Open or shut?

UNC Charlotte researchers discover whether it’s better to leave windows open or shut on public transit to minimize the spread of viruses like COVID-19.

By John Tibbetts

To many people, it makes sense to keep transit bus windows wide open, drawing in cross-ventilating air for passengers seeking safety from the COVID-19 virus. But opening windows might not be the best way to protect transit riders from viral particles. Instead, to reduce exposure to infection, bus operators might close all windows and operate air-filtration systems at top performance, according to Mesbah Uddin, director of the North Carolina Motorsports and Automotive Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

“When a bus’s air-filtering system is working at 100% effectiveness, it captures many viral particles and prevents their dispersal,” said Uddin, professor of mechanical engineering and engineering science. “It turns out that air filtration performs a better job of improving passenger safety than open windows in cross-ventilating the bus interior.”

Uddin’s research team began studying air safety for public transportation by precisely measuring a standard Charlotte Area Transit System bus, assisted by CATS staff. The team entered the measurements into a computer-aided design (CAD) model of the bus interior. The model was embedded in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, which is commonly used in aeronautics, auto design and other fields to illuminate how gases or liquids move in space and across and around surfaces.

Productive Partnership

The UNC Charlotte researchers’ partner, Corvid Technologies of Mooresville, North Carolina, allowed the team to explore various options for protecting passenger health by providing hundreds of training hours on its proprietary RavenCFD program.

Specifically, the team modeled injections of three characteristic respiratory particle size distributions — from speaking, sneezing and coughing — into the driver’s area of the cabin, then analyzed simulations of airflow and airborne particles along the cabin’s length.

The model was configured with various passenger seating arrangements, seat-barriers placements, windows-open alternatives and heating-and-air-conditioning system (HVAC) settings. Simulations tested how particles in airflow were dispersed, diluted, concentrated or filtered out while the bus was in motion. More than 7 million hours of computing time were dedicated to this project over a tight timeline of two months.

As the researchers expected, airflow through the cabin was redirected by passengers and other large objects. “When airflow reaches one of these large objects, it can create eddies much like a stream current does when it encounters rocks,” said Greg McGowan, an aerospace engineer with Corvid Technologies.

When this happens, airflow stagnates and particles remain in place, recirculating in one spot, possibly to the detriment of passenger health.

“We want transportation systems to have the best standards for the health of the passengers,” said Vincent Lee, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering and one of three graduate students on the research team. The others, Will Timms and Muhammad Usman Zafar, completed master’s degrees in mechanical engineering in May.

A Win-Win

Joint efforts such as the one between UNC Charlotte and Corvid Technologies demonstrate the value and impact of academia-industry partnerships. “We were able to collaborate on a highly computational project in a timely and cost-effective manner,” said Elizabeth Coakley, director of corporate development, Corvid Technologies. “We came up with great results in a matter of months. You just can’t do that unless you work together.”

In addition, the opportunity to contribute to a discovery with potentially far-reaching applications makes a difference for graduate researchers as they launch their careers.

“During this project, we learned to analyze simulation data for different conditions and look for interesting patterns and trends,” said Lee, who is participating in a summer internship with  NASA. “It is this kind of experience that has helped me explore and develop my career with its concentration in motorsports and specifically focusing on aerodynamics and turbulence modeling.”

McGowan concurred. “It’s been exciting for us to be involved in ‘bleeding edge’ research,” he said. “We’re always looking for grad students who have these skill sets. Giving them this experience is beneficial for all involved.”

Harnessing academic innovation and progressive collaboration, UNC Charlotte is meeting the demands of our nation’s workforce head on. With a record-breaking 30,000 students and counting, this growing research powerhouse is responsible for developing and educating the region’s most robust talent pipeline, creating real-world solutions for today’s evolving business and community needs.

Case in point: The UNC Charlotte School of Data Science (SDS). Data is everywhere. In fact, more data was generated in the last two years than throughout the preceding entirety of human history. This reality is helping to fuel one of the country’s most burgeoning and critically important industries — data science.

Recognizing the opportunity, UNC Charlotte launched the first School of Data Science in the Carolinas, tapping the region’s expansive ecosystem of research, industry and community engagement to apply a visionary lens to the education and application of data science. Bringing together brilliant minds through interdisciplinary partnership, the University is bridging the gap between society and technology through hands-on programming and research.

Leverages its location in Charlotte — one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities — to foster engaged and strong community and corporate partnerships. Corporations such as Bank of America, Lowe’s Inc., Wells Fargo, TIAA and Microsoft, now more than ever, are relying on the School of Data Science to foster well-rounded leaders who are uniquely prepared to help drive data science innovation.

