The Faculty Professional Development Assignment (FPDA) taken by one industrial engineering professor has paid off in the form of a patent. Matt Frank, the John B. Slater Professor of Sustainable Design & Manufacturing, and a team of engineers from Deere and Company were recently issued U.S. Patent 11,364,536 B1 for the “layered slab manufacturing system and method”
Though much of Francis B. Francois’ career took place outside of Iowa, it seems that the general engineering graduate never forgot about his Iowa roots. Francois was born in 1934 and grew up on a farm in Barnum, Iowa. He chose to attend Iowa State College (now called Iowa State University), which was about 75 …Continue reading “Iowa roots shaped late alum’s career”
An undergraduate degree in industrial engineering (IE) can lead to a career in many fields. For one Iowa State University alumnus, that field happens to be patent and intellectual property law. “IE seemed like the toughest degree to get and I’m always attracted to a challenge,” Chris Proskey thought when he was deciding on his …Continue reading “From engineering to business to law, Chris Proskey has experience in it all”
A 1999 article in Visions magazine, produced by the Iowa State University Alumni Association, informed many aspects of the reporting in this four-part series When John Thomas Liggett completed his degree in mechanical engineering at Iowa State in 1917, he had no idea he was starting what would become a family tradition. Since then, three …Continue reading “Liggett Family Legacy – Part I: John T. Liggett”
Matthew Darr, a professor in Iowa State University’s Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department (ISU ABE), was recently issued a U.S. patent. Titled “Round Module Weighing Using Differential Pressure Sensing,” the patent was issued on Oct. 9, 2018. It was filed as U.S. Patent No. 10,091,943. From the patent file, it states that the invention “…relates …Continue reading “ABE professor issued patent for agricultural weighing device”
With ingenuity, this civil engineering doctoral candidate earned a patent for research that he completed as an outstanding undergraduate student. If you ask Austin Downey whether undergraduate research affected his goals, you will probably hear this: “It made my career.” “I loved it,” Downey, who is a doctoral candidate studying civil engineering at Iowa State …Continue reading “Creative thinking in research: undergraduate opportunities shape career of civil engineering graduate student”
Two Cyclone engineers. More than 200 patents. A hands-on Iowa State learning experience that started it all. Steve Koenck (elec engr ‘73, MS ’74) and Joe Musil (mech engr ’72) met as Iowa State engineering students in 1970 when they both were working in the College of Engineering’s fabrication machine shop. “Pretty much every hour …Continue reading “Steve Koenck and Joe Musil: Cyclone engineers and patent powerhouses”
Mechanical Engineering professors Robert C. Brown and Atul Kelkar were recently each awarded patents. Brown was co-inventor with R. Christopher Williams, a professor in Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State, and Mohamed Abdel Raouf Mohamed Metwally of Cairo, Egypt on U.S. Patent No. 9,546,276 entitled “Bio-oil Formulation as an Asphalt Substitute.” The patent was issued …Continue reading “Two ME professors awarded patents”
On Sept. 8, Sarah Rajala, James L. and Katherine S. Melsa Dean of Engineering, welcomed College of Engineering faculty and staff to the start of the new year with the 2016 Convocation. During the presentation, she discussed the past year’s accomplishments and goals for the next year, provided a financial update, and recognized new faculty and …Continue reading “Faculty and staff recognized during 2016 College of Engineering Convocation”
ECpE alum, James Mitchell, P.E. (EE ‘82), may have created the world’s first digital outgoing telephone message machine during his time at Iowa State University. Mitchell displayed a working prototype of the digital outgoing message with a taped incoming system at the Iowa State University VEISHEA Engineering Open House in April 1982. Using 35 integrated …Continue reading “VEISHEA project could be first digital answering machine”
On Sept. 15, Sarah Rajala, dean and James & Katherine Melsa Professor of Engineering, welcomed College of Engineering faculty and staff to the start of the new year with the 2015 Convocation. During the presentation, she discussed the past year’s accomplishments and goals for the next year, provided a financial update, and recognized new faculty and …Continue reading “Faculty and staff recognized during 2015 College of Engineering Convocation”
Iowa State is ranked 70th in the world among universities granted U.S. utility patents in 2014, according to a report released this week by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO). Iowa State researchers earned 31 U.S. patents in 2014, including patents for wind turbine tower systems, computer encryption logic, bioasphalt, use of mesoporous silicates for delivering biomolecules into plant cells and improved treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Written by Robert Mills Bioeconomy Institute A team headed by Robert Brown, BEI director, has been awarded a patent for bio-oil fractionation. “We have built much of our research around this technology,” Brown said. The patent, number US 8,476,480, was awarded in July 2013 to Brown; Samuel Jones, a former scientist with BEI’s Center for Sustainable …Continue reading “Brown and Team Awarded Patent Key to BEI Research”
Balaji Narasimhan, associate dean of research for the College of Engineering, talks with the Iowa State Daily about the important role patents play in advancing research and innovation.
Iowa State University researchers have disclosed their 4,000th invention to the university’s research foundation. That’s 4,000 inventions that have been studied for patent protection and commercial potential. The 4,000th invention happens to be software that compresses 3-D images for easier storage on a computer. Song Zhang, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering is the inventor of the …Continue reading “Engineer discloses Iowa State’s 4,000th invention for possible commercialization”
