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Welcome to the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Our mission is to provide quality education, conduct strong research, foster close partnership with industry and government, and provide related service to the campus community and the community at large. The mission is guided by a commitment to continuous improvement in the overall quality of teaching, research, and service, while adhering to the highest standard of ethics. More
News and Spotlights
Hideaki Tsutsui Awarded Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations Grant
Hideaki Tsutsui, Assistant Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is awarded a Grand Challenges Explorations Phase I Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A $100,000 grant will fund a 18-month research project titled, “A Biotic Stress Sensor Printed on Maize Leaves.” Tsutsui’s group aims to develop a low-cost method of directly printing biosensors on maize leaves for colorimetric detection of biotic stresses. (Read more at UCR Today http://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/6070)
Two Mechanical Engineering graduate students received awards for their papers presented at the 92 American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting
Sam Pournazeri (second from the left) received the award for the Best Technical Content for his work titled "A New Method on Scaling the Urban Plume Rise and Dispersion in Water Channels".
For the paper titled "Laboratory and Field Study of Particulate Emissions Factors of Prescribed Wildland Fires" Trevor Maynard (third from the right) received the award for the Best Oral Presentation.
Congratulations Sam and Trevor!
Professor Akula Venkatram receives the American Meteorological Society Award
On January 24, 2012, Professor Akula Venkatram received the “AMS Meteorological Aspects of Air Pollution Committee Award” during the 92nd Annual American Meteorological Society (AMS) meeting, 17th Conference on Air Pollution Meteorology with the A&WMA, in New Orleans, LA. This award is given to those who have made a significant contribution to the field of air pollution meteorology over the course of their careers. Professor Venkatram received this award for his contributions to the field of air pollution meteorology through the development of simple models in acid deposition, ozone photochemistry and urban dispersion.
Congratulations, Dr. Venkatram!
ME faculty member's research highlighted in Fall 2011 issue of UCR Magazine
Professor Masaru Rao's research on neural prosthetic interface device development has been highlighted in the Fall 2011 issue of UCR Magazine in an article entitled "Unlocking the Mysteries of the Mind."
http://magazine.ucr.edu/2011/fall/
The Mechanical Engineering Department welcomes Dr. Elisa Franco as one of its newest faculty members!
Elisa Franco received her B.S. and M.S. (Laurea Degree) in Power Systems Engineering from the University of Trieste (Italy) in 2002, summa cum laude. In 2007, she received her Ph. D. in Automation from the same institution. In 2011, she completed her second Ph. D. at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, in Control and Dynamical Systems.
Dr. Franco's main interests are in the area of biological feedback systems. In particular, her research focuses on bottom-up approaches to the design and synthesis of controllers, sensors and actuators in biochemical reaction networks, using nucleic acids and proteins. She also works on robustness analysis of natural biochemical systems. In the past, Dr. Franco worked in the field of cooperative control and distributed estimation.
The Mechanical Engineering Department welcomes Dr. Hideaki Tsutsui as one of its newest faculty members!
Hideaki Tsutsui, Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, joins the Mechanical Engineering Department as assistant professor. Tsutsui's research interests include development and characterization of engineering tools and methods for regenerative medicine and medical diagnostics.
To learn more about Tsutsui's research visit his group website.
Senior Design and Dedication Ceremony Pictures Posted
Thank you to all those who attended both the Special Dedication Ceremony in memory of Alan Lin and the presentation of the 2011 Senior Design Projects. Links to the pictures for both the these events can be found below.
Memorial Dedication Pictures
2011 Senior Design Pictures
More News and Spotlights
Colloquia
Title Unknown
Friday, March 9th, 11:10a.m. - 12:00p.m., Bourns Hall A265
Rupak Banerjee, Ph.D.
No flyer yet available
Emissions Research and Research Planning at ARB
Friday, February 24th, 11:10a.m. - 12:00p.m., Bourns Hall A265
Jorn Herner, Ph.D.
Branch Chief of Emission Mitigation and Research Planning in the Research Division
California Air Resources Board
Numerical simulations as process studies of ocean turbulence: two case studies
Friday, February 17th, 11:10a.m. - 12:00p.m., Bourns Hall A265
Sutanu Sarkar, Ph.D
Chair and Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
University of California, San Diego
Directing Complex Systems toward Desired Fates
Friday, February 3rd, 11:10a.m. - 12:00p.m., Bourns Hall A265
Dr. Chih-Ming Ho
Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
University of California, Los Angeles
Optimization of Nanoparticle Assemblies for Amperometric Biosensing and Electrochemical Energy Storage
Friday, January 27th, 11:10a.m. - 12:00p.m., Bourns Hall A265
Dr. Timothy S. Fisher
Birck Nanotechnology Center and School of Mechanical Engineering
Purdue University
Mechanotransduction in Endothelial Cells: Feedback Control of Intracellular Mechanics
Friday, January 20th, 11:10a.m. - 12:00p.m., Bourns Hall A265
Shu Chien, Ph.D.
Department of Bioengineering and Medicine, and Institute of Engineering in Medicine
University of California San Diego
Subsuming the Sense of Touch: From Surgical Robots to Prostheses
Friday, January 13th, 11:10a.m. - 12:00p.m., Bourns Hall A265
Tomonori Yamamoto, Ph.D.
Robotics Engineer at SynTouch LLC
More Colloquia
Other Events
5th annual ME GSA Research Symposium
Thursday, April 1, 2010
9:30am
WCH Room 206
Please come and check out all of the research that our students are conducting! Pizza and refreshments will be served. Please see the agenda and flier for more details.
Bourns College of Engineering Graduate Open House
Thursday, December 3, 2009
1pm – 3pm
WCH Room 205/206
• Associate Dean welcome
• Engineering departmental presentations
• Department lab tours
• Admissions and funding information
• Networking with faculty, peers & Bourns graduate students
More Events

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