Wheelchair seating is tested at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute sled lab in Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 30, 2012.

UMTRI’s Biosciences Group conducts sled impact tests of wheelchairs and wheelchair tiedowns and occupant-restraint systems to determine their impact response characteristics and to evaluate products with respect to voluntary national and international standards and recommended practices. UMTRI has been involved in wheelchair occupant safety research for more than 20 years, and the Biosciences research staff has been active in standard-development efforts worldwide since 1985.

Image by Laura Rudich | Michigan Engineering

Performing Arts Technology graduate Carlos Garcia works on his senior thesis Out of the Box in the Duderstadt Digital Media Commons on North Campus at the University of Michigan.

May 30, 2012

Image by Laura Rudich | Michigan Engineering

Phat Truong, an engineer with the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, sits at the wheel of the Clandestine Extended Range Vehicle (CERV). Designed for reconnaissance, surveillance and target designation, it can maintain speeds of 80 mph and climb 60 percent grades with up to 25 percent reduced fuel consumption. Less fuel means fewer fuel convoys and fewer casualties on the battlefield. The vehicle illustrates much of the research occurring at the U-M-based Center for Automotive Research.

The MIDEN (Michigan Immersive Digital Experience Nexus), formerly known as the CAVE, is currently the most advanced system for immersive virtual reality. It provides its users with the convincing illusion of being fully immersed in a three-dimensional world that is computer-generated. This world is presented in stereo as well as at life-size scale. As a superb tool for the visualization of complex environments, the MIDEN facilitates the exploration, understanding, and evaluation of any real or abstract environment. The immersive experience includes unrestricted navigation (look-around, walk-around, fly-around), interaction with virtual objects, and enhancement through directional sound.

Weijian Yang navigates through an art student’s 3d rendering of the universe.

Image by Laura Rudich | Michigan Engineering

Steven Polowy, Meredith Witt, Bernard Murphy, and Jeremy Werner
(missing : Jonathan Meines and Christophe Le Quang) 

The Human-Powered Submarine Team works in the Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory - April 26, 2012 

The HPS Team will be competing in the European International Submarine Races the week of the 25th of June 2012 in Gosport, England. Teams of University students and amateur engineers will race their human-powered submarines against the clock around a demanding new slalom course in a unique sporting and engineering challenge.

Images by Laura Rudich | Michigan Engineering

College of Engineering Commencement
Rackham Auditorium and Hill Auditorium  
April 29, 2012

Images by Joseph Xu + Laura Rudich | CoE Photographers 

University of Michigan Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering professor Margaret Wooldridge, 45, (first left) discusses the nuances of a single cylinder optically accessible gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine with Michigan Engineering graduate students. The engine is on loan from Ford Motor Company and the optical access allows the students to image fuel injection and combustion and understand how the fuel injection and ignition events can be used to improve engine efficiency and emissions. The graduate students are (from right) Scott Wagnon, 25, (Mechanical Engineering), Steven Morris, 25, (Aerospace Engineering), Dimitris Assanis, 22, (Mechanical Engineering), Mohammad Fatouraie, 26, (Mechanical Engineering, pointing) and Andrew Mansfield, 26, (Mechanical Engineering, in the back).  G. G. Brown Laboratories 

 
Photo by Marcin Szczepanski/University of Michigan, College of Engineering Multimedia Producer 

Gregory Ewing (first left) pours cement mix that will be used to make a concrete water filter in the basement of the College of Engineering building on U-M’s North Campus.  University of Michigan students who are members of the Project Pantanal group are building a trial version of a water sand filter.  They plan on introducing the filters in Brazilian schools in the area of  the largest wetlands in the Western hemisphere called Pantanal.  This and other student lead efforts are designed to introduce the area to sustainable technologies and improve understanding of ecological risks while preserving the local culture and bringing new opportunities to the area.   Project Pantanal is an NGO that works on establishing a school and field station in a rural area  of Pantanal, which is an ecological haven for countless rare and endangered species.
Photo by Marcin Szczepanski/University of Michigan, COE Multimedia Producer 

Michigan Engineering M-STEM students kid around at the Wave Field on a sunny Friday morning. From left are Mark Costello, Amber Spears, Kwame Searcy and Ryan Kopf.  

Photo by Marcin Szczepanski/University of Michigan, COE Multimedia Producer 

Wayne State University doctoral students Hongen Tu, Yating Hu and Junhui Zhao won the $50,000 first prize in the Michigan Clean Energy Venture Challenge for their Piezo PowerTech energy harvesting technology. U-M mechanical engineering senior Brett Merkel and co-founder Lihang Nong created PicoSpray, which won the $20,000 prize in the Michigan Clean Energy Venture Challenge.  Friday, Feb 17, 2012 at Blau Auditorium at U-M The Ross School of Business. 

Photo by Marcin Szczepanski/University of Michigan, COE Multimedia Producer 

Design Expo at the Duderstadt Center on University of Michigan’s North Campus showcases the achievements of Michigan Engineering students in engineering design and prototyping, and demonstrates applications of their studies that solve real-life problems. Thursday, December 8, 2011.

 Photos by Marcin Szczepanski, University of Michigan CoE Multimedia Producer  

Hammers were flying and saws were buzzing as Michigan Engineering ENGIN 100 students constructed mini greenhouses, water catchment projects and vertical growing surfaces at the Wilson Center on U-M’s North Campus on Thursday, December 1st, 2012.

In Section 800 of Engineering 100, Engineers Making a Difference, students use their creative and technical skills to address the global challenge of hunger in local urban settings.  In the course,students learn about the stark realities of the urban food desert, and work with two local community partners to create devices designed to enable access to affordable, nutritious, sustainable and culturally appropriate food
choices.  The community partners are Growing Hope, of Ypsilanti and Focus:HOPE of Detroit.  Students have worked with the partners through a user-centered design process to create systems of use in growing food in
these communities, including water catchment, season extension and vertical growing surfaces.  Ultimately, these devices will be installed at the partner sites as demonstration projects and educational tools.

The underlying goal of this section is to introduce engineering students with a passion for helping others to the realities of the impact engineering decisions have on people and our world.  They learn the basic
principles of sustainable community development in a local setting, with the expectation that these lessons are transferrable to engineering for the world at large.  Then, students who have these passions continue on to make their valuable contributions in the fields of engineering in a thoughtful, sustainable, and civically-minded way.

Photos by Marcin Szczepanski, University of Michigan CoE Multimedia Producer  

Mr. Engineeering 2012 contest organized by the Society of Women Engineers at the Stamps Auditorium on U-M North Campus on Saurday night, December 3rd, 2012 in Ann Arbor.

Photos by Marcin Szczepanski, University of Michigan CoE Multimedia Producer