Professor Rong participated the panel meeting at NSF on December 19, 2007.

Professor Rong started another trip to Asia on Wednesday, November 28, 2007. First, he visited National Tsinghus University and National Chiao Tung University at Hsinchu, Taiwan on Friday, November 30. He met with many old friends. Then he visited National Taiwan University at Taipei on Saturday, December 1. Professor Rong traveled down south to Tainan on Sunday, December 2, to participate the International Forum on Systems and Mechatronics, where he gave an invited speech and presented a technical paper on Tuesday, December 4. He also visited National Cheng Kung University and the Sorth Hi-Tech Business Development Zone on Monday, December 3. Professor Rong continued his trip to Shanghai, China on Wednesday, December 5, from Taipei through Hong Kong.

Professo Rong met with Dr. Tony Wu, Director of Business Development of Bodycote Asia, and Ed Jamieson, Director of Technology & Quality at Bodycote, as well as Professor Liang Gao from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), in Shanghai Pudong Airport on Wednesday, December 5. They talked about WPI’s MQP in China program. On Thursday, December 6, Professor Gao and Professor Rong visited Amphenol TCS Changzhou Operations in the morning, meeting with Mr. Sky Wang and his colleagues, and Nypro Suzhou Operations in the afternoon, meeting with the Pan China Supply Chain Manager, Mr. Ron Alciati. Besides tours to the facilities, the MQP in China 2008 was discussed in detail. On Friday, together with Professor Tryggvason from WPI, Professor Rong visited Caterpillar Shanghai Office (meeting with the Materials Technology Manager at China R&D Center and Technology & Solutions Division, Mr. Gary Yerby) and the new Technical Center of Saint Gobain at Shanghai (meeting with the General Manager, Dr. Dieter Linnhoefer and Technical Shared Service, Mr. Alex Wang). They left Shanghai for Wuhan via over-night train in the evening of Saturday, December 7.

 

On Sunday, December 9, Professor Gao and Professor Rong met with the HUST students who are going to WPI for their senior projects in March-May (D Term) 2008 and the students who may participate the MQP in China 2008 program in summer 2008. Professor Rong also met old and new friends there, as well as several HUST students who participated the MQP in China before, and talked a lot on both education and research collaboration. On Monday, Professor Tryggvason gave a seminar to HUST professors and graduate students, on Engineering Education in USA, followed by a discussion meeting with HUST faculty and administrative members of Mechanical Engineering School. The issues and future of the MQP in China program was discussed in addition to the general topic of engineering education. In the afternoon, Professor Tryggvason had a campus and Lab tour of HUST, after the lunch with the HUST President, Professor Peigen Li and several university officers. Professor Rong had a meeting with WPI-HUST Senior Project Center colleagues to discuss the details of MQP in China 2008. In the evening, Professor Tryggvason and Professor Rong flied back Shanghai in the evening of Monday, December 10.

 

On Tuesday, December 11, Professor Rong visited CIS (meeting with the General Manager, Mr. Lim Tek Hong and his colleagues) and REM (meeting with the President Al Barry and General Manager Chay Chin Tat) companies who are sponsoring MQP in China program in 2008, as well as a potential sponsor, Bodycote (meeting with General Manager China Li Shen), all in Wuxi, China. Professor Tryggvason and Professor Rong came back US from Shanghai in the morning of Wednesday, December 12.

Professor Rong visited Jensen Industries at North Haven, CT on Monday, November 26, 2007. He met with Don Cornell, the Vice-President, and Jeff Sitkin, the Manager of Refining Business Development. Professor Rong learned the industrial practice on dental CAD/CAM business and discussed possible collaboration of Jensen with WPI.

The traditional CAM-Lab Thanksgiving Party was held at Professor Rong’s house on Thursday, November 22, 2007. Dr. Yihong (David) Yang and his wife, Weiwei Wang came from IL, as well as Yao Zhou from New York City came back to share the happiness with us. Besides the turkey and other delicious food, they also enjoyed the ping-pong game, Karaoke and poke play, as well as a lot of talk. It was a good time to relax from hard working on different projects.

Professor Rong visited Amphenol TCS at Nashua, NH on Monday, November 19, 2007. He met with Bill Doherty, General Manager of Production Operations, and Mark St. Hilaire, Operation Manager. They discussed the continuation of the MQP in China program with Amphenol and planning for the 2008 projects for exchange students from HUST and for the MQP in China students.

