Tag Archives: engineering

At the intersection of engineering and music, Yale students hit the right notes

During the holiday season, it’s not unusual to be serenaded by Yale’s many choirs and a cappella ensembles caroling around campus. But this past December, only in Yale’s Center for Engineering Innovation & Design (CEID) could you be treated to an impromptu reggae jam played on one-of-a-kind instruments. (more…)

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Engineering defects in diamond for quantum computing and subatomic imaging

By carefully controlling the position of an atomic-scale diamond defect within a volume smaller than what some viruses would fill, researchers have cleared a path toward better quantum computers and nanoscale sensors. They describe their technique in a paper published in the journal Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing. (more…)

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Engineers Build World’s Smallest, Fastest Nanomotor

AUSTIN, Texas — Researchers at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have built the smallest, fastest and longest-running tiny synthetic motor to date. The team’s nanomotor is an important step toward developing miniature machines that could one day move through the body to administer insulin for diabetics when needed, or target and treat cancer cells without harming good cells. (more…)

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UT Austin Engineers Build First Nonreciprocal Acoustic Circulator: A One-Way Sound Device

AUSTIN, Texas — A team of researchers at The University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering has built the first-ever circulator for sound. The team’s experiments successfully prove that the fundamental symmetry with which acoustic waves travel through air between two points in space (“if you can hear, you can also be heard”) can be broken by a compact and simple device.

“Using the proposed concept, we were able to create one-way communication for sound traveling through air,” said Andrea Alù, who led the project and is an associate professor and David & Doris Lybarger Endowed Faculty Fellow in the Cockrell School’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Imagine being able to listen without having to worry about being heard in return.” (more…)

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My Fair Physicist? Feminine Math, Science Role Models Do Not Motivate Girls

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Women who excel in male-dominated science, technology, engineering and mathematic fields are often unjustly stereotyped as unfeminine.

However, if women are perceived as having feminine qualities, their success may actually decrease interest in these fields (usually referred to as “STEM”), particularly among young girls, according to a new University of Michigan study. (more…)

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MSU Licenses Technology to Detect Altered Fingerprints

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University has licensed cutting-edge software that detects altered fingerprints to Morpho, part of the Safran group, one of the world’s leading suppliers of identification and detection solutions.

The widespread use of fingerprint recognition systems has led some individuals to disfigure or surgically change their fingerprints to mask their identities. The technology, developed by Anil Jain, University Distinguished Professor of computer science and engineering at MSU, can help law enforcement and border control officials detect these altered fingerprints. (more…)

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Imagine Cup Winner’s Vision Tool Could Help Millions

*A project that helps students with low vision take notes wins the U.S. Imagine Cup’s preeminent software design category.*

REDMOND, Wash. – April 12, 2011 – When David Hayden’s team won the U.S. Imagine Cup’s prestigious category Monday, it was a victory for him as a student with low vision, and for all students with reduced vision across the world.

Hayden and Team Note-Taker from Arizona State University (ASU) won the Software Design category after competing in Microsoft’s U.S. Imagine Cup finals over the weekend. His team will advance to compete in the Imagine Cup world finals in July. (more…)

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Personal Solar Panel Could Make Electricity More Accessible in the Developing World

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— As a child in Mali, Abdrahamane Traoré often did his homework by the sooty, dim light of a kerosene lamp.

As an adult in Michigan, he sometimes has a tough time reaching his family back home. Traoré’s mother must walk to a neighboring village to keep a cell phone charged. (more…)

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