About the MechE Alliance Seminar Series
The MechE Alliance Seminar Series is a platform for connecting members of the MechE community, including current students, post-docs and faculty at MIT MechE, our alumni, industry and other external partners. Research thrives on sharing ideas and discoveries. Through these seminars, we support the free-flow of ideas and the networks of researchers that make up the global MechE community.
Seminars will rotate between talks from MIT MechE Faculty, Students and Postdocs, and our alumni and other partners. Topic are as varied as our research with focus areas being in mechanics, controls, instrumentation, & robotics, ocean science & engineering, micro & nano engineering, design & manufacturing, energy science & engineering, and bioengineering.
View recordings of past seminars as well as other videos from around MIT MechE at our MechE Alliance YouTube Channel.
Sponsored by MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering
Next MechE Alliance Seminar
Meeting (& preventing) new challenges in bio(chemical) sensing
Dr. Svetlana Boriskina
Wednesday, September 23
12:00-12:45pm US EDT
Zoom Webinar Link:
https://mit.zoom.us/j/95963172825
Abstract
Bio(chemical) sensors play an outsized role in medical care, biological research, drug development, national security, and environmental monitoring, as exemplified by the current need for SARS-CoV-2 virus detection. I will outline the inherent challenges associated with the development and large-scale deployment of reliable sensors for detection of new viral and bacterial pathogens and environmental pollutants. I will also discuss the approaches we are exploring to meet these challenges by combining photonic amplification, biological recognition & nano-mechanical forces on nano-photonic and nano-plasmonic chips. As one of the examples, I will introduce a concept of the High Contrast Probe Cleavage Detection mechanism, which makes use of the dramatic optical signal amplification caused by cleavage of large numbers of high-contrast nanoparticle labels. This method is drastically different from the common photonic biosensing approach based on recognizing and amplifying the signal caused by the adsorption of low-index biological molecules, and holds promise for rapid development of new sensors for detecting SARS-CoV-2 virus and other yet-unknown harmful pathogens. I will also briefly mention our work on new materials development aimed at preventing future environmental pollution and reducing risks of transmission of bacterial and viral infections.
Speaker
About Svetlana Boriskina
Svetlana V. Boriskina is a physicist and engineer who studies light-matter interactions on nanoscale and develops new smart materials and devices for solar energy harvesting, personal thermal comfort, night vision, space exploration, and bio-chemical sensing. She leads a research group at MIT, which engineers smart and sustainable fabrics, photonic meta-materials with structural colors, wearable high-efficiency sensors, and solar and waste heat harvesting platforms for clean energy generation. As the Lead Editor of the Energy and Environmental Optics Express, Svetlana is helping to disseminate the scientific knowledge and encourage the international collaborative effort to address challenges in the water-energy nexus, photonics, metamaterials, and environmental sensing.
Upcoming MechE Alliance Seminars
Faez Ahmed, Assistant Professor, MIT MechE
Wednesday, September 30th
12-12:45pm US EDT
Zoom Webinar Link:
https://mit.zoom.us/j/95791474660
Randall Davis, Professor, MIT CSAIL
Wednesday, Ocober 7th
12-12:45pm US EDT
Zoom Webinar Link:
https://mit.zoom.us/j/98299901039
Mitch Kelley, MIT MechE B.S. ‘11
Wednesday, October 14th
12-12:45pm US EDT
Zoom Webinar Link:
https://mit.zoom.us/j/98090928303
Carlos Portela, Assistant Professor, MIT MechE
Wednesday, October 21st
12-12:45pm US EDT
Zoom Webinar Link:
https://mit.zoom.us/j/94276080059
Fangzhou Xia, PhD student, MIT MechE
Wednesday, October 28th
12-12:45pm US EDT
Zoom Webinar Link:
https://mit.zoom.us/j/97811942583
Wim van Rees, ABS Career Development Professor, MIT MechE
Wednesday, November 4th
12-12:45pm US EDT
Zoom Webinar Link:
https://mit.zoom.us/j/98852886780
Sili Deng Assistant Professor, MIT MechE
Wednesday, November 18th
12-12:45pm US EDT
Zoom Webinar Link:
https://mit.zoom.us/j/97621941223
Mike Menzel, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Wednesday, December 2nd
12-12:45pm US EDT
Zoom Webinar Link:
https://mit.zoom.us/j/95934900225
Past MechE Alliance Seminars
-
A worker-centered approach to convex optimization in engineering design.
