Engineering
press releases.

Engineering13 Feb 2025

Engineers enable a drone to determine its position in the dark and indoors

CAMBRIDGE, MA – In the future, autonomous drones could be used to shuttle inventory between large warehouses. A drone might fly into a semi-dark structure the size of several football fields, zipping along hundreds of identical aisles before docking at the precise spot where its shipment is needed. Most of today’s drones would likely struggle to complete this task, since drones typically navigate outdoors using GPS, which doesn’t work in indoor environments. For indoor navigation, some drones ...

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Engineering13 Feb 2025

U-M materials scientist, chemical engineer elected into National Academy of Engineering

Photos Michigan Engineering professors Elizabeth Holm and Nicholas Kotov are among the newest members of the National Academy of Engineering—one of the highest honors bestowed on engineers in the United States. "Elizabeth Holm and Nicholas Kotov have not only distinguished themselves as leaders in their fields, they have demonstrated the impact we can have as engineers, influencing how current and future generations of engineers solve problems and do their work," said Karen Thole, the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering at the University of Michigan College of Engineering. "We applaud this significant honor, and look forward ...

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Engineering13 Feb 2025

Engineers discover key barrier to longer-lasting batteries

Lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO2) has emerged as a potential new material to power next-generation, longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries. Commercialization of the material, however, has stalled because it degrades after repeated charging. University of Texas at Dallas researchers have discovered why LiNiO2 batteries break down, and they are testing a solution that could remove a key barrier to widespread use of the material. They published their findings online Dec. 10 in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. The team plans first to manufacture LiNiO2 batteries in the lab and ...

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Engineering11 Feb 2025

Pitt Engineering Professor Fang Peng elected to National Academy of Engineering

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) today announced that University of Pittsburgh Professor Fang Peng, an internationally acclaimed power electronics researcher, is among the newest cohort elected to the academy. The NAE is recognizing Peng for “contributions to the development of high-powered electronic technologies for advanced power grid and energy conversion.” Peng, the RK Mellon Endowed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Energy GRID Institute at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, ...

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Engineering11 Feb 2025

Is the Metaverse a new frontier for human-centric manufacturing?

Is the Metaverse a new frontier for human-centric manufacturing? The future of manufacturing is not just about machines and AI; it's about re-empowering humans, according to a new study from the University of Surrey. The integration of advanced technologies like augmented reality (AR) and digital twins is set to redefine the workforce's role, making humans an essential part of the manufacturing equation once again. The paper, published in Sustainability, explores the transformative potential of Metaverse technologies ...

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Engineering8 Feb 2025

Researchers find high levels of the industrial chemical BTMPS in fentanyl

A UCLA research team has found that drugs being sold as fentanyl contain high amounts of the industrial chemical bis(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidyl) sebacate, or BTMPS. This new substance of concern emerged in the illicit drug supply nearly simultaneously in multiple U.S. locations from coast-to-coast. From June through October 2024, the team quantitatively tested samples of drugs sold as fentanyl that had high levels of the chemical, which belongs to a class of compounds called hindered amine light stabilizers ...

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Engineering5 Feb 2025

Clot-buster meds & mechanical retrieval equally reduce disability from some strokes

Research Highlights: Mechanically retrieving a blood clot blocking a medium- or small-sized brain artery was no better at reducing disability 90 days after a stroke than standard care alone (including clot-busting medication if indicated). While researchers say using thrombectomy devices to remove blood clots is increasingly performed, this research suggests that it may not be needed in all cases. However, because endovascular therapy seemed to be safe, it might still be used on select patients. Note: The study featured in this news release is a research abstract. Abstracts ...

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Engineering4 Feb 2025

NYU’s Yann LeCun a winner of the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering

New York University’s Yann LeCun has been selected as a winner of the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering—one of seven recognized for contributions to the advancement of Modern Machine Learning, which has fueled advances in artificial intelligence. “This year, we celebrate the remarkable achievements that these seven engineers have contributed to Modern Machine Learning, a field that has revolutionized artificial intelligence by uniting algorithms, hardware, and data,” said Lord Vallance, chair of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. “The impact of this innovation is felt across industries, economies, and the planet, ...

