Abstract: A story about how focus led Brian into mechanical engineering, the field of design, and the various journeys that these foundations led to. This includes the design of such wide ranging products as automated cow milking systems, combustion engines and table saw safety systems. It also includes starting a company with the added challenge of hardware in the aftermath of the 2008 recession by being the first startup to ever crowdfund. He’ll share how he raised millions in venture capital, fell off the venture track in 2016 and learned how to build a business from there profitably – as well as his experience building overseas offices in Asia and Ukraine.  And he’ll share how his company keeps innovating after ten years in business, including his latest solution to foster the development of the skill of focus in education.

Biographical Sketch: Brian is the co-CEO and co-Founder of Swivl, Inc. – an educational technology company with solutions in over 50,000 schools and universities worldwide.  Brian has a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Hampshire and has an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University with a depth in Design. Since Stanford, he was a lecturer at Stanford – teaching Introduction to Visual Thinking to product design majors – and worked in diverse industry markets like consumer electronics, power tools and medical devices as a product design consultant. He founded Swivl in 2010 and grew it quietly into one of the more successful robotics companies of the last decade with over 150 employees worldwide. He’s a serial innovator and continues to develop new hardware and software solutions for the educational market to this day.

Abstract: Due to recent advances in resolution and sensitivity, Ion/Electrical Mobility (IM) has become a ubiquitous tool in Aerosol Science and Analytical Chemistry. Its ability to aid in the separation of gas phase analytes now rivals some of the most employed techniques such as liquid chromatography and gas chromatography and recent Mass Spectrometers regularly have a mobility cell embedded in or hyphenated with the system.  In its most formal definition, IM is a transport property that describes the ability of an ion, i.e., charged molecule/cluster/particle, to traverse a gas medium by means of the energy provided by an external electric field. As the ion travels, the way it interacts with the gas medium varies substantially depending on the flow regime and scale. When referring to IM in the ‘free molecular’ regime, it is also assumed that the ion/charged entity does not ‘significantly’ perturb the gas, i.e., when the characteristic size of the ion is much smaller than the mean free path of the gas. Under free molecular flow, ion mobility is necessarily a function of the gas thermodynamic properties (pressure, temperature, mass, size, degrees of freedom), those of the ion, any existing interaction potentials (e.g., Lennard-Jones-like, ion-dipole, or ion-quadrupole interactions), and the energy exchange involved in the process. As is normally the case for other transport properties, the value referenced as IM is an average value for a large enough ensemble of ions over many collisions rather than a value at any given instant.

While the technique has undoubtedly been successful, understanding the process of how ion and gas interact is rather complex and still remains incomplete to this day. With resolutions reaching over one thousand, empirically observed separations between analytes are difficult to explain unless the theory behind the interaction is carefully portrayed. This work is an attempt at describing the logical process of understanding how ion mobility may be theoretically and numerically calculated, from the simplest idea that assumes that ion mobility is in inverse proportion to the average “projected shadow” of the ion, through how different potentials or field strengths may affect the interaction, to the consideration that even internal degrees of freedom may influence the separation. Given the multiple fields where ion mobility is considered, an evolutionary description of the different theories is sought, carefully trying to check where the theories match or deviate and where new approaches are needed.

Biographical Sketch: Carlos Larriba-Andaluz got his bachelor’s degree in Aerospace at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He moved to the States after an abridged stay at Iberia Airlines. He got his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Yale University in 2010 followed by a postdoctoral Associate and Ramon Areces Fellow at the University of Minnesota in the department of Mechanical Engineering. In 2015, he started a tenure-track position at the Purdue University School of Engineering and Technology in Indianapolis. His main area of research is steered towards electrosprays of ionic liquids under vacuum (used in clean electrical propulsion for satellites), dielectric electrosprays by means of charge injection atomization (for efficient production and control of fuel drop generation and combustion), Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS) coupled with Mass Spectrometry (MS) and developing a 2D axial symmetric, multi-chemistry, sectional Aerosol-Plasma model and the study of afterglow and pulsing plasmas for ion and Silane nanoparticle collection. In IMS-MS, current projects include structural characterization of large biomolecules, chemical warfare detection, liquid and solid polymers, proteins, asphaltenes, and Room Temperature Ionic Liquids. Theoretically and numerically, he has developed a suite of algorithms, freely available and used by several university departments, to calculate heat, mass, and momentum transfer in the free molecular regime for all atom models using Kinetic Theory of Gases including the possibility of diffuse reemission, polarization and vdw potentials. His work is supported by several NSF and industry grants. His long-term goal is to design mobility apparatuses and a new set of parallelized algorithms that combines knowledge from DSMC and Lattice Boltzmann algorithms.

