Again in 2005, ME students have been recognized for their academic achievements with Graduate Research Fellowships from the National Science Foundation. The Graduate Research Fellowship program provides three years of support for graduate study leading to research-based masters or doctoral degrees and is intended for students who are at the early stages of their graduate study. The awards include an annual stipend of $30,000 and a cost-of-education allowance of $10,500 for a 12-month academic year. Current ME recipients are Kiran D’Souza, Danese Joiner, Erin Macdonald, and Scott Green.
Kiran D’Souza
Kiran D’Souza is a true ME student, having spent six years in the department. He received his BS in ME and has just completed his second year in the
PhD program. In addition, he’s carrying on a family tradition, as his three brothers, Vinay, Deepak and Arun, all received their bachelor’s degrees at U-M
in Mechanical Engineering.
D’Souza’s decision to specialize in nonlinear dynamics and vibrations, specifically damage detection in nonlinear systems using vibration-based methods, originated when he took ME240 (Dynamics and Vibrations) as an undergraduate with Professor Noel Perkins. His interest continued to grow as an undergrad, and his senior design project was a flycasting robot he worked on with two other students under Professor Perkins.
“The summer before I entered grad school at Michigan, I was contacted by several professors,” said D’Souza, “one of whom was my current advisor, Professor Bogdan Epureanu. I was interested in the research area he was working on which combined dynamics and vibrations with nonlinear systems and chaos. I started working on a project idea he had when I began grad school in the fall.
“My current research focus is to use an augmented linear system to model a trajectory of a nonlinear system,” said D’Souza. “A linear modal analysis technique is then used to obtain modal properties. Finally, a linear damage detection method called Generalized Minimum Rank Perturbation Theory that we developed is used to determine damage location and extent. We have used our methodology successfully with nonlinear systems containing Coulomb friction and cubic spring nonlinearities.”
Prior to receiving the NSF grant this year, D’Souza had received an honorable mention from the NSF in 2004, but that was only one of the honors he’s received. He’s been recognized with the 2003 Mildred and Steele Bailey Prize from the College of Engineering, for academic excellence and outstanding leadership and service to the college and community, and the 2002 A.D Moore Award. He also received the 2002 Melvin R. Green Scholarship from ASME International and a 2001 ASME Foundation Scholarship.
D’Souza, from Troy, Michigan, credited his advisor, Professor Epureanu, for his help in D’Souza’s success in receiving the grant this year. “He spent quite a bit of time helping me revise and edit my research proposal in 2004. Obtaining the Honorable Mention in 2004 with a solid application really helped me get the award in 2005 because I received constructive feedback from the reviewers about where I could improve. Professor Epureanu helped me revise my 2005 application, and his drive to have me excel in my research in general was very helpful in giving me a shot at the award.”
Scott Green
Scott Green is coming back to the academic life after spending several years as a design engineer for Kalamazoo-based Stryker Instruments, a leading
manufacturer of medical devices. Previously, he received his BSME from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, in Terre Haute, Indiana. In addition to
graduating Summa Cum Laude, he received the Heminway medal for highest cumulative GPA and the Cummins Award for most outstanding graduating
mechanical engineer.
Although Green originally received the NSF Graduate Fellowship in 2003, he waited until 2005 to begin his studies. He had entered his senior year of undergraduate work with the idea that he would immediately attend graduate school after finishing his undergraduate work. He applied to various schools as well as for an NSF fellowship.He also interviewed with Stryker, who offered him a position as a design engineer.
“That was essentially where I thought I would end up after graduate school,” said Green. “I decided to accept the offer and see if being a design engineer truly appealed to me. A few months after I accepted the offer, I was notified by the NSF that I had received the fellowship. However, in the fellowship "fine print", I found that I could reserve the fellowship for up to two years, as long as I kept the foundation up to date with what I was doing and as long as the reasoning for my deferral was sound.”
Green’s research focus is in MEMS/Microsystems, and he cited two main reasons why he chose to pursue study in this field. “First,” said Green, “it is a technology that is cutting edge and shows great potential for practical application in many areas of industry. For the past four years, every engineering situation I have been in has been or could be augmented profoundly with the use of an appropriate MEMS device. Second, the technology is fundamentally cross-disciplinary, which aligns well with my desire to expand my knowledge beyond the mechanical engineering world.”
Green acknowledged the assistance of others who helped him achieve the NSF honor. He gave much of the credit to the many people—faculty, researchers, and peers—who, he said, “unknowingly” helped him to fashion and fine tune his vision for his graduate studies. He also reserved praise for a trusted professor who critiqued his application and statement of purpose and the writers of his three letters of recommendation. “They were written by outstanding scholars, and they helped to illustrate my potential in a way I never could have expressed.”
