College of Engineering News • Iowa State University

Pitching plastics: innovation to entrepreneurship

Shan Jiang, associate professor in MSE, wanted a way to connect student’s innovation with entrepreneurship, all while remaining sustainable.

“You can teach a theory, but it is impossible to teach innovation,” Jiang said. “However, if you give students a problem they are engaged in, they will try their best, they will innovate on things they are passionate about. That is the challenge, combining what they learn in the classroom and using topics they are enthusiast about.”

ECpE makes Fortune’s best cybersecurity master’s degree list

A way to address the talent gap in expertise is with master’s degree programs. To help guide those people looking to launch their career in this fast-growing space, Fortune has ranked the top in-person master’s degree programs in cybersecurity in 2023.

MSE alumnus helps next generation of materials science engineers

Auliff always felt an affinity toward chemistry and physics, and after falling in love with the park-like atmosphere of Iowa State’s Central Campus on a visit during high school, he started evaluating different engineering departments. MSE was the ideal fit for him.

Iowa State selected for Foundational Agrivoltaic Research for Megawatt Scale (FARMS) funding program

The Foundational Agrivoltaic Research for Megawatt Scale (FARMS) funding program examines how agrivoltaics can provide new economic opportunities to farmers, rural communities, and the solar industry.

MRC fosters cutting-edge research and provides state-of-the-art equipment

Liang Dong, Vikram Dalal Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering was named the director of the Microelectronics Research Center (MRC) in 2022.
The MRC is a multi-disciplinary center focusing on the study of semiconductor materials, devices, and applications. The research conducted at the MRC includes microelectronics, photonics, compound semiconductors, nanomaterials, sensors, and microelectromechanical systems. The Center is utilized by research groups across the campus, industry specialists, and students.
“The Center provides our students with ampler opportunities for fabricating micro- and nanodevices. Our researchers have full access to a range of tools. The fabrication and characterization capacity we have is the foundation that our academic and industry communities need to innovate and scale in the micro- and nano-world,” Dong said, “The Center also provides an environment that fosters innovation and collaboration between researchers. We are working towards integrating expertise and strengths to initiate and develop new research activities and to succeed.”
One of Dong’s core research areas is in sensors. He has developed a suite of agricultural sensors to detect plant diseases, monitor their health status, and quantify water and fertilizer use efficiencies of crops.
These devices are just some examples of research that utilizes the MRC, which houses a lot of state-of-the-art equipment to use. This includes a 3D-nano-printer. This printer, worth more than half a million dollars, can print fine structures of less than one hundredth the size of human hair. This piece of equipment has a wide array of applications in low-cost sensors, micro-optics, and smart nanomaterials and devices.

Helping law enforcement hunt evil

Guan serves as the Cyber Forensic Coordinator for the Center for Statistic and Applications in Forensic Evidence (CSAFE). It was through CSAFE that Guan and his team developed EviHunter. This software can analyze a smart phone’s apps for evidence relating to a crime, and it is automatic and can speed up the investigation process by shortening the time to only 20-30 minutes per device.

MSE student spends summer researching in Japan

This past summer Adam Eichhorn, who just started his senior year in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), was able to visit Japan as a part of a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) where he was able to gain valuable research experience before he moves on to graduate school.

NASA selects MSE professor to test materials for future missions

NASA has selected five different ground-based proposals to investigate important problems using existing data from the Physical Sciences Informatics System and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) assistant professor Sid Pathak’s proposal was one of those chosen.

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