Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 2 Summer 2019 | Page 4

04
AZIMESKANDARIAN
NICHOLAS AND REBECCA DES CHAMPS PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT HEAD, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Welcome summer! Spring has just wrapped up and with it one of the busiest
times of the year. Graduation, senior design expo, competition teams, and all
the continuing research, dissertations and preparations for another year are
well underway and I’m excited for what’s ahead.
Professor Rolf Mueller, no stranger to the pages of the research news is in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this month with paradigm
changing work on how bats navigate using Doppler shifts created by their own
ears. This work will have a massive effect on the models and assumptions of the
field. Read the story on Page 6.
Another well-respected faculty member, Christopher C. Kraft Endowed
Professor Wing Ng, was presented the honor of becoming the latest Alumni
Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech. This is a well-earned accolade for
Prof. Ng who has served Virginia Tech for 35 years. You can read about his
award on Page 10.
During graduation I presented several of our new alums with awards, and
these can be found on Page 30, and our faculty members were also the recipients
of eight College of Engineering Dean's Awards, which you can find on Page 22.
In keeping with graduation season, this issue has a number of photos and
stories from our ME graduation event, and the senior design expo. In addition,
you’ll find stories on some of our competition teams, and a senior design project
that will be a favorite of craft-beer drinkers.
It is bittersweet for the department that after more than 50 years of dedicated
service to the university, college, and department, as a professor, department
head and as associate dean for research and graduate studies at the College of
Engineering, J. Bernard Jones Professor Walter O’Brien is retiring at the end
of June. Walter holds the distinction of being the first professor in the depart-
ment to hold a named professorship, and we are glad he has chosen to continue
with us in a limited capacity after June. Please read his remarks on Page 9
This spring we were also honored to induct the second class into the Mechan-
ical Engineering Society of Distinguished Alumni, and you can read about them
starting on Page 22.
If you are an alumni and would be interested in someone from the department
visiting your local alumni chapter, please email Rosaire Bushey (busheyr@
vt.edu), we would appreciate the opportunity to be able to talk about the de-
partment and its future with you. Have a safe and restful summer.