Research Grant Awards Attained by SECS Faculty

                            2011-2012

11/19/2012

Dr. Paul Rullkoetter received an NSF/MRI award in the amount of $500,000 for his proposal on "MRI: Acquisition of a Biplane Fluoroscopy System for Dynamic Imaging of In-Vivo Human Motion." This project will significantly enhance the bioengineering research presently underway in the Human Dynamics Laboratory in the Ritchie Center.
Co-PIs on the project are Peter Laz, Kevin Shelburne, Brad Davidson and Clare Fitzpatrick.

Dr. Kimon Valavanis received an NSF/MRI award in the amount of $1,645,350 for his proposal for "MRI Collaborative: Development of an Intelligent, Autonomous, Unmanned, Mobile Sensor." This project will develop and test a UAV helicopter and landing platform that will provide remote data downloads and system charging simultaneously. The application of the platform is for peace-time use in the form of search and rescue operations, forest fire monitoring, and other applications where aerial imagery is collected in remote locations.
This is a truly interdisciplinary effort as the co-PIs on the project are faculty from all three departments in SECS (Dr. Mohammad Mahoor, Dr. Jason Zhang and Dr. David Gao from ECE, Dr. Yun-Bo Yi from Mechanical and Materials Engineering and Dr. Matthew Rutherford from Computer Science). DU has also partnered with California State University-Los Angeles to bring graduate students to DU as part of the project. See Research Website for Video about this project.

Dr. Kevin Shelburne, Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering performs Bioengineering Research for the department. Researcher Dr. Shelburne was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant for the in the amount of $1,198,685. His research involves other faculty in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department enhancing the research in the DU Center for Orthopaedic Biomechanics.

The research is for : "A Multi-Scale Finite Element Musculoskeletal Modeling Framework Applied to Current Issues in Joint Replacement"

Orthopedic medicine remains reliant on costly clinical experiments with animals and humans to evaluate current and proposed treatments. These experiments do not generate all of the information desired as the measurement of forces, strains, and stresses inside the human body is currently impracticable. Although some treatments may be evaluated with cadavers, realistic mimicry of the loading conditions present during human activity is exceedingly challenging. To overcome these limitations, researchers in the DU Center for Orthopaedic Biomechanics have developed computational approaches that utilize mathematical models and computer simulations of the musculoskeletal system. Computer modeling provides estimates of muscle, ligament, and joint loads, strains, and stresses through non-invasive means. Moreover, computer modeling and simulation enables design studies to evaluate and predict outcomes of treatments as a precursor to clinical experiments. The predictive power of modeling and simulation enables the testing of hypotheses in ways that cannot be achieved with either in vivo or in vitro experiments. However, the available computational models of the musculoskeletal system do not incorporate four essential properties into a single framework: the multi-scale complexity of the musculoskeletal system, the force and redundancy of the many muscles spanning the joints, the deformability of the tissues, and the inter-subject variability of tissue properties. Due in part to these limitations, computer models and simulations are not widely applied in orthopedics and musculoskeletal research. To help address these limitations, the National Institutes of Health through the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering has awarded the DU Center for Orthopaedic Biomechanics a four year grant. The objectives are to create a sophisticated multi-scale model of the human body that combines dynamic muscle modeling and structural analysis of the joints into a single framework, to validate the model at multiple scales by comparison to measurements in humans, and to demonstrate the modeling framework using analyses of patients with total knee replacement. This work will accelerate innovation in human modeling and simulation by opening a new path for more realistic representation of human tissue and providing accurate prediction of the forces, stresses and strains in the tissues during physical activities. Please add to or change any of these grant awards and congrats to your departments!

Other highly notable Research Grant Awards attained by SECS faculty below:

Dr. Rullkoetter – DePuy – "DePuy-DU Research Program in Computational..."           $411,080
Dr. Wilson – M MSP Corp. – "Real-Time Size-Distributed Measurement of Aerosols..." $47,905
Dr. Gordon – National Institute Stand – "NIST SURF Fellowship 2012-Wm Douglas"       $9,000
Dr. Kumosa – HDNR Inc. – "Investigation of Long-Term Structural Integrity"               $50,000
Dr. Kumosa – NSF – "Planning Grant: IUCRC for Novel High Voltage..."                      $14,499
Dr. Kumosa – NSF – " GOALI: Investigation of Galvanic Reaction Barrier..."               $357,338
Dr. Laz – Covidien – "Engineering Design Project: Multi-Parameter"                           $3,500
Dr. Lengsfeld – Mirco Cooling...– " Turbine Blade Optimization"                              $75,914
Dr. Matin – NREL – "Thin-Film Deposition and Characterization"                               $27,483
Dr. Voyles – NSF – "Intergovernmental Personnel Act Assignment"                          $255,167

09/04/2012

DU student tops 216 MPH with home-built battery-powered motorcycle!

