AME Alumni Highlights: Alex Bryant and Dr. Levent Aktas

AME is delighted to have such talented Alumni who continue to make us proud after graduation. This month, we’re highlighting Dr. Levent Aktas, who received his Masters and Ph.D. from AME in 2002 and 2008 respectively, and Alex Bryant, who received his undergraduate aerospace degree in 2019 and master’s degree in 2020.

Levent Aktas, PhD

Current Position: Materials and Processes Lead Engineer at Boeing

Undergraduate and Graduate Experience:
BS, Middle East Technical University, 2001
MS, University of Oklahoma, 2002
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 2008

As a Technical Lead Engineer at Boeing, I am responsible for maintaining materials and process specs, making sure appropriate processes are followed during the fabrication of composites, and qualification of all metal bond and composite aircraft components used in a multitude of platforms.

My graduate degree equipped me with a deeper knowledge of composites that separates me from other engineers in my company. In addition to specific technical skills, graduate studies equipped me with technical writing skills and communication skills that help me every day.

aktas@ou.edu

Alex Bryant

Current Position: Aeronautical Engineer, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

I have been working as an aircraft performance engineer during most of my time here at Lockheed. I have also had the opportunity to travel with the Stability & Control team for wind tunnel testing for several programs. In the next six months, I will be transitioning into a role on the conceptual design team within Lockheed’s Advanced Development Programs.

I was the aerodynamics lead for the aerospace capstone class Design-Build-Fly (DBF) team as a senior. Helped lead an underclassman aircraft construction project as a junior.

I specialized in aerodynamics for my Master’s Degree and took classes in advanced aerodynamics, composites, and computational fluid dynamics. My Master’s thesis topic was using a combination of experimental measurements and CFD to create a high fidelity propeller thrust model for use in US Navy UAVs.

My Master’s degree served me well in several ways. Teaching a wind tunnel lab section helped mold me into a better teacher, which, in addition to rehashing important material from undergrad, will serve me well when mentoring younger engineers someday. The advanced classes I took in aerodynamics and CFD have helped me in my current role within flight sciences. My thesis project forced me to put together my own schedule for research and testing and forced me to lean upon a broad base of knowledge from undergraduate courses. All of these experiences have helped mold me into a well-rounded engineer at Lockheed.

I would be lying if I said some of my favorite memories weren’t sports-related. I may be a nerd’s nerd, but I’m a sports junkie at heart. The countless OU football home games with Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, etc., watching OU softball win a national championship in person, I was spoiled as a sports fan. Some of my other favorite memories were the little things you don’t even realize you miss until much later, whether it’s getting donuts at 3AM or playing videogames until dawn with your roommates, the various projects that brought their fair share of frustration and elation, or just the general helter-skelter chaos of being on your own for the first time as a freshman. I’d do it all again (well, most of it, maybe not finals).

alexander.bryant@alumni.ou.edu

Highlighting Devin Laurence

Devin Laurence received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering in May of 2018, he then obtained his master’s degree the following year. Since then, Laurence has continued his journey at OU by pursuing a Ph.D. with a research focus on cardiovascular biomechanics. He has earned many awards for his work including The National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and The American Heart Association/Children’s Heart Foundation (AHA/CHF) Pre-Doctoral Fellowship.

Devin with his current device in the Biomechanics and Biomaterials Design Lab (BBDL)

Laurence said Dr. Lee helped him to discover his interests in research during his junior year of undergrad. Laurence said he, “started to work with Dr. Lee and realized he did some exciting research.” He was interested in applying things they learned in class to aspects of the biomedical field. Eventually, he was hooked.

With the completion of his undergraduate mechanical engineering degree and his involvement in the accelerated master’s program, he was able to transition easily into graduate school, which allowed him to focus more on the biomedical side of mechanical engineering. As he began work in the Biomechanics and Biomaterials Design Lab (BBDL), he found his passion. He really liked how “you could pursue whatever you wanted because there was so much intellectual freedom.” He said, “you’re always motivated to search new avenues and get into stuff you probably never would’ve expected.”

