Dear ME friends, alumni, and students:

Welcome to the winter 2016 issue of Mech E Force. A lot has happened in our department since the spring, and I’m excited to share some highlights with you.

Students: Our undergraduates continue to amaze us with their talent and passion, illustrated by recognition of a few by both Johns Hopkins and professional organizations for their research. Our Freshman Design Competition was held on December 7 and truly showcased the Class of 2020’s ingenuity. Not to be outdone, the Class of 2017 showcased its preliminary Senior Design projects on December 12 during fall design day.

Our doctoral and postdoctoral fellows are also doing well – doctoral student Berk Gonenc was named a Siebel Scholar and postdoctoral researcher Dhruv Vig was awarded a fellowship grant from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund.

Faculty and Staff: Our faculty members are the driving force of the department and are hard at work to ensure we’re providing our students with the highest quality of education and most extensive research opportunities. Sean Sun was named an APS Fellow, Ishan Barman received the Maryland Outstanding Young Engineer Award this spring, Nathan Scott was recently honored as a champion of Maryland manufacturing, Vicky Nguyen received a Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award, and Dennice Gayme was named a Carol Linde Croft Faculty Scholar.

Kevin Hemker, Vicky Nguyen, and Sung Hoon Kang received a Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer Our Future Grant to provide new scientific understanding of the Fused Filament Fabrication process and its effect on the underlying molecular structure and properties of 3D-printed polymers. Rajat Mittal received an E²SHI seed grant to model new approaches to ventilate and reduce energy consumption in buildings. Noah Cowan, Joseph Katz and Rajat Mittal received a Johns Hopkins Discovery Award to pursue a project titled, “The Bat-wing: A Model System for Sensing and Feedback Control in Animals.”

New hires: Assistant Professor Jeremy Brown will join us in January 2017. Brown completed his PhD at the university of Michigan, and is completing his postdoctoral research at University of Pennsylvania. This year, we were pleased to have Administrative Coordinator Shawna O’Brien and Research Service Analyst Lisa Eklund join our staff.

Promotions and Appointments: In 2016, Cindy Larichiuta was promoted to Administrative Coordinator and Mike Bernard was promoted to Academic Program Manager. Additionally, Soraya Bailey was promoted to Lecturer, and Nathan Scott was promoted to Associate Teaching Professor. In January 2017, Jaafar El-Awady will be promoted to tenured Associate Professor.

We’re sure our alumni aren’t just resting on their laurels, but haven’t heard from many of you recently. Have an interesting story to tell? Recently win an award? Working on a cool project? Tell us! We’d love to hear from you and feature you on our social media channels and alumni page.

Our website is constantly being updated with news and information; I encourage you to visit it often. If you’d prefer a more interactive experience, our Facebook page is a great place to learn about upcoming events, view photos, and interact with other Mechanical Engineering students, alumni, and friends.

Did you notice something that’s missing, or simply want to provide commentary or feedback? Please feel free to email me at mech_eng@jhu.edu, call me at 410-516-6782, or even mail us a letter at Department of Mechanical Engineering, 223 Latrobe Hall, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. I looking forward to hearing from you and hope you’re doing well.

Best Regards,

Louis Whitcomb signature

 

 

 

Louis L. Whitcomb

Professor and Chair

Department of Mechanical Engineering