Bill Field spent a week at the Swedish Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Engineering located in Uppsala, just north of Stockholm.

This was his third trip there to work on projects related to the effects of cold on farmers with disabilities, bull handling safety, and injuries associated with raising beef cattle on pasture. While there, a proposal was written for a pilot study to explore the impact of disability on Swedish farmers. Word was received that the proposal was selected for funding.

During his visit,e Bill spent time meeting with graduate students and spent a day at the beef operation that raises bulls for specialty products.

All three of his trips have been taken when there was snow on the ground. Hopefully, his next trip will be during a warmer season of the year.

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Dr. Jenna Rickus recently visited ETH Zurich on a research collaboration and to set up a student exchange program between ABE and the Biosystems Science and Engineering department. The first goal is to exchange two undergraduate students for one semester in the Spring of 2014.

Matthew C. Stensberg (PhD) Non-invasive Sensing Tools to Study Mechanisms of Toxicity: A Case Study with Silver Nanoparticles", June 6, 2013 11:30 AM, Birck Nanotechnology Center, room 2001. (Porterfield)

New Faces

The SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) program is underway for 2013 and Maha was pleased to welcome four new students to the lab: Chenhao Ma (Purdue University), Jordyn Miller (Wilkes University, Pennsylvania), Yangqiao Zheng (Purdue University), Bixing Yan (Purdue University), and Mark Mahuren (Purdue University).

Maha also welcomed visiting researchers Edgar Gomez and Omar Sanvicente Cisneros (Technological University of Queretaro, Mexico) in May for a 3-4 month stay. Edgar will be working on rebuilding the skid-steer prototype and investigating novel control methods under Enrique Busquets (Master’s Student). Omar will be designing a hydraulic-powered bike inspired by a Parker Hannifin Chainless Challenge competition under Davide Cristofori (PhD Candidate).

Awards & Degree Milestones

Naseem Daher (PhD Candidate) was awarded the highly competitive and prestigious Ingersoll-Rand Fellowship. The fellowship is awarded to PhD students with outstanding academic record, who are nominated by their major professor based on research progress, performance, publications and presentation.

Maha’s research on the DC Excavator under Dr. Ivantysynova’s direction has been nominated by the NSF for the 2013 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award. This recognition is for “innovators or teams of innovators who are making important advances in the fields of engineering, technology, medicine, and other applied sciences with a potential for large social impact.”

Rohit Hippalgaonkar (PhD Candidate) gave a successful preliminary defense on April 18^th. His presentation was entitled: “Power Management Strategies for Hybrid Hydraulic Multi-Actuator Machines with Displacement Controlled Actuators”

Sujan Dhar (PhD Candidate) was selected to receive a travel grant to attend and present at the 12^th Annual U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics to be held in Raleigh, NC July 22-25.

Special Visitors

The NSF Site Visit of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Compact and Efficient Fluid Power (CCEFP) took place at Purdue University on April 22-25. Part of the NSF Site Visit was a tour of the Maha Fluid Power Research Center. This allowed more than 130 people to tour the lab and interact with the team. Maha graduate students presented test rigs and research projects to the NSF Site Visit team, the Industrial Advisory Board, and all other guests and members of the CCEFP. One of the highlights of the lab tour was a live demonstration of the CCEFP Test Bed 1, the displacement controlled mini excavator with its new hydraulic hybrid architecture for the swing drive. This machine represents the world’s first of its kind.

CCEFP Fluid Power REU Bootcamp

The 2013 CCEFP Fluid Power REU Bootcamp was held at Purdue University on May 29-30. Undergraduate students from various U.S. universities joined the Center’s universities (Georgia Tech, University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, University of Minnesota, Milwaukee School of Engineering, North Carolina A&T State University, Purdue University, and Vanderbilt University) at Maha to gain a foundational hydraulic knowledge in preparation for the students’ upcoming research in the field of fluid power.

Note: More information about and photos from these events can be found on the Maha home page: https://engineering.purdue.edu/Maha/

May 21^st, Maha was pleased to welcome a group of engineers from Hitachi to the lab and looks forward to continuing the strong relationship of research and projects in the future.

Maha Abroad

Dr. Monika Ivantysynova, Dr. Andrea Vacca, Marco Zecchi (PhD Candidate), Mike Sprengel (PhD Candidate), Timothy Opperwall (PhD Candidate), and Naseem Daher (PhD Candidate) presented at the 13^th Annual Scandinavian International Conference on Fluid Power June 3-5 at Linköping University in Linköping, Sweden.

After our orders last year for "ABE #!" apparel, we were left with a number of pieces that were shipped in error. These are the only items we have available - we are not placing an additional order. All sales are first-come, first-served and payment is due when you pick it up! Since we have had little response, I am slashing prices:

Sweatshirts ($28): Now $10

Brown - Large (1) and Medium (2)

Black - Small (1)

Tee shirts, crew neck ($10): Now $5

Gray - Small (1), Medium (2), Large (1)

Black - Small (1)

Tee shirts, v-neck ($15): Now $7

Gray - Small (3), Medium (1), Large (1)

Black - Medium (1)

Also, remember that you can order embroidered items at any time from Tad Shulties at Freckles Graphics (Tad@FrecklesGraphics.com)