Message From the Department Head Nadine Aubry


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Not only has MechE alum Ahmet Kocabiyik won global recognition — including a Gold Medal from the Kennedy Center — but he has quietly and consistently made a positive impact through his philanthropy.


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his is an exciting time in the Department of Mechanical Engineering! Since 2005, our graduate enrollment has tripled. Today we have 266 masters and doctoral students, and more undergraduate students are choosing MechE than ever before. Our faculty size is the largest ever,


and new professors are joining us each year—including our newest additions, Assistant Professors Sheng Shen (featured in the Spring issue) and Carmel Majidi (see page 6). Our faculty are assuming greater leadership roles in the Carnegie Mellon community. Professors Metin Sitti and Philip LeDuc have both recently founded interdisciplinary Centers that will further establish the University’s global research leadership. LeDuc’s Center for the Mechanics and Engineering of Cellular Systems is featured on page 3, while Sitti’s Center for Bio-Robotics will be highlighted in our Spring newsletter. Our “Faculty News” section on pages 5-9 showcases other faculty achieve- ments, including a $512,000 Young Investigator Award for Assistant Professor Donghyun You and more than $1.5 million in new funding for Professor Sitti. MechE’s students also continue to excel and win recognition, as evidenced on pages 14-17. More students are participating in study-abroad experiences, including international service-learning trips (see page 15). In the 2010-11 academic year, more than 40 of our undergrads participated in study-abroad programs. If this pace continues, half of all our future graduates will have added an international component to their MechE education. I hope all our students will be inspired to learn about our illustrious alumnus


featured in this issue, Ahmet Kocabiyik (see pages 10-11). Not only has he won global recognition—including a Gold Medal from the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts—but he has quietly and consistently made a positive impact on the communities in which his company, Borusan, oper- ates. In fact, Kocabiyik donates $10 to $15 million annually to philanthropic causes. We are very proud to count him among our distinguished alumni. Our “Alumni News” and “Department News” sections highlight many new developments in our MechE family. I am especially enthusiastic about a new tradition we began in April, the annual Alumni Picnic held during Spring Carnival weekend. Watch our Web site at www.cmu.edu/me for details about the 2012 Alumni Picnic. I sincerely hope you will join us to reconnect with other members of the MechE family, and I look forward to seeing you in April!•


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Faculty News You Wins Young Investigator Award


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Alumni News Ahmet Kocabiyik: A Gift for Giving Back


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Student News Students Continue to Explore the World


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CARNEGIE MECH


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