Professor Rong and Mr. Feng Jiang participated the ASME IMECE 2007 at Seattle, WA, in November 12-14, 2007. They presented two technical papers and met with several old and new friends. They came back to Worcester in the morning of Thursday, November 15.

Professor Rong visited Saint Gobain at Worcester and met with Dr. Bob Smith, the Director for Manufacturing Excellence for Saint-Gobain Abrasives, as well as Dr. Subbu, on Monday, November 12, 2007. Potential student projects on Lean Manufacturing with Saint Gobain were discussed.

The research team, Dr. Hua Li, Dr. Hui Wang, and Mr. Hong Guo visited Caterpillar at Peoria, IL in November 7-8, 2007, to report and demonstrate the results of the project, Computer-aided Modular Fixture Design for Welding. The work tasks in next step was reviewed and discussed. Professor Rong and Dr. G. Wang joined them on November 8.

Professor Rong and Dr. Gang Wang participated the CHTE semi-annual meeting at Chicago in November 6-7, 2007. They met with many old and new friends in heat-treating related industry. The project progress and the new project were discussed.

Dr. Xiangli Han visited our CAM Lab, where he worked in for a few years, on Saturday, November 3, 2007.

Professor Sisson and Professor Rong, as well as the two students, Mr. Dennis Proulx and Mr. Patrick Hill, who are doing their IQP (junior project), visited Worcester Technical High School and met with Mr. Peter Crafts, Director of Vocational/Technical Education, Mr. Edwin Coughlin, Treasurer of Electrical Contractors and Network Service, and several other colleagues in the school. A tour was given to the visitors and the project idea was discussed. The visitors were deeply impressed by the lab condition and the way of student learning at Worcester Tech High, particularly in the practice learning side.

Professor Rong and Mr. Wei Tian made a project progress report presentation at Saint Gobain Worcester, on Monday, October 29, 2007. The first two phases of the project on Signature Analysis of OD Grinding Processes has been finished and the next phase tasks were discussed in the meeting. About ten SG engineers participated in the presentation and discussion. The project will be continued according to the comments from the discussion.

Professor Zhenbing Hou and his Wife visited WPI and our CAM Lab on October 25-27, 2007. Professor Hou was a pioneer manufacturing engineering educator in China and has been working on Machining/Grinding processes for many years. He was a professor at Harbin Institute of Technology and Tongji University, both in China. After his retirement, Professor Hou has worked with Oklahoma State University for many years. Professor Hou introduced his research work and particularly discussed with the graduate students on the current research projects in the area at our CAM Lab of WPI.

Mr. Bowang (Bose) Xiao gave a presentation on Developing UMAT with ABAQUS. He started this study when he was a master student at Oakland University, MI, and continues as part of his dissertation at WPI.

Radha, Dr. Gary Wang, and Professor Rong visited Surface Combustion at Maumee, OH, on Monday, October 22, 2007. The research work on furnace model improvement and calibration was discussed. The new CHTE project on vacuum carburizing and fatigue life analysis, as well as furnace gas reclamation were also discussed.

Leo and Dan just had their daughter, Maggie, coming to join us in the early morning of October 21, 2007. Both the baby and Mom were doing well. Congratulations to the parents.

Professor Rong attended ASPE Annual Conference at Dallas, TX, in October 17-19, 2007, where he presented the research on simulation study of thermal analysis in micro-machining based on the work Dong Lu was working on at both WPI and Shandong University in China.

Mr. Seyed Raissi, Director of Supply Chain (Americas), and Ronald Alciati, Supply Chain Manager for Pan China, visited WPI on Tuesday, October 16, 2007. They met with Professor Amy Zeng of Management and Professor Rong. The global senior project program was particularly discussed. From this year, Nypro will join our in MQP in China program by sponsoring projects in both US and China for students from WPI and HUST, China.

Professor Young S. Kim from Kyungpook National University, Taegu, Korea, visited WPI on Monday, October 15, 2007. He met with Professor Gretar Tryggvason, ME Department Head, and Professor Rong, as well as Mr. Hyoung jun Lee, the visiting student from KNU. The international exchange program for senior projects is particularly discussed. WPI will continue to accept KNU students doing projects on campus and plan to send our students to Korea for joint team project with industry as their senior projects (MQP).

