Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: CURRENT TOPICS IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Department: Mechanical Engineering

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Lecture

Credit Hours: 3

Description: Designed for senior and graduate level students. Lectures in areas of current interest in mechanical engineering. Topics may vary from term to term. Spring 2024, Section 001: Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) for Engineers. IGA is enhancing finite element analysis (FEA) as the main computational tool for engineers. IGA addresses the time bottleneck of mesh generation in FEA by conducting an analysis directly from the exact geometry output by a CAD system. Beginning with polynomial splines this class develops the analysis techniques followed in FEA, except mesh generation, and applies them to engineering analysis applications via IGA including heat transfer, stress analysis, and vibrations. Then the polynomials are extended to non-uniform-rational-b-splines (NURBS) which lead to the T-splines required to produce refinement regions needed for many 2D and 3D engineering studies. Matlab will be used to define splines, and carry out various applications. Spring 2024, Section 002: Translational Neuroengineering. This course will cover topics in human motor control, haptic perception, and physical human robot interaction through text and paper readings and discussions. In parallel to the topical readings and discussions, the course will explore the research pipeline, including paper review, writing abstracts, ethics (related to plagiarism, self-citation, and human subjects research), proposal writing, paper writing, and presentation. Intended for graduate students with a background and interest in robotics, control systems, neuroengineering, and biomechanics. This course will include significant technical communications component (oral and written) and will require experimental work via project. Repeatable for Credit.