Presently, Laurence is taking everything he learned in his mechanical engineering undergrad and applying it to biomedical systems. He, “mechanically characterizes the heart valve leaflets and then can do things like simulate the heart function or look at the different aspects of the leaflets.” Part of his dissertation work involves studying how the heart adapts to diseases. So “if you have increased pressure in your heart, how do these structures thicken or become stiffer in response?”

Laurence is “currently designing and constructing a novel planar biaxial bioreactor system (known in his lab as the BioBiax) to characterize the cell-mediated growth and remodeling of the tricuspid heart valve leaflets. The system includes two key components: (i) the planar biaxial testing component (shown in the picture above) and (ii) a flow loop to continuously supply cell media to the tissue to maintain cell viability (under construction). Throughout 2021, Laurence will use this system to characterize how the tricuspid valve leaflets respond to pathological conditions. The tricuspid valve leaflets will be mounted to the system, cyclically loaded/unloaded for 1-2 weeks to the pathological loading, and then characterized to understand how the leaflets have changed due to the pathological loading. Data from these experiments will enable them to establish a new mechanistic constitutive model that can predict the tricuspid valve leaflet mechanical behavior and consider the cell-mediated growth and remodeling response to the pathological loading. The new model then can be employed  in computer simulations to better understand the role of the cell-mediated growth and remodeling in congenital heart diseases, such as hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or in the recurrence of tricuspid regurgitation following the clinical repair in adult patients.”

Logo created courtesy of Ryan Bodlak

Laurence’s favorite part about OU is the people and opportunities. He said, “he really enjoys everyone in the department.” Collaborating with the BME department and the Health Science Center has been a great experience for him. He said, “it’s a really interesting hub that you wouldn’t expect.”

After he receives his Ph.D., his goal is to become a faculty member. He said, “it can either be doing a postdoc right after [he] graduates or getting a little industry experience first,” but eventually, he knows he wants to be in academia.

Laurence believes that students should not be afraid to try anything. “You never know what you’re going to enjoy or what doors are going to open up.”

Below is a full list of all the awards Laurence has received so far:

  • American Heart Association/Children’s Heart Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
  • National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship
  • Second Place Winner at 2020 SB3C Ph.D.-Level Student Paper Competition
  • First Place Winner at 2019 SB3C M.S.-Level Student Paper Competition
  • Thomas Milam, Sr., Endowed Fellowship
  • OU Alumni and Foundation Recruitment Fellowship
  • OU GCoE Ph.D. Recruitment Excellence Fellowship
  • First-Place Poster Award at the 3rd OU-OUHSC Biomedical Engineering Symposium
  • Grand Prize Recipient at Oklahoma Research Day at the Capitol

Two AME Alumni Inducted into the GCoE Distinguished Graduates Society

 

AME Alumni Michelle Coppedge (pictured) and Freda Webb will be inducted into the Distinguished Graduates Society of Gallogly College of Engineering.

Michelle Coppedge received her bachelor’s degree in 1988 for mechanical engineering. She is currently the director of Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center – Federal Aviation Administration and serves on the AME Board of Advisors. Freda Webb received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1979. She is the Vice President of Operations for Panhandle Oil and Gas, Inc.

In 1990, the College of Engineering established the Distinguished Graduates Society to honor our most accomplished alumni. Selection is based upon prominent and distinguished professional or technical achievement, notable public service, outstanding contribution to and support of education, honors of election in organizations, and other contributions to the engineering profession. (GCoE)

Alumni Opportunity: Capstone Projects

AME alumni:

We need your help! The Mechanical Engineering Capstone program has grown in size tremendously in recent years, and we are in need of additional industry-sponsored projects to support our large student cohort for Spring 2020.

casptone-projects-needed-ame

 
For many years, our capstone program has collaborated with industry sponsors, like you, to provide “real-life” industry projects for our seniors to complete during their final semester in school. These projects allow our students to successfully demonstrate a variety of skills that future employers prize: analysis, design, teamwork and communication skills to name a few. Ideally, the project will feature some elements of a design process and be suited for a team of 3-5 members for a period of 15 weeks. We are also interested in interdisciplinary projects that may involve industrial or electrical engineers as well.
 
