Stony Brook Professors Honored for Work in Mechanical Engineering

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recently honored two professors from the Department of Mechanical Engineering,Jeff Ge and Shikui Chen.

"When one Mechanical Engineering professor and their students are recognized for a great conference paper, it's an indicator of a great mentor and brilliant students," said Scott Carney, professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. "When two professors are so recognized it's a pattern of commitment to advising and mentoring endemic to the department. I'm proud to work with Jeff Ge and Shikui Chen and happy to see them so honored."

Jeff Ge

For the second time, Ge was awarded the A.T. Yang Memorial Award for Theoretical Kinematics.

"I'm honored and humbled to receive this award," said Ge.

Created by the family of the late UC Davis Professor A.T. Yang, the award celebrates the best paper presented at ASME's Annual Symposium on Theoretical Kinematics. Yang, a pivotal figure in mechanical engineering, passed away more than a decade ago. His family's generous endowment sustains recognition of excellence in his memory.

Co-authored with Ge's PhD student Huan Liu and Professor Mark Langer from Indiana University, the award-winning paper builds on earlier research that was supported by a now-completed NIH grant.

Ge's research tackles the problem of trying to get a sense of how something moves - like a robotic arm, a medical tool or even a tumor inside the body as it shifts. Geometry can show where an object is at a single point in time, but describing its full path of motion is much harder.

His team created what they call a "kinematic hull," a kind of 3D envelope that wraps around all the possible positions an object takes as it moves. They build this envelope by piecing together small, simple shapes, ensuring it fits the motion as tightly and accurately as possible. It breaks complex motion into smaller building blocks.

"This award reinforces the importance of advancing theoretical kinematics, which lays the foundation for innovations in fields such as robotics, mechanical design, and radiotherapy," said Liu, a member of the research team. "It is exciting to see our work acknowledged by the broader community."

The idea has practical uses. In robotics, it can help machines move more smoothly and avoid obstacles. In medicine, it could make cancer treatments more precise by shaping radiation zones to match the way a tumor moves, protecting healthy tissue nearby.

"This recognition is very much the result of collaboration," said Ge. "I would like to acknowledge the support of NIH that was provided in the past."

Shikui Chen

For the second time in his career, Chen was honored with the Compliant Mechanisms Award. His collaborators, Ran Zhuang, Chander Sadasivan and Xianfeng David Gu, also received the honor.

"We humbly think it is a great honor," said Chen. "The last time I received this award was in 2007 when I was a PhD student. Now receiving the award 18 years later as a faculty, it is a great honor to be recognized by the society."

Established to promote research and development in the field of compliant mechanisms, the award recognizes the best papers in theory and application presented at the conference. This year, the team's paper was selected for its originality and contribution to advancing the field.

"I sincerely thank our department for its strong research support and Professor Chen for his insightful guidance," said Ran Zhuang, a PhD candidate on the research team.

The Compliant Mechanisms Award includes a cash prize and a plaque provided by ASME. Up to two awards are given each year, one emphasizing theoretical advances and the other focusing on more practical applications.

The winning research developed a new design method for structures made of hyperelastic materials, which are rubber-like substances that can stretch a lot and return to their original shape. Instead of relying on older models, the team created an approach that captures the full complexity of how these materials bend and stretch. This makes the designs more accurate and effective.

The method was tested on standard problems and then applied to create a displacement inverter, a specialized type of flexible mechanism that converts motion in one direction into motion in another direction. The results show that these materials can be shaped into devices capable of large, precise movements.

"We are trying to push the research toward the generative design of soft robots to make designs not rely on the designers' intuition, experience and inspiration," said Chen. "We're trying to turn soft robot design from an art into a science."

These advances could improve robotics, flexible tools and medical devices. This development will touch any field where controlled movement is important.

- Angelina Livigni