The team of middle schoolers didn’t know how to make an app. Neither did their teacher. But that didn’t stop them. And so, when the “Rubble Busters” from Maxwell show up for the Iowa FIRST LEGO League Championship on Saturday, Jan. 18, at Iowa State University’s College of Engineering, they’ll demonstrate a mobile app that …Continue reading “Hundreds of students to compete for Iowa FIRST LEGO League championship”
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”
We’ve all typed in a password to access a computer network. But how secure is that? Passwords can be hacked or hijacked to get at sensitive personal, corporate or even national security data. That reality has Iowa State engineers looking for methods beyond passwords to verify computer users and protect data. They started by tracking …Continue reading “Iowa State engineers use keyboard, mouse and mobile device ‘fingerprints’ to protect data”
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”
Iowa State University engineers know bridge construction projects can create driving headaches. You can’t just move traffic to the shoulder. You have to detour traffic for miles and, sometimes, for months. “That creates additional societal costs,” said Brent Phares, the director of Iowa State’s Bridge Engineering Center and an adjunct assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering. …Continue reading “Iowa State Bridge Engineering Center part of new U.S. DOT transportation center”
The U.S. Department of Transportation is supporting establishment of a Midwest Transportation Center based at Iowa State University with a two-year grant of $2,592,500. The center will focus its research on data-driven performance measures of transportation infrastructure, traffic safety and project construction, said Shauna Hallmark, the leader of the grant, the interim director of Iowa …Continue reading “U.S. DOT awards Iowa State $2.6 million to establish Midwest Transportation Center”
Kenny McCabe and James Schrader grabbed two pots of marigolds and placed them on a greenhouse bench. On the left, in a pot made from a biorenewable mix of soy protein and polylactic acid, was a thick plant with three orange-gold blooms and four buds about to pop, its leaves a rich and dark green. …Continue reading “Iowa State building research and development program for bioplastics”
Engineers know that gas turbine engines for aircraft and power plants are more efficient and burn less fuel when they run at temperatures high enough to melt metal. But how to raise temperatures and efficiencies without damaging engine parts and pieces? Iowa State University’s Hui Hu and Blake Johnson, working away in a tight corner behind …Continue reading “Iowa State engineers develop new tests to cool turbine blades, improve engines”
Two big projects are crowding the Team PrISUm garage this summer. Walk in and the left side of the garage is full of 4-foot by 8-foot sheets of polyurethane foam. The student-engineers of Team PrISUm are gluing the sheets together to build big blocks that will be machined, sanded and polished into molds. The molds will help …Continue reading “Team PrISUm hopes for Texas heat at this summer’s Formula Sun Grand Prix”
5-28-13 update: It’s never ideal to finish a racing car after unloading at competition. And so the Formula North contest in Canada was an up-and-down event for Iowa State’s Formula SAE Team. The team finished mid-pack in the short and twisty autocross event. But delays in passing technical inspection cost the team the chance to compete …Continue reading “Iowa State formula racers think engine problems are finally behind them”
The student-engineers of Team LunaCY say they’ve built an even better robot. That’s a big deal, considering last year’s robot won three of the contests in NASA’s annual Lunabotics Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (The wins were in mining, outreach and efficient use of communications power.) Team members were recently in their campus lab assembling, …Continue reading “Iowa State’s Team LunaCY ready to repeat last year’s top results at NASA competition”
Grant Schmitz, eyes inches from a 6.5-by-12-foot panel of ultra-high performance concrete, studied the smooth surface for tiny cracks. He and other research engineers carefully marked every one with black markers. Schmitz, an Iowa State graduate student of civil, construction and environmental engineering, and Sri Sritharan, Iowa State’s Wilson Engineering Professor and leader of the ’s College …Continue reading “Iowa State engineers design, test taller, high-strength concrete towers for wind turbines”
Students swarmed the Baja SAE garage last week, assembling their mini off-road racer and manufacturing spare parts for their two summer races. “The big thing we tried to address this year was reliability,” said Scott Brehm, a graduating senior from Rickardsville who’s a mechanical engineering major and the technical director of Iowa State’s Baja SAE team. The team …Continue reading “It’s all about reliability for this year’s Iowa State Baja racing team”
Daniel Attinger paused before handing over a photo of a crime scene. “Are you bothered by the sight of blood?” There was good reason for his question: The photo showed blood pooled and smeared on a floor. Blood drops ran down a nearby wall. A single shoe was left in the evidence of violence and …Continue reading “Attinger working to put more science behind bloodstain pattern analysis”
Bill Rickard, coordinator of the aerospace engineering labs and shops, is the ultimate handyman. Need a wind tunnel? He’ll see that it gets built. Need an airfoil to test in that wind tunnel? He’ll see that it gets built. And when students need to find tools to complete their class projects? He and other shop …Continue reading “Five questions for the ultimate handyman”
