Volgenau School of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering

Fairfax Police land helicopter on campus to explain the rotorcraft’s mechanics to engineering students

Martha Bushong — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 12:35:32 +0000

Fairfax Police land helicopter on campus to explain the rotorcraft’s mechanics to engineering students Martha Bushong Mon, 03/08/2021 - 07:35

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aeronautics

In This Story

Gregory Washington

Kenneth Ball

Leigh McCue

Mechanical engineering students get a close-up look at the Bell 429 helicopter.

Students studying aeronautics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering got an up-close look at how a helicopter works when the Fairfax Police landed one on campus recently and explained its functionality.

Mason Engineering’s second-semester senior aeronautics class (ME 499) focuses on rotary-wing flight vehicle performance, stability/control, and unmanned aircraft systems.

To bring some of the ideas of the class to life, adjunct professor Robert Gallo asked Captain Michael Shamblin, Helicopter Division Commander of the Fairfax County Police Department, to provide a practical demonstration of vertical lift with their Bell 429 helicopter.

The helicopter landed on the lawn outside Merten Hall one afternoon in late February, and the police flight crew demonstrated how the cyclic and collective flight systems affect motion and control of the rotor blades.

Among those attending the class with the aeronautics students were: Mason president Gregory Washington, Provost and Executive Vice President Mark Ginsberg, Volgenau School of Engineering Dean Ken Ball, and Mechanical Engineering Department Chair Leigh McCue.

“YouTube videos and PowerPoints only go so far in explaining the complexities of vertical lift,” Gallo says, “so having the Fairfax Police here helped our students understand how the helicopter rotor generates lift and allows it to fly in all directions.”

Mechanical engineering senior Mason Chee agrees. “We were able to look inside at the controls that they use to pilot a helicopter, and we learned about some of the effects the helicopter encounters during its flight. You can read about the theories and watch videos about them, but nothing comes as close as seeing it live.”

Vanessa Barth, a mechanical engineering senior, adds, “They were teaching us about the mechanical components and systems that control a helicopter. It was all information we talked about in class, but to see it in person was helpful.”

Gallo says the Fairfax Police were highly engaging and did an outstanding job answering questions, not only from our students but also from the faculty and staff in attendance.

New research on artificial microswimmers uncovers a possible solution for delivering targeted cancer treatments

Martha Bushong — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 13:32:56 +0000

New research on artificial microswimmers uncovers a possible solution for delivering targeted cancer treatments Martha Bushong Fri, 02/26/2021 - 08:32

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Volgenau School of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering

Healthcare Technology

In This Story

Jeffrey Moran

A Mason Engineering researcher has discovered that artificial microswimmers accumulate where their speed is minimized, an idea that could have implications for improving the efficacy of targeted cancer therapy.

Jeff Moran, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Volgenau School of Engineering, and colleagues from the University of Washington in Seattle studied self-propelled half-platinum/half-gold rods that “swim” in water using hydrogen peroxide as a fuel. The more peroxide there is, the faster the swimming; without peroxide in pure water, the rods don’t swim.

In this work, they set out to understand what happens when these artificial microswimmers are placed in a fluid reservoir containing a gradient of hydrogen peroxide––lots of peroxide on one side, not much on the other side.

They found that, predictably, the microswimmers swam faster in regions with high peroxide concentration, says Moran, whose research was published in the new issue of Scientific Reports.

As others had observed, the direction of swimming varied randomly in time as the swimmers explored their surroundings. In contrast, in the low-concentration regions, the rods slowed down and accumulated in these regions over the course of a few minutes.

The results suggest a simple strategy to make microswimmers passively accumulate in specific regions, an idea that might have useful, practical applications, he says.

Swimming at the microscopic scale is a ubiquitous phenomenon in biology, Moran says. “Lots of cells and microorganisms, such as bacteria, can autonomously swim toward higher or lower concentrations of chemicals that benefit or harm the cell, respectively.”

This behavior is called chemotaxis, and it’s both common and important, he says. “For example, your immune cells use chemotaxis to detect and swim toward sites of injury, so they can initiate tissue repair.”

Moran and colleagues, like others in the field, have long been curious whether artificial microswimmers can mimic cells by performing chemotaxis, continuously swimming toward higher chemical concentrations. Some had claimed that the platinum/gold rods, in particular, could swim autonomously toward peroxide-rich regions.

“We were skeptical of these claims since the rods aren’t alive, and therefore they don’t have the sensing and response capabilities that are necessary for cells to execute this behavior,” he says.

