Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for August
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AME Seminar
Wed, Aug 23, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Pradeep Sharma, Chair of Mechanical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Houston
Talk Title: Flexoelectricity and Electrets
Abstract: The ability of certain materials to convert electrical stimuli into mechanical deformation, and vice versa, is a prized property. Not surprisingly, applications of such so-called piezoelectric materials are broad-”ranging from energy harvesting to self-powered sensors. In this presentation, I will highlight a relatively understudied electromechanical coupling called flexoelectricity that appears to have implications in topics ranging from biophysics to the design of next-generation soft multifunctional materials. Specifically, I will argue, through computational examples, the tantalizing possibility of creating apparently piezoelectric materials without piezoelectric materials-”e.g. graphene, emergence of giant piezoelectricity at the nanoscale, and (among others) the mechanisms underpinning magnetoreception in certain animals.
Biography: Pradeep Sharma is the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston. He also has a joint appointment in the Department of Physics. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park in the year 2000. Subsequent to his doctoral degree, he was employed at General Electric R & D for more than three years as a research scientist. He joined the department of mechanical engineering at University of Houston in January 2004. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. His other honors and awards include the Young Investigators Award from Office of Naval Research, Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award from the ASME, Texas Space Grants Consortium New Investigators Program Award, the Fulbright fellowship, the Melville medal, the James R. Rice medal from the Society of Engineering Science, ASME Charles R. Russ medal, the Guggenheim, and the University of Houston Research Excellence Award. He is a fellow of the ASME, the associate editor of the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, chief-editor of the Journal of Applied Mechanics and serves on the editorial board of several other journals. He specializes in the broadly defined fields of continuum mechanics of solids and theoretical and computational materials science.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 202
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
AME Seminar - Laufer Lecture
Wed, Aug 30, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Howard Stone, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Princeton University
Talk Title: Thin-Film Flows: From Similarity Solutions to New Insights in Molecular Biology
Abstract: Fluid mechanics has a rich history, as of course does mechanics more generally. The ideas bridge science and engineering disciplines, even as they generate new fundamental research questions in fluid mechanics. In this talk I sketch some recent themes* from my research group, which bridge a wide range of length scales. First, I give a brief survey of some of the fluid mechanics problems that we have been investigating in recent years. Second, whereas traditional similarity solutions in course work and research typically involve nonlinear equations with two independent variables, I will illustrate an experimentally motivated similarity solution involving three independent variables, for which we construct an analytical solution that can be compared with experimental measurements. Third, I discuss the formation of the spindle in a dividing cell, which is a fundamental aspect of molecular biology. Experiments documenting a condensed protein phase on growing microtubules are reported, followed by the appearance of the Rayleigh-Plateau instability, which produces discrete droplets along a microtubule: the drops drive branching nucleation, which is an important mechanism for the developing spindle.
*The research described was performed by many people in my research group, as well as some external collaborations.
Biography: Howard Stone received the B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from UC Davis in 1982 and the PhD in Chemical Engineering from Caltech in 1988. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge, in 1989 Howard joined the faculty of the (now) School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, where he eventually became the Vicky Joseph Professor of Engineering and Applied Mathematics. In July 2009 Howard moved to Princeton University where he is Donald R. Dixon 1969 and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Professor Stone's research interests are in fluid dynamics, especially as they arise in research and applications at the interface of engineering, chemistry, physics, and biology. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), and is past Chair of the Division of Fluid Dynamics of the APS. Currently he is on the editorial or advisory boards of Physical Review Fluids, Langmuir, and Soft Matter, and is co-editor of the Soft Matter Book Series. He is the first recipient of the G.K. Batchelor Prize in Fluid Dynamics (2008) and in 2016 recipient of the Fluid Dynamics Prize of the APS. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2009, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011, the National Academy of Sciences in 2014, the Royal Society (United Kingdom) as a Foreign Member in 2022, and the American Philosophical Society in 2022.
Host: AME Department
Location: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - 350 (Franklin Suite)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
