Author: ekressi2

Valery Levitas, Schafer Professor and faculty member of aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering, found a strict and simple solution to the classical problem in the interface and surface science formulated by J. W. Gibbs in the 19th century. Namely, he uncovered a way to define the position of a dividing surface. The Gibbsian view of … Continue reading Levitas uses basic statics principles to solve long-standing problem in interface science formulated by Gibbs

Two cultures collaborate to develop novel structural detection methods. Researchers from Iowa State University and University of Perugia (Italy) compare U.S. patented soft elastomeric surface sensors with Italian cement-based embeddable sensors. Both of these technologies are being developed as novel nanocomposite solutions to dynamic structural monitoring. The goal is to provide cost-effective solutions for locally … Continue reading Iowa State, Italy Researchers Collaborate on Structural Health Monitoring

From somewhere back behind the Iowa State University Icing Research Tunnel, Rye Waldman called out to see if Hui Hu was ready for a spray of cold water. The wind tunnel was down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. A cylindrical model was in place inside the 10-inch-by-10-inch test section. The wind was blowing through the machine … Continue reading Iowa State’s Icing Wind Tunnel Blows Cold and Hard to Study Ice on Wings, Turbine Blades

Lysle Whitmer, giving a quick tour of the technical upgrades to an Iowa State University biofuels pilot plant, pointed to a long series of stainless steel pipes and cylinders. They’re called cyclones, condensers and precipitators, he said, and there’s an art to getting them to work together. The machinery is all about quickly heating biomass … Continue reading Iowa State Engineers Upgrade Pilot Plant for Better Studies of Advanced Biofuels

Writing software is kind of like solving a puzzle,” said Kathryn Stolee, the Harpole-Pentair Assistant Professor of Software Engineering. Any programmer who has suffered long hours in search of missing code can attest to this analogy. But now, thanks to Stolee’s research and development of Satsy, a new code-specific search engine, digging up those final … Continue reading A Search Engine for Code

A passion for the fundamental sciences and for things that grow motivate Ludovico Cademartiri, an assistant professor in materials science and engineering, as he develops methods for making new materials using polymers and crystals at Iowa State University. In a recent study, Cademartiri led a team of scientists that researched the formation and properties of … Continue reading Research on Nanowires Helps Scientists Communicate Across the Fence

Lie Tang’s research in field robotics offers a glimpse into the future of organic agriculture. Tang, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, develops robotics technologies for intra-row weed removal in vegetable crops. He hopes that by perfecting this technology, he can design an automated robot to lower the level of … Continue reading Robotic Weeding Leads to Big Labor Savings

Iowa State University researchers think developing nanovaccines using a “systems” approach can revolutionize the prevention and treatment of diseases. Just think, since 1980 the world has seen more new diseases than medical science knew before 1980, said Balaji Narasimhan, Iowa State’s Vlasta Klima Balloun Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering and leader of a new project designed … Continue reading Iowa State Researchers Setting Up “Dream Team” to Research, Develop Nanovaccines

Nik Karpinsky quickly tapped out a few computer commands until Zeus, in all his bearded and statuesque glory, appeared in the middle of a holographic glass panel mounted to an office desk. The white statue stared back at Karpinsky. Then a hand appeared and turned the full-size head to the right and to the left. … Continue reading Iowa State, Ames Lab Engineers Develop Real-Time 3-D Teleconferencing Technology

Liang Dong recently completed research on a device that can help scientists find more effective ways to protect crops and combat Parkinson’s disease by studying, of all things, worms.Nematodes possess simple nervous systems, but still share important characteristics with the nervous systems of humans. By studying nematode nerves, researchers can learn more about the human nervous … Continue reading ECPE Researcher Completes Lab on a Chip Device

David White, the Richard L. Handy Endowed Associate Professor in geotechnical/materials engineering, has invented a sewer pipe made of recycled plastic soda bottles, plastic fibers and fly ash.“America’s infrastructure currently has about 600,000 miles of sewer pipes, much of which is older than 30 years and in need of repair,” White says. “I feel that … Continue reading Professor Invents Sewer Pipe Made of Recycled Plastic, Fly Ash

Microbes are working away in an Iowa State University laboratory to ferment biofuels from the sugar and acetate produced by rapidly heating biomass such as corn stalks and sawdust. But it’s not an easy job for E. coli and C. reinhardtii. The bacteria and microalgae, respectively, don’t like something in the bio-oil produced by fast … Continue reading Evolving Microbes Help Iowa State Engineers Turn Bio-Oil into Advanced Bio-Fuels

Around 2 p.m. on August 14, 2003, an overhead transmission line carrying 345 kilovolts of electricity near Walton Hills, Ohio sagged too close to a nearby tree and shorted out. By 4 p.m., more than 50 million people were affected by one of the largest blackouts in history.In September 2011, an Arizona Public Works employee, … Continue reading Quantifying Cascading Power Failure

Xinwei Wang had a hunch that spider webs were worth a much closer look. So he ordered eight spiders – Nephila clavipes, golden silk orbweavers – and put them to work eating crickets and spinning webs in the cages he set up in an Iowa State University greenhouse. Wang, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Iowa State, studies … Continue reading Iowa State Engineer Discovers Spider Silk Conducts Heat as well as Metals

It’s not exactly dinner-table conversation, but cyber insecurity is bearing down on everyone from company CEOs to generals at U.S. military bases overseas.Recent incidents, particularly the hacking of government websites by the group Anonymous and the theft of confidential data from online retailers like Zappos, have raised questions about Internet safety. Congress’ recent introduction of … Continue reading ISU Professor takes on Threat of Espionage via Hacked Smartphones