Mechanical Engineering News

Mechanical Engineering Associate Chair named Fulbright Scholar

Ron Lumia, Professor and Associate Chair in the Mechanical Engineering Department, has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar grantee. He is
currently conducting research at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, India, during the Fall 2008 semester in the area of
micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). IISc is a world-renowned institution with roughly 2000 researchers working in state-of-the-art facilities in nearly all areas of science and engineering. A world-class nanofabrication laboratory located in the Center of Nanoelectronics and anoengineering (CeNN) is scheduled to open in 2008, coinciding with the period of Dr. Lumia’s visit to IISc. Currently, IISc has a central microfabrication facility in addition to several other pieces of microfabrication and characterization equipment housed in different laboratories. The Compliant, Small and Bio Systems Lab and the CranesSci MEMS Lab reside within the Mechanical Engineering Department at IISc. These two labs currently support the design and prototyping activities
for MEMS research.

Health-care services firm funds UNM research on pulmonary drug delivery device

Profs. Hugh Smyth (Pharmacy) and Randy Truman (Mechanical Engineering) have a patent application pending for a novel dry powder inhaler (DPI). Cerner Corp. purchased an option to license the device and is funding its development into a marketable technology. Smyth and Truman are collaborating on optimizing the performance of the device which uses a thin polymer film to disperse small particles that include the desired drug into the patient's airflow. Anticipated advantages of the device include the creation of very small particles that may be inhaled deeply into the patient's lungs, and improved drug delivery for patients with limited airflow capacity including children, the elderly, and adults who are seriously ill.

This research was recently featured in New Mexico Business Weekly.

ME Department to develop a novel shock tube facility

As a part of the Educational Institution Strategic Partnership between UNM and the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a new experimental facility for studies of shock wave interactions with droplets and particles will be built at the ME Department. Investigators in charge of the shock tube project are Peter Vorobieff and C. Randall Truman. Read UNM Today news release here.

Biomedical research at the UNM ME Department featured in New Mexico Business Weekly

The recent work of the UNM alumnus Scott Lovald (right) and Professor Tariq Khraishi will lead to improvements in medical techniques used to repair broken jaws, New Mexico Business Weekly reported July 13, 2007.