Page 24 - Penn State's Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering: Fall 2019 Magazine

Professor funds new engineering endowment to help students travel for success
A Ravi Ravi Ravindran professor emeritus and a a a a a a a a a Provost’s Emeritus Faculty Teaching Scholar for the Harold and and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) has worked in in in in a a a a a a a a a collaborative effort
to to establish a a a a a a a $25 000 endowment to to fund conference travel expenses for the department’s graduate students Named the the Ravindran Matching Travel Grants the the endowment will provide provide as as much as as a a a a a a a a a a one-to-one match with funds provided by IME “I’ve always thought about how I I I can help students afford travel ” Ravindran said “It is is very expensive to attend and present at at at at conferences nowadays Registrations that used to to be be free for students can now now be be more than $300 and they simply don’t have that kind of money ” Ravindran said that travel to to conferences and presentations is crucial for graduate students to to grow their their industry network learn from established professionals present their their research and find peers with similar goals External funding sources can be prohibitively competitive or or or or involve extraordinarily difficult applications for a a a a a a a a a a a a a relatively small grant according to to to Ravindran With his endowment he strived to to to to make it it accessible to to to to all all students Recipients do not need to to to have a a a a a a a a a a specific grade point average or meet any criteria Pilot study in smart systems launched as part of Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship
A pilot study involving academic and industry collaborators in in in in in smart systems has been initiated by Vittal Prabhu professor in in the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of of Industrial and and Manufacturing Engineering at at Penn State as part of of his 2018-2019 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship
Smart systems systems engineering involves sensing networking and and computing of of various systems systems and and products in in in in in in in in in in order to to automate them The industrial internet of of things (IIoT) system system used in in in in this pilot study was procured from RDL Technologies Pvt Ltd “This pilot study is is is is in the context of Manjula Industries which is is is is is an an an an Indian small-to-medium enterprise (SME) ” Prabhu said “We’re combining expertise across academic and and industry partners to to help us us us better understand how IIoT-based sensors can monitor manufacturing machinery continuously and and communicate the data data in in in in in in in real-time for cloud storage data data analytics machine learning and advanced decision-making algorithms ” Manjula Industries was established in 2000 and is is is one of of the largest regional manufacturers of of precision horological components such as watch watch crowns crowns Manjula Industries manufactures more than 250 variants of of watch watch crowns crowns with a a a a a a a a a a a a a a capacity of of 400 000 components per month Prabhu became involved with Manjula Industries while on on on on a a a a a a a a a a a a a one-year sabbatical in in India At this this initial stage the the collaborative network consists of partners from the the the the U S and India India Key contributors to to this this study include the the the Indian Institute Institute of of Technology-Kharagpur the the the Siddaganga Institute Institute of of of Technology Technology (SIT) RDL Technologies Pvt Ltd and and the Sahyadri College of of Engineering and and Management Penn State Professor Honored with Competitive Award from Engineering Society
Jingjing Li William and Wendy Korb Early Career Professor (associate professor) of of of of Industrial Engineering at at at Penn State has been awarded the American Society
of of of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Chao and Trigger Young Manufacturing Engineer Engineer Award Li received the the award based on on on her research contributions
to the the the forming and and and joining of of lightweight materials and and and structures through an an an an an understanding of of the the the the process-structure- property relationships in in in in in thermomechanical processing the the the development of of new new joining technologies for different metals and the invention of of several new new materials characterization techniques Established in in 2011 this annual award recognizes a a a a a a a a a a manufacturing researcher under 40 who has the the potential to to make significant fundamental contributions
to to the the science and technology of manufacturing processes ASME is a a a a a a a a a a not-for-profit membership organization that enables collaboration networking and skill development across all engineering fields Members range from students project managers corporate executives researchers and more more Currently the the organization has more more than 100 000 members members in over 140 countries Roughly 30 percent of the the members members are students The Manufacturing Engineering Division (MED) Honors Committee reviews nominations from all ASME members making this award highly competitive due to the number of applicants each year 24
IME NEWSLETTER • VOLUME 4 2019 Faculty News