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Department of Mechanical Engineering

Todd Letcher

Todd Letcher

Title

Associate Professor

Office Building

Crothers Engineering Hall

Office

212

Mailing Address

Crothers Engineering Hall 212
Mechanical Engineering-Box 2219
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007

Biography

Todd Letcher received his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University in mechanical engineering in 2012. Since then, he has served as a postdoctoral researcher with the 成人视频 METLAB, a lecturer, an assistant professor and now associate professor in the mechanical engineering department at 成人视频. His research focuses on developing knowledge and technologies that allow 3D printing techniques to be used for end-use manufacturing. Dr. Letcher is also an associate director of the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium, which has developed into a new research area - space robotics. Dr. Letcher is also very interested in engineering entrepreneurship and is part of the NSF I-Corps Hub for the Great Plains Region.

Dr. Letcher currently teaches Engineering Design Methods, Mechanical Systems Design I and II. These classes allow students to design solutions to open ended problems and typically involved designing, building, and testing their solutions. Dr. Letcher also advises many senior design projects, independent study projects and several graduate students.

Social Media Links

Education

  • B.S. in mechanical engineering | South Dakota State University | 2005
  • M.S. in mechanical engineering | Ohio State University | 2008
  • Ph.D. in mechanical engineering | Ohio State University | 2012

Academic Interests

  • Additive manufacturing/3D printing
  • Off-earth robotics
  • Engineering entrepreneurship
  • Experimental mechanics
  • Materials characterization
  • Solid mechanics
  • Design optimization

Academic Responsibilities

  • ME 230 - Engineering Design Methods
  • ME 478/479 - Mechanical Systems Design I/II (Senior Design Capstone course sequence)
  • ME 490 - Design Seminar

Past Academic Responsibilities

  • ME 121 - Production and Manufacturing Processes
  • ME 212 - Mechanical Engineering Design Technologies
  • ME 240 - Introduction to Mechanical Design
  • ME 321 - Fundamentals of Machine Design
  • ME 376 - Measurements and Instrumentation Lab
  • ME 741 - Advanced Stress Analysis

Committees and Professional Memberships

Committees

  • Mechanical Engineering Department Laboratory Committee
  • College of Engineering Promotion and Tenure Committee

Professional Memberships

  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
  • American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)

Awards and Honors

  • August 2023, NASA FLOATing DRAGON Finalist.
  • June 2023, 1st Place in Lunar Transport Vehicle at NASA RASC-AL.
  • December 2022, NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge - Invited to Phase 2, Level 2, Space Trajectory (Team Leader).
  • September 2021, Clearest Water Award Winner, NASA's Moon to Mars Ice and Prospecting Challenge (Team Leader).
  • August 2021, Runner Up Award for NASA's Break the Ice Lunar Challenge Phase 1, Space Trajectory (Team Leader).
  • April 2020, Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering Young Investigator of the Year.
  • March 2019, ASME IAM3D Challenge 2019 West 1st Place (Advisor).
  • April 2017, Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering Advisor of the Year.
  • April 2014, Student鈥檚 Choice for Teacher of the Year in Mechanical Engineering at South Dakota State University.
  • May 2012, ASME IGTI Young Engineers Travel Award.

