| ME
IN THE NEWS |
During the televised Badger basketball game January 24, ESPN
Local featured the UW
Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology
(UW-CREATe), directed by Professor Jay
Martin. The video clip mentioned several UW-CREATe projects,
including hip replacement and hamstring injury, among others.
Among the interviews, Assistant Professor
Heidi-Lynn
Ploeg and graduate student Julie Sauer explained their project
involving bicycle seat design. “It’s important to
me that my research has a human application, where we will affect
specific people in a very positive way,” said Ploeg.
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FACULTY NEWS
The Bone
and Joint Biomechanics Laboratory, directed by Assistant Professor
Heidi-Lynn
Ploeg, recently announced the addition of two new research fellows.
Mariana Kersh has been awarded a three-year
NSF Fellowship for her research, “A Numerical Knee Joint Ligament
Model with Robot Validation.” This project focuses on a virtual
tool for total knee joint replacements with the long-term goal of developing
the virtual knee model as a clinical tool for surgeon training, pre-operative
planning, post-operative assessment, and computer aided surgery.
Also, Travis Burgers has
been awarded a one-year Seireg Fellowship for his research “Press-fit
Fixation and Viscoelastic Response of a Bone-Implant Interface.”
His project will develop patient-specific finite-element models of the
femoral bone-implant interface to better understand the stress distributions,
to predict the best surgical procedure for the patient, and ultimately,
to increase implant survival rates.
Professor and Chair Neil
Duffie has been elected president of the Society of Manufacturing
Engineers (SME) for 2008. He currently is vice-president. SME, celebrating
its 75th anniversary in 2007, represents more than 70 countries in its
28,000-strong membership. Its mission is to be an internationally recognized
source of information, education and networking for manufacturers and
companies. He has been a member of SME since 1981.
Phil and Jean Myers Professor David
Foster received the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Soichiro Honda Medal for outstanding contributions in the field of personal
transportation. The award recognizes Foster’s research in diesel
engine combustion as well as his nationwide public service and international
education efforts. He received the honor at the ASME President’s
Luncheon November 6 in Chicago.
Ouweneel-Bascom Professor Sanford
Klein received an honorary doctorate from the University of Liege,
Belgium, in a ceremony on March 29. This honor recognizes his research
in solar energy systems and design methods. Klein developed a software
program and an equation solver for thermal system design and analysis,
which students and professionals use worldwide. His visits to the University
of Liege have culminated in this great honor.
Associate Professor Xiaochun
Li has been appointed Vilas Associate. The Vilas Trustees award
this honor to faculty in the physical sciences in support of their research
and scholarly work and provide summer salaries and flexible research
funding. Li plans to develop a class of multifunctional metallic materials
that can operate in harsh environments by integrating nanophotonic sensor
elements into aerospace metallic materials.
A new UW-Madison research center, Center for Structurally Integrated
Micro/Nano-Systems (SIMNS Center), will create an interdisciplinary
paradigm for micro/nano-system research for extreme environments. The
center will focus on manufacturing, energy conversion and biomedical
applications of SIMNS. The SIMNS Center, which includes faculty from
five research universities and industry companies, is directed by Professor
Xiaochun Li.
The UW-Madison Polymer
Engineering Center and one of its partners, SIMTEC Silicone Parts,
LLC, received the Society of Plastics Engineers Innovation in Thermoset
Processing Award for 2006. The award honored liquid silicone overmolding
that SIMTEC developed, made possible by the Polymer Engineering Center’s
computer simulation of the curing process. It was one of four awards
given during the Thermoset Moulding Conference held in Madison November
2-3.
