Contributors to the second phase of the Phoenix Northwest Light Rail Transit system included a team of students in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, led by Fulton Schools Professor Barzin Mobasher.  The team helped to ensure the performance of the concrete used in the project, which has been named a finalist in the Engineering News Record, or ENR, Southwest regional competition for Best Projects completed in 2024. In an American Society of Civil Engineers publication, Mobasher wrote about how students verified that the use of an advanced concrete with steel fibers for the 1.6-mile, multimillion-dollar extension significantly improved ductility and met the 45-year service life of 2 million structural fatigue cycles.

A planned $100 billion expansion of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing operations in Phoenix was announced recently, bringing with it the challenge of finding the many qualified workers with a range of skills in a variety of high-tech fields the company will need to achieve it goals. One source is the Fulton Schools, with many of its more than 30,000 students whose studies are preparing them to support the needs of the booming microelectronics industry. The Fulton Schools, the largest engineering school in the nation, is poised to be vital partner in TSMC’s expansion, says an ASU spokesperson.

Arizona’s bridges, railways and roadways are increasingly providing the state safer, more sustainable and economic transit infrastructure, options and services. Some of those benefits are rooted in achievements enabled by research at ASU. Among examples of that impact is the development of fiber reinforced concrete by Professors Barzin Mobasher and Narayanan Neithalath in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Work they are directing in the Structural Mechanics and Infrastructure Materials  and Cement and Concrete Materials laboratories is contributing to improved construction materials for development and repair of transportation systems as well as broader innovations that are helping to enhance mobility and livability in communities.

ASU rose one spot among U.S. universities on the Academy of Inventors’ annual list of the top universities worldwide. Last year, ASU secured 180 utility patents, up by 10 from the previous year, earning a ranking in the top 10 in the U.S. Among achievements highlighted in this report is the development by ASU and Texas Instruments researchers of technology that helps semiconductor chip designers by improving the way electronic devices match to one another electronically inside a high-tech processing chip. Creators of the patented technology include Sule Ozev, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools.

A 30-acre Phoenix Bioscience Core innovation zone to be developed in the city’s downtown core will benefit from the resources of the Fulton Schools. The future ASU Health headquarters will be part of the complex that will include the university’s School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering and the School of Technology for Public Health. Plans are for ASU Health to work closely with ASU’s College of Health Solutions, the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation and the Fulton Schools to form what one official said will be the “center of the universe” for dialog relating to health for Arizonans.

See also:  Officials announce plans for new ASU health headquarters in downtown Phoenix, ABC News 15 Arizona, March 10

ASU announces location for health headquarters in Phoenix, Daily Independent, March 10

ASU announces downtown Phoenix location of future medical school, KTAR News-Phoenix, March 11

ASU, City of Phoenix announce location for ASU Health headquarters, AZ Big Media, March 11

The U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is among federal agencies undergoing a funding freeze and its work with ASU has stopped. ASU has supported more than 20 USAID projects in the past decade through research, technical support, administrative expertise and staffing. Those efforts have included help from the Fulton Schools in looking at public infrastructure for parks and transportation in El Salvador to consider modifications to help decrease harassment that is common there. The Fulton Schools collaborations with USAID are also lauded as the gold standard for matching public-sector goals and private-sector needs with education-sector abilities to help build workforces and provide investments for the future.

Billions of dollars have already been promised to U.S. chipmakers to provide the nation’s semiconductor manufacturers the advanced technology necessary to support the growth of the high-tech sector. President Donald Trump has called for halting this effort put in motion by the CHIPS Act, even though it has driven substantial new investments in the U.S. by major companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor. Binil Starly, director of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools, and other experts say the value of the CHIPS Act is crucial to realizing the potential for an ongoing upswing in the country’s economy aided by a growing supply of cutting-edge manufacturing systems.

Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown is Among ASU researchers whose work extends beyond the study of health into applying what is being learned and taught about human health and how to protect it.   Krajmalnik-Brown is a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools and director of the ASU Biodesign Institute’s Center for Health Through Microbiomes. A video that’s part of this article detailing many of ASU’s health and medical research  endeavors includes a video on the work she and her colleagues are doing to improve treatment for people with autism. The video includes James Adams, a professor in the School  for the Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, who is also doing research to improve autism treatment for children. Details of other ASU health and medical research projects are reported in the article.

As climate trends trigger rising temperatures and more persistent heat, ASU researchers are working to enable people to remain safe and healthy in such conditions. Among projects are a thermal manikin that can measure the effects of extreme heat on humans so they can design adequate solutions. Leaders of that work include Konrad Rykaczewski, an associate professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy. Other faculty members involved in related projects are Ariane Middel, an assistant professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence and Narayanan Neithalath, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, is poised to invest an additional $100 billion in the United States. That will include significant funding to expand operations at the company’s facilities in the Phoenix area. Plans call for the TSMC Phoenix complex to grow to six fabrication plants. Binil Starly director of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools, says the expansion shows investments by U.S. and Arizona state governments in manufacturing infrastructure are paying off. Starly says the next challenge will be providing the large number of skilled workers required by TSMC.

See also: In ‘major win’ for Arizona, Trump and TSMC announce $100B manufacturing expansion, The Arizona Republic, March 3
Governor Katie Hobbs said the TSMC announcement “cements Arizona as the epicenter of advanced chip manufacturing and innovation in America.” That achievement, she said, has been aided by university partners, notably ASU.

Sandra Watson on TSMC’s Historic $100 billion Investment, 3TV Phoenix, March 4
Arizona Commerce Authority President and CEO Sandra Watson comments on TSMC’s announcement of an additional $100 billion investment in Arizona to build three additional semiconductor fabs and related facilities. 

A look at how ASU research is paving the way for advances in fast-evolving artificial intelligence, or AI, technology that promise to change the world for the better provides details on a project to improve women’s health care. Research aimed at both protecting and improving women’s cardiovascular health is being lead by Sandeep Gupta, a professor in School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of the  Intelligent Mobile & Pervasive Applications & Communication Technologies Lab. Gupta’s and Fulton Schools Associate Research Professor Ayan Banerjee’s efforts, funded by the National Science Foundation, focus on developing the technology to advance medical treatment options for women.

In an episode of a new podcast series that focuses on news and views of direct air capture technology, or DAC, which extracts troublesome carbon dioxide from the atmosphere,  Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and founding director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, is interviewed about the work that has earned him the unofficial title of the Grandfather of DAC. This look at his contributions to the field provides an informative overview of the challenges to ensuring a safe and healthy atmospheric environment.

ASU’s Luminosity Lab has relocated from a Fulton Schools location but at the same time is altering its strategy in ways designed to give students more experience in generating new research ideas. Students involved in the lab’s endeavors have carried out projects with goals that had been defined by the needs of corporations. The change is shifting to an emphasis on formulating research pursuits revolving around achieving progress that would benefit society at large in meaningful ways. Third-year Fulton Schools electrical engineering student Nabiha Ama, who has been on the lab’s team since her freshman year, sees the new direction helping to broaden the range of students’ educational and research experiences.

The Washington District of Columbia’s representative in the U.S. Congress has asked the U.S. defense secretary to stop nonessential VIP helicopter travel in the area. Citing the more than 60 lives lost recently in a collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight in the district, D.C. congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton wants the U.S. Department of Defense to halt most of these VIP flights. Travel behavior and transportation policy expert Steven Polzin, a research professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, provides some perspective on exploring viable solutions.

Travel safety on roadways has typically been a high priority of all levels of government, and many local, state and national programs address travel safety issues. The new U.S. secretary of transportion has pointedly emphasized the issue. Still, progress in maintaining road transportation safety has been not only slow but showing some reversals, writes Steven Polzin, a research professor in the School of School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, whose work focuses on travel behavior and transportation policy. The consequences are often tragic for families and society, Polzin says, declaring that progress will require losing our tolerance of unsafe driver behavior.

Paulo Shakarian, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, is working with colleagues and students on software to help Arizona officials make critical decisions in reacting to potential dangers to the public that can result from wildfires, floods and similar rapid growing environmental threats. The team will explore if artificial intelligence, or AI, technology could help in determining what kinds of  threatening chain reactions could be ignited from these and other emergency situations. A recent research grant from the Arizona Board of Regents has already been approved to fund development the new AI software. 

See also: Arizona Board of Regents supporting AI-powered disaster response efforts, KTAR News, February 17

Cornell University researchers have developed photovoltaic panels using a lightweight fabric that wraps around complex shapes and be contorted to better absorb sunlight to provide a versatile component for renewable solar energy generation. Called HelioSkin, it evolved from a collaboration between Cornell Professor Jenny Sabin and Mariana Bertoni, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, who is also a member of the HelioSkin team. They combined computational design, digital fabrication and 3D printing to produce customized filters and photovoltaic panel assemblies. The achievement advances efforts to enable integrated material systems of buildings to act like organisms to respond and adapt to their environments.

A building spree by Arizona State University is doing more than benefitting the university community. The projects are also offering multiple benefits and contributions to the state’s economy. Among them is the more than 170,000-square-foot structure that will provide office, meeting, instructional, research and collaboration spaces and be the home of ASU’s new School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools. Planned for a fall 2025 opening, it will feature additive manufacturing labs, labs for robotics, smart manufacturing, industry automation, cyber manufacturing and operation research, as well as semiconductor manufacturing and manufacturing systems for the energy sector.

Brent Sebold, the Fulton Schools’ director of entrepreneurship and innovation, sees students in any area of academic studies getting valuable opportunities to contribute to Arizona’s emerging semiconductor technology industry ecosystem. The Chip In for Arizona competition, open to students 18 and older enrolled at Arizona’s accredited higher education institutions, is challenging them to create brand narratives to reflect Arizona’s growing stature in the semiconductor industry. The president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council  says the competition offers those in the next generation of technology professionals a chance to both participate and invest in shaping the future of Arizona’s economic growth.

Nine new projects to be funded by the Security & Defence PLuS will support research to address critical national security and defense challenges. The organization is part of the PLuS Alliance, a partnership of three leading research universities — the University of New South Wales, King’s College London, and Arizona State University. Project leaders include three Fulton Schools faculty members: Heather Lum, an assistant professor of human systems engineering in The Polytechnic School ; Qijun Hong, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy and Professor; and Katina Michael in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, an expert on socio-ethical implications of emerging technologies with an emphasis on national security.

An ASU start-up, HydroGuard, developed an app that tracks peoples’ physical activities, heart rate, skin temperature and fluid intake to give them real-time feedback on their hydration status. The venture’s team includes biomedical engineering graduate student Saanya Aroura, (at far right in photo) in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and Asiful Arefeen (second from left in photo), a master’s degree student in computer science with a concentration in biomedical informatics, in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, also part of the Fulton Schools. The team won an ASU College of Health Solutions pitch fest last September for the hydration monitor designed to help prevent the onset of heat-related illnesses.

A multi-university research team that has been discovering membranes capable of removing. harmful “forever chemicals” includes Tiezheng Tong (pictured in an ASU photo), an associate professor of environmental engineering in ASU’s School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Tong is helping to use advanced machine learning technology to perform membrane separation. The process enables researcher. to get a better understanding of the transport of forever chemicals across nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes, thereby expanding the boundaries of membrane separation science, Tong says. The project is a step to stopping the pollution caused by forever chemicals due to their toxic nature and their presence in water and common products found in most homes.

See also: Machine learning accelerates discovery of membranes to filter PFAS from water,  Tech Xplore, February 19
Researchers Unveil Breakthrough in Understanding Mineral Scaling in Water Desalination, CityBuzz, January 23

The Building Bridges to College and Beyond for Autistic and Neurodivergent Students event — led by the College Autism Network, with sponsorship from Arizona State University — will be at Mesa Community College February 20 and 21. It will spotlight ASU’s programs to help autistic students succeed in college and career pursuits. The Fulton Schools are contributing, with faculty members getting involved in discussion panels and presentations. ASU’s efforts to support students with autism include the Employment Assistance & Social Engagement program, or EASE, Developed by faculty in the Fulton Schools and ASU’s College of Health Solutions, EASE pairs autistic engineering students with peer mentors for training in social engagement, career preparation, technical expertise and skills needed for STEM careers.

Much of the success of student projects coming out of the Interplanetary Laboratory since it got started five years ago has stemmed from the pursuits and contributions of Fulton Schools students. A recent event to spotlight accomplishments made in the lab noted work of several ASU engineering students. They included recent graduate Chandler Hutchins, who now has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering and space systems engineer job at Northrop Grumman. Second-year aerospace engineering student Beth McAuliffe says the lab is providing students valuable opportunities to learn and do research in multiple areas of engineering and take on science, engineering and technology projects with business partners from outside the university.

An initiative designed to pave the way for artificial intelligence, or AI, technology to help make disaster response efforts more effective calls for teaming ASU researchers and the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to harness AI capabilities to enhance disaster response and planning, including identifying emerging threats to public safety and resources so that potential damaging impacts could be averted. ASU experts in technology development would lead efforts to develop advanced technologies capable of achieving the project’s goals. Paulo Shakarian, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, will be one of the co-principal investigators for the project. Shakarian comments about the project in a related Instagram post.

See also: Arizona Board of Regents supporting AI-powered disaster response efforts, KTAR News, February 17

Artificial Intelligence could be the future of Arizona disaster response, ABC 15 News, February 21

Electronic waste is piling up at a rate five times faster than the rate of e-waste recycling. The United Nations Institute for Training and Research has documented that in 2022 more than 62 million tons of e-waste were generated worldwide and forecast that it could exceed 80 million tons by 2030. Improperly discarded e-waste poses threats to the environment and human health. Dwarak Ravikumar, an assistant professor at the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, who researches circular economy solutions to address climate change solutions, talks about potential solutions to the problem and the benefits those solutions could have for businesses and communities.

Fulton Schools Associate Director of People and Talent Ashley Anderson is among the Business Journal’s Outstanding Women in Business for 2025. Anderson is among 25 executives chosen from more than 280 nominees from industries including real estate, health care, education and nonprofits. At a March 25 event in Phoenix, Anderson and others selected will be honored for their notable business achievements. The honorees will also be featured in special Business Journal print and digital publications. Anderson is part of the ASU Engineering Dean’s Office of Fiscal and Business Administration and has a professional certification credential as a senior-level human resources professional and a master’s degree in business administration from American Intercontinental University.

There are concerns about expanding use of the advancing capabilities of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology —including the prediction that AI will do jobs now done by millions of people. But some see AI doing more to help people than to replace them. Faculty and students in School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, are exploring possibilities for AI applications to prepare food for seniors who aging in their own homes, aid people with disabilities and help people communicate more effectively. Ross Maciejewski, the school’s director, says that throughout history new technologies have taken over tasks once done by people, but he sees AI eventually creating more jobs than it eliminates. The report is also on a YouTube video on ABC 15 News Arizona and a KRDO/CNN Regional News report.

ASU’s Global Security Initiative, or GSI, begins its second decade after 10 years contributing to research and education aimed at helping to ensure public and government security throughout the world as the tools and weapons employed by menacing sources continue to advance. GSI Director Nadya Bliss, who is also a professor of practice in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, talks about the growing challenges of geopolitical power competitions and the threats they create. Under her leadership GSI has become a global leader in addressing the complex issues and challenges involved in ensuring global security.

The Chinese start-up company DeepSeek recently became the leading artificial intelligence, or AI, app by developing a free version of a popular AI chatbot that goes into something like a human thought process before providing answers to users. That ability has led to DeepSeek quickly becoming the hot U.S. tech stock and has been prompting leading companies, such as Google and Amazon, to respond with similar AI apps. AI experts such as Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, are assessing the probabilities for how these new models — despite their advances — could still fall short of accuracy and sound reasoning.

About 40 ASU chemical engineering students got a tour of one of Tempe’s water plant recently to learn how the city is aiding municipalities and communities as they try to implement sustainable operational and environmental solutions for their parks, water treatment and management systems and related facilities. It’s part of a project called Project Cities, designed to engage the university and communities in collaborating to address local quality of life needs. It’s challenging Fulton Schools students to use what they are learning in chemical engineering studies to devise scientifically grounded solutions to solve some challenge the city has faced for years.

For an eighth straight semester, 100 or more ASU Sun Devils athletes have earned a perfect 4.0 semester or cumulative grade point average, or GPA. ASU now leads the Big 12 Conference with more than 150 academic All-Americans among the ranks of its student-athletes. Among them is Tiago Behar, a fourth-year undergraduate computer science student in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Behar, the 2023–24 NCAA Elite 90 Award recipient for men’s swim and dive, also earned an award for a student athlete with the highest cumulative GPA who has reached the finals competition for each of the NCAA’s 90 men’s championships. He plans to pursue a career in cybersecurity.

While earning undergraduate and master’s degrees in information technology in the Fulton Schools through ASU’s 4+1 program, Torey Takahashi joined ASU Enterprise Technology, where she is now a full-time staff member contributing to a dynamic digital system through which the ASU community is learning, working and achieving success in their related pursuits. Takahashi collaborates with a team that includes software engineers, systems integration specialists and infrastructure management experts to provide scalable and reliable technology experiences to the community. Takahashi has earned promotions across various positions and now has a role as an orchestration engineer. 

Arizona’s aspirations to be an emerging green technology industry hub had been boosted by the decision of KORE Power Inc., a battery cell developer, to build a lithium-ion battery factory in Buckeye, a town west of Phoenix, to support electric vehicles, energy storage systems and more. The company recently pulled back on its plan, but state and local leaders are still intent on seeing the area become the “Sustainable Valley” to attract other battery industry operations. Candace Chan, a professor of materials science and engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, talks about challenges in gathering the array of high-tech knowledge and skills need to eventually make the effort successful.

An Engineering Projects In Community Service, or EPICS, student team is combining digital signal processing with accelerometer and gyroscope technologies to minimize negative health impacts of Parkinson’s disease — a neurodegenerative condition that causes people to loose muscle control. Fulton Schools electrical engineering student Dylan Levine leads of the Parkinson’s Sleeve development group. The device analyzes tremors and the signal processing send an electrical signal through a specially designed sleeve to the arm to stop the tremor. After work on the prototype, the team will test data and fine-tune the technology, says Jared Schoepf, an associate teaching professor in Engineering Academic & Student Affairs.

China’s coast guard recently deployed a sound cannon in a harassment effort aimed at Philippine vessels in disputed South China Sea waters. The cannons can blast noise loud enough to cause pain and damage hearing. A professor at the University of Hawaii’s School of Pacific and Asian Studies recommended the U.S. provide the Philippines with sound cannons to deter Chinese vessels pushing deeper into the country’s territorial waters. Brad Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, an expert in the geopolitical implications of emerging technologies, discusses the pros and cons of deploying sound cannons in response to China’s actions.

India is ASU’s largest source of international students — many of whom are Fulton Schools students — which is a driving factor behind a new initiative partnering ASU and India’s Rajalakshmi Engineering College. Designed to help redefine pathways for Indian students’ global education pursuits, the effort will include introducing new undergraduate and master’s degree programs in engineering, computer science, and business and management studies. The college will join the ASU-Cintana Alliance, a global network of progressive universities across Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. The alliance will also enable the college to leverage ASU’s extensive resources and collaborative research opportunities while also strengthening ASU’s global presence. The news is also reported in Investing.com’s Stock Market News and in Investment Guru India.com, Illustrated Daily News and The American Bazaar.

See also: Rajalakshmi Engineering College signs MoU with Arizona State University, USA ,The Hindu, February 12 (access to the article requires a subscription)

ASU partners with Rajalakshmi Engineering College to cater to Indian students, New India Abroad, February 12

ASU Expands Educational Horizons in India: A Leap into AI-Enhanced Learning, Devdiscourse (Discourse & Development) February 13

Search engines are increasingly integrating more tools into their services. Among them are knowledge panels and blurbs excerpted from a search result and provided before the links to web pages. These features use artificial intelligence, of AI, technology that vacuum up information from the internet and other sources and offer answers based on how they are trained to associate words. A complaint about them is that they often remove the user’s judgment from the equation. Paulo Shakarian, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, explains why such features are often not providing relevant and reliable information.

A new roof coating developed by an ASU spinoff company is continuing to be tested and showing its effectiveness as a moisture and heat barrier and in boosting the lifespans of roofs. Narayanan Neithalath, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, explains what testing is finding that the EnKoat coating system is capable of doing to protect and improve the durability of roofing structures and systems. EnKoat has a controlled microstructure to protect against extreme heat and help cool indoor temperatures in response to various ambient climate conditions. The advances promise to bring significant future progress in strengthening the resilience of many built environments.

An expanding range of factors is deepening the threat of more serious and widespread climate change impacting the U.S. Recent occurrences such as last summer’s 113 consecutive days of temperatures in Phoenix exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit and fewer than five inches of rain over the past year are among weather and climate trend warning signs. Climate adaptation and infrastructure expert Mikhail Chester, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, says extreme climatic conditions and the problems they cause, including wildfires, are becoming more common and likely to raise growing threatens to habitability, quality of live, community stability and overall prosperity.

The deadly midair collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight was the first major crash in the airspace near the Ronald Reagan National Airport since 1982. But the incident came after decades of near misses of aircraft in flight over the area. It is raising questions about why changes that might have prevented such an accident were never made. Steven Polzin, a research professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and former senior research and technology advisor to the U.S. Department of Transportation, advises worried travelers to avoid crowded airports such as Reagan and peak travel periods.

A new ASU organization, Muslims in Medicine at ASU, intends to offer support to Muslim students pursuing careers in medical and other healthcare professions through their studies at the university. The new group’s vice president, Raheemah Gheyasi, a first-year computer systems engineering student in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, notes that there are other campus organizations focused on the medical field, but that he and fellow students wanted a group to address  specific needs and challenges faced by members of the Muslim faith. The organization has already begun efforts to support students. Through Muslims in Medicine, Gheyasi and another student plan to assist in offering panel discussions and training for Muslim students in collaboration with ASU’s Muslim Student’s Association.

Researchers are testing a new and advanced artificial intelligence, or AI, model to see how it handles hard tasks in areas such as in mathematics and neuroscience. Released by a Chinese company, DeepSeek-RI is an inexpensive and powerful tool being described as a technological game changer in enabling researchers to advance their work. But it’s also been found to fail at some tasks researchers might want to perform. As usual with Chinese AI models, experts note that it won’t answer politically sensitive questions. But AI expert Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says that censorship looks more like a clumsy add-on than something baked into system.

Since graduating from ASU more than two decades ago with a mechanical engineering degree, Missy Brost has been carrying on her family’s legacy of giving back to communities and institutions that have contributed to their career success. Brost has now established three new scholarships programs at the university — including an estate gift to provide endowed scholarships for female students in the Fulton Schools, for students from Los Angeles and students related to ASU graduates. Brost is a former winner of the Los Angeles ASU Alumni chapter award. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, says Brost is creating opportunities for more students to pursue their dreams in engineering.

Many ASU educational activities and research pursuits and the value they provide to Arizona’s progress and well-being are especially impactful in building up the state’s economic strength and improving the quality of life Arizona provides. Major pillars of this vital support are strengthened by work the Fulton Schools are contributing to in significant ways. Noted in this report is the research and development being done at ASU’s MacroTechnology Works, managed by the Fulton Schools, and how its advanced research supports the increasingly robust health of the high-tech sector of Arizona’s economy. In addition, the upcoming development of a U.S. Department of Commerce semiconductor research and development facility in Arizona will draw on expertise from the Fulton Schools.

The limitations of even the most advanced Large Language Models, or LMM’s — widely used deep learning models trained on vast amounts of data — are pointed out by am international research team that developed a benchmark for assessing the performance of these models. Researchers presented 70,000 questions to leading AI models and found 13,000 of the questions proved too difficult for the AI systems. Experts such as Subbarao Kamhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and a past president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, are voicing some doubt about the effort producing comprehensive and meaningful results.

ASU faculty members will be teaming with colleagues at Australia’s University of New South Wales Sydney to carry out research that will provide groundwork for an effort to develop guidelines to assess how autonomous systems, such as artificial intelligence, could perform effectively in ethically sensitive military situations. The effort is being funded through a contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency aimed at pioneering new research in military ethics and autonomous technologies. Faculty researchers in three of the Fulton Schools — the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence and The Polytechnic School — will be involved in the project.

The Phoenix area is seeing a major expansion of semiconductor industry facilities bringing many new jobs, while more Arizona companies have made the Deloitte business services company’s North America Technology Fast 500 list and industry leaders continue to see growing opportunities in the state. To meet the demand for new employees, schools and universities are expanding engineering programs. Professor Binil Starly, director of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools, notes plans to build the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology 12 building, a $185-million addition to ASU’s Polytechnic campus, and new academic programs to train the next generation of engineers to boost Arizona’s workforce.

Collaborations between experts in a wide range of professions are more necessary than ever in seeking solutions to the world’s most critical challenges, says ASU President’s Professor Amber Wutich, director of the university’s Center for Global Health. Wutich also leads Arizona Water for All, one of the five pillars of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, led by ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory in collaboration with the Fulton Schools. She talks about what she sees as a major necessity for social scientists, engineers and biophysical scientists to find  common ground and successfully work together to adequately address increasingly serious water insecurity challenges. Paul Westerhoff, an ASU Regents Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment and the Fulton Chair of Environmental Engineering, is closely involved in these and related endeavors at ASU.

Four ASU online degree programs earned first-place in the latest national rankings by US News and & World Report. One of them is a Fulton Schools online graduate degree program. From among hundreds of other college and university engineering degree programs, the Fulton Schools took the top spot in Best Online Master’s in Electrical Engineering Programs. The Fulton Schools were also ranked third for Best Online Masters’ in Engineering Management Programs, sixth for Best Online Master’s in Industrial Engineering Programs, seventh for Best Online Master’s in Engineering Programs for Veterans and 12th overall for Best Online Master’s in Engineering Programs.

Faculty members in three of the Fulton Schools — the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence and The Polytechnic School — will have roles in a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, project aimed at pioneering new research in military ethics to guide the use of autonomous technologies. Working under a contract granted through DARPA’s Autonomy Standards and Ideals with Military Operational Values program, the project will aim to establish benchmarks to assess how well autonomous systems, including those employing artificial intelligence, can handle complex, ethically sensitive situations in military settings. ASU is partnering on the project with King’s College London and the University of New South Wales.

Advanced packaging technologies such as 2.5D and 3D stacking are at the forefront of major advances in the fast-emerging semiconductor technology assembly field. ASU has been gaining stature as an innovator in the fast-growing industry. Fulton Schools’ Vice Dean for Research and Innovation Zachary Holman, talks about the evolution of the university’s efforts to provide increasingly robust advanced packaging tools and processes. Research and development progress is also helping to place ASU and the Fulton Schools higher among the leaders in educating the next generation of professionals in the field, as well as expanding the horizons of advanced semiconductor packaging.

See also: How semiconductor industry is poised to power Arizona economy in 2025, AZ Big Media, January  20
ASU and the Fulton Schools are credited for a major role in the education needed to provide the current and future workforce needed by the robust semiconductor and related manufacturing fields.

ASU selected as home and partner for CHIPS and Science Act-funded national lab for semiconductor advanced packaging, Tha Manufacturer, January 16

Tempe will be home to a new national research lab for semiconductor microchips, KJZZ News-Phoenix, January 17

Fulton Schools Dean Kyle Squires says many years of extensive planning, increased student enrollment at ASU and more research funding for the university — specifically funding for research to advance semiconductors and related technologies — have been among the results of a major alignment of efforts by ASU, the business community and government representatives over recent years. One significant result is that Arizona has drawn more federal funding during that time than any other state to help drive technological progress. Squires also notes that ASU has the nation’s leading number of engineering students, many of whom will be needed by the semiconductor industry, as well as many engineering faculty members doing top-notch research in the field.

See also: New semiconductor lab is a major win for ASU and Arizona. What to know, Arizona Republic, January 10
The report notes the Fulton Schools’ enrollment of about 33,000 engineering students and 600 faculty members, plus its partnerships with other education institutions and researchers, as a major reason Arizona landed the new semiconductor packaging research laboratory.

New research has demonstrated some interesting and unexpected ways in which rattlesnakes collect water in desert environments — a practice enabled by ways in which the prairie rattlesnakes have evolved. Konrad Rykaczewski, an associate professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, says the snakes’ rain catching and water collection abilities mimic that of roses. Using garden sprinklers and video cameras at a location where rattlesnakes hibernate near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a research team recorded almost 100 snakes reacting to simulated rainfall, enabling the researchers to quantify the behavior of the snakes and examine precisely what the snakes can do through specific stages of their physical motions to collect water.

Phoenix and its neighboring municipalities may not come to mind when most think of the places where high-tech is booming. Somewhat off the radar, the region has grown into an innovation hub in areas such as autonomous vehicles, drone technology and advances in semiconductor manufacturing — helped along by science and engineering progress stemming from contributions from Arizona State University researchers, including the Fulton Schools. The management consulting firm Bain Global’s head of technology says the emerging innovation hub stature is largely a result of the close proximity of Phoenix’s favorable business climate and an attractive tech industry ecosystem and ASU’s strong engineering program.

Direct air capture technology pioneered by Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and founding director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, will be involved in a new regional effort funded by the U.S. Department of Energy funds to remove environmentally harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The project includes building a Direct Air Capture Hub in the U.S. Southwest’s Four Corners area and endeavors to reduce the increase in global warming, enable full-scale commercialization of CO2-reducing solutions around the world and develop an educational pathway to build a workforce to make the Southwest Regional Direct Air Capture Hub successful.

See also: Collaboration receives $11M to build a Southwest Regional Direct Air Capture Hub, Space Daily, January 16

ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations is able to draw on knowledge to inform its efforts to improve cybersecurity from the wide-ranging expertise in numerous fields found among  the university’s faculty members, says  Adam Doupé, the center’s director and an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. That ability is helping the center’s researchers come up with increasingly innovative and effective ways to overcome more complex cybersecurity challenges. In an extensive interview, Doupé provides details about the center’s current work and long-range aspirations, the educational opportunities it is providing to students and its team’s efforts to move closer to more completely fulfilling its critical mission.

Solar energy system installations in Seattle have doubled for several years while development of large solar energy farms in Washington State is underway. But progress in converting to more clean energy technology is facing hurdles. Many solar panels are reaching the end of their lifespans, while the state is behind in recycling solar panels. Combined with financial factors, the situation threatens to dampen the fervor for alternative energy sources. Meng Tao, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, talks about the challenging technological, economic and public policy issues that must be resolved to recharge the Washington’s solar energy evolution.

Arizona’s status in the high-tech industry leader took a big leap with the announcement of that ASU has been chosen as the site for a major CHIPS for America research and development facility expected  to contribute to pioneering work in the field. As a venture designed to be a cornerstone in U.S efforts to regain a global lead in digital technologies, the facility will focus on semiconductor research and advanced packaging prototyping. The project could create hundreds of new job opportunities and billions of dollars in investments. The Fulton Schools will be supporting the facility. Read more in a post dated January 6 below linking to an ASU News article.

