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Mechanical, Materials, and
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Vectors Volume 8
The images on the cover show IIT Professor Kevin Cassel’s computational fluid dynamics simulations. The top
figure shows an unsteady separating flow that occurs, for example, on the wing of an aircraft during rapid
flight maneuvers. The bottom figure illustrates the evolution of a gravity current that results from the propagation
of hot smoke and gases in a fire or when cold seawater flows beneath warmer water on the ocean’s floor.

ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
MMAE VECTORS MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2004
MECHANICAL, MATERIALS, AND
AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT

The images on the inside front and back cover show a computational
fluid dynamics simulation performed by Professor Kevin Cassel.
The simulation tracks the fluid flow and heat transfer in a liquid
hydrogen absorber for muon beam cooling, which will be used
in a next-generation high-energy particle physics facility currently
under development with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

message
from the chair
Iam happy to report that despite restrictions on U.S. visas, the
Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department
welcomed more international students this fall than in previous years.
We also welcomed 72 new freshman this year; a continuous increase
since 2002 (see page 18).
Our faculty members continue to actively conduct research, win
research awards, and publish technical papers in highly reputable
journals—all while motivating students with inspired teaching. Xiaoping Qian, an
expert in computer-aided design and manufacturing, joined our faculty this year, and
we will be hiring a specialist in materials and manufacturing next year.
We have changed the name of the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering program
to Materials Science and Engineering, reflecting trends in the field. MMAE is taking
the lead in a manufacturing initiative that will involve universities across the United
States (see page 19).
We are creating an online program which will enable international students to
earn a master’s of engineering degree—with a specialty in manufacturing—from their
home countries. Of course, domestic students will also be able to take advantage of this
online program.
The next few years will be important ones for the department. To ensure that our laboratories
remain state-of-the-art, we need to raise $300,000 per laboratory as capital
investment and $1 million as endowment. The capital investment will allow us to
purchase new equipment and renovate laboratory space. The endowment will provide
funds for yearly maintenance, upgrades, and support for dedicated teaching assistants.
There are opportunities for naming these laboratories after generous donors.
With your help, we will achieve our goals and continue to make our graduates among
the best educated in the world. Whether you are a former or current student or industry
professional, please do not hesitate to contact us (see page 24). Tell us about your
successes. We want to hear from you.
Jamal Yagoobi
yagoobi@iit.edu
312.567.3239

esearch
Professor Kevin Cassel
Professor Cassel’s research is focused on bringing the latest in analytical and
computational techniques to bear on the thermo-fluid sciences. His research, as
he describes it, involves “computational fluid dynamics in conjunction with
advanced analytical methods to address problems in unsteady aerodynamics
and cryogenic fluid flow and heat transfer.” His work in unsteady aerodynamics
has been funded by the Army Research Office, published in several professional
journals, and presented at the London Mathematical Society Workshop on New
Developments and Applications of Rapid Fluid Flows in Durham, United
Kingdom. Cassel says this research is “aimed at developing a better understanding
of the highly transitory events that occur when an airfoil or helicopter rotor
is pitched up rapidly.”
His research in cryogenic fluid flow and heat transfer—funded by the U.S.
Department of Energy, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and the
Illinois Consortium for Accelerator Research—concerns the design of a liquid
hydrogen absorber for muon beam cooling. In the summer of 2003, Cassel
was a Research Fellow at University College London.
Lecturer Dr. John Cesarone
Cesarone’s research focuses on manufacturing engineering, specifically
computer-integrated manufacturing technologies, simulation and functional
modeling methodologies, optimization using operations research techniques,
automation and robotics, and distance learning.
page 2

Professor Herek Clack
Professor Clack received a five-year Faculty Early Career Development
(CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) this year.
According to the NSF, CAREER awards recognize “teacher-scholars who
are most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century.” He was
also selected to serve on a National Research Council committee to assess the environmental,
economic, and health impacts of recent changes to the New Source
Review (NSR) program, a key element of the Clean Air Act. Chartered
by Congress and funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, the committee
will hear testimony from representatives of government agencies, industry, and
environmental advocacy groups. The committee’s final report, to be released
in 2006, is expected to be the definitive study on the impacts of changes to
the NSR program.
One of Clack’s research projects seeks to “identify anomalous transport phenomena
affecting the vaporization of fuel droplets during spray combustion at
reduced scales.” To do this, he and his research team will build a flow reactor
designed specifically to induce the anomalous droplet behavior. Planar laserinduced
fluorescence imaging
will provide images of the fuel
vapor concentration around
each droplet as it vaporizes.
Clack’s research projects will
involve teams of “Engineering
Collectives.” The collectives
consist of IIT graduate and
undergraduate students, along
with select local high school
juniors and seniors—who will
work on year-long, largely selfdirected
research projects of
Liquid nitrogen is used to cool infrared detectors that measure part per million concentrations of chemical species.
their choosing.
page 3

