AI Can Now Read Emotions - Should It? Thu, March 26, 2020 Christoffer Heckman (USFOE 2019) at the University of Colorado Boulder warns of the fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethical (“FATE”) flaws inherent in artificial intelligence that reads emotions. Read More
Using Electrical Field to Gauge Ocean Cell Health Mon, March 23, 2020 FOE alum Mehdi Javanmard at Rutgers University has engineered a miniature device that can analyze the health of marine microbes by changes in an electrical field. Read More
Biotech Funding Bias Blocks Women-Led Companies Tue, March 17, 2020 To counter the bias, FOE alum and NAE member Sangeeta Bhatia at MIT will teach an accelerator class for female faculty about increasing networking opportunities and exposure to biotech. Read More
NAE Awards the 2020 Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Grants for Advancement of Interdisciplinary Research Mon, March 16, 2020 Two Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Grants of $30,000 each have been awarded to attendees of the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 2019 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. Read More
Flexible Wearables Thu, March 12, 2020 Mehmet Ozturk (USFOE 1996) at North Carolina State University is engineering a device to convert body heat into power for wearables that approach the efficiency of rigid devices, which have traditionally outperformed flexible counterparts in harvesting body heat. Read More
Collecting Solar Energy During the Night Mon, March 09, 2020 FOE alum Jeremy Munday at the University of California, Davis is engineering prototypes of nighttime solar cells that can generate small amounts of power and hopes to improve their power output and efficiency. Read More
Ethanol's Effect on Climate Change Thu, March 05, 2020 The University of Minnesota's Jason Hill (GAFOE 2013) maintains that the complete cycle of ethanol production — from land use to corn refining to increased sales of cheap fuel that increase driving — adds more greenhouse gases to the environment. Read More
Laurie Garrow, on Air Taxis Mon, March 02, 2020 Civil engineer Laurie Garrow at the Center for Urban and Regional Air Mobility at Georgia Tech says 5G connectivity will allow us to design air taxis and move toward autonomous aircraft control. Read More
Gregory Washington to Become President of GMU Thu, February 27, 2020 Coming from the University of California, Irvine, Gregory Washington (USFOE 2004) has been named the next president of George Mason University, as universities are starting to view engineering as a discipline that intersects with other fields, including sociology, business, and the humanities. Read More
Preventing Arrhythmia After Heart Attack Mon, February 24, 2020 Since identifying a genetic pathway that causes some individuals to develop an abnormal heart rhythm after experiencing a heart attack, Adam Engler (USFOE 2015) at the University of California, San Diego has been engineering a drug candidate that can block the pathway. Read More
Bridges at Risk from Climate Change Thu, February 20, 2020 Civil engineer and FOE alum Hussam Mahmoud at Colorado State University reports that 25% of 90,000 bridges are susceptible to temperature variations, making them more likely to fail because of climate change. Read More
L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award Thu, February 13, 2020 NAE member and FOE alum Kristi Anseth at the University of Colorado, Boulder has been recognized for her outstanding contribution in converging engineering and biology to develop innovative biomaterials that help tissue regeneration and drug delivery. Read More
Seventeen FOE Alumni Elected to NAE Mon, February 10, 2020 Check out the list of FOE alumni newly-elected as NAE members. Read More
PigeonBot Brings Aircraft Closer to Feathered Flight Thu, February 06, 2020 Stanford University's David Lentink (USFOE 2016) has engineered a radio-controlled "PigeonBot" with wings made with 40 real feathers, bringing us closer to building an aircraft that can fly as nimbly as birds, whose morphable wings allow for faster, tighter turns and more efficient gliding. Read More
Living Concrete Made From Bacteria Mon, February 03, 2020 The University of Colorado Boulder's Wil Srubar (USFOE 2017) is engineering bacteria that has mechanical properties similar to concrete but that can continue to grow at exponential rates and could make energy-intensive concrete production more environmentally friendly utilizing photosynthesis. Read More
What Happens at the US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium? Thu, January 30, 2020 Read papers from the 2019 US FOE online, or purchase the publication in print. Included is leading-edge research in Advanced Manufacturing in the Age of Digital Transformation; Engineering the Genome; Self-Driving Cars: Technology and Ethics; and Blockchain Technology. Read More
The Superpowers of Super-Thin Materials Mon, January 27, 2020 FOE alumni Tomás Palacios at MIT and Jeff Urban at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab are engineering embedded electronics using super-thin materials that will be the linchpin of the internet of everything, from a window that forecasts weather to concrete monitors in tunnels and bridges. Read More
Animal Agriculture Costs More In Health Damage Than It Contributes To The Economy Thu, January 23, 2020 Stanford's Inês M.L. Azevedo (USFOE 2016) reports that the damages from air pollution from farms are larger than the marginal value that the farms provide in economic terms. Across 20 economic sectors, farms performed worst, driven down by animal agriculture. Read More
Water Filtration Inspired by Water Transport in Our Bodies Thu, January 16, 2020 Manish Kumar (USFOE 2016) at the University of Texas at Austin is engineering a new water filtration method with implications for a variety of technologies, such as desalination plants, breathable and protective fabrics, and carbon capture in gas separations. Read More
This Helmet Will Save Football. Actually, Probably Not. Mon, January 13, 2020 Stanford's David Camarillo (USFOE 2018) is engineering football helmet advances to help prevent brain disease from repeated hits to the head. Virginia Tech's Stefan Duma (USFOE 2002) evaluates sports helmets and is skeptical about how much can be achieved. Read More