The ME department has been selected as a Minus K Technology Educational Giveaway winner and the recipient a 150BM-8 negative stiffness vibration isolator workstation.
The vibration isolation workstation will be used in ME495 and ME595. ME495 is a capstone undergraduate laboratory course teaching experimental and analytical methods in complex mechanical systems. ME595 introduces graduate students to experimental methods and critical skills for developing novel measurements.
According to U-M ME Professors Pramod Sangi Reddy and Edgar Meyhofer, with the increasing importance of nanoscience, it was vital for ME to add essential hands-on nanotechnology training in atomic force microscopy, nanoscale metrology and laser trapping interferometry.
“Because of the extreme sensitivity of these techniques to floor vibrations, low frequency isolation via a Minus K system will significantly improve experimental outcomes (and learning) which are currently limited by building vibrations,” said Meyhofer and Sangi Reddy. “Plus, exposing students (>300/year) to state-of-the-art vibration isolation is highly relevant to careers in academic and industrial research.”
