C A R N E G I E ME L L O N D E PA RTME N T O F ME C H A N I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G


Courtesy FacultyAdd Diverse Expertise I


n keeping with its commitment to offer students a diversified, interdisciplinary experience,MechE regularly extends courtesy appointments to leading-edge faculty and researchers from across


the College of Engineering.While they retain their full-time appointments in other departments, these faculty and researchers also become collaborative members of theMechE community—sharing their expertise through joint education efforts, research projects, and seminars.They also act as advisors toMechE students. The Department recently added four courtesy faculty members, with a diverse range of backgrounds and areas of expertise.


After earning degrees at theUniversity of Denver and LehighUniversity,Research Professor Sanjiv Singh began his career at CarnegieMellon as an Engineer in the ConstructionRobotics Lab.There,he worked onNavLab, an early outdoor mobile robot. In 1989,he was one of the first students to enroll in the newRobotics Ph.D.program.Since 1995,Singh has been on the research faculty at theRobotics


Institute,principally affiliated with the FieldRobotics Center and the NationalRobotics Engineering Center.


. . . . .


Assistant Professor Bruno Sinopoli of Electrical and Computer Engineering earned hisM.S. and Ph.D. fromthe University of California,Berkeley.After working at Stanford as a Postdoctoral Researcher,Sinopoli joined Carnegie Mellon in Spring 2007. His research interests include the analysis of networked embedded control systems,with applica- tions in sensor actuator networks and sys-


temsecurity.Sinopoli also holds a courtesy appointment inRobotics. . . . . .


While earning his Ph.D. in Robotics at CarnegieMellon,Associate Research Professor DavidWettergreen began his work on walking robots with theAmbler, a large six-legged robot.Wettergreen also helped establish the feasibility of science rovers with his groundbreaking work on Dante—a robot designed to explore volcanic craters.Following research appointments at NASA andAustralian


National University,Wettergreen returned to CarnegieMellon, where he is currently on the faculty at the Robotics Institute.He also advises graduate students inMechanical Engineering in the design of robotic systems and in the modeling and experimental analysis of vehicle performance.


. . . . .


Assistant Research ProfessorYaser Sheikh of the Robotics Institute works in analyzing dynamic scenes from moving cameras.His research focuses on dynamic structure reconstruction,human behavior analysis, estimation of nonrigid motion, and modeling moving cameras in space- time. Sheikh is part of the People Image Analysis (PIA) Consortium,which devel- ops and distributes technologies that


process images and videos to detect, track, and understand human faces,bodies, and activities.•


McGaughey LeadsNSF-SponsoredTeam


Assistant ProfessorAlan McGaughey is the principal investi- gator for a research proposal entitled“CarbonNanotube AerogelNetworks forNext-GenerationThermalManagement” which was recently awarded nearly $1Min funding fromthe National Science Foundation (NSF). The project teamismulti-disciplinary,bringingMcGaughey


together with Professors ShelleyAnna (MechE/Chemical Engineering),Mohammad Islam (Chemical Engineering/ Materials Science and Enginering), and Kevin Pipe (Mechanical Engineering,University ofMichigan). Researchers will use theNSF funding to study heat transfer


and fluid flow in carbon nanotube (CNT) aerogels.These aerogels are ultra-light,have high strength, andmay have the potential for superior electrical transport and heat transfer. The teambelieves that,by tuning the structure of the aerogel, it will be possible to obtainmaterials that exhibit excellent thermal insulation and/or conductivity.Suchmaterials are valued in aerospace applications,which require efficient heat removal and low weight. The award wasmade fromtheNSF’s Interdisciplinary


Research program.McGaughey believes that the proposal was successful due to the team’s diverse skill set.SaysMcGaughey, “CarnegieMellon’s support of such interdisciplinary work made the logistics of assembling the teamstraightforward— and allowed the research to take center stage.”•


C A R N E G I E M E C H I 15


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