Professor Michael Gosz
If an aircraft has a crack on the skin of its fuselage—say, a small crack emanating
from a rivet hole—does the fuselage need to be repaired immediately or can
it wait? To answer that question, one must be able to predict whether the crack
will grow. To help predict the lifespan of a particular structural component,
Professor Gosz uses numerical techniques to determine what are called “stress
intensity factors.”
Stress intensity factors are a measure of how quickly the stress increases as one
gets very close to the tip of the crack. Knowledge of these parameters allows the
engineer to determine whether a crack of a particular length will grow under a
certain set of loading conditions. “Many structures with cracks still have a useful
life,” says Gosz, who is the MMAE Associate Chair for Graduate Programs.
Gosz and researchers at the University of Illinois’ Chicago and Argonne National
Laboratory will be working on a grant funded by the National Institutes of
Health to design improved dental materials. Gosz will use numerical techniques
to study how the distribution and size of filler particles affect the performance
and failure of these materials. Gosz is writing a book, Learning the Finite
Element Method: Applications in Solids, Structures and Heat Transfer, to be
published in 2006.
Professor John Kallend
Professor Kallend serves as the MMAE Associate Chair for Undergraduate
Programs, Associate Dean for Accreditation and Assessment, as well as
University Head Marshal. His research focuses on the structure and properties
of polycrystalline materials. Kallend has received several teaching awards.
Professor Kevin Meade
For his work in biomechanics, elasticity, and fracture mechanics, Professor Meade
has received several awards. He spent five months of his recent sabbatical leave
in Bogota, Colombia working at Laboratorio Gilete. During his stay in Colombia,
Meade presented 22 invited talks at a number of institutions, including the
National University, Central Military Hospital, and Central Police Hospital.
Professor Meade also helped work to establish the first school of orthotics and
prosthetics in Colombia. The school will open in January 2005.
page 4

Professor Sheldon Mostovoy
Professor Mostovoy performs research on the mechanical properties of materials,
especially fatigue and fracture. He evaluates fracture and fatigue testing and test
methods, analyzes service failures, and studies the relationship of fatigue and
fracture. At Argonne National Laboratory, Mostovoy is designing a 100-element,
lithium-lens system for focusing X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source.
Professor Hassan Nagib
Nagib, the John T. Rettaliata Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering, is a pioneer in the management, manipulation, and
control of turbulent and separated flows. His current activities—funded by the
U.S. Air Force, NASA, Boeing, and DARPA—include research aimed at reduced
fuel consumption of large aircraft and improved wind tunnels/flow facilities.
His research also involves, he says,
Members of Nagib’s group testing a Boeing active-flow enabled refueling-boom model in the NDF wind tunnel
“download alleviation on tilt-rotor
airplanes like the Osprey V22;
active-flow-empowered simple airfoil
flaps that can be made as good as, or
better than, more complex high-lift
flap systems for military and
commercial aircraft; and simpler
and lighter weight refueling booms
for a global military force.”
Nagib studies high Reynolds number turbulence and measured surface resistance
to such flows, ranging from transport aircraft to ducts. His research team
hopes to resolve issues that aircraft manufacturers face—issues that have
remained in dispute for many decades. A Fellow of the American Physical Society
and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Nagib has organized
a number of international meetings and workshops, including the Second
International Workshop on Wall-Bounded Turbulent Flows at the Center for
Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. Nagib’s work has been recognized by a
number of awards, including NASA’s Langley Achievement Award and the
ASME’s Knapp award, which recognizes “an outstanding original paper.”
page 5

