Research Topics

Proposed projects are based on ongoing research activities from multiple engineering disciplines including electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, and manufacturing and industrial technology. Teachers as individuals or collaborative pairs will select research topics from those available based on personal interest and potential alignment with curriculum standards.

Sample 1: Sensing and Control Research in Metal Casting

Research in-process sensing, modeling, and control of manufacturing processes, such as metal casting, to improve overall quality.

Sample 2: Manufacturing of Concrete

Concrete can be produced in a variety of “recipes” and including a variety of additives to strengthen, form easier, or utilize previously unwanted waste streams such as fly ash. The impact of the recipe and the additives is a topic of significant research.

Sample 3: Fabrication of High-Temperature Protective Coatings

Protective coatings are used as part of an overall “material system” to strengthen or protect a metal substrate in harsh environments, such as boiler tubes for power generation or aircraft turbine blades.

Sample 4: Nanoparticle Deposition on a Surface

The focus of this research is to understand the particle-substrate-solvent interactions, which govern the pattern formation of nanoparticles at a polymer surface. These nanoparticles are introduced to enhance a material’s ability to prevent erosion and for fire resistance.

Sample 5: Water Distribution in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

Fuel cells hold the key for future distributed energy applications; however, there remain a number of technological barriers. One of which is the entrapment of water within the catalyst membrane when operating temperatures outside of the fuel cell fall below freezing.

Sample 6: Linkages and Manipulators in Manufacturing

Axis linkages determine the angle and reach of robotic “arms”, used in manufacturing. Research in this area seeks to determine optimal mobility of single and complex linkages.

Sample 7: Signal Processing

The next generation of wireless communications will take advantage of unused frequency spectrum by dynamically sensing when a particular frequency is available. This requires statistical techniques for sampling frequency spectrum and then analyzing the signal.

Sample 8: Discrete Event Simulation Optimization Using Genetic Algorithms

Production flow, traffic flow, and hospital operating rooms can all be simulated by dissecting the system into discrete events. These discrete events that make up the system follow statistical distributions and different operating policies or decisions can be optimized based on measurement of key random variables.