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
Hacking Alexa, Google Home, or Siri With a Laser to Open Garage Door Thu, January 09, 2020 FOE alum Kevin Fu at the University of Michigan has discovered a way to easily hack Google Home, Amazon’s Alexa, or Apple’s Siri devices from hundreds of feet away by shining laser pointers or even flashlights at the devices’ microphones. Read More
Digital Production's Next Wave Fri, January 03, 2020 Ohio State University's Glenn Daehn (USFOE 1996) is developing metamorphic manufacturing, also known as robotic blacksmithing, which could take over computer numerical control (CNC) machining and even additive manufacturing, with time-saving and less expensive processes. Read More
Converting Lignin Waste to Valuable Materials Thu, January 02, 2020 FOE alum Thomas H. Epps, III at the University of Delaware is engineering sustainable materials from renewable biomass such as lignin, a component of trees and plants that paper manufacturers throw away. Unlocking lignin's value could have a sizeable economic and environmental impact. Read More
Innovative ‘Biplane’ Design Could Lead to Next Generation of Wind Turbines Mon, December 30, 2019 UCLA's Richard Wirz (USFOE 2011) is engineering wind turbine blades that are about 45% lighter than conventional monoplane blades to make sustainable wind energy an even more attractive and ubiquitous alternative to fossil fuels. Read More
Converting 2D Images Into 3D Using Deep Learning Thu, December 19, 2019 FOE alum Aydogan Ozcan at UCLA has engineered a technique to precisely label living cells and tissue with dyes that glow under special lighting using artificial intelligence to turn two-dimensional images into stacks of virtual three-dimensional slices. Read More
Using Plastic "Hair" and Silica to Enhance Durability Mon, December 16, 2019 Georgia Tech's Zhiqun Lin (USFOE 2010) is engineering perovskite nanocrystals encased inside a double-layer protection system made of plastic and silica, which holds promise for improving a wide variety of optoelectronic devices from lasers to light emitting diodes (LEDs). Read More
Bolstering Energy Production from Biogas Thu, December 12, 2019 Margaret Wooldridge at the University of Michigan (USFOE 2000) is researching how to get more energy out of landfill gas from “siloxanes,” synthetic compounds that are increasingly used in everyday products like shampoo and motor oil and finding their way into landfills. Read More
Human Bone May Hold Key to Stronger 3D-printed Lightweight Structures Mon, December 09, 2019 Purdue University's Pablo Zavattieri (USFOE 2014) is engineering a material that mimics the structure inside human bone, built to handle a lifetime's worth of wear and tear. These 3D-printed lightweight materials could last up to 100 times longer for use in buildings, aircraft, and other structures. Read More
Chemical Weapon Afterlife Thu, December 05, 2019 The University of Central Florida's Subith Vasu (2019 EU-US FOE) has discovered how long it takes for toxic chemical compounds to deteriorate in the intense fire of an explosion, as well as the chemical product residues that remain after their destruction. Read More
Applying AI and CRISPR to Stem Cells to Improve Regenerative Medicine Mon, November 25, 2019 Todd McDevitt (CAFOE 2011) at Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease is engineering stem cells into specific arrangements which may lead to creating functional organs for research or therapeutic purposes. Read More
Illuminating Biology at the Speed of Life Thu, November 21, 2019 FOE alum Elizabeth Hillman at Columbia University has engineered microscopy that reveals unseen details of living creatures with far superior resolution and at speeds up to 30 times faster than previously possible. Read More