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Released: 15-May-2014 3:10 PM EDT
New Battery Test Center Adds Power to New York Innovation Economy
Cornell University

The drive to replace the gasoline economy with better batteries might be accelerated thanks to unique battery testing capabilities at Cornell, and a new testing and prototyping center that the university helped to establish.

Released: 15-May-2014 1:00 PM EDT
Engineering Graduate Uses Big Data to Seek Insights to Bicycle Travel Flow
University of Virginia

Bicycling enthusiast and civil and environmental engineer Alec Gosse studies traffic data to seek infrastructure compatible with bicycles.

Released: 15-May-2014 10:00 AM EDT
TV Documentary Spotlights Students Partnership with Wounded Veterans
Michigan Technological University

A new TV documentary airing 3 times in May follows a team of mechanical engineering students from Michigan Technological University as they build a better handcycle for wounded veteran athletes, with support from GM,.

13-May-2014 10:00 AM EDT
Virginia Tech Football Helmet Ratings Update: Five New Helmets Meet Five-Star Mark
Virginia Tech

Each helmet model’s ability to reduce concussion risk is assessed through 120 impact tests that are analyzed using the STAR Evaluation System, with each test weighted based on how often that impact condition occurs on the field.

Released: 13-May-2014 3:00 PM EDT
Novel ORNL Technique Enables Air-Stable Water Droplet Networks
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A simple new technique to form interlocking beads of water in ambient conditions could prove valuable for applications in biological sensing, membrane research and harvesting water from fog.

Released: 13-May-2014 8:00 AM EDT
Mechanisms as Minds
Union College

Union College professors working with students to create a tensegrity robot that can move.

Released: 8-May-2014 11:45 AM EDT
EPA Honors Interdisciplinary Projects on Stormwater Management
Kansas State University

One interdisciplinary team of Kansas State University students and faculty placed first and another team received honorable mention in the site design category in the EPA's second annual Campus RainWorks Challenge competition.

Released: 7-May-2014 6:00 PM EDT
Nanoengineers Develop Basis for Electronics That Stretch at the Molecular Level
University of California San Diego

Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego are asking what might be possible if semiconductor materials were flexible and stretchable without sacrificing electronic function?

Released: 7-May-2014 3:00 PM EDT
UW Building Teleoperated Robots for Disaster Response in National Challenge
University of Washington

University of Washington electrical engineers have developed telerobotics technology that could make disaster response faster and more efficient. They are working with a team of eight other organizations as part of the SmartAmerica Challenge, an initiative to encourage new technologies that help society in our increasingly connected world.

Released: 6-May-2014 1:00 PM EDT
From Concept to Commercialization
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Significant funding from NIBIB has enabled researchers to develop a unique technology to help physicians perform ultrasound-guided procedures involving needle placement such as needle biopsies, central line insertion, and local anesthesia.

Released: 6-May-2014 1:00 PM EDT
Virginia Tech Hosts Booth 422 at 2014 AUVSI Unmanned Systems Conference: Full Scale Robotic Systems Featured
Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech Unmanned Aircraft System researchers will be available for interviews May 12 through May 15 at the 2014 Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Orlando.

Released: 2-May-2014 2:00 PM EDT
Story Tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, May 2014
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

1) Reducing soot. 2) Hydropower. 3) Understanding driver behavior. 4) A performance record in high-temperature superconducting wires.

Released: 1-May-2014 12:25 PM EDT
Small Changes Could Save Structures, Lives During Tornadoes
University of Alabama

Light-weight garage doors can be the weak link to allowing high winds and pressure changes from a tornado into a home that can lead to the removal of the roof and collapsed walls.

Released: 29-Apr-2014 9:00 AM EDT
“Virtual Periscope” Sees Above-Surface/Airborne Objects From Underwater View
American Technion Society

Technion researchers have developed an underwater imaging system that allows submariners to view objects above the water's surface - without a periscope. Researchers at Israel's Technion have developed an underwater imaging system that allows submariners to view objects above the water's surface - without a periscope.

