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Hannah Stroud is a second year Master of Science student advised by Drs. Hartl and Shryock. Her masters work focuses on FEA modeling of knitted shape memory alloy structures. She proposed augmenting this work to the NSF GRFP: Through methods of non-linear substructuring in FEA, efficient analyses of functional, patterned fabrics can be performed. Hannah also highlighted her department involvement and commitment to STEM outreach with initiatives such as the Pitch Up! Competition, Camp SOAR activities, and demonstration development for the Physics and Engineering Festival.

On March 2, 2020, Brent Bielefeldt became Dr. Hartl’s second advisee to complete all necessary requirements for his doctoral degree in Aerospace Engineering. The contributions of his dissertation, entitled “Multiobjective Topology Optimization for Preliminary Design Using Graph Theory and L-System Languages,” have already been adopted by the Air Force Research Laboratory, where he is now working as a prestigious National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow.

[Read more…] about Brent Bielefeldt successfully completes his studies as a Ph.D. student

On February 20, 2020, Will Scholten successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation entitled “A Novel Uncoupled Method for Static Aeroelastic Analysis Towards MorphingStructures Design,” making him the first Ph.D. student to be independently advised by Hartl to successfully complete his degree requirements and graduate.

[Read more…] about William Scholten becomes Hartl’s first independently advised Ph.D. graduate

Earlier this fall, Dr. Hartl teamed with Jim Mabe of Boeing and Eric Schulte, a local business owner, to initiate a project to convert a vintage 1950’s carnival ride rocket car into a virtual reality (VR) flight simulator for K-12 STEM outreach. The Aerospace Engineering senior capstone design team sponsored by Hartl to develop and deploy this experience has recently completed their critical design  review and will move forward with the project.

 

[Read more…] about Senior design team advised by Hartl completes successful design review

[Read more…] about Dr. Hartl featured on NASA morphing supersonic aircraft podcast

[Read more…] about Large NASA grant to MAESTRO and collaborators helps shape-shifting metals transform lunar missions

[Read more…] about MAESTRO Undergraduate Researcher Wins Scholarship

Early in march, the US Patent Office assigned patent number US10228197 for a patent entitled “Variable Heat Rejection Device” that protects intellectual property associated with the SMA-based morphing radiator project. Inventors included Dr. Darren Hartl and his collaborators at NASA and Paragon Space Development Corporation.

[Read more…] about US patent granted for shape memory alloy morphing radiator

Only three years after returning to the Texas A&M Department of Aerospace Engineering as a tenure-track faculty member in August of 2016, Dr. Hartl has reached the 3000 citation mark (as per Google Scholar).

With an h-index of 20 and with 50 publications having over 10 citations, Dr. Hartl continues to work with his students to make an impact on the smart materials and adaptive structures community in particular. Highly cited publications from the MAESTRO Lab address such topics as shape memory alloys, active origami, and multi-functional composites. Newer papers have addressed fracture and fatigue of shape memory alloy materials as well as new topological design methods and actuator concepts.

Senior undergraduate student Jessica Zamarripa recently attended the Global Grand Challenge Summit in London, UK from September 12-18. The event convened inspirational world leaders with the next generation of engineers and change makers to build a creative collaboration environment to help solve the grand challenges facing our world. The summit focused on answering the questions of whether we can sustain 10 billion people and will AI/other transformational technologies change humanity for the better. She spent her time networking with representatives from industry and academia (including the COE of Deka Research and Development, former president of the National Academy of Engineers, President of the Namibia Society of Engineers, etc.), participated in the student collaboration lab, and attended several seminars that discussed different world issues.