Category: Research Highlights

UF MAE is proud to celebrate Hannah Roberts, a Ph.D. student in UF’s Astraeus Space Institute working with Dr. Amor Menezes in the SYBORGS Lab. Recently featured in UF News, she represented UF in a collaboration with the U.S. Air Force Academy and Space Force. See the full article on UF News →

“At the University of Florida Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, our researchers are at the forefront of studying space weather and its impact on technology and national security. The recent powerful solar storm underscores the importance of their work to better understand and forecast these natural events.” — UF Department of Mechanical and Aerospace […]

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Program (YIP) is a highly competitive and prestigious award granted to early-career scientists and engineers who show exceptional promise. It provides three years of research funding totaling $450,000. Beyond the monetary support, being selected is a significant professional honor. Patrick Musgrave, mechanical and aerospace engineer […]

Patrick Musgrave, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Florida, has been awarded a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation, one of the most prestigious honors given to early-career faculty in science and engineering. The award supports both groundbreaking research and educational outreach, and it includes federal funding for a five-year project aimed […]

Enzymes are nature’s tiny machines, responsible for everything from digesting food to breaking down environmental pollutants. But what if we could design custom-made enzymes to tackle real-world challenges—like neutralizing harmful chemicals or detecting diseases—more efficiently than ever before? Jing Pan Ph. D., a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the […]

As we welcome summer, I’m proud to reflect on another extraordinary season at MAE. This edition of our newsletter showcases the incredible breadth and depth of work happening across our department—from space biomanufacturing and award-winning research to student-driven innovation and alumni distinction. Each story speaks to the excellence that defines us. Our faculty continue to […]

Dr. Jie Fu (PI) has been awarded $1.3 million in funding from the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory for the project titled “Strategic Planning in Hierarchical Games: Achieving Rapid Dominance in the Uncertain World of Conflict (Shadow),” under Cooperative Agreement #W911NF-25-2-0045. Distinguished Professor Warren Dixon, chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University […]

MOOchanics LLC, a startup born from a University of Florida senior design team project, is making notable progress as it prepares for the Big Idea Gator Business Plan Competition. The company was recently selected as an inaugural member of the F-300 AgFoodTech Startup Accelerator, a pioneering agricultural development initiative aimed at strengthening Newberry’s agri-food tech […]

Douglas Spearot, Ph.D., Newton C. Ebaugh Professor, has been recognized by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS), the largest professional society for materials science and engineering. TMS has more than 10,000 members worldwide, and only nine professionals were selected this year for the Brimacombe Medal. The Brimacombe Medal is a mid-career award that recognizes […]

A new experiment that launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on November 4th, 2024, and returned on December 17th, 2024, explored how microbes can help produce useful materials like medicines and plastics in space. The experiment was part of a larger project to see how microbes perform in the low-gravity environment, and to determine […]

Enhancing Heat Dissipation in Mobility Technologies As electric vehicles and other advanced mobility technologies continue to evolve, one of the biggest challenges remains efficient heat dissipation. Youngsup Song, Ph.D., a researcher in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida, is working on innovative thermal interface materials to address this issue. […]

In the dynamic landscape of mechanical engineering, Professor Jingjing Shi stands out as a visionary dedicated to advancing energy transport and conversion. Her specialized focus on thermal management within semiconductor systems is not only revolutionizing electronic device performance but also contributing significantly to a sustainable and technologically advanced society. Professor Shi’s journey into mechanical engineering […]

NASA has selected a team of University of Florida aerospace engineers to pursue a groundbreaking $12 million mission aimed at improving the way we track changes in Earth’s structures, such as tectonic plates and oceans.

University of Florida engineers have developed a method for 3D printing called vapor-induced phase-separation 3D printing, or VIPS-3D, to create single-material as well as multi-material objects. Yong Huang, Ph.D., a professor in UF’s department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, said the printing process he and colleagues developed allows manufacturers to create custom-made objects economically and […]

UF engineers collaborate to develop the next generation of space exploration It was 1969, and space was simple. Only a handful of countries had managed to launch satellites into orbit. Just two, the Soviet Union and the United States, were vying for supremacy. And the lunar surface belonged to America alone. Half a century later, […]