Archive: 2023

Researchers team up to break down, upcycle low-quality, rejected plastic wastes
Iowa State's Xianglan Bai is leading two, $2-million-plus projects that will study and develop new ways to break down waste plastics and convert them to useful materials. The U.S. Department of Energy is supporting both projects. Read More

February 9, 2023
Meet the new ECpE faculty: Manojit Pramanik
Manojit Pramanik new professor for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE) that started in the Spring. Pramanik brings extensive experience and research to the department. The following Q and A is a chance to get to know Pramanik. Read More

February 6, 2023
Sound seeing: Sam Das pairs audio sensing with artificial intelligence to monitor International Space Station
As an artificial intelligence research leader at Bosch, Samarjit Das (‘10 Ph.D. electrical engineering) has partnered with NASA to develop deep audio analytics technologies that monitor the health of machines in space. And back here on earth, he’s using audio sensing with AI to improve disease diagnosis. Read More

February 6, 2023
Katherine Gisi: A spark for engineering better brain imaging
Katherine Gisi, senior in electrical engineering, wants us all to be able to understand an important, complex electrical system: the human brain. Read More

February 3, 2023
Thivani Senathiraja’s passion for taking on problems is leading to grand successes
Senathiraja is working with Chris Cornelius, the Dr. Thomas D. McGee and Dr. Ick-Jhin Rick Yoon Department Chair in Materials Science and Engineering/Wilkinson Chair in Materials Science and Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering, by courtesy, to promote green energy by optimizing and increasing the performance and durability of hydrogen fuel cell membranes. Her research and leadership have resulted in her receiving several awards, including the local Guiding Start Award from the Graduate Society of Women Engineers. Read More

February 2, 2023
Student organization’s “concrete hearts” spread Valentine’s Day cheer this February
The Concrete Canoe Club in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering is beginning their third year of Valentine’s Day cheer as they build and sell their very own creation: concrete hearts. Read More

February 1, 2023
If walls could talk: Cyclone Engineers develop cyber-physical system for exterior walls to “think for themselves”
Associate professor Alice Alipour (CCEE), associate professor Behrouz Shafei (CCEE) and professor Partha Sarkar (aerospace engineering) received a grant from the NSF in 2018 to study what they call a Smorphacade (short for a Smart Morphing Façade), a type of building exterior that is what some could consider alive. Recently, they received another project from NSF to conduct technology transfer on this fundamentally transformative idea. Read More

January 31, 2023
ABE welcomes new faculty member: Sara McMillan
The Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering is continuing to enhance the environment with research, teaching and extension work brought to the table by new ABE professor Sara McMillan. Read More

January 31, 2023
Chowdhury computational research crosses new frontiers in protein structure study
Research led by Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering assistant professor Ratul Chowdhury has landed firmly on the cutting edge of new computational technology in protein research – and on the cover of a recent issue of Nature Biotechnology, one of the highest ranked journals in this field. Read More

January 30, 2023
Mars Wrigley Confections donates more than $750k worth of lab equipment to ISU
The spirit of giving isn’t just limited to the Christmas holiday season! That’s what Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) Professor of Practice John Kaiser has experienced recently with the help of generous benefactors at his former employer, Mars Wrigley Confections. They've supplied more than $750,000 worth of lab equipment to the department. Read More

January 30, 2023
Beloved industrial engineering emeritus professor announces free follow-up to award-winning statistics textbook
Steve Vardeman, longtime professor in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, is the co-author of a newly available open-source book, Basic Engineering Data Collection and Analysis. Read More

January 30, 2023
Holographic hard hats ahead: Cyclone Engineers break into the third dimension of structural design
Civil engineering sophomore Liam Lenahan and assistant professor Roy Sturgill are working together to bring the third dimension into structural design. The two are bringing 3D projects into the classroom through a very ‘construction-style’ medium: hard hats. Read More

January 26, 2023
Excellence Award goes to ISU Material Advantage Chapter
The Iowa State University Material Advantage (MA) Chapter won a Chapter of Excellence Award from the international student program at the 2022 annual Materials Science and Technology Conference held in Pittsburgh last October. Read More

January 26, 2023
Inspirando a la próxima generación de ingenieros Hispanos
Cyclone Engineering leaders of the Iowa State chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) are dedicated to two goals: serving as a resource for Hispanic engineering students – and broadening the Hispanic community’s participation in STEM. Read More

January 26, 2023
Sara Nelson named Iowa Space Grant Consortium director
The Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) has announced Dr. Sara D. Nelson as its new director. The NASA-supported agency is part of Iowa State’s Department of Aerospace Engineering and works to improve and inspire Iowa’s involvement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education. Read More

January 25, 2023