As for his decision to attend ME at the University of Michigan, the choice was a simple one for the native of Davison, Michigan. “The University of Michigan is my choice first and foremost because of its outstanding MEMS/Microsystems program that illustrates a commitment to cross-disciplinary study. Secondly, as a native Michigander, I have always been partial to U of M. Go Blue!”
Danese Joiner
Danese Joiner is heading into her second year in the ME PhD program, after having received her bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at Rutgers. Her
decision to come to the University of Michigan was prompted, in part, by the wealth of research and academic opportunities.
“Of the graduate schools that I applied to,” said Joiner, “there appeared to be more opportunities for interdisciplinary work at the University of Michigan, as well as a diverse course selection. The university has a great reputation, and when I visited, I felt the administrators really wanted me here and were willing to make an investment in me. In addition, many of the faculty at Rutgers encouraged me to attend, including my advisor, Timothy Wei, who received his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan.”
Joiner plans to focus her research in biomechanics, and orthopedics in particular. She first became interested in orthopedic research during the summer after her sophomore year of high school when she spent twenty hours a week working in an extended care facility.
“I witnessed countless bedridden and wheelchair bound patients, who needed to be escorted by an aide to perform basic daily tasks,” said Joiner. “I sympathized with these individuals and wished that there was something I could do to help their quality of life. During my undergraduate academic career, I took courses in biomechanics and biomechanical systems and realized that there is something I can contribute to improve the lives of individuals suffering from bone disease and degradation. While a great deal of research has been conducted governing fracture fixation, bone remodeling, and bone deterioration, there still remains important aspects of these areas that remain unexplored.”
A native of St. Louis—she grew up in Tinton Falls, NJ—Joiner has received other prestigious awards in addition to the NSF Fellowship. She has been named a GEM Research Fellow and has received a Rackham Engineering Fellowship. She was also named a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, a Douglass College Scholar, and a James Dickson Carr Scholar. Joiner was also a member of the Douglass Project for Women in Math, Science, and Engineering and graduated Magna Cum Laude.
In addition to crediting her advisors and colleagues for their assistance, Joiner also noted that her mother helped prepare her application. “My mom read over my essays to make sure someone with a non-technical background could understand them. That helped me make sure that what I wanted to say was clear.”
Erin Macdonald
Erin Macdonald is returning to school following a five-year hiatus, during which she worked for a while as a product developer at an outdoor gear company,
designing tents and sleeping bags. It was there that she first noticed the challenges in designing products from different perspectives and in interfacing
quantitative and qualitative approaches to product design. She became determined to return to graduate school in order to find better ways to design products,
ways that smoothed the interface of the different design perspectives.
After receiving her master’s in mechanical engineering in 2004, she’s a pre-candidate for a PhD. Her primary research will be done in interdisciplinary design of consumer products and she is looking forward to the challenges ahead.
“Optimizing products in an interdisciplinary/holistic fashion leads to better products. I work in the Optimal Design Lab in ME, which is headed by Professor Panos Papalambros,” said Macdonald, “and I am studying eco-friendly consumer products, in particular, for my dissertation. I am approaching the design process from a number of different disciplines—engineering, marketing, and psychology—simultaneously in a quantitative fashion. For me, quantitative communication between disciplines that do not traditionally have quantitative approaches to design is part of the challenge.”
Macdonald, who received her BS with honors in Materials Science and Engineering from Brown University in 1998, is also the recipient of numerous awards and honors in addition to the NSF Fellowship. She was a member of team that won one of seven awards at the recent Environmental Protection Agency’s P3 (People, Prosperity, and the Planet) competition and received a 2003 Rackham Engineering Award and an honorable mention from the NSF the same year.
Professionally, she holds a patent on a sleeping bag accessory that extends the size of the bag to larger girths. She also received the President’s Award from American Recreation Products/Sierra Designs in 2002 and the Composite Material Design Award from the Metals, Minerals, and Materials Society in 1998.
Macdonald, who grew up in Vestal, New York, noted that this was the third time she had applied for the NSF Fellowship, and she gave credit to her advisors, Professor Panos Papalambros in Engineering and Professor Richard Gonzalez in Psychology, as well as to Professor Steven Skerlos.
As a multiple-time applicant, Macdonald emphasized that patience and persistence is required in this process as much as it is in the field and in the classroom.
“I am the director of the Graduate Society of Women Engineers at U-M, and I absolutely encourage everyone who is eligible to apply for this award, even if he or she has applied several times in the past. There is no reason not to apply for this fellowship, if someone is eligible. I was really surprised to get the fellowship on my third attempt. Like one of my professors said, persistence is key in academia.”
Macdonald has offered her advice for students getting their applications started. Interested students may contact her at erinmacd@umich.edu.