Oskar Paredes, Ashley Findley, Janella Clary, Matthew Solcher and Aaron Condreay, and the members who went to competition were Nathan Justus, Dane Schoelen and Kevin Cotrone.

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The team won first place, broke and set records and brought home a $6,000 prize that they hope will go towards next year’s rover. It is safe to say the team will be set with experienced members as Nathan Justus was the only senior. He will start his career at NASA in Houston as an operations engineer at mission control for the International Space Station.

“I cannot emphasize enough how hard our team worked to make sure that we were prepared for that day. Our performance and the recognition we got from NASA, NIA, and the other teams made all of that work worth it,” said Nathan Justus, Sooner Rover Team Chief Engineer. “Of course, the project had merit of its own and the learning process was substantial, but whatever, it feels good to have DESTROYED and earned that with blood and mind power.”

Congratulations, Sooner Rover Team! We are so proud of your hard work and success!