The Ohio State University

This research focusing on the use of magnetorheological (MR) fluids to provide tactile feedback, funded by the National Science Foundation, appeals to surgeons performing minimally invasive surgeries—and it will make their patients much happier as well.  

Students at the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) developed an award-winning "Challenge X" vehicle in 2006 that will also be featured at this year's SAE World Congress. Competing against entries from seventeen universities nationwide, the team from CAR re-engineered the Chevrolet Equinoz pictured above, which won first place in the MathWork's Crossover to Model-Based Design Award at the 2006 Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility competition.

Mechanical engineering Professor Marcelo Dapino recently won the 2007 Gary Anderson Early Achievement Award, presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Technical Committee. This new award is given to a junior researcher whose work has made a notable impact in the field of smart materials, and it includes a certificate and a cash prize that will be presented at this year's SPIE International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials, in San Diego, California.

Mechanical engineering Professor Bharat Bhushan has been honored with his second Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for outstanding scholarship in tribology and mechanics on the macro-to-nanoscales.

Humboldt Research Award candidates are nominated by distinguished scholars at research institutions in Germany. Recipients must have contributed fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights that have a significant impact on their own research area, and that also extend beyond their specialized field. Humboldt Research Awards are presented annually to 100 internationally renowned scientists and scholars from abroad, and recipients are given a cash prize, as well as an invitation to conduct an original research project with a colleague in Germany.

Mechanical engineering Professor Somnath Ghosh has been honored with the 2007 Distinguished Scholar Award from The Ohio State University (OSU). An international leader in the field of multiple-scale computational modeling of behavior and the failure of heterogeneous materials, Dr. Ghosh specializes in computational mechanics and finite element methods, multi-scale modeling of composite and polycrystalline materials, nano-scale modeling, metal forming and biomaterials, and failure and reliability of aerospace and automotive materials.