Fall 2022 Faustin-Prinz Research Fellowship Recipients

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is excited to announce the recipients of the Faustin-Prinz Research Fellowship. This is a fellowship awarded each semester to students looking to spearhead and participate in cutting-edge research opportunities. Students who receive this award develop a research project, alongside an ME faculty member, over the course of two-semesters and then present their findings at the Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Showcase. They also receive a $4,000 tuition grant. The following are the Fall 2022 recipients, with a summary of their research projects:

Griffin Radtke, advised by Prof. Christian Franck – Globally, approximately sixty-nine million people suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year, leading to potentially permanent neural damage and severe decline in quality of life. Thus far, while TBI research has addressed cellular reactions to injury such as apoptosis and necrosis, there is more work to be done to characterize network activity due to specific injury mechanics. To address the analysis difficulty, this research project will investigate the influence of varying spatial distributions and geometries on mechanically induced network activity distributions via the precise control of patterned cell seeding.

Tyler Lee, advised by Prof. Michael Wagner – The purpose of this research is to further the refinement of current CSP simulation tools for the development of a CSP plant emulator. Efforts under this proposal will be in collaboration with the Energy Systems Optimization (ESOLab) Laboratory at UW-Madison. The objectives of this research are directed at supporting the ESO lab’s efforts to create a CSP plant emulator. The role of this research within the project team is to develop models for system dynamics following operational and fault states that are currently not supported by simulation tools.

Yiteng Ma, advised by Prof. Darryl Thelen – In 2018, the UW Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab developed a shear wave tensiometer, which assesses tendon loads by tracking vibrational behavior. This technique could provide useful information relevant to the clinical treatment of musculoskeletal injuries and diseases, as well as human performance. However, there is currently no objective way to determine if the tensiometer devices are functioning in a consistent and repeatable manner on materials with dispersive properties. The purpose of this project is to further understand how dispersion affects the measurements of the tensiometer devices and develop a mechanical system capable of characterizing the variability between them.

Jon Carlson, advised by Prof. Jaal Ghandhi – New computer modeling techniques have enabled topology optimized designs of static mixers that have the potential to be more efficient than existing mass-produced static mixers. However, there is a lack of real-world data to correlate and verify these predictions. The aim of this experiment is to experimentally validate computer simulations over a range of Reynolds numbers, and compare the performance of a topology optimized design to a standard, mass produced design.

William Dong (researching in-situ high-speed X-ray imaging data) and Vineet Pasumarti (researching cross-flow turbines) are also currently participating in the Faustin-Prinz Research Fellowship, as the Spring 2022 winners. They should be finishing their research this semester and presenting their findings at the Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Showcase in December.

If you are interested in participating in the Faustin-Prinz Research Fellowship, the Mechanical Engineering Department is currently accepting applications for Spring 2023. Students interested in applying, can find more information about the opportunity on the ME Intranet, under research opportunities or can reach out to Xiaoping Qian, qian@engr.wisc.edu, with questions. Applications are due on October 31^st.