Page 19 - Kettering Magazine Spring 2017

expAnding reseArCh opporTuniTies

These grAnTs, whiCh supporT The ACquisiTion oF rAre And high-TeCh

lAB equipmenT, hAVe improVed The uniVersiTY’s reseArCh CApABiliTies And
proVided more opporTuniTies For sTudenTs To use unique equipmenT As

undergrAduATes.

school students through pre-college programs, such as combustible materials which is useful for characterizing
Academically interested minds (Aim) and lives improve coal, biomass, and other materials. This aids in
Through engineering (liTe) programs. determining the chemical composition of complex
materials, said dr. Jonathan wenzel, principal
a 3D Digital image correlation System investigator.
dr. Javad Baqersad, faculty member in the Kettering
university department of mechanical engineering, The Chnso is used at Kettering university to determine
along with collaborators from multiple disciplines across the elemental composition of biomass and has been
campus were awarded a national science Foundation used in chemistry labs. in addition, the elemental
- major research instrumentation (nsF-mri) grant for determinator has been contracted for use by an
$183,835. investigation team at the university of Kentucky. it is
useful in determining before and after effects of plant
The grant allowed Baqersad to acquire a 3d digital extraction and treatment of biomass. The instrument
image Correlation (diC) system to enhance research and is primarily used by Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemical
teaching at Kettering.
engineering, and Applied Biology.
The digital image correlation system enables high the future of erognomics
fidelity, full-field, and non-contact measurements of Collaboration led to innovation at Kettering university
geometry, displacement and strain. The 3d diC system as five faculty members combined their research efforts
will be used as a shared teaching, training and research to bring an $114,039 grant from the national science
tool to support interdisciplinary, collaborative research Foundation (nsF) to the university in 2013.
and education in the broad areas of structural dynamics,
biomechanics, non-destructive inspection, crash safety, Justin Young (principal investigator), Terri lynch-Caris,
vehicle dynamics, and material science at Kettering and mehrdad zadeh, girma Tewolde and giuseppe Turini
other local higher education institutes. co-sponsored a program entitled “mri: Acquisition of
a motion Capture system to Facilitate multidisciplinary
Determining chemical composition research efforts and enhance undergraduate research
of complex materials Training.” Kettering’s acquisition of a high-accuracy,
A carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen three-dimensional motion capture system has enabled
(Chnso) elemental determinator, granted in 2012, several collaborative research projects in the overlapping
was the first of nine mri that Kettering university has areas of ergonomics and human factors, haptics, robotics
received.
and computer science. The acquisition has been vital to
The grant totaled $70,698. several different research efforts thus far.

The elemental determinator is used to determine the The researchers are incorporating the instrument into
carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur content of a new laboratory space that was recently renovated on

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