Showcasing solutions for land, sea, space — and everywhere in between
Aaron Persad hend up a clear cylinder with filled with water. The inconspicuous object had made a trip most people never will experience — orbiting the Earth aboard a space shuttle. “I’m trying to determine how liquids behave in space,” explained Persad, a postdoctoral fellow working with Rohit Karnik, an associate professor of mechanical engineering. By understanding how liquids move in zero gravity or a near-freefall environment, Persad hopes to make more compact rockets and safer syringes for administering medication to astronauts. Persad was one of the 44 participants in this year’s MIT Mechanical Engineering Research Exhibition (MERE), which was held on Sept. 28 in Walker Memorial. MERE is hosted by the Graduate Association of Mechanical Engineers (GAME) and MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. Graduate students, postdocs, and Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) students who have conducted research in mechanical engineering present their findings at MERE, using posters, live demos, videos, and interactive models. The event is modeled...