October 14, 2024-Leigh McCue, George Mason University

October 14,  2024
4:00 p.m.
Room:  Torgersen Hall 2150
Speaker:  Leigh McCue, George Mason University
Faculty Host: Dr. Kevin Wang

"Broadening Access to Maritime Robotics"

Abstract: A core goal of Mason’s Vessel Dynamics Laboratory is to broaden access to maritime robotics, be it as a STEM outreach tool or as a platform to enable fundamental science.  Immediate waterfront access at Mason’s Potomac Science Center on the Occoquan River facilitates ease of platform design-test cycles, which supports undergraduate and graduate student engagement with engineering remote control and autonomous maritime systems. This talk will provide a high-level overview of lab activities from middle and high school outreach, to undergraduate hands-on design-build activities, to fundamental research advancing eye-gaze control of surface and subsurface vessels.  The talk is grounded in a commitment to transition technologies into the field, and will showcase approaches used to engage end users in technology development and assessment.

Bio: Leigh McCue is a Professor and Chair of George Mason University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.  From June 2015-December 2018 she was the executive director of the American Society of Naval Engineers. Prior to that, from December of 2004 through May of 2015, she was an Assistant, then Associate Professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering. Her research interests are in maritime robotics, nonlinear and chaotic vessel dynamics, and computational fluid dynamics, coupled with an emphasis on fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in engineering. Her work has been supported by ONR, NSF, NASA, the USCG, CSC, QinetiQ, and the Northeast Center for Occupational Safety and Health (NEC). Additionally, Dr. McCue has participated in the ASEE-ONR Summer Faculty Research Program to work in collaboration with researchers at the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center and was on sabbatical for the 2011-2012 academic year with the Combatant Craft Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock. Dr. McCue received her BSE degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University. She earned her graduate degrees from the University of Michigan in Aerospace Engineering (MSE) and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (MSE & PhD).