Grants roundup: Engineering Faculty Receive $5 million in Funding to Start Fiscal Year

Dr. Bo Li

Bo Li
Mechanical Engineering
National Science Foundation: $243,000
Collaborative Research: NRI: Smart Skins for Robotic Prosthetic Hand

In the U.S., there are over 41,000 registered persons who had an amputation of hand or complete arm, and approximately 10,000 new amputation cases in the upper limb each year. Prosthetic hands that can significantly improve the quality of amputees’ life are highly desired to restore many activities of daily living, particularly in hand grasping and object manipulation. However, being able to use the hand accurately remains a grand and fundamental challenge in robotic prosthetic hands, especially in the desired trait of slip prevention for reliable and stable grasping in real life environments. The challenge resides in integrating fast sensing of slip detection and rapid movement in the small-area in the fingertips to prevent slippage through the use of sensors and controls of the prosthetic hands. This project proposes to meet this challenge by exploring a new concept of a skin that can change its shape for prosthetic hands in real-time. Learn more.

Dr. Calvin Li

Calvin Li
Mechanical Engineering
National Science Foundation: $399,999
GOALI: Three-Dimensional Biomimetic Structures for Perpendicular and Lateral Liquid Supplies to Enable Ultrahigh Heat Flux in Boiling Heat Transfer and Thermal Management Systems

Boiling heat transfer is one the most efficient ways of removing heat from a hot surface by changing the coolant from liquid to vapor. Boiling has been widely employed in thermal management of power generation, refrigeration and air conditioning systems, electronic devices, and other high-power density systems. This GOALI project will study fundamental aspects of liquid supplies and boiling heat transfer as affected by surface structure characteristics that include a novel biomimetic structure. This will be integrated into commercial heat exchangers that can potentially achieve significant increase in heat transfer performance. Learn more.

Dr. Virginia Smith

Virginia Smith
Villanova Center for Resilient Water Systems
National Science Foundation: $499,536
CDS&E: Facilitating Sustainable and Fair Transformation of GSI through AI

As climate change exacerbates environmental challenges associated with urban growth, green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) is a prevalent stormwater mitigation strategy to provide resilience and mitigate the impacts of development on flooding. In parallel, fully sustainable GSI systems must confront the challenges of historically unequitable distribution of infrastructure. The current data revolution has reached municipal stormwater programs; however, these programs are limited by a lack of knowledge of GSI life-cycle dynamics, high performance and emerging computational tools, and how to integrate new science into design and planning decisions. There is a scientific gap in the space formed among GSI design, performance function, and planning decisions that requires bridging hydrologic science, urban planning, and data analytics. This project leverages innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), advancements in the empirical and theoretical understanding of urban hydrologic science, and social data to produce a new model of GSI dynamics that considers social and environmental equity issues. Learn more.