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"Engineering Wind Power Systems" Online Summer Course

Register now for UMass Amherst’s online wind energy course Engineering Windpower Systems. This course draws on the experiences of professors James Manwell and Jon McGowan -- authors of the authoritative engineering textbook Wind Energy Explained: Theory, Design and Application.

Alum Wins $3,000 Second Prize in National Competition

Alumna Alaina Hanlon, the president and CEO of the PhenotypeIT company that provides health and wellness software solutions to help individuals and organizations better identify and manage chronic health issues, took home the second-place $3,000 prize at the National Health Promotion Summit, where the Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicators App Challenge was staged. Team Community Commons won the $10,000 first prize. PhenotypeIT guides individuals gradually to change behaviors that are putting their health at risk. The company also addresses the need for a better set of behavior modification tools for clinicians and dieticians to use with patients at risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome.

Two Outstanding MIE Projects Share First Place

On May 1, two projects that created a more powerful clutch for John Deere harvesters and an improved method for removing toxic lead paint shared first place after judges presided over the end-of-semester poster presentation for the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) Department’s crowning course, MIE 415: Senior Design Project. The winning projects, entitled the “Innovative Clutch Design” and the “Autonomous Lead Paint Entrapment and Filtration System,” were chosen after 14 student teams of seniors demonstrated the prototypes of their useful, inventive, and brilliant designs for all to see. The event was the peak experience during the MIE course for seniors, as taught by MIE Professor Sundar Krishnamurty.

Engineering Students Score a Host of Honors

Talented and accomplished students from all four departments at the College of Engineering have won numerous awards, scholarships, fellowships, and other distinctions this semester on the national, regional, and campus level. They range from the prestigious National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship, competing against the best undergraduates in the nation, to a host of awards presented by the chancellor. Chemical engineering undergraduates Kathryn Geldart and Sarena Horava have both received one of the country’s most highly sought-after fellowships, the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship, worth more than $40,000 annually for three years.

MIE Students Show off Intriguing Inventions on May Day

On May 1, 14 student teams of seniors from the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst demonstrated the prototypes of their useful, inventive, and brilliant designs for all to see. On display was a more powerful clutch for John Deere harvesters, a new and improved method for removing lead paint, a safer extension ladder, and everything else from space-age training shoes to a device that gives people in wheelchairs a much longer reach. The fascinating event took place in the ELab II Atrium on campus, as staged by the wunderkinds who will help design your future.

MIE Department Trips the Light Fantastic at Mullins Center

On Friday, April 13, the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) Department hosted its first Ice Skating Social from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Mullins Center skating rink. The event was the brainchild of Professors Ian Grosse and Matt Lackner. More than 100 students, staff, and faculty members attended the event and skated their hearts out. One faculty member summed it up nicely: "Matt and Ian – that was so much fun! There was a great vibe going – lots of smiles all around." MIE Department Head Don Fisher added that “The opportunity to talk with friends and students on an informal basis was awesome.” The MIE department is planning to make the Ice Skating Social a regular event in its yearly schedule.

NSBE Students Crown Their Year with Trip to National Conference

Mechanical engineering junior Moijue Kaikai has been busy this year. In addition to his demanding curriculum in mechanical engineering, he took over as president for the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) student chapter in September. In the process, he re-energized the chapter, which was down to two active members, raising that number to 35. He also raised more than $8,000 to support the society’s activities and pave the way for 20 NSBE members to attend the society’s recent national conference in Pittsburgh, though many of those attendees had to pay their own registration fee of $210 apiece. Besides conferences, the NSBE members have been engaged in community service activities, African-American awareness programs, and collaborative projects with other student groups on campus.

Former MIE Professor Al Russell Passes Away

Former Mechanical Engineering Professor George Albert (Al) Russell of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who taught in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department for 34 years after earning his doctorate in 1968, died April 11 following a brief illness. Professor Russell was born in Steger, Illinois, on August 29, 1936. During his years at UMass Amherst, he was also a consultant for the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Defense, Digital Equipment Corporation, and other agencies and organizations.

Three Chosen for COE Outstanding Faculty Awards

The College of Engineering has chosen Professor Sandip Kundu of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department to receive its 2012 Outstanding Senior Faculty Award and Assistant Professor Jenna Marquard of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department to receive its 2012 Barbara H. and Joseph I. Goldstein Outstanding Junior Faculty Award. Associate Professor James Rinderle of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department was previously selected to receive the 2012 Outstanding Teaching Award.

Innovation Challenge Awards More Than $55,000 in Prize Money

On April 17, FACTbase, a team of students, alumni, and faculty entrepreneurs marketing a new technology that will save the oil industry and climate scientists time and money, won the grand prize of $25,000 at the seventh annual University of Massachusetts Innovation Challenge. Plate Technologies, which delivers precision instrumentation for rapid success of biological-cell-culture-based experiments, won $14,000 at the event, while Sweet Seat, pitching a premium bicycle seat that delivers comfort through design, took home $8,000. Not to be outdone, Sneakers for Success, a non-profit organization which uses the so-called “sneaker culture” of urban lifestyle to motivate under-privileged youth toward academic success, won three prizes totaling $8,250.

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