Brings academia and industry together to turn data into knowledge to address society’s most pressing issues. The initiative holds the promise of creating tools to understand and highlight misinformation in social media, develop models illustrating the disparate impacts of pandemics and advance remedies for longstanding city planning challenges — allowing students to make meaningful differences in their communities and society as a whole. 

Represents a unique, dynamic collaboration among four academic colleges. The School is an industry-university-state partnership, led by the College of Computing and Informatics, the Belk College of Business, the College of Health and Human Services and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. This novel and hands-on programmatic approach allows the University to recognize the evolution of data science across multiple industries.

The School of Data Science represents UNC Charlotte’s far-reaching commitment to data science research and academic programming. Over the next several years, University leaders aim to further expand interdisciplinary research and diversify funding for it, and continue to focus on enrollment — in terms of overall numbers and diversity. As data science continues to influence innovation and decision making in business, politics, education, science and more, the School of Data Science at UNC Charlotte is poised to keep pace with this dynamic industry while preparing future data scientists to lead it. 

Engineering researchers use biomechanics to examine the effectiveness of knee implants.

Monday, May 13, 2019

With sensors attached to her body, Lena Thompson cautiously climbs up one step, then a second and finally a third. Once at the top of a raised platform, she walks forward, stops, turns and descends the stairs—and repeats the exercise several times. Researchers from the William States Lee College of Engineering at UNC Charlotte observe Thompson, who recently underwent knee replacement surgery, as she performs the exercises as part of a project examining the effectiveness of knee implants.

Last year, Thompson, a retired daycare worker, visited the Biomechanics and Motion Analysis Lab directed by Nigel Zheng, a professor of mechanical engineering and engineering science who joined UNC Charlotte in 2008. She completed a number of exercises prior to surgery and had returned for post-surgery analysis.

As is the case with many patients, pain was the determining factor for Thompson as she considered knee replacement. “Excruciating” is how she described the agony she’d endured for the better part of a decade.

“I could hear the bones rubbing together when I walked; the pain was so bad I felt like falling to the floor,” she said. She tolerated the pain, undergoing periodic steroid injections to alleviate the discomfort.

Before surgery with OrthoCarolina, Thompson’s orthopedist mentioned that Zheng, a world-renowned authority on biomechanics, was seeking participants for a study related to knee implants. Through his work, Zheng has seen the positive impact of biomechanical research on the design of medical devices, prostheses and orthoses, exercise equipment, surgical instruments and other products.

“Mobility is very important to one’s life,” he said. “Patients with pain and limited mobility often lose hope of achieving a good quality of life. Our work has the potential to help people maintain their health, leading to greater productivity and efficiency in their everyday lives.”

According to Zheng, those best suited to help solve complex, medical problems of the future are those he describes as “the next generation of engineers.” He takes seriously his role as a mentor, fostering a passion for this work in his students.

Junior Marc Duemmler has taken several courses taught by Zheng and now assists in his lab.

“In my Introduction to Solid Mechanics class, Dr. Zheng related the course material to biomedical engineering, and how he applied the material using real-life examples piqued my interest,” said Duemmler, who is majoring in mechanical engineering with a concentration in biomedical engineering. “I have taken his Orthopedic Biomechanics course, and I am currently enrolled in his Introduction to Biodynamics course. He always has an example of either his research or conducted by a researcher that he knows that is applicable to the concepts we are learning.”

In Zheng’s lab in Duke Centennial Hall, students like Duemmler gain practical experience, often conducting research with participants such as Lena Thompson. In the classroom, they propose study topics to tackle as teams.

“I teach through actual scenarios that have implications for human health,” said Zheng. “Critical thinking and problem solving—beyond mimicking what is done in class—are essential to students’ development as researchers. Learning to learn is vital, as today’s knowledge gives way to new knowledge. Engineers must be prepared to examine each problem for its unique features.”

Duemmler is appreciative of the chance to participate in hands-on research as an undergraduate.

“Getting to work with Dr. Zheng and his graduate students has given me first-hand experience that I think most undergraduate students will never experience. Just in the past year, I have gotten to learn so much about biomechanics just from conversations with him. I truly value the experience and knowledge that Dr. Zheng has, and I hope to learn as much as I can from him,” he said.

UNC Charlotte’s location within the state’s largest metropolis allows Zheng and his lab to collaborate with OrthoCarolina, Atrium Health and other health care providers and product manufacturers in the region.

