News from Engineering at Illinois February 2012

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

ENERGY CONVERSION MATERIALS
IEEE Spectrum (New York City, Feb. 29) -- A new material that can convert temperature changes into energy might be a perfect match for a technology developed at U. of I.’s Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

AT THE MOVIES
Los Angeles Times (Feb. 25) -- In one of the space sequences in the movie “The Tree of Life,” balls of fire and dust pulsate in the darkness, transporting audiences into the early universe. The images came from billions of numbers crunched into images by computers at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at Illinois.

ACADEMIC COLLABORATION
Daily Herald (Chicago, Feb. 23) -- Beginning this fall, incoming Harper College students selected for the Engineering Pathways program will complete specific core science, math and English courses and then transfer to the U. of I. College of Engineering, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Also: Chicago Tribune (Feb. 27).

PROSTHETICS
Medical Design Online (Erie, Pa., Feb. 21) -- A technology developed by the Center for Nanoscale Chemical-Electrical-Mechanical Manufacturing Systems (NanoCEMMS) at the U. of I. for classroom outreach is helping Sandia National Laboratories researchers create a way to improve amputees’ control over prosthetics with direct help from their own nervous systems.

NEW CANCER DETECTION
Medgadget (El Granada, Calif., Feb. 14) -- Researchers from the Beckman Institute, Christie Clinic, and UIC reported on a new cancer detection method using a tissue refractive index that provides images that rival or surpass those from histological staining. Gabriel Popescu, director of the Quantitative Light Imaging Laboratory at Beckman and faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois, developed the technique, called Spatial Light Interference Microscopy, and led the study.

FACULTY MEMBER HONORED
PhysOrg.com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Feb. 9) -- James J. Coleman, Intel Alumni Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Illinois, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Also: Compound Semiconductor (Bristol, England, Feb. 10), News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana, Ill., Feb. 13).

NUCLEAR ENERGY
PhysOrg.com (Douglas, Isle of Man, Feb. 10) -- Qiyue Lu, a graduate student in nuclear engineering at the U. of I., is part of a team that has proposed a new design for nuclear reactors.

EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS
Daily Herald (Chicago, Feb. 9) -- State and federal agencies are ill-prepared for the devastation a major earthquake in Illinois would cause, says Amr Elnashai, a civil engineering professor at Illinois. Related article: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Feb. 9).

RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM
CBS Detroit (Feb. 6) -- Michigan Technological University’s Rail Transportation Program is one of seven members of a research university consortium that has received the U.S. Department of Transportation’s first multi-million grant to a University Transportation Center focused solely on rail transportation. The University of lllinois at Urbana-Champaign will lead the consortium.

WORLD'S MOST EFFICIENT SOLAR PANEL
Technology Review (Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 3) -- Semprius, a company that makes minuscule solar cells capable of capturing concentrated sunlight without costly cooling systems, says it has made the world’s most efficient solar panel. Semprius’ process is based on a method for transferring small electronics from a wafer to other substrates that was developed by John Rogers, a professor of materials science and engineering at Illinois.

ALUMS PROSTHETIC ARM PROJECT EXPANDING
News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana, IL, Feb. 3) -- A University of Illinois student-led effort to develop a low-cost prosthetic arm for people in developing countries has expanded to different parts of the world. Editor's note: Illini Prosthetic Technologies is featured on the Big Ten Network series, "Impact the World" hosted by Dennis Haysbert; segment debuts on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 7:00 p.m. CT and will be rebroadcast during the month.

ASTROPHYSICS
Physics World (Bristol, England, Feb. 3) -- U. of I. astrophysicist Fred Lamb says a new discovery by German researchers is a significant advance in efforts to determine the true age of some of the most elusive objects in the universe.

AIRPORT SCREENING
TruthDive (from Asian News International, New Delhi; New Delhi, Feb. 1) -- A study co-written by U. of I. computer science professor Sheldon Jacobson indicates that intensive screening of all air passengers makes the system less secure by overtaxing security resources.

SOLAR START-UP MEANS JOBS
ChemInfo (from The Associated Press; Rockaway, N.J., Feb. 1) -- A technology created by U. of I. materials scientist John Rogers is providing the foundation for a start-up solar-cell company expected to bring hundreds of jobs to North Carolina.
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PLEASE NOTE: Some web links are short-lived by design of the publisher. In most cases, articles are archived on the publisher's website and can be retrieved electronically. Some articles may be archived on sites that are fee-based, and some may have re-distribution restrictions.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.