Mechanical Engineering

A team of Vanderbilt engineers has developed a powered exoskeleton that enables people with severe spinal cord injuries to stand, walk, sit and climb stairs. Its light weight, compact size and modular design promise to provide users with an unprecedented degree of independence. Read More

Two mechanical engineering graduate students and their professor have received the Wyss Institute-IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Award for Translational Research for their work on a robotic leg prosthesis, selected from submissions by biomedical engineers and scientists from academic institutions worldwide. Read More

Creating a device out of human cells that simulates brain chemistry is the goal of a $6.4 million grant which is part of major new federal initiative to develop a series of “organs on a chip” designed to improve the drug development process. Read More

Pietro Valdastri, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and member of the Vanderbilt Initiative in Surgery and Engineering (ViSE), was awarded with the OLYMPUS ISCAS Best Paper Award at the 16th Annual Conference of the International Society for Computer Aided Surgery (ISCAS) June 30 in Pisa, Italy. Read More

The wind turbine stands next to the wind monitoring station (right) and frames are ready for solar panels on the hill atop Love Circle near campus. (Daniel Dubois/Vanderbilt) A collaborative wind-solar alternative energy project between Vanderbilt’s mechanical engineering department and Nashville Metro Water Services has picked up speed with… Read More

A collaborative wind-solar alternative energy project between Vanderbilt University’s mechanical engineering department and Nashville Metro Water Services has picked up speed with the installation of a modest 3kW wind turbine at the Love Circle site close to campus. Read More

Watch video of Robert J. Webster III’s talk which covers several examples of novel surgical robots, ranging from “tentacle-like” robots that are the diameter of needles for endonasal surgery, to swallowable endoscopic capsule robots that can accomplish surgery in the intestines and are thus making the Fantastic Voyage foreseen by… Read More

(iStock Photo) VUToday is a daily report of Vanderbilt’s presence in the local and national news media, plus the latest press releases, athletics, research and higher education news. VUToday is a must-read for subscribers, who include faculty, administration, staff, alumni, community members, students and even parents… Read More

At the Eighth Annual National Sustainable Design Expo, a team of Vanderbilt engineering seniors won the Marketplace Innovation Award, Student Choice Award and a $90,000 Phase II grant from the EPA for a biohybrid solar panel that substitutes expensive silicon wafers with a protein derived from spinach. Read More

A combined team from Vanderbilt Engineering’s Aerospace Club and Peabody’s Department of Teaching and Learning won a prestigious outreach award from NASA for inspiring school students in the study of rocketry and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related topics. Read More

Weeks Robert Andrew Weeks, research professor emeritus of materials science and mechanical engineering, died April 10 in Maryville, Tenn. He was 87. Weeks was a distinguished research scientist in the field of solid state physics as well as a notable glass scientist. At the end of a… Read More

Senior engineering students are challenged to solve real-world design issues for university and corporate sponsors during a two-semester design course. Students will share results with their clients and the Vanderbilt community at Senior Design Day, April 19, from 3-5 p.m. in Featheringill Hall. Read More

Mechanical Engineering graduate students David Comber and Massimiliano Simi have won first and second place in the Three-in-Five competition at the Design of Medical Devices Conference. Read More

Anilkumar (Vanderbilt) Amrutur Anilkumar, professor of the practice of mechanical engineering, and Sankaran Mahadevan, the John R. Murray Sr. Professor of Engineering, have been elected associate fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Peter Cummings, the John R. Hall Professor of Chemical Engineering, has been appointed to… Read More

The Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization is taking Vanderbilt researchers’ inventions to new heights An array of instruments and gadgets found in the Olin Hall laboratory of Professor of Mechanical Engineering Michael Goldfarb. (John Russell/Vanderbilt) Use the term “inventor,” and what pops to mind? The wild-haired Dr. Emmett… Read More

Two years after losing his leg in a shark attack, Craig Hutto became the test pilot for a unique and powerful new prosthetic leg being developed by mechanical engineer Michael Goldfarb and his team at Vanderbilt University. Read More

Vanderbilt engineers have discovered a surprising new way to increase a material’s thermal conductivity that provides a new tool for managing thermal effects in computers, lasers and a number of other powered devices. Read More

Bioengineer builds robotics to make medical procedures easier Pietro Valdastri (John Russell/Vanderbilt) The prospect of a colonoscopy is about as unwelcome as a root canal, so it’s no surprise that it’s difficult to convince people to get regular screenings for colon cancer. But what if you could replace this… Read More

A new lower-limb prosthetic uses the latest advances in computer, sensor, electric motor and battery technology to give it bionic capabilities. Read More

A shark attack leads to a collaboration that could transform the lives of amputees This is the last snapshot taken of Craig Hutto before a shark attack claimed his leg on June 27, 2005. Photo provided by Craig Hutto It was an overcast June morning at Cap San Blas, Fla.,… Read More