On Saturday, May 24 and Sunday, May 25, the Mechanical Engineering (ME) Department and the College of Engineering (CoE) hosted the Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM) Midwest Graduate Student Symposium on Experimental Mechanics. This event allows students to present their research in a relaxed setting and rotates between schools in the Midwest.
The symposium has a more than thirty year history and owes its origins to Professor Charles E Taylor. Students from Carnegie Mellon, Marquette, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, the University of Pittsburgh, Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Michigan gathered to present work on a variety of topics including; the impact behavior of structural batteries, dynamic fracture phenomena and characterization, viscoelastic properties of hydrogels, vibration, adhesive fracture of biomaterial specimens, shape memory alloys, characterization and modeling of anterior cruciate ligament biomechanics, microscale material removal, aeroelastic performance evaluation of Aileron, and strain evolution in MAX phases.
Professor Sam Daly and her research group hosted a dinner-party at a local lake on Saturday night. The forum allowed for casual social and professional interaction between faculty and students from Midwest universities. In all, there were 31 presentations and more than 40 participants. The event was sponsored by SEM, the U-M ME department, and the U-M College of Engineering.