Scanning electron microscope in use
Professor Sudhakar Nair
Professor Nair, a Fellow of the ASME, has always been interested in structural
mechanics. Nair seeks solutions for static and dynamic behavior of deformable
bodies using analytical as well as numerical methods. His recent research, he
says, involved the “elastic waves in anisotropic materials, force-deflection relations
for nano-composites with aluminum matrix and silicon carbide fibers, and
moving boundary programs of the Stefan type.” In a joint project with the
Argonne National Laboratory, Nair is involved in the study of silicon mirrors in
deflecting high-energy X-ray beams. Appropriate cooling of the anisotropic
mirror to reduce the heat-induced curvature is a challenge in this study. He is
also collaborating with Professor Gosz in designing an electro-magnetic cooling
chamber for muon beams at the Fermi National Laboratory. Nair is the Associate
Dean for Academic Affairs for IIT’s Graduate College. As such, he oversees the
progress of more than 2,500 IIT graduate students.
Professor Philip Nash
Professor Nash is director of IIT’s Thermal Processing Technology Center,
a resource for industry professionals who want to conduct research with state-ofthe-art
equipment, including modeling and simulation software. This year, the
Center welcomed four new industry members—Engineered Materials Solutions,
MAGMA, Penn Aluminum, and
International Titanium Powder—
and recently received funding
from the National Science
Foundation and Northrup
Grumman. The Center has nine
member companies. The Center
also welcomed two new Research
Assistant Professors Dajun Chen
and Zhiyong Hu. Professor Chen,
an expert in electron microscopy
and phase transformations,
directs the electron microscopy
laboratories. Professor Hu, an
expert in computational materials science, is responsible for software and
computer systems.
page 6

The Center added two major research projects over the last year: one involves the
development of silver alloy electrical contacts; the other is a study of bainite
transformation kinetics in carburized steel.
In the coming year, the
Center will continue its
work on alloy development
and materials
processing for Ag, Ni, Fe
and Ti alloys, and hopes
to add projects in Ti
powder metallurgy, cryogenic
processing, and
phase field modeling.
If you are interested
in exploring how the
Center can help your
company, please contact
Nash at nash@iit.edu or
visit the Center’s web
site: http://tptc.iit.edu.
Students working with the Gleeble machine
Professor Boris Pervan
Using satellite-based global positioning systems (GPS), Professor Pervan helps
airplane pilots figure out where they are, where they want to go, and how to get
there—in zero visibility conditions. Accuracy can be a matter of life and death.
Standard GPS, using a constellation of 24 satellites, provides accuracy within
about ten meters. Pervan and his colleagues use differential GPS to narrow the
margin of error to one meter. In fact, to land airplanes on aircraft carriers—
which are also moving—sub-meter accuracy is needed. Because there is no
opportunity for trial-and-error under these circumstances, Pervan and his
colleagues are developing advanced algorithms to reduce the possibility of error
to a one-in-one-billion chance.
page 7

He also uses GPS to control autonomous ground
vehicles. So far, he has achieved accuracy to within
five centimeters. Pervan supervises a team of
students who built what they call an “autonomous
lawnmower,” which cuts grass, but more importantly
actually is a prototype for a vehicle that
could be used to sweep a field for land mines.
“If you’re looking for land mines, you don’t want to
miss any,” he says. Because trees can get in the
way of satellite signals, to ensure the satellite
signal reaches a ground vehicle underneath tree
cover, he is developing a network of “robotic relay
mechanisms.”
GPS-guided robotic vehicle
Pervan won the M. Barry Carlton Award from the
IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society
for the paper, “Autonomous Fault Detection and
Removal Using GPS Carrier Phase,” and the
William E. Jackson Award from the Radio
Technical Committee on Aeronautics for “outstanding contribution to aviation.”
He is an associate editor for the quarterly journal Navigation.
Professor Xiaoping Qian
Professor Xiaoping Qian’s work focuses on computer-aided design and manufacturing.
To ensure manufactured parts meet design specifications, he has been
developing laser-scanning technologies to digitally acquire complex three-dimensional
shapes for quality inspection. His research also involves what is called
“reverse engineering”—taking a part that was not designed on a computer or
came from a third party, scanning it in, and coming up with the original design
in the computer. Another aspect of Qian’s research involves modeling threedimensional
parts of non-homogeneous materials. “If I want to make something
of complex shape or of multiple materials, I first model it with a computer,” he
says. “After I model it, I will be able to fabricate it using a new layered manufacturing
process.” Before coming to IIT this year, Qian was a research scientist at
General Electric’s Global Research Center in Niskayuna, N.Y. In 2004, he was
named a “New Innovator” in GE’s Global Research Inspection and
Manufacturing Technologies Lab.
page 8

