Department News

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
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
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
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
ISU Power Pullers: Pushing the edge of innovation
What drives the members of ISU Power Pullers Club Read More

January 23, 2023
Thoughts turning, wheels rolling: Hory Chikez and students design and build mobile assembly lab
Ping! was the sound of Hory Chikez’s thoughts when the spark of an idea was ignited one September afternoon. Read More

January 9, 2023
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." Read More

November 21, 2022
Sky high: Khushi Kapoor innovates tomorrow’s aviation technologies
For Khushi Kapoor, senior in aerospace engineering, innovating at Iowa State means reaching for new heights in aviation. Read More

November 18, 2022
Water work: Daria Dilparic provides vital water treatment service to the Ames community
Daria Dilparic is combining her love of chemistry, water quality and public health as a graduate student in environmental engineering – and in a position as a student operator at Ames Water and Pollution Control Department. Daria’s commitment to protecting the environment and her community inspires her to use analytical chemistry methods to solve drinking water contamination problems. Read More

November 4, 2022
Structural change: Marissa Recker’s transfer keeps her on pace to civil engineering career
Marissa Recker transferred to Iowa State at the beginning of her junior year to major in civil engineering. She found a community in her classes and clubs – and that employers are eager to hire Cyclone Engineers. Read More

October 18, 2022
“Food brings people together”: Ani Yam engineers manufacturing processes for meals meant to be shared
Ani Yam (’22 industrial engineering) loves to create connections and community – and what brings people together more than delicious food? So after getting a taste of the food industry in a summer internship, Yam is now a manufacturing and engineering associate at General Mills. Read More

October 10, 2022
Groundbreaking ceremony held for Therkildsen Industrial Engineering building
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sept. 23, 2022, marking the beginning of construction on the new Therkildsen Industrial Engineering building. Read More

October 4, 2022
Lettuce deliver: Nick Herrig engineers tech solutions for fresh greens-to-doorstep startup
Nick Herrig (‘17 indust engr) is the lead software engineer for Clayton Farms, an Ames-based startup that delivers soil-free-grown produce to customers’ homes – the same day it’s harvested. After graduating and working in process improvement and IT for large companies for a few years, Herrig realized he was still hungry for the fast-paced world of startups. Read More

September 19, 2022