Feng Liu and Ashwin Joshi from WPI CAM Lab visited GM Powertrain at Pontiac, MI from October 1 to 12, 2007 (Ashwin came back on October 6). They studied GM practice on Casting System Design. They helped GM to construct CAD (UG) models of the casting system and run simulations for system performance evaluation. The work will be continued at WPI as part of a research project.

Professor Rong visited GE Aviation Service Facility at Strother, KS, on Monday, October 8, 2007. A group of WPI senior students were finishing their senior project (MQP) on Lean Manufacturing Implementation there and had their final presentation.

Professor Rong gave an invited speak on “Working Across the Globe – Real life Experiences”, at ASME District A Student Leadership Seminar (SLS) Conference, at Worcester, MA on October 6, Saturday, 2007.

Dr. Hui Wang gave a presentation on his research work in his dissertation on Wednesday, October 3, 2007. The title of his presentation is “a hybrid heuristic approach for product disassembly analysis”.

Dr, X. Chen and G. Wang shared their experience on Our Experiences about R&D and Project Management, in a special CAM Lab seminar on October 2, Tuesday. They introduced the lessons learned from their previous working experience. Thanks to them.

Several families of CAM Lab alumni in Boston area had a reunion party at Dr. Aarcus Kang’s house on Sunday, September 30, 2007. Besides Dr. Kang’s (used to be Eric Kang) family, the participated include Professor Rong and his wife, Professor Yufeng Wu from UConn, Dr. Jie Li and his family, Dr. Weifang (Mike) Hu and his family, Dr. Quansheng (Charles) Lu, Mr. Yuefeng Kang and Mr. Shiping Huang and their families. Dr. Hui Song missed the party because of an unexpected activity. They enjoyed the nice weather and a lot of talk on the old days.

Professor Amy Zeng at Management Department of WPI and Professor Rong visited Nypro on Thursday, September 27, 2007. They met with Mr. Rashid Shaikh, Senior Director of Global Supply Chain, and Mr. Ronald Alciati, Supply Chian Manager – Pan China, and discussed the WPI’s MQP in China program. Professor D. Guo from Dalian University of Technology joined the visit and the discussion.

Professor Doming Guo from Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China, gave a seminar on his research work with the title of "Ultra-Precision Machining Technology in IC Manufacturing".

Professor Dongming Guo, the Vice President of Dulian University of Technology, Dalian, China, visited our CAM Lab. and WPI. He met with Provost Orr, Associate Provost McGimpsey, ME head Tryggvason, and Professors Sisson, Liang in ME, and Zeng in MG. Professor Guo gave a presentation on Engineering Research and Education at Dalian University of Technology, as a special Manufacturing Engineering Seminar. He is a long time friend of Professor Rong and had a lot of discussion with him and Cam Lab members. Professor Guo also visited Nypro and Saint Gobain companies during his visit in the area.

Mr. Feng Jiang gave a presentation on Cutting Force Model of End Milling.

Dr. Wang gave a seminar to MTE graduate students and faculty on Wednesday, September 26, on Applications of Numerical Simulation Technology for Casting Processes. Two MTE graduate students, Xiaolan Wang and Andy Liu also presented their work on Cleaning before and after Heat Treatment.

Radha came from Caterpillar after the ASM meeting. On Friday and Saturday (September 21 and 22), he had intensive discussions with the research group, including mainly Dr. Zhang (Leo), Dr. Chen (William), and Professor Rong for his research on Furnace modeling. Radha was back to IL on Sunday.

Professor Amy Zeng from Management Department at WPI gave a seminar Manufacturing Engineering Graduate Students and Professors, as well as local company colleagues, on A Glimpse of the Status-quo of Supply Chain and Logistics Management.

Mr. Al Barry visited us on Thursday, September 20. Al was the CEO of CIS who has sponsored projects for our MQP in China program for two years. Now Al has started his own company, Wuxi Rapid Engineering and Manufacturing, in China, and will continue to sponsor the MQP in China program. Al met with our ME head, Professor Gretar Tryggvason and accepted the invitation of being a ME advisory board member. Al is an alumni of ME WPI.

CAM Lab Seminar. Jun Zhou gave a presentation on Preliminary Study on Micro-cutting Processes.

Leo and Jingping participated the NSF SBIR/STTR Grantees’ Conference at Arlington, VA on September 17-19, representing JYL Solutions. They met the NSF program managers and other professionals to discuss the project progress and funding for next phase.