Professor Ganesh Raman
Professor Raman’s research interests are high speed flows, flow control, and experimental
aeroacoustics. Under certain conditions, imperfectly expanded jet plumes
produce a discrete tone, referred to as “screech,” says Raman. “This discrete
component of jet noise,” he says, “occurs in addition to broadband shock noise and
jet mixing noise. The jet screech problem provides a unique setting for
researchers working in any of the following areas: instability wave dynamics in
supersonic flows, shock-instability wave interaction, modes of feedback in resonant
flow, and receptivity processes occurring in the vicinity of the nozzle exit.”
According to Raman, “the knowledge gained during the study of screech applies
to a variety of resonant flow situations, including jet impingement, cavity resonance,
and closed-loop active control. Jet plumes from aircraft exhaust can couple
unpredictably, resulting in sonic fatigue failure of aircraft structures.”
Raman’s research team at IIT recently
concluded a project funded by the U.S. Air
Force on the interaction of twin jets
of complex geometry. Results from this
study, Raman says, will be useful to nozzle
designers and engineers who work on
“active flow control systems to prevent
harmful resonant coupling.” Before coming
to IIT, he spent 14 years at NASA’s John
Glenn Research Center. He is the editor
of the International Journal of Aeroacoustics
and a Fellow of the ASME.
Twin supersonic jet coupling
Professor Dietmar Rempfer
Professor Rempfer’s research interests are primarily in fluid dynamics
and turbulence, dynamical systems theory, and numerical methods. He says
he is “attempting to achieve a more complete understanding of wall-generated
turbulence using analysis, computation, and experimentation.” Rempfer uses
supercomputers to create direct numerical simulations of several types
of “transitional flows.” The techniques used in these simulations include
finite-difference, finite-element, and spectral methods.
page 9

He is also interested in the construction and specific properties of “low-dimensional
models for the dynamics of complex flows,” he says. “These models are
constructed by Galerkin projections onto suitable function bases, like wavelet
bases, and Karhunen-Loeve eigenfunctions.” The behavior of such models
is then analyzed using tools from dynamical systems theory. In addition
to achieving a more complete understanding of wall-generated turbulence,
Rempfer hopes to construct better models for engineering calculations of
turbulent flows and to devise techniques and strategies for “active control
of turbulent boundary
layers.” He directs a new
research group that will,
he says, “investigate novel
methods for an optimal
solution of the direct and
inverse problems of biocontaminant
dispersion
in a metropolitan area.”
This area of research is supported by the federal government, which funds
research relevant to homeland security.
The figure shows the 3-D structures that develop during turbulence in pipe flow. The image was obtained from a numerical simulation
of the full, 3-D Navier-Stokes equations.
Professor Francisco Ruiz
To burn fuel, one must first atomize it into very fine drops. In an automobile
engine, this is achieved by injecting the fuel at high pressure through tiny holes.
The fuel breaks up within a few thousandths of a second. To discover how to burn
fuel in the fastest, most efficient way possible, Professor Ruiz studies the fundamental
mechanisms of atomization. “To this day, it’s not well understood why the
liquid breaks up into a spray instead of just squirting out,” says Ruiz. “And it’s
very difficult to measure.”
He is also studying what happens when different types of fuel are used. His
research involves the use of ethanol to fuel many types of vehicles—from automobiles
to ultralight airplanes. He founded the IIT Ultralight Flying Club, which
uses an ethanol-burning airplane. (Illinois is the biggest producer of ethanol in
the country.) Ruiz is building what is called a “regenerative engine,” one that he
says “harnesses energy normally dispersed through the exhaust system and puts
it back into the cycle.”
page 10

