www.me.psu.edu/department/directory-detail-g.aspx?q=aub1526" target="_blank">Amrita Basak, the Penn State Shuman Early Career Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Herschel Pangborn, Penn State assistant professor of mechanical engineering and of aerospace engineering, were selected to receive the 2025 Young Investigator Program award from the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Basak and Pangborn are among a group of 24 university professors chosen from over 230 applicants who were collectively awarded approximately $18 million to conduct research on scientific and technological challenges facing the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, according to a Navy press release.
Basak was awarded a three-year, $750,000 grant from the Sea Warfare and Weapons Department of ONR.
She and her students will use computational analysis and experimentation to design and validate the use of interlocking metallic structures that redistribute localized strains and resist fractures and deformation.
"Through this work, we hope to advance nature-inspired engineering, creating intelligent structures that better distribute mechanical loads," Basak said. "We will attempt to mimic designs found in nature in creating such interlocking structures."
Experimental data acquisition is costly and time-intensive, according to Basak. Instead, her team will generate synthetic computational data using computational models and will use artificial intelligence models to interpret the results and uncover strain localization mechanisms in metallic structures.
"If successful, the design work could be applied to designing naval ship components or lightweight armor systems," Basak said.
Pangborn was awarded a three-year, $750,000 grant from the Naval Air Warfare and Weapons Department of ONR to optimize the propulsion, power and thermal management systems of military aircraft.
Aircraft must manage massive amounts of energy on board, Pangborn explained, not only to provide propulsion, but also to power avionics and other electronics.
"All of that power generation and utilization produces heat as a byproduct, which makes it challenging to prevent overheating while still having small and lightweight systems," he said.
Pangborn will conduct research into autonomous control systems that coordinate where electro-thermal energy is generated, stored and dissipated on board aircraft.
"One case study we imagined in the proposal was an electrified vertical takeoff and landing vehicle to carry cargo between naval ships, or between ships and the shore," Pangborn said. "We will develop methods to ensure that the heat generated during flight is safely stored and dissipated."
Pangborn and several graduate students will create algorithms and work with small-scale experimental testbeds to complete the work.
