Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

The University of Notre Dame announces the launch of the Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) minor, a multidisciplinary program designed to prepare students for the rapidly expanding global space sector. A collaboration between the Colleges of Engineering, Arts & Letters, and Science, the minor will be available to undergraduates starting in fall 2026.  The five-course, […] The post Notre Dame lau…

This spring, powerful gusts and icy crosswinds transformed the skies of northwest Indiana into a high-stakes physics laboratory for Notre Dame’s Senior Aerospace Design students, putting their custom-built RC aircraft to the test. The flight tests took place on a runway owned by the South Bend Radio Control Club (SBRC). SBRC’s partnership with Notre Dame’s […] The post Cleared for Take-off: Senio…

On Tuesday, May 12, John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at the University of Notre Dame, announced the winners of the 2026 University faculty awards. “This year’s faculty award recipients represent the very best of Notre Dame through their outstanding achievements in teaching, scholarship, and service,” McGreevy said. “Their work strengthens our academic community […] The post …

The University of Notre Dame’s Artificial Intelligence Maritime Maneuver (AIMM) team secured a second-place finish overall at the 2026 Indiana Collegiate Challenge (ICC). The team shared first place with Indiana University, Bloomington on the course challenge, which necessitated navigating a complex series of obstacles, collecting data and returning to base.  Since the inaugural competition in [……

The Notre Dame College of Engineering is pleased to announce the spring 2026 recipients of the Staff Excellence Awards, which recognize staff members’ exemplary contributions above and beyond the scope of their standard job responsibilities.  Award recipients are honored for having a substantial positive impact on the operations of their departments, the college, and the […] The post Cheers to re…

Jing Wang, associate teaching professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, has won the 2026 Outstanding Teaching Award in the Notre Dame College of Engineering.  The award honors an engineering faculty member — selected each year by undergraduates in engineering — for excellence in teaching and overall positive influence on student formation. Wang […] The post Jing Wang na…

The Graduate School is pleased to announce its annual award winners for the 2025–2026 academic year. These awards include: the Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award; the Rev. James A. Burns, C.S.C., Awards; the Dick and Peggy Notebaert Award; the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Graduate School Awards; and the Social Justice Award. The award winners will […] The post Four Notre Dame Engineers among 2026 Gr…

While scientists have successfully printed small patches of human tissue, scaling those tissues into full-sized organs has remained elusive. In natural organisms, every cell must be within roughly 100 to 200 micrometers—about the thickness of two human hairs—of a blood vessel to receive oxygen and nutrients. Without this intricate, life-giving network, cells starve and die. […] The post Notre Dam…

On Tuesday, March 24, University leaders, faculty members, and community partners gathered in downtown South Bend to celebrate research and innovation at the 1st Source Faculty Commercialization Award dinner. This event honors faculty researchers at the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend, whose discoveries advance innovation into real-world products and …

The heart is a pump that wears out over time—that, at least, was the prevailing view. New research has shown that the heart’s aging results from changes in intercellular communications, which tell heart cells, sometimes even healthy ones, to stiffen and break down. By decoding these complex messages, a team of researchers, led by Pinar […] The post Heart-on-a-chip device identifies youth-enhancin…

To invade healthy tissues and continue growing, aggressive cancers mimic and circumvent the body’s native piping system of veins and arteries. Through this process, known as vasculogenic mimicry (VM), tumor cells form fluid-conducting channels that transport blood, oxygen, and nutrients directly to the growing tumor. This behavior enables tumor metastasis and tissue invasion, lowering patient […]…

The University of Notre Dame has earned a spot on the Top 100 U.S. Universities Granted Utility Patents in 2025, a list published annually by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The Top 100 U.S. Universities ranking highlights and celebrates U.S. academic institutions that play a large role in advancing innovation through the critical step of protecting their […] The post Notre Dame ranks am…

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among people with obesity, a condition affecting one in eight people worldwide. Studies show that fat around the heart can fuel inflammation, damage heart muscle cells, disrupt heart rhythm and increase the risk of heart failure, but the precise mechanisms remain unclear. To better understand how obesity […] The post 3D-bioprinted model offers new way t…

During the spring semester, the University of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering welcomed Shivam Barwey as an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, further expanding the college’s expertise in advanced computational engineering.  Barwey’s research focuses on the intersection of scientific machine learning and computational fluid dynamics, with a specific …

Internationally recognized biomedical engineer John Fisher will join the University of Notre Dame as director of the campus-wide Bioengineering & Life Sciences Initiative (BELS) and Arthur J. Schmitt Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. His appointment begins Aug. 1. Fisher is currently chair of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Marylan…

For three years in a row, a faculty member from the University of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering has won the prestigious CMBE Rising Star Award given by the Biomedical Engineering Society’s (BMES) Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Special Interest Group (CMBE-SIG). CMBE-SIG recognizes exceptional junior principal investigators for their high-impact, innovative research through this annua…

To think, feel, talk and move, neurons send messages through electrical signals in the brain and spinal cord. This intricate communication network is built of billions of neurons connected by synapses and managed and modified by glial cells. When neurons die, this communication network is disrupted and since this loss is irreversible, neuron death causes […] The post Physical pressure on the brai…

Galileo did not invent the telescope, but he did engineer it into a precise scientific instrument. By grinding and refining his own lenses to increase their magnification, he was able to make observations that challenged the longstanding belief in a stationary earth. In astronomy, as in many other fields, engineering and science are locked together […] The post Closer to the stars: Notre Dame stu…

The Notre Dame College of Engineering is pleased to announce the Fall 2025 recipients of the Staff Excellence Awards, which recognize staff members’ exemplary contributions above and beyond the scope of their standard job responsibilities. Award recipients are honored for having a substantial positive impact on the operations of their departments, the College, and the […] The post Cheers to Recip…

A team of five undergraduate researchers from the University of Notre Dame’s College of Science and College of Engineering earned a gold medal at the iGEM Grand Jamboree in Paris, France. iGEM—the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition—is an annual global event that challenges undergraduate and high school teams to apply synthetic biology to real-world problems. […] The post Ina…