This seminar will explore the intersection of knowledge from the field of textile manufacturing with the needs of soft robots and devices, specifically focusing on wearable applications, including performance metrics, material and component choices, and fabrication strategies.
Interventions utilizing synthetic biomaterials for the modulation of cellular behavior in situ present a unique solution to the persistent challenges in cell manufacturing and conventional cell therapies. By engineering non-biological materials to transmit biological signals, we have the ability to fine-tune adhesive forces, regulate cellular mechanotransduction, and shape the immune response to create an optimal milieu for tissue healing.
Atmospheric flows are highly unsteady, and systems operating within them must contend with gust disturbances that can lead to performance losses and structural damage. Therefore, the next generation of wind-energy systems requires physics-informed design principles that effectively account for and even leverage these unsteady flow phenomena for enhanced power generation, robustness, and operational longevity.
Tissue morphogenesis is the process by which cells and tissues acquire their shape and structure during embryonic development. While the design of a tissue is encoded in the genome, the execution of this program is driven by the mechanical progression of coordinated behaviors at molecular, cellular and tissue scales.
This talk will present a suite of enabling methodologies including sampling design (aka active learning), transfer learning, domain adaptation and generalization, and federated learning that span the full life cycle of data-driven decision-making. Real-world case studies involving a wide range of manufacturing applications will be discussed to illustrate these methodologies and demonstrate their effectiveness in various decision-making tasks such as part qualification, online monitoring, maintenance, fault diagnosis, and quality improvement.
When designing complex systems, we need to consider multiple trade-offs at various abstraction levels and scales, and choices of single components need to be studied jointly.
Here, we investigate the transverse vibrational response of semi-rigid cantilevers to external forcing using both experiments and a low-order numerical model. The purpose is to explore the energy harvesting potential of cantilever shaped-piezoelectric devices executing low-amplitude vibrations in low-speed wind.
Cells and tissues in living organisms are continually exposed to mechanical stimuli. There is growing evidence that the interplay between these stimuli and cellular processes, referred to as mechanobiology, plays a significant role in several physiological phenomena including cell function, migration, tissue repair, and regeneration. I will demonstrate that the altered mechanobiology of Schlemm's Canal endothelium and its underlying substrate is a key factor in the pathology of primary open-angle glaucoma, and that this discovery can be used to develop new therapeutics for this disease.
Safely exploiting the mobility limits of a vehicle is an essential capability for autonomous driving in time and safety critical applications such as extreme maneuvers in military operations or high-speed collision avoidance on roads. However, the traditional approach of treating planning and control problems separately leads to overly conservative solutions and limits such exploitation. To address this gap, we propose a paradigm shift from separate to combined treatment of planning and control problems, which allows for solving both problems with a consistent understanding of the capabilities and limits of the vehicle for improving performance and safety.
An EQ-4B Global Hawk, one of the United States’ most advanced and expensive unmanned aerial vehicles, lost stability and crashed in 2011 because a single screw loosened. In 2016, a Union Pacific train derailed in Mosier, Oregon due to a single loose bolt. It released 42,000 gallons of crude oil into the local environment. These two events (and many others) highlight our lack of knowledge pertaining to the long-term evolution of nonlinearities and their effect on the structure’s health and dynamics.
Diffusion processes refer to a class of stochastic processes driven by Brownian motion. They have been widely used in various applications, ranging from engineering to science to finance. In this talk, I will discuss my experiences with diffusion and how this powerful tool has shaped our research programs.
As an important medical tool, ultrasound has been used for diagnostics and therapy for decades. Unlike X-ray based imaging, ultrasound does not rely on radiative activities that makes it much safer for medical applications. Comparing to optics, ultrasound has a much higher penetration depth into the tissue. These advantages make ultrasound the dominant imaging method for abdominal organ observation.