Engineering in the News September 2011

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

HYDROCARBON FUEL PROCESS
Science (Washington, D.C., Sept. 29) -- A team led by U. of I. chemists Richard Masel and Paul Kenis reports it has come up with a more energy-efficient approach to converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, the first step to making a hydrocarbon fuel.

SELF-HEALING PLASTICS
BBC (London, Sept. 29) -- New developments in self-healing technology have been pioneered by U. of I. materials science and engineering professor Nancy Sottos and her team. Also: The Scientist (Philadelphia, Sept. 29).

FACULTY HONOR
Chem Info (Rockaway, N.J., Sept. 27) -- Gang L. Liu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois, is a recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He received the award for collaborative development of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy techniques for a variety of national security applications ranging from measuring the long-term health of the U.S. nuclear stockpile to bio-detection. Also: Chicago Tribune (Sept. 29).

PHOTONIC STRUCTURES
Physics (American Physical Society; College Park, Md., Sept. 26) -- Paul Braun, a professor in the U. of I. department of materials science and engineering, and Hailong Ning, a doctoral candidate, write about how modified photonic structures from the wings of weevil beetles set a new record for optical emission control.

3-D MATERIALS
The Scientist (Philadelphia, Sept. 23) -- Using a laser aimed at a polymer called polylactide, researchers have been able to fabricate a 3-D scaffold that’s biodegradable, biocompatible, and on a scale that neurons can wrap their arms around. In an earlier construction of a similar scaffold, Jennifer Lewis, a professor of materials science and engineering, and her colleagues built a 3-D grid out of a hydrogel called polyHEMA, a non-biodegradable material used in contact lenses.

FAST-CHARGE BATTERIES
Royal Society of Chemistry (London, Sept. 26) -- A great deal of time is being invested in laboratories around the world to improve the capacity and cyclability of cathode materials for lithium ion batteries. At Illinois, for example, materials science and engineering professor Paul Braun’s group has shown that an ultrafast charging and recharging battery can be made by precisely engineering the three-dimensional nanostructure of the cathode.

BETTER BATTERIES
PC Advisor (London, Sept. 20) -- Scientists at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at Illinois are looking to extend the useful life of batteries in mobile devices, and they’ve figured out a way for the battery to fix itself, probably without the user ever knowing there was a problem. The research is being led by Scott White, a U. of I. engineering professor. Also: Techworld (Sydney, Sept. 21).

FACULTY HONORS
Phys Org.com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Sept. 20) -- U. of I. scientists Paul Kenis and James Slauch have been named University Scholars, a program created to recognize the university’s most talented teachers, scholars and researchers.

EARTHQUAKE STUDIES FOCUS ON NEW MADRID ZONE
Discover Magazine (October 2011) -- The article, "A Shock to the Heartland," references the Mid-America Earthquake Center (headquarted at Illinois) work on the New Madrid earthquakes. “There are no dedicated programs to strengthen facilities or infrastructure in the Midwest in order to resist New Madrid–type earthquakes,” says Amr Elnashai, a structural engineer at the University of Illinois. “Politicians are worried about floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes—things that happen frequently.” Earthquakes are different, he notes. “They are low probability and high consequence, and politicians only hope they don’t happen on their watch.”

SPINMEISTER
The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 17) -- As a baseball travels through the air, its speed and the manner in which it rotates or spins affect its flight, says U. of I. physicist Alan Nathan.

RAILROADS
Bloomberg (Sept. 18) -- The crash of two high-speed trains in China bruised the reputation of the rail industry at the heart of China’s plans to spread prosperity inland and may have damaged the nation’s plans to export its rail technology, says Kao Tsung-chung, a visiting professor of railroad engineering at Illinois.

HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTIONS
Bloomberg Businessweek (Sept. 15) -- Regina Barzilay, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is trying to make computers better listeners by making them play “Civilization,” a 20-year-old strategy game in which players build a city into an empire by vanquishing and absorbing neighboring cultures. Research like Barzilay’s may help computers eventually interact with humans in a more normal way. “You’d like to be able to ask for the largest state bordering New York and have it come back with the answer, ‘Pennsylvania,’ ” says Dan Roth, a computer science professor at Illinois.

NANOTECHNOLOGY
Nanotechweb.org (Bristol, England, Sept. 13) -- A uniquely prepared, metal-coated nanostructured surface developed by researchers from the U. of I. can provide more than 100-fold three-dimensional fluorescence enhancement of cells sitting on the substrate.

