inaugural holder of the Liu-TSI Applied Technology Chair presents seminar at TSI

Last February, TSI announced the Benjamin Y.H. Liu - TSI Applied Technology Chair in Mechanical Engineering, an endowed chair established by TSI Incorporated for the University of Minnesota Mechanical Engineering Department. The Chair honored University alumnus Dr. Benjamin Liu, an award-winning researcher and entrepreneur who has dedicated his career to aerosols and particles research.

The University of Minnesota Mechanical Engineering Department recently awarded the Liu - TSI Applied Technology Chair to Dr. Rajesh Rajamani. On Friday, December 6, Dr. Rajamani presented a seminar at TSI to assembled engineering, technical, and leadership staff. His one-hour talk, "Interesting Sensing and Estimation Problems in Smart Mechanical Systems," explained how simple sensors paired with algorithms can lead to "sophisticated monitoring devices for smart mechanical systems." He also discussed practical applications and commercialization opportunities for these types of devices and systems.

More information about Dr. Rajamani from the University of Minnesota Mechanical Engineering Department:

"Prof. Rajamani works on the development of sensors and estimation algorithms for smart monitoring systems.  He plans to use the Benjamin Y.H. Liu-TSI Endowed Chair funds for supporting research activities that lay the foundation for future large projects of transformative impact.  During the first year, Prof. Rajamani is using the funds to support research on wearable sensors and to seed new research on the development of a snow cover measurement system for winter roads. The research on wearable sensors has a strong potential to lead to launch of a start-up company led by his graduate student Greg Johnson.  The work on snow cover measurement systems is of unique importance to winter driving environments and can help Minnesota play an important role in future autonomous driving technology."

"Rajesh Rajamani obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991 and 1993 respectively and his B.Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras in 1989. His active research interests include estimation, sensing and control for smart mechanical systems. 

"Dr. Rajamani has co-authored over 140 journal papers and is a co-inventor on 13 patents/ patent applications. He is the author of the popular book “Vehicle Dynamics and Control” published by Springer. Dr. Rajamani is a Fellow of ASME and has been a recipient of the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, the Ralph Teetor Award from SAE, the O. Hugo Schuck Award from the American Automatic Control Council, and a number of best paper awards from journals and conferences. Several inventions from Dr. Rajamani’s laboratory have been licensed to companies. Innotronics, a start-up company co-founded by him, was recently recognized among the 35 Best University Start-Ups of 2016 in a competition conducted by the US National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer."