Multi-disciplinary space mission design team recognized for their super-sorting prototype

Illinois researchers reinterpret 40-year-old boiling mystery

MechSE Prof. Justin Yim was awarded in the university programs category for his project “LEAP - Legged Exploration Across the Plume,” funded by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program.

Led by MechSE Prof. Lili Cai, the new textile uses passive radiative cooling to stay cool under sunlight by reflecting solar energy while releasing heat to the surroundings. At the same time, it can harvest energy from human motion and generate electrical signals for sensing and thermal control.

Starting this academic year, MechSE Prof. Craig Bradshaw has assumed leadership of the master of engineering in mechanical engineering (M.Eng.ME) degree program.

Experts developed roadmaps for robotic assembly, lunar habitats, and demonstration infrastructure to advance space manufacturing

The Missing Piece of Innovation: Putting the human back in engineering

“I am incredibly excited about the many opportunities that lie ahead for our great department,

MechSE prof. Kevin Wandke was one of just 30 educators nationwide to win an Engineering Unleashed Fellowship through KEEN, a program of the Kern Family Foundation. He will use the grant to continue his work developing a framework for AI chatbots to function as stakeholders in some engineering design courses.

MechSE Prof. Gaurav Bahl and his group have developed an electric-optic isolator for unidirectional light propagation. The compact, low-power and highly tunable design makes it ideal for optical signal routing in data centers.

Mechanical engineering PhD students Shahzad Yousaf, Ahmed Afifi, and Viyan Bade were each recognized for authoring some of the top research papers among their peers. They are all advised by MechSE Prof. Craig Bradshaw.

This summer, SolarMantle, a startup spun out of Prof. Lili Cai’s research, partnered with the FIFA Sustainability Team and the City of Houston to deploy its passive cooling film on public infrastructure ahead of one of the world’s largest sporting events.

A microstructure technology designed by an engineer at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is making strides on and off the pitch.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Engineers have developed a new way to pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere using a process similar to charging and discharging a battery — an advance that could help address the planet’s excess CO2 problem.

Thanks to an award from the Illinois Proof of Concept program, MechSE Prof. Lili Cai will be able to advance her efforts to commercially deploy the high-performance

PedalPro is a low-cost pedal device that can be used by immobilized hospital patients while in bed. The adjustable pedaling platform allows patients to actuate their legs at regular intervals to avoid the onset of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which can develop in the legs during long periods of immobility. The device was developed by several Senior Capstone Design teams in collaboration with Carle Illinois College of Medicine students.

Mobile robots have the potential to be uniquely useful tools and teammates, but currently have trouble getting around in many environments. Cluttered living rooms, ladders, and other spaces humans easily navigate remain challenging for robots. Natural environments like intertidal zones, cliffs, and trees are even less accessible to robots. In many cases, robots are physically incapable of consistently traversing complicated terrain regardless of control scheme due to force and power constraints, insufficient endurance and range, or insufficient control bandwidth. MechSE Assistant Professor Justin Yim's research enables high-performance locomotion in robots and investigates the underlying science by concurrently designing mechanisms that exhibit reduced-order dynamics and advantageous energy flow with controllers that leverage these mechanisms’ natural dynamics. By improving robot locomotion, robots will be able to accompany humans wherever they go and even reach places humans cannot.

World Cup players will wear friction-engineered shoes made with microstructure technology from the lab of Illinois Grainger Engineering professor Bill King.

MF3 Fellows in The Grainger College of Engineering have an opportunity to develop and enhance their skills in the core areas of research, teaching, and mentoring through various professional development activities in preparation for a successful academic career.

New research from the lab of Prof. Nenad Miljkovic establishes a clear link between microscopic ice bridge behavior and macroscopic system performance, providing a new framework for anti-frosting design in energy systems. Their work challenges a long-held view that

Kendra Sharp (PhD TAM 2001), currently the Dean of the School of Engineering at Santa Clara University, was recognized as one of the 2026 MechSE Distinguished Alumni.

MechSE Prof. Naira Hovakimyan was selected for a Dean's Award for Early Innovation for Professor for her work at the early stages of the innovation life cycle to turn research into products that benefit the world.

Frank Sanders (BSME 1990), the Corporate Vice President & General Manager of Global Supply Chain Operations for Intel, was named one of the 2026 MechSE Distinguished Alumni.

Computer chips are becoming increasingly high powered, which means they produce more heat. This, combined with the increase in data centers, is putting a strain on the energy grid. For the past 40–50 years, computer chips have been cooled by circulating air, but air is insufficient for dissipating the heat produced by modern chips. MechSE Prof. Nenad Miljkovic, Behnood Bazmi, and team say liquid direct-to-chip cooling could offer a more effective solution.

Associate Prof. Kyle Smith was one of this year's recipients of The Grainger College of Engineering Dean's Award for Excellence in Research.

Vish Ganesan, a postdoctoral research associate in Founder Professor Nenad Miljkovic’s Energy Transport Research Laboratory (ETRL), was selected as one of the top 10% of advisors in The Grainger College of Engineering.

Several MechSE faculty, including Elizabeth Hsiao-Wecksler, Blake Johnson andJustin Yim participated in the first Human-Centered Engineering Symposium, held in March at the campus' Siebel Center for Design.

Mechanical engineering PhD student Beomhui Lee was recently awarded the TechnipFMC Fellowship from the University of Illinois for the 2026-27 academic year. Lee is advised by MechSE profs. Lili Cai and Jiajun He.

Prof. Liz Hsiao-Wecksler received a 2026 Dean’s Award for Innovation Impact from The Grainger College of Engineering for her work at the early stages of the innovation life cycle to turn her research into products that benefit the world.