Attending ASM conference. Radha and Gary attended ASM Annual Conference at Detroit, on September 17-19. They presented two papers and two posters, as well as meeting a lot of people.

CAM Lab had a BBQ cookout get-together at Back Patio of the Campus Center on September 14, for the new academic year. This time is particularly to welcome the new members to our Lab, as well as several friends who are new to WPI. We enjoyed the food and a lot of talk.

Dr. Yihong (David) Yang from Caterpillar Research Center, Peoria, IL visited our CAM Lab. The on going project on Computer-aided Modular Fixture Design for Welding was discussed. Davis was a member of our CAM Lab and graduated with Ph. D in Mechanical Engineering last academic year. He has been working with CAT for about three years.

Dr. Qigui Wang from GM Powertrain visited our Cam Lab on September 7, 2007. Two on going research projects on Modeling and Simulation of Gas Quenching project and CAD Model Generation for Casting Design Optimization System (CDOS) were discussed.

Professor Rong attended the International Conference on Engineering Education (ICEE), at Coimbra, Portugal, from September 3-6, 2007. He presented a paper on MQP in China: Doing Project and Beyond.

As the new academic year of 2007-2008 has started, several CAM Lab seminars have been conducted in the week of August 27, 2007. The following presentations were given for summary of their work,

• On Tuesday, August 28, Bose gave a presentation on Simulation and Measurement of Residual Stresses of Aluminum Castings after Water Quenched. It is about the research work he did for MS at Oakland University in MI
• On Wednesday, August 29, Chris presented a topic on Review of Summer Intern in 2007
• On Thursday, August 30, Wayne gave a presentation on Signature Analysis for Grinding Process at 4:00 pm in the afternoon. This is based on a project with Saint Gobain Worcester, MA.
• Then on the same day, Dr. Gang Wang gave a presentation on Some Problems in Numerical Simulation for Die Casting Process.

Professor Rong visited GE Engine Services facility at Winfield, KS. Two WPI students are doing their MQP there on Lean Manufacturing Implementations.

Professor Sisson and Professor Rong, as well as Dr. Maniruzzaman, visited Air Product at Allengton, PA. They learned the research activities and facilities at Air Product, and introduced MPI/CHTE research and operations at WPI. The interested research topics were also discussed.

Mr. Suhee Kang, the exchange senior student from Kyungpook National University, Duegu, Korea, returned his home university on August 26, 2007, after studying with us for six months. Before left, he gave a presentation on his research work on Clamping Sequence Study for Computer-aided Fixture Design.

Professor Takashi Mastumura from Tokyo Denkey University, Japan, visited us on August 14, 2007

Several new members joined our CAM-Lab at WPI during this summer, including,

Dr. Gang Wang from Tsinhua University, Beijing, China, where he received his Ph.D degree in Mechanical Engineering (Materials Processing) in 2005 and worked as a Post-Doc research associate. He works as a research scientist in the area of Modeling and Simulation of Heat Treatment Processes, starting on June 16, 2007. Dr. Wang is mainly supported by CHTE at WPI.

• Mr. Bowang (Bose) Xiao from Oakland University, Rochester, MI, where he received his MS degree in Mechanical Engineering in May 2007. Bose is a Ph. D student, also working on Heat Treatment Process Modeling and Simulation, starting on August 15, 2007. He is a research assistant supported by GM Powertrain, Pontiac, MI.

• Ms. Hua Bai from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, where she received a BS degree in Industrial Engineering in July 2007. She will study for her MS degree in Manufacturing Engineering, particularly in the area of Reverse Supply Chain Modeling and Analysis, starting on August 21. Hua participated in the MQP in China program last year and studies under WPI Fellowship.

• Dr. Hui Wang from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, where he received his Ph. D in Mechanical Engineering, particularly in the area of Green Manufacturing, in July 2007. Hui will work as a research associate in the area of Computer-integrated Engineering, starting on August 30. He is partially supported through a research project with Caterpillar, Peoria, IL.

• Dr. Xubing Chen from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, where he received his Ph. D in Mechanical Engineering in 2000 and worked as a Post-Doc research associate. Dr. Chen will work on the Knowledge Data Discovery Technology Application in Heat Treatment Process Simulation, starting on September 6, 2007. He is supported through an NSF STTR project with JYL Solutions.

• Mr. Jun Zhou from Shandong University, Jinan, China. He is an exchange Ph. D student, working with us for one year, starting on September 5, 2007. Jun will work in the area of Micro-machining Process Modeling and Simulation.

• Mr. Feng Jiang from Shandong University, Jinan, China, also an exchange Ph. D student, working with us for one year starting on September 19, 2007. He is working in the area of Machining-Grinding Processes

Xueken (Chris) Li did summer intern at Saint Gobain Worcester, on several projects of improving grinding processes.

Professor Yuan went back to Dalian University of Technology after study at WPI for three months, on student management and engineering education at WPI and USA

Fifteen senior students from WPI went to China for their Major Qualifying Projects (MQP). They worked with twenty two senior students at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in mixed teams on seven projects sponsored by Saint Gobain Shanghai Operations, CIS Wuxi Operations, Amphenol TCS Changzhou Operations, and HUST. One additional team with nine HUST students did a project for Jinhua Corporation in parallel with the MQP in China program. The eight projects were,

1. Develop a design process for slide lock mechanism using graphical, analytical, and computer-based synthesis tools, Sponsored by CIS Wuxi, China
2. Value stream map for lean manufacturing implementation, Sponsored by CIS Wuxi, China
3. Production report system improvement, Sponsored by Saint Gobain Shanghai Operations, China
4. Lean manufacturing implementation for high volume Connector and Backplane Production , Sponsored by Amphenol TCS Changzhou, China
5. Humanoid robot development, Sponsored by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
6. Welding fixture with active position adapting functions, Sponsored by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
7. Walking robot development, Sponsored by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
8. Automotive wheel-hub polishing machine design improvement, Sponsored by Jinhua Corporation, Zhejiang, China

The final presentation of the projects was held on July 31, 2007 at HUST. All teams introduced their projects in a very professional way. The final presentation was hosted by Professor Liang Gao and Kevin Rong, the Co-Directors of HUST-WPI Senior Project Center in Mechanical Engineering. The participants include

• Teck Lim and Jun Xiao, Project sponsor: CIS Wuxi
• Professors Young Kim and Gyu Man Kim, and Seung Han Yang, from Kyungpook National University, Daegue, Korea
• Professor Lucy King, Kettering University, MI, and Dr. Francis King, Ford Motor, Dearborn, MI, USA
• Professors Zhikun Hou and Amy Zeng, WPI; and
• Several professors from HUST

On the same day, Professor Lucy King from Kettering University gave a presentation on Engineering Education Innovation; Professor Young Kim introduced the Kyungpook National University and the NURI program at the university, and Professor Gyu Man Kim presented the Creative Design Course at Kuyngpook University. All visitors were toured the HUST campus and instruction laboratories.

During the project time, some of the students stayed longer in China, WPI students visited many places in China. For an incomplete list they have visited Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Three Gorges, Kunmin, etc. They enjoyed the experience in China. For more details, please see the MQP in China web-site.

During this time, Professor Rong visited Shandong University, Hunan University, Southeastern University, Beijing Jiaotong University, Tsinghua University, Dalian University, Changchun University of Science and Technology, and Harbin University of Science and Technology, as well as Kyungpook National University at Daegu, Korea. At several universities, he gave presentations on Modeling and Simulation of Heat Treatment Processes, and Engineering Education at WPI. Professor Rong also introduced Professor Lucy King from Kettering University to Shandong University and Harbin University of Science and Technology, and gave a presentation on Engineering Education Renovation. Professor Rong was invited to the annual meeting of National Education Advisory Committee for Mechanical Design, Manufacturing, and Automation Major and gave a presentation on Engineering Practice in Undergraduate Education and the MQP in China Program.

Hyoung-jun and Su-hee gave a presentation on their research progress on Computer-aided Adaptive Fixture Design and Clamping Sequence Study, on Wednesday, June 6, 2007.

more...

Professor Yuan gave a presentation on Introduction of Dalian University of Technology and College Student Administration, in the evening also on June 6, 2007. A lot of his experience and personal aspects were introduced.

more...

The Metal Processing Institute (MPI) at WPI had its first semi-annual meeting of 2007 in June 4-7. The meeting includes meetings for Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC), Center for Heat Treating Excellence (CHTE), and Powder Metallurgy Research Center (PMRC), as well as MPI Symposium on Green Manufacturing. Professor Rong, Dr. Leo Zhang, and Radha Purushothaman participated, particularly in the discussion of the commercialization of CHT tools for modeling and simulation of heat treatment processes.

