ENGINEERING FACULTY SECURE MAJOR NIH AND NSF GRANTS
School of Engineering faculty secured nearly $1million inmajor grants this academic year from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Learnmore about how these grants will benefit St. Thomas and the scientific community.
Dr. Brittany Nelson-Cheeseman teaching an engineering class.
By BRANT SKOGRAND ’04 MBC and MICHAEL DERUS ’04
PARTICLE IMAGE VELOCIMETER The National Science Foundation awarded a Major Research Instrumentation grant for the acquisition of a state-of-the-art instrument known as a particle image velocimeter. The interdisciplinary team includes four faculty from the School of Engineering: Principal investigator (PI): Dr. David Forliti , Mechanical Engineering Co-PI: Dr. Thomas Shepard , Mechanical Engineering Co-PI: Dr. John Abraham , Mechanical Engineering Co-PI: Dr. Cheol-Hong Min , Electrical and Computer Engineering The team also includes one faculty member from the College of Arts and Sciences, Co-PI Dr. Thomas Höft of the Mathematics Department. “Particle image velocimetry has become one of the most impactful instruments for exploring the dynamics of flowing fluids. The system operates via tracking the motion of particles added to the fluid, which are illuminated by a laser sheet and imaged using digital cameras,” Forliti said. “The tracking of the particles allows for detailed measurement of the velocity field in fluid flows, enabling the investigation of flows in engineering applications as well in the natural environment.”
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