See also: ASU Chosen as Home for CHIPS and Science Act-Funded National Semiconductor Packaging Facility, formfees, January 17

ASU selected as home and partner for CHIPS and Science Act-funded national lab for semiconductor advanced packaging, The Manufacturer, January 16

ASU gets $1.2B for semiconductor research, development, Wrangler News Independent, Janury 16

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk plans to ramp up growth of his neurotechnology startup, Neuralink, which uses a robot to implant a brain-computer interface into human brains. The company has also developed a device that embeds threads containing electrodes into the brain, which could enable paralyzed people to engage with digital devices through their thoughts. Bradley Greger, an associate professor in the School Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Futon Schools, says similar devised have typical failed within a few years. But he sees encouraging signs that Neuralink’s version might work. He also sees a possibility of Neuralink’s Blindsight device making a breakthrough in enabling blind people to experience some semblance of useful sight.

Sally Morton, executive vice president of ASU Knowledge Enterprise, which advances research, innovation and entrepreneurship at ASU, is interviewed about the recent announcement that the U.S. Commerce Department and the National Center for the Advancement of Semiconductor Technology selected ASU to be the home of the center’s Prototyping and National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program’s Advanced Packaging Piloting Facility. The facility is expected to bring numerous jobs and billions of dollars in investment. The Fulton Schools will help to support the facility. A previous post on this page, dated January 6, links to numerous news media reports about the new center. Morton says the facility will be a major “game changer” for Arizona’s stature in the high-tech realm.

See also: Tempe. Arizona Chosen For  Pioneering Chips For America Semiconductor R&D Facility, hoodline-Phoenix, January 6

 New semiconductor lab is a major win for ASU and Arizona. What to know, Arizona Republic, January 10

Tempe R&D Center could be game changer, Ahwatukee Foothill News, January 12

ASU Chosen as Home for CHIPS and Science Act-Funded National Semiconductor Packaging Facility, India Education Diary, January 13

Notable achievements in advancing social innovation and related productive changes to improve higher education earns universities the prestigious recognition of an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus designation. ASU has again been awarded the honor. One reason is Devils in Disguise, an annual ASU day of community service that involves thousands of students. Fulton Schools human systems engineering student Lizzy Cowgur is serving as the Changemaker Campus leader at ASU’s Polytechnic campus, home of The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools. Cowgur comments on the importance of the Devils in Disguise Day. ASU offers Changemaker Action Grants enabling students to contribute to innovative and sustainable solutions to local, national and global challenges.

Half a decade after the installment on ASU’s Tempe campus of the carbon capture system called the Mechanical Tree — developed by Klaus Lackner through the work of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, which he directs — the technology is seen as a playing a major role in efforts to protect the environment against the threats of climate change. ASU President Michael Crow talks about the success of Mechanical Tree systems and ASU’s plans to help develop ways to aid industry in adopting use of the technology and continuing to increase the amount of carbon that will be removed from the atmosphere. Lackner is a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools.

Ross Maciejewski’s achievements in visual analytics and data science as a graduate student at Purdue University earned him a scholarship from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to do research to help the agency to more effectively employ expertise in those fields to aid law enforcement efforts. Today, Maciejewski is director of the  School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and leads the Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency,  or CAOE, as part of ASU’s Global Security Initiative, or GSI. On it’s 10^th anniversary, Macijewski assesses the work of GSI and CAOE and the emerging challenges they continue to face, as well the learning opportunities they are providing to students.

ASU’s place among top-tier research universities is being further cemented by the recent by the National Semiconductor Technology Center’s selection of Arizona as the site of the co-located NSTC Prototyping and NAPMP Advanced Packaging Piloting Facility. To be located at the ASU Research Park, work the new facility will help pave the way for major advances in the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem strengthening the U.S. semiconductor supply chain and accelerate cutting-edge research and development. The Fulton Schools will support the facility through ASU’s Core Research Facilities and state-of-the-art research labs.

See also: Arizona will host third CHIPS R&D flagship facility, Manufacturing Dive, January 8

ASU Research Park in Tempe chosen for national semiconductor test facility, KTAR News-Phoenix, January 7 (updated)

ASU selected as home, partner for CHIPS, Electronic Products and Technology, January 6

ASU Research Park named one of nation’s 3 ‘flagship’ R&D facilities for microchips, Arizona Republic, January 6

Arizona State selected as third CHIPS Act facility, 3TV/CBS 5 News – Phoenix, January 6

ASU Research Park to be home to major Chips for America research and development facility, ABC 15 Arizona, January 6

ASU to host state-of-the-art CHIPS for America R&D facility, 12 News-Phoenix, January 6

Arizona, ASU score CHIPS for America flagship semiconductor facility, Phoenix Business Journal, January 6

ASU Research Park named flagship CHIPS R&D facility for U.S., AZ Big Media, January 6

Arizona State selected as third CHIPs Act facility, MSN, January 6

Commerce Dept picks Arizona to host chip packaging research lab, Capacity Media, January 6

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Arizona State University Research Park as Planned Site for Third CHIPS for America R&D Flagship Facility, U.S. Department of Commerce, January 6  (news release)

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Arizona State University Research Park as Planned Site for Third CHIPS for America R&D Flagship Facility, National Semiconductor Technology Center, January 6 (news release)

Arizona and ASU Selected For Flagship Prototyping And Advanced Packaging R&R Facility, Arizona Commerce Authority, January 6 (new release)

Read more in Business Facilities Magazine, HPC Wire, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly Newsroom, The American News, PIC (Photonics Integrated Circuits) Magazine, Semiconductor Industry Association, Construction Review, The Oregonian, Yahoo! News, inBusiness (Greater Phoenix), eeNewsEurope-Technology News, Shiksha Study Abroad (India), Daily Independent, Natcast (NIST’s CHIPS & Science Act’s operations arm), Tempe.Gov, Border Now, Blog for Arizona, Arizona Technology Council, Converge! Network Digest, Natcast (NIST’s CHIPS & Science Act’s operations arm), Albany (New York) Times Union

Advances in carbon sequestration and direct air capture systems are enabling significant progress in removing carbon dioxide, or CO2, from the atmosphere in efforts to stem the detrimental impacts of global warming. Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, is among the leading pioneers who have developed and/or enhanced such valuable technologies and systems. The achievement has now earned Lackner election to one of the most prestigious organizations honoring impactful contributions to society.

Emerging technologies and geopolitics are among the areas of expertise of Brad Allenby, a Lincoln Professor of Ethics and Engineering and an ASU President’s Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. In this recent news analysis article, written in the Bosnian language, Allenby is quoted on his view of the limited value of predictions in a rapidly changing world, particularly in regard to current politics in the U.S. He suggests that to better to understand today’s highly complex and rapidly evolving world, one should focus on more stable and predictable underlying trends, and learn to be agile and adaptive amid pervasive, unpredictable and accelerating change.

Arizona is becoming a leading hub for semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. In a notable shift in the industry, major players such as Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company have been building advanced fabrication plants in the state. Among factors related to the emergence of those projects are Arizona universities and community colleges offering programs to train workers for the semiconductor industry and expand programs in engineering and advanced manufacturing. At ASU, researchers in the Fulton Schools are also engaged in efforts to drive innovation in microelectronics and chip design, including developing new materials, cutting-edge technologies and manufacturing processes and partnering with industry leaders to solve industry challenges.

Major developments expected to bolster the economic, community, commercial, cultural and educational features of the city of Mesa in the new year include anticipated outcomes of projects in which ASU is collaborating. Among them is the construction of a large, three-story building on the ASU Polytechnic campus to primarily house operations of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, a part of the Fulton Schools. The school is expected to contribute to ASU’s efforts to reach it goals to eventually create more than 500 jobs and $800 million in economic activity in Mesa and neighboring municipalities and communities. See a related post below dated December 5 linking to a news article in the Arizona Republic.

Arizona is emerging as a wellspring of leadership and employment in cybersecurity. With billions of records being breached, there’s a critical need for more advanced data protection capabilities driving demand for a skilled labor force and more advanced training and expertise from leading educational institutions. The growing problem is drawing attention to institutions like ASU, which has a high national ranking for cybersecurity research. Adam Doupé, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of the ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations, has seen his research team win major support to expand its work in pursuit of cybersecurity advances.

More than two decades ago, research from the 3M company showed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, that sewage sludge, the raw material used for fertilizer, carried toxic “forever chemicals.” Since then, Rolf Halden, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and a leading researcher of contamination in biosolids, met with EPA officials multiple times to warn that his research drew the same conclusion. These sludge materials continued to be used, including by farmers for growing crops. Over the years, however, more concerns were raised about unheeded warnings of the health and environmental dangers. Research by Halden and others eventually helped to lead to wastewater testing to help track the problem and make the case for more precautions.

U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump’s plans to reduce government regulatory restrictions on industry include some lifting or preventing of regulations on the operations of power plants. This could mean pulling back on new federal power plant regulations intended to cut back on emissions that contribute to global warming and other industries’ practices that contaminate the atmosphere and spread toxic substances. Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, notes that cleaner and cheaper natural gas is helping to reduce harmful carbon emissions problem but that it remains critical to achieve zero emissions of all greenhouse gasses.

ASU and University of Arizona researchers are making progress on more effective and efficient ways to water and grow trees that provide shade to shield much of the state’s desert landscapes from the increasing number of days when temperatures hit 100 or more degrees Fahrenheit. Though not specified in the broadcast interview, contributors to the research include Associate Professor Zhihua Wang and Assistant Professor Tianfang Zhu in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Wang’s work includes urban climate modeling, land-atmospheric interactions, landscape and infrastructure management, and urban environmental sustainability. Zhu’s research focus includes simulation of groundwater flow and solute transport, uncertainty quantification and applications of machine learning in hydrology.

ASU’S Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence and Robot Teaming, or CHART, part of ASU’s Global Security Initiative, strives to develop ways to make human-machine teams more capable. The center’s director, Jamie Gorman, a professor of human systems engineering in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, helps meld his expertise with that of colleagues in psychology, social science, computer science and robotics to pursue innovations in the performance of these teams. He details why the center’s work holds great promise for serving society, what it’s contributing to student education and research skills, and which of CHART’s biggest challenges he would focus on tackling if the necessary funding is provided.

A growing number of automobiles in Arizona are electric vehicles, or EVs, with sales having increased significantly in recent years — and one Ford auto dealership in the Phoenix area set a U.S. record for selling more electric vehicles than any other dealership. Still, there remains some reluctance among the public to make the switch to EVs. Steven Polzin, a research professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, recommends car shoppers assess the benefits and potential drawbacks of purchasing new EVs. He and others suggest certain strategies for prospective auto buyers in ensuring their new car purchases turn out to be smart choices.

President-elect Donald Trump is indicating he will revoke a recently issued rule to help slow detrimental climate change. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has shown that the annual emissions of greenhouse gasses in the U.S. contain millions of metric tons of the carbon dioxide threatening human health. In the greater Phoenix area these emissions totaled more than 46 million metric tons in 2020. Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, which is designing technologies to capture CO2 from outdoor air, explains why it’s critical to dramatically cut back on such emissions.  The article was also published in the Gila Herald.

Intense pursuits of innovation that require the melding of advanced expertise in numerous fields of science, engineering and technology are reflected in collaborative research projects that are combining the skills of engineers and scientists in ASU’s School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and the School of Earth and Space Exploration. At a recent event to help facilitate these joint efforts, the directors of each of the two schools, Ross Maciejewski and Meenakshi Wadhwa, gave opening remarks about the high aspirations of the faculty members’ research endeavors and the potential of their wide-ranging projects to aid society in numerous ways.

During his sophomore year of college, a counselor told Tim Clark he wasn’t a good fit for an aerospace engineering path. But after graduating from ASU in 1988 with a degree in the field and in subsequent years overcoming many hurdles, Clark achieved notable success in the aviation profession. Clark is now celebrating a 35-year career that includes more than two decades as a flight test pilot. He guided the Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile program through critical milestones and became a flight test engineer. The article by the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division details other impressive educational and professional accomplishments, including his training in the prestigious U.S. Naval Pilot School and a master’s degree in aviation systems. 

Growing use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology promises to improve the quality of the services and work performed by many companies that are using today’s ever-advancing AI systems. But the trend also presents potential dangers for society. Nadya Bliss, executive director of ASU’s Global Security Initiative and a professor of practice in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, talks about risks posed by the many employees now in charge of the accelerating use of AI in business and industry. Misuse of AI or the unintended consequences of AI operations could pose serious security risks of data theft, business operation disruption and other problematic vulnerabilities and damaging consequences.

Kamil Kaloush (second from left) has been elected chairman of the International Road Federation for a two-year term. A professor and chair of the undergraduate program in civil engineering program in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, Kaloush has more  than 35 years of experience in engineering and is a globally recognized leader in sustainable engineering, pavement materials, and infrastructure systems. In his new role, he hopes to promote cutting-edge research, innovative practices and strategic policy making to address today’s transportation challenges. Kaloush also plans to promote sustainable solutions, embrace emerging technologies, and help to ensure roads and infrastructure worldwide are safer and more resilient.

Semiconductor companies need new employees who can step readily into roles armed with knowledge and experience necessary to work with the industry’s latest manufacturing tools, analytics and systems. Especially needed are manufacturing, chemical, materials and environmental engineers, as well as those trained in cybersecurity, information technology and software. ASU is graduating many students with expertise in these areas, says Binil Starly, professor and director of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools. Many students are also gaining experience in the advanced fabrication techniques that are essential to advancing the semiconductor field and getting extensive lab experience.

The Southwest Advanced Prototyping, or SWAP, Hub, which is based in the Fulton Schools, has been awarded more than $21 million to continue its microelectronics operations. The funding from the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act includes $2.7 million for hub’s partner, Sandia National Laboratories. As one of eight such microelectronics groups across the country under the U.S. Department of Defense Microelectronics Commons, the hub helps keep the nation secure by enabling advances in microelectronics. The new funding keeps ASU and the Fulton Schools among leaders in the network that is building the infrastructure, connecting the talent and leveraging the resources to deliver advances for the country’s the semiconductor manufacturing industry.

Se also: ASU-led hub gets more federal funding for microelectronics projects, Phoenix Business Journal, December 18

ASU-led SWAP Hub gets $21.3 million to advance semiconductor industry in U.S., KJZZ News (NPR), December 16

ASU-led Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub awarded $21.3M for 2nd year of funding for microelectronics projects, ASU News, December 16

ASU-Led Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub Awarded $21.3M for Second Year of Funding for Microelectronics Projects, In Business/Greater Phoenix, December 13

A new course designed by the Fulton Schools and Global Launch will soon give opportunities to college students in Mexico to learn the fundamentals of microelectronics and nanoelectronics in a free, online ASU course. The course is part of ASU’s binational knowledge partnership with Mexico, designed to advance North American competitiveness and ensure the global semiconductor supply chain meets demands for digital security and transformation worldwide. ASU President Michael Crow says he expects hundreds of thousands of students to eventually be educated through the program. Mexico’s Secretary of Education Mario Delgado says the effort will propel a revolution to benefit the technology sector in the U.S. and Mexico.

See also: ASU, Mexico partner to build next generation of chipmakers, drive semiconductor innovation, Phoenix Business Journal, December 20

Despite that almost 30 percent of adults in the U.S. have a disability of some kind, there’s a lack of inclusive representation of disabled persons in the media. An interdisciplinary group of female ASU Online students is taking up of the challenge to change that situation. They are joining forces to explore how artificial intelligence, or AI, can help map the way to meaningful change toward equality in representation. As Team Fairplay, the group reflects both the diversity and interdisciplinary collaboration encouraged by ASU leaders. The team’s members include Liliana Chen, identified in the article as Yiyan C., an undergraduate computer science student in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools.