Three ME faculty will join us for a panel discussion about successfully navigating graduate school and applying this knowledge to your career or start-up. Come and learn about their graduate experiences and ask questions.

Prof. SeungYeon Kang joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2021 as an Assistant Professor. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University. Prior to joining as a faculty, she was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and then served as the UCONN site program manager for NSF’s SHAP3D additive manufacturing center. She also has industry experience working at Samsung SDI Battery Materials R&D Center as a Senior Research Engineer. Her diverse research experience led to establishment of a highly interdisciplinary research lab that focuses on advanced laser processing techniques and energy storage technology.

Prof. Georgios Matheou an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut. Before joining UConn, he was a research scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a Visiting Associate in Aerospace at the California Institute of Technology. He received his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (2002) from the National Technical University of Athens and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics from Caltech (2008). Dr. Matheou’s research interests include fluid dynamics and turbulence, modeling of multi-scale multi-physics flows, numerical methods, and high-performance computing. Dr. Matheou received the American Physical Society’s Milton Van Dyke (2011) and Galley of Fluid Motion Awards (2016 and 2021), NASA’s Early Career Public Achievement Medal, the University Teaching Innovation Award, and the NSF CAREER Award.

Prof. Georges Pavlidis joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut as an Assistant Professor in 2022. Prior to that, he was an NRC Postdoctoral Researcher in the Nanoscale Spectroscopy Group at NIST. He earned his M.Eng in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London in 2013 and his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2018. Dr. Pavlidis specializes in the thermal characterization of WBG semiconductors for RF and power electronics. He has developed electrical/optical methods, with high spatial and temporal resolution, to assess the performance and reliability of III-nitrides devices. His recent publications investigate improving hBN polariton lifetimes and developing high throughput techniques for interfacial thermal conductance mapping.

Abstract: This talk focuses on the interplay of mechanics with chemical reactions across multiple scales in redox active materials. I will use battery materials to introduce how electrochemistry induces deformation, stresses, and mechanical damage, and how mechanical stresses regulate charge transfer, mass diffusion, capacity, and voltage. I will introduce the customized operando nanoindentation and its use to inform the thermodynamics and kinetics of Li reactions in amorphous Si. I will introduce in-situ optical microscopy as a laboratory tool to map the spatial composition heterogeneity in a solid-solution cathode. We develop computational models by integrating electrochemical response and mechanical failure in battery cells. The multiscale modeling will discuss the heterogeneous chemical activity and heterogeneous mechanical damage in commercial composite electrodes. I will discuss corrosive fracture in single particles, dynamic equilibrium in the particulate network, and the relationship between mechanical damage and electrochemical metrics of voltage, capacity, and cyclic efficiency in cells.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Kejie Zhao is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and B.F.S. Schaefer Scholar at Purdue University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Engineering Science in 2012 from Harvard University, and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2005 and 2008, respectively. He worked as a postdoctoral associate at MIT in 2012-2014. His group focuses on the chemomechanics of electrochemically active materials using experimentation and multi-scale modeling approaches. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, EML Young Investigator Award, 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award, EnSM Young Scientist Award, and James W. Dally Young Investigator Award from the Society for Experimental Mechanics. He is a fellow of ASME.

Abstract: The phenomenon of heterogeneous nucleation in the gas phase is briefly introduced, as well as a related instruments referred to as a condensation particle counter (CPCs). CPCs are widely used to detect single nanometer particles and molecular ions, by growing them into visible sizes. We review prior use of sheathed CPCs, where nanoparticles are exposed to a well-defined supersaturated state by being injected into the center of a larger “sheath” flow of air saturated with a vapor. An original member of this sheathed CPC class is the Variable Supersaturation Condensation Particle Sizer (VSCPS) of Gallar et al. (2006). A slight variant of this device is reexamined here with vapor of 1-butanol and an aerosol of highly uniform singly charged polyethylene glycol particles (diameter d_p=3-9 nm), produced by a bipolar electrospray, and size-selected via mobility separation. These particles sense an almost uniform maximal saturation ratio S_max = C w_, controlled linearly with the wet fraction w= Q_sat/(Q_sat+Q_dry), by mixing two flows, Q_dry and Q_sat of dry and saturated air.  We find substantially steeper activation probability curves P(w) than previously observed with any CPC.

