Prof. Hutchens and Matt Milner revived the ‘Sole Solution’ design activity at this year’s week-long GBAM (Girls Building Awesome Machines) camp. The activity, which gives campers the opportunity to mix their own elastomer foam ‘insoles’ and test them for cushioning and bounciness characteristics, was enabled by outreach coordinator, Joe Muskin, and graduate student organizer, Aaron Anderson. Students learned about concepts like energy dissipation and composition-dependent material response.
Congratulations to Bingyang Zhang and Matt Milner on officially becoming Ph.D. students.
Prof. Hutchens received funding for work entitled “Experimental Measurement of Tearing and Cutting in Highly Deformable Solids Relating to the Mechanical Origin of Crack Blunting-Mediated Toughness.” This work aims to elucidate crack-tip mediated mechanisms governing fracture in rubbery materials by controlling the geometry of the crack-tip using experimental cutting techniques. Work will be extended to needle-mediated cutting and puncture. These experiments will provide undergraduate students the opportunity to learn cutting-edge mechanical testing techniques.
Prof. Hutchens and group member Matt Milner led a group of 24 rising 9th and 10th grader women in an activity where they made elastomers and elastomeric foams in order to explore sports shoe design concepts. This activity was a part of a week long program to support Girls Adventures in Mathematics, Engineering, and Science (GAMES). The women learned about the interdisciplinary connection between sports and science, but particularly enjoyed “making the foam” where they “got to mix chemicals” and “watch the foam come together.”
The five female faculty that joined MechSE in AY 2014-15, including Prof. Hutchens, attended a workshop on CAREER proposal writing in Boston, MA.
Prof. Hutchens gives a talk entitled “Considerations for Cavitation Rheology” discussing some of our recent understanding of the cavitation rheology soft materials characterization technique (e.g., blowing bubbles with needles!).
Jan. 28 group training on optimizing the use of our Phenom Pro benchtop SEM.
Pick up a copy on campus. See the article’s main image here.
