Devices like cell phones and appliances usually operate hassle-free, but when the software in them malfunctions it is often an added expense and headache. Similar software is now present in cars, airplanes, and spacecrafts, but if the software components in those vehicles are not reliable, the result can be devastating—the potential loss of millions of …Continue reading “Kothari transforms software analysis”
On May 16, Iowa State alumnus and supporter Murray Harpole died suddenly at the age of 89. Those who knew Harpole remember him as a devoted friend and family member, creative engineer, successful businessman, and generous philanthropist. He made his home in Minnesota, but the many years he spent bettering Iowa State and its engineering …Continue reading “Remembering the legacy of Murray Harpole”
Mahtomedi High School will be the first high school in Minnesota to have a digital fabrication lab. Fab labs are state-of-the-art workshops that offer a wide array of high-tech tools like three-dimensional printers and milling machines for designing and manufacturing almost anything.
Mechanical engineers always suspected that fabric HVAC ductwork is more energy efficient than its metal duct counterpart, but now three members of the Iowa State University’s Mechanical Engineering Department have proven an overwhelming 24.5-percent efficiency differential.
The research of Valery Levitas, Schafer 2050 Challenge Professor and faculty member in both aerospace and mechanical engineering, and PhD student Kamran Samani gained global attention when it was published in Nature Communications (2011, Vol. 2, 284), a journal specializing in significant advances in physical, chemical, and biological fields.
For five years, an old mansion sat abandoned in Atlanta, Georgia. The façade was covered in graffiti, and the inside was dusty and dilapidated. The surrounding historical neighborhood, known as Inman Park, had largely been restored to its old glory, but aside from occasional drifters, the home remained vacant. It had lived many lives since …Continue reading “Alumni couple transform historic home into brewpub”
As summer days get hotter, many lakes around Iowa start to develop blue-green algae that can impair recreation and harm drinking water. Iowa State University researchers are examining why the algae, known as Cyanobacteria, invade the lakes and what can be done about it.
“And so for the final time, Fergie, Doug, Sandy and Rex, good luck, Godspeed, and have a little fun up there.” These were the sure-to-be-quoted last words of Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach before space shuttle Atlantis launched into orbit. Atlantis, of NASA’s space shuttle program STS-135, began its final flight to the International Space …Continue reading “Iowa State faculty treasure connections with NASA, comment on Friday’s space launch”
Learning to build and program an autonomous robot in one day may sound like a big challenge for 8-14 year olds, but the kids at Robotics Camp on June 16 didn’t seem to have any troubles with it. Heather Fremont, a senior in history, says the camp is “a day filled with hands-on activities that …Continue reading “Young students explore robotics at engineering camp”
By Rick Hanton, Iowa State Lunabotics Team member and Chairman of SEDS-USA On May 21, 2011, a group of 14 Iowa State students and their advisor began a 1,400 mile journey from Ames, Iowa, to the Space Coast in Florida. The group, known as Team LunaCY, had just finished designing and building a 175 pound …Continue reading “LunaCY member shares team’s experience at NASA Lunabotics competition”
By Rick Hanton, Iowa State Lunabotics Team member and Chairman of SEDS-USA On May 21, 2011, two 15-passenger vans trekked 1,400 miles across country from Ames, Iowa, to the Space Coast in Florida. It was a long 26-hour drive for the team of engineers from Iowa State University who had been tirelessly preparing for …Continue reading “Team LunaCY learns from second year of competition, impresses judges with design”
Representatives of DuPont Co., a multinational chemical company, have announced plans to build a next-generation ethanol plant in Central Iowa near Nevada. It’s estimated that the ethanol plant will take anywhere from a year to a year and a half to build. It is expected to start producing ethanol by 2013. It will be situated …Continue reading “Ethanol plant to be built in Central Iowa”
Ted Heindel doesn’t use x-rays the traditional way. He wouldn’t be interested in checking to see if someone has a broken bone, but he could easily check for voids in a bucket of sand with a gas moving through it—a device commonly called a fluidized bed. Heindel, interim chair for the Department of Mechanical Engineering …Continue reading “ME professor named 2011 ASME Fellow”
The same technologies that Iowa State University’s David J. White is developing to build better roads and foundations could also be used to build better river levees. White, the Waldo W. Wegner Associate Professor in Civil Engineering, leads the crew working with Iowa State’s Geotechnical Mobile Lab. In six years of operation, the lab has …Continue reading “Intelligent construction practices developed for roads also apply to levee construction”
Laura Jarboe pointed to a collection of test tubes in her Iowa State University laboratory. Some of the tubes looked like they were holding very weak coffee. That meant microorganisms – in this case, Shewanella bacteria – were growing and biochemically converting sugars into hydrocarbons, said Jarboe, an Iowa State assistant professor of chemical and …Continue reading “Iowa State hybrid lab combines technologies to make biorenewable fuels and products”
