Nina Mahmoudian Receives a Young Investigator Program Award fromOffice of Naval Research

You can learn more about Mahmoudian’s research in our news story here: http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2015/june/nina-mahmoudian-receives-young-investigator-program-award-office-naval-research.html

Only 36 faculty across the US were invited to join the Young Investigator Program (YIP) from the Office of Naval Research this year; additionally, only a small percent of faculty receive the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Nina Mahmoudian, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering-engineering mechanics at Michigan Technological University, is one of a select few to receive both in the same year.

“To be selected for the prestigious NSF CAREER award is a major accomplishment in itself,” says Bill Predebon, the chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics at Michigan Tech. “Adding to that being selected for the Young Investigator Program in the same year puts her in a small group of very talented faculty in the US.”

Mahmoudian’s work in underwater robotics earned her the awards, both of which are granted to early career researchers. Specifically, her research focuses on the continuous operation of autonomous vehicles — in other words, how to keep underwater robots under water for longer and with better performance. The Young Investigator Program funding, a total of $510,000, allows Mahmoudian to dive deeper into the mechanical challenges of long-term coordination of a fleet of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs).