January 02, 2019

ME PhD student Rachel Vitali was one of two graduate students in the US to earn the ASME Graduate Teaching Fellowship for the 2018-2019 academic year. Rachel is using this award to advance her research on the NSF-funded iNewton project which is part of her dissertation research in collaboration with Professor Cindy Finelli (UM – EECS).  Through this project, Rachel is introducing a novel learning technology to promote the engaged learning of dynamics in our core undergraduate course ME240  -Introduction to Dynamics and Vibrations.

April 04, 2018

ME PhD student Michael Potter was one of five ME doctoral students at UM who received a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation in 2018. Michael is using this award to advance his research in using body-worn IMU arrays to understand human performance. Specifically, he aims to create a model for the lower limbs that is driven by data from limb-mounted IMUs.

January 28, 2018

"In a three-year research project sponsored by the U.S. Army, Perkins and his team are developing an automated measurement system to quantify the physical performance of individuals as they move through an outdoor obstacle course.

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The Army uses performance on such courses to understand whether soldiers are adequately trained for the situations and environments they may face and how their performance is impacted by the gear they carry..."

September 01, 2017

A journal article authored by ME PhD student Rachel Vitali was selected as a Featured Paper by the journal Sensors in September 2017. Her paper, titled “Method for estimating three-dimensional knee rotations using two inertial measurement units,” introduces a new way to measure rotations across the knee using data from two IMUs mounted on the shank and thigh. This paper provides compelling evidence of the method's accuracy by comparing to highly resolved measurements from optical encoders.  This paper can be found in Sensors, vol. 17, no. 9, September 2017.

July 31, 2017

A recent journal article authored by ME PhD student Neda Maghsoodi was selected by the Biophysical Journal as a New and Notable Contribution in their issue published in July 2017 (vol. 13, issue 1, 11 July 2017). Her paper, titled “Dynamic model exposes the energetics and dynamics of the injection machinery for bacteriophage T4,” was lauded as an important contribution to the science of viruses by Dr. Anatoly Kolomeisky (Department of Chemistry and Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, Rice University).

September 01, 2016

ME PhD student Neda Maghsoodi earned a Best Paper Award (Second Place) for her paper titled "An Approximate Model of the Dynamics of the Bacteriophages T4 Injection Machinery. She was presented the award at the 10th International Conference on Micro- and Nanosystems (MNS), which took place August 21-24 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was a part of ASME IDETC/CIE 2016."

July 19, 2016

"When inspiration hits, it’s hard to ignore. That’s why a group of four Michigan mechanical engineering students decided to craft their very own senior design project. It just so happens that their project was designing and building a massive human controlled Rubik’s Cube."

"A University of Michigan professor's work in micro-sensor technology could change the way you understand your golf swing, free throw or fly-fishing technique."

October 25, 2014

Noel Perkins delivers a Saturday Morning Physics lecture at the University of Michigan.

October 13, 2014

"In Part 1 of this 2 Part series, Noel Perkins, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, discusses why professors should consider incorporating more active learning into their classrooms."

October 13, 2014

"In Part 2 of this 2 Part series, Noel Perkins, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, discusses how professors can incorporate 4 simple active learning tools into their classrooms to improve student engagement."