Released: 24-Apr-2014 12:30 PM EDT
Iowa State Initiative Creates Team of Engineers, Plant Scientists to Develop Smart Plants
Iowa State University

Iowa State University engineers and plant scientists are working together to study and develop better crops. The research team has organized an International Workshop on Engineered Crops April 28-29 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Released: 23-Apr-2014 6:00 PM EDT
ASU Engineers Help Make Advances in Virtual Artificial Heart Implantation
Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

An ASU team has performed the first virtual implantation of a pioneering artificial heart, led by engineer David Frakes, with Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Released: 22-Apr-2014 1:40 PM EDT
Building Stronger Bridges
South Dakota State University

It all comes down to bridging a gap. The J. Lohr Structures Laboratory helps companies develop new materials and products—self-consolidating concrete columns and prestressed concrete bridge girders-- that bridge a physical gap. Many of those newly developed products are used in public works projects funded by federal, state and local governments, thus bridging a commercial gap.

Released: 21-Apr-2014 4:00 PM EDT
The Future of High-Speed Rail in the U.S. And Beyond
Wayne State University Division of Research

Wayne State University, in partnership with the University of Michigan and Drexel University, has launched a two-and-a-half-year study of the imagination — or l'imaginaire — of high-speed rail (HSR) in America. The study is part of a larger comparative international study piloted by Dr. Max Bergman at the University of Basel and led by French, American, South African, Indian and Chinese research teams that is exploring the role of the “imaginaries” in choices relative to train and rail infrastructures. In other words, the study will examine what motivates decision makers (both leaders and users) in regard to championing or using trains both in and of themselves and within the context of the future of transportation as a whole.

Released: 21-Apr-2014 3:00 PM EDT
LEDs Get Seal of Approval: Safe for Skin
Stony Brook University

There was a time when no one thought about light bulbs—one blew, you screwed another one in. Nowadays, it’s more complicated, as energy efficiency concerns have given rise to a slew of options, including incandescent, compact fluorescent lights, and light emitting diodes.

Released: 21-Apr-2014 8:05 AM EDT
New Material Coating Technology Mimics Nature’s Lotus Effect
Virginia Tech

A unique and low cost method to coat materials is the subject of a pending international patent. Ranga Pitchumani of Virginia Tech’s Mechanical Engineering Department and Atieh Haghdoost, a recent doctoral graduate from Pitchumani’s Advanced Materials and Technologies Laboratory developed the process.

Released: 17-Apr-2014 11:00 AM EDT
Pocket-Sized Anthrax Detector AIDS Global Agriculture
Sandia National Laboratories

A credit-card-sized anthrax detection cartridge developed at Sandia National Laboratories and recently licensed to a small business makes testing safer, easier, faster and cheaper.

Released: 17-Apr-2014 10:00 AM EDT
Patented Research Remotely Detects Nitrogen-Rich Explosives
Kansas State University

A Kansas State University engineer has developed a patented technique that improves military security and remotely detects improvised explosive devices. The same technique could help police during drug searches.

11-Apr-2014 9:00 AM EDT
Bio-Engineered Vaginas, How Do They Work? UPDATE: Watch Pre-Recorded Q&A
Newswise

Newswise hosts the first live, interactive virtual event for major research finding for journalists. Newswise and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center are collaborating to offer direct access to the investigator via Newswise Live, an interactive virtual event.

Released: 9-Apr-2014 12:00 PM EDT
Hiking Inca Road Informs Engineer's Research, Teaching
Virginia Tech

Can modern engineers learn best practices from ancient road builders? Christine Fiori, who has led the first formal engineering study of the Inca Road, thinks so.

   
Released: 9-Apr-2014 11:00 AM EDT
At Long Last: A Concrete That’s Nearly Maintenance-Free
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Milwaukee engineers have created a cement composite that is durable, water-resistant and malleable with such a high level of “crack control” that the researchers estimate it has a service life of 120 years or more.

7-Apr-2014 10:00 AM EDT
Is the Power Grid too Big?
American Institute of Physics (AIP)

Researchers are asking whether there is a "right" size for the U.S. power grid; they believe that smaller grids would reduce the likelihood of severe outages, such as the 2003 Northeast blackout, likening the grid behavior to sandpiles: “Sandpiles are stable until you get to a certain height. Then you add one more grain and the whole thing starts to avalanche.”

Released: 2-Apr-2014 4:00 PM EDT
Bioengineer Studying How the Brain Controls Movement
University of California San Diego

A University of California, San Diego research team led by bioengineer Gert Cauwenberghs is working to understand how the brain circuitry controls how we move. The goal is to develop new technologies to help patients with Parkinson's disease and other debilitating medical conditions navigate the world on their own. Their research is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Emerging Frontiers of Research and Innovation program.