IMPROVING SOLAR CELLS
Nanotechnology News (Banks, Ore., Sept. 10) -- A research team seeks to pinpoint how sodium improves solar cell performance and demonstrate approaches to incorporating sodium that give equivalent performance independent of process schemes and substrates. Angus Rockett, a professor of materials science and engineering at Illinois, is a collaborator.

WIND TURBINES
7th Space Interactive (Amsterdam, Sept. 10) -- Damage caused by airborne objects such as sand or rain can reduce the energy output of a turbine by more than 20 percent per year. This is the result of a study conducted by the U. of I. and 3M.

"LIGHT" MATERIALS
Phys Org.com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Sept. 12) -- A new $13-million National Science Foundation center based at the University of Michigan will develop high-tech materials that manipulate light in new ways. The research could enable advances such as invisibility cloaks, nanoscale lasers, high-efficiency lighting, and quantum computers. The U. of I. is among the institutions that will be involved in work at the center.

AIRLINE SECURITY
MSNBC (Sept.6) -- “People are put on the watch list based on a series of criteria,” said Sheldon Jacobson, a security expert and computer science professor at Illinois. “Nobody really knows them. They are very secret and they keep evolving. In many ways (the government) has to keep it private because if they give it out, people will game the system.” Also: National Science Foundation (Washington, D.C., Sept. 8), United Press International (Sept. 11), iStockAnalyst (Salem, Ore., Sept. 11).

ELECTRONIC ‘TATTOO’
The New York Times (Sept. 3) -- “Epidermal electronics” – a term coined by researchers who have produced prototype devices at Illinois – may enable constant medical monitoring anywhere. Also: Indian Express (from The New York Times; New Delhi, Sept. 5), The Times of India (from The New York Times News Service; Mumbai, Sept. 5), News-Medical.net (Sydney, Sept. 7), “Chicago Tonight” (WTTW-Channel 11; PBS; Chicago, Sept. 6), The New Age (Midrand, South Africa, Sept. 8), China Daily (Beijing, Sept.18), KSL-Channel 5 (NBC; Salt Lake City, Sept. 19).

Related story:
KGTV-Channel 10 (ABC; San Diego, Sept. 19) -- Clinical trials will soon be under way on a device that could remotely monitor expectant mothers and reduce health care costs. The technology is the latest in the field of wireless sensors. Weightless tattoo-like prototypes recently were developed at Illinois.

CONTROLLING AIRPLANE NOISE
Live Science (New York City, Sept. 2) -- Airlines and aircraft manufacturers are under increasing pressure to keep noise levels low for airport personnel and for people in surrounding neighborhoods. Daniel Bodony, an aerospace engineer at Illinois, along with Jon Freund, and Jeonglae Kim, also at the U. of I., are working on this issue. Bodony is part of a NASA-funded effort to lessen jet-engine noise by controlling the unsteady movement of air, also known as turbulence.

STUDENT PROJECT REMEMBERS 'RADIUM GIRLS'
The Times (Ottawa, Ill., Sept. 2) -- If U. of I. College of Engineering freshman Madeline Piller could give anyone advice, she would tell them to volunteer. The Ottawa (Illinois) Radium Girls memorial started with her and by the time it came to fruition Friday (Sept. 2), many businesses, organizations and individuals had become involved. Piller said she was reading the book "Deadly Glow," by Ross Mulner, and was spurred to action. She was shocked no monument had ever been erected to remember the Radium Girls or their fight to win recompense for the death and physical devastation wreaked on them by the radiation exposure they were compelled to endure painting watch dials with radium. Also: Rockford Register Star (from The Associated Press; Illinois, Sept. 4).

ELECTRONIC INK
Balkans.com (Nicosia, Cyprus, Sept. 1) -- Engineers at Illinois recently replaced regular ink with a silver nanoparticle version that turns a pen into a handy tool for drawing functional circuitry on flexible surfaces. “Pen-based printing allows one to construct electronic devices ‘on-the-fly,’ ” says Jennifer Lewis, the materials science and engineering professor who led the work.
 
BATTERY TECHNOLOGY
Chemistry World (Cambridge, England, Sept. 1) -- Limestone batteries could be the key to transporting energy across huge distances, according to chemists in Germany. “‘The idea is sound, intriguing and is worthy of detailed investigation (because) it challenges existing thinking,” says Magdi Ragheb, a nuclear engineering professor at Illinois.

BIOCROPS AND WATER CONSUMPTION
Renewable Energy World (Peterborough, N.H., Sept. 1) -- “While we are looking for solutions for energy through bioenergy crops, dependence on water gets ignored, and water can be a significant limiting factor,” says Praveen Kumar, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Illinois. Biofuels Journal (Decatur, Ill., Sept. 13).
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