Another season of research excellence
As we move beyond Covid and its variants with vaccinations and proper care , our faculty and students have continued their path to more research excellence on other types of variants .
Azim Eskandarian
Department Head , and Nicholas and Rebecca DesChamps Chair / Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Ling Li is on the hunt for a variant of current ceramic production methods , inspired by the skeleton of the starfish . That fascinating research is featured on page 26 .
As you see on the cover , Michael Bartlett ’ s approach to soft robotics uses metals with low melting-point temperatures to create dynamic mechanisms . This is certainly a fascinating variant of using more complicated mechanics , and I encourage you to read this story on page 22 .
Jonathan Boreyko unlocked a new chapter in physics , expanding the Leidenfrost Effect by proving that ice can be used to boil water ( See page 12 .) This might be classified as a newly discovered constant instead of a variant . However , the metaphor can only go so far .
We are also very proud of award winners among our ranks , including NSF CAREER awards for Alan Asbeck and Shima Shahab . Please read about these and much more in this Momentum issue .
With best regards , Azim Eskandarian