Released: 1-Apr-2014 12:20 PM EDT
Good Vibrations: Using Light-Heated Water to Deliver Drugs
UC San Diego Health

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, in collaboration with materials scientists, engineers and neurobiologists, have discovered a new mechanism for using light to activate drug-delivering nanoparticles and other targeted therapeutic substances inside the body.

Released: 26-Mar-2014 3:00 PM EDT
Engineered Bacteria Produce Biofuel Alternative for High-Energy Rocket Fuel
Georgia Institute of Technology

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Joint BioEnergy Institute have engineered a bacterium to synthesize pinene, a hydrocarbon produced by trees that could potentially replace high-energy fuels, such as JP-10, in missiles and other aerospace applications.

Released: 25-Mar-2014 3:00 PM EDT
Iowa State Engineer Builds Instrument to Study Effects of Genes, Environment on Plant Traits
Iowa State University

Iowa State University's Liang Dong is leading a research team that's developing an accessible instrument with the scale, flexibility and resolution needed to study how genes and environmental conditions affect plant traits.

Released: 19-Mar-2014 11:00 PM EDT
Tiny Transistors for Extreme Environs
University of Utah

University of Utah electrical engineers fabricated the smallest plasma transistors that can withstand high temperatures and ionizing radiation found in a nuclear reactor. Such transistors someday might enable smartphones that take and collect medical X-rays on a battlefield, and devices to measure air quality in real time.

Released: 15-Mar-2014 11:45 PM EDT
A Battery That ‘Breathes’ Could Power Next-Gen Electric Vehicles
American Chemical Society (ACS)

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) nearly doubled in 2013, but most won’t take you farther than 100 miles on one charge. To boost their range toward a tantalizing 300 miles or more, researchers are reporting progress on a “breathing” battery that has the potential to one day replace the lithium-ion technology of today’s EVs. They presented their work at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

Released: 15-Mar-2014 11:45 PM EDT
Harnessing Everyday Motion to Power Mobile Devices (Video)
American Chemical Society (ACS)

Imagine powering your cell phone by simply walking around your office or rubbing it with the palm of your hand. Rather than plugging it into the wall, you become the power source. Researchers at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, presented these commercial possibilities and a unique vision for green energy. To see a video of the team’s work, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVhJ4G-7na4.

Released: 13-Mar-2014 12:00 PM EDT
'Super Circles' to Lessen Rush-Hour Headaches
Wayne State University Division of Research

While Mother Nature continues to challenge drivers across the country, a team of traffic engineers is working hard on a new way to make rush-hour commutes safer and faster in any weather. “We can’t do much about snow falling, but we can do something about road capacity and congestion,” said Joseph Hummer, traffic engineering expert and Wayne State University College of Engineering chair of civil and environmental engineering.

Released: 11-Mar-2014 5:00 PM EDT
Lignin Breakthroughs Serve as GPS for Plant Research
North Carolina State University

By thoroughly mapping a single specialized tissue involved in wood formation, scientists at North Carolina State University have developed the equivalent of turn-by-turn directions for future plant research.

Released: 10-Mar-2014 12:00 PM EDT
West Virginia Spill Activates Virginia Tech Engineers to Determine Effects of Chemicals
Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech engineers sprung into action when more than 10,000 gallons of a chemical mixture leaked from a storage tank near Charleston, W.Va., and entered a river upstream of a water-treatment plant in January.

Released: 9-Mar-2014 2:45 PM EDT
Biomolecular Tweezers Facilitate Study of Mechanical Force Effects on Cells and Proteins
Georgia Institute of Technology

A new type of biomolecular tweezers could help researchers study how mechanical forces affect the biochemical activity of cells and proteins. The devices use opposing magnetic and electrophoretic forces to precisely stretch the cells and molecules.

3-Mar-2014 11:00 PM EST
Squeezing Light into Metals
University of Utah

Using an inexpensive inkjet printer, University of Utah electrical engineers produced microscopic structures that use light in metals to carry information. This new technique, which controls electrical conductivity within such microstructures, could be used to rapidly fabricate superfast components in electronic devices, make wireless technology faster or print magnetic materials.

