College of Engineering News • Iowa State University

What does community sound like? For Anna Hackbarth, it’s marching band music

“When I heard the ISU Cyclone Marching Band practicing during my first tour of campus, I just immediately fell in love. I knew I wanted to come to Iowa State and be in the band and be a part of all of it.

And, lucky for me, because I always planned to major in engineering, Iowa State is a great band school and a great engineering school.”

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.

Testing hybrid, soft/hard nanocarriers to deliver drugs to the brain

Rizia Bardhan made a fist with one hand then covered it with her other hand, like a baseball player catching a ball in the web of a fielder’s glove.

The fist represents a special nanocarrier filled with medicine, said the Iowa State University associate professor of chemical and biological engineering. The other hand represents a cell working out whether to catch that nanoparticle then take it, drugs and all, across its protective membrane into its interior.

The value of an engineering education

“The benefit of an engineering education is that, in addition to the specific subject matter, you learn the habits of self-study that will carry you through your career. In engineering you are always having to learn new material along the way, which is a very valuable skill,” said Stephen Mosher (’70 elec engr).

Iowa State College of Engineering selects first Kiewit Scholars Program cohort

AMES, Iowa – This spring, Iowa State University’s Kiewit Scholars Program selected 18 students for the inaugural cohort for the Kiewit Scholars Program at Iowa State. This first group of scholars includes nine incoming freshmen and nine currently enrolled Iowa State students.

Meet the new ECpE faculty: Mohammad Tayeb Al Qaseer

Starting this fall, Mohammad Tayeb Al Qaseer, currently a research associate professor, will move into the appointment of a tenure-track associate professor for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE). Al Qaseer brings extensive experience and research to the department.

Anna Case Receives Student Best paper Award – Runner Up at IEEE Conference

Anna Case, a Ph.D. candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE) Department who conducts her research at CNDE, received the Student Best paper Award – Runner Up (2nd Place) at the IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC) held in Ottawa, Canada on May 16-19, 2022.

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