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What we do

Our group supports energy initiatives within the State of Florida through the Florida Energy Systems Consortium (FESC) and works with K-12 students and teachers through programs Florida State University REU programs ,the Florida Center for Advanced Aero Propulsion (FCAAP), the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and the Challenger Learning Center located in downtown Tallahassee.


Florida Energy Systems Consortium (FESC)

This consortium brings together faculty, research scientists, and industry across the State of Florida to conduct energy centric research and development activities.  Important recent news regarding this program is a new opportunity in State cost matching of federal grant proposals.  The details of the rules and requirements may be found here.  The application form can be downloaded here.     

FSU WIMSE
WIMSE or Women in Math, Science & Engineering Program is a program at FSU that is committed to the success of women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  We have hosted several students from this program in physics, biology, and engineering, who have been involved in research ranging from electromechanical elastomers, photo-polymers, and various outreach programs for K-12.

Challenger Learning Center
An on-going program has been established in collaboration with the Challenger Learning Center in downtown Tallahassee, FL. This is a monthly Saturday afternoon program (11:45am every third Saturday of the month) that is geared toward kids and parents of all ages. This program includes hands on demonstrations of adaptive materials such as piezoelectric composites for energy harvesting, magnetostrictive "Sound bugs", temperature sensitive cholesteric liquid crystals, and artificial muscles. We also collaborate with fellow faculty in different engineering departments and disciplines, Drs. Anant Paravastu (biological materials), Jonathan Clark (robotics), Rajan Kumar (aerospace), and Daniel Hallinan (battery materials) to bring a broad perspective of materials science, mathematics, and engineering to the general public. Below is an example of a recent program which included a group of REU students who presented a variety of materials and activities for kids interested in engineering and science.

              


AME REU

Our group participates in an NSF sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) each summer.  The theme of the program is focused on multi-disciplinary adaptive systems and structures and contains both individual research within our group and a group project.  Individual research within our group has ranged from viscoelastic polymer deformation experimental characterization,  continuum and quantum scale modeling, and Bayesian statistics.  The group project is centered around research and development of drone hardware.  The group project includes research within the broader set of faculty within AME who have interest in aerospace, legged robots, and functional materials.