Mark Pankow

This Agreement is made by and between North Carolina State University at Raleigh, North Carolina and Oculus. The parties to this Agreement intend to join together in a cooperative effort to support a University/Industry Precision Engineering Center at UNIVERSITY such that the UNIVERSITY environment can be used to develop a better understanding of Precision Engineering, stimulate industrial innovation; and provide UNIVERSITY with strengthened educational capability in these fields, and MEMBER with the latest advances in technology.

The NSF IUCRC for Integration of Composites into Infrastructure (CICI) is specialized at innovating advanced fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites and techniques for the rapid repair, strengthening or replacement of highway, railway, waterway, bridge, building, pipeline and other critical civil infrastructure. The Center consists of West Virginia University (WVU) as the lead institution in the current Phase II, with North Carolina State University (NCSU), the University of Miami (UM), and the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) as partner university sites. The primary objective of the Center is to accelerate the adoption of polymer composites and innovative construction materials into infrastructure through joint research programs between the university sites in collaboration with the composites and construction industries. In Phase III, CICI aims to broaden its scope of research in composites to include: 1) nondestructive testing methods; 2) manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing; 3) inspection techniques, such as the use of drones with high resolution cameras; 4) in-situ modifications of infrastructure systems, resulting in enhanced durability and thermo-mechanical properties; and 5) cost-effective recycling of high value composites.

The goal of this project is to develop a method for on machine measuring of lens geometry and thickness using a chromatic confocal probe. Taking measurements using a chromatic confocal probe is relatively straight forward at normal incidence. However, it is rare for the probe to remain normal with the sample surface during measurement. Other factors including aspherical shape, scanning patterns, and the testing environment can cause additional challenges. This project will characterize the errors associated with probe measurements at varying angle of incidence and alignments. Methods will also be considered for measuring free form lens surfaces and their thickness based on multiple measurement techniques and setups to reduce mounting errors and improve part measurement efficiency.

The goal of this project is to measure the error motion in a precision lathe and create a calibration scheme that can be used to quantify and reduce error motion in a 5-axis precision machine. Use of a confocal probe is prioritized for error measurement and understanding probe error and its effects on measurements. The calibration scheme will be tested on available systems housed in the PEC and consider both position dependent and independent errors. The optimal means and order of measuring the errors will be outlined and can be finalized through testing on available 5-axis precision machines. Finally, validation of the error compensations will be completed through artifact manufacturing and measurement.

This Agreement is made by and between North Carolina State University at Raleigh, North Carolina and Smart Material Solutions. The parties to this Agreement intend to join together in a cooperative effort to support a University/Industry Precision Engineering Consortium effort at North Carolina State University such that both North Carolina State University and Smart Material Solutions environments can be used to develop a better understanding of Precision Engineering, stimulate industrial innovation; and provide North Carolina State University with strengthened educational capability in these fields, and Smart Material Solutions with the latest advances in technology.

This Agreement is made by and between North Carolina State University at Raleigh, North Carolina and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The parties to this Agreement intend to join together in a cooperative effort to support a University/Industry Precision Engineering Center at UNIVERSITY such that the UNIVERSITY environment can be used to develop a better understanding of Precision Engineering, stimulate industrial innovation; and provide UNIVERSITY with strengthened educational capability in these fields, and MEMBER with the latest advances in technology.

IPA assignment for Dr. Pankow

Current spacecraft structures are limited by packaging efficiency for storage in launch vehicles, often requiring intricate folding patterns, resulting in thin delicate structures. Current and future demands are requesting larger structures for storage, power generation, formation of staging bases for deep space travel. All of these needs will rely on in-space assembly to create larger structures that are not limited to the constraints of launch vehicle dimensions. These structures still need to be made out of light weight and collapsible components, however due to their larger nature they need to have the ability to survive for longer durations of time and also have the ability to be reconfigured after some time in orbit for new missions of changing needs. These structures must be able to work in both zero-g concepts along with on surface applications such as lunar, and Martian conditions. This research effort will focus on in-space structure assembly concepts. These can include both composite and metallic structures or a combination of the two. This effort will look at developing new structures or sub-components of structures for in-space assembly. During design the materials and components need to be well understood so that we can understand how they would behave to environments that can include things like, micrometeorites, thermal changes, prolonged UV exposures, to name a few. Structures can be evaluated prior to exposures and then look at again after exposure. This work will also look at the stability and scalability or large structures. Evaluation for assembly and re-assembly will be looked at to understand how a structure can be reconfigured on orbit to a changing mission. As these structures are designed to last for long periods of time these structures must be investigated to understand how robust they are and will be investigated under various different conditions and types of loading.

Experimental and computational investigation of textile composites

Mass spectrometry is an extraordinarily powerful bioanalytical technique that has had a profound impact on our molecular understanding of human health and disease. Major advances in mass analyzer technology, dissociation techniques, lasers, and ionization methods are largely attributed to the central role that mass spectrometry plays in the field of systems biology. While mass spectrometry has evolved over the last century into a highly effective analytical tool, there remain significant opportunities for innovation, allowing an even more diverse array of biological questions to be addressed. This proposal is centered on the development of new ionization methods for biological mass spectrometry to enable tissue imaging across several classes of biological molecules. The short term objective of this proposal is to further develop and fundamentally understand this innovative ionization method using real biological systems. These results will provide a solid foundation from which biological applications will directly benefit. In this mindset, we will develop and apply these new ionization methods to tissue imaging in model organisms to gain mechanistic insights into, 1) ischemic stroke; 2) wound healing; and 3) cardiometabolic disease. The long-term objective is to establish these new ionization methods as an enabling bioanalytical technology to effectively address questions in human health and disease. Public Description of Proposed Research Mass spectrometry (MS), the science related to the “weighing of molecules”, has had a profound impact on the study of human health and disease including cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases, neural development, and auto-immune diseases. A prerequisite of MS is to convert neutral molecules into charged species (ions) such that they can be “weighed” by the mass spectrometer and identified by advanced analytical techniques. The focus of this research is to develop new ionization methods allowing a more diverse array of contemporary biomedical questions to be addressed. This will include the imaging of tissues to ultimately provide new biological insights into stroke, wound healing and cardiometabolic disease.