Mechanical Engineering

  • Vanderbilt University

    Racing the eclipse, backup balloon sends striking video

    https://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/videos/31121969-221337.mp4 A second high-altitude weather balloon rose yesterday from a Vanderbilt garage rooftop to the edge of space to live-stream video of the first total solar eclipse in the United States since 1979. Eclipse team readies the second balloon. (Vanderbilt University/Steve Green) After losing the first balloon to high… Read More

    Aug. 22, 2017

  • Vanderbilt University

    Engineering professor builds his own super suit to reduce back stress

    TV infomercials offer a world of potential solutions for back pain, but most of them have at least one of three problems — they’re unproven, unworkable or just plain unattractive. A team of Vanderbilt University engineers is changing that with a design that combines the science of biomechanics and advances… Read More

    Aug. 1, 2017

  • Vanderbilt University

    Love Circle energy park to reach 5 years of continuous operation

    Students from the Whites Creek High School’s Academy of Alternative Energy, Sustainability and Logistics on a recent field trip to the Love Circle energy park. On Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, the renewable energy pilot facility atop Nashville’s Love Circle will complete five… Read More

    Jul. 27, 2017

  • Vanderbilt University

    Engineer’s ultrathin device harvests electricity from human motion

    Imagine slipping into a jacket, shirt or skirt that powers your cell phone, fitness tracker and other personal electronic devices as you walk, wave and even when you are sitting down. A new, ultrathin energy harvesting system developed at Vanderbilt University’s Nanomaterials and Energy Devices… Read More

    Jul. 21, 2017

  • Vanderbilt University

    Engineering faculty lead 3 new TIPs projects that tackle big challenges

    Build and use microscope systems that do not exist commercially to unlock deeper insights in biomedicine. Design and develop a space-based platform to study Earth’s evolving ecology from an elevated vantage point. Create a research hub for development and testing of durable, sustainable infrastructure materials. All big ideas with widespread… Read More

    Jul. 20, 2017

  • Vanderbilt University

    Advanced material analysis focus of ME grad student’s 2 weeks at national labs

    A mechanical engineering Ph.D. student will spend two weeks using some the most advanced X-ray and neutron equipment in the world and learning the techniques from top experts. Marm Dixit was among 60 graduate students selected for the 2017 National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering. As a part… Read More

    Jul. 18, 2017

  • bike rack project

    Mechanical engineering students devise locking system for Nashville public art

    When the Nashville Public Art Program commissioned a series of artistic bicycle racks, city officials did not expect vandals to remove one and stick it up in a tree. Outright theft was another problem. Maintenance presented still others. When a rack needs attention, workers have had to break up concrete… Read More

    Jul. 6, 2017

  • Vanderbilt University

    Emeritus professor integral to early success of materials science program dies

    William Frances Flanagan, who taught at Vanderbilt University for more than 30 years and was renowned for his research on the causes of stress corrosion cracking in alloys and metals, died June 15 in Maryland. He was 90. Bill Flanagan (Walden S. Fabry/1975) “Bill” Flanagan was recruited from General… Read More

    Jun. 29, 2017

  • Johnny Hall Dunlap

    Retired ME professor, sailing coach remembered for patience and passion for how things worked

    Johnny Hall Dunlap, a Vanderbilt University alumnus and professor emeritus of mechanical engineering known for his devotion to students, died June 17 in Nashville. He was 85. Dunlap earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Vanderbilt in 1953, graduating magna cum laude. He was offered a teaching position in 1955… Read More

    Jun. 28, 2017

  • Vanderbilt University

    Tiny circuit boards stay operational in warm water, dissolve when cooled

    Building transient electronics is usually about doing something to make them stop working: blast them with light, soak them with acid, dunk them in water. Professor Leon Bellan’s idea is to dissolve them with neglect: Stop applying heat, and they come apart. Using silver nanowires embedded in a polymer that… Read More

    Jun. 26, 2017