Three engineering professors awarded prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER awards

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program supports the early development of non-tenured professors and aims to develop their careers, not only as outstanding researchers but also as effective, committed educators.   

The University of Akron recently received word that three College of Engineering faculty were awarded prestigious CAREER awards. The award comes with a federal award for research and education activities for five consecutive years in the amount of $500,000. NSF gives these awards once a year.

“For an academic researcher to receive a CAREER award is a really big deal. You are given immediate credibility, both in terms of the quality of your research and its impact on the next generation,” says Craig Menzemer, Ph.D., Interim Dean of the College of Engineering. 

Dr. Chang Ye

An assistant professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr. Chang Ye received an award to study the impact pulsed electric currents have on metal forming. In many traditional manufacturing processes (e.g. metal forming in auto body manufacturing), some hard-to-deform metals need to be heated to high temperatures to be processed. This can lead to poor surface quality and requires high energy consumption. With pulsed current, metals can be formed at much lower temperature.  

“This is an incredible honor, and I am forever grateful to NSF for funding this work which I see as a game-changer for the metals processing industry,” says Dr. Ye.

During Dr. Ye’s preliminary research, he discovered that a microsecond pulsed current can significantly lower the forces needed to form metals, which will significantly improve the process efficiency and lower the energy consumption.

According to Dr. Ye, “This data is so exciting. We will be able to waste less energy and get a better product. This is a win-win for all involved.”   

This advanced manufacturing capability will contribute to the competitiveness of the US by reducing the cost, lowering energy consumption and the environmental impact of many metal manufacturing processes that play a vital role in the defense and manufacturing industry.

Dr. Ye’s research team includes mechanical engineering graduate students Zhen Cheng Ren and Hao Zhang as well as undergraduate student Victoria Lehtimaki. He will partner with The American Society for Metals to offer a summer camp to K-12 students as part of the outreach component of the CAREER award.

Dr. Rajeev Gupta

What if we could take magnesium, the third most abundant metal and the lightest of all structural metals, and make it stronger and more resistant to corrosion? That’s the research question asked by Dr. Rajeev Gupta, an Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UA. Dr. Gupta recently received an NSF CAREER award to study corrosion of magnesium alloys and develop high strength, corrosion resistant versions. 

“I am humbled to receive this honor and very grateful for the recognition and support from NSF. I’m thrilled at the opportunity to design new magnesium alloys that will have transformative implications in several industries,” says Dr. Gupta. 

By using materials that are more lightweight in vehicle manufacturing, the weight would decrease, resulting in higher fuel efficiency and lower carbon dioxide emission. High strength materials can be applied in high load bearing applications and can also help in reducing overall weight of engineering structures. Improved corrosion resistance would increase the life of the engineering components. The ability to control the corrosion of magnesium alloys and increase their strength can revolutionize the automotive and aerospace industries, as well as the field of “smart” biomaterials.

Dr. Gupta’s fascination with making new materials and understanding the material properties at various lengths scales led him to focus his research on improving strength and corrosion resistance of magnesium.

“Any contribution to address the limitations of magnesium would be revolutionary,” he says.

For the community outreach component of the CAREER award, Dr. Gupta is developing a plan to involve high school students and teachers in his research. The goal is to stimulate interests in STEM fields among young students and broaden participation of underrepresented groups. High school students and teachers will also have an opportunity to speak with Dr. Gupta and work in his laboratory during summer.  

Dr. Rouzbeh Amini

During pregnancy, the workload of the heart increases, and the total volume of blood in the body rises by 40 percent to accommodate circulation to the placenta. Such an immense increase in cardiac workload has been shown to cause changes in the shape and structure of the heart valves. Dr. Rouzbeh Amini, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, recently received an NSF CAREER award to better understand how heart valves in pregnant women change at the sub-tissue and cellular level.

This research is expected to add knowledge of how an increase in pressure, or mechanical loading, affects cells and their surrounding structure, which is useful for future studies of the heart valves and other soft tissues. It will also provide useful information about how valve dysfunctions are brought on by secondary reasons, like pulmonary hypertension, which is a major cause of tricuspid valve disease in the broader public as well as in pregnant women. The tricuspid valve is the least understood heart valve.

Dr. Amini’s enthusiasm about maternal and fetal cardiovascular health prompted his interests in developing a deeper understanding of heart valve biomechanics and led him to apply for the award. This was Dr. Amini’s third and final attempt. Individuals can only apply for the award three times in their career.

Dr. Amini humbly acknowledges receipt of the award as a “great honor.”

“Maternal health research is one of the least-studied types of research overall, and to the best of my knowledge, our study on the intersection of maternal health and engineering is the first of its kind at UA,” says Dr. Amini. “We want to show that cells in pregnant women are sensitive to changes in their environment. The knowledge we will gain will also help in the field of tissue engineering and increase our understanding of heart conditions.”

Dr. Amini will be conducting research on the UA campus as well as at the Ohio Supercomputing Center in Columbus.

When he mentioned news of the NSF award to his Ph.D. students, they were “very excited” particularly since they had such a large role in generating some of the preliminary data.

For the outreach and educational component of the grant, Dr. Amini plans to engage Akron area K-12 students via hands-on STEM activities involving heart biomechanics during summer camp programs as well as host monthly mentoring sessions at the University of Akron. Dr. Amini will incorporate the research outcomes into courses offered at UA.

Congratulations to these three incredible professors on their well-deserved recognition!