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No Foolin’ – These Ten Michigan Engineering Stories Are Real.

Believe it or  not.

1. Professor unlocks the secrets of tooth enamel to build better aircraft

2. Students design and build a U-M space time capsule that will orbit earth for 100 years

3. Professor helps develop new '5-D protein fingerprinting' technique that could help fight neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's

4. New restrooms on North Campus divert urine so it can be converted into fertilizer in the nation’s largest study of its kind

5. “Femtosecond” pulses of laser light could lead to future computers that run up to 100,000 times faster than today’s electronics

6. New findings explain an Ice Age paradox and add to troubling climate change predictions

7. Vaporizing drugs allows for a new way to coat biodegradable medical implants to prevent infection

8. Powering the future with slow water currents: a new breed of alternative energy

9. A $500 mechanical surgical tool could replace a $2M dollar robot for certain minimally invasive procedures

10. Lasers help regulators sniff out illicit nuclear activities from as far as a couple miles away

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Alternative Spring Break

Each year, groups of Michigan Engineering students use their spring break to make a difference in communities across the country – and the world. 

U-M’s National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Society of Women Engineers are visiting Chicago high schools. Through mentoring and role modeling, their goal is to increase the number of students that see engineering, and higher education in general, as a desirable college major. They will help facilitate interactive engineering projects centered around the design-build-test method.

The Center For Entrepreneurship will be taking 30 students to D.C. and NYC next week as a part of the Northeast Entrepreneurship Trek (NEXT). This is the first time they have done this trek to explore entrepreneurship and innovation on the East Coast. They will be visiting ventures like Greenhouse, WorkBench, Endeavor and Verizon Ventures. 

The College of Engineering Honors Program is going to Biloxi, Mississippi to do community volunteer work and environmental conservation. They aim to their experience and lessons learned to the Michigan community and other to which they belong.

Michigan's student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) will be visiting Medellín Colombia to attend the Procesa conference and connect with its sister AIChE chapter. The conference is held at the University of Colombia at Medellín's campus and is organized by their AIChE chapter (U-M’s sister chapter). They hope to learn more about the culture of Colombia and develop an international perspective for chemical engineering. Learn more.

BLUElab Chaguiton is going to La Union, Guatemala to continue work on a pause-regulated biosand filter. Through the use of a siphoning system, they hope to decrease the amount of effort needed to produce a day’s worth of fresh water and boost the biosand filter’s viability as a sustainable filtration option. They also hope to complete the necessary analysis to scale the system for different daily water needs. Learn more.

BLUElab Sa Nima Collaborative is going to Samox, Guatemala. The group will be traveling to Samox San Lucas, a community they have worked with for many years, to perform an exit trip. The student organization has decided to pursue a project in a different community in the future. The purpose of this trip will be to properly exit Samox so that they can maintain a relationship with them. Also with a proper exit trip they will ensure that the community will have a positive relationship with future NGO's or outside organizations. There is also an educational component, focusing on STEM related lessons. Learn more.

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Fly Fly Fly Your Boat

The World’s fastest sailing team, Oracle USA, partners with Michigan Aerospace as they prepare to defend their championship title.

In the last America’s Cup, hydrofoil technology was allowed, which spawned a technology race in foil development and control. Now these multimillion dollar engineering marvels are flying on top of the water at record speeds.

The team will be racing in Chicago, June 10-12 as part of the America’s Cup World Series.

The technology and teams have become so competitive that a mere 1% advantage in speed is enough to win. That’s where U-M Aerospace engineers come in. Oracle’s partnership with U-M is a first-of-it’s kind the sport’s history. Michigan engineers have designed a customized control system that has essentially turned one of their training boats into an autonomous robot – applying elements of autonomous drone technology to a completely new environment.

As the team trains for the next America’s Cup, they will be learning from this intelligent control system. How the computer chooses to optimize performance and flight amidst dynamic wind and water conditions will provide insight into how the team should act to maximize efficiency and speed. In practice, the system will do unexpected things. Is that good or bad? Sometimes it’s a better way of controlling the machine than what humans might assume to do. During the race computerized autonomy is not allowed, so they must learn as much as they can from the technology in the months ahead.

