MIT Mechanical Engineering

During the annual de Florez Competition, MechE students showcase projects that demonstrate "Outstanding Ingenuity and Creative Judgment" in areas that use mechanical engineering knowledge or practice. This year’s top prizes went to: Jayna Wadhwa and Andrew Chen, "Understanding the Dynamic Behavior of Scale-Rich Metamaterials" (undergraduate science); Hez Pendley, Mia Chen, and David Lopez, "Designing Thrust with Intelligence: AI-Assisted Turbojet Engine" (undergraduate design); Krishna Manoj, "Solving the scalability crisis of CRISPR systems using multi-variable control" (graduate science); and Carolina Warneryd, "Cam-eleon: A Cam-Actuated Quasi-Passive Ankle-Foot Prosthetic" (graduate design). The competition is named for Admiral Luis de Florez, a 1911 MIT graduate who was influential in the development of early flight simulators. This year’s competition was presented as part of MExpo 2026. Visit the de Florez website to see all of this year's winners! https://web.mit.edu/deflorez/ 📸: Tony Pulsone, MIT MechE

MExpo 2026, held on Tuesday, was a wonderful celebration of mechanical engineering innovation, competition, and hands on learning. Thank you to all of our students, faculty, staff, presenters, volunteers, and guests for being a part of this event! 📸s: Tony Pulsone, MIT MechE

Palak Patel SM ’22 wants to transform the future of human spaceflight. She’s a sixth-year doctoral student in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, specializing in the development of advanced materials that bridge the nanoscale and the interplanetary scale. More at the link in the bio.

McKenna Reilly really loves the ocean. As a mechanical engineering and ocean engineering student at MIT, she’s creating a water sampler to help oyster farmers. Reilly, who is also involved with MIT Sea Grant, presented her research at MERE, the Mechanical Engineering Research Exhibition, in March. See more great MIT MechE research TOMORROW, Tuesday, May 12, at MExpo, an afternoon and evening full of research, competition, awards, and more. Come see what MechE is building! 🔗 https://calendar.mit.edu/event/mexpo-2026-mit-mechanical-engineering-showcase MExpo is free and open to all.

F007: Design to Survive Robot Competition Prelims, Monday May 11, 5-9pm Finals, Tuesday May 12, 6:30 See you at Johnson!

2.007 (Design and Manufacturing I) students spend the spring semester learning the principles of mechanical design, then apply those principles to build a robot that's capable of completing a variety of tasks on a themed game board, balancing speed, precision, and strategy to navigate the track and earn points. In the course's culminating event, robots compete head-to-head to earn the highest score. This year's theme, “Design to Survive,” is inspired by the world of high-speed motorsport. This year's competitors can earn points by driving clockwise laps, navigating ramps between levels, interacting with a variety of racing-themed tasks, and more. 🏎️ 🏁 Come see the competition finals in person on Tuesday, May 12, in the Johnson Ice Arena (W34) starting at 6:30 PM EST, or tune in to the live webcast: https://web.mit.edu/webcast/2.007/ 📸s: 2.007 students put the final touches on their robots last week. Credit: Tony Pulsone, MIT MechE

A new physics-based tool developed by MechE Senior Research Scientist Yuming Liu and Professor Nicholas Makris reproduces a violin’s sound. The tool could help violin makers play around with an instrument’s design and tweak its sound even before a single part is carved. https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/mit-engineers%E2%80%99-virtual-violin-produces-realistic-sounds 📸: Adobe Stock Images

Jacqui van Zyl, a second year PhD student in MechE, studies the cell mechanics involved in brain waste clearance, or how waste and toxins are clearing the brain through the lymphatic system. The goal is to better understand how to treat and help with the progression of neurodegenerative diseases like dementia. Van Zyl presented her research at MERE, the Mechanical Engineering Research Exposition, in March. Come see more great MIT MechE research next week, Tuesday, May 12, at MExpo, an afternoon and evening full of research, competition, awards, and more! MExpo is free and open to all. Come see what MechE is building! 🔗 https://calendar.mit.edu/event/mexpo-2026-mit-mechanical-engineering-showcase

Co-founded by Dan Sobek ’88, SM ’92, PhD ’97, 1s1 Energy thinks it has the technology to finally make green hydrogen go mainstream. The company has developed a filtration material for hydrogen electrolyzers that it says reduces energy use by 30 percent. 📸: Christine Daniloff, MIT; iStock https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/toward-cheaper-cleaner-hydrogen-production

MIT researchers have developed an ultra-efficient microchip that can protect wireless biomedical devices, like pacemakers and insulin pumps, from quantum attacks. Associate Professor Giovanni Traverso, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, is among the authors on a new paper describing the work. 📸: Christine Daniloff, MIT; iStock https://meche.mit.edu/news-media/new-chip-can-protect-wireless-biomedical-devices-quantum-attacks

We're excited to announce MExpo 2026 — the Mechanical Engineering Exposition! Join us on Tuesday, May 12, at the Johnson Athletics Center (120 Vassar St, Cambridge) for a full afternoon and evening of mechanical engineering at its best. 🔬 2:30–5:00 PM | Research Showcase & de Florez Awards Competition Grad students, postdocs, and undergrads present original research and design projects spanning robotics, energy technologies, medical devices, underwater vehicles, computational engineering, and more — plus MIT's celebrated student vehicle teams. 🤖 6:30 PM | 2.007 Robot Competition Finals - This year's theme is Formula 1! Every match features two robots competing head-to-head, balancing speed, precision, and strategy to survive the track and earn the highest score. MExpo is free, fully indoors, and open to all — industry professionals, K-12 educators and students, families, and anyone curious about the future of mechanical engineering. Come see what MechE is building! 🔗 https://calendar.mit.edu/event/mexpo-2026-mit-mechanical-engineering-showcase #MExpo2026 #MITMechE #MechanicalEngineering #MIT #Engineering #STEM 📸: 1-3: This year's 2.007 students prepare for their final competition; 4-5: photos from de Florez competitions in years past; 6: students hold an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). 8: MExpo Logo. Credit: MIT Mechanical Engineering; VR photo credit: MIT Pappalardo Lab.

In a famous 1958 MIT hack, the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity used the body-length of then first-year pledge Oliver R. Smoot, Jr ’62 to measure the Harvard Bridge, painting markings along the way to get the full measurement: 364.4 Smoots (plus 1 ear). Those painted markings remain today. In an homage to Smoot, and to celebrate the 85th birthday of Dr. Martin Klein ‘62, an MIT team recently rolled out a new unit of measurement: measuring the nearby Longfellow Bridge in units of Klein. Dr. Klein, a member of the MIT Sea Grant Advisory Board and the MIT Museum Collections Committee, is known as the father of commercial side-scan sonar. His sonar technology has been used worldwide to help locate countless famous shipwrecks including the Titanic and the World War I ocean liner RMS Lusitania. One Smoot is equal to 5ft 7in or 1.7018 meters. One Klein (4ft 9.5in) is equal to 0.85820896 Smoots.