Hyoung-jun Lee and Su-hee Kang gave a nice presentation to our CAM Lab members on Friday, June 1, 2007, to introduce the Korean culture and language. We enjoyed to learn about their country and the very special language. Some information really gave us a surprise even for themselves. Thanks for their study and preparation.

Professor Rong and Dr. Leo Zhang visited GM Powertrain at Pontiac, MI, on Thursday, May 31, to discuss a detail plan for the newly established research project on modeling and simulation of air quenching processes for Aluminum. They also visited the heat treatment plant at Saginaw, MI and Oakland University.

Many CAM-Lab members visited EastTech show at West Springfield, MA on Wednesday, May 23, 2007. They are Professor Rong, Dr. Hua Li, Hong Guo, Chris Li, and Wayne Tian. They learned the new development in manufacturing industry.

At WPI’s graduation day, May 19, 2007, Yihong (David) Yang was granted the certificate of graduation with his Ph.D in Manufacturing Engineering. After the graduation, CAM Lab members, as well as several special guests, including Dr. Y. Tian, Shiping Huang, Kai Zeng, and their family, as well as Yao Zhou, got together at Imperial Buffet, Shrewsbury for a congratulation to the new degree receivers and a celebration of the end of the academic year. The plan was changed from cooking out activities to in door get together due to the weather condition. Dr. Tian is currently with Saint Gobain Worcester and coordinating a research project we are working on with SG. Shiping’s wife, Hong Zhang, was granted the MS in Accounting, congratulations to her.Yao Zhou is now conducting his Ph.D. study at Columbia University at New York City.

Professor Yuan from Dalian University of Technology (DUT), China, joined our CAM Lab on May 15, 2007. He will stay with us for three months. Professor Yuan is the Vice Dean of Mechanical Engineering at DUT, in charge of Students Advising. During his stay at WPI, Professor Yuan will study the educational strength and difference of US higher education system as a reference of engineering education renovation at DUT. Welcome Professor Yuan to WPI.

Professor Rong participated the 2007 Third Wave AdvantEdge International Users’ Conference at Seattle, WA, on Wednesday, May 16, 2007. He presented the resent work done by Dong Lu on Micro-machining Process Simulation with AdvantEdge. He also learned the new progress of other people’s work and discussed the technology development in the field.

Professor Rong was invited to visit California State University at Long Beach on Thursday, May 10, 2007. He gave a seminar on Computer-aided Production Planning and Fixture Design. He also visited Boeing Laboratory at CSULB.

The three exchange students from HUST doing their senior project with Amphenol TCS visited the company’s headquarter at Nashua, NH on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. They did the final presentation to the high management and technical professionals on the project. Their work was highly recognized and will be evaluated for implementation in the company. Professor Rong joined them in the visit and presentation.

Seven exchange students from HUST, China made their final presentations of the four senior projects they conducted at WPI on Tuesday, May 1, 2007. Professor Sisson, Professor Rong, and the exchange students from Korea, as well as several CAM Lab. graduate students and scholars attended the presentations. After the presentation, they had a celebration in a Chinese restraint.

MQP in China 2007 students, exchange students from HUST, China and Korea, as well as several ME professors and IGSD directors made the last get together on Monday, April 30, 2007, before the end of D term. They celebrated the finish of PQP and shared the excitement/questions before going to China. They also enjoyed the nice weather for the cook out BBQ at Higgins House at WPI. Particularly learn about the stories of Higgins House and WPI’s tradition.

Dr. Leo Zhang, Professor Sisson, and Professor Rong visited Deform Company at Columbus, OH on Wednesday, April 25, 2007. The commercialization of the CHT systems for heat treatment process modeling and simulation, developed under WPI CHTE support.

.

Three exchange students from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China visited Amphenol TCS production facility at Mexicali, Mexico from April 16-26, 2007, where they continued their senior project of Lean Manufacturing Implementation at Amphenol. They studied a mass production line from collecting data, analyzing the production flow, identifying problems, and giving suggestions of improvements. Professor Rong visited the Mexicali plant on April 23 and discussed the progress with the team.