The 2004 ASU President’s Award for Global Engagement went to a team including students in the Fulton Schools for their work with students at the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology to reduce the amount of plastic pollution being left in Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains National Park. The project included developing a pipeline using small machines to transform plastic waste into valuable goods to be sold for profit by people living outside the park. The President’s Awards recognize solutions in innovation, social embeddedness, sustainability, global engagement and transdisciplinary collaboration. They also celebrate the commitment and contributions of ASU employees.

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, technology is certain to have a revolutionary impact on health care, says Baoxin Li, the associate director and a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Li sees AI impacting the ways in which diseases will be diagnosed and treated. His outlook is confirmed by recent National Health Institute, or NIH, decisions to invest millions of dollars into ventures to use AI to do research on Alzheimer’s disease, including work to better detect the disease and reveal its warning signs. One new NIH grant will support training ASU doctoral students to build medical tools to treat and diagnose neurodegenerative diseases.

Fulton Schools mechanical engineering student Jamison Cabral, manufacturing engineering student Morgan Nunez and recent mechanical engineering graduates Payton Connelly and Paige Hasegawa are among ASU students who have benefitted from facilities at the ASU Chandler Innovation Center. The center gives students opportunities for experience in technology and product development, entrepreneurship, 3D printing and fabrication systems and other tools to build prototypes of new devices and tools. Students can get reimbursed for Uber rides from the ASU campuses to the center, work on projects related to their ASU experience, such as class coursework or creations for student clubs or organizations. There are free workshops daily on how to use the center’s equipment.

A new device to help make traveling on roadways safer for bicycle riders is being developed based in part on engineering research conducted at ASU. Robert Heinrichs, an associate teaching professor of software engineering in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, has guided some of his students in creating Cycle Safe. It’s a dash cam for bikes that uses an ultrasonic sensor to detect cars closer than three feet. It can also take photographs and collect data through an app, which will provide information to guide further advances in the technology. The next step to have prototypes to put on bikes for performance trials in early 2025.

See also: New Camera Tech Hopes to Stop Drivers From Close-Passing Cyclists, Streetsblog USA, December 11

Arizona universities to develop bicycle dash cam to increase cyclist safety

Innovative approaches to pursuing advances across a wide range of fields and disciplines is among the main reasons ASU is further cementing its place as a major research university. ASU will soon reach $1 billion a year in research funding, putting it among only 33 other U.S. universities to achieve that milestone. The accomplishment is credited to rapid growth in groundbreaking research in engineering, microelectronics, space exploration, health care, national defense and sustainability — much of which is connected to the work of Fulton Schools faculty members. ASU’s faculty also now boasts 11 members of the National Academy of Engineering, most of them leading researchers in their fields.

Open AI, a major artificial intelligence company has a launched a new generative-AI program that its chief executive touts as superior to existing artificial intelligence, or AI, software and able to more fully approximate the way humans think. The outcome could be a significant step toward superintelligence, industry leaders say. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says the advance could enable AI to be more clever but does not push it beyond the capabilities of current AI tools to be skillful at making predictions. But along with those added capabilities. He says it raises concerns about humans losing control of the powers of superintelligent AI. (Full access to the article requires becoming a subscriber)

See also: Kambhampati is also quoted in The Guardian view on AI’s power, limits, and risks: it may require rethinking the technology, The Guardian

Recent research indicates that the Colorado River basin could get more precipitation in the next 25 years, which would be a major benefit to regions of the Southwest that depend on the river as a significant source of water. If the increased precipitation leads to higher average river flows — despite effects of rising temperatures due to climate change and other factors — it’s good news for the region’s population and economy. However, Enrique Vivoni, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Hydrologic Innovations, points out some challenges to accurately predicting increases in precipitation and its expected impacts.

The emerging artificial intelligence, or AI, industry is anxious to give its technology human-level intelligence and cognitive abilities. But some researchers and public policymakers are urging caution. As one safeguard, they are recommending scientists in academia and industry collaborate with these companies to guide further AI development in a prudent manner that helps to prevent problematic outcomes. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, is among those who advises  putting safeguards in place to ensure AI’s reasoning would be reliably coherent and provide verifiable benefits to society without the risks of accompanying detrimental impacts.

More than 1,000 deaths in Maricopa County in the past two years are attributed to Arizona’s desert heat. In the state overall, people in thousands of households are often more vulnerable hot weather conditions because they are without reliable access to water. In response to the problem, Arizona Water for All has been launched. It is now part of the Arizona Water Initiative partnership with the state of Arizona being led by ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory in collaboration with the Fulton Schools. The partnership will focus on developing innovative engineering and social infrastructures to help Arizonans contend with the challenges of water scarcity, excess heat and other health threatening climate conditions.

In most U.S. universities, women continue to be in the minority among students enrolled in graduate-level engineering degree programs. The numbers, however, have been rising in some of those programs, including those at leading universities of high academic standing. In a recent ranking of the top 20 universities with the highest percentages of women in full-time, part-time, master’s and doctoral engineering programs, the Fulton Schools placed fifth in the nation. Along with its numerous graduate degree programs in person and online, ASU’s Fulton Schools has in recent times been the launching pad for 11 business startups, 178 invention disclosures, 34 license agreements and 106 U.S. patents issued based on ideas from students and researchers.

A major focus of work on an expansion of ASU’s Polytechnic campus is the development of the Innovation Zone, which will feature the 12th Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building, or ISTB 12, to house the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools. The 300-acre Innovation Zone is the centerpiece of projects supported by a major investment partnership teaming ASU and the city of Mesa aimed at providing an educated workforce in response to the growing semiconductor chip manufacturing facilities in Arizona and their need for more skilled workers. ISTB 12 is anticipated to open in November 2025. The new building will house multiple classrooms and research labs.

Among the new ASU graduates who came to the university through the MyPath2ASU transfer program are Fulton Schools student Ricardo Ontiveras, who has earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering after transferring from Glendale Community College. His educational pursuits are motivated by a passion for math and science and to have a meaningful impact on society. At ASU, he got involved in the Sun Devil Satellite Laboratory, where he worked on a 1U CubeSat project scheduled to launch in 2025 and a Space Grant ASCEND program project to design and launch scientific payloads into the stratosphere with high-altitude balloons. He now plans to pursue a career using his technical skills to advance space exploration.

Jordan Yaron, an assistant professor in ASU’s Biodesign Center for Biomaterials Innovation and Translation, is leading work to use engineered substances that interact with living tissues to help boost the human body’s regenerative abilities. In collaboration with ASU colleagues in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, and the School for Biological and Health Systems Engineering, parts of the Fulton Schools, the research is showing promise for healing or treating wounds and injuries — including chronic wounds, such as those resulting from diabetes. The team’s studies show biomaterial formulations engineered to activate histamine receptors can speed up healing and pave the way to address both chronic and slow-healing wounds, and possibly  regenerative medicine to restore or replace damaged tissues and organs.

Open AI’s advanced large language models, or LLMs — a kind of artificial intelligence that can generate, process and understand human language by being pre-trained on large amounts of data — are raising talk about the possibility of achieving an evolutionary step toward creating artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and some of his ASU colleagues are among those whose work is showing promise for realizing the potential for developing AGI through use of LLMs — but also reflecting the intricate challenges of such an endeavor. More than LLM advances alone would be needed to fully realize such an AI advancement, Kambhampati says.

While the number of electric vehicles in use in Arizona has increased at a steady pace — tripling in the last year and a half — and the U.S. government has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in efforts to promote electric automobiles, the state is seeing far from a big enough jump in ownership of the electric-powered automobiles to significantly realize their potential as an environmentally beneficial power source. Steven Polzin, a research professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and a former U.S. Department of Transportation researcher, talks about the combination of various factors that appear to be slowing the transition to electric.

With rising cybersecurity threats, industry and government are frequently seeking out expertise to defend against cyber risks, which has brought more requests for skills found in Arizona’s leading tech companies and top universities. Arizona now ranks among the top 10 fastest-growing job markets for cybersecurity professionals, while its public universities are conducting high-level cybersecurity research. That includes the work of Adam Doupé, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, a hub for advanced cybersecurity research supported by partnerships with the U.S. Department of Defense and major companies. Doupé and his colleagues have helped raise ASU to a ranking of 11 among all U.S. university for cybersecurity research.

Under the leadership of longtime director Rolf Halden, ASU’s Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering has made numerous discoveries of ways environmental monitoring can protect and improve human health. The center’s work has led to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration ban on some harmful antimicrobials, common pesticides and perfluorinated chemicals, which has led to lowering human health risks with new technologies for wastewater and groundwater monitoring. In an interview, Halden, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, talks about his skilled research team and issues revolving around research projects and balancing privacy rights with the need for public health assessments to protect at-risk populations.

The popular video game Minecraft is being used as a starting point in a project by ASU students aimed at making artificial intelligence, or AI, more socially intelligent. Nancy Cooke, a professor of human systems engineering in the Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, says adding human’s social intelligence capability to Minecraft’s ability to enable players to build their own virtual worlds could unlock paths to jumpstarting the social evolution of AI technology.  Cooke and Fulton Schools humans systems engineering doctoral student Myke Cohen say that approach shows promise for enabling AI and humans to become effective team players — a combination that Cooke thinks might evolve into enabling superhuman capabilities.

Economic and market forces are combining to produce an emerging trend that has many young job seekers initially pursuing vocational education instead of the deep knowledge provided by advanced college degree programs. Phoenix ranks high among U.S. cities with more students showing growing interest in opportunities to gain practical skills that could qualify them for jobs in relatively short periods of time. The trend is also reflected at ASU, as more students in the Del E. Webb School of Construction, part of the Fulton Schools, are in training to join the next generation of engineers and managers in the rapidly growing construction industry. Meanwhile, employers in some fields are shifting to a more skills-based approach to hiring, signaling a likely resurgence of vocational training and occupations.

Work by Teresa Wu and Baoxin Li, professors in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, is contributing to the development of artificial intelligence, or AI, systems for medical imaging that can improve the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Their progress has helped to draw support from the National Institutes of Health to train ASU doctoral students in the use of AI in health care as part of broader efforts to educate engineers and biomedical researchers in the applications of AI in their endeavors. Li says the use of AI is promises to revolutionize health care, including how many diseases are diagnosed and treated.

More than 800 projects were entered as contenders for the major engineering and construction industry journal’s national recognition of recent outstanding examples of building design and construction excellence in the U.S. The journal’s judges selected 20 projects as the “ENR Best of the Best” in 10 construction categories. Among the judges was Cliff Schexnayder, emeritus professor in the Del E. Webb School of Construction in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. He and others selected winning projects based on their performance in teamwork, safety, overcoming challenges, innovation and quality. Winning projects will be featured in the March 17, 2025 issue of ENR.

ASU will join Arizona’s two other public universities in a partnership to provide the state with a new generation of transportation experts. In collaboration with the Arizona Department of Transportation, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University will team with ASU to utilize the knowledge and skills of both university researchers and students in efforts to improve that state transportation systems and solve problems. The endeavor will be complex, says Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools. But by capitalizing on the knowledge and experience of multiple experts at the educational institutions, he says the partnership will be poised to develop solutions to wide range of transportation challenges.

One in 26 people will develop epilepsy and as a result some of them may experience dangerous seizures that can inhibit consciousness and present serious health risks. The Epilepsy Foundation urges the public to learn how to perform proper first aid to help ensure the safety and mitigate the potential problems that can afflict those experiencing these types of seizures. Bradley Greger, associate professor of bioengineering in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, provides some recommendations on what specific actions can be taken to help people in these circumstances, as well warnings about what not to do in such cases.

Researchers at ASU, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University will help lead efforts of the new Arizona Transportation Institute, created to increase the safety, efficiency and sustainability of transportation in the state. The Arizona Department of Transportation, or ADOT, is investing more than $6 million to support the consortium’s first projects. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, recently joined representatives of ADOT, the Federal Highway Administration and the other universities’ engineering programs to mark the establishment of the partnership. The new institute provides a structure for proposing and implementing projects, positioning universities to receive more federal transportation-related research dollars, improving transportation engineering outreach and education and boosting workforce development.

See also: 3 Arizona universities partner with ADOT to reduce crashes, solve other transportation issues, KJZZ, November 25

 Arizona Department of Transportation Taps Into University Talent To Drive Transportation Innovation, hoodline, November 23

In what ASU President Michael Crow says is a critical step for the U.S. to achieve independence in semiconductor manufacturing, the U.S. Department of Commerce has announced an award of up to $100 million in funds to propel innovation in semiconductor packaging. A team led by ASU and Deca Technologies, based in Tempe, has qualified for funding. Fulton Schools leaders and researchers have been collaborating with industry leaders such as the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, or TSMC, company, which is continuing to expand its state-of-the-art facility in Phoenix (pictured). The new funding will be used for research and development to boost commercial development of new technologies, strengthen supply chains and expand workforce development.

See also: ASU and Deca Technologies selected to lead $100M SHIELD USA project to strengthen U.S. semiconductor packaging capabilities, ASU News, November 21

ASU and Deca Technologies will lead $100 million semiconductor project, AZ Big Media, November 22

Early detection of Alzheimer’s disease in primary care facilities could improve with a new innovative and inexpensive screening test. The Quick Behavioral Exam to Advance Neuropsychological Screening, or qBEANS, can assess peoples’ motor learning abilities, visuospatial memory and other relevant functions while requiring no technology or wearable sensors. Information on the exam was presented at a recent meeting of the Gerontology Society of America by Sydney Schaefer, an associate professor in the the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. Shaefer is a co-author of a study of the screening test’s effectiveness and co-founder of Neurosessments LLC, which developed the qBEANS test.

Making use of machine learning technology and bio-acoustic recordings, four ASU professors helped to develop an innovative way to measure and quantify biodiversity. The achievement earned them and their teammates the top award in the $10 million XPRIZE Rainforest competition. The professors were part of Team Limelight Rainforest, which included more than three dozen other scientists from around the world. Among them was Pavan Turaga, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s School of Arts, Media and Engineering. Turaga provides technical details on how the novel technology was developed and the value of what it could accomplish in protecting the planet’s biologically diverse environments.

An ASU student team won the Systems Engineering prize in NASA’s recent 2024 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing, or BIG,  Idea Challenge, which presents teams with tough engineering design challenges. The ASU squad was awarded for its inflatable lunar landing pad system designed to deflect exhaust gasses from lunar landers to reduce disturbances caused by Moon dust during spacecraft landings. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate sponsors the challenge managed by the National Institute of Aerospace and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Team presentations, technical papers and digital posters are on the BIG Idea website. Fulton Schools mechanical engineering student Connor Owens and electrical engineering graduate student Sarwan Shah were among the ASU competitors.

The Arizona Commerce Authority is investing $4 million to boost the talent pipeline for the semiconductor industry. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, is investing more than $5 million in the program to fund on-the-job training and education tuition support for its apprentice employees. TSMC is expanding its extensive manufacturing facilities in the north Phoenix. Terry Alford, professor and associate director of the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, says investments are needed to overcome acute shortages of engineers and technicians needed by industry. Fulton Schools Vice Dean for Research and Innovation Zachary Holman provides an additional perspective on the benefits of such funding.

What’s being called a sunscreen for roofs is showing promise as an effective protectant for structures against excessive heat. Named EnKoat, it was first developed by Matthew Aguayo and Aashay Arora when they were doctoral students in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The product is now available to contractors in the Southwest and EnKoat’s creators are working on a similar version of EnKoat that keep buildings warm in cold weather environments. Another version of EnKoat for residential buildings is in the works. A previous post below dated November 5 links to an ASU News article about EnKoat. A report is also published in Yahoo!Tech.