If you believe your company may be able to assist us, please contact Dr. Chris Dalton at cdalton@ou.edu. The deadline for project submission requests is November 1, 2019

Gollahalli Legacy Fund

 

 

Professor Subramanyam Gollahalli, Lesch Centennial Chair at the University of Oklahoma (OU) School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (AME), retired and transitioned to emeritus status in May 2017, after 41 years of service at OU (52 years including his tenure at the Indian Institute of Science, India and the University of Waterloo, Canada). His service included eight years of directorship at AME.

His distinguished career was marked by many awards from various professional organizations and many recognitions from OU, including the Regents Superior Teaching Award and Regents Professional Service Award. A few of the awards bestowed upon Professor Gollahalli are the Westinghouse Gold Medal, the Energy Systems Award, the Ralph James Award, the Ralph Teetor Award, the Samuel Collier Award and the Sustained Service Award.

Professor Gollahalli’s research in energy and combustion involved many experimental studies. He founded the internationally-recognized Combustion Laboratory, where he mentored over 100 graduate students (M.S. and Ph.D.) and post-doctoral associates and produced nearly 300 publications. He involved many undergraduate students in his laboratory research as well.

Professor Gollahalli strongly believes that “hands-on experimental experience” is an essential component of engineering education to prepare well-rounded engineers. He was the founding chair of the AME Laboratory Committee (1989), in which capacity he served until retirement (with a break during his directorship). He was the author of the “AME Lab Plan” required by the accreditation agency, which provides guidelines for various laboratories (two required labs and five elective labs). It deals with coordination, safety aspects and general guidelines for funding and conducting laboratory courses. During his tenure as the chair, he raised funds and arranged allocation of funds through the Lab Committee to modernize the lab education to keep pace with technological innovations.

“Dr. Gollahalli is a truly dedicated professor, he inspires his students to solve problems and make a difference,” said Sai Gundavelli, AME alum.

His passion for giving students hands-on experience resulted in the modernization of the AME machine shop with numerically controlled equipment. During his directorship, he gave priority to funding labs and the machine shop in which students were given the opportunity to work by themselves under the supervision of machine shop staff.

The capstone design project program, which involves industrial projects, saw a major growth in size and increase in funding during his directorship. The AME Capstone Project Poster Fair, where students exhibit their hands-on developed creations and win awards at the conclusion of judging by the industry personnel, became an annual popular event during his term as the director.

During his tenure as the director, he encouraged and supported the student competition activities, such as Sooner Racing Team, Human-Powered Vehicle Team, Robotics Team and Design-Build-Fly Team. The teams facilitated direct student involvement in designing, manufacturing and competing in national events. He personally attended some of the competitions to encourage students. He took great pleasure and felt proud when the teams achieved high national rankings.

When Professor Gollahalli stepped down from the directorship after eight years, the AME Board of Advisors started a fund to honor his legacy, which was intended to support the undergraduate laboratories. Now, after his retirement, to mark his passion and belief in providing valuable laboratory hands-on experience to students, Professor Gollahalli’s family decided to make a significant contribution to this fund to make it a permanent endowment, which will serve as a source of funding for this cause.

“I am grateful to the AME Board of Advisors for establishing Gollahalli Legacy Fund to support instructional labs. I thank my wonderful students and friends for their generous donation for this cause, which will facilitate production of well-rounded future AME engineers,” said Professor Gollahalli.

The School of AME requests your contributions to this fund to mark your name and help fulfill Professor Gollahalli’s long-standing desire. To contribute to the Gollahalli Legacy Fund please visit: https://giving.oufoundation.org/OnlineGivingWeb/Giving/OnlineGiving/Gollahalli

Sooner Rover Team Thousands Strong Campaign

 

The Sooner Rover Team Thousands Strong campaign launched in October and ends November 10, 2017. The team has a goal of raising $10,000, with “giving levels” starting from as low as $5.00. With 10 days left, the team could use the generous help of our alumni and AME friends!