Grants

  • Letcher, T., Kavasseri, R., NSF I-Corps Hub: Great Plains Region, NSF I-Corps Hub Program.
  • Letcher, T., Messerli, M. 鈥淚nvestigating Green and Renewable Polymers to Combat Drought,鈥 North Central Region Sun Grant.
  • Bruno, N., Kharel, Letcher, T. 鈥淎dvanced Soft-Magnetic Materials for Electrified Propulsion鈥 NASA EPSCoR.
  • McKillip, A., Cutler, K. Letcher, T., Silvernagel, C., 鈥淟iving and Working in Space - Children鈥檚 Museum Traveling Exhibit Design鈥.
  • Letcher, T. 鈥淚n-Situ Resource Utilization NASA Challenges鈥 SD Space Grant Consortium".
  • Ciarcia, M., Letcher, T. 鈥淒esign, Development, and Testing of an Advanced Multirotor for Human Transportation鈥.
  • Letcher, T. 鈥淪outh Dakota Space Grant Consortium 2020-2024鈥.
  • Letcher, T. 鈥淒ynamic Aluminum Embedment in Bolted Joints鈥 August 21, 2020 to August 31, 2021. Private Industry - Matrix Engineering.
  • Letcher, T., Prasad, A. 鈥淎dditively Manufactured GRCop Extended Investigation鈥 NASA EPSCoR Rapid Response.
  • Letcher, T., Prasad, A. 鈥淐haracterization of GRCop-42 Additively Manufactured Material鈥 NASA EPSCoR Rapid Response.
  • Letcher, T. 鈥淭hermal Protection System Testing鈥 NASA Marshall/University of Alabama Huntsville.
  • Letcher, T.  鈥淒evelopment of Novel Feedstocks for In-Space Manufacturing Applications鈥 NASA Exploration Systems and Habitation Academic Innovation Challenge 2019.
  • Letcher, T., Burckhard, S.  鈥3D Printed Habitat Challenge Extension鈥 SD Space Grant Consortium.
  • Letcher, T., Michna, G.  鈥淎dvanced Materials for 3D printable heat exchangers鈥  SD Space Grant Consortium.
  • Michna, G., Letcher, T.  鈥淪tartup of South Dakota State University CubeSat Club鈥 SD Space Grant Consortium.
  • Gent, S., Letcher, T.  鈥淚nitial Engineering Analysis of KB Balance Trainer鈥.
  • Letcher, T.  "Investigating Paint Embedment in Dynamic Bolted Connection - Phase 2".
  • Letcher, T.  "Investigating Paint Embedment in Dynamic Bolted Connection - Phase 1".
  • Messerli, M., Letcher, T.  鈥淐onstructing a Prototype for Automated Pancreatic Islet Sorting and Screening鈥  SD Board of Regents Competitive Research Grant Program FY17.
  • Letcher, T., Michna, G.  鈥3D printable heat exchangers to enhance student learning related to space science鈥 SD Space Grant Consortium Project Innovation Grant.

Patents

  • McKillip, A., Letcher, T., Lucchesi, R., Silvernagel, C., Heller, B., Cutler, K. and Gottsleben, T. (2022). U.S. Patent Application No. 29/713,541
  • Miller, K. S., Letcher, T. M., Nearman, N. L., Munson, L. A. and Fuls, C. L. (2010). U.S. Patent No. 7,694,444. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Areas of Research

  • Additive Manufacturing
  • 3D Printer Hardware Development
  • 3D Printer Material Development
  • 3D Printed Material Characterization
  • Design for Additive Manufacturing

Publications

  1. Landes, S., Letcher, T. "Mechanical strength of bamboo filled PLA composite material in fused filament fabrication." Journal of Composites Science 4.4 (2020): 159.
  2. Amatya, I., Seo, J., Letcher, T., & Bierschbach, D. "Tensile-and shear-strength tests with adhesive connections in dynamic message signs." Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering 33.6 (2021): 04021131.
  3. McTaggart, R., Rankouhi, B. & Letcher, T. 鈥溾 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2020). DOI: 10.1007/s00170-020-06243-4.
  4. Amatya, Ibin, Seo, J., Letcher, T., Ahn, JH. "Peel and cleavage strength tests with adhesive connections in dynamic message signs." International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives 103 (2020): 102715.
  5. Coughlin, N., Drake, B., Fjerstad, M., Schuster, E., Waege, T., Weerakkody, A., & Letcher, T. (2019). Development and mechanical properties of basalt fiber-reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene for in-space manufacturing applications. Journal of Composites Science, 3(3), 89.
  6. West, C., McTaggart, R., Letcher, T., Raynie, D., & Roy, R. (2019). Effects of gamma irradiation upon the mechanical and chemical properties of 3D-printed samples of polylactic acid. Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering, 141(4).
  7. Silvernagel, C., Letcher, T., McKillip, A., Nester, J., Cutler, K. 鈥淲ork-in-Progress: The Transformative Cauldron, Development of the Optimal Space-in-Between鈥 ASEE 2022 Annual Conference
  8. Landes, S., Suresh, T., Prasad, A., Letcher, T., Gradl, P, Ellis, D. 鈥淚nvestigation of Additive Manufactured GRCop-42 Alloy Developed by Directed Energy Deposition Methods鈥 ASME IMECE Conference 2020, IMECE2020-24400
  9. Landes, S., Suresh, T., Prasad, A., Letcher, T., Gradl, P, Ellis, D. 鈥淣anomechanical Characterization of Additive Manufactured GRCop-42 Alloy Developed by Directed Energy Deposition Methods鈥 ASME IMECE Conference 2020, IMECE2020-23382
  10. Smithee, I., Berg, S., Olson, W., Twedt, R., Runge, N., Letcher, T., Ciarcia, M. Design, Development, and Testing of an Autonomous Multirotor for Personal Transportation. 2020 USCToMM Symposium on Mechanical Systems and Robotics
  11. Pereira, L., Letcher, T., Michna, G. The Effects of 3D Printing Parameters and Surface Roughness on Convective Heat Transfer Performance. Summer Heat Transfer Conference 2017, Bellevue, Washington, July 14-17, 2019.

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