The Michigan Engineers

The team’s connection to U-M Aerospace Engineering is new, but U-M Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering expertise is an established part of Oracle Team USA’s arsenal.

Scott Ferguson (BSE NAME ‘85) Manager of Wing (sail) Design

Bryan Baker (BSE NAME ‘03) Design Team - Performance Prediction

Ricardo Bencatel U-M Aerospace post-doc

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On Memorial Day, we pause to pay tribute to all who have served.

We might also salute Michigan Engineering alumnus Clarence "Kelly" Johnson.Johnson's original "skunk works" team -- see this 2014 Michigan Aerospace Centennial story -- raced at the height of WWII to build a new jet fighter designed to thwart the rising Nazi threat:

It's 1943 -- in the thick of World War II -- and a new German jet fighter is menacing the skies over Europe. Amid mounting fears, Army brass turns to Johnson.

Johnson, Lockheed’s 33-year-old chief engineer, was at the U.S. Air Corp’s Eglin Field in Florida, observing the performance of the latest version of his P-38 Lightning war plane.This was the day Johnson (BSE AeroE ’32, MSE ’33) first learned – as Wright Field’s Colonel M.S. Roth sidled over to confide in a whisper – that the U.S. military was testing a new U.S. Bell jet. But this new jet had been woefully underperforming.

“You wanted to build a jet for us once,” Roth reminded Johnson. But Johnson didn’t need any reminders.

Johnson and Lockheed had developed the P-38 beginning in 1937. And though it still was the nation’s fastest propeller-driven fighter, Johnson had only been able to increase its speed by a mere 17 miles per hour – even while nearly doubling its power. In 1939, with the Brits and the Germans working feverishly on jet turbines, Johnson proposed his own audacious new jet design that he claimed would approach the speed of sound. But the Air Corps – more eager for more planes to fly more immediately into battle – had turned him down flat.

But now, a very worried U.S. Army Air Force was obsessed with the new German jet, which was much faster and better armed than any plane in the Allied arsenal. And it worried night and day about the very real prospect that the enemy German Luftwaffe would soon be dominating the skies over Europe.

Roth – finally – was asking Johnson if he would be willing to try again. He said the top-secret jet plane would need to fly more than 100 mph faster than the Lightning. It would need to fly more than 500 mph to combat the Nazi fighter.  

“Just give me the specs,” Johnson growled.

Look for the upcoming July 4 digital version of the dramatic retelling -- first published in the Spring 2016 issue of The Michigan Engineer magazine -- of the skunk works team's quick and crucial work back in 1943. The online version also will include an entertaining new video about the effects of compressibility, which the jet engine was partly devised to conquer.

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U-M Baja: One Victory Closer to Defending Their Championship Title

It was a landslide victory among a field of 100 competitors from all over the world. Totaling up points from a first place in the design presentation, prototype cost, acceleration, hill climb and maneuverability events – plus a 2nd place four-hour endurance race and 3rd place sales presentation finish – the team celebrated an overall competition win.

Team captain and mechanical engineering senior Justin Lopas said of the result “I couldn't be more proud of the team and the work we’ve done to get here. This year's car is significantly faster and more agile than we’ve had in the past. I’m incredibly excited about the finish, because it puts us in a really competitive spot going into Rochester for the overall season trophy. This may have been our best competition we’ve ever had points-wise, and a second design presentation win really validates all of our hard work to increase vehicle performance.”

The team next heads to Rochester, New York for the final competition of the season June 9-12.

In their 27th continuous year of operation, the team builds a custom single-seat off-roader to compete in the three annual North American Baja SAE competitions. Student team members handle everything from the initial design through building and testing the vehicle. The multidisciplinary roster includes engineering majors from across the College. They build their vehicle in the Wilson Student Team Project Center, a manufacturing facility on North Campus dedicated to student engineering teams.

http://baja.engin.umich.edu/

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North Campus – The Minecraft Version

April Fools! You can't really take classes in Minecraft (not yet anyway). But there is a North Campus Minecraft world that you can explore!

Three University of Michigan students teamed up with the College of Engineering to create this virtual North Campus in the “Michcraft” world – a server created by U-M student Dakota Lambert just for fellow students to collaborate. It’s taken countless hours (and hundreds of thousands of blocks)to get where we are today – and it’s still in progress, with many more buildings being built as we speak!

