The Ohio State University

Mechanical Engineering Graduate student Todd Letcher was recently awarded the Graduate Associate Teaching Award (GATA). Letcher, a Doctoral student with Professor Herman Shen in Mechanical Engineering, is a Graduate Teaching Associate (GTA) in Aerospace Engineering. Letcher is one of 10 GATA winners at the University this year and the first mechanical engineering student to win in 10 years.

Letcher was a GTA for two years in mechanical engineering in ME 420 (Introduction to Strength of Materials), ME 481 (System Dynamics and Electromechanics), and ME 503 (Fluid Dynamics) before becoming a GTA in Aerospace Engineering where he has been a teaching associate for AE 510 (Aerospace Laboratory) and AE 580 (Analytical Methods in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering).

Who says lighting can't strike the same place twice? For the second year in a row, two Department of Mechanical Engineering students have received nationally renowned awards. Rebecca (Becky) Lathrop earned a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship and Nathan Webb received an esteemed NASA Aeronautics Scholarship.

A team of Ohio State College of Engineering students has placed third in the nation in a four-year, U.S. Department of Energy competition to improve automotive technology in engine efficiency and emissions. 

The Ohio State Reverb was announced among the winners at the conclusion of the Challenge X competition yesterday at the nation's capitol. In addition, the Department of Energy named Ohio State as one of 16 universities selected to participate in the next competition, called EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, in which students must re-engineer a 2009 Saturn Vue to achieve improved fuel economy and reduced emissions while retaining the vehicle's performance and consumer appeal.  

Sai Kamarajugadda and Farzad Ahmadkhanlou, doctoral students in mechanical engineering, respectively took first and second place at the Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum in the engineering discipline.

Now in its 22^nd year, the Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum is co-sponsored by the Council of Graduate Students, the Graduate School and the Office of Research at Ohio State. The Forum is held each year to provide professional development experience for graduate students, encourage graduate students to share their research and to recognize outstanding scholarship within the University.

Two mechanical engineering students were recently awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship that provides three years of support for graduate study leading to research-based master's or doctoral degrees; totaling an amount of nearly $121,500 for each award recipient.