Brian Trease

Current

• Mechanical Engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Past

• Doctoral Candidate at The University of Michigan
• MEMS Design Summer Intern at Sandia National Laboratories
• Engineering Intern at Air Force Research Laboratory

• Design & Analysis Intern at Dana Spicer Driveshaft

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1 more...

Education

• University of Michigan
• University of Michigan
• University of Toledo

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Connections

119 connections

Industry

Mechanical or Industrial Engineering

Websites

• My Website
• My Company

Brian Trease’s Summary

I enjoy work where I can leverage and extend my expertise in mechanical design, kinematics, compliant mechanisms, actuation, smart structures and materials, biomimicry, genetic algorithms, and optimization.

I have additional interests in haptics, robotics, software, energy, policy, and complex systems.

Brian Trease’s Specialties:

compliant mechanisms, kinematics, actuation, optimization, biologically-inspired design, MATLAB, genetic algorithms, finite element analysis, MEMS design, teaching, grant writing

Brian Trease’s Experience

• Mechanical Engineer

  Jet Propulsion Laboratory

  (Government Agency; 5001-10,000 employees; Defense & Space industry)

  January 2008 — Present (1 year 11 months)

  Instrument Mechanical Engineering: Robotics and Mechanisms Group

• Doctoral Candidate

  The University of Michigan

  (Educational Institution; 10,001 or more employees; Higher Education industry)

  June 2000 — December 2007 (7 years 7 months)

  Thesis: “Embedded Actuators, Sensors, and Structure in Adaptive and Distributed Compliant Systems”
  Advisor: Sridhar Kota
  
  Project: “Revolutionizing Prosthetics” (DARPA)
  -Researched as part of a multi-institute initiative to design, fabricate, and test a neurologically-controlled arm prosthesis
  
  Project: Biomimetic aquatic propulsion (collaboration with Naval Research Labs)
  -Designed and optimized biomimetic hydrofoil/fin for an Unmanned Undersea Vehicle
  
  Project: cTouch, a 2-D Haptic Human Interface (collab. with UM Haptix Lab)
  -Designed and fabricated compliant components for a hand-operated human interface with force-feedback
  
  Peer Reviewer
  -Reviewed 10 papers for research journals and 5 conference papers
  
  ASME Student Mechanism Design Competition, 2004
  -Statically-balanced Compliant Four-bar Mechanism for Gravity Compensation (finalist)
  -A Compliant Five-Bar, 2-Degree-of-Freedom Device with Coil-driven Haptic Control

• MEMS Design Summer Intern

  Sandia National Laboratories

  (Government Agency; 5001-10,000 employees; Mechanical or Industrial Engineering industry)

  June 2001 — August 2002 (1 year 3 months)

  Microelectronics Development Laboratory, MEMS Device Design Department, Supervisor: James Allen
  -Modeled electro-thermo-mechanical coupling in thermally-activated MEMS actuators
  -Designed out-of-plane, thermally-activated micro-actuators for high-resolution positioning of adaptive optics; conducted physical tests to provide device characterization and model validation

• Engineering Intern

  Air Force Research Laboratory

  (Government Agency; Aviation & Aerospace industry)

  June 2000 — August 2000 (3 months)

  Wright Patterson Air Force Base
  Air Vehicles Directorate Summer Research Program
  Supervisor: Major Brian Sanders
  Joint research with the University of Michigan under Dr. Sridhar Kota
  -Analyzed a compliant, shape-adaptive wing for Unmanned Air Vehicles using Patran and Nastran for finite element modeling and analysis
  -Surveyed, classified, and compared smart actuator technologies

• Design & Analysis Intern

  Dana Spicer Driveshaft

  (Mechanical or Industrial Engineering industry)

  1999 — 2000 (1 year )

  Dana Corporation, Spicer Driveshaft Division, Design Analysis Team (Holland, OH)
  Supervisor: Mr. Daniel Beitzel
  -Designed, developed, and tested driveshafts, steering shafts, universal joints, and spline elements

Brian Trease’s Education

• University of Michigan

  Ph.D. , Mechanical Engineering , 2002 — 2007

  Published:
  2 Journal Articles
  1 Journal Technical Brief
  3 Conference Papers
  2 Design Competitions

• University of Michigan

  M.S. , Mechanical Engineering , 2000 — 2002

  One year position in the NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems. Worked on theory and development of reconfigurable Compliant Joints for Stewart platforms.

• University of Toledo

  B.S. , Mechanical Engineering , 1995 — 1999

  Minor in Business Administration

  Activities and Societies:

  ASME (President)

Additional Information

Brian Trease’s Websites:

• My Website
• My Company

Brian Trease’s Interests:

Technology, Camping and Outdoor Activities, Exercise, Community Lectures and Classes, Running, Snowboarding, Travel, Backyard Astronomy, Audiobooks, Book Clubs, Philosophy, Programming, Flickr

Brian Trease’s Groups:

ASME, BLUElab

•    ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
•    University of Michigan Alumni
•    Michigan Engineering Alumni Society - OFFICIAL GROUP
•    UToledo
•    NASA
•    Eagle Scouts, Boy Scouts of America
•    Youth For Understanding Exchange Student Alumni
•    Machine Design
•    Wolverine Networking
•    NAFEMS
•    The University of Toledo-Alumni
•    SOAP - Society of Aerospace Professionals

Brian Trease’s Honors:

2002 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow
2000 Tau Beta Pi Fellow (awarded nationally to 35 college senior graduates each year)
2000 University of Michigan Department of Mechanical Engineering First-year Fellowship
1999 Outstanding Engineering Student Award for the State of Ohio (awarded by The Ohio Society of Professional Engineers to one student statewide each year)
1999 Outstanding Senior Award, University of Toledo College of Engineering

Brian Trease’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch