2021 in review: Top Auburn Engineering stories of the year

2021 was an exciting year for the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. From captivating new research projects to student, faculty and alumni success stories, below we count down the top five most-popular news stories of the past year:

5. Auburn to expand Industry 4.0 research, education, training and innovation capabilities with $7.2M DoD award

The Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems (ICAMS) at Auburn University received a $7.2 million award from the Department of Defense’s Office of Industrial Policy’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Program to encourage small and medium-sized manufacturers to adopt the advanced technologies associated with Industry 4.0, or smart manufacturing. The award will allow the center to increase efforts to improve the skills of the next generation of engineers and the existing workforce to take full advantage of those technologies in their operations.

4. Samuel Ginn College of Engineering earns national Top 30 public ranking

Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering has again been recognized as a national leader, ranking among the nation’s Top 30 public institutions in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs for a third consecutive year.

3. Chemical engineering graduate sets example for future Black women in engineering

Through her involvement with both Auburn University and Auburn Engineering, as well as her generosity through scholarships, Rodmesia Clarke, ’08 chemical engineering, has set an inspiring example for others. Through her example and involvement, future Black female engineers can see Clarke. And if they can see her, they can be her.

2. Novel Nozzle: NASA, AU partnership boldly goes where few AM projects have gone before

The task to 3D-print a 10-foot-tall rocket nozzle liner demonstrator for a large-scale, liquid rocket engine presented just one problem for DM3D Technologies — they didn't have a machine large enough to produce it.

So, they built one.

The Michigan-based directed energy deposition (DED) firm is the latest leading specialized technology vendor to partner with Auburn University's National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence on its additive manufacturing research and development project with NASA for improving the performance of the liquid rocket engines.

1. Auburn autonomous racing team makes history at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Auburn Engineering’s world-renowned autonomous vehicle research program literally lapped the competition — and made history in the process.

Comprised of students in Auburn’s GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Lab, Autonomous Tiger Racing was the first to run the Dallara AV-21 autonomous race car around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October in preparation for the first-ever Indy Autonomous Challenge. 

Read all of Auburn Engineering’s headlines from 2021.