Mechanical Engineering: A letter from the chair - The University of Tulsa
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Mechanical Engineering: A letter from the chair

Dear UTulsa community,

This semester, we welcomed Mohammad Khajenejad, Ph.D., as assistant professor of both mechanical engineering and electrical and computer engineering. Khajenejad’s research expertise focuses on control systems and cybersecurity with his long-term research goal being to combine control theory, machine learning, and decision sciences to create safe and robust decision-making algorithms for cyber-physical systems.

Over the summer, a team of mechanical engineering seniors traveled to Portugal to compete in an international design competition sponsored by the Consortium for the Advancement of Shape Memory Alloy Research and Technology. The University of Tulsa team took first place by demonstrating the application of nitinol in a purely mechanical mechanism, which prevents battery packs from overheating and catching fire. An application for patent has been submitted with the students as the inventors.

Mechanical engineering Professor Michael Keller, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor William LePage, Ph.D., alongside Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Hema Ramsurn, Ph.D., received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. Their project focuses on novel composite materials for ultra-high-temperature applications and will help enhance the research infrastructure at UTulsa.

LePage also received a National Science Foundation CAREER award for his research in the 3D printing of metals using the binder-jet process. The five-year award will bring significant contributions to his Advanced Materials Design Group in the College of Engineering & Computer Science. As part of the project, the group will bring the science of metal 3D printing to life for K-12 students.

We thank you for your continued support.

John Henshaw, Ph.D.
Harry H. Rogers Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering