2024 News
New study on zero-emission, heavy-duty trucking featured in MIT News
A new GEAR Center study, led by PhD candidate ZhiYi Liang, explores decarbonization opportunities in the transportation sector with zero-emission truck design. The study examines the design challenges of storing enough energy to meet the range and towing requirements of heavy-duty vehicles (HDV).
“Folks in the industry know that some kind of energy transition needs to happen, but they may not necessarily know for certain what the most viable path forward is,” says Liang. “Although there is no singular avenue to zero emissions, the new model provides a way to further quantify and assess at least one slice of pie to aid decision-making.”
The full news article is available here. The study was presented at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2024 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. The conference paper is available on the Publications page.
Nature Water publication on solar-powered desalination control featured in MIT News
Jonathan Bessette, a GEAR Center PhD candidate, Shane Pratt, a GEAR Center staff engineer, and GEAR Center Prof Amos Winter have recently published their work on controlling solar-powered electrodialysis desalination in Nature Water. Their innovation enables desalination to operate primarily on solar power without expensive energy storage. MIT News featured the work in an article written by Jennifer Chu:
“The majority of the population actually lives far enough from the coast, that seawater desalination could never reach them. They consequently rely heavily on groundwater, especially in remote, low-income regions. And unfortunately, this groundwater is becoming more and more saline due to climate change,” says Jonathan Bessette, MIT PhD student in mechanical engineering. “This technology could bring sustainable, affordable clean water to underreached places around the world.”
The full article is available here. The Nature Water publication is available on our Publications page.
Jon Bessette with the experimental desalination system at the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility (BGNDRF) in Alamogordo, New Mexico.Photo credit: Shane Pratt
GEAR Center visits Indian farmers to talk tractors
The Bullkey Tractor is the GEAR Center’s novel tractor platform for low-income farmers. After two years of reimagining and consultation with farmers in rural India, Collin Goldbach, a GEAR Center PhD candidate, presented the final design of the tractor to agricultural workers in the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh states of India. In partnership with the S.M. Sehgal Foundation, an India-based, agriculture development NGO, Collin presented the design and footage of field tests to over 140 farmers in 10 villages. Farmers were enthusiastic about the innovation and ranked its ability to fulfill their needs highly.
Validation by the end users adds value and credibility to the Bullkey Tractor as a source of economic independence and opportunity to small farm owners, who typically cannot afford the expensive modern machinery that would allow them to grow their business. The Bullkey tractor aims to address this issue by offering a low-cost, highly effective machine capable of plowing, tilling, planting, and maintaining a crop – work that would otherwise be completed with significant expense and drudgery by hired labor or draft animals.
Collin Goldbach interviewing farmers in India about the novel Bullkey Tractor design.Global by Design by Prof Amos Winter and Prof Vijay Govindarajan Available for Pre-Order
A new book by GEAR Center Prof Amos Winter and Dartmouth School of Business Prof Vijay Govindarajan is now available for pre-order on Amazon.
The book will combine the experience of Winter and Govindarajan to deliver a practical approach to solving wicked problems facing the world and capturing the economic opportunities presented by emerging markets.
The book will fully release on July 15, 2025 and is currently available for preorder on Amazon.
GEAR Lab Students and Staff Present their work at ASME IDETC/CIE Conference
Seven papers were presented by GEAR Lab members at this years ASME IDETC/CIE conference in Washington D.C. this August. Paper topics included design of drip irrigation systems and emitters, prosthetic feet, energy recovery devices for reverse osmosis systems, tractors for remote communities, zero-emission trucks, and recycling of automotive shredder residue.
GEAR Center Attendees at the conference. Pictured (front to back, left to right) are Amber Velez, Tova Kleiner, Emily Welsh, Autumn Geil, Collin Goldbach, Ben Weizer, ZhiYi Liang, and alumni Georgia Van de Zande.Prof Amos Winter Profiled by Esses Magazine
Esses Magazine profiled GEAR Center PI Amos Winter in an article linking his love of motorsports and his work as an educator. From the article written by Amy Carleton:
As a professor, Winter teaches students to be resourceful innovators, while also stressing the need for them to be responsible community partners and user advocates. And as an educator, he resolutely dispels the adage, “those who can’t do, teach,” because his hands-on experience is what compels student buy-in.
The full article is available here.
Prof Winter in front of his 1983 Porsche 911. Photo credit: Hugh Brooks
GEAR Center student, Aditya Ghodgaonkar, wins MIT de Florez Graduate Design Award
The MIT de Florez awards are given each year to mechanical engineering students who demonstrate “Outstanding Ingenuity and Creative Judgement” in mechanical engineering science and design. During the annual contest, students show off their work using posters and prototypes. Three GEAR Center students participated in the competition this spring. Aditya Ghodgaonkar demonstrated his low pressure drip emitter technology which earned him first place in the Graduate Design category. Collin Goldbach presented on a novel tractor design for low cost farm mechanization, and Nina Petelina presented on prosthetic feet for people with above-knee amputation.
Top row: Nina, Collin, and Aditya (left to right) in front of their posters. Bottom row: Aditya’s emitter displayCarolyn Sheline and Julia Howarth win Department Awards
Carolyn Sheline, a GEAR Center post-doc, and Julia Howarth, a GEAR Center UROP, both won MIT Mechanical Engineering department awards this semester. Carolyn won the 2024 Wunsch Foundation Silent Hoist and Crane Award for Outstanding Graduate Research and Education and Julia won the Carl G. Sontheimer award for Creativity and Innovation in Design. Congratulations to both for the recognition of their excellent work!
Jonathan Bessette awarded J-WAFS fellowship for his research on water
The Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) focuses on interdisciplinary research aimed at solving the world's most pressing water and food security challenges. Each year they award fellowships to outstanding graduate students pursuing work in water and food systems. GEAR Center student Jonathan Bessette was one of two students awarded a J-WAFS fellowship this year. He was awarded the JWAFS Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellow for Water Solutions.
From the J-WAFS press announcement:
“This year, we received many strong fellowship applications,” says J-WAFS executive director Renee J. Robins. “Bessette and Ball both stood out, even in a very competitive pool of candidates. The award of the J-WAFS fellowships to these two students underscores our confidence in their potential to bring transformative solutions to global water challenges.”
PI Amos Winter Promoted to Professor of Mechanical Engineering
We are excited to announce that GEAR Lab PI Amos Winter has been promoted to Professor of Mechanical Engineering, effective July 1, 2024! His work as an educator, leadership in the academic community, and contributions to many MIT committees were all cited by department leadership in their announcement of the promotion.
Announcing the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Center
GEAR Lab is expanding with the announcement of the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research Center.
The GEAR Center was founded due to a generous gift by philanthropist Lisa Yang and will join the Yang Tan Collective, an assemblage of six major research centers focused on accelerating collaboration in basic science, research, and engineering to realize translational strategies that improve human health and well-being at a global scale. The GEAR Center brings together a multidisciplinary team of MIT academic researchers and staff engineers to assess today’s most pressing challenges and launch in-depth basic-science research projects in three critical areas: 1) water, energy, and food solutions; 2) climate-change mitigation and adaptation; and 3) global-health technologies.