On May 8, 2012, Mechanical Engineering Professor Miles Greiner was awarded $745,000 from the US Department of Energy, Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) for the project entitled "Development and Experimental Benchmark of Simulations to Predict Used Nuclear Fuel Cladding Temperatures during Drying and Transfer Operations." All moisture must be removed form used nuclear fuel assemblies before they are sealed in canisters for on-site dry storage or off-site transport. If certain assembly components become too hot during drying, they may become brittle, which inhibits their ability to be transported or stored for long periods of time. This project will develop computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of the drying process that will accurately predict the assembly temperature. The new models will be used by engineers to design drying processes that maintain the fuel assemblies at acceptably low temperatures.

Professor Gordaninejad receives the Regents’ Researcher Award.  The Board of Regents established the Regents’ Researcher Award in 1992. This award is bestowed upon faculty members with a substantial record of accomplishments, including a significant amount of research and scholarly work with recognition, clear evidence of the national and/or international stature of the research, and in the case of grants and contracts, must have been competitive on a national or international level. The 2012 honoree is Dr. Faramarz Gordaninejad of the University of Nevada, Reno. [Read more..]

Dr. Miles Greiner, professor of Mechanical Engineering and as interim director of the Center for Renewable Energy, is leading the campus' multi-disciplinary effort to transfer the University's renewable energy know-how to the state, and the world. [Read more].

Congratulations to Professor Kwang Kim and his coauthors for receiving the best paper award from the 1st Asia Pacific Forum on Renewable Energy.  The award winning paper is entitled, “NANO-FIN” LIKE COATING FOR DROPWISE CONDENSATION: MODELING PERSPECTIVES, authored by Sangsoo Lee, Sunwoo Kim, Bong June Zhang, Hyung Kee Yoon, and Kwang J. Kim.

Mechanical Engineering proudly announces that Nobel Laureate Andrew Fire, Professor of Pathology and Genetics, Stanford University, will present an informal seminar on Biological Responses to Foreign Information Thursday, October 27, 2011, 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm Davidson Math and Science Center, Room 110.  [more info...]

Dr. Ron Gibson is pleased to announce the publication of the Third Edition of his book Principles of Composite Material Mechanics, by CRC Press in September 2011. This replaces the Second Edition of the book, which has been adopted by 29 universities, including UNR.

Congratulations to Drs. Yanyao Jiang (PI), Kam K. Leang, Kwang J. Kim, and Ron Gibson for receiving the National Science Foundation MRI grant ($248K) entitled, "Acquisition of High Performance Nano-Mechanical Tester for Micro/Nanomechanical Characterization of Materials".

Congratulations to Drs. Kam K. Leang (PI), Eric Wang, Jeff LaCombe, Kwang J. Kim, and Michael Robinson for receiving the $1.21M National Science Foundation GK-12 grant entitled, "The NSF GK-12 E-Fellowship Program: Toward Energy-Aware STEM Leaders for the 21st Century".  [Read more]

Professor Gordaninejad delivered a keynote speech at the 2011 Advanced Vehicles and Integration Technology (VTI) International Conference in Changchun, China, on "Advanced Suspension System for Land Vehicles." He was interviewed during the Conference by China's Ifeng News Networks on the research and development of automotive industry and related issues. [Click here to view the interview (16MB)]
 

Warm congratulations to Professor Henry Fu for receiving a new National Science Foundation award entitled, "EAGER: Theoretical exploration of chiral separation via microfluidic shear flows."  The work will use theoretical and computational methods to explore how geometry affects the efficiency of chiral separation in shear flows for pharmaceutical, biological, chemical, and agricultural applications.
 

Professor and Chair Kwang J. Kim was recently named UNR Foundation Professor in recognition of his outstanding research and teaching achievements. Prof. Kim is an internationally known leader in the research fields of active materials and energy systems. [read more...]

Welcome to the Department of Mechanical Engineering!

Palmer Engineering building, home of the Mechanical Engineering Dept.

The University has nine degree-granting schools and colleges, including the School of Medicine. Students can choose from more than 75 majors for an undergraduate degree, as well as from more than 70 graduate-degree programs. Our program is directed towards preparing motivated students to become professionally competent in one of several sub-disciplines of mechanical engineering, including solid mechanics, materials, biomedical, dynamics/controls, and the fluid/thermal sciences.

Joe Crowley Student Union and Mathewson-IGT Knowledge center.

Student Success

Chris Glover, ME senior, wins the NSF EPSCoR Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Scholarship ($3900), where the research is directed and advised by Prof. Chanwoo Park. The main research objective is to develop high-temperature thermoelectric (TE) power generators that will harvest waste heat, such as exhaust gases of diesel engines. The TE semiconductor materials (e.g., SiGe) operate on the Seebeck/Peltier effects, a behavior in which a temperature gradient is established within a pair of the TE materials results in an electrical voltage causing electron flow (electrical current). The power generated by the TE power generator is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the heat source and sink.

Christopher (CJ) Dudley, ME senior, and Prof. Leang are featured in UNR Nevada Bound promotional video [see more..]

Mechanical engineering student Toby Marble writes updates from the field during his “alternative spring break” where he, six other Nevada students and other Friends of Nevada Wilderness volunteers are doing maintenance and restoration at the Desert National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada. [read more...]

ME451 Systems Design Projects: one-of-a-kind products designed by mechanical engineering students. Projects include a solar-powered music in your motorcycle helmet, a radio frequency-controlled food dish for Fido or a high-performance ski built with nano-materials in the core and solar panels on the tops to power your electronic devices while skiing [read more...]

Visit UNR's Human Powered Vehicle Team website for up-to-date information on events and how to support the team.
 

Faculty and students launch experiments to space on NASA rocket The UNR team sponsored by the Nevada Space Grant Consortium launches rocket into space at NASA. More...

 

Drs. Leang and Suhr's new Energy Efficient Systems and Dynamic Structures mechanical engineering curriculum funded by the National Science Foundation was featured on Channel 2 news and UNR news.