Released: 5-Mar-2014 10:00 AM EST
Reflection Makes Sense: New Initiative Prompts Engineering Students to Look Back to Go Forward
University of Washington

The University of Washington's Center for Engineering Learning & Teaching has received a $4.4 million grant from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust to develop and promote teaching practices that help undergraduate engineering students reflect on their experiences. The award establishes the Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education that focuses on first- and second-year undergraduates who want to be engineers, especially those from underrepresented populations.

Released: 4-Mar-2014 6:05 PM EST
Silk-Based Surgical Implants Could Offer a Better Way to Repair Broken Bones
Tufts University

Surgical plates and screws made of silk protein may improve bone remodeling after injury and also be absorbed by the body, eliminating the need for removal. In vitro and rodent studies showed the devices to be robust, readily implanted, and easily sterilized. They could also deliver therapeutics to support healing.

   
3-Mar-2014 12:45 PM EST
Flying Snakes—How Do They Do It?
George Washington University

New research, titled “Lift and Wakes of Flying Snakes," appears March 4 in the journal Physics of Fluids. This work is the first to study the lift of a snake's cross-section computationally.

Released: 4-Mar-2014 10:00 AM EST
Iowa State Engineers Build Software Tools to Assure Security of Smartphones
Iowa State University

Iowa State's Suraj Kothari is leading researchers from Iowa State University and Ames, Iowa-based EnSoft Corp. who are developing ways to secure smartphone software for the Defense Department.

3-Mar-2014 8:00 AM EST
Shale Could Be Long-Term Home for Problematic Nuclear Waste
American Chemical Society (ACS)

Shale, the source of the United States’ current natural gas boom, could help solve another energy problem: what to do with radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. The unique properties of the sedimentary rock and related clay-rich rocks make it ideal for storing the potentially dangerous spent fuel for millennia, according to a geologist studying possible storage sites. He presented his research today at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

3-Mar-2014 8:00 AM EST
Toward ‘Vanishing’ Electronics and Unlocking Nanomaterials’ Power Potential
American Chemical Society (ACS)

Brain sensors and electronic tags that dissolve. Boosting the potential of renewable energy sources. These are examples of the latest research from two pioneering scientists selected as this year’s Kavli lecturers at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

3-Mar-2014 8:00 AM EST
New Way to Make Biodiesel Creates Less Waste From Alligator, and Likely Other Animal Fats
American Chemical Society (ACS)

Animal fat from chicken, pork, beef and even alligators could give an economical, ecofriendly boost to the biofuel industry, according to researchers who reported a new method for biofuel production here today. The report, following up on their earlier study on the potential use of gator fat as a source of biodiesel fuel, was part of the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

Released: 28-Feb-2014 11:00 AM EST
Sustainable Energy Is Focus of Plenary Talks at American Chemical Society Meeting
American Chemical Society (ACS)

Advances in renewable and sustainable energy, including mimicking photosynthesis and optimizing lithium-ion batteries, are the topics of three plenary talks at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, taking place here through Thursday. The presentations will be held on Sunday, March 16, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Ballroom A of the Dallas Convention Center.

Released: 28-Feb-2014 10:00 AM EST
Shaky Hand, Stable Spoon: U-M Study Shows Device Helps Essential Tremor Patients
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

For people whose hands shake uncontrollably due to a medical condition, just eating can be a frustrating and embarrassing ordeal – enough to keep them from sharing a meal with others. But a small new study suggests that a new handheld electronic device can help such patients overcome the hand shakes caused by essential tremor.

Released: 25-Feb-2014 11:00 AM EST
3-D Printer Creates Transformative Device for Heart Treatment
Washington University in St. Louis

Using an inexpensive 3-D printer, biomedical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis and around the world have developed a custom-fitted, implantable device with embedded sensors that could transform treatment and prediction of cardiac disorders.

Released: 24-Feb-2014 9:30 AM EST
New Biological Scaffold Offers Promising Foundation for Engineered Tissues
Michigan Technological University

Engineered tissues like the ones used to create artificial skin need a scaffold for cells to grow on. Now a team led by Michigan Technological University’s Feng Zhao has coaxed cells called fibroblasts into creating a scaffold that mimics the body’s own internal matrix, and in early tests, cells seem happy to set up residence.



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