Basic heterogeneous nucleation studies require knowledge of S_max, hence the constant C in the relation S_max = C w. Here we find C by assuming that classical heterogeneous nucleation theory with perfect wetting applies at the largest particle sizes. This choice of C fixes also the theoretically unspecified preexponential term K governing the nucleation rate. This results in excellent agreement between data and theory for the size dependence of S_max(d_p) at P(w)=0.5 at all sizes studied. A very good agreement is also found for the entire activation probability curves P(S_max). This is the first successful confirmation of classical heterogeneous nucleation theory to become available.      

Gallar, C. A. Brock, J. L. Jimenez, C. Simons, A Variable Supersaturation Condensation Particle Sizer, Aerosol Sci. & Techn. 40 (6) (2006) 431–436.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Juan Fernandez de la Mora graduated from the School of Aeronautical Engineering (Madrid, 1975) and received a PhD from Yale’s School of Engineering (1981). After a postdoctoral stage at UCLA, he joined the Yale faculty in 1981, where he became a Professor of Mechanical Engineering in1992. He has worked on the kinetic theory of gas mixtures, the structure of electrified liquid cones, and the separation of nanoparticles in the gas phase by inertial, electrical and condensation phenomena. He has co-authored nearly close to 200 articles and 14 US patents.

Abstract: Within the past decade, significant progress has been made in using quantum computing (QC)  for solving classical problems. In this talk, an overview is made of the ways by which QC has shown promise for fluid dynamics and combustion research. This is via both quantum-ready and quantum-inspired algorithms. The former deals with problems that either have the potentials to benefit from quantum speed-up on universal gate-based digital computers, or those that can be solved on quantum simulators. The latter deals with new classical algorithms that have emerged from many-body quantum physics.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Peyman Givi is Distinguished Professor and James T. MacLeod Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. Previously he held the position of University at Buffalo Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering. He received Ph.D. from the Carnegie- Mellon University (PA), and BE from the Youngstown State University (OH).

Abstract: Inflating a rubber balloon leads to a dramatic shape change: a property that is exploited in the design of soft robots and deployable structures. On the one hand, fluid-driven actuators capable of complex motion can power highly adaptive and inherently safe soft robots. On the other hand, inflation can be used to transform seemingly flat shapes into shelters, field hospitals, and space modules. In both cases, just like the simple balloon, only one input is required to achieve the desired deformation. This simplicity, however, brings strict limitations: soft actuators are often restricted to unimodal and slow deformation and deployable structures need a continuous supply of pressure to remain upright. Here, we embrace multistability as a paradigm to improve the functionality of inflatable systems. In the first part of this seminar, I exploit snapping instabilities in spherical shells to decouple the input signal from the output deformation in soft actuators–a functionality that can be utilized to design a soft machine capable of jumping. In the second part of the seminar, I draw inspiration from origami to design multistable and inflatable structures at the meter scale. Because these deployable systems are multistable, pressure can be disconnected when they are fully expanded, making them ideal candidates for applications such as emergency sheltering and deep space exploration. Together, these two projects highlight the potential of multistability in enabling the design and fabrication across various scales of multi-form, multi-functional, and multi-purpose materials and structures.

 

Biographical Sketch: Katia Bertoldi is the William and Ami Kuan Danoff Professor of Applied Mechanics at the Harvard John A.Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She earned master degrees from Trento University (Italy) in 2002 and from Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) in 2003, majoring in Structural Engineering Mechanics. Upon earning a Ph.D. degree in Mechanics of Materials and Structures from Trento University, in 2006, Katia joined as a PostDoc the group of Mary Boyce at MIT.  In 2008 she moved to the University of Twente (the Netherlands) where she was an Assistant Professor in the faculty of Engineering Technology. In January 2010 Katia joined the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University and established a group studying the mechanics of materials and structures. She is the recipient of the NSF Career Award 2011 and of the ASME’s 2014 Hughes Young Investigator Award. She serves as Editor for the journals Extreme Mechanics Letters and New Journal of Physics. She published over 150 peer-reviewed papers and several patents. For a complete list of publication and research information: https://bertoldi.seas.harvard.edu/. Dr Bertoldi’s research contributes to the design of materials with a carefully designed meso-structure that leads to novel effective behavior at the macroscale. She investigates both mechanical and acoustic properties of such structured materials, with a particular focus on harnessing instabilities and strong geometric non-linearities to generate new modes of functionality. Since the properties of the designed architected materials are primarily governed by the geometry of the structure (as opposed to constitutive ingredients at the material level), the principles she discovers are universal and can be applied to systems over a wide range of length scales.