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Engineering30 Jan 2025

Walk like a … gecko? Animal footpads inspire a polymer that sticks to ice

A solution to injuries from slips and falls may be found underfoot — literally. The footpads of geckos have hydrophilic (water-loving) mechanisms that allow the little animals to easily move over moist, slick surfaces. Researchers in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces report using silicone rubber enhanced with zirconia nanoparticles to create a gecko-inspired slip-resistant polymer. They say the material, which sticks to ice, could be incorporated into shoe soles to reduce injuries in humans. Slips ...

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Engineering29 Jan 2025

Materials can remember a sequence of events in an unexpected way

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Many materials store information about what has happened to them in a sort of material memory, like wrinkles on a once crumpled piece of paper. Now, a team led by Penn State physicists has uncovered how, under specific conditions, some materials seemingly violate underlying mathematics to store memories about the sequence of previous deformations. According to the researchers, the method, described in a paper appearing today (Jan. 29) in the journal Science Advances, could inspire new ways to store information in ...

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Engineering29 Jan 2025

Life’s building blocks in Bennu samples

Japanese collaborators detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. Asteroids, small airless bodies within the inner Solar System, are theorized to have contributed water and chemical building blocks of life to Earth billions of years ago. Although meteorites on Earth come from asteroids, the combination of exposure to moisture in the atmosphere and to an uncontrolled biosphere means that interpreting the data from them is challenging. Pristine samples collected from asteroids in space would be the ideal candidates, and successful sample ...

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Engineering28 Jan 2025

Structural color shields: water repellent coatings

Ever wondered about the brilliant blue hues of peacock feathers or the shimmering metallic chitin on beetles? These natural wonders are examples of structural colors—a phenomenon in which microscopic structures create vibrant, lasting hues. Inspired by these marvels, a research team from Japan has been exploring structural colors. Their earlier work realized that the preparation of structural color materials from melanin particles mimics the coloration mechanism of peacock feathers. Building on this foundation, the team set out to develop a coating material that captures ...

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Engineering27 Jan 2025

Scientists at UMass Amherst engineer plant-based method of 'precious' mineral mining

January 27, 2025 Scientists at UMass Amherst Engineer Plant-based method of Precious Mineral Mining Their research manipulates the superplant Camelina sativa to accumulate nickel, provide oil for biofuel and clean contaminated soil AMHERST, Mass. — As unassuming plant—considered a noxious weed by some—may be the key to fueling a green economy in the U.S. University of Massachusetts Amherst scientists are working with Camelina sativa, a member of the mustard family, to enhance a trio of the plant’s superpowers: absorbing ...

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Engineering27 Jan 2025

FAU Engineering researchers develop new weapon against harmful algal blooms

As harmful algal blooms (HABs) continue to spread across the globe, urgent research is needed to address this growing threat. Studies in Italy, China, and the Atlantic basin have shown that many water bodies have high nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratios, making phosphorus a key factor that drives these blooms. This highlights the critical need for more effective phosphorus management strategies to curb the rise of HABs and protect our ecosystems. Recently, there’s been a growing interest in finding useful ways to repurpose troublesome algal biomass, which could be turned into valuable products like bioplastics, biofertilizers, and biofuels. Researchers have ...

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Engineering27 Jan 2025

Drones could be the ‘magic tools’ we need to chase bears away from people

Brown bears roam across much of the northern hemisphere from the mountains of Spain to the prairies of the US. These bears are formidable carnivores that can weigh up to 751 kg (1,656 lb) and have claws 15 cm (6 in) long. With long canine teeth and a bite force of 6,800,000 pascals (1,000 psi), these bruins can easily crush bones. All these powerful features make brown bears an imposing predator that can take down prey as large and dangerous as an adult bison. Yet, while these bears eat meat, much of their diet is plant-based because they are omnivores. Brown bears have very few dietary restrictions. They are certainly not gluten intolerant ...

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Engineering23 Jan 2025

Novel model advances microfiber-reinforced concrete research

Researchers from Hohai University, Northwestern University, and Politecnico di Milano have introduced a pioneering mesoscale mechanical discrete model, LDPM-MicroF, to simulate the fracture behavior of micro fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC), as reported in Engineering. Microfibers, with diameters less than 100 µm, are crucial in preventing early shrinkage cracking and reducing pore pressure during fires. However, formulating an accurate mechanical constitutive law for micro-FRC has been challenging due to difficulties in understanding ...

