Oct. 6, 2026 - Alumni Newsletter
News from the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering
Friday, November 13. 2:30-4:30 p.m., Kittredge Central Multipurpose Room |
Join the ME community as we celebrate the inaugural presentation of the MESAB Distinguished Achievement Award. The afternoon will include the formal presentation of the award, followed by a distinguished seminar from internationally recognized engineer and educator
Bejan, a distinguished professor at Duke University’s Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, is a world-renowned engineer and physicist whose research spans thermodynamics, heat transfer, convection, design and evolution in nature. He is the recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal (2018) and the Humboldt Research Award (2019) and ranks among the top 0.01% of the world's most cited scientists. He has authored 30 books, 700 peer-reviewed publications, and received 18 honorary doctorates from universities in 11 countries.
Community Headlines
Four new faculty members joining the ME department for Fall 2026
The Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at ñ is welcoming four new faculty members this fall semester. From renewable energy technologies and robotic optimization to engineering education and computing, these talented scientists and engineers bring a wealth of knowledge and passion to our teaching and research missions.
ME senior design project is still “heating up” nearly a decade later
In 2017, a former team of mechanical engineering alums developed an adjustable, heated bench system for their senior capstone project that helps NBA players stay warm and ready for action when their number is called during games. Today, the project has turned into a commercially-licensed technology that has achieved over $1 million in sales, been installed by four total teams across the world’s top basketball league and been nominated for the Sports Business Journal’s 2026 Best Technology Collaboration award.
How an ME undergraduate student helped build a new AI startup
Third-year undergraduate student Caleb Woldemichael is one of the architects behind a new AI company called YW Holdings. The startup leverages his studies and extensive internship experience to help change the way engineering firms do business by streamlining the slow, manual processes that companies depend on to run engineering firms.
Milford discusses the benefits of clean air regulations
Over the past 40 years, there has been a general consensus that the benefits of air-pollution regulations, achieved through research, rulemaking, and advancing technology, have greatly outweighed the costs. However, this year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established a precedent to ignore long-standing estimates of health benefits. Professor Emerita Jana Milford discusses how this departure is likely to harm the health of Americans as well as the environment, and it raises the question of how durable, evidence-based policy will be built in the future.
Research and Innovation Stories
$37.5M NSF award boosts quantum research co-led by ME’s Greg Rieker
The U.S. National Science Foundation, through its Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes, is investing in the next phase of ñ and its partners’ work to advance quantum science research and engineering. Professor and Co-Principal Investigator at the NSF Q-SEnSE center Greg Rieker says the $37.5M grant will help researchers build more accurate clocks, faster computers and new sensors to detect the faintest signs of disease and disaster, comparing the benefits of the ongoing quantum research revolution to the "space race."
Video: PhD student designs mobility technology to improve human performance
Fourth-year PhD student Olivia Felton is helping advance research aimed at improving mobility and quality of life for individuals living with movement challenges. Watch the video to learn how Felton’s passion for movement led her to engineering research—and how she's helping shape the future of mobility through innovation.
What happens inside a wildfire? One PhD student is finding out
As wildfires burn through trees, grasses and other vegetation, heat from the flames set off thousands of chemical reactions at once. But while scientists can see the products of these reactions, what happens in between is much harder to understand. Sixth-year PhD student Jas Shahanand is finding ways to study these chemical reactions, giving researchers a closer look at the hidden chemistry of combustion. He believes the work could be the foundation for more accurate wildfire emissions models, improved climate prediction and even cleaner fuel sources in the future.
New research shows why some stroke patients fare better than others
Nearly 21,000 people worldwide experience ischemic strokes every day, threatening long-term disability or even death. In recent years, clot-busting drugs and mechanical tools for removing them have revolutionized care, but even with the clot gone and the vessel clear, up to 50% of patients never recover neurologically. New research, led by Assistant Professor Debanjan Mukherjee, reveals in unprecedented detail how the brain’s own defense mechanisms against stroke can backfire, triggering additional micro-clots in minor vessels which can damage tissue long after the primary culprit is gone.