“Instead, we found the opposite: the rods built up in the lower concentration regions. This is the opposite of what one would expect from chemotaxis,” Moran says.

The researchers conducted computer simulations that predicted this and validated them with experiments, he says.

“We propose a simple explanation for this behavior: Wherever they are, the rods move in randomly varying directions, exploring their surroundings. When they get to a low-fuel region, they can’t explore as vigorously. In a sense, they get trapped in their comfort zones,” Moran says.

“Conversely, in the high-peroxide regions, they move at higher speeds and, because their direction is constantly changing, escape from these regions more often. Over time, the net result is that rods accumulate in low-concentration regions,” he says. “They don’t have any intelligence. They end up where their mobility is the lowest.”

Moran says this research is promising from a technical standpoint because it suggests a new strategy to make chemicals accumulate in a highly acidic area.

“Due to their abnormal metabolic processes, cancer cells cause their immediate surroundings to become acidic. These are the cells that need the most drugs because the acidic environment is known to promote metastasis and confer resistance to drugs. Thus, the cells in these regions are a major target of many cancer therapies.”

Moran and colleagues are now designing microswimmers that move slowly in acidic regions and fast in neutral or basic regions. Through the mechanism they discovered here, they hypothesize that acid-dependent swimmers will accumulate and release their cargo preferentially where their speeds are minimized, namely the most acidic and hypoxic regions of the tumor, where the most problematic cells reside.

There is much more research to be conducted, but “these rods may have the ability to deliver chemotherapy drugs to the cancer cells that need them the most,” Moran says.

“To be clear, our study doesn’t prove that chemotaxis is impossible in artificial microswimmers, period; just that these particular microswimmers don’t undergo chemotaxis.

“Instead, we’ve identified an elegantly simple method of causing unguided microswimmers to accumulate and deliver drugs to the most problematic cancer cells, which could have implications for the treatment of many cancers, as well as other diseases like fibrosis. We’re excited to see where this goes.”

First-ever Mason satellite begins its mission

Martha Bushong — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 15:09:50 +0000

First-ever Mason satellite begins its mission Martha Bushong Wed, 02/10/2021 - 10:09

Topics

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Volgenau School of Engineering

Volgenau School of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering

Signals and Communication

In This Story

Peter Pachowicz

Join the Launch Party

George Mason University’s first satellite "ASTERIA," part of Mason Engineering’s ThinSat program, successfully passed environmental testing at the Northrop Grumman facility on Wallops Island and was integrated into a deployer. ASTERIA is now ready for launch.

The satellite will be launched on Saturday, February 20 at 12:36 p.m. from NASA’s facility on Wallops Island. Hitching a ride on the Northrop Grumman Antares rocket that is on its way to the International Space Station, the ThinSats will be released from the second stage at around 200 miles altitude. For approximately six days, the ThinSats will orbit Earth before they burn in the atmosphere.

“We have two experiments aboard a single ThinSat as part of mission NG-15,” says Piotr Pachowicz, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “The first experiment will compare two methods for shielding batteries against freezing temperatures in space. The second experiment will compare the efficiency of two power architectures when influenced by satellite spin.”

ASTERIA was a senior design project involving 14 undergraduate students from the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Systems Engineering.

Computer engineering student Jay Deorukhkar worked on several issues that had to be resolved or modified, as well as on system testing. “It was a challenge to ensure all experiments ran correctly and the data was accurate. However, the experience was rewarding,” says Deorukhkar.

Pachowicz has other aspirations for future engineering students. “The long-term goal is to engage senior design students in designing their own satellite and their own path to space,” he says.

The ThinSats will travel aboard an Antares rocket like this when they lift-off on February 20.

The NG-15 ThinSat Virtual Launch Party, organized by Virginia Space, will be held on February 20 at 11 a.m. The virtual event will include presentations from program representatives, a live stream of the launch, and space data dashboard live data monitoring after deployment of ThinSats.

Mason Engineering students ready to return safely

Nanci Hellmich — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 20:18:53 +0000

Mason Engineering students ready to return safely Nanci Hellmich Wed, 08/19/2020 - 16:18

Learn About the COVID Health Check

Find Out How You Can Do Your Part

Senior Dhawal Bhanderi is looking forward to returning to campus to work at the Vessel Dynamics Laboratory where he's doing a project that involves developing robots. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services.

Bioengineering senior Ruqaia Al-Kohlany misses seeing her professors and classmates. She's confident she knows most of the safe-return to campus policies. Wearing a mask will not be a hardship for her, but distancing from other students might be a bit tough.

