In June 2022, we had multiple researchers travel to attend the 20th European Conference on Composite Materials (ECCM20) in Lausanne, Switzerland (website: https://eccm20.org/).  While attending the conference, they presented their research, met with various research collaborators, and forged connections with leaders in nanotech.  Here are few photos from the conference:

Dr. Carina Li flew back to LA to attend the Ph.D. hooding ceremony on May 11th, 2022. The hooding ceremony was held for Ph.D. graduated in the past 3 years. In the picture are Dr. Carina Li and her Ph.D. advisor, Prof. Steven Nutt, director of USC M. C. Gill Composite Center.

After a one-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Wardle's once again hosted the annual necstlab BBQ cookout in October 2021.  (We use the colloquial bbq to mean “cooking and eating outside”.)  As per usual, they arranged fabulous weather, excellent foodstuffs, and invited the entire group of researchers & staff & local alums (plus their close family members) to join in this gathering.  People traveled from near & far, via train and bike and car, to participate in the day and everyone was merry and gay.  Here are a few photos of the group, taken from Rich Li's socially-distant drone, flying high above.

Dr. Ashley Kaiser also is heading out on her next big adventure.  Surrounded by laurels and with a hearty handshake, Professor Wardle bids her congratulations and says adieu! (click through for more photos)

On 20 February 2020, necstlab hosted a number of researchers from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) for a visit.  The QMUL researchers gave a presentation at MIT to necstlab and other invited guests (https://necstlab.mit.edu/news-media/mit-materials-special-seminar-brief-overview-polymer-nanocomposites-qmul-novel-and-more) and also spared some additional time for some more informal discussion of research over lunch and dinner at a local restaurant, as shown here : 

As ever, AIAA SciTech conferences serve an additional benefit of allowing necstlab members past & present to gather together and talk research. In January 2020, current and past members of MIT's necstlab met up at the conference, with some attending in person at Orlando, Florida, and some joining in virtually (even including a member of the next generation of necstlab researchers!!!).

In this photo (left to right) are : Jingyao Dai, Xinchen Ni, {unk}, {unk}, Professor Hulya Cebeci, Dr. Jeff Chambers, Brian Wardle, Ashley Kaiser, virtual attendees Sunny Wicks+Connor, Prof. Namiko Yamamoto, Richard Li

The Wardle's kindly opened their home once again to host the necstlab BBQ cookout in late September 2019.  (We use the colloquial bbq to mean “cooking and eating outside”.)  There were a variety of things to eat, including vegetarian options.  Weather was fantastic.  Fun was had playing with drones to take images of the group from above and sussing out various local trees & a bird's nest.  And, of course, plenty of conversation and community building.  At the end of the event, one of our happy group members shared, "Thanks again Brian for hosting us and having such a lovely get together this weekend with such amazing food! It was great to see so many of the necstlabbers together again! See attached for the drone photos and some other examples referenced in our conversations!:

Drone skiing: https://youtu.be/At3xcj-pTjg
Drone wakeskating: https://youtu.be/d1n6QrNSJfA "

ICCM22 was held in Melbourne, Australia, from 11-16 August 2019.  necstlab had many group members with accepted publications, so there was a rather large presence of necstlab folk in attendance to present research papers, as well as to continue making connections with necstlab alums and other research collaborators from around the world.  Here's a small smattering of photos of our team, from group events through their individual research presentations.

With five (5) accepted papers at AIAA Scitech Forum 2019, a number of necstlab members traveled to San Diego, California, in January present their research to the throngs of attendees.  Here are some photos from the event showing both past and present necstlab researchers, all images courtesy of Ashley Kaiser.

necstlab is delighted to host 2018 MRL Summer Scholar Abigail Nason, who is a visiting undergraduate student researcher from the University of Florida, where she is pursuing a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering. Abby is working with necstlab members Reed Kopp and Nathan Fritz (SM '16) to objectively characterize the 3D morphology and spatial distribution of tow-aligned resin pockets, which potentially may be prepreg manufacturing defects, appearing in the interlaminar regions of aerospace-grade nanoengineered hierarchical composite laminates. For this project, which complements a broader study of composite laminate constituent morphology and manufacturing defects, Abby is performing state-of-the-art high-resolution, non-destructive, large field-of-view X-ray microtomographic imaging of several composite material configurations and implementing automated interlaminar analysis tools developed by Fritz to analyze extremely large datasets.  Outside of school, Abby enjoys reading, swimming, and hiking. 

The Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) sponsors the annual Summer Scholars research internship program through the National Science Foundation's (NSF)  Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC) programs. The program started in 1983 and has brought hundreds of the best science and engineering undergraduates in the country to MIT for graduate-level materials research. This year’s program runs from June 17 to August 11, 2018.

Host and organizer Prof. Antonio Miravete, Dr. Roberto Guzman de Villoria (Spain FDAMC), Prof Wardle, and Dr. Enrique Garcia (UK NCC).
 

In January 2018, current and past members of MIT's necstlab journeyed to participate in the AIAA SciTech conference in Kissimmee, Florida (more info at https://www.aiaa.org/AIAA-Announces-2018SciTechForum/).

In the first photo left to right: Prof. Namiko Yamamoto, Dr. Jeff Chambers, Brian, Richard Li, Dr. Sunny Wicks

In the second photo: Richard Li, Dr. Jeff Chambers, Prof. Namiko Yamamoto, Caley Burke, Dr. Sunny Wicks.

MATERIALS SPECIAL LECTURE
Tuesday, 28 November 2017
11am – 12pm
33-319

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting from Materials towards Systems

Miso Kim, Ph.D.
Division of Industrial Metrology
Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS)

Abstract:

Piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEHs) at multi-scales have received considerable attention as an enabling technology for self-powered electronic devices. Self-powered wireless sensors for structural health monitoring, biomedical and wearable applications would be great potential applications with high market demand. A key challenge has been insufficient power and voltage generation for practical applications, which necessitates creative and disruptive materials and structure design of PEHs at various scales. Accordingly, a majority of the latest research has focused on improving the efficiency of piezoelectric power harvesting devices through various ways: i) modification of device configurations, ii) design and development of piezoelectric materials with enhanced properties, and iii) alteration of electrical circuits for power harvesting and storage. In this talk, an overview of such research activities for enhanced PEH performance will be given including analytical modeling, design, and experimental characterization of piezoelectric materials and smart structures (including mechanical metamaterials) for energy harvesting.

Bio:

Miso Kim is a senior research scientist at Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS). She received her undergraduate degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Seoul National University, South Korea (2004). She received her M.S. (2007) and Ph.D. degrees (2012) in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2012, she joined the Center for Safety Measurement of KRISS as a senior research scientist. Her primary research interests cover analytical modeling, design, and experimental characterization of piezoelectric materials and smart structures (including mechanical metamaterials) for energy harvesting and sensing.

Prof. Namiko Yamamoto of Penn. State was a guest speaker at the New Trends in Aerospace lecture series in the AeroAstro department. It was great to have her back on campus and to hear about her current research

In November 2016, Estelle Jeonyoon and Xinchen traveled to Genoble, France to perform in situ micro CT experiments at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). They met there our collaborators from Southampton, UK and University of Porto, Portugal

In October 2016, Dale Lidston traveled to the Army Research Lab to collaborate with Jeff Gair.

Mark your calendars for August 20 this summer to witness NECSTLASB's own Hayden Corwell fly into the Charles River with the MIT Monkey Business team. It will be something you won't want to miss.

» click for video

On June 3 we celebrated the acheivements of our most recent graduates:
Itai Stein - PhD in Mechanical Engineering

Akira Kudo - Phd in Material Science

Doug Jacobs - SM in Mechanical Engineering

Andrew Byron - LGO2016 Best Thesis winner, co-advised by Prof. Wardle

Andrew Liotta - BS in AeroAstro (not shown in photo)

Sally Chapman's photos are on exhibit in the Rotch Library Gallery from April 3 to May 31, 2016. The series can be seen online at sallychapmanphoto.com.

Current memebers of the necstlab gathered with alumni at the AIAA Structures,Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference in San Diego in Jan. 2016.

Prof. Dugundji's 90th birthday was celebrated at the necstlab meeting on Oct. 23, 2015. His conitnued work with students and the wealth of information that he has is greatly appreciated.

The meeting of ICCM in Copenhagen provided a great oppurtunity for Past and current members of necstlab to come toghether.

Hülya Cebeci, Namiko Yamamoto, Roberto Guzmán de Villori, Brian Wardle, Sunny Wicks, Jeonyoon Lee, Rich Li, and William Nickerson.

