PhD General Examination: Henry Chang
Supervisory Committee Members: Santosh Devasia | Committee Chair |Department of Mechanical Engineering , Sam Burden | GSR | Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , Joseph Garbini |Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering , Lance McCann | Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Henry Chang. Event Types: Academics.
Monday, April 27, 2026, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM.
A&A Distinguished Speaker Seminar with UC Irvine Professor and Chair Julian Rimoli
Discontinuous compression structures: From tensegrity planetary landers to failure-resistant metamaterials , Abstract
The term tensegrity, derived from tensional integrity, refers to a class of structural systems composed of bars and strings that achieve mechanical stability through pre-stressing of their string members. Conventional models of these structures assume rigid bars, linear elastic cables, and treat the Euler buckling load of any bar as a failure threshold. In practice, these assumptions break down under dynamic loading. In the first part of this talk, we introduce a physics-based reduced-order model for studying the dynamic and nonlinear response of tensegrity-based planetary landers. Using this model, we demonstrate that buckling of individual members does not necessarily imply structural failure; on the contrary, post-buckling behavior acts as a load-limiting mechanism that distributes forces evenly throughout the structure, dramatically increasing the amount of energy that can be stored…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Student Union Building (HUB). Campus room: 334. Accessibility Contact: aafrontdesk@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, April 27, 2026, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
ME Seminar: Krithika Manohar
We are pleased to welcome ME Assistant Professor Krithika Manohar for an ME seminar.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus room: Interdisciplinary Engineering Building G106. Accessibility Contact: merecept@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
PhD General Examination: Sam Ahnert
Supervisory Committee Members: Steven Brunton | Committee Chair |Department of Mechanical Engineering , Amir Taghvaei | GSR | Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , Krithika Manohar |Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering , Ana Larranaga | Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Sam Ahnert. Event Types: Academics.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM.
PhD Qualifying Examination: Shuyuan Bai
Supervisory Committee Members: Igor Novosselov | Faculty Advisor | Department of Mechanical Engineering , Junlan Wang | Departmental Representative | Department of Mechanical Engineering , John Kramlich | Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering , Jie Xiao | Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Shuyuan Bai. Event Types: Academics.
Monday, May 4, 2026, 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM.
A&A Distinguished Speaker Seminar with MIT Professor Chuchu Fan
A&A Distinguished Speaker Seminar with MIT's Chuchu Fan
Safe and Intelligent Autonomy: Bridging Rigorous Mathematics with Machine Learning, Abstract
Autonomous systems today must balance two competing paradigms: the rigorous safety guarantees of classical control and formal methods, and the scalability and flexibility of modern machine learning. This talk presents our contributions to safe and intelligent autonomy that bridges this divide by embedding mathematical guarantees directly into learning-enabled systems.
We introduce neural certificates, such as control barrier functions and Lyapunov-based methods, that enforce safety and stability by design while enabling high-performance control. These ideas extend naturally to large-scale, multi-agent systems through graph-based formulations, yielding distributed controllers that generalize to complex, dynamic environments with provable guarantees.
Beyond control, we address planning and decision-making by integrating temporal logic, optimization, and large…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Student Union Building (HUB). Online Meeting Link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/96607403354. Campus room: 145. Accessibility Contact: aafrontdesk@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, May 4, 2026, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
BARC Seminar: Dr. Agnes Blom-Schieber
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Agnes Blom-Schieber, a technical fellow at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, for an ME seminar.
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB). Campus room: Interdisciplinary Engineering Building G106. Accessibility Contact: merecept@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
PhD Final Examination: Nicole Atmadja
Dissertation Title: Fatigue Crack Growth Characterization of Additive Manufactured Electron Beam Melted Ti6Al4V, Supervisory Committee Members: Ramulu Mamidala | Committee Chair |Department of Mechanical Engineering , Marco Salviato| GSR | Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics , John Kramlich |Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering , Junlan Wang | Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Nicole Atmadja. Event Types: Academics.
Friday, May 8, 2026, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM.
PhD Qualifying Examination: Evan Muschler
Supervisory Committee Members: Corie Cobb | Faculty Advisor | Department of Mechanical Engineering , Brian Polagye | Departmental Representative | Department of Mechanical Engineering , John Kramlich | Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering , Lilo Pozzo | Committee Member | Department of Chemical Engineering.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Evan Muschler. Event Types: Academics.
