Purdue Engineering Podcast

In this episode, we’ll have a conversation with Dr. Donna Riley, the Kamyar Haghighi Head of Engineering Education and discuss the origin of the first School of Engineering Education in the world, the transformation of our First-Year Engineering program, and how we adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Dr. Riley shares about the founder of Purdue's School of Engineering Education, Kamyar Haghighi and his vision for the first School of Engineering Education in the world.  She also discusses the research based approach used to transform the First-Year Engineering program to increase student engagement and retention. 

Prior to becoming Head of the Purdue’s School of Engineering Education Dr. Riley was Professor and Interim Head in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. From 2013 to 2015, she served as Program Director for Engineering Education at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Riley spent thirteen years as a founding faculty member of the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College, the first engineering program at a U.S. women’s college.  Riley earned a B.S.E. in chemical engineering from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Engineering and Public Policy. She is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education.  See full bio. 

In this episode highlighting the School of Mechanical Engineering (ME), we meet Eric Nauman, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. We'll learn more about his work to to reduce head injuries in sports.

In this episode, Professor Eric Nauman shares about his work to reduce head injuries in sports. He is a sought-after expert in concussion research, in both American football and soccer. For his biggest research project, he collaborated with former Purdue School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Tom Talavage, who is now the head of biomedical engineering at the University of Cincinnati. They placed acceleration sensors on the heads of high school football players, and also conducted fMRI studies of their brains. By coordinating the two datasets, Nauman found remarkable evidence that it's not just concussions that cause brain damage.

As well as being a member of Purdue's Mechanical Engineering faculty, Nauman is a professor of Basic Medical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering (by courtesy), and Director of the Honors Programs in the College of Engineering. He directs the HIRRT Laboratory (Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies) at Purdue. He earned both his PhD and MSME from the University of California - Berkeley. His research interests include: cell and tissue mechanics, human injury, adult stem cell-based tissue regeneration, and biophysics and biotransport.

This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering. Listen to more about ME and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

In this episode highlighting the School of Mechanical Engineering (ME), we meet Nina Mahmoudian, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. We'll learn more about her work with controlling individual and multiple autonomous vehicles in harsh dynamic environments, addressing challenges that currently limit the use of autonomous vehicles in unknown complex situations.

Professor Nina Mahmoudian shares about her work with autonomous vehicles, specifically, underwater vehicles. The interview took place at Fairfield Lakes in Lafayette, Indiana, where she and her students were testing the next generation of autonomous underwater vehicle docking. So imagine a marine robot, yellow, about 4 feet long, that looks like a torpedo. Then imagine a small inflatable catamaran, on which they've installed a docking platform for that torpedo. Both the marine robot and the catamaran can move autonomously, and find each other on the lake, so that the underwater vehicle can recharge itself with no human intervention. It's really something to see, and Professor Mahmoudian says she has her sights set beyond air, land, and sea, all the way to docking on other planets.

Mahmoudian joined Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering in 2019, after spending eight years as faculty at Michigan Technological University. Her PhD is in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech. She received the 2015 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program (YIP) award and the  2015 National Science Foundation CAREER award. Her research interests include: Nonlinear Control and Dynamics, Autonomous Systems, Cyber-physical Systems, Cooperative Control of Multi Agent Systems.

This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering. Listen to more about ME and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

In this episode highlighting the School of Mechanical Engineering (ME), we meet Greg Shaver, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. We'll learn more about his work with connected Class 8 trucks and autonomous truck platooning.

Professor Greg Shaver shares about his work with autonomous commercial vehicles, specifically with class 8 tractor trailers. These big rigs haul about 70% of the freight in the US, and consume 25% of the nation's fuel. If these trucks could be made more efficient -- even just a little bit -- there would be huge cost savings, and at the same time, significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Professor Shaver is working on platooning, in which one truck autonomously follows another at close range. Once in a platoon, the air resistance lowers, and this alone can increase fuel economy up to 15%. And, counterintuitively, it's actually much safer, because connected trucks react much more quickly than human drivers do. We talked to Professor Shaver about how important it is for academics to work with industry and government to tackle these big challenges.

Shaver joined Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering faculty in 2006. His PhD and MSME are from Stanford University, and his BSME is from Purdue University. His research interests include: Model-based system and control design of commercial vehicle power trains, connected and automated commercial vehicles, internal combustion engine and after-treatment system design and controls, and flexible valve actuation in diesel and natural gas engines.  Shaver is also currently involved in the Purdue Engineering Initiative in Autonomous and Connected Systems and recently participated in a webinar on "Advancing Driver-Centric Automation to Enhance Safety and Efficiency in Freight Trucking"

This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering. Listen to more about ME and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

Ran Dai, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics discusses her research on controlling autonomous systems in unmanned ground/aerial vehicles.

Carson Slabaugh is featured on the Purdue Engineering podcast discussing his advanced propulsion and combustion research at Maurice J. Zucrow Labs

In this episode highlighting the Agricultural and Biological Engineering, we meet Mohit Verma, an assistant professor in Agriculture and Biological Engineering at Purdue University and learn more about his work to develop a rapid diagnostic tool for Covid-19.

This is one of two episodes featuring Purdue University's Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Listen to more about ABE and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

In this episode highlighting the Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE), we meet Dennis Buckmaster, a Professor in Agriculture and Biological Engineering and Dean’s Fellow for Digital Agriculture in the College of Agriculture and learn more about his many projects involving digital agriculture.

This is one of two episodes featuring Purdue University's Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Listen to more about ABE and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

In this episode highlighting the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, we meet Maria Dadarlat, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Purdue University and learn more about her work in neuroscience and neural engineering.

Professor Maria Dadarlat's research is aimed at developing artificial sensation for brain-machine interfaces, which could ultimately help restore motor control to people who have lost the ability to move due to paralysis or injury.    

Professor Dadarlat joined the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering faculty in August 2019. She received her BS in biomedical engineering from Purdue University and her PhD in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Graduate Program in Bioengineering. Dadarlat is interested in understanding how animals learn to use novel sensory information to guide movements and in the application of these principles to neural prostheses. Her thesis work concerned the latter topic, studying how to use electrical stimulation of primary somatosensory cortex to deliver artificial sensation. 

This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.  Listen to more about Biomedical Engineering and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website. 

Special thanks to Shruthi Suresh, our guest host for this podcast.  Shruthi is a PhD candidate at the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering with a Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship and was previously a Leslie Bottorff Fellow.  Her research focuses on using signal processing, machine learning and data science to help individuals with mobility and visual impairments. When not in the lab, Shruthi can be found out on a run or curled up reading a book.