NC State Engineer Receives NSF Career Award
February 16, 2005
By Jenny Weston, NCSU
From Engineering News at NC State

Dr. Gracious Ngaile, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina State University, has received a Faculty Early Career Development Award (Career) from the National Science Foundation, effective February 1, 2005, through January 31, 2010. The award is one of the highest honors given by NSF to young university faculty in science and engineering.

As part of the award, NSF will provide $400,000 in funding over the next five years. Ngaile will use the funding to support his research project, “Career: Meso and Macro Hydroforming of Complex Shapes — Mechanics and Control.” The aim of the project is to develop capabilities in the US for manufacturing complex macro and meso (miniature) tubular components using hydroforming techniques. In hydroforming, complex tubular structures are formed by using liquid to force metals to conform to a die, creating lighter, stronger structures.

In conjunction with the research component of the project, Ngaile has developed an education plan that incorporates new interinstitutional manufacturing curricula, which in addition to addressing modern manufacturing technologies will also feature aspects pertaining to a global distributed manufacturing paradigm. This will be accomplished through cooperative agreements with universities in Japan and Denmark.

“My experience in three different educational systems — British, Japanese and American — gave me a unique perspective on the importance of gaining experience outside one's own culture,” says Ngaile. “The interinstitutional manufacturing course at the international level is expected to provide opportunities for knowledge enhancement and prepare our students to assume responsibilities in the competitive global market economy.”

Ngaile received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania in 1991. He earned his master's degree and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Kumamoto University in Japan in 1996 and 1999, respectively. He conducted postdoctoral research in metal forming process optimization and tribology at the Ohio State University Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing from 1999 to 2002.

(Photo: Cheryl Heeter)

Media contact:
Jennifer Weston, (919) 515-3848, weston@ncsu.edu

Technical contact:
Dr. Gracious Ngaile, (919) 515-5222, gracious_ngaile@ncsu.edu