Engineering in the News August 2010

Excerpts from Illinois in the News, a daily service provided by the University of Illinois News Bureau. This collection of August excerpts focuses on engineering topics and faculty contacted for their expertise by print and broadcast reporters around the world.

COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
Trading Markets (Jersey City, N. J., Aug. 26) -- U. of I. professor Klaus Schulten, one of the world’s top computational biologists, will deliver the second keynote at NVIDIA’s second annual GPU Technology Conference, highlighting the major discoveries made using the computational microscope. Also: Market Watch (San Francisco, Aug. 26).

ENZYME RESEARCH
R&D Magazine (Rockaway, N.J., Aug. 23) -- Thanks to a single-molecule imaging technique developed by U. of I. professor Taekjip Ha, researchers have revealed the mechanisms of an important DNA-regulating enzyme. Also: Nanotechwire (Philadelphia, Aug. 21), Science Centric (Sofia, Bulgaria, Aug 21).

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE COMPUTING
Medical News Today (Bexhill-on-Sea, England, Aug. 22) -- The Computational Behavioral Science Project--aimed at developing a computer system that can screen young children for developmental disorders like autism--includes collaborators from the U. of I., the University of Southern California and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with the Georgia Institute of Technology serving as the lead institution. Also: Associated Press (Aug. 25), ASEE FirstBell (Aug. 26), Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Aug. 27) .

USDOT OFFICIAL VISITS ATREL
WICD-TV (Champaign, Aug. 20) - Peter Appel, administrator of the U.S. DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), visited the U of I campus and the Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory (ATREL) in Rantoul to get a first-hand look at the types of research and state-of-the-art facilities needed to modernize and revitalize transportation in this country. Also: WCIA-TV (Champaign, Aug. 20), News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana, Aug. 22).

ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Daily Herald (Aug. 16) -- A debate continues at Northern Illinois University over the fact that some engineering students haven't had to take a rigorous course in circuits that's a graduation requirement. Such a course substitution would not be allowed at the U. of I., said Manssour Moeinzadeh, associate head of the industrial engineering and systems engineering department at Illinois.

ENERGY REDUCTION SOFTWARE TESTING
Crain’s Detroit Business (Aug. 16) – Reducing energy use and emissions of water systems is the goal of software being developed by a research team based at Wayne State University. Civil and environmental engineers at Illinois are among researchers testing the software.

WATER
New Scientist (London, Aug. 14) -- Is forward osmosis the answer to our water needs? For all its potential, there are still hurdles to overcome. The cost of the membranes required for the process may also be prohibitive, says U. of I. science and mechanical engineering professor Mark Shannon, who directs research into desalination materials. “The water flux in forward osmosis is low, so a lot of membrane is required,” he says.

COMPUTING
EarthTimes (London, Aug. 12) -- Through a partnership with the National Science Foundation, Yahoo!, along with HP and Intel, helped provide a cluster computer hosted at Illinois. Also: MarketWatch (San Francisco, Aug.12).

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS REMEMBERS
Journal Standard (from GateHouse News Service; Freeport, Ill., Aug. 8) -- Harlan Anderson didn’t think there was much chance of attending college in the summer of 1947. But, in his autobiography, “Learn, Earn & Return, My Life as a Computer Pioneer,” published in 2009, he says, “with much good luck and perseverance, September found me as a freshman at the University of Illinois.”

LASER DEVELOPMENT
R&D Magazine (Rockaway, N.J., Aug. 5) -- A team of Arizona State University researchers will get support from the U.S. Department of Defense to aid development of the next generations of lasers and infrared photodetectors and will collaborate with colleagues at Illinois, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina. Also: PhysOrg (Douglas, Isle of Man, Aug. 5).

REWRITING ELECTRICAL LAW
Photonics (Pittsfield, Mass., Aug. 3) -- A three-port quantum well transistor laser developed by engineering professors Milton Feng and Nick Holonyak Jr. at Illinois is rewriting a major current law.

MechSE GRADUATE STUDENT FEATURED
Office of Science Graduate Fellowship Program (Fellows Blogs, Aug. 4) -- “The goal of my research is to optimize the operation of different energy systems by taking into account the thermodynamic laws governing each system,” said Neera Jain, a graduate student in mechanical science and engineering and DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellow. "This fundamentally new approach aims to merge our knowledge of control theory with thermodynamic laws."

UI PART OF SOFTWARE ALLIANCE
R&D Magazine (Rockaway, N.J., Aug. 4) -- The OpenAjax Alliance has created open-source tooling technology to help software developers. Since its inception, the Accessibility Tools Task Force has received industry-wide support and participation from a range of private-sector organizations and academic institutions such as the U. of I., Deque and Parasoft. Also: Earth Times (London, Aug. 4), iStockAnalyst (Bend, Ore., Aug. 4), The Sacramento Bee (California, Aug. 3).
 
DoD FUNDS MULTI-INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH IN QUANTUM COMPUTERS
AZoNano (Warriewood, New South Wales, Aug. 4) -- A team at the University of Pittsburgh has received a $7.5 million grant from the Department of Defense to tackle some of the most significant challenges preventing the development of quantum computers. The project was one of 32 nationwide to receive a grant from the Multi-University Research Initiative program; a total of $227 million was distributed to institutions that include the U. of I., Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania.

SUMMER PROGRAM TEACHES 3-D PROCESS
News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana, Ill., Aug. 2) -- The Center for Nanoscale Chemical Electrical Mechanical Manufacturing Systems at Illinois is bringing nanotechnology education to middle and high school classrooms this summer.In addition to learning aout current research at the university, participanting teachers learned about a 3-D lithography process-- based on research by UI mechanical science and engineering professor Nicholas Fang--that can bring nanotechnology into their classrooms. Also: ASEE FirstBell (Aug. 3).

IMPLANTABLE ELECTRONICS & EDIBLE OPTICS
News Track India (New Delhi, Aug. 3) -- Silk, spun by spiders and silkworms, could some day find use in degradable and flexible electronic displays for sensors and implantable optical systems for diagnosis and treatment, according to scientists. Progress in “edible optics” and implantable electronics already has been demonstrated by researchers, including engineering professor John Rogers at Illinois.

DNA SEQUENCING
Red Orbit (Dallas, Aug. 2) -- In an innovation critical to improved DNA sequencing, a markedly slower transmission of DNA through nanopores has been achieved by a team led by Sandia National Laboratories researchers. Other participating team members include the U. of I.’s Beckman Institute and the mechanical science and engineering department at Illinois.
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Contact: Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, 217/244-7716, editor.