“Our research often changes the way a medical problem is solved—from implant design, refinement of surgical tools and procedures, or post-surgery rehabilitation,” noted Zheng. “Relationships with the region’s leading health care providers allow us, for example, to offer insight related to medical image-based evidence of higher wear rates due to contact stress for metal-on-metal hip implants, fall risk assessments or the biomechanical evaluation of surgical techniques for ACL reconstruction.”

Currently, Zheng is gathering data related to knee joint function and pain levels prior to surgery and how different implants restore some functionality post-surgery.

“We ask questions such as, ‘Does the design meet the needs of some or all patients? Which features work for specific groups of patients?’” said Zheng. “As a biomechanics researcher, I study the body’s dynamic features and functions. Medical imaging makes that possible as it explores the structure of the human machine.”

Friday, March 15, 2019

The latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration cemented North Carolina’s position as the number two solar power producing state across the nation. Annual solar energy production in North Carolina jumped 36 percent in 2018, a much larger increase than experienced by solar leaders such as California, Nevada and Arizona.

Few industries are experiencing the rate of growth seen in the solar industry. According to the 2017 Solar Jobs Census, from 2012 to 2017, one of every 100 new jobs was in the solar industry, which now employs approximately 250,000 U.S. workers.

“By allowing third-party solar producers to sell power to the grid, residential solar production in North Carolina will take off in the next few years,” noted Mazzola. “With South Carolina and Georgia also adding capacity, making this region is an even greater solar producer.”

A growing solar industry creates an increased demand for solar engineers to fill the workforce required to design, build, operate and maintain it. To prepare these future engineers, the Lee College of Engineering offers numerous solar-related educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

“The founding mission of EPIC is workforce development,” said Mazzola. “At the Lee College of Engineering, we give students a taste of renewable energy, including solar, as part of their education. These efforts help inspire students who are excited and motivated about the future of renewable energy.”

Classroom learning is focused on the principles of photovoltaics and tackling hands-on learning projects. Students apply that learning in the University’s state-of-the-art laboratories through research aimed at designing improved solar cells, developing technologies for delivering solar power to the grid, and advancing methods for storing and using solar power at maximum efficiency. Many students serve as research assistants partnering with their faculty mentors on solar-related research.

“At both the undergraduate and graduate levels there is an educational environment and culture surrounding our students that deals with the very-real issues involved in renewable energy,” Mazzola noted.

The University’s approach to solar energy research is to improve solar energy as it strives to become a key power source for the future.

The college of engineering impacts solar energy from the fundamentals of producing better materials for solar cells, to the incredibly complex issues of how to use and store photovoltaic generated power for the grid.

“With our state-of-the-art EPIC facilities, we are able to carry out solar research on a number of levels,” Mazzola said. “In our Photovoltaic Technology Research, Photovoltaic Integration, Renewable Power, Smart Grid, Flexible Energy and other laboratories, we study, develop and test solar energy research. This is important to our researchers and makes us an attractive full-service applied research partner for working on grants with business and industry.”

A key area of solar power research to watch is the prediction, storage and use of solar generated power.

“Since we don’t always know when people are going to turn on their lights and use power, there is always a degree of uncertainty about the timing of demand,” said Mazzola. “With solar energy now accounting for roughly 10 percent of generation during the day, questions of supply and demand become more complex.  And it will only intensify as more people generate their own residential solar power to use and sell to the grid.”

As the solar industry evolves, advanced solar technologies will continue to be developed and refined. As legislation makes solar power a more viable technology for home owners, its management will become more complex.

“Solar power engineers will be needed to solve future problems,” said Mazzola. “At UNC Charlotte, we are educating and preparing these engineers, and continually integrating more solar and other renewable energy studies into our curricula.”

The social sciences, and even political science, will play a bigger role in the future management of solar power, as consumer mindsets about energy use begin to change.

The commercial and residential sectors of solar energy are already on the minds of a number of startup companies that are partnering with the University to use its applied solar technology research for the purpose of commercializing photovoltaic power solutions.

“We’ve become a leader in entrepreneurship,” explained Mazzola. “Beyond working on the fundamental problems of the technology, we are also spinning off a number of companies. This application of research directly impacts North Carolina’s future by creating jobs and strengthening our economy.

“Right now, the amount of power we generate follows the amount of energy load that is needed,” said Mazzola. “However, we’re seeing indications of a complete reversal in the future, which means load demand will follow generation capability. The research in our laboratories and technologies developed by our spinoff companies are going to be vital to the creation of and management of solar power. At UNC Charlotte, we’re looking forward to it. We’re here and we’re ready.”

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Growing up, Chris Long ’06 never gave a lot of thought to the inner workings of race cars while watching his father, an amateur road racer, race tracks along the east coast. But now, Long, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UNC Charlotte and has worked for 12 years in motorsports, says engineering has taught him how to be a better problem solver.

An engineer with Chip Ganassi Racing, Long has had a hand in improving the ergonomics of the team’s cars, helping to mold their shape to make them faster. As a member of the simulation team, he uses computer simulations to measure vehicles’ input and output. And as leader of the quality control team, Long verifies that parts built in-house meet design specifications and ensures that parts from outside vendors meet the proper tolerances.

“I don’t know if I’d be able to do what I do without an engineering degree,” Long said.

As the pace of competition has increased, so has the number of engineers working in NASCAR. It’s a trend that can be traced to the late Alan Kulwicki, NASCAR’s first driver to hold a degree in engineering—and who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Feb. 2.

Kulwicki’s NASCAR success was sown in independence. Bucking the tradition of the Southern-bred driver, Kulwicki, a Wisconsin native, earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Choosing to race independently, he shunned big-name sponsorships throughout his career. Tragically, a year after winning the 1992 Winston Cup Series, Kulwicki died in a plane crash near Blountville, Tenn., at age 38.

Kulwicki’s dedication to his sport is celebrated at UNC Charlotte, where the Alan D. Kulwicki Motorsports Laboratory trains engineering students interested in motorsports to design, build and race their own cars. Ryan Zeck ’99 started a petition to implement the motorsports program, and Bob Johnson, now dean of the William States Lee College of Engineering, proposed the program during his tenure as head of the mechanical engineering department.

A renewable scholarship in Kulwicki’s name is funded through the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and given to a UNC Charlotte freshman majoring in mechanical engineering.

Memories of Kulwicki flow freely from his friend Felix Sabates, co-owner of Chip Ganassi Racing, many of them referencing Kulwicki’s characteristic frugality—as well as his generosity.

Kulwicki owned his cars, but would rent transmissions, gears and other parts for them. “He won with almost no money.” Sabates said. “He had to be tight with his resources because he didn’t have any.”

Sabates recalled that he had to almost force Kulwicki to buy a house after his Winston Cup victory. Yet, he said Kulwicki would write a big check annually to a Boys and Girls Club in Florida, an organization with which Sabates was heavily involved.

Money was not something that motivated Kulwicki. Winning races did. And he did what it took to do so.

“He was like a bull in a china shop,” Sabates said. “When he made up his mind to do something, he got it done.”

As an engineer, Kulwicki understood mechanics and aerodynamics, and performed work on his car by hand that today machines complete. Driven by his analytical mind, he remained grounded through his faith, attending Mass no matter where he was. Even if that meant driving hours to find a Catholic church.

Sabates underscored Kulwicki’s playful side, sharing the time he bet Sabates about how fast he could drive through a McDonald’s parking lot at 1 a.m. He described Kulwicki’s legacy as giving hope to talented young drivers “who come from nowhere.”

When Chris Long joined Chip Ganassi Racing, he was one of 10 engineers; a number that has expanded to nearly 30 who work on just the NASCAR side of the operation. (The team also has cars competing in the IndyCar Series.) These engineers work in every area of the team’s operations, including simulation, design and quality control.

“Definitely quite a transition over the past 10 to 15 years for a sport that’s been around for 50 to 60 years,” Long said.

UNC Charlotte’s engineering programs reflect the industry’s growth. As recently as 2012, the University’s motorsports engineering program enrolled fewer than 80 students. Today, more than 160 students are enrolled across programs.

According to Mesbah Uddin, director of the University’s North Carolina Motorsports and Automotive Research Center, in the 1980s, despite Kulwicki’s groundbreaking credentials, it was unlikely that NASCAR teams included any engineers with a degree from an accredited university. “Team members performing engineering work learned primarily while working on their dads’ cars,” he said. “They’re extremely talented people.”

“Knock on wood, we haven’t had any major injuries in the sport in quite a few years,” he said.

Long described the number of UNC Charlotte alumni in the industry as “impressive.” He said the University has a “top-level, state-of-the-art” racing shop, which familiarized him with the equipment he uses on his job.

“I love that UNC Charlotte offers a designated motorsports concentration,” Long said. “Students work on real cars on which you can apply textbook knowledge and gain real-world application and theory.”