College is a great place to study, make friends, and grow, several Mason Engineering students say, and they’re eager to return to in-person classes.

They’ll follow the Safe Return to Campus Plan, wear masks and maintain distance to protect their health, as well as their families, friends, and others. They hope other students will do the same.

“I miss the general atmosphere of university life—the day-to-day activities, small details in my surroundings, and the events,” says Tyler Hawley, a mechanical engineering major with a systems engineering minor. “A return to campus will be a return to a degree of normalcy.”

Hawley says he’s aware of Mason’s safe-return policies, including the daily online health check-in. “It will not be a hardship for me to wear a mask as I have worn one plenty of times so far. As the summer cools off into fall, the mask sweating will be less of an issue too,” he says. “Regardless, it will be an odd sight to see on the campus and in classes.”

Bioengineering senior Ruqaia Al-Kohlany is also eager to get back. “I miss my professors and classmates. I miss the gym, and the fun events my clubs would set up. I look forward to returning to the library. It is a perfect studying environment.”

She’s going to be cautious when she’s out and about. “I am confident that I know most of the Safe Return to Campus policies. Wearing a mask will not be a hardship for me, but distancing from other students might be a bit tough.”

She worries that some students won't take the pandemic seriously and won’t follow safety protocols. “The best thing we can do is ensure that all students are aware of the safety protocols."

For senior Dhawal Bhanderi, one of the best parts of returning to campus is getting back into the labs. He works in the Vessel Dynamics Laboratory on a project that involves developing robots.

“At the lab, there are two researchers including myself. I don’t see the other student very often. It’s going to be an adjustment seeing friends while being distant, but it will be fun to catch up with them.”

For many students such as Anna Close, a senior in civil engineering, the best part of returning to campus is for the camaraderie. "I’m looking forward to seeing people I know at a lecture or in a hallway. I want to have chats with friends, even if I'm wearing a mask and sitting outside six feet away from them.”

Safety is a concern, but she is going to be smart about following the guidelines. “I only have one in-person class, and it's a small class, so we will be able to spread out during the lecture.

Senior Paul Cipparone plans to adhere to the Safe Return to Campus Plan, not only for his own health but for the health of his parents, with whom he lives.

Senior Sidney Boakye will do his part to protect his health and that of others. He believes that all the departments, societies, facilities, and communities on campus will act in the best health interest of the students they serve.

Close enjoys both online and in-person classes. “I feel that for online classes I have more control over the pace and have more freedom than I did with in-person classes. However, I miss having that social connection that in-person classes provided.”

The students know that it’s key to follow the safety policies to prevent the spread of the infectious disease.

Senior Paul Cipparone, who is taking one class on campus, plans to adhere to the Safe Return to Campus Plan, not only for his own health but for the health of his parents, with whom he lives.

“It will not be a hardship for me to wear a mask, as I currently work at a job which requires us to wear masks, so I'm quite used to it,” he says. “I am looking forward to seeing my friends. I have missed getting food with them, working on projects, and yes, even late-night homework sessions.”

Sidney Boakye, a mechanical engineering senior, says he can’t wait to get back to a regular schedule and “somewhat normal learning environment. I've mainly missed all of the different people I meet on campus.”

He will do his part to protect his health and that of others. “I believe that all the departments, societies, facilities, and communities on campus will act in the best health interest of the students they serve,” he says.

Oscar Barton selected to lead Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State

Martha Bushong — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 18:08:15 +0000

Oscar Barton selected to lead Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State Martha Bushong Wed, 06/24/2020 - 14:08

Oscar Barton Jr. is chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Courtesy photo.

Oscar Barton, Jr., chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been appointed to lead the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State University as its next dean. His appointment will be effective on August 17.

“We will surely miss Oscar’s leadership at Mason,” says Dean Ken Ball. “But at the same time, we are proud that he has been chosen to lead Morgan State’s School of Engineering and know that he will help advance Morgan’s strategic vision and the success of its students, faculty, and staff.”

Barton joined Mason’s faculty in fall 2014, after 22 years as a faculty member and department chair at the U.S. Naval Academy.

He made many notable contributions to the Volgenau School of Engineering and Mason. He wrote the proposal to the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV) to establish the bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Mason and steered it successfully through the approval process.

Additionally, he wrote the SCHEV proposal and garnered approval to establish the new Department of Mechanical Engineering. He sought industry support for the department by establishing the Mechanical Engineering Advisory Board and raised funds from industry to establish new mechanical engineering teaching laboratories.

