News
From left, Dennis and Constance Keller admire a high-performance bicycle made from bamboo shown by senior Nick Frey, a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering major. Student presentations concluded the daylong event celebrating the dedication of the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education. (Photo: Frank Wojciechowski)
Knowing he will spend the next two years working in the U.S. State Department, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering major Michael Konialian wanted to prepare himself by working on a senior thesis project at the intersection of engineering and policy.
Entrepeneurial Engineering Inventors
Princeton, NJ: Teams of students from Princeton’s Entrepreneurial Engineering course competed for their invention concepts to be brought to market by TeleBrands, via its “As Seen On TV” Direct Response Marketing process. Inventions had names such as Exer-Slide, The Faster Filter, LeanSleeves, VitaSmile and AccuSoothe.
Professor Dan Nosenchuck teaches the one semester course MAE 445/EGR 445. He was joined by AJ Khubani, CEO of TeleBrands who chaired a panel of expert advisors, testing all concepts. Additional feedback was provided by well-known national pitchmen, Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan, hosts of the new Discovery Channel show, “Pitchmen,” as well as Tom McLinden, founder of EVO Design, attorney Peter Murray, and advertising executive Steve Rivkin. Based in the results of its consumer research, TeleBrands will create and bring the most promising product or two to market.
Product 1, the AccuSmoothe form fitting glove applies the needed pressure between thumb and pointer on acupressure point LI4, to relieve stress headaches; A marketable product for sure. The panel recommended gathering more scientific evidence behind its effectiveness as well as improving its visual impact by researching sports glove designs and fabrics.
Wearing Product 2 all day will burn off as many calories as running two miles. LeanSleeves are adjustable sleeves with weights sewn in to fit comfortably on arms and calves. Discretely worn under everyday clothes they provide exercise without the effort. We all can buy into that! A similar product called BodyTogs is on the market, and as LeanSleeves are form-fitting, they would be a perfect product to market to them. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H8pRkcgsZs)
Product 3 is Vita-Smile, both a new packaging and product idea. The vitamin-enriched toothpaste kills two birds with one stone: It is five times more efficient to absorb your vitamins through your gums so as you brush, you are getting your daily vitamin intake.. The toothpaste tube has two storage areas and caps at either end so you can use AM brand Vita-Smile in the, well, AM, and the PM, yes then. AM has a citrus flavor and includes vitamins B-2 B-6 and B-12 to get you going in the morning. PM is a chamomile flavor, and melatonin and increased sodium fluoride calm you before bed. This clever team also proposed Memory, Immunity, and Multivitamin toothpastes for Adults and kids. (buyvitasmile.com/)
Product 4 is The Faster Filter, a French press water filter in a Nalgene size bottle. I immediately thought of its use in 3rd world countries, or for us here in the EQuad for fountain water. The press filter allows the convenience of filtering in only 3 seconds. Recommendations included also offering a camping filter that eliminates parasites, bacteria and water-born diseases, designing a sexier bottle and showing lots of clean water in the ads.
Product 5 is the ExerSlide, a sheet of heavy plastic that rolls out of its handy carrying case to lengths up to ten feet. One can skate left and right on it or exercise in a variety of ways demonstrated in the accompanying pamphlet . Microridges on the sliding surface prevent slippage while cushions left and right prevent over-sliding. Check out the product at www.exerslide.com.
Kolade and Wood are co-winners of the 2008 Enoch Durbin Prize for Engineering Innovation
A video by Zennen Clifton profiles a camera stabilization platform developed by engineering school classmates Taofik Kolade and Mike Wood for their senior thesis "Camera Stabilization with a Stewart Platform" which earned them the 2008 Enoch Durbin Prize for Engineering Education.
MAE Class Day , 2009
Commencement
The Harold Willis Dodds Prize was awarded to Thomas Lipp of New Haven, Conn. The award recognizes seniors who best embody the qualities of Princeton's 15th president, Harold Dodds, "particularly in the qualities of clear thinking, moral courage, a patient and judicious regard for the opinions of others, and a thorough devotion to the welfare of the University and to the life of the mind." Lipp, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major, was a peer educator on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues and served as president and vice president of the Pride Alliance. He was a member of the engineering honors association Tau Beta Pi and the University Film Organization, and served as a Mathey College undergraduate fellow
From: News at Princeton
Alan Zale photograph
Zhen Xia worked at the IBM corporate offices in Somers, N.Y., with senior marketing executives, including Florence Hudson who also earned a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering degree from the Department in 1980. A full account can be found in EQuad News 20 #1 Winter 2007.
Michael Konialian '09 is one of six juniors who were awarded a Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative (SINIS) fellowship. Michael is combining his MAE studies with a Wilson School certificate. The Robertson Foundation will approve the selected scholars in its spring board meeting.
MAE Departmental Representative, Michael Littman was featured in a Daily Princetonian article " Cars, K'NEX and Clocks" written by Maxwell Weidmann, "Littman brings hands-on approach to his field."
Landis Stankievech, has been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for two or three years of graduate study at the University of Oxford. Stankievech wants to study philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, after which he hopes to work on environmental issues.
On Alumni Day, February 23rd Syankievech was awarded the University's highest undergraduate academic honor, the Moses Taylor Pyne Prize.
Among other honors, Stankievech was awarded the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence in 2005 and 2006 and the Manfred Pyka Memorial Physics Prize in 2005.
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Need for speed: Engineering propels champion cyclist
by Hilary Parker · Posted October 25, 2007; 08:00 a.m.
Nick Frey sat at rapt attention in his fluid mechanics course last spring, absorbing principles that he would end up applying halfway around the world this fall. The mechanical and aerospace engineering major was conjuring ways to put his newfound knowledge to work in modifications to his racing bike.
Nick Frey, MAE undergrad class of 2009, won the US U-23 Time Trial Cycling Championship last week, and with that won an automatic bid to the U-23 world championship!
In the NOTEBOOK section of the 18 July 2007 Princeton Alumni Weekly there is a feature article about the junior year "Aircraft Design" course and the student project to design a plane that can fly at Mach 10 between Tokyo and New York in three hours for less that #100,000 per ticket! The course instructor was Kevin Bowcutt, chief scientist of hypersonics and a senior technical fellow at the Boeing Aircraft Company.
NASA photograph
Jim Graf '72 who graduated from MAE after completing a senior thesis in Electric Propulsion is now NASA's Deputy Director of the Earth Science and Technology Directorate. Prior to this position he was the project manager for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which is now returning high resolution photographs of Mars and acting in concert with the Mars reconnaissance rovers.