See Also: ASU preservation facility serves as test bed for rooftop heat mitigation, AZ INNO (The Business Journals) November 21

ASU Graduates Develop Innovative “Sunscreen” Roof Coating To Slash Energy Costs in Arizona, hoodline, November 19

Some ASU professors’ native accents can hinder students learning to learning in the classroom, especially when the subject matter is complex. Some accents pose obstacles to effective teacher-student communications. But Yulia Peet, associate professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, who is originally from Russia, says there are ways such situations can be overcome. It’s a skill that should learned as part of one’s higher education and preparing for careers that involve working with people who speak different languages. It’s also pointed out that professors from various countries can enrich the overall multicultural experience at ASU.

Researchers have used the capabilities of machine learning technology to predict what types of inorganic pollutants are likely in specific groundwater supplies. It could help public health officials determine which aquifers should be prioritized for water quality safety testing. The new method promises to provide a path to advanced proactive water safety measures throughout the world, says Paul Westerhoff an ASU Regents’ Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Westerhoff and Andreas Spanias, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computing and Energy Engineering, also part of the Fulton Schools, are coauthors of a report on the process in the Environmental Science & Technology journal.

Michael Crow is the first university president named to the TIME100 Climate list, an honor he says is recognition of ASU’s growing impact. A prime example is how the university has become a powerhouse of progress in climate-related action, including groundbreaking discoveries in sustainability. Among achievements are Cody Friesen’s solar-powered technology that generates water from sunlight and air, Klaus Lackner’s system for direct air capture to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and Bruce Rittmann’s work on a team that developed a new method to help microorganisms destroy “forever chemicals.” Friesen, Lackner and Rittmann are faculty members in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools.

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, is making metro Phoenix a major center of the advanced technology industry that will provide significant numbers of new jobs. But development of the company’s expansive facilities are presenting some big challenges that will need to be overcome for its operations to be successful. One hurdle is finding new employees with adequate education and training for positions that need to be filled. So, it’s likely TSMC will look at the Fulton Schools, now the nation’s largest engineering school, for job candidates. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, notes the school is producing graduates with the skills to fill high-end positions in the semiconductor industry.

A collaborative effort by ASU and the Salt River Project water and power provider is using a new roof coating to reduce heat in several ASU buildings. The heat mitigation coating comes from the ASU spinout venture EnKoat, founded by Aashay Arora and Matthew Arroyo when they were doctoral students in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. A professor in the school, Narayanan Neithalath, recalls that Enkoat started as a way to prevent thermal cracking in types of concrete, but research revealed it could also do that for some of the most common building coating materials. Now, a new IntelliKoat system promises to be an innovative and especially effective method for decarbonizing built environments.

Along with the challenges of maintaining adequate water supplies, Arizona also faces concerns about ensuring water quality and effective conservation. Treavor Boyer, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is among the experts whose work focuses on the technologies, planning and processes of developing, managing and monitoring the systems that help maintain and deliver water that is safe for human use. Boyer explains that adequately treating water from a variety of sources requires effective implementation of multiple types of intricate processes, including coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration followed by disinfection.

Fulton Schools students are among those from ASU who will be competing in the next NASA-sponsored Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing Idea Challenge. Fulton Schools mechanical engineering student Grant Lesley is the leader of ASU’s project for the challenge. Electrical engineering graduate student Sarwan Shah, mechanical engineering graduate student Vaibhav Khanna and mechanical engineering students Grant Lesley and Connor Owens are among those involved. Opportunities for students who have excelled in the BIG Idea Challenge have included internship offers and job offers. For this year’s challenge, the ASU team has developed a model of an inflatable lunar landing pad at the university’s Luminosity Lab.

A sprawling complex of some of the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facilities is growing in north Phoenix as the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company makes progress on expansions of its operations. A major part of the plan is to install water reuse and water recycling systems. Research on semiconductor water treatment led by Paul Westerhoff, the Fulton Chair of Environmental Engineering and professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment,  part of the Fulton Schools, is expected to help enable the facilities to eventually reuse 90% of all wastewater on-site and have the technology to treat it to ultra-pure standards necessary to make the semiconductor chips.

Recent projects by a members of Mayo Clinic-ASU research teams have included work to help produce advances in medical care. Progress was made in efforts aimed at improving cancer treatment, including research in which Sung-Min Sohn, an assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, collaborated with Dr. Tanya Rath, a Mayo Clinic diagnostic neuroradiologist. They explored ways to use magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, technology to help image throat disorders in ways that would make diagnosis more accurate, as well as achieve progress in the ability to provide care for cancer patients at risk of losing their voices. Another project could help ASU baseball players and other young athletes reduce the need for shoulder and elbow surgeries for baseball pitchers.

Those seeking to sharpen their computing skills will have a new opportunity to learn from leading experts. The new DEF CON Academy will be in the spotlight at next year’s DEF CON convention, an annual gathering of researchers and other professionals in computer programming and cybersecurity. Among the academy’s organizers are faculty and staff at ASU’s Global Security Initiative, supported by the initiative’s American Cybersecurity Education Institute, which provides education nationwide to bolster the U.S. cybersecurity workforce. Among those at the helm of these efforts are faculty members in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, including Yan Shoshitaishvili, Adam Doupé and Tiffany Bao, who are associated with the Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations.

ASU’s second annual Carbon Summit was led by the Carbon Council student organization, which focuses on promoting decarbonization — one of the major processes being utilized to reduce and prevent the detrimental impacts of climate change. Sandra Perez, a materials science and engineering student in the School of Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, and a cofounder and the president of the Carbon Council, says one of the group’s major goals is to engage more ASU students earning degrees in a wide variety of fields to unite in pursuit of the group’s mission to enable ASU to contribute to helping the world achieve environmental sustainability.

Industrial operations in the U.S. are emitting about 30 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to harmful amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Among efforts to help decarbonize the nation’s industries are those of the Electrified Processes for Industry Without Carbon, or EPIXC, project directed by Professor Sridhar Seetharaman, the Fulton Schools vice dean for research and innovation. In this interview, he discusses projects involving ASU researchers working jointly with experts at three other universities to decarbonize cement, steel and iron to achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions. Seetharama is also a faculy member in the in the School of Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools.

Arizona has had rules setting standards for safe bicycling on its roads for more than two decades, but safety experts and the state’s bicycling community continue taking steps to further ensure riders take adequate safety precautions. Among more recent steps is a foundation project that encouraged college engineering students to design prototypes of new safety devices. Robert Heinrichs, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton schools, helped to lead a project that developed of a second version of software for an intelligent bicycle dashcam. The team is now preparing to bring its new safety devices to the market in the next year.

Tatum McMillan’s pursuit of a career as a biomedical engineer has taken her to three continents. Engineering projects in Europe, Asia and Africa have put McMillan on course toward fulfilling a mission to help sustain people, animals and the planet. To support those efforts, she earned the Jaap Sustainability Scholarship offered to students in ASU’s Barrett Honors College to fund summer internships and thesis projects. The funding helped her participate in a coral reef restoration project in Spain, a Vietnam Monkey Enrichment Project in Vietnam and a Clean Water Accessibility Project in Kenya. McMillan is a senior in the biomedical engineering program in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools.

Among advances being achieved in robotics are those that replicate what some TV fiction shows have already long portrayed robots as being able to do —  the day-to-day chores that people would like someone or something else to do for them. Siddharth Srivastava, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. With assistance from students, Srivastava is attempting to program robots to do peoples’ laundry, an endeavor being funded by the National Science Foundation. Srivastava notes that robots today perform well in controlled environments, such as factories. The goal of his research is to enable robots to perform reliably in uncontrolled environments. Read more: Dirty, dull or dangerous: Using AI to teach robots to do the jobs we don’t want

More evidence that actions to deal with climate change and its potentially devastating impacts are not a challenge that can be ignored without dire consequences, according to the meteorological data that scientists, engineers continue and others to compile. Margaret Garcia, an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment,  part of the Fulton Schools, is a coauthor of a recent National Climate Assessment that shows the severity of disasters ignited by the consequences of global warming and other factors related to climate change. Rising risks presented by fast-changing climate conditions include extreme heat, severe drought, water shortages, more wildfires, loss or productive farmland and fiercer hurricanes. (A subscription may be necessary to access the article online.)

A study by researchers at ASU, the University of Washington and the University of Texas at Austin accentuates the extent to which the trend toward more extreme heat is impacting society in people’s everyday lives, especially in large urban areas. The research project led by Professor Ram Pendyala, director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, provides suggestions for solutions to guide policymakers in taking actions to ensure urban planning and public transit systems are designed to help cities provide more heat-resilient urban environments. Ideas include more trees for shade, heat-reflective pavement materials and adjustable work schedules.

See also: Researchers make concerning findings about the way extreme heat impacts us: ‘This is a clear call for targeted policy interventions’, TCD-The Cool Down, October 24

A world of increasingly complex, sophisticated and powerful technologies increases the need for advances in cybersecurity to prevent exposure to threats that misuse of progress in the high-tech realm can present. Among ASU researchers working to help ensure protection from such dangers are faculty members in the ASU’s Global Security Initiative’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations. The center’s team includes Muslum Ozgur Ozmen, an assistant professor at the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Ozmen’s work involves studies of the Internet of Things and cyber-physical system security for those systems that use physical sensors or devices to transmit information or control processes.

Ryan Meuth, an assistant teaching professor in the  School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of Fulton Schools is partnering with the Wiley company, which focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials, to provide a new tutor powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, technology. It’s being designed to aid students in their work on online computer sciences labs. The goal is not for the AI tutor to provide answers to students but instead provide help putting them back on track to overcoming obstacles and challenges. The next phase of the study will assess the effectiveness of the AI tutor in helping student successfully complete their lab assignments.

CarbonCapture Inc. is building as large manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona, to produce systems to remove carbon dioxide, or CO2, from the atmosphere. The technology is essential U.S. efforts to develop a clean energy economy and reduce the environmentally harmful greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. The U.S. Department of Energy seeks to enable 100% carbon pollution-free electricity and net-zero emissions within the next 25 years. The ASU Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, directed by Klaus Lackner, a professor in the Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is leading work to help meet those goals. (The article originally appeared in Cronkite News: Arizona companies building tech to reduce carbon emissions, October 22.)

Use of direct air capture technology is seen as one of the more promising ways to take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help limit global warming and avoid the dire consequences of climate change. Recently reported advances in the technology may enable it to be more effective in cooling the Earth by enhancing its abilities to sequester atmospheric carbon, says Klaus Lackner, a professor in the Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions. Lackner explains what’s needed to deploy carbon capture systems at sufficiently effective levels. (A subscription or one-time access pass may be required to access the article.) The article is also published in the Tucson Sentinel.

See also: Yellow powder said key to capturing carbon dioxide from atmosphere, Los Angeles Times/Arkansas Democrat Gazette, October 27

As the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology is accelerating, enabling the use of deepfakes and other manufactured false images to perpetrate such misdeeds as identify theft and similar falsifications, experts are calling for actions to prevent these types of deceptions. Katina Michael, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, whose research focuses on the socioethical implications of emerging technologies, is among those calling for an international biometric bill of rights to deal with the problem. Protections that enable consumers to take legal action when they believe their data has been misused are needed, Michael says.

The U.S. Department of Energy wants researchers who will expand the boundaries of science and engineering to help provide the country the most advanced energy sources and systems. Eileen Seo, an assistant professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, and researcher in ASU’s Biodesign Center for Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing, is among those contributing to these efforts. Her work involves tapping into the ability of new materials that respond to changes in their environment. That ability could enable integrating nanotechnology with sustainable polymer design to produce next-generation energy conversion using light-mediated processes, part of a larger goal to develop sustainable, self-repairing materials.

With the use of advanced digitalization expanding to more operations across a range of industries — especially in the manufacturing sector and related major tech-based businesses — reliable cybersecurity systems are becoming essential to the ability of companies to operate in safe digital environments. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reports cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure pose one of the greatest strategic risks for the country. The School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, now has a $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to establish an institute to develop national and global cybersecurity educational standards and curriculum.

NASA has successfully launched the Europa Clipper. The largest spacecraft the agency has ever built for a planetary mission is now on a multi-year journey to Europa, one of Jupiter’s largest moons, and loaded with equipment to study its potential to support life. The mission had been in doubt after researchers found some of the Europa Clipper’s transistors would fail under Jupiter’s extreme radiation levels. But the mission is in motion, due in part to progress on efforts involving Hugh Barnaby, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. Barnaby has been helping to maximize radiation monitoring to mitigate its problematic effects.

Bridging skills in biology and computation is producing knowledge to help provide solutions in numerous science and engineering endeavors. Stephanie Forrest’s team at ASU’s Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society is tackling challenges including modeling of immunological processes and evolutionary diseases, cybersecurity, software engineering and evolutionary computation. A professor of computer science in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Futon Schools, Forrest describes efforts to detect and mount defenses against malicious behavior across a wide range of complex systems to help thwart threats from malware, misinformation and similar ways of posing myriad dangers to society.

Studies are showing the recent long stretches of hotter than normal temperatures in desert locales such as the greater Phoenix are having widespread and significant impacts on peoples’ daily lives. Irfan Batur, a research assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Futon Schools, describes how the extreme heat is causing people to cut back on use of public transit, do less shopping and socializing, and spend more time working at home and sleeping. Researchers says the extreme heat trends should motivate cities and communities to take steps to help people cope with the long stretches of sizzling temperatures.

A children’s hospital in Florida hit by the recent powerful and destructive Hurricane Milton was able to maintain access to water with a system that can capture moisture from the air. Contributions to the development of such water harvesting systems have been made by ASU researchers in recent years. Paul Westerhoff, an ASU Regents Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is among the ASU engineering researchers who have been contributing to progress in developing tools, techniques and systems to produce water from atmospheric moisture, which could help to provide water accessibility during disasters. (Access to the article requires creating a New Scientist account.)

As Phoenix and other cities break seasonal heat records, research is showing the extensive impacts the sizzling temperatures related to many societal activities and trends. A study by ASU, University of Washington and University of Texas researchers reports on how prolonged hots streaks are altering behavior in travel — particularly downturns in use of public transportation and overall travel — and putting a burden on low-income populations with limited resources. The situation is exacerbating inequalities, says Professor Ram Pendyala, director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Futon Schools, who leads the ASU research team. Irfan Batur, a research assistant professor in the school stresses that extreme heat is becoming a major public health challenge.

One of the solar-powered devices now being used by Hopi health care workers and crisis responders sprung from Laura Hosman challenging students to create a solar-power library that could fit into a backpack. The associate professor in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, and ASU’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society, is now is now the founder of the Solar Powered Educational Learning Library, or SolarSPELL. The SolarSPELL team has trained patient navigators with Hopi Cancer Support Services and an ASU doctoral student helped by providing more additional information and leading training sessions. SolarSPELL student workers are helping to further develop and curate the library content. 

When it comes to transportation, the freedom and flexibility of having one’s own vehicle is unrivaled, says Steven Polzin, a research professor at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Futon Schools. Still, there’s a trend of among some families toward slightly reversing the trend of one car for each adult. Polzin and others see an embrace of one-car and car-free lifestyles. But among factors preventing such a change are public environments that don’t make it easy for people to forsake personal car ownership. Professor Ram Pendyala, director of the school, says an impactful shift away from personal motorized vehicles will require more investment and policies that enhance public and nonmotorized transportation options.  

