Department of Mechanical Engineering

FSU researchers expand understanding of vortex spread in superfluids

Published: July 5, 2022 | 4:50 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

An illustration of a vortex tangle. (Courtesy of Wei Guo/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)

An international team of scientists featuring Florida State University researchers has developed a model that predicts the spread of vortices in so-called superfluids, work that provides new insight into the physics that govern turbulence in quantum fluid systems such as superfluid neutron stars. In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, the researchers created a […]

FAMU-FSU Engineering students design four-legged lunar robot for NASA’s BIG Idea Challenge

Published: June 16, 2022 | 4:45 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Jonathan Clark is the faculty lead for the college’s NASA Big Idea Challenge team that developed a lunar robot (in his hand) that may one day walk, roll or crawl on the surface of the moon. (M Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU Engineering)

Ever watch a cockroach scurry about, with its flat armored body that slips though cracks and then flies through the air? Before you swat that pesky creature, you might want to think about the engineering feat that insect just accomplished. That’s what Jonathan Clark does; it’s kind of a thing for the FAMU-FSU College of […]

Building a better quantum bit: New qubit breakthrough could transform quantum computing

Published: May 4, 2022 | 11:37 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

An illustration of the qubit platform made of a single electron on solid neon. Researchers froze neon gas into a solid at very low temperatures, sprayed electrons from a light bulb onto the solid and trapped a single electron there to create a qubit. (Courtesy of Dafei Jin/Argonne National Laboratory)

You are no doubt viewing this article on a digital device whose basic unit of information is the bit, either 0 or 1. Scientists worldwide are racing to develop a new kind of computer based on the use of quantum bits, or qubits, which can simultaneously be 0 and 1 and could one day solve […]

Low-gravity simulator design developed by FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers offers new avenues for space research

Published: November 4, 2021 | 1:24 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

From left, doctoral student Hamid Sanavandi and Associate Professor Wei Guo, co-atuhors on a paper published in npj Microgravity that describes a new design for a magnetic levitation-based simulator that creates a low-gravity environment. (Stephen Bilenky/National MagLab)

As humanity continues its exploration of the universe, the low-gravity environment of space presents unusual challenges for scientists and engineers. Researchers at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the Florida State University-headquartered National High Magnetic Field Laboratory have developed a new tool to help meet that challenge — a novel design for a low-gravity simulator […]

Engineering researcher gets NSF award for 3D imaging technology to advance quantum fluid research

Published: May 21, 2021 | 11:21 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

From left, postdoctoral researcher Yuan Tang, FSU graduate student Toshiaki Kanai, and FAMU-FSU College of Engineering professor Wei Guo discuss the movement of tracking particles in liquid helium of their particle tracking velocimetry system at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. (Mark Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)

Superfluids are one of the 20th century’s most fascinating and important discoveries. Their study is the basis of Nobel Prize-winning work, and they hold promise for better electricity transmission and may even help answer the secrets of the universe with their mysterious “quantum fluid” properties. Wei Guo, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the […]

FSU early career researchers receive prestigious NSF award

Published: May 6, 2021 | 3:02 pm | Posted in: University News

The National Science Foundation's CAREER Awards are grants for junior faculty with the potential to serve as role models in research and teaching and to lead advances in the mission of their organization.

Three Florida State University faculty members have been recognized by the National Science Foundation with the prestigious CAREER Award, a grant given to promising up-and-coming researchers who are expected to become leaders in their fields. Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards are given to junior faculty with the potential to serve as role models in […]

FSU engineers improve performance of high-temperature superconductor wires

Published: April 15, 2021 | 11:18 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Abiola Temidayo Oloye, left, a fifth-year doctoral candidate and the lead author of a study published in Superconductor Science and Technology, at an electron microscope with Fumitake Kametani, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and principal investigator for the study at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. (Mark Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)

Florida State University researchers have discovered a novel way to improve the performance of electrical wires used as high-temperature superconductors (HTS), findings that have the potential to power a new generation of particle accelerators. Researchers used high-resolution scanning electron microscopy to understand how processing methods influence grains in bismuth-based superconducting wires (known as Bi-2212). Those […]

FSU engineering researchers visualize the motion of vortices in superfluid turbulence

Published: April 8, 2021 | 2:22 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

An illustration showing quantum vortex tubes undergoing apparent superdiffusion. The white dots represent trapped particle that the researchers tracked to visualize and track the motion of the tubes, and the red lines represent the random patterns that the particles traveled. (Courtesy of Wei Guo)

Nobel laureate in physics Richard Feynman once described turbulence as “the most important unsolved problem of classical physics.” Understanding turbulence in classical fluids like water and air is difficult partly because of the challenge in identifying the vortices swirling within those fluids. Locating vortex tubes and tracking their motion could greatly simplify the modeling of […]

FSU researchers enhance quantum machine learning algorithms

Published: March 16, 2021 | 8:57 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

William Oates, the Cummins Inc. Professor in Mechanical Engineering and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. (FAMU-FSU College of Engineering/Mark Wallheisier)

A Florida State University professor’s research could help quantum computing fulfill its promise as a powerful computational tool. William Oates, the Cummins Inc. Professor in Mechanical Engineering and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, and postdoctoral researcher Guanglei Xu found a way to automatically infer parameters used in […]

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering professor will teach robots concept of risk with Toyota grant

Published: January 26, 2021 | 2:06 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

Christian Hubicki, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. (FAMU-FSU College of Engineering/Mark Wallheiser)

For Florida State University engineering professor Christian Hubicki, robots aren’t just a tool for the future. They’re a way to understand everything around us. Hubicki, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, will continue that quest thanks to a $750,000 Young Faculty Researcher grant from the Toyota Research Institute (TRI). […]

FSU researchers investigate how face shape affects COVID-19 mask performance

Published: December 9, 2020 | 3:33 pm | Posted in: Health & Medicine, Science & Technology

Kourosh Shoele, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. (Mark Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)

Face masks are helpful in preventing the spread of COVID-19, but researchers believe they can be made even more effective, something that has implications far beyond the current pandemic as masks could become a more commonly used public health intervention. Kourosh Shoele, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College […]

FSU researchers use mechanical engineering, scientific computing and forestry to better understand prescribed burns

Published: December 12, 2019 | 2:18 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

From left, Bryan Quaife, assistant professor of scientific computing, Rod Linn, of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Neda Yaghoobian, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and Kevin Hiers, of the Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy, won a $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study smoke plumes from prescribed fire. Photo by Mark Wallheiser / FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.

In the effort to mitigate destructive wildfires, wildland managers often fight those uncontrolled fires with prescribed fire — carefully controlled burns to safely eliminate the vegetation that piles up on forest floors and adds to potential fuel. Prescribed fires are an important tool for managing fire-prone landscapes, but they come with a cost. Fire makes […]

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