VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY VOLUME I, ISSUE 1 FALL 1995

Ephrahim Garcia, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Smart Structures Laboratory "Adaptive Structures and Devices for Space Applications," NASA. /Photo by Billy Kingsley
SPACE

We all have had a desire to bark "Engage" and flee at warp speed.

We all have wished to step up on the transporters and be in, say, Seattle instantly, or to be healed of a broken bone in seconds instead of weeks. Many of us could find daily uses for a sensor to tell us what's behind that door or wall (a mugger? Aunt Flora?).

Okay, so warp speed is a few years away. Ditto transporters, healing in seconds and high-powered sensors. Are such longings science fiction?

But what about the possibility of airplanes that could diagnose and report structural anomalies before takeoff? What a boon it would be if a spacecraft collecting data in the outer atmosphere could diagnose and correct its own structural or mechanical dilemmas without help from earth.

Astronomers would rejoice if tiny mirrors, acting as parts of a heavenly observatory, could self-adjust for structural and atmospheric disturbances. How extraordinary it would be to feel, with our limited dexterity, the soft flutter of pulse in a tiny capillary.

Vanderbilt engineers and scientists are pushing space frontiers and turning fiction into reality.

Engage.

New star may hold clue to evolving planets

Smart materials "smart enough" to execute commands

Research Briefs:
  • Chemical Sensor
  • Smart Sensors
  • Improved Alloys
  • Power Play
  • Stopping Corruption
  • Evil Emissions
  • Economical Payloads
    • "The best little capsule ever" Diabetics likely beneficiaries of basic research

    Robot helps man overcome limits of dexterity

    Mission to Mars: Vanderbilt leads sixth-graders into space





    Fall 1995
    Volume I, No. 1

    Research at Vanderbilt is a publication of the Office of News and Public Affairs for faculty, staff, students and others of the University community. It is published twice a year, each fall and spring.

    Editor: Brenda Ellis
    Writer: Ellen Bourne
    Photographer/HTML Designer: Billy Kingsley
    Print Designer: Tim Gregory

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    HTML Translation by Billy Kingsley
    This document last updated Jan. 9, 1997