Category: Research Highlights

Kaoru Ikuma (pictured, right), assistant professor in civil, construction and environmental engineering, is bringing clarity – clear, clean drinking water and clear answers – to environmental microbiology questions about water quality. She and her team are researching drinking water and waterbodies to improve public health protection. Drinking water disinfection Ikuma and her team are studying … Continue reading Something in the Water

Adarsh Krishnamurthy (pictured, left) and Ming-Chen Hsu (center) got to talking about their research interests – Krishnamurthy works in simulating cardiac mechanics and Hsu in simulating valve dynamics – when they had an idea. “He had the heart without the valve, and I had the valve without the heart,” Hsu said. “We thought ‘why don’t we just put them together?’”

Kristen Cetin, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, is harnessing smart energy technologies to enhance building performance and occupant comfort. “We’re combining the power of sensors, automation, the internet of things and modeling to create data-driven, real-time energy efficiency strategies for the built environment,” said Cetin.

“We combine intelligent robotics and sensing technologies to improve both the throughput and the quality of plant measurements, a core need in the growing fi eld of predictive plant phenomics,” said Tang, an associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering. In plant sciences, genomic and environmental data is already abundant and reliable. Tang’s autonomous robotic … Continue reading Robotic Plant Measurements Roll Toward Data-Driven Agriculture

Renewable energy offers promise for cleaner, cheaper electricity, but the variability in its production levels introduces new levels of uncertainly into the electric power system. Sarah Ryan, Joseph Walkup Professor in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, is developing new stochastic optimization techniques to help electric system operators effectively plan for deeper integration of renewables.

Big data holds big potential for solving pressing problems of our time – but big data also brings the significant challenge of working with high dimensional data sets. Namrata Vaswani , professor of electrical and computer engineering, is developing novel algorithms for high-dimensional data recovery. Her algorithms can recover data from noisy or distorted measurements … Continue reading Data Recovery Tools for the Big Data Age

Cleaner, Greener Technologies Xiaoli Tan is creating new materials needed to solve international sustainability and environmental challenges. Tan, professor of materials science and engineering, is an expert in designing, creating and measuring new compositions of functional oxide ceramics, materials widely used in electronics. “Our goal is to establish the interrelationships between materials’ composition, microstructure, and … Continue reading Better Ceramics

To quantify threats of power grid cyberattacks Threat levels for cyberattacks on the power grid are usually labeled high, medium or low. That’s too qualitative and too subjective for Cyclone Engineers. Current assessments are inadequate to account for dynamic and uncertain adversaries and the complexity of the computer controls and networks that support the grid. … Continue reading Game Theory

For a smart, resilient grid Zhaoyu Wang, Harpole-Pentair assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, is using data-driven science and machine learning to bring real-time modeling to electric power systems – and to enhance system resilience in severe weather events. Real-time, grid-wide monitoring Wang’s team is customizing machine learning algorithms currently used in photo processing … Continue reading Data-Driven Modeling

Cyclone Engineers have developed a new smart and responsive material that stiffens up like a worked-out muscle. Stress a muscle and it gets stronger. Mechanically stress the rubbery material – say with a twist or a bend – and the material automatically stiffens by up to 300 percent, the engineers said. In lab tests, mechanical … Continue reading Smart material gets stronger when stressed

IINSPIRE LSAMP: Thriving in STEM Disciplines Iowa State leads the $5 million Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Iowa-Illinois-Nebraska STEM Partnership for Research and Education (IINSPIRE) project that aims to increase the number and improve the experience of underrepresented students completing STEM degrees in the Midwest. IINSPIRE offers students evidence- based academic, professional and … Continue reading Boosting diversity in engineering with evidence-based strategies

Cyclone Engineer Robert Brown is pioneering the use of thermochemical processes to efficiently and inexpensively turn biomass into biofuels and biobased chemicals. Brown, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering, has built a nation-leading research program in scaling biomass processing discoveries from the bench to pilot and demonstration scales. He directs Iowa State’s Bioeconomy Institute, which researches … Continue reading Advancing biorenewables processing for a sustainable, agriculture-powered future

