From capturing the cosmos through astrophotography to being boots on the ground as a NASA intern, aerospace and mechanical engineering undergraduate student Aidan Guerra is driven by exploring humanity's connection to space.
Erik Contreras, a UC Davis mechanical engineering graduate student, paused their degree to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in Design. In this Q&A, Contreras discusses their interdisciplinary journey, creative hacking and their work on autonomous vehicles.
An accessible mosquito repellant device and an updated military aircraft earn the 2024 Sandia Engineering Design Award during the UC Davis College of Engineering Design Showcase.
A team of UC Davis undergraduate students took home $6,000 in awards from the CITRIS Aviation Prize for their project SMART UC Davis, which proposes using electrical vertical takeoff and landing aircraft as air taxis between UC campuses.
From playing with building blocks as a toddler to being a first-generation college student to working on a deep space habitat in the HRVIP Lab at UC Davis, Angel Daniel Rodas Garcia looks back on his engineering journey.
Aerospace science and engineering graduating senior Lovleen Kaur shoots for the stars, armed with a deep-rooted passion for spaceflight, as well as inspiration from expert professors and engineering skills she acquired as a UC Davis undergraduate.
After spending the year designing and assembling their vehicle, Formula Racing at the University of California, Davis, gets ready for the annual competition. For the first time in years, they believe they have a shot at victory.
Last month, a team of undergraduate engineering students from the University of California, Davis, pitched at the NASA Minority University Research and Education Project Innovation and Tech Transfer Idea Competition, or MITTIC. The team took second place and a prize of $10,000.
Robots. Laundry. Emergency care. At the University of California, Davis, Center for Spaceflight Research, these topics and more are investigated as they relate to human spaceflight. The multidisciplinary research center is poised to become the preeminent resource for human spaceflight engineering research in the U.S.
Mechanical engineering student Rowan Glenn has been recognized for their research with the AIAA Jefferson Goblet Student Paper Award. They share how getting involved in research as an undergraduate has shaped their engineering experiences.
Graduate student Marc Corfmat uses his engineering skills and design ingenuity to bring his LEGO creation, a "working" vintage Polaroid camera, to store shelves.
The fourth-year aerospace engineering major believes there are important connections between the principles of engineering and the technology that underpins arts and crafts.
In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, the University of California, Davis, College of Engineering recognizes women in engineering, their journey to and in the field, and how they promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive world.
Meet some remarkable women in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and learn how they inspire inclusion in engineering.
Mechanical and aerospace engineering student Shreya Chandra, shoots for the moon and beyond by becoming the first UC Davis recipient of the prestigious award for students with a passion for space exploration.
The first-ever UC Davis branch of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space kicks off its first year by submitting innovations like an inflatable emergency habitat and fuel recovery technology to NASA challenges.
UC Davis' first wind tunnel was built in 1975 in Bainer Hall by then-new faculty member Bruce with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Today, assistant professors Camli Badrya and Christina Harvey are taking the wind tunnels to the next level.
Field hockey and aerospace engineering wouldn't seem to go hand in hand, but Shannon Lackey has managed her love for both interests seamlessly. While she finishes up her master's degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering, she's also playing field hockey on UC Davis' Division I team.
A team of UC Davis students looked beyond convention and imagined the future to conceptualize a hybrid-electric turboprop aircraft, earning them third place in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ national design competition.
Nicholas Bachus, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was awarded Outstanding Presentation in the Residual Stress Technical Division from the Society for Experimental Mechanics, or SEM, Annual Conference and Exposition, for his research paper on the Cold Expansion process as it relates to residual stress in materials.
Ali J. Gangeh is pioneering UC Davis to the stars by leading the team building the university’s first liquid rocket engine. Gangeh is a sophomore undergraduate student studying mechanical engineering. Arriving at Davis, Gangeh expressed an interest in a variety of campus clubs but couldn’t find the perfect fit for his passions.
