photos: U-M MEAM CPO / Rodney Hill

Professor Richard E. Sonntag was scheduled to retire after a distinguished career of more than 35 years.

MEAM's internationally recognized group of faculty continued to create an academic atmosphere dedicated to learning and investigation. In 1997­98, MEAM successfully recruite d two new faculty members in the area of thermal and fluid sciences, including Associate Professor Volker Sick, who joined the faculty in September 1997, and Assistant Professor Margaret S. Wooldridge, who will begin in September 1998.

MEAM gratefully a cknowledges the dedicated efforts and contributions of Professor Richard E. Sonntag (BSE ME '56, MSE '57, PhD '61), scheduled to retire December 1998, after a distinguished career spanning more than 35 years. Sonntag served as Department Chair from 1981 t o 1992, earning a strong reputation of exemplary leadership, vision, and commitment.

Several MEAM faculty received outstanding national honors and recognitions during 1997­98. Six MEAM faculty members earned prestigious Early Career Development Awa rds from the National Science Foundation (NSF), including Assistant Professors Ellen M. Arruda, William J. Endres, S. Jack Hu (MSE '86, PhD '90), Liwei Lin, Huei Peng, and Ann Marie Sastry. Sastry was also one of 60 researchers selected to rece ive the sec ond annual Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government to outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their careers.

photos: U-M MEAM CPO / Rodney Hill

Vennema Professor of Mechanical Engineering and applied Mechanics, Albert (Al) B. Schultz, is an internationally recognized autority in the field of biomechanics.

MEAM faculty members were involved in a wide range of groundbreaking research and activities in the Department's major centers and in their individual laboratories. Some highlights include:

MEAM completed a move of all its machining research activities into a new Integrated Manufacturing Systems Laboratory (IMSL) in the Herbert H. Dow Building. The NSF Engineering Resea rch Center for Reconfigurable Machining Systems (ERC/RMS), NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC), S.M. Wu Manufacturing Research Center (WuMRC), and other machining-related projects were relocated to 20,000 square feet of renovated space. The CoE Program in Manufacturing (PIM) was also relocated there. The new facility brings together research laboratories and equipment that had been housed throughout the G.G. Brown and Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) buildings. It also includes a testbed that houses state-of-the-art equipment for testing new RMS ideas and for training industry engineers in how to use RMS techniques and methodologies.

A new $5 million GM Satellite Research Laboratory was established at the Univ ersity of Michigan. A letter of understanding was signed in January 1998 between the U-M College of Engineering and General Motors Global Research and Development Operations. Co-directors of the new research laboratory will be Professor Panos Y. Papalambr os and Dr. Hazem Ezzat, head, Manufacturing and Design Systems Department and chief scientist, Delphi Saginaw Steering Systems.

photos: U-M MEAM CPO / Shekinah Errington

MEAM plays a major role in a new GM Satellite Research Laboratory at U-M. A letter of understanding was signed on January 30, 1998 by representatives from the CoE and GM.

Professor Albert B. Schultz and Senior Research Scientist James A. Ashton-Miller received renewal of their National Institute s of Health Institute of Aging Program Project Grant. The five-year, $3.2 million grant funds "Fundamental Aspects of Mobility in Older Adults," which includes three projects, "Multiple Impairments, Task Demands, and Mobility in Older Adults" (project lea der: Neil B. Alexander, MD, a geriatrician in the Department of Internal Medicine, U-M Medical Center); "Physical and Psychological Factors in Mobility" (project leader: J. Ashton-Miller); and "Biomechanics of Falls and Fall Arrests in Older Adults" (proj ect leader: A. Schultz).

Assistant Professor Liwei Lin received a three-year grant from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense for developing a massively parallel micropackaging process to selectively enca psulate, trim, and adjust microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices. This project is in collaboration with Professor Kensall D. Wise in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Lin also received three NSF grants for developing MEMS post- packaging processes, MEMS sensors for disk/head contact inferfacial problems, and integrated mesoscopic electromechanical manufacturing.