Mechanical engineering

For their 2017 J-WAFS Seed Grant project, MIT professors Stephen Graves and Bishwapriya Sanyal will analyze irrigation practice, supply chain design, and extension services in Senegal. Their goal is to understand how policy and market conditions influence the availability of irrigation technologies in developing countries. Seen here: Irrigated rice cultivation in the Senegal River Valley.

J-WAFS awards $1.4 million in third round of seed grant funding

Principal investigators will receive grants of up to $200,000 per year for two years, overhead free, for innovative research on food and water challenges.

May 10, 2017

MIT spinout New Valence Robotics (NVBOTS) has brought to market the only fully automated commercial 3-D printer that’s equipped with cloud-based queuing and automatic part removal, making print jobs quicker and easier for multiple users, and dropping the cost per part.

Making 3-D printing as simple as printing on paper

Startup’s cloud-based system allows for project queuing by multiple users and automated part removal.

May 4, 2017

Nicholas Fang, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, won an MITEI Seed Fund grant to continue his research into developing efficient ceramic support structures for catalytic converters used in power plants and in the automotive industry. This photo shows a piece of 3-D-printed cellular ceramic substrate with 100-nm-thin walls that has exhibited excellent thermal conductance and mechani...

MIT Energy Initiative awards 10 seed fund grants for early-stage energy research

May 2, 2017

A new system developed by MIT engineers could make it possible to control the way water moves over a surface, using only light.

Using light to propel water

With new method, MIT engineers can control and separate fluids on a surface using only visible light.

April 25, 2017

On the left, an atomic-force microscopy image shows a nanoporous graphene membrane after a burst test at 100 bars. The image shows that failed micromembranes (the dark black areas) are aligned with wrinkles in the graphene. On the right, two zoomed-in scanning electron microscopy images of graphene membranes show the before (top) and after of a burst test at pressure difference of 30 bars. The i...

Graphene holds up under high pressure

Used in filtration membranes, ultrathin material could help make desalination more productive.

April 24, 2017

MIT students in Area 51 of the Egerton Center.

Featured video: Celebrating the Edgerton Center, an original MIT makerspace

Twenty-five years after its founding, the first home of strobe photography has grown to include student clubs, workshops, and K-12 outreach.

April 21, 2017

Engineers at MIT have found a way to cut the cost of solar-powered drip systems by half, by optimizing the drippers. Furthermore, these new drippers can halve the pumping power required to irrigate, lowering energy bills for farmers. Pictured is an example of a current drip system.

Watering the world

New design cuts costs, energy needs for drip irrigation, bringing the systems within reach for more farmers.

April 19, 2017

In addition to spit-shooting, an archer fish, pictured here, can launch itself from a near standstill, out of the water to a height of more than two times its body length. “Unlike, say, a shark that comes barreling up from the bottom to catch its prey, an archer fish’s initial momentum is zero,” says Alexandra Techet, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.

High-speed images capture archer fish’s rocket-like launch

Insights into the hydrodynamics of the move may improve underwater vehicle design.

April 19, 2017

Amos Winter, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, speaks to individuals in India, where he has introduced assistive technologies such as a wheelchair for rugged terrain.

Amos Winter wins the Harold E. Edgerton Award

Global leader in mechanical engineering named the recipient of MIT’s esteemed junior faculty award.

April 19, 2017

Michael Short, assistant professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT

Exelon Generation supports research on advanced nuclear fuel cladding coatings

Exelon Generation funding for the MIT Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems could transform the performance of the fuel cladding in light water reactors.

April 19, 2017