Category: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Thomas Angelini, Ph.D., associate professor in MAE, and Senthilkumar Duraivel, a graduate from MSE working out of Angelini’s Soft Matter Lab, have collaborated on an approach to 3D print soft silicone structures like miniscule vascular bodies by turning the conventional process on its head.

With the goal of creating a resilient supply chain for a sustained presence in space, researchers at the University of Florida (UF) are bioengineering microbes for experimentation on the International Space Station (ISS) they hope will reliably produce biopolymers, nutraceuticals, and antibiotics in variable gravity conditions.

Erin Jackson (B.S. MAE ’15), a U.S. Olympic gold medalist speedskater, Florida native and University of Florida engineering alumna, will share her story: She will give the commencement address at UF’s all-university spring graduation ceremony May 5.

The University of Florida will lead a $25 million, 16-university team of 31 scientists and engineers in the development of new techniques and the training of future specialists in nuclear forensics, which identifies and tracks nuclear materials to support global safety.​​ 

The University of Florida chapter of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, “Florida Alpha,” was recognized as the R.C. Matthews Outstanding Chapter, an award which goes to the chapter determined to be the best out of over 250. Florida Alpha won the award because of its Gatortrax outreach program which educates young children about engineering.

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, 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.

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.

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 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.