MME 10-Year Merge Anniversary (2011-2021)
Read MME 10-Year Magazine (PDF)
Six Nebraska Engineering faculty chosen to UNL's Research Development Fellows Program 2022-23 cohort
Oct. 20, 2022 - Six College of Engineering faculty are among the 11 University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty members selected to participate in the 15th cohort of the Office of Research and Economic Development's Research Development Fellows Program (RDFP).
RDFP is an eight-month program designed to provide full-time Nebraska faculty at the assistant-level rank the information and resources necessary to position themselves for success in securing external funding for their research, scholarship and creative activity. Fellows graduate from the program with an intentional plan for pursuing external funding and strategies that prepare them to write winning proposals.
The fellows, selected through a competitive application process, represent eight departments spanning three colleges and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The College of Engineering faculty chosen for the 2022-23 cohort are:
- Jessica Deters, mechanical and materials engineering
- Mohammad Hasan, electrical and computer engineering
- Xiaoqi Liu, Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction
- Logan Perry, civil and environmental engineering
- Milad Roohi, Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction
- Jamilla Teixeira, civil and environmental engineering
Four alums chosen to university's Young Alumni Academy
Oct. 27, 2022 - Four College of Engineering alumni are among the 39 University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduates selected to the 2022 class of the Young Alumni Academy. The Nebraska Engineering alums in the 2022-23 cohort are (with hometowns, year of graduation and major):
Satya Deshpande, Lincoln, 2022 mechanical engineering and applied mechanics
Mustafa Ridha, Lincoln, 2018 computer engineering
Tyler Sondag, Omaha, 2018 civil engineering and 2020 architectural engineering
Austin Wendt, Omaha, 2017 computer science
Research by nine Nebraska Engineering faculty supported by 2022-23 Layman Seed Program awards
July 12, 2022 - Nine faculty from the College of Engineering are leading research projects that are among the 24 being supported by the. University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Office of Research and Economic Development in 2022-23 through its Layman Awards program, which funds work that enhances a researcher's ability to obtain external funding to support prominent scholarship.
The program offers two tracks — the Layman Seed Program, which funds new projects by early-career faculty who are nontenured at the time of submission; and the New Directions Program, which funds tenured faculty who are branching into new research directions or need funding to support pilot or developmental work toward the next step in a funded research program. Awards of up to $10,000 per application for each program are made possible by support from the University of Nebraska Foundation.
The College of Engineering faculty being supported by Layman Seed Program awards in 2022-23 are:
2022 LAYMAN SEED PROGRAM AWARDS
- Mona Bavarian, chemical and biomolecular engineering; "Continuous manufacturing of microelectronics polymers via combination of data science and macroscopic modeling."
- Jason Hawkins, civil and environmental engineering, "Environmental-economic systems as dynamic networks-of-networks."
- Qiang Liu, School of Computing, "Automated offline simulator augmentation with real-to-sim learning in mobile networks."
- Nitesh Nama, mechanical and materials engineering, "Bubble based acoustic microswimmers."
- Arman Roohi, School of Computing, "Enabling robust quantized neural network acceleration in federated edge computing."
2022 LAYMAN NEW DIRECTIONS GRANTS
- Moe Alahmad, Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, "Analysis and statistical prediction of variability in time-series data."
- Srivatsan Kidambi, chemical and biomolecular engineering, "Synthetic biomimetic environment (BEASTS) to investigate the role of stiffness in altered redox signaling and inflammation in placenta during HDP."
- Daniel Linzell, civil and environmental engineering, "Individual-level factors that and their impact on retention of women in the construction industry."
- Hongfeng Yu, School of Computing, "Hierarchical knowledge-driven visual analytics for oncologic diagnosis."
Thirty Nebraska Engineering students earn Milton E. Mohr fellowships, scholarships
Thirty students from the College of Engineering were selected to receive awards from the Milton E. Mohr Scholarship and Fellowship Awards Program for the 2022-23 academic year.
