Research Areas
Design, Controls & Manufacturing
In
the Design, Controls and Manufacturing Division we have very active
research programs in: the development of integrated computer aided design
and manufacturing tools; ergonomics and safety; fatigue, corrosion wear
and reliability; the improved production of plastics; rehabilitation engineering
design; and in the application of feedback control to robotics, prosthetic
devices and a variety of biomedical applications from cancer therapy to
drug delivery.
The Center for Engineering Design is a world renowned organization which is extremely active in the area of applied robotics and micro-electrical-mechanical systems. Several local high tech companies have grown out of our research activities and they provide a consistent source of employment and research projects for many of our students and graduates.
Significant interdisciplinary collaboration goes on with a variety of other departments, in particular those within the College of Engineering and the School of Medicine.
Solid Mechanics
The Mechanics Division has active research
programs in the areas of material response and failure of composite
systems (e.g. ceramics, metals, composites, polymers, etc.), adhesive failure,
environmental degradation of polymers, corrosion and fatigue of aging
aircraft, multi-axis stress failure, and orthopedic biomechanics. Additional research is being done on the modeling and computational simulation of finite plasticity and failure of pure metals and alloys at high strain rates and temperatures and the fundamental mechanics of metamaterials for various purposes including earthquake and vibration amelioration. The Mechanics Division has also done pioneering work in fluid-structure interaction.
Departments that interact with the Mechanics program include Civil Engineering, Material Science, Mathematics, Computer Science, Metallurgical Engineering, Orthopedic Surgery and Bioengineering.
Thermal, Fluid & Energy Systems
The Thermal, Fluids and Energy
Systems Division has active, well funded programs in the areas of bioheat
transfer, artificial heart development, combustion, energy efficiency
and the optimization of thermal 
systems, wind turbine design, advanced
fluid flow measurement systems and their development, acoustics, rocket
propulsion, gas turbine heat transfer, and the physics and modeling of
turbulence.
The department participates in the College of Engineering’s interdisciplinary graduate program in Environmental Engineering. Collaborations exist with the departments of Mathematics, Bioengineering, Meteorology, Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Radiology.