MQP in China 2007 groups made PQP presentations on Wednesday, April 18, 2007. All seven presentations included the problem statement, background information, project goals, objectives, scopes, proposed methods/procedure, and expected results, as well as the communication with project partners and sponsors. Exchange students from China and Korea attended the presentations.

Professor Xiaoping Li from National University of Singapore visited our CAM-Lab at WPI and gave a seminar to our graduate students and faculty members at Manufacturing Engineering Program. His presentation was on the Research and Development of Human Brain Activity Monitoring Systems.

Ted has found a job and is now working at Mascon Inc., Woburn, MA. Congratulations to him.

Doctor Candidate, Marnie Ham from Queen's University, Ontario, Canada visited WPI on Thursday, April 12, 2007, and gave a Manufacturing Engineering Seminar on Sigle Point Incremental Forming of Sheet Metal: An Innovative Sheet Metal Forming Processes.

Professor Yong Huang at Clemson University, SC visited our CAM-Lab at WPI on Sunday, April 8, 2007. Besides a lot of discussion on mutually interested research topics, Professor Huang gave a seminar to our CAM-Lab, on his research in precision and micro machining.

The first MFE student get together in D term was held on April 5, Thursday, 2007. Besides regular social communication and exchange of information/ideas on MFE program in WPI, as well as enjoying pizza and soda, the exchange students from Korea, Su-Hee and Hyoung-Jun made a presentation to introduce their university, Kyungpook National University in Korea, and their student life in college.

Dr. Zhang and Professor Rong visited CSN company in Indianapolis area, IN, on April 4, 2007. They introduced their research work on Heat Treatment Process Modeling and Simulation. A potential project of optimization of steel annealing processes was discussed.

Professor Rong arrived at Shanghai on March 21, 2007. First, he and Professor Liang Gao, Co-director of WPI-HUST Senior Project Center in ME, first visited Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Nanjing,together with Dr. Steve Liu from Saint Gobain. Then they visited Amphenol TCS Changzhou Operations, CIS Wuxi Operations, Key Stone Wuxi, and Saint Gobain Shnaghai Operations to prepare MQP in China 2007. They also visited FixtureWorks in Hangzhou before coming to HUST at Wuhan on Saturday, March 24, 2007.

At HUST, Professor Rong met with President Peigan Li, ME Dean Professor Xinyu Shao, and other colligues to discuss the operation of the MQP in China Program, the impact to engineering education, and logistical arrangement. Professor Rong had a meeting with twenty two HUST students who are doing senior projects with WPI students in summer 2007. Eight of twelve HUST students who participated the MQP in China program last year came to the meeting and shared their experience with the new students. Professor Rong also visited the new Engineering Practice Annex where the MQP in China program will be hosted from this year. He got much impressed by the new building, machine tools, and student activities he saw during the visit. He met many old friends who supported the program in last two years. Professor Caihua Xiong and Professor Ligang Cai introduced the progress of the on-going National High-Tech (863 and 973) projects on Digital Manufacturing and manufacturing planning, which Professor Rong participated as international collaborating co-PI.

On March 28, Professor Rong visited Tsinghua University in Beijing, where he was hosted by Professors Baicheng Liu, Shoumei Xiong, Qingyan Xu, and Jinwu Kang, all in Mechanical Engineering Department. He left Shanghai to go back USA on March 29, 2007.

Wayne Tian has been awarded the Norton Fellowship for next academic year for his MS study on Signature Analysis of Grinding Processes. Congratulations to Wayne.

Fifteen MQP in China 2007 students got together on March 14, 2007. Professor Rong welcomed the students back from their term break and introduced more project and non-project information of the trip. The HUST exchange students joined them and shared the experience in China and on WPI campus. All enjoyed pizza and soda as usual.

Professor Rong and the HUST exchange students as well as William Tang, their project partner at WPI, and Wayne, graduate student and their peer advisor at WPI, went to Nashua, NH to visit Amphenol TCS to understand the company and their project. Another project partner, Andy Anderson could not make the trip because he was on the way back from his IQP at London, UK. The project is on the application of Lean Manufacturing principle to Amphenol’s operations, mainly in Maxicali, Mexico. The team will be visiting there in April. The project will be continued in summer for applications in Amphenol’s Changzhou Operations in China, by another HUST team with William and Andy.

