SOCORRO, N.M. -- Eight visiting students and three local teachers presented research posters from their summer projects at the Fidel Center on Friday morning.

The NMT Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering, and Chemical Engineering Departments hosted eight Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) from across the nation and three Research Experience for Teachers (RET) participants.

This REU program is dubbed the INTENSE REU, which stands for INTelligent ENergetic Systems Engineering. The program was a highly competitive application process, with eight visiting undergraduate students spending the summer in Socorro. They engaged in unique research related to robotics, smart materials, explosives, high-speed fluid dynamics, and shock physics. Each student completed an individual research project with an NMT faculty member as research advisor. They lived in the Altamirano Apartments and were able to get to know each other while not in their labs.

The visiting scholars were involved in projects that are directly related to federally-funded research being performed at NMT. They built skills, knowledge, and exposure to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines relevant to these national hiring needs. 

DaJae Doral, a rising senior at Northern Arizona University, worked with NMT’s Dr. Jamie Kimberley. Her project was “Theta-Specimens for Dynamic Strength Measurements of Brittle Materials.” Doral said the REU program was a life-changing experience in many ways. She had no research experience and learned everything from scratch, including fabrication, modeling, data analysis, high-speed photography, and much more. She said that she was reconsidering her choice to study mechanical engineering during the pandemic. However, the REU at New Mexico Tech re-energized her enthusiasm for pursuing her course of study and getting involved in research.

Joseph Mays, a rising senior in aerospace engineering at Mississippi State University, worked with NMT faculty member Dr. Chelsey Hargather. His project was “Burn Rate of Measurements of Solid Rocket Propellants With Varying Solids Loadings and Catalyst Compositions.” Mays said the experience provided him with invaluable experience that he had not been exposed to yet. 

 

 

Justin Avila is a rising senior in civil engineering at the University of Buffalo. He worked with NMT faculty member Dr. Andrei Zagrai on “Data Analysis for In Orbit Structural Health Monitoring.” Avila said the research fits nicely with his civil engineering courses, including the study of cracks in buildings and bridges. Avila said he hopes to enter the workforce after graduating, but he's also considering a professional master's in civil engineering.

 

Vivian Su is a rising senior in mechanical engineering at the University of Utah. She worked with Dr. Kooktae Lee of NMT on the “Design and Control of a Solar-Powered Autonomous Mobile Robot.” She said she had experience with building robots before, but this project exposed her using solar power. She said that her robot can operate indefinitely in an environment. Her robot is intended for deployment in missions to outer space. 

 

 

Dominik Fill, an August 2021 graduate of Penn State University, worked with Dr. Mostafa Hassanalian of NMT. He designed and built a “Spherical Rolling Robot Prototype for Planetary Exploration.” Fill said the summer research internship was an excellent preparation for entering graduate school at Georgia Tech this fall. His drone is remote controlled and is designed to function in harsh environments such as Saturn's moon Titan. 

 

 

Riley Flores, is a rising senior in biomedical engineering at Brown University. She worked with NMT’s Dr. Michaelann Tartis on a project titled “Cavitation in Two Skull Variations of a Human Head Model Us9ing Shadowgraph Imaging During Blunt Impact.” Flores said this REU was her first exposure to lab research and the experience has prompted her to consider going into more research. She 3-D printed an analog for the human brain and conducted testing that will help engineers build helmets that provide better protection.  

 

Emily Strauss, a rising senior at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, worked with Dr. Mostafa Hassanalian of NMT. Her project was “Aquatic and Bacterium Inspired Hybrid Systems.” She built a series of prototypes of small aquatic drones that mimic the movement of bacteria. She also built a large prototype of a drone that mimics a jellyfish. The smaller drones attach to the larger “mother” drone and act as a swarm. She said this was her first experience in research and that it was an eye-opening experience. She has some experience with electronics, but got her first exposure to Arduino.

 

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