To donate to the Sooner Rover Team Thousands Strong Campaign, click here.

Our Team

The Sooner Rover Team was founded in the Fall semester of 2015 by a small group of students that were interested in space and robotics who saw a very successful competition year, bringing home the highest score the NASA RASC-AL Robo Ops Competition has ever seen! Since then, the team has grown to more than 60 students who are eager to manufacture a competition ready rover. We will be taking on the same competition as last year: The University Rover Challenge! Among the students on the team over 10 majors are represented including Aerospace, Computer, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Geology/Geophysics, Mathematics, and Astrophysics.

Our Need

We need your support! Let’s start off by saying that $10,000 is a very beginning goal for us and we are aiming to raise at least 15,000!! Last year, the team raised over $17,000 with the help of supporters like you. This year, the University Rover Challenge aims to once again test the bounds of our team. This is an exciting task for the Sooner Rover Team and we can’t wait to overcome the new challenges set before us. We ask for your support to help us achieve success, once again, for our team and for our University. We promise, as a team, that your contributions will be used to bring us closer to our final product and are extremely grateful for each and every act of support! BOOMER SOONER!

Our Rover

The Sooner Rover is based off of a Russian design concept (the Marsokhad) and this will be the third year we compete with this design. We believe it was our take on this design, along with a unique control system, that has set us apart. We plan to keep the best of what we had last year and improve in every area that we can. This year’s rover will also need on board equipment to run scientific analysis that will determine characteristics such as soil humidity and subsurface temperature. These improvements, however, will require better parts and cost more money.

Our Competition

The Sooner Rover Team will be competing in the 2018 University Rover Challenge from May 31st – June 2nd. The competition will be held at the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) near Hanksville, Utah. Teams will face a variety of obstacles and are required to be completely untethered (wireless) and controlled from a remote location along with navigating terrain challenges, autonomous traversal, science caching, retrieval and delivery tasks, and more. Only with your support can we bring home a victory!

Sooner Off-Road Thousands Strong Campaign

UPDATE:

Thank you to everyone who donated to the Sooner Off-Road team Thousands Strong campaign! The team ended their successful campaign on November 3, 2017 with 127% of their goal reached, a total of $6,385 raised.


The Sooner Off-Road team launched their Thousands Strong campaign in October and the campaign ends November 3, 2017. The team has a goal of $5,000, with various levels of donation starting from $5.00. Every little bit counts!

To donate to the project, click here. To learn more about the project, please read further.

Our Project

The project for Sooner Off-Road in the 2017-2018 Baja SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Competition Season is to design and manufacture a brand new mini baja car for the Baja SAE competition in late May 2018. We will compete against hundreds of schools across the world in a 3-day competition that includes a design and sales presentation and a multitude of tests including static testing, dynamic testing, and a four-hour long endurance race.

Impact of Our Project

This project provides students with the opportunity to get real-world engineering experience and to apply the knowledge they learn in the classroom to a project that is all their own. We also have a community outreach program to promote STEM learning in elementary schools. We do this by helping these students once a week with a project such as building a car powered by a fuel cell. We plan on using any funds we raise to pay for materials needed to build the vehicle and components that we are unable to build ourselves. We also plan to use funding to pay for the research and software needed to build our vehicle.

Please Share

It would be very helpful if you could share our website with your friends, family and colleagues.

Thank You

Our project is only possible with your generous donations! Your support provides us with the unique opportunity to thrive in our learning experience.

Bergey Aerospace “COUGAR” First Flight

bergey-aerospace-cougar-ame On July 14, 2017, the Bergey Aerospace BA-14-001 “COUGAR” conducted its first flight from the local Max Westheimer airport marking the start of its flight test program, and the continuation of a project that has been with the University of Oklahoma’s College of Engineering School of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering for nearly two decades.

