On 25 February, 2008, Professor Katsuo Kurabayashi of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan visited the BYU Compliant Mechanisms Research (CMR) Lab. Several students and two professors made presentations on work being done in the fields of compliant mechanisms and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). After the presentations, Professor Kurabayashi shared information related to his current research.
Professor Kurabayashi's research interests include MEMS, nanoengineering, thermal energy transport phenomena in electronic systems, micro optical devices, and MEMS/biomolecular hybrid technology. Quentin Aten, a graduate student in the MEMS group, commented on Professor Kurabayashi's presentation. He said, "I thought his fusion of MEMS devises with biological motor proteins, such as kinesin, was very promising and seems to solve one of the problems of having to activate some of the devices on the nano-level."
For more information on Professor Kurabayashi's research, visit his web site at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~katsuo/