Departmental News

Recent News

	Rivera and Wanki Receive President's Excellence in Diversity and Equity Awards Alex Rivera (left top) and Godlove Wanki (left bottom), mechanical engineering majors, have been named recipients of the President's Excellence in Diversity and Equity Student Awards for 2013. Recipients of the President's Excellence in Diversity and Equity Student Award will receive a $500 scholarship in September 2013.
	Cloutier Receives NSF GRFP Fellowship Aimee Cloutier, a graduate student under the supervision of Dr. James Yang, has been selected to receive a 2013 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship. She was selected based on her outstanding abilities and accomplishments, as well as her potential to contribute to strengthening the vitality of the U.S. science and engineering enterprise. She will receive a $30,000 per year stipend for the next five years.
	Researchers Discover Plankton Adjust to Changing Ocean Temperatures Drs. Brad Gemmell and Edward Buskey from UT-Austin and Dr. Jian Sheng from Texas Tech have discovered new information that explains how tiny marine plankton overcome changes in the viscosity of ocean water. Using 3-D high speed holographic techniques developed by the Sheng lab at Texas Tech, the interdisciplinary team has found that these minute crustaceans actually change the movement of their swimming appendages in order to optimize escape swimming performance across natural thermal extremes. Read more about this research.
	Researchers Explain How to Make the Hardest Metal Pliable Researchers at Texas Tech and Yale University have discovered a way to predict and control the properties of metallic glasses, yielding a highly versatile material that looks like metal, is moldable like plastic, but stronger than steel. Dr. Golden Kumar, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has developed a model that can explain why some metallic glasses are always ductile or brittle, whereas others are sensitive to processing and aging. Read more about this research.
	Simek Receives ABOTA Lifetime Achievement Award Patrick C. Simek, a 1971 B.S.M.E. graduate and a 1977 School of Law graduate, is the recipient of The American Board of Trial Advocates' (ABOTA) highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Simek is a longtime ABOTA member and Lubbock, Texas, lawyer. He served as national president of ABOTA in 2002.
	ME Graduate Students and Faculty Members' Research Published in PNAS ME graduate students and faculty members' groundbreaking research on boron nitride is featured in the latest issue of PNAS. In the published work, the group reported successful transformation of soft boron nitride with high degree of disorder to wurtzitic boron nitride by way of plastic shear under high pressure, and provide mechanism for such transformation.
	Available Faculty Positions The Department of Mechanical Engineering is currently accepting applications for the Whitacre Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering and two tenure−track positions at the assistant or associate professor level. For more information, visit the Available Positions page.
	ASME Students Win Second in International Old Guard Contest Texas Tech won second place in the Old Guard Oral Presentation Contest at the ASME 2012 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition. The project was "Reinventing the Wheel: A Radially Collapsing Wheel for an Innovative Wheelchair Design."
	ASME Students Win Old Guard Presentation Texas Tech won first place in the Old Guard Oral Presentations at the regional District E competition of ASME’s Student Professional Development Conference (SPDC) and has qualified for a spot at the International ASME Meeting this November. The winning student presenter was Pejmon Arbrapour. Their project was "Reinventing the Wheel: A Radially Collapsing Wheel for an Innovative Wheelchair Design." Kyle Ellis won second place for the poster competition for the same project.
	Castillo Named Cash Chair Dr. Luciano Castillo is joining Texas Tech University as the Don-Kay-Clay Cash Foundation Distinguished Engineering Chair in Wind Energy,the executive director and president of the NWRC, and professor of mechanical engineering.
	Hanson Receives Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award Dr. Jeff Hanson has been named the recipient of the 2011 American Society of Mechanical Engineers International Petroleum Technology Institute, Petroleum Division, Outstanding Faculty Advisor award.
	Whitacre Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering Candidates are sought for the inaugural Whitacre Endowed Chair. Candidates are expected to have demonstrated continued success in research related to all aspects of mechanical engineering. For more information, see the Available Faculty Positions page.