In one of the most intensive uses yet of the University of Florida’s HiPerGator supercomputer, UF engineers have faithfully reproduced the turbulence and complexity of hot air rising along a wall — a previously impossible simulation with applications in home fire safety and heating and cooling. Thanks to dedicated use of 90% of the HiPerGator’s AI cluster over several days, the research team led by UF engineering professor Sivaramakrishnan “Bala” Balachandar was able to track turbulent eddies of air twisting and swirling on the sub-millimeter level.
Gator Motorsports Designs Race Car, Places Third at Annual Formula SAE Michigan Event
Gator Motorsports, the University of Florida’s Formula SAE team, raced to the podium for the first time in seven years at the annual Formula SAE Michigan, held May 18-21 in Brooklyn, Michigan. Gator Motorsports competed against more than 90 teams and placed third overall in the international competition where students design, manufacture, assemble, test and race a small Formula 1-style race car.
32 Faculty Awarded Term Professorships
The University Term Professorship was established in 2016 and is presented to 250 eligible faculty members annually. Selection of the professorships is based on an assessment of academic accomplishment by either a faculty advisory committee and/or the department chair and approved by the dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.
The Duke of Hazard: Bill Lear, MAE Associate Professor Emeritus
An award-winning inventor of novel fuel systems and associate fellow of AIAA, Bill Lear, Ph.D., taught for more than three decades in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), where he was deeply involved as a student mentor and faculty advisor. Since becoming associate professor emeritus and splitting his time between Gainesville and San Rafael, California, Lear has only increased his productivity. Still researching part time for UF, he is developing noise-suppression technology for NASA’s Urban Air Mobility program and is a driving force behind MAE’s outreach to engineering alumni around the globe.
Gary Miller Honored as UF Distinguished Alumnus
Gary J. Miller, Ph.D., (BSME ’70/Ph.D. ’77) was honored at the fall 2021 commencement ceremony with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Distinguished alumnus awards are presented to an alumna or an alumnus of the university who has excelled in their chosen field and have performed outstanding service for the university. Dr. Miller is co-founder and Executive Vice President for Research and Development (Emeritus) of Exactech, Inc., Gainesville, Florida. Exactech was incorporated in 1985 and develops, manufactures and distributes orthopaedic implants.
Clinicians may now be able to tell COVID-19 from seasonal flu with fast turnaround thanks to UF research
Led by Dr. Z. Hugh Fan, Ph.D., professor at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Dr. John Lednicky, Research Professor at the College of Public Health and Health Professions’ Department of Environmental and Global Health, an interdisciplinary team at the University of Florida has developed a game-changing diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2 that is fast, reliable, low-cost and capable of differentiating between COVID-19 and influenza.
Take Off in a Flying Car With UF Engineers and Alumni
The journey from a dream to a new reality
Duke Energy Foundation Awards $734,000 in Grants to Support Workforce Development in Florida
Duke Energy is investing $100,000 in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering to create the Energy Sustainability, Technology and Resiliency Testing Hub and Certificate Program. The department plans to use the grant to provide scholarship opportunities for students who are earning a Sustainable and Resilient Energy Engineering Certificate.
A River Runs Under It
Subcritical turbidity currents transport large amounts of carbon, nutrients and fresh water through oceans and play an important role in global geochemical cycling and seafloor ecosystems. These currents travel for hundreds to thousands of kilometers under the ocean. How these sediment-laden currents can travel such great distances without mixing with the ocean waters above is an important question that has been answered by S. “Bala” Balachandar, Ph.D., William F. Powers Professor and Distinguished Professor in MAE, and Jorge Salinas, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research associate in MAE.
UF’s Gatr2 Vex Robotics Team Wins The Texas VexU Qualifier
Each year, 300 university-level teams from more than 50 countries compete in qualifiers as they head towards the Vex Robotics World Championships. Cameron Soviero, Captain of the Gator VEX Robotics team, has reported in on the UF team’s recent win that puts them in a top spot. “This past weekend, with the help of numerous UF faculty and students, the …