Mechanical engineering professor spends sabbatical at the University of Cambridge

Golam Newaz, professor of mechanical engineering at Wayne State's College of Engineering, is currently spending a sabbatical semester in the Mechanics, Materials and Design Group in the engineering department at the University of Cambridge. His research focus is working on sandwich composite materials for vehicle applications, which is a method that has the potential to offer the significant advantage of making automobiles lighter and more fuel efficient.

Newaz is working closely with Professor David Cebon (both pictured to the right), an internationally acclaimed expert in vehicle dynamics, who leads an active research group concerned with fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of road freight vehicles, the design and dynamics of heavy vehicle suspension, heavy vehicle safety, road damage and the micromechanics of asphalt failure. Recent collaborations by Newaz include a scientific paper with his Cambridge colleagues that they presented at the University of Edinburgh. Currently, he is also collaborating on another paper with Joel Galos, Michael Sutcliffe, and David Cebon at Cambridge on lightweighting of materials for decking using composites for heavy duty trailers which will be presented at the International Conference of Composite Materials (ICCM20) in Copenhagen, Denmark. In addition to his own research, Newaz is advising a doctoral student in his dissertation research.

"The academic and research life here is truly stimulating with great minds and talented students. There are multiple seminars taking place throughout the week and there is so much to learn. The students are challenged all the time, inside and outside the class with a great deal of interaction with the faculty. I find the entire atmosphere here to be very alive. I could not have asked for a more enriching experience," says Newaz. He will return to Wayne State's College of Engineering in six months and he looks forward to applying the knowledge and experience he has gained with to his research and with his students.

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Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution of higher education offering 380 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 28,000 students. For more information about engineering at Wayne State University, visit engineering.wayne.edu.