MIME

Genevieve Coblentz-Strong supports marine science through mechanical design and engages her community through ocean protection organizations

Genevieve Coblentz-Strong, a fourth-year student of oceanography and mechanical engineering, is bridging the gap between her dedication to ocean health and interest in design through research.

“Oceanographers rely heavily on the technologies they use, making a background in mechanical engineering valuable,” she said. “I really enjoy talking with researchers to figure out their needs so I can build something useful.”

Photo by Shivani Jinger

Mechanical engineering students presented their final projects for the ENGAGE program on June 8 at a showcase held in Covell Hall. The event gave students the opportunity to exhibit posters and models, demonstrate prototypes, and answer questions from College of Engineering attendees.

Photos courtesy of National Science Foundation

Across the developing world, daily cooking responsibilities are largely held by women and girls who cook — often indoors — on open fires fueled by organic matter like wood or dung. From airy thatched huts in Uganda to snug stone homes high in the Andes, those fires are billowing smoke that they and their neighbors breathe in.

Photo by Johanna Carson

Medema Labs, a startup company spun out from engineering research at Oregon State University, is developing software tools powered by machine learning to help small- and medium-size manufacturers make better business decisions. 

Photos by Chance Saechao.

Working toward bachelor’s degrees in energy systems engineering and sustainability at Oregon State University-Cascades in Bend, Dallas Bennett is dedicated to designing greener systems on a local level.

“I’m from Silverton, Oregon,” Bennett said. “Growing up in a small town, I have a tight-knit sense of community. It would be really nice to work directly with any community that I’m a part of.”

Photos by NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCL, and Kerry Dahlen.

Last Christmas, Amrit Nam Khalsa, B.S. mechanical engineering ’18, woke up to a wonderful gift: the perfect launch of the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, the largest, most complex space telescope ever built.

“I thought, ‘Finally, this is actually happening.’ Then I thought, ‘Now comes the hard part,’” Khalsa said. “The launch was not necessarily the hardest thing the telescope had to endure. There were still weeks of nail-biting deployments and positioning.”

If John Lienhard could eradicate one word from the English language, it would be “innovation.”

“It’s a waffle word. How about that?” he said, offering a more temperate formulation in place of one deemed too salty for print.

Lienhard prefers “invention,” a word that industry leaders conspicuously avoid, he says, because of its world-changing implications.

Graduating with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and an aerospace engineering minor in June 2022, Brittany Blanksma-Stark is eager to apply what she has learned in the College of Engineering toward creating a better future — and, possibly, exploring new worlds.

Growing up, Elaine Gething Davis, ’49, would hear an airplane soaring above her family’s coastal Oregon farm and rush outside with everyone else to watch it. Later, living near a military base during World War II, she was amazed by the variety of airborne machines leaping into the sky. After the war, her father bought a surplus airplane and gave the whole family flying lessons. Thus began a lifelong fascination with things that fly.

When she arrived at Oregon State College in 1945, she was the sole woman in her mechanical engineering class.