Jared Kuker – Cramer Award

Welcome to NMT Mechanical Engineering Department

The mission of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the New Mexico Tech is to provide a quality education, to conduct strong research programs, to foster a close partnership with industry and government, and to provide related service to the campus community and the community at large. The mission shall be guided by a commitment to continuous improvement in the overall quality of teaching, research and service.

A major focus of the Department's activities is to provide quality engineering education with sufficient scope to include the basic and specialized engineering training necessary for the current and emerging needs of society.

The Department has related responsibility to contribute to the advancement of knowledge by conducting research at the cutting edge of science and technology. Since science and technology are rapidly advancing, the Department also has a professional responsibility to provide continuing education so the practicing engineer can remain effective.

The Department faculty and administration also see as part of the mission, an obligation to serve the needs of the campus community and the community at large in the spirit of collegial cooperation.

The B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, 111 Market Place, Suite 1050, Baltimore, MD 21202-4012 - telephone: (410) 347-7700

Jared Kuker – Cramer Award

SOCORRO, N.M. May 15, 2012 - Jared Kuker, one of mechanical engineering department undergraduate students completed his BSc degree this year winning the Cramer Award with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Congratulations!

hhttp://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news/336-2011/4435-top-student-awards-announced-at-graduation Space Test Experiment Gets Federal Grants For 2 Launches

SOCORRO, N.M. May 10, 2012 - Dr. Andrei Zagrai and Dr. Anders Jorgensen will be flying another experiment into space in coming months – twice actually.

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news/336-2011/4429-space-test-experiment-gets-federal-grants-for-2-launches Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: An investigation of magneto-elastic active sensors used in fatigue damage detection, The development of a finite element model to predict global system behavior from substructure modal test data

SOCORRO, N.M. April 24, 2012 - NMT Mechanical Engineering Department graduate students Dan Meisner and Joshua Mendoza will talk about their research.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_04_17_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: A Defense of Computational Physics: Popper’s Non-Verifiability versus Computational Validation

SOCORRO, N.M. April 17, 2012 - Dr. Patrick J. Roache will present his defense on Computational Physics.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_04_17_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Investigation of Magneto-Elastic Active Sensors for Ultrasonic Damage Detection in Aerospace Structures

SOCORRO, N.M. April 10, 2012 - David Conrad, NMT Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student will present an experimental investigation into the capability of MEAS in detecting fatigue damage in aerospace materials.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_04_10_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Mars Science Laboratory Mission: Challenges and Lessons Learned

SOCORRO, N.M. April 03, 2012 - Dr. Sayavur Bakhtiyarov, DOD INSRP Coordinator, US Air Force Safety Center, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, New Mexico Tech will talk about the special sources of risk that are inherent to the launch of radioactive materials, and provide insights into the analysis of these risks given the complex combined-phenomenology environments that could exist during a launch accident or destruct event.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_04_03_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Mitigating Renewable Energy Intermittency with Energy Storage.

SOCORRO, N.M. March 27, 2012 - Steve Willard, P.E. Project Manager, PNM Resources will talk about Mitigating Renewable Energy Intermittency with Energy Storage.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_03_27_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar:Image Analysis for Experimentation using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Safety Analysis Considerations for the Overpressurization of a Solid

SOCORRO, N.M. March 20, 2012 - NMT mechanical engineering graduate students Richard Nelson and Jason Rogers will talk about their research projects.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_03_20_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: The wise choice of dynamic system inputs

SOCORRO, N.M. March 6, 2012 - Dr. Victor Beazel, Air Force Research Laboratory Kirtland Air Force Base, NM, will talk about how to apply command shaping technique for dynamic system inputs to nonlinear systems with geometry-dependent resonances.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_03_06_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Structural Health Monitoring: Overview and Challenges Ahead

SOCORRO, N.M. Feb 21, 2012 - Dr. Thomas J. Baca, Baca Consulting Group Albuquerque, NM will describes recent trends in structural health monitoring (SHM) at Sandia National Laboratories.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_02_21_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: A review of satellite attitude determination without gyroscopes

SOCORRO, N.M. Feb 7, 2012 - Arthur Weber, an NMT Graduate Student, Lockheed Martin will speak on the techniques used for attitude determination without the use of gyros including all-stellar approach, QWEST methods, and pseudo gyro on Tuesday, Feb 07, 2 p.m. in Cramer 124.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_02_07_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: An empirical relationship for the prompt initiation of bulk Comp-B by Linear Shaped Charges

SOCORRO, N.M. Jan 31, 2012 - David Peterson, a NMT Graduate Student, Sandia National Laboratories will speak on the behavior of covered bulk explosive to represent attack upon burster charges in chemical munitions. Tuesday, January 31, 2 p.m. in Cramer 124.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_01_31_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: What Does the VLA Do, and How Does it Work? A Primer on Imaging Radio Interferferometry for Mechanical Engineers

SOCORRO, N.M. Jan 24, 2012 - Rick Perley, EVLA Project Scientist at NRAO will speak on the elements of radio interferometry as they are applied to the VLA and other instruments of its class. He also will give examples of what radio astronomers do with the VLA.2 p.m. in Cramer 124.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_01_24_2012.pdf Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Large-Scale Acoustic and Elastic Wave Propagation Simulations

SOCORRO, N.M. Nov 22, 2011 - Dr. Greg Tipton of Sandia National Labs speaks on "Large-Scale Acoustic and Elastic Wave Propagation Simulations." 2 p.m. in Cramer 124.

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-calendar/cal Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: What you really need to know to be a successful engineer but won't learn in college?

SOCORRO, N.M. Nov 8, 2011 - Mr. Chris Kutac, Director of Configuration Management and Data Services for Honeywell Aerospace Engineering Operations, will speak on "What you really need to know to be a successful engineer but won't learn in college." 2 p.m. in Cramer 124.

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news Design Clinic Midterm Presentations

Design Clinic Class Junior/Senior/Advanced Design Midterm Presentations will be held on Thursday, Oct 27th and Nov 3rd, Workman 101 at 4:00PM.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/design_clinic_midterm_presentations_fall_2011.pptx Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Employing Simple Models to Evaluate Complex Systems of Systems By Paul Vogel

SOCORRO, N.M. Oct 18, 2011 - Simulations have been employed for over 50 years in the arena of complex systems of systems to identify any shortfalls and maximize effectiveness. These simulations have evolved to employ confederations of reasonably simplistic models orchestrated by an executive controller to model the complexity of possible interactions between each subsystem in a verifiable and comprehensive manner. This talk will introduce this approach from a software, systems, communications and engineering orientation.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_10_18_2011.docx FE Exam Review Sessions

The FE Review Sessions are as follows:

Oct. 10 (M) - Thermodynamics

Oct. 12 (W) - Circuits

Oct. 17 (M) - Fluid Dynamics

Oct. 19 (W) - Heat and Mass Transfer

Oct. 24 (M) - Engineering Economics

All sessions will run from 5 to 6:30pm in MSEC 103.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Mexico-Tech-Mechanical-Engineering-Department/219833871413027 Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Designing a Spaceship for Everyone By Jonathan Firth, Virgin Galactic

SOCORRO, N.M. Oct 11, 2011 - This presentation will summarize the main cross-discipline challenges that Virgin is working to overcome and the progress made so far on its plans to turn commercial space travel into a reality.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_10_11_2011.docx Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Flying Explosives Detectors, Phil Rodacy, Sandia National Laboratories

SOCORRO, N.M. Oct 4, 2011 - The seminar will discuss how the bees are trained, what compounds they can detect, their sensitivity to various compounds and ability to reject interferences. A summary of work performed by Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Montana to train bees to detect buried landmines will be presented.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_10_04_2011.docx Mechanical Engineering Students Launch Experiment Into Space

SOCORRO, N.M. Sep 27, 2011– A team of mechanical engineering students successfully launched a structural health monitoring experiment into space last spring, thanks to support from the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium.

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news/336-2011/4225-engineering-students-launch-experiment-into-space Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Mr. Frederic (Rick) Bradshaw, High Bridge Associates

SOCORRO, N.M. Sep 27, 2011 - PMP Vice President and Regional Manager for High Bridge Associates, Mr. Frederic (Rick) Bradshaw will talk about his project management practices and experiences on Tuesday, September 27th, 2:00-2:50 pm at Cramer 124.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_09_27_2011.docx Mechanical Engineering Undergrad Lands Space Grant Scholarship

SOCORRO, N.M. September 15, 2011 – Mechanical engineering junior Miquela Trujillo was awarded a competitive scholarship from the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, based on her research proposal.

