College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Stephen F. Felszeghy Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering ME Dept. Office: E&T A-205 My Phone: (323) 343-4495 ME Dept. FAX: (323) 343-5004 sfelsze"at"calstatela.edu Calif. State Univ., L. A. 5151 State University Dr. Los Angeles, CA 90032-8153

Introduction Teaching Interests Research Interests
Educational Background Course Schedule & Office Hours
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My areas of interest include solid mechanics, dynamics, mechanical vibrations, and the finite element method. I taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in these subjects at CSULA. The ME Department offers programs towards Bachelor of Science degrees and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering.

I hold memberships in the following professional and two honor societies:

• ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers),
  
• Pi Tau Sigma (The Mechanical Engineering Honor Society),
  
• Tau Beta Pi (The National Engineering Honor Society). I was initiated by the California Epsilon Chapter.

I was a member of the CSULA teams that designed, analyzed, built, tested, and raced three solar-cell powered cars:

• the Solar Eagle car, in GM Sunrayce USA (1990) from Florida to Michigan,
• the Solar Eagle II car, in Sunrayce 93 from Texas to Minnesota,
• the Solar Eagle III car, in Sunrayce 97 (June 19-28, '97) from Indiana to Colorado.
  
  

The first Solar Eagle car was on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum until 1997. The Solar Eagle II car is on display at the California Science Center.


The Solar Eagle III car finished in first place in Sunrayce 97!

The Solar Eagle III car driven by Roman Vasquez crosses the finish line in Colorado Springs followed by our "chase" vehicle in which I am riding with the "strategy" group of our team.

The Solar Eagle III car was among the 1998 First Editions of Hot Wheels by

I worked on the structural analysis of the Solar Eagle III car. I have also been involved in weather and insolation forecasting for all three Solar Eagle projects.

The Sunrayce series of solar car races is no more. However, a new series of solar car races has come on the scene, the American Solar Challenge. The first race took place in July 2001, and the second race in July 2003. Both were a 2300 mile race from Chicago to a suburb of L.A., Claremont, CA. I went to see the finish of both races. A colleague of mine, Prof. Emeritus Richard Roberto, has been serving as a race official.

Since February 2004, my wife Diana and I have been monitoring the rate of fuel consumption of my wife's 2004 Toyota Prius. We calculate the miles traveled per U.S. gallon of gasoline consumed (MPG), after each fill-up, and we plot the cumulative average of these MPG ratios against total miles driven. For sports, I like to hike, run, snow ski, and windsurf.

I was born in Budapest, Hungary. I was raised and attended school in Munich, Germany, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Toronto, Canada, and Los Angeles. As my family moved from one country and language to the next, my first name changed, through translation, from "István," to "Stefan," to "Esteban," to the present "Stephen," or "Steve" for short. My last name is pronounced "fel-se-gie." When it is pronounced in Hungarian, the stress is on the first syllable, but, in English, I put the stress on the second syllable. Hungary celebrated in 1996 its millecentenary (896-1996).

When I attended U. C. Berkeley, I lived for several years in I-House (International House).

My primary goal is to teach the subjects in my areas of interest from the viewpoint of what knowledge a potential engineering employer might expect from a new engineering graduate. Before I began teaching full time, I worked as a mechanical engineer for the Garrett Corporation (now Honeywell/Aerospace), where I analyzed and designed heat exchangers for aerospace applications, and the Hughes Aircraft Company (now merged with Raytheon), where I analyzed and designed tactical missile structures.

I began my teaching career as a part-time lecturer at the Univ. of Southern California where I taught for several years an undergraduate level dynamics course. Following this, and before coming to CSULA in 1979, I was a full-time lecturer at U. C. Santa Barbara where I taught for one year various undergraduate and graduate level courses in mechanics and engineering mathematics.

Included among my current research interests is the application of probabilistic methods to the design of mechanical components. These methods predict the probability of survival of a mechanical component under service loads.

