Sitti Wins More Than $1.5 Million in Funding


Professor Metin Sitti has won two new awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support his ground- breaking robotics research.


A $1.2 million NSF grant will support a project aimed at developing a computational framework and a physical platform for enabling dense networks of micro-robotic swarms for future medical applications. This grant was won


in collaboration with MechE Professor Philip LeDuc and Professor Radu Marculescu of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. A $339,000 NSF award will fund Sitti’s efforts to create high-performance elastomer fibrillar adhesives with self-cleaning capabilities—mimicking the self-cleaning mechanics of both geckos and beetles. In addition, Sitti recently founded the new Center for Bio-Robotics at


Carnegie Mellon, which will bring MechE robotics experts together with leaders from other departments and institutes at Carnegie Mellon, such as Robotics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering. The Spring 2012 issue of Carnegie Mech will showcase Sitti’s amazing research, news about the Center for Bio-Robotics, and new developments at his company, nanoGriptech LLC.•


Consumer Emotions: A Powerful Force


MechE Professor Jonathan Cagan continues to explore the powerful role of consumer emotions in making product choices—a topic he introduced in his 2010 book Built to Love, co-authored with Professor Peter Boatwright of the Tepper School. The book formed the basis for a recent class called “Product Emotion Research,” in which students explored


why people continue to smoke, despite health warnings. The class was conducted in conjunction with GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Consumer Health Care unit. To track and quantify smoking behavior, students developed a dynamic model of emotions and needs that included nicotine cessation and behavior modification. Professors Cagan and Boatwright also recently published an article in The


European Business Review on their groundbreaking product emotion research. In addition, this summer Cagan was part of a team that won the ASME Design Theory and Methodology Conference Best Paper Award for “Under- standing of Emotions and Reasoning During Consumer Trade-Off Between Function and Aesthetics in Product Design.” Co-authors were MechE Ph.D. student Brian Sylcott and Golnaz Tabibnia, Assistant Professor of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon.•


CARNEGIE MECH 9


Associate Professor Jeremy Michalek is the co-author of a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy


of Sciences that is garnering media attention. The paper—titled “Valu- ation of Plug-In Vehicle Life-Cycle Air Emissions and Oil Displacement Benefits”—examined the life-cycle health impacts, environmental dam- ages, and oil consumption costs of conventional and electrified vehicles. Michalek and his fellow researchers found that small battery packs—as well as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) that don’t plug in—can reduce air emissions and enhance oil security at low or no additional cost. In contrast, plug-in vehicles with large battery packs are more costly and may have higher or lower emissions than HEVs, depending on the electricity source. The paper was featured in national and international media, as well as on the home page of the Carnegie Mellon Web site (see http://www.cmu. edu/homepage/environment/2011/ fall/battery-bulk.shtml). Co-authors of the paper include MechE alum Ching-Shin Norman Shiau (Ph.D. 2010), as well as Paulina Jaramillo and the late Lester B. Lave, both of the Engineering and Public Policy Department.•


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