Sex, Race, and Robots Thu, January 14, 2021 FOE alum Ayanna Howard at Georgia Tech has published a thought-provoking audiobook about the risks of AI learning current cultural, racial, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and socioeconomic biases. Read More
Clues to the Gut-Brain Connection Mon, January 11, 2021 FOE alum Reza Ghodssi at the University of Maryland has engineered a platform that could dramatically improve diagnosis and lead to treatments for mood disorders like depression and anxiety and chronic auto-immune diseases like irritable bowel syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis. Read More
Assessing Damage to Brain Cells from Head Trauma Thu, January 07, 2021 Nicole Hashemi (USFOE 2018) at Iowa State University is using her engineering expertise with the manufacture of microstructures to study and describe the damage to brain cells caused by the formation and collapse of microbubbles in the skull, which could lead to development of better helmets. Read More
Treating Tinnitus Through the…Tongue? Mon, January 04, 2021 The University of Minnesota's Hubert Lim (CAFOE 2019) is engineering a device that significantly reduces tinnitus, the sensation of hearing phantom sounds ranging from annoying to debilitating, that affects an estimated 10 to 15 percent of the population. Read More
Treating a Rare, Incurable Form of Blindness Sat, December 19, 2020 Krishanu Saha (USFOE 2019) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is engineering a gene therapy to correct a currently untreatable inherited form of macular degeneration that causes blindness. Read More
Increasing Access to Electricity Thu, December 17, 2020 Carnegie Mellon University's Destenie Nock (USFOE 2020) writes about changing the policy paradigm by taking a benefit maximization approach to electricity planning and engineering in developing countries. Read More
Underwater Robots Autonomously Dock Mid-Mission Mon, December 14, 2020 Purdue University's Nina Mahmoudian (USFOE 2016) has engineered a mobile docking system that enables autonomous underwater vehicles to perform longer tasks without human intervention, which could be adapted for exploration of extraterrestrial lakes. Read More
Nanonet Collapses to Trap Drug Molecules Thu, December 10, 2020 Northwestern University's Evan Scott (USFOE 2018) is engineering a new, rapid method for fabricating nanoparticles that could be used for water purification, diagnostics, and rapidly-generated vaccine formulations. Read More
COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution — Disruption and Innovation Mon, December 07, 2020 From a systems engineering standpoint, FOE alum Julie Swann at North Carolina State University writes about the Herculean task of COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Read More
App Helps with Teaching Music Over Zoom Thu, December 03, 2020 In response to the pandemic shutting down music groups' ability to practice together, FOE alum Youngmoo Kim at Drexel University has engineered the Virtual Chorister app, which enables musicians to stream videos straight from YouTube as they sing or play in unison. Read More
Sterilizing Medical Tools Using Solar Heat Mon, November 30, 2020 NAE member and FOE alum Gang Chen at MIT is engineering a device that could provide pressurized steam to run autoclaves without the need for electricity, scarce in off-grid areas. Read More
Better Testing of the GI Tract Mon, November 23, 2020 Mark Rentschler (USFOE 2019) at the University of Colorado Boulder is engineering devices that will improve accuracy of colonoscopies, the gold standard test nearly 20 million in the US get each year for early detection of colon cancer. Read More
NASA Seeks Ideas for Powering Exploration on the Moon Thu, November 19, 2020 Naveen Vetcha (USFOE 2020) at ERC announces NASA’s Watts on the Moon Challenge, which invites innovative minds from across the US to provide ideas for sustainable energy storage, distribution, and management on the lunar surface. Read More
New Heart Monitoring Device Mon, November 16, 2020 FOE alum Christopher Bettinger at Carnegie Mellon University is engineering an innovative, minimally invasive alternative for cardiac patients who have undergone open heart surgery that will measure blood flow and blood pressure in real time with unmatched accuracy. Read More
Society of Women Engineers Awards for Ireena Erteza and Anne Grillet Thu, November 12, 2020 Congratulations to Ireena Erteza (USFOE 2005) and Anne Grillet (GAFOE 2009) at Sandia National Laboratories for receiving SWE's Advocating Women in Engineering award and Prism Award, respectively, for enhancing the engineering profession and advocating for women in engineering. Read More
Decoding the Unspoken Ways We Communicate Fri, November 06, 2020 Ehsan Hoque (EU-US FOE 2019) at the University of Rochester is engineering methods to analyze an unprecedented amount of human interaction data using advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence, with the goal of channelling those insights to improve human health and well-being. Read More
Protecting the Power Grid Thu, November 05, 2020 Can Bayram (CAFOE 2019) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is engineering advances in hardware for handling direct current (DC) electricity to improve the efficiency, security, and safety of the US power system, while supporting new industries and grid design options. Read More
Velcro-like Spoilage and Contamination Sensors Mon, November 02, 2020 MIT's A. John Hart (USFOE 2010) is engineering solutions that could help head off salmonella and other contamination outbreaks, as well as prevent consumers from throwing out still-consumable food that may be past its printed expiration date. Read More
Building Robots with Insect Characteristics Thu, October 29, 2020 Kathryn Daltorio (USFOE 2019) at Case Western Reserve University is engineering advanced robots that can remain upright on complex surfaces by mimicking functionality from the insect world. Read More
Flight of a Droplet Mon, October 26, 2020 With winter approaching and people moving indoors, Stanford's Yi Cui (CAFOE 2017) shows that the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus changes according to various temperatures and relative humidities, not obeying social distancing guidelines. Read More