As Duha Bader, chair of the University of California, Davis, chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, or AIAA, weaved her way through the roughly 160 attendees of her first-ever AIAA Student Region VI Conference, she smiled proudly.
The Farm Robotics Challenge is a national competition for students to create automated solutions to issues farmers face during production. One UC Davis team took the top prize.
University of California, Davis, College of Engineering students were big winners at the 23rd annual Big Bang! Business Competition on May 23, taking home $64,000 in prizes with their innovations in food and agriculture, education, energy and sustainability, health and social enterprise.
Mechanical and aerospace engineering undergraduate student Angel Fernando Meza Terriquez's fascination with astronomy and the study of space began at an early age but he encountered unique challenges during his time at UC Davis. With the support and resources given at AvenueE, Terriquez was able to overcome those to pursue his passion.
Aaron Romero '23 is a fourth-year mechanical and aerospace engineering undergraduate student who found the College of Engineering’s diverse and growth-encouraging environment to be an eye-opening experience.
Mechanical & Aersospace Engineering graduate student Peyton Young has been admitted into the National Science Foundation Graduate Student Research Fellowship Program, or GRFP.
Tichada Tantasirikorn provides a shining example of a successful balance between school and hobbies. The third-year mechanical engineering student loves her rigorous academic career but has not had to sacrifice any of her pastimes in order to succeed.
OneLoop, a student design team at UC Davis, is currently manufacturing and rigorously testing subcomponents for a hyperloop pod that might revolutionize transportation by providing a faster and cleaner mode of travel.
Student mentors from SOAR visit classrooms in-person once a month, host virtual events, coordinate field trips to the museum, and serve as role models for students throughout the academic year. They also partner with teachers from COA to reinforce their current curriculum and engage students with activities that encourage scientific problem-solving and exploration.
Third-year undergraduate Allison Riley wasn’t always sure she’d be able to find an environmental-based job as a mechanical engineering major but her work with Facilities Management changed her outlook.
Behind every student at UC Davis is an untold story of personal growth—and for many, struggle. This is where donors make the difference by funding scholarships and other student success programs offered through the Division of Student Affairs.
Second-year mechanical and aerospace engineering master's student Anna Rita Moukarzel’s love for the world of neuroengineering is rooted in her background in robotics and the performing arts.
Moukarzel graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with a B.S. in mechanical engineering with a minor in theater & dance.
A team of UC Davis students is one of six university teams that has been selected as finalists to advance to the next phase of NASA’s Formulate, Lift, Observe, And Testing; Data Recovery And Guided On-board Node (FLOATing DRAGON) Balloon Challenge. The UC Davis team, which is comprised of undergraduate students from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, is called HERMES, or High-altitude Experimental Rogallo Mission to Escort Safely.
“I have gained so much support from AvenueE, and I would not be in the academic and professional position that I am in today without them,” Arroyo Donjuan said. “AvenueE has facilitated my access to multiple resources such as tutoring, success coaching, counseling, guest speakers, internship, and, scholarship opportunities.”
After nearly six years and the contributions of more than 300 undergraduate students in the Space and Satellite Systems (SSS) Club at UC Davis, the university’s first student-built satellite will be going to space for proof-of-concept experiments as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative.
The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering is excited to highlight the recent success of its graduate students, who have received numerous awards and fellowships in recognition of their outstanding research in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), AI and human-computer interaction and heat transfer and solar-thermal energy, respectively.
More information about each award and its recipients are below:
On a wet and windy Sunday in Kansasville, Wisconsin this April, the First Nations Rocketry team at UC Davis launched and recovered a high-powered rocket and won the First Nations Launch High-Powered Rocket Competition moon challenge for the second year in a row.
Nine mechanical and aerospace engineering students from two research teams at UC Davis experienced zero gravity this December as they successfully tested two spaceflight technologies aboard two parabolic flights.
Over the next four years, UC Davis students will be designing the car of the future as part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s EcoCAR Electric Vehicle (EV) Challenge. The competition challenges students to convert a Cadillac LYRIQ EV into an autonomous, next-generation battery-electric vehicle with vehicle-to-everything connectivity so it can interact with devices and the environment.