Stronger, cheaper, greener foundations for offshore renewable energy generation “A challenge of foundation research is that you can’t see through soil, so you often can’t see exactly what’s happening in an experiment. We used a transparent soil – a gelatin that acts like soft clay – to make observations not possible any other way.” – … Continue reading NSF CAREER PROJECT IN PROGRESS

More than 50 named professors and chair positions “Philanthropy propels early-stage, innovative research at Iowa State, making discoveries possible that simply wouldn’t have happened without donors’ gifts,” said Sarah Rajala, James L. and Katherine S. Melsa Dean of Engineering. “The outstanding level of support from our donors also helps us attract the best faculty to … Continue reading Philanthropy jump-starts research innovation

Cyclone Engineers are developing new tools to optimize networking and secure information in our new world of mobile devices in every pocket, “smart homes,” and remote sensors on everything from bridges to plants. “Cyber is no longer just in our computers. It’s now ‘cyber everywhere,’” said Daji Qiao, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. … Continue reading Cyber Everywhere: New Tools to Optimize and Secure the Internet of Things

A computer network and a plant don’t seem to have much in common at first glance. But when Julie Dickerson looks, she sees many similarities – and sees how her expertise in computing network science can help unravel complex biological systems. “Mapping networks of how genes influence plant growth and development is key to increasing … Continue reading Mapping paths to productive plants

Timothy Bigelow, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and electrical and computer engineering, is using high-intensity ultrasounds as a noninvasive way to treat infections that can grow on medical implants. “Medical implant infections are uncommon, but when they do occur you have to have a second operation to remove the implant and replace it,” Bigelow … Continue reading Noninvasive treatment of medical implant infections

Looking to the sky of the future, Kristin Yvonne Rozier sees Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) criss-crossing the horizon – and many new challenges for UAS safety and air traffic control. Rozier, an assistant professor of aerospace engineering, is developing new tools to help pilot-less aircraft safely fly themselves. “Our goal is to create on-board systems … Continue reading Safety systems for autonomous flight

Cyclone Engineer Jonathan Claussen is creating new graphene printing technology and using it to produce low-cost, flexible, highly conductive and water-repellant electronic circuits. “We’re taking low-cost, inkjet-printed graphene and tuning it with a laser to make functional materials,” said Claussen, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and an associate scientist at the U.S. Department of … Continue reading Flexible, water-repellent graphene circuits for washable electronics

Imagine testing for cancers, hepatitis and tuberculosis as quickly, easily and inexpensively as today’s home pregnancy tests and blood glucose monitoring strips. Cyclone engineer Meng Lu is using the power of microfabrication to create state-of-the-art, on-demand diagnostic technology. Lu, an assistant professor in both electrical and computer engineering and mechanical engineering, says the key to … Continue reading At-Home Disease Testing: Designing Microfabricated-Paper Sensors For Biomarker Detection

Benjamin Ahn’s research goal is to identify the best educational approaches for educating new generations of engineers, using technology tools available today. “The next generation of engineers will face new challenges, and we have new technology tools to help educate and prepare students,” says Ahn, assistant professor of aerospace engineering. “But technology is only as … Continue reading Educating Today’s Engineers: Examining How, Why and When New Technology Tools Improve Engineering Education

James McCalley is working with researchers from across the nation to find ways to tie the United States’ largest – but separate – electricity grids together. In a study that is part of a U.S. Department of Energy $220 million Grid Modernization Initiative, McCalley and his Iowa State University researchteam are building computer models simulating 15 … Continue reading Modern Grid: Linking U.S. Electrical Systems to Move Renewable Energy and Increase Reliability

Many researchers say they want to shake up their fields of study. Iowa State engineer Jeramy Ashlock means it. Ashlock, the Richard L. Handy Professor of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, studies how building and bridge foundations interact with soil during earthquakes and structural vibrations. In research funded by an National Science Foundation CAREER award, Ashlock and his … Continue reading Firm Foundations: Refining Pile Design Models For Earthquake-Resistant Buildings

Matt Helmers’ mission is to put the “middle ground” in managing agricultural land. Crops need enough but not too much water in the soil. Agricultural producers seek to get just the right amount of nutrients to plants, without the excess traveling elsewhere. “The overall goal of my research in water quality and drainage flow is … Continue reading Middle Ground: Examining Farm Field Drainage to Develop Balanced Agricultural Practices