A graduate of McCurdy High School in Espanola, Trujillo is testing a novel material developed by Dr. Ashok Ghosh. She is one of several students who have contributed to the testing of the material, which received a U.S. patent earlier this year.

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news/336-2011/4218-mechanical-engineering-undergrad-lands-space-grant-scholarship Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Dr. David Grow, Department of Mechanical Engineering, New Mexico Tech

SOCORRO, N.M. Sep 6, 2011 - Dr. David Grow who has recently joined to our faculty will speak on some promising uses of robotic technology. The presentation will cover the use of the Sarcos Treadport as a virtual-reality locomotion interface, the design of a haptic simulator of muscle spasticity, and the use of the KINARM Exoskeleton to investigate models of cerebellar ataxia and to explore rehabilitation methods.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_09_06_2011.doc Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Dr. Michael J. Hargather, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

SOCORRO, N.M. Aug 30, 2011 - Michael J. Hargather will speak on refractive flow visualization techniques on Tuesday April 30th, 2-3 p.m. in Cramer 124. The title of his presentation is, "Refractive flow visualization techniques for investigating explosions and compressible flows". The basic physics and optical setup of these techniques will be discussed, with a focus on their application to studying explosions and high-speed compressible flows.

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/graduate_seminar_Aug_30th.doc Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Publishes a Book Chapter in Wind Energy

SOCORRO, N.M. Aug 22, 2011 - New Mexico Tech graduate student Emrah Kulunk recently published a book chapter in "Fundamental and Advanced Topics in Wind Power, ISBN 978-953-307-508-2" about the aerodynamics of horizontal-axis wind turbines. The chapter sets out the basic analytical techniques that can be utilized for the aerodynamic design and performance analysis of HAWT rotors.

http://www.intechopen.com/books/show/title/fundamental-and-advanced-topics-in-wind-power Mechanical Engineering Graduate Nic Schafer got the Top Student Award at Graduation

SOCORRO, N.M. May 16, 2011 - Five New Mexico students earned the top annual awards at commencement Saturday. Three undergrads and two graduate students were recognized for their exceptional academic performance, integrity and community involvement. The winner of the top undergraduate award, the Brown Award, for 2011, is Nic Shafer, who earned his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering.

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news/336-2011/4147-top-student-awards-announced-at-graduation Appreciation Award to Mechanical Engineering Graduate: Alex Plonczak

SOCORRO, N.M. May 17, 2011 - Every year at commencement, three organizations give awards to honor individuals who have provided exceptional service to New Mexico Tech. The Student Association, the Graduate Student Association and the Alumni Association each give awards. The Student Association honored mechanical engineering student Alex Plonczak this year due to his interest and dedication to serving the student body at New Mexico Tech.

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news/336-2011/4151-three-associations-present-appreciation-awards-at-graduation Mechanical Engineering Graduate-Faculty Seminar: Mr. Warren R. Maines, AFRL/RWMWO

SOCORRO, N.M. May 3, 2011 - Mr. Warren R. Maines, Chief of Range Operations at the Advanced Warhead Experimentation Facility (AWEF) at Eglin Air Force Base, will speak on Uniaxial Strain on Aluminum Foam on Tuesday May 3rd, 3-4 p.m. in Cramer 124. The title of his presentation is, "Results of Uniaxial Strain Experiments of Aluminum Foam".

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mecheng/Graduate seminar Mr. Warren R. Maines.pdf Professor receives Patent For A Multifunction Composite

SOCORRO, N.M. April 22, 2011 - Tech professor Dr. Ashok K. Ghosh recently learned that the U.S. Patent Office has approved his application and granted him Patent Application No. 2009-044475A1.

Dr. Ghosh’s invention is a composite structure that has Kevlar skin with a fluid-filled polyurethane foam core. The material may find applications in a variety of devices – from submarines and the Space Shuttle to military helmets and bullet-proof vests to radiation shielding.

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news/336-2011/4123-professor-gets-patent-for-a-multifunction-composite Duo Wins Statewide Survival Kit Design Competition

SOCORRO, N.M. April 21, 2011 - Two of New Mexico Tech’s bright, ambitious and innovative engineering students won a statewide contest for their independent design project through the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Senior Tyler Bushnell and December 2010 graduate Austin Silva won $6,000 for their survival kit project. Both have won numerous awards previously, both at Tech and through other professional organizations.

http://www.nmt.edu/nmt-news/336-2011/4121-duo-wins-statewide-survival-kit-design-competition