Each scholarship and fellowship provides $1,000 per year to the student and is renewable.
The Milton E. Mohr Scholarship and Fellowship Awards Program was established in 1989 for students in the College of Engineering or Biotechnology degree programs. The scholarships and fellowships are made possible through an endowment to the University Foundation.
To be eligible for the 2022-23 academic year, students must be a full-time junior, senior or graduate student or have full-time graduate status enrolled in as a primary major in engineering or biotechnology programs, maintain a minimum 3.5 grade-point average, and have a graduation date of no earlier than May 2023.
The 2022-23 recipients from the College of Engineering:
Graduate Fellowships (12)
Ivon Acosta Ramirez, Ph.D., Biological Engineering
Justin Brooks, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
Niaz Chowdhury, Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Ryan Haggerty, Ph.D., Civil Engineering
Fei San Lee, Ph.D., Biological Engineering
Jazmin Ley, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
Sussan Moussavi, Ph.D., Civil Engineering
Kshitij Nikhal, Ph.D., Electrical Engineering
Hafiz Oyediran, Ph.D., Engineering, Construction Engineering and Management
Sahand Serajian, Ph.D., Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Megan Stokey, Ph.D., Electrical Engineering
Nathan Taylor, Masters, Architectural Engineering
Undergraduate Scholarships (18)
Nicholas Abbott, Architectural Engineering
Caitlyn Allen, Biological Systems Engineering
Sarah Altman, Biological Systems Engineering
Benjamin Bashtovoi, Mechanical Engineering
Elena Butler, Biological Systems Engineering
Sophia Frappier, Biological Systems Engineering
Luke Freyhof, Biological Systems Engineering
Miah Hoppens, Chemical Engineering
Isabelle Koehler, Chemical Engineering
Josiah Kolar, Mechanical Engineering
Kimberly Law, Chemical Engineering
Ryan Orth, Software Engineering
Ryan Otte, Civil Engineering
Chase Pettit, Mechanical Engineering
Ken Pham, Computer Engineering
Keifer Smith, Civil Engineering
Rylie Steffen, Biological Systems Engineering
Simon Thengvall, Mechanical Engineering
Thirteen Nebraska Engineering faculty named NSRI Fellows
Thirteen faculty from the College of Engineering were among the 49 researchers from across the University of Nebraska system who were selected to the 2022 National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) Fellows cohort. They join the more than 70 NSRI fellows who were chosen to the inaugural cohort in May 2021.
The 2022 Fellows from the College of Engineering are:
- Christos Argyropoulos, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Sina Balkir, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Mehmet Can Vuran, School of Computing
- George Gogos, Mechanical and Materials Engineering
- Andrew Harms, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Michael Hempel, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Qing Hui, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Xu Li, Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Eric Markvicka, Mechanical and Materials Engineering
- Carl Nelson, Mechanical and Materials Engineering
- Angela Pannier, Biological Systems Engineering
- Yi Qian, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Byrav Ramamurthy, School of Computing
Alexis Horton earns Patti Grace Smith Fellowship in aerospace
Alexis Horton, a first-year student in mechanical and materials engineering, is one of 39 undergraduate students from colleges and universities across the United States who have been selected as recipients of the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship.
The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship is an award-winning program that connects the nation's leading aerospace companies with talented Black students. Each member of the program's Class of 2022 has earned a challenging summer internship in the aerospace field, in addition to receiving a scholarship worth thousands of dollars, a pair of personalized mentors, and more.
Horton, who is from Omaha, Nebraska, has earned a summer internship with Northrop Grumman.
Jian Wang receives TMS MPMD Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award
Jian Wang, professor of mechanical and materials engineering, has been selected as the recipient of the 2022 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) MPMD Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award. The award was presented at the TMS 2022 Annual Meeting & Exhibition, which was held Feb. 27-March 3 in Anaheim, California.
