Mechanical Engineering

Visualization of vortices in a drop of silicone oil sitting on a warm bath. The temperature difference generates a recirculating flow that is visualized by shining a green laser light on fluorescent particles that are added as passive tracers within the drop.

How to float your coffee creamer

Study explains how droplets can “levitate” on liquid surfaces.

November 14, 2017

Many rural communities are turning to microgrids, small-scale power systems that supply local energy, typically in the form of solar power, to localized consumers, such as individual households or small villages.

No more blackouts?

New framework guarantees stability of microgrids that supply local power in developing countries.

November 8, 2017

Graduate student Ingrid Guha holds a jar containing a clear liquid that looks like water to the naked eye, but it’s actually an emulsion of oil and water at the nanoscale.

A new way to mix oil and water

Condensation-based method developed at MIT could create stable nanoscale emulsions.

November 8, 2017

Woodard is a co-founder of the MIT BoSTEM Scholars Academy. The four-week summer program gives high school students valuable experiences in STEM and aims to put them on the path to MIT and other universities. Woodard worked with his co-founder Javier Weddington to raise $18,000 to fund the program, which debuted the summer of 2017 and will continue in the coming summers.

Connecting through conversation

Whether in Cambridge or Shanghai, MIT senior Joshua Charles Woodard seeks to learn from others’ perspectives and challenge his own.

November 1, 2017

Clockwise from top left: Aram Harrow, Benjamin Jones, Scott Kemp, Calvin Leung, Ian Moult, Keith Nelson, Bradley Olsen, Jonathan Loren Ouellet, and Pedro Reis

Twelve from MIT honored by the American Physical Society

Prize winners span six departments in the schools of Science and Engineering.

October 31, 2017

Jerry Akinsulire’s ideal job would involve “an interplay — developing ideas on a drawing board, building something hands on, and then testing in the world,” he says. “That would be the perfect combination for me.”

Jerry Akinsulire: The making of a maker mentor

Undergraduate Olorunsola “Jerry” Akinsulire spearheads a new builder space in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

October 26, 2017

A new smartphone app analyzes a car’s sounds and vibrations, as measured by the phone’s microphone and accelerometers. “We’re listening to the car’s breathing, and listening for when it starts to snore,” Joshua Siegel says.

Let your car tell you what it needs

MIT team develops software that can tell if tires need air, spark plugs are bad, or air filter needs replacing.

October 25, 2017

More than 1,000 MIT alumni and friends celebrated the MIT Campaign for a Better World at the Boch Center Wang Theatre in downtown Boston on Sept. 28.

The Better World Tour comes home to Boston

Alumni and friends gather at the Boch Center Wang Theatre to celebrate the vibrant MIT community and the Institute's ambitious dreams for a better world.

October 20, 2017

Emily Tow PhD '17, displays equipment she developed to measure the effects of different pressure levels on the way microorganisms build up on membranes used for desalinating water.

Toward efficient high-pressure desalination

Surprisingly, pressurization isn’t to blame for fouling of membranes, study finds.

October 15, 2017

T.K. Pillan ’90, a mechanical engineering major while at MIT, now runs the largest vegan and vegetarian restaurant company in the U.S.

When healthy meets fast food

T.K. Pillan ’90 created Veggie Grill, a completely plant-based, fast-casual eatery that is now the largest vegan and vegetarian restaurant company in the U.S.

October 11, 2017