Aero100

Aerospace Engineering researchers are developing a method to harvest the energy of the human heart to power pacemakers, a technology they hope can translate to other medical devices. Their research, which began with studying how to power wireless sensors in aircraft wings, could ultimately eliminate the need for costly and painful surgeries to replace the batteries of an implanted medical device.

ABOUT THE PROFESSOR: U-M Aerospace Engineering Department Chair Dan Inman is active in research involving smart materials and structures as applied to morphing aircraft, energy harvesting, structural health monitoring and clearance control in jet engines. He currently has projects in gust alleviation in UAVs, cable harnessed satellites and wind turbine blade monitoring.

In addition to his role as Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, Professor David Darmofal is also the Director of the MIT Aerospace Computational Design Laboratory. He guides the Laboratory’s mission to lead the advancement and application of computational engineering for aerospace systems design and optimization. He also has served as the department’s interim head.

Among his honors, Professor Darmofal has been recognized with an NSF Career Award and Post-Doctoral Fellowship.

At MIT, he is a MacVicar Faculty Fellow, in recognition of his exemplary and sustained contributions to the teaching and education of undergraduates.

He was honored with the MIT School of Engineering Bose Award for Junior Faculty, and just last year received the Earll M. Murman Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising. It is presented to a faculty member who has served as an excellent advisor and mentor for undergraduates, and who has had a significant impact on their personal lives and academic success. In addition, Professor Darmofal was recently named the Raymond Bisplinghoff Faculty Fellow in recognition of his contributions in research, teaching, and service.

The Radio Aurora Explorer (RAX) mission has proven that scientific information can be gathered from a CubeSat, which is a small satellite encased within a box and attached to a spacecraft to achieve orbit. The scientific data gathered by RAX has been published in peer-reviewed science journals.

CubeSats are sparking innovation and providing easier access to space, according to Aerospace Engineering Professor Jamie Cutler. The value of CubeSats is their ability to test technology and get into space at a low price point and with little risk involved, says Cutler.

ABOUT THE PROFESSOR: James Cutler is an assistant professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Michigan. His research interests center on space systems – a multidisciplinary approach to enabling future space capability with particular emphasis on novel, nanosatellite missions. He is developing next generation communication capability and robust space computing infrastructure. He is the director of the Michigan Exploration Laboratory.

As co-founder and Managing Director of RPM Ventures, Marc Weiser actively seeks out and invests in promising information technology companies, including spinouts from leading research universities. Like ours.

But it is his service here that is so important to our students, the College of Engineering, and the University community at large.

Marc is an active board member of the College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship, contributing solid advice based on his years of professional experience. He is also an adjunct professor in the Center for Entrepreneurship Affiliates Program. The program’s goal is to help students, faculty and staff pursue entrepreneurial achievements, and bring ideas from invention to implementation.

In further service to our students, Marc was instrumental in the creation of TechArb, a downtown Ann Arbor incubator/accelerator for student-led businesses. TechArb is a joint effort of the Center for Entrepreneurship, the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. Students are empowered to bring their ideas to life by working with experienced mentors and the Michigan alumni network.

And Marc and Mary, his wife, are leading the creation of the Food Allergy Center at the University of Michigan. The Center will provide national leadership and a path to a cure for individuals suffering from these allergies.

Marc has said about his approach: “Our strategy is to find disruptive technologies and find researchers, professors and grad students that have the right kind of mindset, connect them with entrepreneurial business leaders, and help them create their companies. To reinvent Michigan, one of the best places to start is with these talented, hungry, driven students who are looking forward, not backwards.”