See also: Imagining Peak Car — Can We Live Without The Private Automobile? Clean Technica, October 11

Fulton Schools researchers are aiding efforts by the U.S. Department of Energy to provide cost-effective, electrified alternatives for industrial process heating. Narayanan Neithalath, Fulton Professor of Structural Materials in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment,  is leading work to reduce the amount of environmentally harmful carbon dioxide emissions in the production of cement. ASU Regents Professor Vijay Vittal in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering aims to decrease those emissions from iron and steel production. The projects support the national Electrified Processes for Industry Without Carbon initiative to cut back on industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

Myopic macular degeneration, which causes vision loss and sometimes blindness, is on the rise. Among those leading research to seek solutions is a team in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Yalin Wang, a professor of computer science and engineering in the school, and his fellow researchers are looking at recent technological innovations to help find remedies. Their research is focusing on the use of artificial intelligence, or AI. As AI-powered technology advances and becomes more available, Wang sees it enabling more progress. Ross Maciejewski, the school’s director, says Wang’s work is an important example of new work using AI to address medical challenges.

See also: How AI could protect millions of people from vision loss, earth.com
AI Innovations in Diagnosing Myopic Maculopathy, labroots
AI to improve Myopic Maculopathy, MSN
AI to Improve Myopic Maculopathy, AZoRobotics
Using advanced AI screening tools to improve detection of early myopic maculopathy, News Medical
Researchers use AI to help people see more clearly, Medical Express

Men in hard hats swinging hammers. It’s an image from the past that reflected a widespread perception of what the construction industry involved: low-skilled physical labor. That picture has since changed dramatically, writes Eminent Scholar Timothy Becker, chair of the construction engineering and construction management programs in the Del E. Webb School of Construction in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Becker says the field today includes experts in robotics, data analysis, autonomous vehicles, electronics design and many related high-tech fields — all part of a thriving U.S. construction industry that added 235,000 jobs in the past year.

See also: My View: How technology, diversity help tear down the construction industry, Phoenix Business Journal, October 10

As Arizona experiences a summer of record-breaking desert heat, researchers in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, are continuing to report more findings about a multitude of ways extreme heat impacts many aspects of peoples’ lives and influences their behavior and choices in significant ways. Professor Ram Pendyala, the school’s director, emphasizes how the heat curtails shopping, recreational activities and general socialization in communities and more seriously impacts lower-income populations. These and other issues should prompt cities and growing urban areas to take steps to shield people from unavoidable and prolonged exposure to summer heat, Pendyala says.

See also: How Heat Waves Are Rewriting Urban Routines, E+E Leader (Environmental Energy Leader), October 2
How extreme heat changes our daily lives and travel habits, Knowridge, September 28

Arizona’s emergence as a leading center in today’s booming semiconductor industry has been shaped by many factors over past decades — among them the founding, growth and expansion of ASU and the increasing numbers of engineering graduates it provided for growing companies such as Motorola and Intel. Michael Kozicki, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, points out that ASU’s focus on engineering excellence, especially since the 1980s, has helped to attract tech businesses and produce talent to fuel the success of such companies as Microchip Technology and NXP Semiconductors and to draw the booming Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to the Phoenix area. The state now plays a leading role in the global microchip industry.

Vietnam is among countries the U.S. has chosen to join its International Technology Security and Innovation Fund, which has goals aligning with aims of U.S CHIPS and Science Act to provide workforce training for semiconductor and AI industries. Efforts involve the U.S. Department of State and ASU launching a program in Vietnam to train more than 4,000 engineers in packaging and testing integrated circuits in 2025. ASU signed an MOU with Vietnam last year to support the workforce development strategy. Jeffrey Goss, ASU’s associate vice provost for Southeast Asia affairs and executive director of the Office of Global Outreach and Extended Education for the Fulton Schools is part of the advisory team for the project.

In collaboration with the Fulton Schools, Honeywell Aerospace Technologies has opened a 30,000-square-foot facility on ASU’s Tempe campus as an innovation hub designed to help prepare students for careers in the aerospace industry. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, says the hub will help to bridge academia and industry, giving students insights into the aerospace technology business and opportunities to make connections that can position them for careers in aerospace engineering. ASU is also partnering with semiconductor companies to develop curriculum to help students prepare to work in that booming industry.

See also: Honeywell launches ‘innovation hub’ at ASU’s Tempe campus, Tempe Independent, October 1

Researchers at ASU have collaborated with colleagues at the University of Washington and the University of Texas on a study that reveals in detail how the trend of more frequent extreme heat is negatively impacting the quality of life. They study also provides insights about how communities and individuals can effectively adapt to rising temperatures. The study’s lead author, Ram Pendyala, professor and director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, emphasizes how extreme heat exacerbates inequities in mobility and participation in activity travel. This study explores ways people can adjust and change their activity-travel and time use behaviors to better cope with extreme heat.

See also: Climate Crisis: How is Extreme Heat Reshaping Travel and Daily Life of Vulnerable Communities? The Weather Channel/The Times of India, September 27.
Extreme heat altering travel plans, people’s daily routines worldwide, India Today, September 28
Ram Pendyala is quoted on results of research showing the needs for strategies to maintain quality of life being threated by increasing extreme heat. A similar article is published on the Prevention Web site.

An extensive look at a variety of ways that scientists and engineers are  proposing as effective ways to combat the threatening impacts of climate change include new technology developed through work led by  Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions. A forest of mechanical trees that can employ carbon-capture technology could significantly reduce harmful carbon dioxide in the atmosphere more quickly than natural trees can. The first mechanical tree was erected and instead on ASU’s Tempe campus in 2002.

A recent research study in the Water Emerging Contaminants & Nanoplastics reports on findings of a significant spike in concentrations of microplastic fibers after human activity in the Salt River. Some of the microplastic fibers came from synthetic plastics fibers in peoples’ swimsuits. ASU researchers are exploring ways to keep microplastics out of places where they contribute to environmental pollution — including polyester and polyamide synthetic fibers such as those in swimwear fabrics. Matthew Fraser, a professor in School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is a co-author of the study. The nearly 200-mile-long Salt River runs through Arizona’s Gila and Maricopa counties and is the Gila River’s largest tributary.

A summer in which a record-breaking number of days with daytime temperatures of 100-plus degrees is emphasizing the need for communities to finds way to protect children at public recreational facilities from scorching summer heat. In direct sunlight the surfaces of playground equipment can heat to temperatures above 150 degrees. Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, a part of the Fulton Schools, and a researcher in ASU’s Urban Climate Research Center and director of the SHaDE Lab, is among those seeking ways to help protect people from the increase in the frequency and severity of extreme heat , particularly in outdoor urban environments. Pouya Shaeri, a Fulton Schools computer science doctoral student is assisting in the research.

Use of solar energy as an alternative to energy sources that produce air pollution and environmentally harmful greenhouse gasses is on the rise. But along with that clean-energy trend, about 90 percent of the hundreds of millions of solar panels being installed throughout the U.S. are ending up in landfills at the end of their productive life cycles. Those solar panels pose a threat to the environment because of toxic contaminants that can leach into soil from various materials in the panels. Nick Rolston and Meng Tao, professors in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, provide details about work being done in ASU’s MacroTechnology Works lab to help remedy the problem.

ASU continues an impressive streak in the U.S News & World Report Magazine’s annual rankings of the most innovative universities in the U.S., due in large part to its engineering programs. In the most recent rankings, the Fulton Schools came in at 13th nationally in environmental and environmental health engineering, 16th in civil engineering, 17^th for industrial manufacturing, 18^th for cybersecurity computer science education, 19^th in the electronics and electronics communications engineering, as well as in artificial intelligence computer science in the engineering category and 35^th overall for its undergraduate engineering program. These ranking helped to once again bring ASU the No. 1 spot overall in the “Best Colleges” rankings of the most innovative U.S. universities.

Fulton Schools researchers teamed with colleagues at the University of Washington and University of Texas at Austin for an extensive study of the impacts of extreme heat on human activity and mobility. The study makes a case for an urgent need to develop public policy to formulate strategies and guide actions needed to deal with rising temperatures and more frequent heat waves. The report is based on research led by Ram Pendyala, director of the School of School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The team includes two of the school’s professors, Mikhail Chester and Steven Polzin, research assistant professor Irfan Batur and doctoral student Victor O. Alhassan.

Much of the capabilities of the modern technologies that are driving the success of many of today’s high-tech industries and bolstering national economies are a result of advanced microchip manufacturing. It’s why the island nation of Taiwan is vital to many larger countries such as the U.S., and Arizona specifically. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, Taiwan’s leading industrial giant, is erecting a massive complex in Arizona that will include the company’s most advanced technology in the U.S. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, comments on how such expansions have also been motivating the U.S. to maintain its share of the semiconductor manufacturing market.

See also:
Diary of the deal: Years of courtship, pivotal helicopter ride brought TSMC to Phoenix
Arizona Republic, September 30. Kyle Squires comments on how the stage is set for the greater Phoenix area to be part of the semiconductor industry boom.

An ‘inviting place’: How Arizona emerged as a leader in the US semiconductor revival
Arizona Republic, September 25. Kyle Squires estimates that most of the 33,000 students enrolled  in the Fulton Schools would qualify for careers in the semiconductor industry.

Arizona’s semiconductor industry: What to know about the booming field
Arizona Republic, September 24. The high demand for engineers, including Fulton Schools graduates.

Warnings about the risks of drinking water from plastic containers were recently voices in an article in the BMJ Global Health Journal. The authors say water in plastic bottles can expose people to toxins and recommend instead drinking clean tap water from reliably tested sources.  Some brands of bottled water can contain amounts of tiny nanoplastics that could bring on inflammation and changes in metabolism, including in the brain and reproductive systems, that could threaten human health,” says Rolf Halden, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools,  and director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering. He and other experts point to the challenges in ensuring safe sources of water.

See also: Health experts issue warning to anyone drinking out of plastic water bottle, Mirror, September 20
Rolf Halden is quoted in the report.

Ayomide Laguda and Jayden Lynch are ASU honors students who have earned support from the Bidstrup Foundation and Barrett Research Undergraduate Fellowship program to do research related to their aspirations as future engineers. Laguda, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, is focused on setting up software for simulating models of gene regulatory network dynamics, which involves genes interacting to control cell function. Jayden Lynch, studying to earn a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, is doing research with Anca Delgado, an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The project is focused on the properties of soil on Mars and its possible uses for future missions to the planet.

In its latest list of the 100 most important people who have been contributing to significant technological progress and innovations in areas of analytics, artificial intelligence, data science and big data, the magazine features Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. In his more the three decades at ASU, Kambhampati has become a prominent and accomplished innovator in artificial intelligence, or AI, research, and a leading chronicler of AI’s societal impacts. He has served as president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, a trustee of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence and is a founding board member of the Partnership on AI.

Tim Silverman, one of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s 2024 distinguished research staff members, says he gained valuable knowledge from years of breaking apart machines and various other devices. With what he learned from those curiosity-driven activities, along with knowledge gained in earning a degree in mechanical engineering from the Fulton Schools, Silverman is now 14 years into a career testing devices for the prominent government lab. Now a senior scientist for the lab, he was one of its first two researchers to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The award recognized a significant contribution to solar energy. He has since continued to contribute to advances in photovoltaics and other energy-related fields.

In what’s been seen as a potentially substantial leap in artificial intelligence, or AI, technology, two new AI models are capable of reasoning by using what are termed chain of thoughts and reasoning tokens. It opens the possibility that smaller AI models can achieve effective reasoning capabilities. The new models use what is called reinforcement learning over auto-generated chains of thought, says Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Kambhampati also points out one possible drawback — that these models could make it difficult to check the reasoning behind the solutions they generate.

New ASU Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub projects will be accelerating the capabilities of U.S. manufacturers to produce the logic chip technologies that process data enabling computing systems and other modern electronic devices and systems to perform effectively. ASU researchers, including Fulton Schools faculty, will have leading roles in five of the projects. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools and CEO of the prototyping hub, says Fulton Schools students will be among talented future members of a growing workforce with the research and engineering skills that will help to make the nation’s investments in chip technology innovation pursuits successful and boost many industries, especially manufacturing, in the U.S., as well as strengthen the nation’s overall economy.

See also: Tempe, Phoenix mayors show support at ASU for $29.6M federal microelectronics award
Tempe Daily Independent, September 19
In a report on the Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub’s collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense to accelerate microelectronic technologies development and production to aid national security, Fulton Schools Dean Kyles Squires expresses confidence in the effort to to reestablish U.S. dominance in semiconductor research, development and manufacturing. (Access to the article requires establishing an account.)

Solutions to some of humanity’s sustainability challenges could be developed from what’s being learned about unicellular aquatic organisms. Scientists are looking, for instance, at how the abilities of algae might provide a starting point for developing ways to ensure better food production and water treatments and useful organic compounds. Peter Lammers, a research professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and with ASU’s Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation, notes how these organisms can help to produce complex proteins and carbohydrates that could improve ecological protection by treating wastewater and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, among other similar potential environmental benefits.

One of the top honors for ASU faculty members, the President’s Professor award, recognizes innovation in teaching, the ability to inspire students to do original and creative work, demonstrating a mastery subject matter and making notable scholarly contributions to higher education. Among ASU faculty members recently chosen to join the ranks of President’s Professors is Teresa Wu, a faculty member and associated dean of global engagement in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Wu teaches in the industrial engineering program. Among her professional accomplishments have been earning a National Science Foundation CAREER award and being founding co-director of ASU-Mayo Center for Innovative Imaging.

The world’s new largest carbon capture plant, named Mammoth, doesn’t bring the world significantly closer to reducing the carbon dioxide emissions threatening the planet’s environment by contributing to global warming. But the faciility in Iceland is a notable as a step in the right direction, says Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions.  Mammoth is many times larger than other such facilities and can absorb almost 40,000 tons of carbon from the air each year. A carbon capture plant being built in Texas by a US-based company is expected to remove 500,000 tons of carbon annually.

There are reports that Large Language Models, or LLMs, are now generating new research ideas and then also writing the required code, doing the necessary experiments, summarizing research results, visualizing related data and providing scientific manuscripts reporting on research results. Those claims are questioned by Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and a past president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. He points to cases of LLMs showing poor reasoning and planning abilities and struggling with deducing new facts from existing information. The article is also published in Startup News.

Facilities at ASU’s Polytechnic campus continue to be expanded. The latest new construction milestone is the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 12, or ISTB 12.  The more than 173,000-square foot complex will house an array of educational and research spaces and facilities, primarily for the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools. Tim Smith, ASU’s facilities development and management interim vice president, and Carlos Diaz, project director for McCarthy Building Companies, say ISTB12 will also showcase high-quality building materials and advanced construction techniques and propel the advancement of the sophisticated technologies to benefit students, faculty members and researchers.

In the past two decades the Department of Homeland Security Centers for Excellence — coalitions led by U.S. colleges or universities in partnership with other institutions — have been addressing national challenges posed by terrorism, cybercrime, food insecurity and climate change, among other international threats. The centers have brought together some of the nation’s leading scholars and researchers to contribute to solutions. Among them has been Ross Maciejewski, the Ira A. Fulton Professor of Computer Science and director of the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, as well as director of ASU’s Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency. Maciejewski talks about his path toward leading a DHC Center of Excellence.

ASU students are part of the Shellphish cybersecurity team that is among winners of a recent AI Cyber Challenge semifinal hacking competition — earning the team $2 million and entry into next year’s DEF CON, the world’s largest hacking competition. Adam Doupé, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations, leads Shellphish, which includes members from Purdue University and the University of California, Santa Barbara. For the competition, the team developed an automated tool that checks computer programs for vulnerabilities.

See also: ASU Hackers Win $2 Million At ‘AI” Competition, Fox 10 News Phoenix, September 6

Fulton Schools semiconductor packaging courses drew about 40 students each semester about five years ago. Today, with the continuing growth of the semiconductor industry, the numbers of students in those courses have jumped to more than 200 every semester. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, points to the schools’ effort to spark the interest of students in the field’s expanding career opportunities. That effort has now been bolstered by a $40 million grant from the federal government to ASU to fund creating a regional network for microelectronics education. With course content shaped in collaboration with industry, Squires says courses will prepare students to work in a range of roles in the fast-emerging industry.

