Batteries To Power Long-Range Freight Trucks Mon, April 12, 2021 Anthony Eggert (JAFOE 2004) of the ClimateWorks Foundation writes that both battery-electric and fuel-cell long-range trucks can soon be engineered to out-compete diesel on cost while providing massive benefits for public health and the climate. Read More
New Worm-Like Robots ‘Swim’ in Soil to Collect Crop Data Thu, April 08, 2021 FOE alum Robert Shepherd at Cornell University is engineering worm-like robots to gather data on soil properties, water, soil microbiome, and how roots grow to directly improve food productivity and security. Read More
Food and Climate Change Mon, April 05, 2021 Biosystems engineering professor Jason Hill (GAFOE 2013) at the University of Minnesota co-authored a recent study showing that we don't all have to go vegan to impact improvements to the big climate change problem caused by how we grow, eat, and waste food. Read More
Strong as a BioPolymer Mon, March 22, 2021 At the University of California, Heather Maynard (JAFOE 2005) and Megan Valentine (USFOE 2014) are engineering new high-performance alternatives to petroleum-based polymers for strength, flexibility, and durability that can be produced sustainably from biological sources. Read More
All-terrain Microrobot Flips Over Rough Muscle Mon, March 22, 2021 Purdue mechanical engineer David Cappelleri (GAFOE 2015) is engineering a robot as tiny as a few human hairs that can travel throughout a colon by doing back flips directly to its target site, which could reduce side effects that the drug may cause by interacting with other organs along the way. Read More
Organ-on-a-Chip Monitoring System for Chemotherapy Thu, March 18, 2021 FOE alum Ali Khademhosseini of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation has engineered an organ-on-a-chip to monitor how breast cancer chemotherapy can affect tissue damage to the heart, the heart's pumping ability, or clinical heart failure. Read More
Surviving Weed-Out Classes in Science May Be a State of Mind Mon, March 15, 2021 Ainissa Ramirez (USFOE 2004) of Science Underground discusses how weed-out classes in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disproportionately hinder underrepresented groups, including women, Black, Native American, and Hispanic people, from pursuing STEM degrees. Read More
Hidden Figures - Perseverance's Secret Code Thu, March 11, 2021 FOE alum Ian Clark at NASA embedded a message in the parachute that landed the Perseverance rover on Mars to inspire others as well as improve on past engineering design. Read More
Critical All-Season Infrastructure Mon, March 08, 2021 Carnegie Mellon's Constantine Samaras (EU-US FOE 2016) discusses how systems engineering could help alleviate major energy and resource supply and demand problems like the recent loss of power, heat, and water to a huge swath of Texas. Read More
Tracking Role of Macrophages in Cancer Thu, March 04, 2021 Melissa Skala (USFOE 2020) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is engineering a process to better reveal macrophage function and behavior, which play a major role in contributing to the growth and metastasis of many cancers and varies widely across patients. Read More
Nevertheless, She Persisted Thu, February 25, 2021 Even when she's the only woman or person of color in a room full of engineers, Stanford's Debbie Senesky (USFOE 2016) shares how her resilience, adaptability, and determination have helped her engineer solutions for the aeronautics, astronautics, healthcare, and automotive industries. Read More
Beetle Models Structural Strength Mon, February 22, 2021 Pablo Zavattieri (USFOE 2014) at Purdue University is taking engineering cues from the exoskeleton of the diabolical ironclad beetle, which could inspire the design of aircraft gas turbines that are safer and longer lasting. Read More
Heated Face Mask Thu, February 18, 2021 NAE member Michael Strano (USFOE 2007) at MIT has designed a reusable mask with heated copper mesh powered by a battery and surrounded by insulating neoprene that can filter and inactivate coronaviruses. Read More
Thirteen FOE Alumni Elected to NAE Thu, February 11, 2021 Check out the list of FOE alumni newly-elected as NAE members. Read More
A Nano-Needle To Modify Plant Genes Mon, February 08, 2021 Markita Landry (USFOE 2017) at the University of California, Berkeley is engineering carbon nanotubes that can penetrate cell walls to alter genes, which could lead to breeding new varieties of crop plants faster and easier. Read More
New Book - Mercury Stories Thu, February 04, 2021 In Mercury Stories, MIT's Noelle Selin (EU-US FOE 2019) examine sustainability from a systems engineering approach by analyzing human interactions with the volatile and toxic element over thousands of years. Read More
Discrimination in Health Research Funding Mon, February 01, 2021 Kristyn Masters, Lori Setton, Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez, Muyinatu Bell, Stacey Finley, Naomi Chesler, Karen Christman, Joyce Wong, and Tejal Desai argue that racial funding disparity by the National Institutes of Health remains a significant barrier to success of Black biomedical engineers. Read More
3D Printing Microfluid Channels for Medical Testing Thu, January 28, 2021 FOE alum Michael McAlpine at the University of Minnesota has engineered a process to 3D print without a cleanroom, which means that diagnostic tools could be printed by a doctor right in their office or printed remotely by soldiers in the field. Read More
Perils of Working from Home Mon, January 25, 2021 Burcin Becerik-Gerber (USFOE 2013) at the University of Southern California discusses how ergonomic engineering can address the toll on mental and physical health caused by working from home. Read More
Hastening Vaccines and Treatments Thu, January 21, 2021 MIT's Ram Sasisekharan (IAFOE 2006) engineers breakthrough biological therapeutics for emerging infectious diseases and drug-resistant infections using a rapid response strategy that dramatically reduces production time from several years to just a few months. Read More