WMG News - Latest news from WMG

Staff and students from WMG were part of a University of Warwick exhibition stand at the Big Bang Fair West Midlands, which took place at the Ricoh Arena earlier this week.

The Warwick stand, sponsored by the WMG centre HVM Catapult, brought together staff and students from six departments - WMG (including the WMG Academy), School of Engineering, Life Sciences, Physics, Computer Science and Maths and students from the Human Submarine Project, Engineering Society, Engineers Without Borders and the Technology Volunteers.

The Big Bang Fair provides the opportunity for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) community to come together to enthuse and inspire young people to think about future education and careers involving STEM subjects. Teams from Warwick attended the fair and demonstrated exciting activities such as 3D printing, playing with electronics and sensors (Institute of Digital Healthcare and Technology Volunteers) and the Human Submarine project, which is being undertaken for the first time this year by Engineering students at Warwick.

Everyone involved had a fantastic day at the event. Hundreds of school children from the local area visited our stand and took part in some of the activities and learnt about the range of opportunities available through STEM subjects. With a stand featuring so many Science Faculty departments, the University team were able to demonstrate the real variety available across the disciplines.

See more photos from the day...

WMG at the University of Warwick in the UK has appointed one of Ghana’s leading researchers into future manufacturing technology.

Dr Kwabena Agyapong-Kodua, who was born in Kwahu-Amanfrom in the Eastern Region and lived in Tema, Greater Accra Region, has taken up the role of assistant professor at WMG, an academic department at the University of Warwick and one of the world’s leading research groups at the forefront of innovative technology.

Dr Agyapong-Kodua’s main research focus at WMG will be cost-effective evolvable manufacturing systems – or in other words how a factory production line can adapt to changes in product and process requirements using artificial intelligence.

A Formula 3 steering wheel made from carrots and created by engineers at WMG, University of Warwick, has gone on display at the London Science Museum.

The Nano-cellulose wheel is the first of its kind and just one of several sustainable and renewable materials that have been used by WMG in the development of this F3 rated vehicle.

Students drive across England, Scotland and Wales to compete in Formula Student Diesel Eco Driving Challenge powered by Bosch on 19 – 21 June.

Engineering students from The University of Warwick have taken part in a non-stop driving challenge across the length of Britain in a bid to be crowned the nation’s most economical drivers.

The inaugural three-day competition, which started on June 19, will go via 46 universities and is being jointly run by Formula Student and Bosch.

Each team will drive a section of the route – while having their eco-driving ability measured by on-board computers - before passing the vehicle on to the next university. The University of Warwick team set off from WMG on June 19, and drove 21 miles to Birmingham University.

Professor Sridhar Seetharaman has been selected to become Editor of the US-based journal, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions (MMT).

MMT is produced jointly by two societies, The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society and ASM International. It includes three editions of its journals, Journal A (Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science), Journal B (Process Metallurgy) and the soon-to-be-launched Journal E (Energy Materials). Professor Seetharaman will be serving as Editor of all three editions from July 2013.

Professor Seetharaman holds the Royal Academy of Engineering / Tata Steel Research Chair in Low Carbon Materials Technologies at WMG where he leads research on physico-chemical aspects of iron and steel manufacturing and usage with an emphasis on energy efficiency, low carbon and reduction of emissions.

On 20^th June, the Manufacturing Advisory Service and WMG are running a unique event introducing manufacturers to MAS’s New Product Development Gateway programme, as well as a range of innovative technology and tools available at WMG’s International Institute for Product and Service Innovation.

The event will help local manufacturing SMEs create products that will give them a competitive advantage.

The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and WMG have a long history of working together and are both part of the West Midlands Manufacturing Consortium that delivers MAS support across the region.

During the day, the following sessions will be held:

Low Volume Manufacturing

A practical session offering an introduction to Additive Layer Manufacturing Technology and how it is possible to develop prototypes and tooling through this technology.

Product Benefits

A session using a "Design with Intent" toolkit to look at what specific behaviours you can derive through clever product design and how you can better meet user requirements.

Social Media as an Intelligence Tool

How chatter and discussion on Twitter et al can help you determine what your competitors are doing and how you might use social media to create advocates and a community to ultimately sell your products.

As part of their support for the new WMG Academy for Young Engineers, engineering company Bosch helped Coventry and Buckinghamshire school children get a taste of the latest engineering technology at WMG at the University of Warwick.

The event, which took place on Tuesday 4 June, aimed to excite the interest of 10 to 12 year olds in a career in engineering – possibly with leading organisations such as Bosch as future potential employers.

The children from Joseph Cash and Coundon Court schools in Coventry and Carrington Junior School in Buckinghamshire got hands on experience with a robot search and rescue device, WMG’s 3D Virtual powerwall, sessions on how mobile phones work, and demonstrations of Additive Layer Manufacturing and Digital Healthcare technology.

Business Secretary Vince Cable visited WMG today, 6 June, to launch a £10 million simulation technology engineering research programme and to see how WMG's research is helping Midlands SMEs.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will lead the five-year £10 million research programme with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and four leading UK universities including WMG at Warwick. The research projects will give the UK the opportunity to take a global lead in virtual simulation technology.

The collaboration between JLR and the country’s leading academics will develop the capability of the virtual simulation industry in the UK and will give manufacturers like JLR access to new, world-class simulation tools and processes. This is the first phase of a 20 year strategic project that could put the UK at the leading edge of virtual simulation globally.

The research will improve the quality and capabilities of simulation, using sights, sounds and even smells to make virtual simulation more realistic.

WMG is pleased to welcome Professor Peter Halley to visit the department in June. Professor Halley is an internationally-recognised leader in the field of starch-based biopolymers and bio-nanocomposites, based at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Professor Halley will be visiting Professor Tony McNally and WMG’s Nanocomposites research team during his visit and will be giving a seminar, which all Warwick staff and students are invited to attend.

Professor Halley’s seminar, entitled ‘Translational Polymer Research for Sustainable Polymers’, will be taking place on Thursday 13^th June (from 12 noon) in WMG’s International Digital Laboratory.

WMG at the University of Warwick is building a £2.3m centre to enable the West Midlands’ automotive supply chain to exploit the opportunities offered by lightweight vehicle technologies.

The new Automotive Composites Research Centre will provide local industry with hands-on technical expertise and equipment to develop its manufacturing capability for polymeric composites.

The requirement for lightweight structures will soon become the industry standard as automotive manufacturers seek to reduce emissions over the life-time of their vehicles.

By tapping into these new opportunities, the centre will help create jobs and growth in the West Midlands’ advanced manufacturing and engineering sector.