Barton’s vision for expanding access to engineering education included efforts to propose and guide the Mason-NOVA Compact to facilitate transfer student success for NOVA students enrolling in mechanical engineering at Mason. This compact was the pre-cursor to Mason’s broader and successful ADVANCE program.

He also led the hiring process for almost all of the department’s current faculty and staff. Since its modest beginnings in 2014, enrollment in mechanical engineering has grown to nearly 400 students. Barton’s contributions to Mason and VSE were substantial and his imprint will be lasting.

As the founding chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at George Mason University, Barton provided exceptional leadership.

“I’ve grown and developed so much as a faculty member working with Oscar (Dr. Barton/Dean Barton) over the last six years,” says Associate Professor Colin Reagle. “He’s had a clear vision for our department since day zero that has guided us onto our current trajectory. We wish him the best of luck in his new role.”

Barton’s leadership, however, has not been limited to VSE and Mason. He stepped up to hold national office in several professional and educational associations. He provided substantial leadership to the profession as Chair of the ASME Department Chairs Executive Committee, Chair of the ASME Committee on Engineering Education, Division Chair of ASEE Military and Veterans Constituent Committee, and Commissioner and Executive Committee member of the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, Inc.

“On a personal note, Oscar is a tremendous friend and I look forward to continuing working with him as a fellow dean and new member of the Engineering Deans Council,” says Ball. “I also hope that we can find ways to engage with Morgan State University and to establish mutually beneficial partnerships in the coming years.”

Read the announcement from Morgan State at https://news.morgan.edu/new-soe-dean/.

Mason and the U.S. Navy partner to promote STEM activities

Melanie Balog — Fri, 18 Jan 2019 10:00:46 +0000

Mason and the U.S. Navy partner to promote STEM activities Melanie Balog Fri, 01/18/2019 - 05:00

Students were asked to devise a fast way to detect erosion on the polymer metals used to make the blades of U.S. Navy helicopters. Getty Images photo.

Two teams of George Mason University seniors majoring in mechanical engineering are spending this semester applying what they’ve learned to a U.S. Navy-sponsored senior capstone project with real-world applications.

That’s just what Oscar Barton Jr., chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in Mason's Volgenau School of Engineering, had in mind with the $265,000 grant he received from the U.S. Department of the Navy. The partnership pairs Mason and the U.S. Navy through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach activities designed to expose Mason students and faculty to a wide range of naval technical problems, while also aiding the U.S. Navy in its outreach to young people.

“In just one short semester, [the seniors] will be practicing engineers,” Barton said. “They need to experience what it takes to go from concept to reality to application.”

Under the terms of the grant, the U.S. Navy has sponsored two senior capstone projects, each lead by teams of five students, all of whom are under the supervision of Robert Gallo, the director of senior projects and professor of practice within the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

“We wanted to challenge our students to leverage their engineering experiences in pursuit of solutions to real-world problems presented by the Navy,” Gallo said.

In the fall semester, the two student teams were requested to devise a rapid way to detect erosion on the polymer metals used to make the blades of U.S. Navy helicopters serving in severe weather environments, such as the desert or around salt water.

Helicopter wings see erosion in ship-to-shore transitions, said Kerem Dokuzcan, one of the student team leaders. As helicopters get closer to water or sand, they pick up those materials, causing erosion on the helicopter wings that would be problematic if left unchecked. The wings would have to be serviced or changed less frequently if materials or protective coatings could be used to lower the erosion rate.

It’s a problem that has plagued U.S. Navy warfighters for years, but Mason students have the opportunity to help find a solution that could have a lasting impact.

“The objective of our project is to create an apparatus that can provide a relative ranking of a material’s erosion rate,” Dokuzcan said. “Our apparatus is meant to give the U.S Navy a cheap and quick ranking of a material’s [or] protective coating’s erosion rates, as current tests are neither of those.”

Along the way, the Mason students will learn the necessity of working together while adhering to real-world deadlines and strict technical and presentation specifications. Both teams will present their completed capstone projects on May 2.

“Working with the U.S Navy is a great honor, and the fact that it could possibly save American lives is extremely motivational,” Dokuzcan said. “My team and I have been working diligently to not only meet requirements given to us by the Office of Naval Research, but to surpass expectations in order to give future students the same opportunity.”