Phoenix and neighboring municipalities have seen more than 100 days of high temperatures of more than 100 degrees — with more likely to come before the seasonal transition to fall sets in. It’s been deemed an alarming benchmark in the trend toward more extreme head in area by Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, a part of the Fulton Schools, and researcher in ASU’s Urban Climate Research Center. Middel says the trend is signaling an urgent need for regions across the U.S. for a heightened awareness of the dangers posed by the sizzling temperatures. She points to diseases and illnesses that can result from prolonged heat exposure. The report is also posted on the ABC News website.

See also: Workers Want Flexible Heat Standard as OSHA Eyes Trigger Temp, Bloomberg Law, September 3
Ariane Middel comments on a U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposal to dictate when employers must implement measures to protect workers.

Phoenix’s streak of over 100-degree temperatures reaches 100th day, WSJM News September 3

Amid fears that artificial intelligence, or AI, technology will replace humans in the workforce, pushing people out of their jobs, AI experts such as Siddharth Srivastava are saying computer scientists should be emphasizing that AI can free people from mundane work they don’t want to do and give people freedom to pursue more creative contributions to society. Srivastava, an  associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence and director of ASU’s Autonomous Agents and Intelligent Robots Lab, has his research team focused on helping to develop a new type of AI-enhanced technology to help bring about a more innovative and collaborative working relationship with humans.

A series of articles exploring how ASU is changing ways problems are solved in the world today looks at research pursuits, projects, programs and initiatives focusing on solutions to water challenges. The Fulton Schools and ASU’s College of Global Futures are training students to be future water leaders, including teaching them transdisciplinary approaches to water problem-solving. Paul Westerhoff, an ASU Regents Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment , part of the Fulton Schools, leader of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative’s Global Center for Water Technology has hosted the first Atmospheric Water Harvesting Summit at ASU and introduced students to advanced technologies for water augmentation, conservation, treatment and reuse.

High levels of toxic substances spread for decades across farmlands have come from fertilizers made from urban sewage. It has helped take sludge out of landfills, is rich in nutrients and its use has been encouraged by the federal government. But now there’s suspicion these chemicals are in crops, are sickening or killing livestock and threatening farmers’ health. Rolf Halden, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, is among experts who assess the situation and risks and challenges it presents.

The U.S. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, policy, enacted in 2012, calls for temporary delays in deportation for some undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. It allows migrant youth to legally drive, travel, study and work in the U.S. But some undocumented youths have continued to encounter barriers DACA was intended to prevent. Dulce Matuz, who as an undocumented immigrant earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Fulton Schools in 2009, says such students are still facing the same challenges today as they have in the past. Matuz’s advocacy for undocumented students was a prominent theme of a popular documentary film.

An ASU initiative is driving innovation by providing seed funding to advance discoveries and technological innovation that paves the way for humans’ interplanetary future through science and engineering progress that is also benefiting society today. Among promising contributors to that progress is Oswald Chong, an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, who leads the Lunar Minimum Viable Infrastructure pilot project team in its efforts to develop systems for establishing and sustaining human presence on the Moon. This and other projects bring together faculty from ASU and other universities, industry experts, government professionals and undergraduate and graduate students.

Large language models, or LLMs, large deep learning models that provide vast amounts of data and generate human language text, still face a big challenge because of the vast number of languages across the world, most of which have no text data. The problem is that this makes it difficult to gain certainty that the output of LLMs is producing verifiable factual knowledge, says Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. A recent research paper offers an LLM trustworthiness evaluation framework that could help offer a solution. The article links to the podcast Kamhampati did on Machine Learning Street Talk, “Do you think that ChatGPT can reason?”

Even relatively small breaks in water lines can cause serious damage, as demonstrated by a recent pipeline leak in a neighborhood that created a muddy mess and resulted in extensive damage. Such incidents reveal the challenges for municipalities and utility operations to keep pace on maintenance and upgrades, says Professor Samuel Ariaratnam, construction engineering program chair in the Del E. Webb School of Construction in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Factors such as the age of piping and its structural resilience  — or the lack of it — need to be regularly assessed to adequately monitor water delivery systems for deterioration and potential breaks, Ariaratnam says.

Extreme heat isn’t a more serious challenge only for U.S. Sun Belt cites anymore. Cities in regions with typically cooler climates are now seeing temperatures increase more severely than in the past. The problem will have more dramatic impacts in those once more temperate regions because infrastructure in those areas isn’t designed to withstand the rising heat, says Mikhail Chester, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. But an equally big threat from heat exposure is to people, he adds. Chester advocates for both more resilient infrastructure systems and also those that can diminish the consequences when heat leads to the failure of those systems.

Three recent graduates of the Fulton Schools’ Engineering (Robotics) bachelor’s degree program — Jaqueline Villanueva Castro, Paulina Garibay and Litzi Matancillas — along with computer science undergraduate student Nancy Esquivel Vazquez, were the members of a team that won the championship title in the 27th International Robosub Competition. Their team, Desert WAVE, or Women in Autonomous Vehicle Engineering, competed with two autonomous underwater robots named Dragon and Baby Dragon. Castro was on the ASU electrical team led by Garibay. Matancillas, lead the mechanical team.

Perpetrators of identity theft, misinformation dissemination and perhaps even election fraud have a new tool that could enable their deceptive acts: advanced voice cloning technology. Academic, industry and government experts recently took part in a U.S. National Security Council discussion about the potential misuses of voice cloning. Professor Visar Berisha, Fulton Schools associate dean of research and commercialization, took part in the meeting. Berisha leads a team that was a winner of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s Voice Cloning Challenge. The team includes Daniel Bliss, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools.

Climate change and the heat it is generating is putting public infrastructure at risk of deterioration and failure. Roads, power lines, railways and batteries are among things threatened by the risk excessive heat poses for the steel, concrete and asphalt and other materials from which with many technologies and systems are made. Mikhail Chester, a professor in School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment and director of ASU’s Metis Center for Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering, says engineers are capable of redesigning infrastructure to withstand higher temperatures, but the costs would be high and keeping up with the mounting effects of climate change would be especially challenging.

Biological design doctoral student Hannah Glesener in ASU’s School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, is lead author of a new study introducing X-ray irradiation as a method of sterilizing contaminated corn that will neutralize a cancer causing poison. It raises hope for solutions to mycotoxin contamination, particularly in developing countries where food safety measures are limited. It could also provide ways to detoxify food before its absorption into the bloodstream. Glesener is graduate research assistant in the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes, directed by Rosa Krajmalnik Brown, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools.

See also: Researchers look to control aflatoxin in corn, FeedStrategy, August 16

As the U.S. works to boost the semiconductor industry throughout the Americas to reduce reliance on east Asia, Costa Rica has stepped up to aid the effort to support the U.S. semiconductor value chain by helping to reshape the global supply chain. Costa Rica offers an attractive lure for enhancing semiconductor assembly, testing and packaging capabilities in the Americas, says Jeff Goss, who leads ASU’s Engineering Online graduate degree programs for the Fulton Schools, as well as Global Outreach and Extended Education and executive and professional development programs.

Research leading to advances in the manufacturing and synthesis of semiconductor technologies and next-generation applications in quantum information, energy conversion and chemical engineering processes has earned a Navortsky Professor of Materials Research position for Seth Tongay, a professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools. The professorship provides support to expand career pursuits. Christina Birkel, an associate professor in ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences, also earned the professorship named after Regents Professor Alexandra Novrotsky in the School of Molecular Sciences, director of the Navrotsky Eyring Center for Materials of the Universe and a Fulton Schools faculty member.

Researchers are seeking better ways to control air pollutants — including those in the Phoenix area where the ozone layer is among the more serious atmospheric threats to human health. So says the American Lung Association, which has ranked the city as the fifth most ozone-polluted metro area in the U.S. Solutions are now being sought by ASU researchers, including urban air quality and pollution control expert Matthew Fraser, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. He’s teaming with Professor Peter Herkes in ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences and two ASU doctoral students to investigate possible solutions. See a related earlier report on this page dated July 24.

Helping to bring more of the world’s population reliable access to clean, safe, resilient and affordable sources of energy is the mission of the Laboratory for Energy And Power Solutions. Director Nathan Johnson, an associate professor in  The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, says fulfilling that goal is a significant way ASU can go beyond education and research to providing impactful public value. Among its efforts, the lab is working to provide better energy access to remote communities, make advances in using microgrids for electrification to replace unreliable energy sources and supporting countries in transitioning to clean energy sources to help develop productive and environmentally healthier low-carbon and zero-carbon businesses and economies.

Widespread power blackouts pose potentially severe public health and safety risks, as well as serious drawbacks for various communities, businesses and services of all kinds. Arizona has experienced a number of serious blackouts in the recent past, particularly due to its extreme desert heat. But the state overall has remained well below the national average in the frequency of power grid outages. In this news podcast, Nathan Johnson, director of the Laboratory for Energy And Power Solutions. and an associate professor in  The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, and others talk about the kinds of climate goals the state needs to meet to sustain reliable defenses against blackouts and their  consequences into the future.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, one of the world’s major makers of advanced computer chips modeled the large plant it built near Phoenix after its manufacturing facilities in Taiwan. TSMC is now finding some challenges as the company’s leadership and its American workers are experiencing friction arising from culture clashes over business practices and management and employee relationships. ASU has been a major source of TSMC employees in Arizona, says Zachary Holman, vice dean of Research and Innovation in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, noting that the company funds research projects for students as a way to assess potential future workers.

Work is on track for the planned opening next year of ASU’s Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 12, which will set the stage for a major expansion of the university’s Polytechnic campus and provide a dedicated hub for the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools. ISTB 12’s features will include research labs and instructional and collaboration spaces to support education in semiconductor manufacturing, additive manufacturing, robotics for smart manufacturing and industry automation, cyber manufacturing and operations research, as well as manufacturing systems for the energy sector. The project is also part of a master plan that includes developing an Innovation Research District adjacent to the campus.

Alan Dupre, who recently graduated from ASU with degrees in mechanical engineering, global health and physics with honors from ASU’s Barrett, The Honors College, has  been awarded a scholarship from the U.S. Department of Defense. Dupre, a graduate student in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, says the scholarship will give him experience in both research and engineering roles that will prepare him to support national defense missions. This summer Dupre got a preview of his future with the defense department in a visit to Washington, D.C., where he will be working in a division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center.

OpenAI is now using constrained decoding, a technique that may help  keep artificial intelligence technology from making mistakes by helping to ensure there is consistent data generation when it is attempting  provide complete and accurate information. In one recent attempt at clear reasoning, things got murky in relation to Jagged Intelligence, a term used to define the struggle that AI’s Large Language Models, or LLMs, have in dealing with dumb problems. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, explains that LLMs are impressive tools but there remain challenges that need to be addressed regarding the efficacy of LLM-based AI Agents.

Since a century ago, when summer Olympic Games were last held in Paris before this year’s games, summer days with hot  temperatures are now three times more frequent in the city. That jump in temperatures is enough to put significant physical stress on athletes, especially those competing in endurance events. Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, a part of the Fulton Schools and director of the SHaDE Lab, talks about ways to reduce the debilitating impacts of physical exertion in hotter climates. She is co-author of a detailed study on heat stress and its impact on runners. (Middel is mistakenly identified in the article as a faculty member at the University of Arizona.)

Using a popular video game, two Fulton Schools faculty members have helped to generate a large publicly available human-AI research dataset that could make artificial intelligence technology capable of humanlike understanding. In ASU’s Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence, and Robot Teaming researchers used the Minecraft game to design complex and dynamic tasks in a simulated urban search and rescue mission — such as a fire sweeping through a small town. In doing so they’ve discovered clues to how to create machines with social intelligence. The project team members include Nancy Cooke and Jamie Gorman, professors of human systems engineering in in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools.

Its looks just too weird to be true. That’s one clue casting doubt on a recent video posted on TikTok and seen by at least a million viewers that reported a tiger at the Phoenix Zoo was shot for being too human-like. Imperfections in the video make it relatively easy to discern as a fake, says Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. But he cautions that other videos being made with more advanced artificial intelligence, or AI, technology, than that used in the zoo tiger video are going to make it more difficult to discern real from false video images in the future.

Two extensive recent news articles report on rising sizzling temperatures and the severe dangers they pose to human and environmental health. There’s a focus on the greater Phoenix area as a region where heat is increasingly threatening livability for large populations. Among researchers working to understand heat, its impacts and how to reduce it are Ariane Middel and Jennifer Vanos, faculty members, respectively, in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools and Engineering and the School of Sustainability. Both are with ASU’s Urban Climate Research Center, where solutions are being sought to reduce vulnerability to dangerous heat in both urban communities and ecosystems across the world. See also: Too hot even for cactuses” Phoenix offers taste of heat’s dangers, NZZ (Switzerland)

ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations‘ summer program partners high school students with graduate student mentors from the center and the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, for collaborative research projects on campus. This summer, 23 high school students from the Phoenix area took part in an eight-week cybersecurity research internship guided by ASU students, including Fulton Schools computer science doctoral students Syed Navid and Ananta Soneji. More than more than 100 students competed to participate in the internship in the center directed by Adam Doupé, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence. One high school student said the internship enabled him to see how research can make important impacts on society.

It’s being called an invisible weather disaster. It’s extreme heat and it’s leading to more deaths than those resulting from floods, hurricanes and tornadoes — with Arizona’s Maricopa County seeing a steep jump in heat-related fatalities. The growing threat is motivating researchers to address the problem, among them Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence and director of the SHaDE Lab, and Konrad Rykaczewski, an associate professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy. Both schools are parts of the Fulton Schools and both faculty members have developed technology to gain knowledge about extreme heat and find more effective ways to protect people from its dangers. 

A mobile biometeorological station that measures outdoor heat radiation is a major tool being used by ASU researchers in multiple studies on the impacts of hot environments on human health. Konrad Rykaszewski, an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, and Jennifer Vanos, an associate professor in the School of Sustainability, are among those employing the technolgy named MaRTy in efforts to finds ways to help project people from increasingly hotter environments.

As part of efforts to mount defenses against cyberattacks that would threaten critical national infrastructure and security, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is sponsoring a two-year hackathon contest offering a large monetary prize for writing programs that can scan millions of lines of open-source code to help identify security flaws and fix them. Teams from Arizona State University, the University of California at Santa Barbara and Purdue University recently gathered to begin taking on the challenge. One of the advisors is Yan Shoshitaishvili, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, whose expertise includes cybersecurity research and vulnerability detection techniques.

Zilin Jiang, an assistant professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers were awarded the prestigious Delbert Ray Fulkerson Prize. The award, presented at the recent International Symposium on Mathematical Programming, recognizes outstanding research papers in discrete mathematics, including graph theory, networks, mathematical programming, applied combinatorics and applications of discrete mathematics to computer science and related subjects. The paper was published in the Annals of Mathematics. Jiang also holds a joint faculty position in ASU’s School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, 

King’s College London has held its first graduation of students from The Engineering & Design Institute London, or TEDI-London, an international partner of the Fulton Schools and Australia’s University of New South Wales Sydney. TEDI students completed studies for a Global Design Engineering bachelor’s degree and many are expected to advance to a Global Design Engineering integrated master’s degree program. TEDI-London has about 120 students enrolled in its programs focusing on engineering education through practical, project-based learning and industry ties. ASU played a role in launching the Institute in 2021 as part of efforts to accelerate the Fulton Schools’ engineering expertise across multiple global academic partnerships.