"This is a highly prestigious award which recognizes my efforts in understanding structure-properties relations of structural materials," Wang said. "This award will continuously encourage and inspire me to conduct the cutting-edge research in the field of materials science and engineering, and serve our society."
The Distinguished Scientist/Engineer Award recognizes an individual who has made a long-lasting contribution to the design, syntheses, processing, and performance of engineering materials, with significant industrial applications.
The award citation states that Wang was selected for "Excellent contributions to revealing the defects-microstructures-properties relations of metals using multiscale theoretical, experimental, and numerical approaches, especially for interface science & engineering and deformation twinning."
MME researchers publish paper outlining printing process for liquid metal droplets
The "On Demand Programming of Liquid Metal-Composite Microstructures Through Direct Ink Write 3D Printing" is outlined in a paper co-authored Eric Markvicka, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering, and Aaron Haake, senior in mechanical and materials engineering and published in the March 30 edition of the journal Advanced Materials.
Working in Markvicka's Smart Materials & Robotics Lab, the team developed a process of creating soft, elastically deformable composites with liquid metal (LM) droplets that can enable new generations of soft electronics, robotics, and reconfigurable structures. These printed materials are soft, higly deformable, and can be made locally insulating or electrically conductive using a single ink by controlling process conditions.
Markvicka's team demonstrated these capabilities by embedding elongated LM droplets in a soft heat sink, which rapidly dissipates heat from high-power LEDs.
These programmable microstructures can enable new composite paradigms for emerging technologies that demand mechanical compliance with multifunctional response.
Previously, techniques to control local composite microstructure, which ultimately governs material properties and performance, were lacking. Markvicka's team developed a direct ink writing technique to program LM microstructure (i.e., shape, orientation, and connectivity) on demand through elastomer composites. This is in constrast to inks with rigid particles that have fixed shapes and sizes.
The new technique enables filaments, films and 3D structures with unique LM microstructures that are generated on demand and locked in during printing. This includes smooth and discrete transitions from spherical to needle-like droplets, curvilinear microstructures, geometrically complex embedded inclusion patterns, and connected LM pathways.
The other co-authors on the paper were Michael Bartlett, Gwyneth Schloer and Ravi Tutika from the Soft Materials and Structures Lab at Virginia Tech.
Two MME students, one alum receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
Aaron Haake, a senior in mechanical and materials engineering, and Mark Nail, a mechanical and materials engineering alum, were among the seven current or former University of Nebraska-Lincoln students chosen to receive National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) awards. MME alum Cole Dempsey was chosen as one of two from UNL to receive honorable mention recognition.
Haake will graduate in May 2022 and is working in the Smart Materials & Robotics Lab with advisor Eric Markvicka, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering. Nail is a graduate student at the University of Michigan, and Dempsey is a graduate student at Vanderbilt University.
The GRFP awards are one of the most prestigious graduate fellowships awarded in the United States. The award provides a three-year annual stipend of $34,000 and a $12,000 cost-of-education allowance for tuition and fees that is paid to the university. Additionally, the GRFP provides opportunities for international research and professional development and the freedom to conduct their research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education.
The GRFP is the oldest American fellowship program that directly supports students in various STEM fields. Since 1952, a year after President Truman signed legislation establishing the NSF, the GRFP awarded its first fellowships. It has since funded more than 50,000 fellowships out of more than 500,000 applicants.
Bai Cui receives ACerS Global Star Award
Bai Cui, associate professor of mechanical and materials engineering, received the Global Star Award from the American Ceramic Society. Cui has served as co-lead organizer of the "Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics" symposium at ICACC since 2021.
The Global Star Award recognizes active volunteers for their contributions to the Engineering Ceramics Division (ECD) of American Ceramic Society and to the technical program of the International Conference & Exposition on Advanced Ceramics & Composites (ICACC) meeting. Award recipients are selected by the ICACC Program Chair with agreement from the ECD Executive Committee. The awardees receive a certificate of achievement at the ICACC meeting's Plenary Session.