Barton, who spent 22 years teaching at the U.S. Naval Academy prior to coming to Mason, will oversee promoting outreach for both students and teachers. This includes developing the George Mason University U.S. Navy Ambassadors Program, in which Mason undergraduates will visit a number of local, low-income middle and high schools to promote participation in Navy STEM-related programs through face-to-face forums. On Feb. 28, the department is partnering with Engineers On Deck, a nonprofit STEM education organization, to offer a workshop for teachers in Prince William County, Virginia, to enhance readiness and awareness of Navy STEM programs. They’ll also be making their case at the annual Engineering Youth Conference held prior to the start of Engineers Week each February.

“I want to be able to provide those teachers with the resources and experiences necessary to be a conduit for a student to learn a STEM activity,” Barton said. “This will broaden the opportunity for a more diverse group of students.”

'Artificial blubber' will allow divers extended time in frigid waters

Melanie Balog — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 10:00:32 +0000

'Artificial blubber' will allow divers extended time in frigid waters Melanie Balog Thu, 01/10/2019 - 05:00

Jeff Moran, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Volgenau School of Engineering, is working to make wetsuits more effective and keep divers warmer longer. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Strategic Communications.

A George Mason University researcher is part of a team of scientists who have devised a wetsuit treatment that greatly increases the amount of time divers can safely spend in bitterly cold water.

Jeff Moran, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering within the Volgenau School of Engineering, and researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a plan to triple the survival time for swimmers in wetsuits in unforgiving environments, including Arctic waters. The team, which worked on the project in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy SEALs, published their findings in the June 2018 edition of the journal RSC Advances.

The development comes at a critical time as the U.S. military is seeking to expand its presence in the Arctic. Continued melting of the polar ice caps means the region will see increased shipping traffic, commercial fishing and efforts by various nations to tap the region’s many resources, including oil.

“Current wetsuits—current solutions that we have for diving in super-cold water and very cold conditions—are fundamentally limited,” Moran said. “Hypothermia becomes a serious risk after 20 to 30 minutes. We saw room for improvement.”

The wetsuit treatment will also have applications for swimmers, athletes, surfers and recreational divers.

Standard wetsuits are made of neoprene, a stretchy type of synthetic rubber that is filled with pockets of air that account for most of the material’s volume and half of the heat that escapes. When the wetsuit is placed inside a five-gallon pressure tank—no bigger than a beer keg—filled with a heavy, inert gas such as xenon or krypton for one to five days, the heavier gas replaces the air within the neoprene. The process creates an artificial blubber-type substance that greatly enhances the wetsuit’s thermal insulation properties.

“The fundamental idea of the project is to replace air with a better insulating gas,” said Moran, who worked closely on the project with Jacopo Buongiorno and Michael Strano, the MIT professors whose visit to the Defense Science Study Group inspired the project.

The breakthrough could have significant national security implications for U.S. military personnel operating in water colder than 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) by increasing survivability in those conditions from less than an hour to as long as three hours.

“The main impact of this materials technology is delaying the onset of hypothermia for the warfighter,” said Anton Cottrill, an MIT graduate student and coauthor of the journal article. “You can modify a current wetsuit using the process that we have developed to essentially double the time that a diver can spend in frigid, arctic waters before the onset of hypothermia.”

The innovation makes the treated wetsuit’s material a better insulator, but it also makes the suit easier to put on, move around in and take off than conventional suits because the treated versions are 40 percent thinner, said Moran, himself an amateur diver.

Oscar Barton, the chair of Mason’s Mechanical Engineering Department who taught at the U.S. Naval Academy for more than 20 years before coming to Mason, lauded the breakthrough for its potential contributions to the U.S. military.

“There’s always an effort to push the envelope for anything that involves man and machine,” Barton said. “In my mind, it’s taking what we do in the classroom, developing the technology and getting it to market.”

Moran and his team hope to soon complete a stable long-term version of the wetsuit and begin human trials. They’ve already applied for a patent to protect their work.

“The goal is to make diving in cold water a less miserable experience,” Moran said.

Volgenau School of Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering

Fairfax Police land helicopter on campus to explain the rotorcraft’s mechanics to engineering students

Topics

In This Story

New research on artificial microswimmers uncovers a possible solution for delivering targeted cancer treatments

Topics

In This Story

First-ever Mason satellite begins its mission

Topics

In This Story

Read More About the Project

Join the Launch Party

Mason Engineering students ready to return safely

Learn About the COVID Health Check

Find Out How You Can Do Your Part

Oscar Barton selected to lead Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State

Mason and the U.S. Navy partner to promote STEM activities

'Artificial blubber' will allow divers extended time in frigid waters