Well-known as one of the original designers of the Piper Cherokee, retired AME professor and president of Bergey Aerospace, Karl H. Bergey, first envisioned the high-cruise-speed, 4-seat, propeller-driven aircraft in the 1990’s as an enhanced Piper Arrow capable of a true 200 mph or greater cruise speed. He solicited the help of OU engineering students over the years to complete the design, construction and now test flights of the aircraft.

bergey-aerospace-cougar-ame

According to Jawanza Bassue, volunteering project engineer and 2017 OU AME M.S. graduate, “The COUGAR has and continues to be a teaching tool for Oklahoma’s students – not just at the OU College of Engineering but, for life-long-learners (including OKC MetroTech Aviation Campus students) who have volunteered their time and efforts to see the aircraft to this point – I thank them all for what we’ve done together.” He recognizes the recent contributions of Jet Black Machine, Quality Aircraft Accessories, the FAA (especially the contributions of OU AME Board Member and  Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center Director Michelle Coppedge), the OU Information Technology Department and the School of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering. “It’s my hope that the College of Engineering will find more great ways for our students to benefit from having this platform available. I’m interested in hearing what the OU COE community has in mind for continued student involvement in this project – true course credit for flight test engineering-related activities and the opportunity to build another aircraft are all entirely possible. It’s not everyday students and volunteers get to take some credit for getting a 3000 lb, 35 ft wide aircraft airborne and we should be very proud of that.”

bergey-aerospace-cougar-ame

The aircraft was displayed at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) fly-in September 8-9 in Norman at the Max Westheimer Airport – an event that was open to the public and drew thousands of aviation enthusiasts as well as other airshows from across the Nation. For updates and information follow the Bergey Aerospace Facebook page or visit www.bergeyaero.com.


Written by: Jawanza Bassue

Alumni Opportunity: Capstone Projects Needed!

casptone-projects-needed-ame

AME alumni:
Your school needs your help! The Mechanical Engineering Capstone program has grown in size tremendously in recent years, and we are in need of additional industry sponsored projects to support our large student cohort for Spring 2018.
 
For many years, our capstone program has collaborated with industry sponsors, like you, to provide “real-life” industry projects for our seniors to complete during their final semester in school. These projects allow our students to successfully demonstrate a variety of skills that future employers prize: analysis, design, teamwork and communication skills to name a few. Ideally, the project will feature some elements of a design process and be suited for a team of 3-5 members for a period of 15 weeks. We are also interested in interdisciplinary projects that may involve industrial or electrical engineers as well.
 
If you believe your company may be able to assist us, please contact Dr. Chris Dalton at cdalton@ou.edu.

AME Alumni Feature: Lauren Woodbury

lauren-woodbury_x

Lauren Woodbury graduated from AME in 2014 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. She is originally from Yukon, OK and is now living in Royal Oak, Michigan. Ms. Woodbury is currently working as an entry-level engineer at Isuzu Technical Center of America and pursuing an M.S. in automotive engineering part-time at the University of Michigan.

“I really like working on cars, because I like working on things that move. I like working with parts,” said Ms. Woodbury. “While I do sit at a desk and work on engineering-related studies, I also get to go out to the garage and look at the actual cars and help with the salvation team if there is any kind of information they need from engineering, I can go see whatever it is they are working on. I also get to do field investigation with customs or dealerships.”

While at AME, she participated in the Sooner Racing team and Sooner Off Road team. As a part of these teams, Ms. Woodbury had opportunities to work with other students and participate in class, and group problems and projects.

Ms. Woodbury’s family truly influenced her decision to pursue a career in engineering:

I enjoyed watching motorsports with my dad on the weekend. I really liked visiting grandparents in KS because they owned an automotive shop where they worked on vehicles for customers and also focused on rebuilding and refurbishing classic vehicles. I got to work on vehicles from the 60s and 20s. I was able to see how different they were from the vehicles today. It seemed the assembly of the vehicle was simple, but once I started taking it apart, there are a lot more pieces than imagined and it is really not that easy.

In her spare time, she enjoys exploring and traveling around Michigan. Ms. Woodbury is a fan of the OKC Thunder and Detroit Lions. Also, she enjoys motorsports.