News

Engineering alumnus commands next space shuttle mission
Veteran space flier and Illinois alumnus Lee "Bru" Archambault (BS 1982, MS 1984, Aerospace Engineering) will command space shuttle Discovery's upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Discovery is targeted to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 12 at 7:28 a.m....

With increasing obesity, fuel consumption becomes weighty...
Excess fuel consumption caused by excess driver and passenger weight has increased in the past two years, with no end in sight. In a widely publicized study in fall 2006, computer science professor Sheldon H. Jacobson and doctoral student Laura McLay estimated the amount of vehicle fuel...

Four engineering faculty among 2008 AAAS Fellows
Four College of Engineering faculty members--Richard D. Braatz, J. Gary Eden, William S. Hammack, and John A. Rogers--have been awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). This year, 11 Illinois faculty were among the 486 AAAS members...

Scientists fool bacteria into killing themselves to survive
Like firemen fighting fire with fire, researchers at the University of Illinois and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have found a way to fool a bacteria's evolutionary machinery into programming its own death. "The basic idea is for an antimicrobial to target something in a bacteria...

A little tunneling anyone?
Earlier this month, civil engineering students in a graduate-level geotechnical course got an in-depth look at one of the nation's most unique tunneling projects, the Devil’s Slide Tunnels Project in Pacifica,California. The class trip was the culmination of CEE598 TSR Tunneling in Soil and...

Three faculty named APS Fellows
Three College of Engineering faculty have been named 2008 Fellows of the American Physical Society (APS). William S. Hammack , a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering For enhancing public awareness about physics, science, and technology via his radio commentaries and for his...

New polymer coatings prevent corrosion, even when scratched
Imagine tiny cracks in your patio table healing by themselves, or the first small scratch on your new car disappearing by itself. This and more may be possible with self-healing coatings being developed at the University of Illinois. The new coatings are designed to better protect materials from...

Kumar receives honorary doctorate from ETH Zurich
P. R. Kumar, the Franklin W. Woeltge Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a researcher at the Coordinated Science Laboratory , received a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). He was one of seven recipients of the award,...

Ten faculty researchers to receive Grainger Funding
The College of Engineering has selected ten proposals for funding as part of the Grainger Program in Emerging Technologies. The program was created by the Grainger Foundation to promote the translation of new academic developments in engineering into commercially viable products and services. It is...

PURE research going strong in its second semester
When Kuang Xu looked around and didn’t see enough research opportunities for underclassmen, he decided to create some. Xu, a senior in electrical and computer engineeing (ECE) , is one of the creators of the program Promoting Undergraduate Research in ECE (PURE). The program’s aim is to...

Illinois' researchers take control of economic uncertainty...
As Congress debates the pros and cons of an automaker bailout, researchers at Illinois have developed economic models and methods that could help economists better understand the potential outcome of such stimulus packages. The techniques use engineering principles, especially in the area of...

Parallel@Illinois presents multicore vision for human...
A human-centric future for consumer computing--where mobile devices, virtual environments, and anthropomorphic communication interfaces allow humans to seamlessly move between cyber- and physical-spaces--is possible with the power of multicore parallel computing. A major impediment to this vision...

Nano comes to Jordan
Last month, the University of Illinois partnered with King Saud University and the University of Jordan to hold an Advanced Nanostructured Materials and Technology conference in Amman, Jordan. The conference was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the University of Jordan, and King...

Clean water courtesy of Engineers Without Borders
A small Guatemalan village is well on its way to receiving a new potable water delivery system thanks to the efforts of the U of I chapter of Engineers Without Borders. About 30 Illinois students from various engineering departments are working on a project to design and implement a clean water...

MNTL Building Receives AIA Illinois Frank Lloyd Wright Award
The design for the recently expanded Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory (MNTL) at Illinois was selected for the American Institute of Architects-Illinois Frank Lloyd Wright Award (Citation of Merit). Jim Coleman, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, represented MNTL at the...

Engineering in the News December 2008
Excerpts from Illinois in the News, a daily service provided by the University of Illinois News Bureau . This collection of December excerpts focuses on engineering topics and faculty contacted for their expertise by print and broadcast reporters around the world. COMPUTER VISUALIZATION The...

Alleyne named Associate Dean for Research
Andrew Alleyne, the Ralph and Catherine Fisher Professor in Mechanical Science and Engineering, has been named the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering, pending approval by the Board of Trustees. The Associate Dean for Research is a 50%-time position that will be replacing...

MAE Center Study Reveals Impact of 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake...
Areas nearest NMSZ would experience widespread and catastrophic physical damage, negative social impacts and economic losses; states include Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management...

Rogers selected as NSSEFF Fellow
John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory Founder Chair in Engineering Innovation at Illinois, has been selected as a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellow (NSSEFF). Rogers, who is professor of materials science and engineering and a professor of chemistry, is one of six distinguished...

Controlled rocking system allows buildings to safely sway...
A group of researchers, led by Professor Jerry Hajjar of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and colleagues from Stanford University, are testing a new structural system that will make steel-framed buildings more resilient in earthquakes. The "controlled rocking" system will...

Freshman brings robotic expertise to campus
"If you want a robot, just talk to me." Alex Suchko, a freshman in electrical and computer engineering, is not joking around. Prior to entering the university, the 18-year-old from Cathedral High School in Indianapolis competed in a robot building and driving competition called FIRST...

Liquid or solid? Charged nanoparticles in lipid membrane...
Like water and ice cubes mixed in a glass, a group of organic compounds called lipids can coexist as liquid and solid in membranes. This patchiness in phospholipid membranes is fundamental to their use as biomolecules and biosensors. Using charged nanoparticles, researchers at the University of...

Herricks to be honored by FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will present a 2008 Excellence in Aviation Research Awards to Edwin E. Herricks, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) . The award is given for research contributions that have resulted in a significantly safer, more...

Professor's research found in next generation digital TV...
"As a professor you don't really have a direct way of getting your stuff out there, so it's really exciting to think that your research is actually going to be used,” said Doug Jones, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois. Jones' Active Constellation Extension...

Freund Chosen for APS Frenkiel Award
Jonathan B. Freund, associate professor in aerospace engineering, has been selected as the 2008 winner of the Francois Frenkiel Award, a prestigious honor given by the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics. Freund was chosen for his paper, "Leukocyte margination in a model...

Illinois Breaks Ground on New Petascale Computing Center
Heavy machinery clanged and dust swirled as the University of Illinois held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $72.5 million Illinois Petascale Computing Facility on Nov. 5. Work on the 88,000-square-foot building that will house the Blue Waters sustained-petaflop supercomputer is already under...

Physics professor earns USAF Young Investigator Research...
Benjamin Lev, an assistant professor of physics, has been awarded a grant through the U.S. Air Force's Young Investigator Research Program to explore quantum liquid crystals using ultracold dipolar atoms. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research announced Oct. 17 it will award...