On Campus With Rashid
As Dean of The Grainger College of Engineering, I am incredibly proud of the bold strides our faculty, students and partners are making in pushing the frontiers of engineering and science.
One remarkable example is our work in space-based manufacturing. Through our leadership in the DARPA-supported Mission Illinois initiative, an interdisciplinary team of Illinois engineers led by mechanical science and engineering professor Sam Tawfick is preparing to demonstrate the first on-orbit manufacturing of composite structures aboard the International Space Station. This
groundbreaking work is a foundational project for Grainger Engineering’s new Center for In-Space Manufacturing of Resilient Structures (SpaceMaRS), a strategic research initiative dedicated to advancing in-space manufacturing, assembly and structural resilience that will help enable future exploration and development missions. In other exciting space-related news, we
were proud to celebrate the success of electrical and computer engineering professor Lara
Waldrop, who spearheaded the first Illinois-led spacecraft mission last fall.
Closer to home, our engineers are harnessing the power of predictive artificial intelligence to transform cancer research. Ravi Iyer, the George and Ann Fisher Distinguished Professor of Engineering, has collaborated with Mayo Clinic to develop the first comprehensive AI tool that performs risk assessment to help pathologists predict outcomes in cancer patients. By
integrating imaging and advanced machine intelligence, this work aims to predict cancer
behavior and accelerate personalized therapeutic discovery – an effort that exemplifies our
commitment to engineering solutions that save lives.
This year also marks a milestone for one of our most impactful research institutions: the 75th anniversary of the Coordinated Science Laboratory. Since its founding in 1951, CSL has been a cornerstone of multidisciplinary innovation, advancing circuits, computing, control and communications research that has shaped technology and society. As we celebrate this legacy, we also look forward to the next 75 years of discovery, collaboration and impact.
At Grainger Engineering, we are proud to be engineers of change by expanding human
potential from cells to space.
Rashid Bashir
Dean, The Grainger College of Engineering