In conjunction with the Cambridge Science Fair the AeroAstro Department opened the doors to show the public (especially the younger ones) the excitement of everything that goes on in the department.

necstlab current and former group members meet up at AIAA SDM/Scitech 2015 in Orlando: Prof. Yamamoto, Jennifer Gavin, Ana Vazquez, Diana Lewis, Dr. Sunny Wicks and Prof. Wardle

Daniel Handlin SM '13 is now working on building the world's largest aircraft, Stratolaunch, at Scaled Composites in California and says, "the knowledge I got at MIT has proven extremely useful time and time again."

We had a great time at the lab BBQ and had a chance to go for a sail on the river.

Ken Knopp is the Manager of the Structures and Propulsion Branch of Aviation Research Division at the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ.

Prof. Wardle had the opportunity to visit Daejeon, South Korea and catch up with former necstlab group member Dr. Miso Kim at the Korea Research Institute for Standards and Science (KRISS). Prof. Wardle gave a lecture at KRISS as well as at the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST) where he was hosted by Prof. Yeon Sik Jung. Prof. Wardle also visited Seoul National University where he had the opportunity to share his work in nanoporous materials for bioparticle separation with Prof. Jae Yong Han’s group.

Sunny Wicks recieved her PhD and will be working atLockheed Martin in DC.

Prof. Samit Roy of the University of Alabama gave a guest lecture titled "Simulation of Fracture Properties in Nano-Graphene Reinforced Polymers using the Atomistic J-Integral".

Rich Li was awarded the NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship. This is granted to researchers who show significant potential to contribute to NASA's goal of creating innovative new space technologies for our nation’s science, exploration and economic future.

The AeroAsstro Dept. began the yearlong celebration of 100 years of Aeronautic classes taught at MIT with an open house to the community showcasing the research in the department. Rich Li represented necstlab to the rapt attention of the future engineers.

Sunny Wicks reunites with necstlab alumna Namiko Yamamoto at JPL with as part of Sunny's NASA Fellowship work.

Namiko Yamamoto (Phd. 2010) - will join the Penn. State University faculty in the summer of 2014

John Hart (former Postdoc) - U. of Michigan and is joining the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering Dept. at MIT in the Fall 2013

Huyla Cebeci (Phd. 2012) - Professor at Istanbul Technical University in Turkey

On June 12, 2013 the Nano-Engineneered Composite aeropace Sturctures Consortium (NECST) gathered to hear the latest research in the lab.

Sunny Wicks and Henna Jethani working last-minute before the meeting in the spacious new lab.

Allison Yost was awarded the Patrick J. McGovern, Jr. Award for her leadership in the $100K Entrepreneurship Competition (2013-2014 Managing Director), and the H@cking Medicine Initiative. In addition, she participated in various entrepreneurial programs on campus such as TA'ing Nuts and Bolts of Business Ventures in IAP and working with MIT Ventureships - where she worked with an MIT startup for a semester.

The McGovern Award is given at each year's MIT Awards Convocation to an individual or team that, in working closely with the Martin Trust Center, has made a significant impact on the quality and overall spirit of entrepreneurship at the Institute. The objective of the award is to motivate future student leaders, raise the profile of student-led organizations, and reward individuals for outstanding achievement in building entrepreneurial excellence.

necstlab members and alums relax after the AIAA 2013 SDM conference in Boston.

"Interlaminar Fracture Toughness of Laminated Woven Composites Reinforced with Aligned Nanoscale Fibers: Mechanisms at the Macro Micro and Nano Scales"

Sunny also was invited to present her work 'Mechanical Reinforcement of Composite Materials with Aligned Carbon Nanotubes" at the 2013 Women in Aerospace Symposium. The symposiumis a joint venture between the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT.

To celebrate the upcoming launch of EchoStar XVI Creative Time hosted an evening presentation of with artist Trevor Paglen in discussion with film-maker Werner Herzog in Bryant Park. The collaboration with MIT and our own Brian Wardle was acknowleged with deep appreciation.

John Kane Jr., necstlab Research Specialist, at NARAM-54 (National Association of Rocketry Annual Meet) with his friends Gelda and Vern Estes. Vern Estes and the Estes company are household names in model rocketry.