Paje is an inaugural recipient of the Vertical Flight Society scholarship, which supports promising engineering students interested in vertical flight at U.S.-recognized minority-serving institutions and sends them to the VFS annual forum. Paje is a first-generation college student and recently participated in an internship with electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft pioneer Wisk Aero, LLC.
The Main Theatre at Wright Hall this month became the unlikely site of an experiment on technology that could eventually go into space.
Students in the Center for Spaceflight Research at UC Davis are working on technologies for a class of satellites that could inspect other spacecraft, such as the International Space Station, in collaboration with NASA. But up in space, the light is harshly bright with no atmosphere to attenuate the sunshine, and the technology must be configured for that environment.
Second-year Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering M.S. student Morgan Harris wants to be on the front lines of building a healthier community. Through her research on prosthetic devices and her dream of opening her own prosthetics and orthotics clinic, she wants to improve people’s lives while offering the same type of mentorship and outreach experiences that inspired her.
Mechanical and aerospace engineering (MAE) M.S. student Emily Jonsson won the Organizing Committee Best Poster award this summer at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (MSEC). Her winning poster, “Wafer Experiments to Assess Machining Distortion in Aluminum,” outlined her research on understanding and predicting stresses in aluminum with her advisors, Barbara Linke and Mike Hill.
The best piece of advice M.S. student Daniela Barajas Ivey received as she earned her B.S. in chemical engineering at UC Davis was, “chemical engineering can be found in all disciplines.” She took this to heart and after joining the aerospace industry, she returned to UC Davis as a master’s student to study environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) for human habitats in deep space.
Fourth-year mechanical and aerospace engineering (MAE) Ph.D. student Sicheng (Kevin) Li is making a major impact on aerospace engineering and in the UC Davis community through his cutting-edge research on rotorcraft noise and his leadership and mentorship on campus.
UC Davis aerospace engineering students continued their dominance in NASA’s Aeronautics University Design Challenge, with two teams tied for first and another tied for second in the 2020-21 competition.
Professor Valeria La Saponara’s lab recently received the College of Engineering Lab Safety Award from UC Davis Safety Services, naming it the best lab in the College of Engineering in terms of safety. The awards recognize labs with a strong safety emphasis who are doing their part to think safe, act safe and be safe.
Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor and chair Cristina Davis’ research was recently featured in the New York Times article, “A Covid Test as Easy as Breathing.” The article featured her lab’s groundbreaking work developing portable breathalyzer-like devices that rapidly diagnose COVID-19 and tell doctors how severe the case is going to be.
Mechanical and aerospace engineering (MAE) Ph.D. students Kevin Li and Jared Sagaga were awarded Vertical Flight Foundation (VFF) Fellowships in recognition of their experience, academics and research motivation. Every year, the fellowship recognizes and supports top M.S. and Ph.D. students around the world who are working on rotorcraft and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft technology.
UC Davis Give Day 2021, campus’ fifth annual fundraising event is this weekend, from Friday April 16 at 12 p.m. to Saturday April 17 at 5 p.m. and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) is looking for support.
As the FDA approves COVID-19 vaccines for use, distribution to hospitals and vaccination sites will become the next challenge in fighting the pandemic. As part of their “Optimization-Based Control” (MAE 298) course, a group of mechanical and aerospace engineering (MAE) graduate students were inspired to help and developed efficient vaccine distribution plans for the Bay Area and Sacramento using three different types of delivery vehicles.
Fourth-year mechanical engineering major Midori Huapaya-Renbarger has made research a key part of her college experience. As a member of a lab that combines healthcare and robotics, she’s worked to help people using technology, while developing her technical skills and building a strong foundation for a career in industry.
Second-year mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. student Leslie Simms has received a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship program recognizes and supports 2000 outstanding graduate students across the U.S. every year. The award covers three years of tuition and researcher salary.
The program, which was founded in 1951, is the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind. In almost 70 years, the fellowship has supported 42 future Nobel laureates and over 450 members of the National Academy of Sciences.
Second-year mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. student Leslie Allyn Simms was selected to attend the 70th annual Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting from June 27 – July 2, 2021 in Lindau, Germany.
Second-year mechanical engineering major Ruby Zoom Houchens takes every opportunity in stride. From working in professor Stephen Robinson’s lab, to serving as a shop tech and photographer, to being involved with multiple campus organizations, she brings a unique and well-rounded approach to engineering that’s already made her a staple of the College of Engineering.
Third-year mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. student Dane Sterbentz is a recipient of the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration’s Laboratory Residency Graduate Fellowship (DOE NNSA LRGF). Sterbentz, part of professor J.P. Delplanque’s research group, is one of just four doctoral students across the country to receive the fellowship.
Hope is a powerful emotion –– it can get us through tough times, it can help us persevere trials and tribulations until we reach our goal. Third-year mechanical engineering student Martin Vega-Martinez ‘20 is the perfect embodiment of what hope, combined with hard work, looks like.
UC Davis aerospace engineering senior design teams finished first and third in NASA’s 2018-19 Aeronautics University Design Challenge. The designs are the culmination of two quarters of work through the senior design course, led by Professor Case van Dam.
Ph.D. student Peng Wei has been named the recipient of the 2019 N&M Sarigul-Klijn Flight Research/Space Engineering Award. The award is given every other year to top graduate students in the UC Davis Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering pursuing flight-related research.
Wei, a 3rd year Ph.D. student in Assistant Professor Zhaodan Kong’s lab, studies aerodynamic effects on multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), colloquially known as drones.
Destiny cannot be contained. After a decade in the College of Engineering, Destiny Garcia is now mere months away from earning her Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering. An energetic and warm young woman, she is finally taking a moment to reflect on her experiences at UC Davis.
Making electric vehicles, autonomous fleets ubiquitous
Shail Trivedi is a third-year mechanical engineering student who hopes to work with mechatronics/robotic systems or mechanical design of devices. “I love to learn,” he says, “and I find myself curious to learn more about the types of roles mechanical engineers play in today’s world and where I can best find my fit.”
UC Davis mechanical and aerospace engineering startup, RePurpose Energy, won big at the 2019 Big Ideas contest, taking home first place in the Energy and Resources category and winning grand prize at the competition’s Pitch Day.
The UC Davis Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department congratulates Ph.D. student Henry (Zhongqi) Jia upon being named a 2019 Vertical Flight Society/Vertical Flight Foundation scholarship recipient.
A student team from the UC Davis Space and Satellite Systems Club was one of five university teams invited to present their plans for a Mars greenhouse at the NASA Langley Research Center.
A UC Davis Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department team has advanced to the top 20 groups of the 2019 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, making the team’s pod officially eligible to go through safety checks and, pending results, to race at the July 21 event.
As part of the UC Davis College of Engineering's recognition of 2019 National Engineers' Week, several engineering faculty, alumni and students shared their personal stories about how they became involved in engineering.
UC Davis MAE doctoral student Sarah O'Meara's ultimate goal is an assistive robot that a person can control by contracting a muscle or making a gesture.
The California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) is a four-week statewide program for the most talented high-school students in the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
As a UC Davis aerospace science and engineering major, you will learn core mechanical engineering concepts and applications, and practice computational analysis. You’ll also learn the fundamentals of design, propulsion and aerodynamics.
Three UC Davis mechanical and aerospace engineering senior design teams received top honors in NASA’s 2017-18 Aeronautics University Design Challenge. One MAE team tied for first, another placed second and another tied for third. The fifteen undergraduates involved presented their designs at a symposium on September 20 at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. and were treated to a private tour of the facilities and the Capitol building.
The GIRL+ Camp is the first advanced expansion of the C-STEM GIRL Camp, a wildly successful free outreach program that introduces programming, robotics and leadership to middle-school girls, many from underserved schools or communities.