Representative Professional Activities

Year	Publications and Reports
2013	"Notes on Dynamics;" the notes were prepared for the Feb. 16, 2013, FE/EIT Review Course class meeting. The notes are a supplement to the Supplied-Reference Handbook, 8th Edition, 2nd Revision, NCEES, 2011, pp. 54-61.
2013	"Solutions to FE Exam Review Problems in Dynamics, Accessible Online at the McGraw-Hill Website."
2012	"Notes on Dynamics;" the notes were prepared for the Sep. 29, 2012, FE/EIT Review Course class meeting. The notes are a supplement to the Supplied-Reference Handbook, 8th Edition, 2nd Revision, NCEES, 2011, pp. 54-61.
2012	"Solutions to FE Exam Review Problems in Dynamics, Accessible Online at the McGraw-Hill Website."
2012	"Notes on Dynamics;" the notes were prepared for the Feb. 18, 2012, FE/EIT Review Course class meeting. The notes are a supplement to the Supplied-Reference Handbook, 8th Edition, 2nd Revision, NCEES, 2011, pp. 54-61.
2012	"Solutions to FE Exam Review Problems in Dynamics, Accessible Online at the McGraw-Hill Website."
2011	"Notes on Dynamics;" the notes were prepared for the Oct. 1, 2011, FE/EIT Review Course class meeting. The notes are a supplement to the Supplied-Reference Handbook, 8th Edition, 2nd Revision, NCEES, 2011, pp. 54-61.
2011	"Solutions to FE Exam Review Problems in Dynamics, Accessible Online at ewhighered.mcgraw-hill.com ."
2010	"On Reforming the Teaching of Calculus to Engineering Students at CSULA," submitted to Associate Dean Don Maurizio, Feb. 8.
2009	"Questions and Answers on Nanotechnology," submitted to ME Chair Darrell Guillaume, Mar. 15.
2008	"The Design and Building of a Robot with Five Degrees of Freedom," Materials Science Forum, v. 594, pp. 110-118. (Lead author: Min-Chan Hwang)
2007	"The Design and Building of a Robot with Five Degrees of Freedom," Proceedings of ICAM 2007 (2007 International Conference on Advanced Manufacture), Nov. 26-28, Tainan, Taiwan. (Lead author: Min-Chan Hwang)
2005	"Steady-State Residual Vibrations in High-Speed, Dwell-Type, Rotating Disk Cam-Follower Systems," ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, v.127, n.1, p.12.
1996	"The Timoshenko Beam on an Elastic Foundation and Subject to a Moving Step Load, Part 1: Steady-State Solution, and Part 2: Transient Solution," ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, v.118, n.3, p.277.
1994	"Development of Biorthonormal Eigenvectors for Modal Analysis of Linear Discrete Nonclassically Damped Systems," Journal of Sound and Vibration, v.176, n.2, p.255.
1993	"On Uncoupling and Solving the Equations of Motion of Vibrating Linear Discrete Systems," ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics, v.60, n.2, p.456.
1989	"The Development of Natural Modes of Free Vibration for Linear Discrete Systems from the Synchronous Motion Assumption," ASME Journal of Vibration, Acoustics, Stress and Reliability in Design, v.111, n.1, p.77.

Ph.D. Applied Mechanics 1974
U. C. Berkeley

Ph.D. Dissertation: "Response of a Viscoelastic Cylindrical Shell to a Moving Axisymmetric Step Pressure."
Committee Co-Chairmen: Profs. Werner Goldsmith (ME) and Jerome L. Sackman (CE).

M.S. Mechanical Engineering 1963
UCLA

M.S. Thesis: "Shock Response of an Elastoplastic System to Random Rectangular Pulse Excitation."
Advisor: Prof. William T. Thomson

B.S. Mechanical Engineering (With Honors) 1961
UCLA

Course or Assignment	Sect. No.	Title	Work Units	Day & Time	Room
ME 312	1	Strength of Materials Laboratory I	2	Tu 1:10 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.	E&T C-163
ME 402	1	Advanced Mechanics of Materials	4	TuTh 8:00 p.m. - 9:40 p.m.	E&T B-108
ME 497C	1	Mechanical Engineering Senior Project	4	MW 6:10 p.m. - 7:50 p.m.	E&T C-159
M.E. Advisor	--	Information Sources for Students and Prospective Students: CSUMentor Web Site Calif. Community College Transfer Student Assistance The California College/University Explorer	2.5	See "Office Hours" below	E&T A-214

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