You can explore the world yourself. Just launch your Minecraft game and join this multiplayer server: 52.10.69.181 (No griefers please!)

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GO BLUE DÉJÀ VU

A student group on alternative Spring Break in Mississippi is humbled when strangers pay for their meal – for the second year in a row!  

“We were on our annual trip down to Biloxi, Mississippi to do eco-conservation and community service and we stopped at the Irondale Café – which is famous for its appearance in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. But we did not stop there for that. We stopped there to taste the same great soul food that we had last year. It was pretty crowded there since it was a Sunday afternoon right after service. One of the customers struck a conversation with us and asked why we were down here. We briefly explained the work we would be doing for the upcoming week during our Spring Break.

Later, we were seated in our group, enjoying our delicious meal, when the hostess came up and started collecting our bills. We thought that maybe she was collecting them so that we wouldn't get all the good food on them and make them unreadable. But then, she explained that our meal had been paid for. For those of us who were on last year’s trip, this was a déjà vu moment. Last year, it was a random U-M alumnus who picked up our tab.

We were stunned. Then it sank in and we started asking if we could thank the kind soul who had graciously covered our bill. But the person wanted to remain anonymous.

At first we asked why he or she would do that. Then we realized that sometimes you just have to do the deed and don't need to be recognized for it – that there are people out there who do not get recognized and yet continue to do good things. They are the unsung heroes of our society. People who are out there making individual lives better in their communities. It was a great point for us to talk about leading into our weekend and to get us thinking about what work we would be doing – what the impact would be and whether it would be significant. So far, two days into the alternative Spring Break, we have met many generous people who pay if forward and go unrecognized, and the best thing is that they do it with sincerity and love. These individuals provide inspiration to us, as Michigan Engineers, to think and to reflect on what impact we will have and whether we will make a difference in the world.”

Dhruv Madaan The Engineering Honors Program B.S.E Mechanical Engineering 2017

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MAKING HYPERLOOP HISTORY

U-M Engineering students are part of an intercollegiate collaboration called “OpenLoop.” They’ve been selected by SpaceX to compete in world’s first large-scale Hyperloop pod test competition later this year. They will test their human-scale prototype against thirty other teams from around the world on a one-mile test track at SpaceX headquarters.  

In 2013, tech-mogul Elon Musk released a bold vision for the future of transportation with his proposal of the “Hyperloop.” The system mainly consists of “pods” powered by linear induction motors that hover on either air-skates or maglev, in a low-pressure vacuumed tube. The end result is the ability to travel at transonic velocities–turning a two-hour flight into a thirty-minute ride.  

In early 2015, SpaceX released their intention to host a Hyperloop Pod Competition for student design teams to promote Hyperloop innovation. Teams will design and build a large-scale Hyperloop pod prototype to test in a six-foot diameter test track tube.  

Undergraduate students from the University of Michigan joined forces with five other universities to answer the challenge. Known as team “OpenLoop,” they presented their work alongside more than 100 teams from around the world at the SpaceX Hyperloop Design Weekend, January 29-30th at Texas A&M University.  

OpenLoop was selected by SpaceX to join thirty other teams in the world’s first large-scale Hyperloop pod test competition later this year.  The team at U-M will continue their work on the fuselage portion of the pod system, planning to start fabrication and assembly of the approximately 4 foot tall by 18 foot long carbon fiber pod in the Wilson Center.

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All Charged Up

A new student team. A new world record.

In 2013, three engineering students with a common vision bought an 18-year-old motorcycle with their own money. It was the birth of the University of Michigan Electric Motorcycle Racing Team. Two years later, they have two world records and one sick bike.

On November 1, at the US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich., the team set two world records for their class: a street legal motorcycle, with 48 volts. In the ⅛ mile, they clocked a time of 10.937 seconds. The record was previously held by Klaus Nissen from Malmo, Sweden.

In the ¼ mile, they finished with a time of 17.991 seconds.

One of the coolest things about the U-M team’s bike, Chronos, is what happens when you turn it on. “The sound you hear from our bike is very refined,” says Rossen Pomakov, team manager and electrical engineering student. “You hear a slight whizzing coming from the motors and the chain going through the rear sprocket. It’s the sound of something very new, completely efficient and a lot more powerful than most gas-powered bikes.”

Engineers have been tinkering with electric motorcycles and scooters since the late 1800s. But until recently, they couldn’t rival the speed, power and endurance of their petrol-powered counterparts. The battery technology simply didn’t exist. It was only six years ago that the first electric Time Trial Xtreme Grand Prix took place on the Isle of Man, inspiring a new “cleaner” breed of speed junkies.

Here are some stats on the bike

Bike Frame: 1997 Suzuki Katana GSX600F

Motors: Two brushed DC motors running in parallel

Battery technology: Lithium Cobalt Oxide batteries

Supplied current: 900 amps

Supplied voltage: 48 volts

Supplied power: 1800 watts

Motor speed: 3100 rpm

Supplied torque: 430 ft-lb (Same as the Ford F150; compare with the base model 2015 Corvette at 460)

Visit the team’s website

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Can student organizations drive their project vehicles in the parade?

Sure. The parade lineup already features several student team vehicles, including the Supermileage, MRacing Formula SAE, MHybrid, Electric Motorcycle Racing and Baja Racing teams. 

Registration for this year’s E-rade closed a few weeks ago, but if your vehicle can keep up a parade pace of 15 mph or less and you want in, contact the College of Engineering Office of Advancement ASAP.  

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So what happens with traffic while all this is going on?

Well, several things. 

Floats will be staged in lot NC48 on Hayward, so even if you have a permit, that lot’s not an option. Bonisteel, Murfin, Hayward and Beal will be closed to all traffic (except the parade, of course) from 3-4 p.m., and you won’t be able to enter or leave the parking lots inside that loop from 2:30 p.m. (when floats start staging on Beal) until 4 p.m.

The parallel parking spots on the north side of Bonisteel are off limits from 11 p.m. Thursday until 4 p.m. Friday. And the southeast corner of lot NC60 along Beal will also  be closed from 11 p.m. Wednesday-8p.m. Friday.

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Wait, this is sponsored?

Yep, Northrop Grumman is sponsoring the inaugural E-rade. As a leading global security company and a major employer of Michigan Engineering graduates, the company is taking the lead on the newest CoE tradition. You can find out more about the company here: http://www.northropgrumman.com/Pages/default.aspx

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Is there a theme?

Groups will be competing for seven themed prizes and a shot at the grand prize, the Golden Pickle. Theme categories include:

Depiction of Life in Michigan - Past, Present & Future

Use & Display of School Spirit

Beautiful Entry

Showmanship and Dramatic Impact

Comical & Amusing Entry

Animation & Motion

Creative Concept & Design

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So who’s in this parade, anyway?

Who isn’t? We’ll have the Michigan Fanfare Band, Solar Car team, Baja Racing team, Supermileage, MPowered Entrepreneurs, Concrete Canoe, equestrian teams, quidditch - 36 different groups in all. If you can race it, ride it, float it, tow it or dress it in golden spandex, you’ll probably see it in this parade. You can see the whole lineup here: http://www.engin.umich.edu/college/info/alumni/connecting/events/coe-homecoming/parade-party

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Where’s the best place to watch the parade?

If you can get to campus, grab a patch of grass along Bonisteel and you’ll catch it all. Otherwise, tune in right here at 3 p.m. for the live stream.The staging area will be in Lot NC48. Parade participants will line up along Beal Avenue, travel along Bonisteel and return to the staging area via Hayward.

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Homecoming E-Rade Q&A

Have a question, suggestion or special request surrounding the first ever Michigan Engineering Homecoming E-Rade? Submit above and we’ll answer below. 

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Jeremy Young, MSE BSE Student, runs a cylinder combustion simulation in the Michigan Immersive Digital Experience Nexus (MIDEN) in the UM3D Lab Digital Media Commons in the Duderstadt Center on June 10, 2015.

The simulation allows for Young to visualize and measure velocity of fluids of different volume points of a cylinder combustion engine.

Photo: Joseph Xu, Michigan Engineering Communications and Marketing

www.engin.umich.edu