Dr. Michael Reynolds

• Position: Department Chair, Associate Professor
• Department: Mechanical Engineering
• Office Location: Building 4, Room 327
• mreynolds2@uwf.edu
• Campus: 850.474.2977

Biography

Dr. Michael C. Reynolds, Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, played a major part in establishing the program, which UWF began in 2016 in response to a call from local businesses and community leaders who said more mechanical engineers were needed in the Pensacola-Fort Walton Beach area. The startup included designing curriculum, establishing laboratories, recruiting students and preparing processes needed for accreditation. Reynolds joined UWF in 2015 from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, where he was an Associate Professor and Head of the Engineering Department. 

He has three degrees in Mechanical Engineering: A Ph.D. and an M.S from Purdue University and a B.S. from Marquette University. Reynolds focuses his research in vibration and control systems. Reynolds developed a novel approach for the time-optimal tracking control of flexible systems. He has also published research in biomechanics, acoustic metamaterials, and engineering education.

Reynolds has received research grants from NASA to explore command controlled weather balloons for extended high altitude experiments, controlled resistance exercise for micro-gravity and using acoustic metamaterials for airfoil structural health monitoring. Reynolds is the Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Online Engineering Education. The Journal of Online Engineering Education is the world’s leading journal for pedagogical research in engineering education online. His work has been published in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Journal of Dynamic Systems, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, the Journal of Biomedical Sciences Instrumentation, the International Journal of Engineering Education as well as others.

Degrees & Institutions

Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette
M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Marquette University

Research

Reynolds focuses his research in vibration and control systems. Reynolds developed a novel approach for the time-optimal tracking control of flexible systems. He has also published research in biomechanics, acoustic metamaterials and engineering education. Reynolds has received research grants from NASA to explore command controlled weather balloons for extended high altitude experiments, controlled resistance exercise for micro-gravity and using acoustic metamaterials for airfoil structural health monitoring.

Publications

Reynolds, M.C., “Rethinking Engineering Education – Results of a Regional and National Survey,” 2014 Midwest Section Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education, Fort Smith, AR, Sept. 24-26, 2014.

Zhu, R., Reynolds, M., Huang, G.L., “An Elastic Metamaterial Beam for Broadband Vibration Suppression,” Proc. SPIE 8695, Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems 2013.

Zhu, R., Reynolds, M.C., Huang, G.L, “Numerical Effective Formulation for Guided Wave Propagation in a Metamaterial Plate with Anisotropic Mass Density,” Proc. SPIE. 8348, Health Monitoring of Structural and Biological Systems, 2012.

Paulus, D.C., Reynolds, M.C., Schilling, B.K., “Ground Reaction Force Comparison of Controlled Resistance Methods to Isoinertial Loading of the Squat Exercise,” Proceedings of the Rocky Mountain Bioengineering Symposium, Laramie, WY, April 9-11, 2010.

Reynolds, M.C., and Meckl, P.H., “The Application of Command Shaping to the Tracking Problem,” ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, Vol. 130, No. 3, 2008.

Keywords: control systems, vibration, biomechanics, optimal control, acoustic metamaterials, exercise science, engineering education, online education