He has built two regenerative engine prototypes
and is working on a third. “It will
increase efficiency and reduce the amount of
exhaust pollutants as well,” he says. Ruiz
developed a curriculum to teach engineers
to be inventors. His curriculum was adopted
as part of IIT’s Jules F. Knapp Center for
Entrepreneurial Studies. Ruiz is part of
a research team investigating the enhancement
of infrared emission for heating and
drying of moist materials. His honors include
the Tanasawa Award, an award given to just
one or two people per year.
Professor Murat Vural
Infrared emission study for heating and drying of moist materials
“One of the key ways to understand different materials is to subject them
to different external stimuli and watch their responses,” says Professor Vural,
whose research interests center on the mechanics of materials—particularly
those pertaining to their dynamic behavior. In many engineering processes—
such as those in high-speed machining, ballistic penetration, impact, and crash
of vehicles—materials are subjected to extremely high deformation rates, which
are 1 to 100 million times higher than in typical laboratory experiments. As one
might guess, once the rate of loading (i.e., the stimulus) becomes too high, the
response of materials dramatically changes and gets more complicated. Although
challenging, understanding and mathematically modeling high-strain-rate
behavior and failure of materials are not only essential for the analysis
of these high rate deformation processes, but also help us develop new design
strategies. The goal is to use materials in the most efficient and reliable way for
specific applications. Vural’s research group employs specially designed equipment
like Hopkinson pressure bars and single-stage gas guns to generate
controlled dynamic loading conditions that typically last from 10 to 100 microseconds.
In this relatively small time frame, the material’s response is measured
using state-of-the-art, high-speed diagnostic tools such as resistive and piezoelectric
transducers, infrared optics and detectors, and high speed data acquisition
systems. Numerical modeling and material characterization are integral parts of
these experiments. Materials investigated in Vural’s studies cover a wide range
and include metals and alloys, fiber-reinforced composites, and cellular solids
such as metal foams.
page 11

Professor Candace Wark
Professor Wark, who has been on the faculty at IIT for 16 years, focuses her
research in the area of turbulence. When air or water flows along a vehicle’s
surface, the flow adjacent to the surface is usually turbulent. The objective of the
research is to understand the “physics” of the flow in an effort to optimize the
vehicle’s performance. Because we are not able to predict the flow around an
object, engineers are left to model the flow. Research concentrating on the
“physics” of the flow will help to build a better model. The more we understand
about the flow, the better the model will be. Wark is also part of a research team
investigating the dispersion of biocontaminants in a metropolitan area.
Students work with transonic axial cascade
Wark is the Associate Dean of the Armour College of Engineering, where she
is working on a major overhaul of the undergraduate and graduate engineering
curricula to give them a multidisciplinary approach. “This has come about
because so many students (and alumni) start in one engineering field, but end
up working in another,” she says. “A multidisciplinary education will help
students apply the fundamentals to a broader range of applications.”
Professor David Williams
Professor Williams, director of the Fluid Dynamics
Research Center, explores better ways to control and
measure the flow of liquids and gases in everything
from jet engines to natural gas into homes. One
practical application of controlling flow is to develop
more efficient aircraft engines. Williams’ research
with Honeywell and NASA’s John Glenn has shown
that “by introducing disturbances at the right point
and at the right frequency, you can prevent compressor
stall.” This, in turn, increases the engines’
performance and efficiency, and makes it possible for
engines to be shorter, lighter, and smaller. During
the past four years, he has worked closely with
Honeywell to develop “Smart Vanes” for improved
aircraft engine performance. With engineers from
Honeywell, Williams has also been creating highamplitude
pressure fluctuations in tubes and actuators, devices that put energy
into a flow for control purposes.
page 12

Two-phase flow distribution with EHD pumping
He continues to do work for the U.S. Air Force in measuring and controlling
the noise emanating from cavities—such as wheel wells and weapons bays—
in aircraft. Under typical flight conditions, the sound pressure level can hit 170
decibels, which can cause structural damage. In addition to his work in wind
tunnels at IIT, Williams conducts experiments at the U.S. Air Force Academy and
at Princeton University. “Our goal is to develop a feedback system to dampen the
large-amplitude tones,” he says. Williams’ work in flow metering focuses on
spirometers, which measure lung performance in asthma patients, and fluidic
oscillators, which can be used as natural gas meters for homes. Williams, who has
received a number of awards for his research, is an Associate Fellow of the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Professor Jamal Yagoobi
Professor Yagoobi’s research expertise is enhancement of heat transfer
and mass transport, transport phenomena in porous media, and innovative
impinging jets. Using electrohydrodynamic (EHD) mechanisms,
he is investigating augmentation of heat transfer and pumping of
liquid film during the phase change (liquid/vapor) in the presence and
absence of gravity in macro and micro scales.
Because non-mechanical transport devices are useful in space—due to the lack
of vibration and low maintenance requirements—most of Yagoobi’s work in this
area is supported by NASA. His research in porous media focuses on drying of
moist porous materials—such as pulp and paper—with an
emphasis on radiative methods such as infrared emitters.
Yagoobi and a colleague at Texas A&M University have developed
unique nozzles, including the “Radial Jet Reattachment”
nozzle, “Slot Jet Reattachment” nozzle, and “Radial Jet
Reattachment Combustion” nozzle. These nozzles allow for
superior heat transfer—with minimal flow exerted force—on
delicate materials to be dried, heated, or cooled. Yagoobi’s
research in all of the above areas has resulted in a number of
patents that have been licensed to various companies. An ASME Fellow, Yagoobi
has received a number of awards for his teaching and research, including the Pi
Tau Sigma/ASME Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award for outstanding achievements
in mechanical engineering within 10 to 20 years after graduation. This
year, he received the inaugural IEEE Electrostatic Processes Committee’s
Innovation and Creativity Paper Award for his work in EHD pumping of dielectric
fluids based on fluid molecules dissociation/recombination phenomenon. He is
currently on the advisory board of several international journals and conferences.
EHD pumping of micro liquid film during phase change
page 13

GPS Systems Steer
Vehicles that
Detect Land Mines
Many homeowners have wished that their lawnmower could
cut the grass on its own. Using global positioning system (GPS)
technology, graduate student Mathieu Joerger and
a team of students in IIT’s Navigation and Guidance
Lab have built one. They entered the vehicle, which
they’ve affectionately named “Leonard,” in the Institute
of Navigation’s Autonomous Lawn Mower Competition
in Dayton, Ohio, this summer and finished in third place.
In addition to guiding lawnmowers, GPS-based technology is
used to steer vehicles that detect land mines.
Joerger holds two master’s degrees, one in mechanical and
aerospace engineering from IIT; the other from the Ensais
Engineering School in his native France.
page 14

Wheeler Investigates
Space Shuttle
Columbia Disaster
Reinforced carbon carbon (RCC) was used for the wings and
nose of the space shuttle Columbia, the aircraft that failed and
burned upon re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere. IIT Senior Jeff
Wheeler’s work at Argonne National Laboratory includes
assessing the condition of RCC
panels. Using an ultrasonic sensor,
Wheeler and his colleagues measured
defects in the surface of RCC
panels. “We got very, very good
data,” he said.
Wheeler is also involved in water-coupled ultrasound in which
samples are immersed in water and “pulled through” to detect
minute flaws. This method is used to test “anti-armor piercing
tiles” for tanks. Wheeler received the Carl Samans Scholarship
from the Chicago chapter of ASM in February.
page 15

Working with NASA
on New Forms of Fuel
An IIT Junior majoring in aerospace engineering and applied
mathematics, Marta Bastrzyk spent this past summer working for
NASA’s John Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Her internship
focused on a project dealing with solid oxide fuel
cells and the seals needed to prevent fuel leaks. Used
in conventional combustion systems, solid oxide fuel
cells create 400 percent less pollution and work more
efficiently, says Bastrzyk. Used in hybrid automobiles,
the fuel cells can increase a car’s efficiency by 60 percent.
The fuel cells are also used in unmanned aerial vehicles and as
auxiliary power for electrical aircraft like the Boeing 7E7.
page 16

Casas Helps
Rolls Royce to Fly
Senior Guillermo Casas works with a team that provides
technical support to a line of Rolls Royce engines that provide
power for civil transport airplanes—the Embraer 145 and
Cessna Citation X. He hopes to improve certain performance
issues, including fuel consumption and ground speed.
A native of Colombia, Casas is majoring in aerospace
and mechanical engineering. He is president
of IIT’s chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional
Engineers, and is also active in Latinos Involved in
Further Education. Casas hopes to work for an aerospace
company in the U.S. after graduation.
page 17

news
Department Experiences
Continuous Increase
in Enrollment
The graduate and undergraduate programs have
experienced continuous increases during the past few
years. The department welcomed 93 new graduate
students, up from 68 in 2002, resulting in 176 full-time
graduate students. The undergraduate program grew
from 247 students in 2002 to 276 students this year.
MMAE Total
Undergraduate
Enrollment
2002
247
2003
261
2004
276
Freshmen Enrollment
New Graduate Enrollment
2002
64
2003
68
2004
72
2003
83
2004
93
2002
68
MMAE Develops
State-of-the-Art
Teaching
Laboratories
The MMAE Department is
constantly striving to improve
the undergraduate teaching
labs by introducing cutting-edge
facilities. For example, undergraduate
students learn how
to use particle image velocimetry
technique to measure flow
fields in the fluid mechanics
labs. To measure an individual’s
temperature while he/she is
exercising, students use infrared
thermography.
page 18

Fear and Joseph Win MMAE Alumni Awards
Two MMAE alumni, Geoffrey Fear and Daniel Joseph, were recognized
for outstanding achievement in the field of mechanical engineering. Fear
is Chairman of the Board of Chicago Metallic Products, Inc.,
a company that manufactures and sells metal bakeware, aluminum
foil, and plastic packaging materials. A 1951 graduate of IIT, Fear
established the Fear Endowed Fellowship (with matching funds
from Robert Pritzker and Robert Galvin) in 1999 for top students
pursuing a master’s degree in MMAE at IIT. Daniel D. Joseph
is the Regents Professor of the Aerospace Engineering and
Geoffrey Fear Mechanics Department at the University of Minnesota. A member
of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy
of Engineering, Joseph was awarded the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers’ Timoshenko Medal for his contributions to the field of applied
mechanics. Joseph earned three degrees at IIT: a bachelor of science (’59),
Daniel Joseph
a master of science (’60), and a doctorate (’63).
IIT to Establish Center for
Manufacturing Research
MMAE is leading the IIT Armour College of Engineering initiative in manufacturing.
IIT will work with other universities nationwide, U.S. companies, and national
laboratories to establish a manufacturing center for scientific and applied research.
The Center will ensure that manufacturing industries in the United States will
have cutting-edge technology and will lead the world in manufacturing. The
proposed Center will also collect, analyze, synthesize, and disseminate scientific and
technical discoveries worldwide for the benefit of U.S. manufacturing companies.
Qian Joins MMAE Department
Xiaoping Qian came to IIT from General Electric’s Global
Research Center in Niskayuna, N.Y., where he was
named a “New Innovator” in the Inspection and
Manufacturing Technologies Lab. A PhD graduate from
the University of Michigan, he is an assistant professor of
mechanical engineering. Qian’s research interests are
focused on computer-aided design and manufacturing.
To ensure manufactured parts meet design specifications,
he has been developing laser-scanning technologies
to acquire complex three-dimensional digital images
for quality inspection. He also models 3-D parts of nonhomogeneous
materials.
page 19

Candace Wark
MMAE Faculty Receive Awards
for Teaching and Research
John Kallend received the IIT Bauer Family Undergraduate
Teaching Award. Candace Wark received the MMAE Ralph L.
Barnett Excellence in Teaching Award. Philip Nash was the
recipient of IIT’s Sigma Xi Award for excellence in research.
Herek Clack received the prestigious National Science
Foundation CAREER Award. Ganesh Raman was named
Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Jamal Yagoobi received the inaugural IEEE Electrostatics
Processes Committee Innovative and Creativity Prize Paper
Award. Dietmar Rempfer received tenure.
Herek Clack
MMAE Department Advisory Board
First row, left to right: Ganesh Raman, Hamid Arastoopour, Jamal Yagoobi, David Williams, John Kallend
Second row, left to right: James Korenchen (General Motors), Robert Footlik (Footlik & Assoc.), Ted Belytschko (Northwestern University), Philip Nash, Francisco Ruiz,
Geoffrey Fear (Chicago Metal. Prod., Inc.), Dietmar Rempfer
Third row, left to right: Daniel Joseph (University of Minnesota), Adnan Akay (Carnegie Mellon University), Robert Page (Texas A&M), Sushil Sharma
(Argonne National Lab.) Ric Woldow (Caterpillar, Inc.), Candace Wark, Michael Gosz, Sheldon Mostovoy, Sudhakar Nair
Advisory Board members not pictured are John Berninger (Advanced Anaylsis Engineering), Skip Fletcher (NASA), Les Hardison (Wheelabrator Tech.),
Bruce Liimatainen (A. Finkl & Sons, Inc.), Herb Velazquez (Kimberly Clark), Richard Wlezien (NASA).
page 20

Chen, Parsons, Alsharo’a Win Poster Competition
Graduate and undergraduate
students participated in a research
poster competition hosted by the
MMAE department in April. Nearly
$1,000 in prize money was awarded
by a panel of industry professionals.
The criteria included innovative
research, the presentation of the
material, and overall impact. Listed
below are the winners by category:
Zheyan Chen (bachelor’s degree
candidate—first place); Mayuri
Amarnath (bachelor’s degree candidate—second
place); Abigail Parsons
Mayuri Amarnath
(master’s degree candidate—first
place); Taehyung Kim (master’s degree candidate—second place); Mohammed
Alsharo’a (doctoral degree candidate—first place); and Mathieu Joerger (doctoral
degree candidate—second place).
Dix Retires
After 40 years at IIT, Professor Rollin Dix retired this year.
After brief stints in the army and working in industry,
he came to IIT in 1964 as an assistant professor of mechanical
engineering, and taught both mechanical and aerospace
engineering. His research focused on computer-aided design
and manufacturing, mechanical design and materials
handling, and automated materials handling equipment.
A Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
Dix is listed in Who’s Who in America.
Torda Dies at 92
Professor of Mechanical Engineering T. Paul Torda passed
away in Washington, D.C., in March. He was 92. Torda, who
joined the IIT faculty in 1962 and retired in 1976, was faculty
advisor for the IIT team that designed the “Blue Flame,”
a rocket-powered vehicle that set a 1970 land speed world
record of more than 622 miles per hour. He also helped design the Experimental
Engineering Education program at IIT, a project-based undergraduate program
funded by the National Science Foundation.
page 21

history
This
is the first in a series on the department’s history.
Eli Sternberg
1917–1988 Vienna, Austria
Eli Sternberg is known worldwide for his pioneering research in the
theory of structural elasticity. His theoretical research found many applications
in both mechanical and civil engineering. He began his teaching
career in 1945, serving as an IIT faculty member for 11 years. Sternberg
earned both a master’s degree (1942) and a PhD (1945) in mechanics at
IIT. He was a member of the National Academy of Science.
Max Jakob
1879–1955 Ludwigshaven, Germany
Max Jakob was an authority on thermodynamics and heat transfer.
His extensive research covered high-pressure stream and air, measurement
of thermal conductivity, mechanisms of boiling and condensation, and flow
in pipes and nozzles. Jakob came to Chicago from Germany at the suggestion
of his close friend, Enrico Fermi. Jakob became research professor of
mechanical engineering and a consultant at Armour Research Foundation
(now IITRI). Jakob founded and became the first director of IITRI’s Heat
Transfer Laboratory. In 1961, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
commemorated his achievements by instituting the annual Max Jakob
Memorial Award, which honors distinguished service in heat transfer.
page 22

Max Mark Frocht
1894–1974 Warsaw, Poland
Max Frocht is considered the father of modern photo-elasticity studies.
In the early 1950s, he developed a method of three-dimensional photo-elastic
stress analysis that determined the actual principal stresses at any point within
a body. His two-volume book on photo-elasticity is considered a classic. From
1946 to 1964, the year of his retirement, Frocht was a member of the
IIT faculty. He organized and was director of the Laboratory for Experimental
Stress Analysis, one of the world’s leading research laboratories. In 1967,
the Society for Experimental Stress Analysis (now the Society for
Experimental Mechanics) honored him by establishing the annual
M.M. Frocht Award, which is awarded to the “educator of the year” in
experimental mechanics.
Robert Alonzo Eubanks
1926–1997 Chicago, Illinois
Robert Eubanks, a three-time IIT alumnus (B.S., mechanical engineering,
1950; M.S., 1951; PhD, 1953), is renowned for his expertise in
elasticity, wave propagation, rotor stability, shock, and vibration. He
joined the IIT faculty briefly in 1954 and returned as a member of
Armour Research Foundation (now IITRI) from 1960 to 1966. Eubanks was
a prime mover in the development of minority engineering programs
through his membership on the executive committee of the National
Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering. He was
a Fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics and of the American
Society of Civil Engineers.
page 23

alumni news
& contribution card
The Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department sincerely appreciates your gift.
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