快活林性息

快活林性息鈥檚 鈥淒esign SMART鈥� (Design of Smart Mechanical and Reconfigurable Technologies) Lab, formerly known as Computational Mechanics and Smart Structures (CMSS) Lab, was founded by Dr. Peter Bishay in 2015. The lab focuses on designing, analyzing, building, and testing various types of smart structures and systems. The lab includes the research-based 鈥淪mart Morphing Wing鈥� (SMW) and 鈥淪mart Prosthetics鈥� (SP) senior design projects, as well as graduate and undergraduate researchers working on different projects. SMW and SP research work is conducted at the Haas Laboratory (JD1130A).

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Lab Information

The lab is located in JD1132 and houses an experimental vibration analysis system (data acquisition hardware, accelerometers, load cells, a mini-shaker, and an impact hammer), multiple 3D printers, and a 3D scanner. Some research tasks are done at the Multi-Scale Mechanical Characterization Laboratory (MMCL) that hosts various state-of-the-art mechanical testing equipment, such as a scanning laser doppler vibrometer (SLDV), Universal tensile testing machines (UTMs), a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and a laser displacement sensor.

A Brief History

From 2015 to 2025, 18 graduate students pursued Master theses under Dr. Bishay鈥檚 supervision, 11 of which defended their theses and graduated, and 5 are expected to defend in the 2025-26 academic year. All graduate students who worked with Dr. Bishay managed to publish their research work in reputable journal papers (Structures, Composite Structures, Composites Part C, Aerospace, Journal of Vibration and Control, etc.). The innovative morphing unmanned aircraft and prosthetic arm designs from SMW and SP projects, respectively, also appeared in various reputable engineering journals (Smart Materials and Structures, Aerospace, Biomimetics, Technologies, Prosthesis, Designs, Engineering Research Express, etc.).

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Smart Morphing Wing (SMW)

With the goal of designing innovative models of morphing aerodynamic systems with seamless morphing wings and bioinspired bird-like drones, Smart Morphing Wing expands the applications of new materials and structures.聽Students get involved in developing analytical and computational models, running computer simulations to justify their designs, manufacturing and building their innovative models, performing multiple validation tests to assess performance, presenting their work at several events and competitions, and writing research papers. The project also offers multiple opportunities to receive feedback from industry professionals, faculty members, graduate students, and peer undergraduate students.

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Smart Prosthetics (SP)

With the goal of designing biomimetic innovative prosthetic arms and wearable robotic arm models, Smart Prosthetics explores new ideas in assistive technologies. Students get involved in developing computational models, running computer simulations on their models to justify their designs, manufacturing and assembling聽the designed models, testing performance, presenting at several events, and writing research papers. The project also offers multiple opportunities to receive feedback from industry professionals, faculty members, graduate students, and peer undergraduate students.

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Funding & Awards