Edward Burnell, PhD candidate, MIT MechE
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
https://youtu.be/yhYbhFH3F-Q -
Manufacturing Principles: Theory, Research and Practice.
Prof. David Hardt, Industry Co-Director Jose Pacheco, Dr. Brian Anthony and Arjun Chandar
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
https://youtu.be/qOaDt7uZKVA -
Cybersecurity and Data Trustworthiness in Connected and Automated Vehicles.
Dajiang Suo is a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
Wednesday, August 4th, 2020
https://youtu.be/UkRyRmgGNmc -
Rethinking Problems in Thermal Science and Engineering - From Atoms to Applications.
Dr. Asegun Henry, an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
https://youtu.be/zURRKVJYv9Q -
A Tale of Two Singularities --Exotic phenomena and energy applications induced by topological singularities in a Weyl semimetal.
Mingda Li, Norman C. Rasmussen Assistant Professor at MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering Department
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
https://youtu.be/zURRKVJYv9Q -
Scalable Visible Light Additive (Bio)fabrication.
Kavin Kowsari, Postdoctoral Fellow , MIT MechE
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
https://youtu.be/ZCKIevPXNfs -
Birth and death of a single quantum of vibration.
Vivishek Sudhir , Assistant Professor, MIT MechE
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvgzcHpoUP8&t=233s - Bringing Science and Engineering to Safety.
Albert Moussa, President, Blazetech
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ_er5s-ERc&t=3s - 3D Organ Property Mapping Using Freehand Ultrasound Scans .
Alex Benjamin, MechE, PhD Candidate
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjRAUmRYTXE&t=66s - FiA World Rally Cup and autonomous vehicle technology is speeding the way to safer urban mobility.
Edward Bernardon, VP Strategic Automotive Initiatives at Siemens Specialized Engineering Software
Wednesday, June 18, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Bzosmwcl0&t=14s - GI Device Development in a few Movements.
Dr. Giovanni Traverso, Assistant Professor at Mechanical Engineering Department, MIT
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4B9FN0_cXc&t=10s - Sustainability and Summer Learning Opportunities at Danfoss.
Mark Shu DCs, Innovation Director, The Danfoss Innovation Accelerator, Cambridge, MA
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
https://youtu.be/8IBeb5-1gSw - Nimble Acoustic Assembly of Organized Multi-Material Extrusion Processes.
Lauren Chai, PhD Candidate, Computational Instrumentation and Device Realization Lab.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS2bGaFtUyw&t=12s - Integrating organic components with synthetic soft robots; a paradigm shift for preclinical testing of implantable devices.
Assistant Professor Ellen Roche, MIT MechE and IMES, W.M. Keck Foundation Career Development Professor.
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpGwxoBRKdw&t=1459s - Ultrahigh-efficiency desalination via a thermally-localized multistage solar still
Lenan Zhang, PhD Candidate, Device Research Lab, MIT MechE
Thursday, April 23, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYodKQP72mg&t=355s - Manipulating Light and Color with Soft and Structured Matter
Prof. Mathias Kolle, Rockwell Career Development Professorship, Associate Professor, MIT MechE
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqrkEy7nr4I&t=1640s
Contact Us
For questions, please email me-alliance@mit.edu.
MechE students, postdocs, faculty, and alumni are encouraged to reach out if you would like to present as part of this series.