Dr. Lei Zhang visited Caterpillar at Peoria, IL from March 5 to 9, 2007. Professor Rong came to join him on March 8. They, together with Radha who is doing one-year intern with CAT, studied the new furnaces recently installed in CAT East Peoria facility and process control of the heat treatment process, discussed Radha’s Ph. D dissertation research topics, and future collaboration with CAT. CAT gave an A++ comments to Rahda’s work at CAT. We were proud of his representation of WPI’s quality of practical research. Professor Rong also met with David Yang’s team for a potential project on Computer-aided Modular Welding Fixture Design.

Professor Samuel Huang from University of Cincinnati gave an MFE seminar on March 7, 2007. His presentation topic was on Process Modeling with Incomplete Data. Professor Huang was our research collaborator of an NSF sponsored project and a committee member of David’s Ph. D dissertation.

Yihong (David) Yang successfully defended his dissertation of Quality Control Planning in Computer-aided Manufacturing Planning on March 7, Tuesday, 2007. Congratulations to him.

Seven exchange students from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China came to WPI on March 1 for the senior projects, as part of the exchange program between WPI and HUST. They will stay on campus for eight weeks, working on three projects sponsored by Saint Gobain Worcester and Amphenol TCS, Nashua, NH. They will have chance to work with WPI students and graduate students, as well as visiting a junior class to taste the US higher education system. The students are, Ms. Yidan Hu, Mr. Zhiqiang Liu, Yong Han, Sha Li, Hongtao Sun, Dengdu Jiang, and Yao He. All of them are seniors and will graduate in July 2007.

Dr. Lei Zhang participated TMS conference at Orlando, FL in February 26-29, 2007. He presented a paper to introduce our research on heat treatment process modeling and simulation, particularly for quenching and tempering, CHT-q/t.

On Thursday, February 22, we had two MFE seminars. Professor Yuebin Guo from University of Alabama gave an MFE seminar on Prediction and Synthesis of Surface Integrity by Hard Machining and the Effect on Fatigue Life. Mr. Zhongqiu Wang gave a seminar on Prediction of Residual Stress in Hard Turning of AISI 52100 using 2D FEM. Mr. Wang is a Ph. D candidate at Shandong University, China, and currently working at the Ohio State University as a visiting scholar. Professor Guo and Mr. Wang also had meetings with our CAM Lab. members for more in-depth technical discussions respectively.

Po Tse Presented his Ph. D dissertation research proposal on Wednesday February 21, 2007. The topic was on Investigation of Fiber Optic based Ultrasound Transducer Cable Systems. The committee gave him numerous suggestions on his research plan.

Professor Rong met with his undergraduate advisees for their next year course selection and professional career development.

Dong Lu gave an MFE seminar on February 1, Thursday, 2007. The topic is Stress and Temperature Analysis in Micro-cutting of Al7075-T6 and Ti-6al-4V . Ms. Lu is a visiting scholar in our CAM-Lab., from Shandong University, China, where she is a Ph. D candidate in Manufacturing Engineering.

Professor Mustapha Fofana gave an MFE seminar on January 25, Thursday, 2007, on Stability Bifurcations - a Salient Exposition.

Puja Ghatpande gave a seminar in CAM Lab. on January 22, Monday, 2007. The topic is An Overview of Computer Aided Fixture Design .

Dr. Lei Zhang and Professor Rong visited GM Powertrain Division at Pontiac, MI on January 19, 2007. Potential research projects on materials processing process modeling, simulation, and optimal design were discussed.

Dr. Yinggang Tian from Saint Gobain Research Center gave a seminar to MFE graduate students, faculty members, and local manufacturing professionals on Thursday, January 18, 2007. He presented his dissertation work at Purdue University, on Laser-Assisted Machining of Ceramics with Complex Features.

Hua Li gave a seminar in CAM Lab. on January 12, 2007. The topic is Advances in Computer-aided Fixture Design

Amir Prat from Intelitek, Manchester, NH, visited WPI on January 9, 2007. The company produces OpenCim system and Leanmate system for training and education. Potentially WPI and Intelitek may work together for WPI course innovation, particularly in Industrial Robots and CNC areas, and education system development.

Wei ( Wayne) Tian joined our CAM Lab from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), as a research assistant in MS program of Manufacturing Engineering. He was an exchange student and did his senior project at WPI in D term last year. Welcome Wayne’s coming back as a new member of CAM-Lab.

Chris Li gave a seminar in CAM Lab. on January 5, 2007. The topic is Advances in Bonded Abrasive Machining Technology .

more...