Mechanically Incorrect

Talking Success and Challenges in Mechanical Engineering

This was a great conversation that I unfortunately missed due to travel.  Professor Taylor Higgins, Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering (ME), hosted Prof. and Chair Marcia O'Malley.  She is the Thomas Michael Panos Family Professor in Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Bioengineering in the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University.  Her research is in the areas of haptics and robotic rehabilitation, with a focus on the design and control of wearable robotic devices for training and rehabilitation.
Hannah Klein, an undergraduate in the FAMU-FSU Mechanical Engineering department, and Ash Chase, a graduate student in ME who is studying robotics, also joined Drs. Higgins and O'Malley.
It was a great conversation about a range of topics in engineering, robotics, and navigating academia from undergrad, grad school, junior professor life, and university leadership.  If you are debating on pursuing mechanical engineering at any level of academia, you will enjoy this conversation.

Legged Robotics with Prof. Jonathan Clark

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Prof. Jonathan Clark.  He's an expert in developing some of the fastest legged robotic systems that can navigate various complex terrains including climbing and amphibious terrains.

Entrepreneurship in academia with Prof. Mark Sheplak

I had a great conversation with a good friend, Prof. Mark Sheplak, from the University of Florida.  As a Professor in both Electrical & Computer Engineering and Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida, he is an expert in the field of MEMS sensing.  I learned a lot about how he has transitioned research out of the laboratory and into the field of sensing aerodynamic loads and acoustics in high speed environments.

Community Leadership with Daniel Parker

I got to sit down with Daniel Parker, our new undergraduate coordinator, to learn about his background of service and leadership that led him to where he is today. Despite knowing him for many years, I learned a lot about different cultures, writing, and service to our different communities.

AIAA Rocket Team

We had a great conversation with Jacob Schmitt, recent senior from FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.  We discussed his experience as part of the Senior Design AIAA Rocket Team.

Exoskeletons

We had a great conversation with our newest faculty member at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Taylor Higgins.  She is an expert in the field of exoskeletons for many applications associated with rehabilitation and novel human-machine interface concepts.  I hope you enjoy our discussion.

Debrief Fall 2022

We decided to do a debrief on the semester.  I opened up my student evaluations for our graduate Mechanical Engineering seminar.  I thought there were some interesting lessons learned on where leadership may or may not fit into engineering.

Legged Robotics

We had a great conversation with Prof. Jesse Grizzle from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Michigan.  Our own Prof. Christian Hubicki from the Mechanical Engineering Department at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering also joined us.  We had lots of interesting discussions about advances and applications of legged robots.  I learned a lot.
 

Robofish

Great conversation with Prof. Dan Quinn from the University of Virginia.  If you want to learn more about what film school, museums, fluid dynamics, and robotic fish have in common, check it out.

Learner Centered Teaching in Engineering

This podcast is a debrief of a recent workshop between faculty within our FAMU-FSU Mechanical Engineering department at the FSU Center for Advancement of Teaching.  We discuss some techniques from cognitive science to help our students accelerate learning difficult engineering topics.  Our guest is Dr. Shayne McConomy, a faculty within our department who has been very successful implementing many new techniques to accelerate learning for engineering design applications.