Tuesday, May 12, 2026, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM.
A&A Distinguished Speaker Seminar with UC Berkeley Professor Lining Yao
Safe and Intelligent Autonomy: Bridging Rigorous Mathematics with Machine Learning, Abstract
Autonomous systems today must balance two competing paradigms: the rigorous safety guarantees of classical control and formal methods, and the scalability and flexibility of modern machine learning. This talk presents our contributions to safe and intelligent autonomy that bridges this divide by embedding mathematical guarantees directly into learning-enabled systems.
We introduce neural certificates, such as control barrier functions and Lyapunov-based methods, that enforce safety and stability by design while enabling high-performance control. These ideas extend naturally to large-scale, multi-agent systems through graph-based formulations, yielding distributed controllers that generalize to complex, dynamic environments with provable guarantees.
Beyond control, we address planning and decision-making by integrating temporal logic, optimization, and large language models (LLMs), developing scalable, rigorous…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Student Union Building (HUB). Campus room: 334. Accessibility Contact: aafrontdesk@uw.edu. Event Types: Lectures/Seminars.
Monday, May 18, 2026, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM.
CREATE Community Day
CREATE Community Day is an annual half-day forum for discussing the concerns about and approaches to sustainable accessibility research and a showcase of research led by CREATE and HuskyADAPT. Student researchers highlight their work and showcase a variety of individual and team projects. Directions and Parking , Zoom link to be provided , Accessibility: Building FAQs | Email, Panel topics and speakers are being finalized and will be announced soon.
1:15–2:30 p.m. - Community Day panel discussion #1 (hybrid)
2:45–4:00 p.m. - Community Day panel discussion #2 (hybrid)
4:00–5:00 p.m. - Research Showcase co-hosted with HuskyADAPT (in-person only).
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering (CSE2). Campus room: Zillow Commons. Accessibility Contact: oliviapb@uw.edu. Event Types: Academics. Diversity Equity Inclusion. Exhibits. Information Sessions. Meetings. Special Events. Target Audience: Anyone interested in research on accessible technology & making the world accessible through tech.
Wednesday, May 27, 2026, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit create.uw.edu. PhD Final Examination: Pengcheng (Pearson) Chen
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Pengcheng Chen. Event Types: Academics.
Friday, May 29, 2026, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM.
Mechanical Engineering Capstone Exposition
We are pleased to invite you to the Mechanical Engineering Department's Capstone Exposition!
Mechanical engineering undergraduates will showcase their capstone design projects through posters, prototypes, exhibits, and demos. Join students, industry mentors and sponsors, and the ME community in celebrating their hard work and achievements.
Students have been working on their projects for the past two quarters. There is a wide range of projects, including ones sponsored by companies, hosted by faculty, and proposed by students. Many of the teams are interdisciplinary.
The event will include awards and prizes, including the results of an image contest and exhibit judging by experienced engineers. Refreshments will be provided. For parking information or to request accessibility accommodations, please register for the event and then email Prof. Sirine Maalej.
We look forward to sharing our students' progress and the amazing work they have done over the year!
For more information about our capstone program,…
Event interval: Single day event. Campus location: Student Union Building (HUB). Campus room: HUB 211: North Ballroom. Accessibility Contact: smaalej@uw.edu. Event Types: Student Activities. Target Audience: Broader ME community, including students, faculty, industry mentors and sponsors, friends & family.
Friday, May 29, 2026, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
PhD Final Examination: Satria Ardianuari
Dissertation Title: Influence of Prosthetic Ankle-Foot Properties on Intact Limb Biomechanical Demands in Transtibial Amputees During Simulated Functional Tasks, Supervisory Committee Members: Glenn Klute| Committee Chair | VA CLiMB & Department of Mechanical Engineering , Christopher Neils | GSR | Department of Bioengineering , Katherine Steele |Committee Member |Department of Mechanical Engineering , Jenny Robinson |Committee Member | Department of Mechanical Engineering , Stefania Fatone |Committee Member |Department of Rehabilitation Medicine.
Event interval: Single day event. Accessibility Contact: Satria Ardianuari. Event Types: Academics.
Tuesday, June 2, 2026, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM.