Grant will fund turtle-inspired robots
Rebecca Kramer, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, has been awarded a Young Investigator Research Program grant from the Office of Naval Research. With this award, Kramer will create the first morphing robotic limb capable of matching its configuration and stiffness to its environment. Drawing from the differences and similarities of turtles (good in water) and tortoises (good on land), Kramer’s lab will develop what’s known as a Biomimetic Unmanned Untethered Vehicle (BUUV) with a system that can change from a flipper optimized for water to a leg optimized for land.
Study uncovers the science of throwing strategies
As cricket fielders, baseball pitchers, and even office workers tossing paper in the trash have learned, there’s a tradeoff between how fast you can throw and how accurate you can be. A study by Madhusudhan Venkadesan, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science, has figured out why. His study, published in Royal Society Open Science, focuses on the origins of the speed vs. accuracy phenomenon with a series of calculations. The study also explains why certain throwing styles work best with certain tasks. (Read a Yale Alumni Magazine report on the study.)
Research grant named in dean’s honor
Officials for the Yale Science & Engineering Association (YSEA), an alumni organization, announced that they have created the Dean Kyle Vanderlick Research Grant in recognition of the dean’s “legacy in establishing the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science as a bridge between the sciences and the humanities on the Yale campus and beyond.” YSEA officials cited the expansion of the school’s scope since Vanderlick’s appointment and the many cross-disciplinary collaborations it has been involved in. The grant will be available annually to Yale science and engineering undergraduates “who demonstrate the values that Dean Vanderlick has exemplified throughout her tenure at SEAS.”
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