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Engineering23 Jan 2025

Interpreting metamaterials from an artistic view

Two leading experts in the field of metamaterials from Tsinghua University co-authored a review article on this emerging scientific field in Engineering recently. Unlike traditional review articles, the authors interpret metamaterials from an artistic perspective. By drawing parallels with art, they reflect on significant achievements made over the past two decades and offer insights into the future development of the field. Their work introduces readers to the novel concept of metamaterials as “the art in materials science.” Metamaterials refer to artificially engineered materials composed of structural units designed to exhibit extraordinary ...

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Engineering23 Jan 2025

Empowering numerical weather predictions with drones as meteorological tools

Climate change is making extreme weather events worse, empowering meteorological phenomena such as storms, hurricanes, heatwaves, and droughts. Against this backdrop, numerical weather predictions (NWPs), which use complex mathematical models that simulate atmospheric conditions, have become critical to protect people and businesses from these events and other weather-borne disasters. Unsurprisingly, NWP models need a massive amount of daily data to make accurate predictions. While some of this data comes from satellite images and ground-based stations, a fine atmospheric vertical structure ...

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Engineering22 Jan 2025

UMaine-led team develops more holistic way to monitor lobster industry

Maine’s lobster fishery — one that supports thousands of jobs statewide — is extensively monitored. Management efforts are informed by biological monitoring surveys observing changes in abundance and distribution of the lobster population, and dealer and harvester reporting from the industry. Yet these statistics don't tell the whole story of an industry shaken by supply and market disruptions and geopolitical conflict, or the welfare of the people and communities that rely on ...

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Engineering22 Jan 2025

Who to vaccinate first? Penn engineers answer a life-or-death question with network theory

Engineering and medical researchers at Penn have developed a groundbreaking framework that can determine the best and most computationally optimized distribution strategy for COVID-19 vaccinations in any given community. Published in PLOS One, this study addresses one of the most critical challenges in pandemic response — how to prioritize vaccination efforts in communities with individuals of different risk levels when supplies are scarce and the stakes are high. The research team, comprised of Saswati Sarkar, Professor ...

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Engineering22 Jan 2025

Grass surfaces drastically reduce drone noise making the way for soundless city skies

The findings, published today in Scientific Reports, show, for the first time, how porous ground treatments can mitigate noise and optimise propellor performance. Lead author Dr Hasan Kamliya Jawahar from the University of Bristol’s aeroacoustic group managed by Professor Mahdi Azarpeyvand was able to demonstrate that porous ground treatments, can significantly reduce noise by up to 30 dB in low-mid frequencies and enhance thrust and power coefficients compared to solid ground surfaces. This suggests that treating roofs of building, ...

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Engineering21 Jan 2025

Building sentence structure may be language-specific

Do speakers of different languages build sentence structure in the same way? In a neuroimaging study published in PLOS Biology, scientists from the Max Planck institute for Psycholinguistics, Donders Institute and Radboud University in Nijmegen recorded the brain activity of participants listening to Dutch stories. In contrast to English, sentence processing in Dutch was based on a strategy for predicting what comes next rather than a ‘wait-and-see’ approach, showing that strategies may differ across languages. While listening to spoken language, people need to link ‘abstract’ knowledge of grammar to ...

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Engineering17 Jan 2025

PECASE winners: 3 UVA engineering professors receive presidential early career awards

University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty members James T. Burns, Coleen Carrigan and Liheng Cai received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) on Tuesday, as did two UVA Engineering alumni, Ashutosh Giri and Ryan Johnson. PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers. According to the release from the White House, this award recognizes “innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology.” “This award year has been extraordinary not ...

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Engineering16 Jan 2025

Highlighting the dangers of restricting discussions of structural racism

PHILADELPHIA (January 16, 2025) – A new Health Affairs Health Policy Brief highlights the detrimental impact of recent state and federal policies that restrict discussions of “divisive concepts,” including structural racism. It warns that these policies undermine efforts to address health inequities and improve population health. “By limiting discussions of structural racism, these policies ignore the historical and environmental factors that shape health outcomes,” said co-author Derek Griffith, PhD, the Risa Lavizzo-Mourey ...

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Engineering16 Jan 2025

NYU Tandon School of Engineering receives nearly $10 million from National Telecommunications and Information Administration

NYU Tandon, collaborating institutions and industry partners have been awarded nearly $10 million to develop next generation communications technology. The project, dubbed SALSA (Spectrally Agile Large-Scale Arrays), is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to advance U.S. leadership in open, secure communications infrastructure. SALSA aims to create advanced wireless systems that operate in the "upper mid-band" spectrum — a region of frequencies relatively ...

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