Photo by Scooter Grubb

The University of Denver engineering graduate student Eva Håkansson topped 216 MPH with her home-built electric motorcycle "KillaJoule" at the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials at Bonneville Salt Flats last week. The 250 HP battery-powered motorcycle had a measured top speed of 216.504 MPH and did set a new official world record for electric sidecar motorcycles of 191.488 MPH over the flying mile (pending AMA certification). KillaJoule is currently the world's fourth fastest electric motorcycle.
In addition to setting a new record, Eva won the "Fastest Sidecar Motorcycle" Prize as well as the very prestigious "Female Rider" Award. The award was created by land speed record holder Erin Hunter in 2006 to acknowledge the accomplishments of the women racers at Bonneville. It recognizes the characteristics of great racers such as competition, comraderie, enthusiasm, dedication, humility, and tenacity.

The KillaJoule competes as a "sidecar motorcycle", which means that it has two wheels in line and one wheel off-set. It drives only on the rear wheel and steers with the front wheel. The very fastest record ever set with an internal combustion engine for this type vehicle is 219 mph. Eva is now very close to exceeding this internal combustion world record using battery power. Last time a battery-powered vehicle set an overall speed record was 1899, when the electric car "La Jamais Contente" was the world's fastest car at 62 MPH.
The KillaJoule is powered by a 375 volt, 1800 amp, 214 lb. battery pack made from 1210 cordless tool cells manufactured by A123Systems. The powerful permanent magnet AC motor is made by EVO Electric, Ltd. and the 250+ HP inverters are made by Rinehart Motion Systems. In the present configuration, the electric drive package produces 250 HP. Eva Håkansson pilots the KillaJoule and she has fabricated about 80% of the vehicle herself. Construction of this scratch-built motorcycle started 2.5 years ago, so the full potential of the vehicle has not yet been demonstrated.

High Resolution Pictures: http://www.killacycle.com/photos/b/

Videos: 216 MPH run: and 213 MPH run with "Monkey's eye view"

For More information visit: www.evahakansson.com or www.facebook.com/killacycle 

08/16/12

PhD Dissertation Defense in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Denver                                                                                          

Presents on Explicit Finite Element Modeling of Human Lumbar Spine.

Joins us Thursday, August 16, 2012 at 2:00-3:00pm In Clarence M. Knudson Hall Room 309

Presented by Milind Rao. A native of Mumbai, India. He earned his B.E in Mechanical from Manipal Institute of Technology in India. After his B.E he went to Germany to study a MS in Computational Engineering. Upon graduate, Milind will take a position as a Senior Engineer at Becton, Dickson and Company, New Jersey.

Congratulations to these two gentlemen for earning their PhD this year in Mechanical & Materials Engineering, at the University of Denver!

Brian Burks PhD Dissertation Defense

Presented on "The effect of atmospheric aging on a hybrid polymer matrix composites' materials properties"

Peter Higgins PhD Dissertation Defense

Presented on " Mirco channel cooler performance improvement by insonation.

More Information contact (303) 871-2107.

Students Develop Eye Tracking Device - Students in the 2012 Senior Design course developed a device to control a computer by tracking the motions of the eye. 

Plugged In - Electric vehicles are more than a hobby for engineering grad student Eva Hakannson.

ECE Department Growth - New leadership sparks growth in the ECE department.

TEDxDU - Participation from SECS at TEDxDU sparks a focus on technology innovation at DU.

Graduate Student Wins Big - Current graduate student awarded Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology Scholarship.

Alumni in lights - Alumnus, Camsie Matis, is making her mark in Washington D.C.  

Built to Specification - Academic programs designed to meet the needs of our corporate partners.

Pitch Black

DU Institute goes ballistic, testing materials' strength for clients

Awards & Recognition

Dr. Paul Rullkoetter was selected as the 2011-2012, Distinguished Scholar University of Denver

Dr. Corinne Lengsfeld was selected as the 2011-2012, United Methodist Church University Scholar/Teacher of the Year.

Dr. Corinne Lengsfeld  has been promoted to the rank of Professor, effective September 1, 2012.

Dr. Paul Rullkoetter has been promoted to the rank of Professor, effective September 1, 2012.

Dr. Nathan Sturtevant (Computer Science) and his team recently won the Multi-Core satisfying track of the International Planning Competition . The competition involves institutions from around the world competing against one another.