Arizona’s extreme desert heat may be causing vegetation to release more emissions into the atmosphere and worsening ozone pollution. ASU researchers are examining the situation. Matthew Fraser, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and an expert in urban air quality, air pollution control and atmospheric monitoring instruments, says unique interactions between vegetation and desert environments may be triggering the problem. The plan is to place sensors and other instruments in various Phoenix area locations to provide data for devising solutions to the problem. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is helping to fund the project.

Water conservation is increasing critical as a growing world boosts demand for the vital resource. A big step toward solutions would be more ways to reuse so-called greywater that’s already been used to wash laundry or dishes or for similar uses. One promising solution is being worked on by Zachary Bogart, an environmental engineering graduate student researcher in the the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Paul Westerhoff, an ASU Regents’ Professor in the school and director of the Global Center for Water Technology, part of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, says Bogart’s project is a prime example of the water recycling that would help prevent future shortages.

Long a suburban outpost of the greater Phoenix area, the town of Buckeye and the rest of the West Valley area have emerged as a wellspring of urban and economic growth. Along with residential and commercial development, the area is becoming a beacon of innovation. That trend includes the opening of three new schools at ASU’s West Valley campus, including the School of Integrated Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. Shawn Jordan, the school’s interim director, says students’ engineering studies will give them the skills to have an impact on the West Valley communities. Sintra Hoffman, president and CEO of WESTMARC, a partnership of 15 West Valley communities, says the new school is aligning its programs with the area’s workforce development strategy.

Russia already has all of Europe within range of its missiles. Now the deployment of Russia’s weaponry can be expected to increase with the announcement that the U.S. plans to bring some its missiles to Germany in coming years. The move by Russia is not an imminent threat but primarily to send a forceful message about its preparedness to engage in future miliary conflict, says Brad Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, whose expertise includes geopolitics and the implications of emerging military and security technologies. The move by Russia is not a surprise given the country’s expansionist plans, Allenby adds.

Some places get so hot in the summer that governments issue heatstroke alerts. But experts such as Ariane Middel say sometimes simple acts like using an umbrella for shade can help keep people safe from extreme heat. Middel, an urban climatologist and associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and author of the report “50 Grades of Shade,” says cooling towels, squirt misters or a good soaking in cool water can also provide effective protection against very hot environments. Middel gives further advice on beating the heat in other recent news reports:
12 News-Phoenix
Those neighborhoods get really, really hot: Phoenix’s heat island is no paradise
ABC 15 Arizona
Sizzling sidewalks, unshaded playgrounds pose risk for surface burns over searing Southwest summer
ABC News
Is air conditioning enough? Why extreme heat can still put you at risk

Arizona State University is poised to play a major role in the growth of the semiconductor industry. The U.S. CHIPS and Science Act provides billions of dollars in grants to companies such as Intel and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company as incentives that will open the door for ASU to supply much of the engineering and technical workforce for these companies’ major operations in the Arizona. Workforce recruitment efforts include support to prepare students for leading roles in evolving semiconductor research and development efforts, primarily through programs in the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks and the School of Integrated Engineering, both part of the Fulton Schools.

Arizona is one of over 20 states participating in the Biden Administration’s Federal-State Modern Grid Deployment Initiative to modernize the U.S. energy grid. Nathan Johnson, an associate professor in The Polytechnic School, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, discusses the need for grid modernization due to aging infrastructure and rising energy demands from electrification and data centers. Modernization efforts should encompass generation, transmission, distribution, and consumption, utilizing diverse energy sources and innovations. Challenges include expanding transmission capacity, accelerating project timelines, and addressing local energy needs to avoid outages. Arizona faces an urgent need for faster infrastructure development to keep up with rapid growth and increasing energy demands.

Fulton Schools biomedical engineering student Sheetal Jha was among a dozen ASU students who participated recently in ASU’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation’s Health Entrepreneurship Accelerator Lab internship in partnership with HonorHealth. The group’s project involved reimagining a Workstation on Wheels cart for use by the company’s nurses. Jha and other students, including Karanraj Govindraj, a Fulton Schools industrial engineering graduate student, designed various components of the cart using computer-aided design software and conducting stress and structural analysis. An HonorHealth clinical director complemented the project team for its innovative approach and attention to the needs of the patients the cart will serve.

Numerous U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studies confirm there is lithium, an alkali metal, in water supplies of many communities. El Paso, Texas, and other cities and regions are testing for the amounts of lithium in their water supplies to help determine if it clearly has detrimental effects on local populations. Professor Paul Westerhoff, the Fulton Schools chair of environmental engineering, says there may be different levels of risk among various communities depending on varying concentrations of lithium. But he says the EPA would need to conclude lithium poses a major threat to human health before requiring water utilities to put stricter limits on its presence.

Arizona State University researchers are focused on leveraging AI across various disciplines while addressing potential issues. Anamitra Pal, an associate professor of electrical engineering with ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, is using AI to enhance the reliability and resilience of the power grid amidst diverse energy sources and extreme weather. Pal’s research aims to extract actionable insights from sensor data to prevent power outages. He emphasizes AI’s role in identifying complex patterns and incorporating prior knowledge to improve power system applications. Pal is particularly motivated by explaining AI operations and providing performance guarantees for AI models in power systems. 

Nancy Cooke, a professor in human systems engineering for The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools of Engineering, emphasizes the importance of integrating humans with artificial intelligence, or AI, and robotics. As the founding director of the Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence and Robot Teaming, she advocates for AI to complement human skills rather than replace them. Cooke explores the concept of AI as a teammate, citing examples like the centaur model in chess, where AI and human capabilities are combined for superior performance. She also discusses the need for effective measurement techniques to evaluate human-AI team performance and stresses the importance of AI literacy for all users. Cooke envisions a future where AI enhances human capabilities, leading to greater productivity and possibly shorter workweeks, while maintaining a human-centered approach to AI development.

See also: Designing a more sustainable future with AI, ASU News, July 12

Konrad Rykaczewski, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, is investigating the initial phases of sweating, focusing on the formation and evaporation of tiny sweat droplets. Unlike the later profuse sweating stages, where evaporation dynamics are better understood, the early stages have been largely overlooked. Using a specialized ventilated capsule with high-magnification video capabilities, they studied droplet behavior on human foreheads, capturing details down to 20 microns. This innovative approach aims to enhance understanding of sweat’s cooling mechanism, potentially impacting fields from medicine to industrial applications.

A space-age method of measuring water storage across the world was pioneered more than two decades ago by Jay Famiglietti, a ASU Global Futures Scientist and an affiliate faculty member in ASU’s School of Sustainability and the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The method, which uses data from NASA satellites to measure gravity, can detect levels of surface water, groundwater and surface moisture. The method has been recently used to detect widespread water depletion in the Great Basin, which spans across much of the western U.S. Famiglietti and others say the impacts of increasing depletion could be wide-reaching and dramatic, including threatening water supplies needed to grow food.

Arizona State University’s AZNext Program is a public-private partnership designed to address the need for more skilled professionals, with an emphasis on the information technology, business/data analytics and advanced manufacturing industries. Partnering with major corporations and institutions like Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, AZNext offers free courses benefiting diverse professionals, including veterans. Virtual classes accommodate busy schedules, emphasizing upskilling. Supported by a U.S. Department of Labor grant, AZNext collaborates with industry leaders to tailor courses like cybersecurity and IT support, addressing workforce shortages. 

ASU’s Luminosity Lab developed Verdantt Fresh, an app that aims to tackle food insecurity and waste via a fresh produce vending machine. Chemical engineering student Ellie Moran says the startup emerged from a student project and progressed to compete at the Hult Prize Monterrey Global Summit. Though they didn’t advance to the next round, the experience bolstered their confidence. They are currently building community and corporate partners and plan to officially launch for public use in the spring of next year.

Arizona State University researchers have a $2.8 million National Science Foundation grant through the Expand AI initiative to advance artificial intelligence applications in technologies such as phones and smartwatches. Led by College of Health Solutions Associate Professor Hassan Ghasemzadeh, the research team includes Professor Pavan Turaga, director of the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and a faculty member in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, Associate Professor Giulia Pedrielli in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence and Professor Daniel Rivera in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy and others. The project aims to optimize AI for small, portable devices to enhance health monitoring and decision-making.

To reach its goal of seeing environmentally unhealthy emissions of greenhouse gases from heavy duty vehicles reduced to net zero in the next two decades, California must set early retirement dates for these vehicles. That’s the conclusion of a study by Stanford University and ASU researchers published in the journal “Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability.” Eleanor Hennessey, a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is the study’s main author. The research findings are relevant to all countries trying to decarbonize motor vehicles to protect the health of their citizens. Many U.S. states have carbon neutrality goals similar to those set by California.

As temperatures in Southwest desert cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas reach summertime highs there are increasing risks of serious burn injuries and heat strokes to people exposed to outdoor asphalt, concrete, metal and similar surfaces. For some, the injuries are fatal. Children in particular are not often unaware of risk they face in the sizzling heat, says Ariane Middel, an urban climate researcher and associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Middel says cities need to consider using other types of materials instead of those that turn urban infrastructure surfaces into heat sponges.

The prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program lays groundwork for international research collaborations to pursue solutions across a broad spectrum of engineering, science, economic, environmental, health care, human rights and related challenges. New projects to be undertaken include one to be led by Andreas Spanias, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools and director of the and the director of ASU’s Sensor, Signal and Information Processing Center. Spanias will work with fellow electrical engineers and information technology experts in North Macedonia to develop and deploy machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to optimize rooftop solar energy systems performance.

Fulton Schools students, including members of the ASU chapter of Engineers Without Borders, teamed recently with fellow ASU students and ASU faculty members and mentors to help reduce the plastic waste problem in Ethiopia that is endangering the country’s fragile ecosystem and a rare species of monkey. ASU students worked with fellow students from the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology to build machines to help solve the area’s plastic problem. Another goal was to help find ways local residents could profit from region’s ecosystem. Organizers of the project plan to return to Ethiopia next year and offer more engineering students an opportunity to work on the project.

See also: ASU Student Engineer’s Embark On Mission To Safeguard Ethiopian Wildlife, India Education Diary, July 2

The life-threatening dangers posed by a combination of extreme heat and a lack of cooling facilities were made apparent by the numbers of deaths among people who recently took part in a popular traditional pilgrimage in India. Temperatures in the holy city of Mecca soared well above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, contributing to 1,301 deaths. Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School for Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and ASU’s Urban Climate Research Center, is quoted about what is both effective and ineffective in protecting people exposed to hot environments for extended periods of time.

See also: Is air conditioning enough? Why extreme heat can still put you at risk, ABC News, June 21
Middel says neither U.S. citizens nor government leaders are taking the deadly threat of extreme heat seriously enough

Geopolitics, national security and military technologies and strategy intertwine in the research interests of Brad Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and a former associate director of energy and environmental systems at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. In this recent article (written in the Bosnian language), Allenby, whose expertise includes the geopolitical implications of emerging technologies, assesses Russia’s current nuclear posturing in response to NATO’s support of Ukraine, especially given China’s increasing influence over Russia, and the systemic integration of artificial intelligence technology into nuclear systems. He concludes that fundamental shifts in nuclear weapons strategies may well be coming, but there is no need for alarm at present.

Jenavieve Echegaray, who will begin studies in manufacturing engineering in the Fulton Schools in the fall, is among students participating in ASU’s Joaquin Bustoz Math-Science Honors Program academic camp this summer. The program prepares incoming ASU students for the rigors of studies in STEM subjects. By completing the camp course, students will earn three college credits for studies in math, science and engineering. Echegaray says the experience showed that college “doesn’t have to be super hard or scary.” Kenneth Ho, who plans to major in computer science and eventually work as a software engineer, said the program is good preparation for the transition from high school to college.

To respond to a directive set forth in a new federal rule, Arizona will make use of the expertise of Treavor Boyer, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The goal is to reduce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in drinking water to meet new environmental quality standards. Boyer, whose work is also supported by the Global Center for Water Technology, will also help the state’s Department of Environmental Quality significantly limit exposure to the PFAS contaminant. Through research supported by the National Science Foundation, Boyer will also have a role in helping the state deal with a threat being posed by phosphorus in wastewater.

Studies show that in routine driving circumstances, driverless automobiles are involved in fewer accidents than cars driven by people. But research also reveals that autonomous vehicles are having more difficulties than human drivers when encountering low-light conditions and when making turns on roads. Still, experts say much more research must be done to get a more comprehensively accurate picture of the driving skills of automated cars versus the driving performance of humans. Junfeng Zhao, an assistant professor of engineering in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, stresses that more extensive data on autonomous vehicle testing and deployment — especially robotaxis — is needed to get a complete picture of the situation.

ASU and the Salt River Project power and water utility company have conducted a study showing how water supplies can be increased while wildfire risk is decreased on forest lands by certain forest-thinning techniques. Enrique Vivoni, director of ASU’s Center for Hydrologic Innovations and a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, comments about how watershed productivity can be significantly improved by forest thinning that protects the environment by meticulously removing only smaller and thinner trees that can fuel forest fires while at the same time helping to  produce significantly more water.

See also: ASU, SRP investigating if forest thinning could increase water supplies, ABC 15 News Arizona, June 6

SRP and Apple Team Up to Thin Out the Forests to Save More Water, 3TV-CBS 5 News-Phoenix May 22

Recent news media reports on high-tech advances in construction materials were based on findings detailed in the research paper New Generation Graphenes in Cement-Based Materials: Production Property Enhancement, coauthored by Narayanan Neithalath (pictured in his ASU workspace), a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Carbon Efficient and Advanced Manufacturing of Materials  and Structures. Testing by Neithalath and fellow Fulton Schools researchers validated the superior technical performance of a new kind of graphene developed by HydroGraph Clean Power Inc. to improve the effectiveness of cement. Repoerts were also posted on WGNO (New Orleans) and WDTN (Dayton).

A deeper understanding of how humans are affected by high temperatures is emerging with the help of a test dummy named ANDI. The heat-monitoring manikin is the primary tool being used in research led by Konrad Rycakzewski, an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Fulton Schools. ANDI is one of only two such manikins in the world able to leave the lab and venture outside into the heat. That ability enables ANDI to contribute to knowledge that can be used to help develop defenses against weather conditions that are causing high numbers of deaths and health threats.

Semiconductor manufacturing has accelerated since the passage of the U.S. CHIPS Act two years ago. Colleges and universities have since been working to help create the trained workforce needed to fulfill the aspirations of the CHIPS Act. But, so far, those efforts are falling short in providing sufficient numbers of skilled employees for the nation’s semiconductor chip makers. Trevor Thornton, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, says even large universities such as ASU are not graduating enough students to end the shortage of chip makers for the industry. One remedy might be recruiting new students from community colleges, Thornton says.

Researchers are envisioning a future in which people prefer environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, high-occupancy vehicles. To realize that goal they are exploring employing advanced technology that uses reinforcement learning, a type of artificial intelligence, to incentivize people to choose options to single-occupant motor vehicles. Their ideas for a more human-centric system are detailed in the journal “Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.” Among the authors is Hua Wei, an assistant professor in School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, whose expertise includes machine learning, artificial intelligence, data mining, urban computing and multi-agent reinforcement learning.

Fulton Schools researchers are teaming with colleagues in ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences to study natural atmospheric emissions that are adding to harmful levels of the ozone pollution and giving the Phoenix metro area some of the unhealthiest air in the U.S. The project presents the challenge of controlling emissions from industry and motor vehicles, says Matthew Fraser, a professor in in the  School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, who will co-lead the project. Students are getting research experience through the endeavor, including Gabrielle Cano, a student in the Fulton Schools’ civil, environmental and sustainable engineering doctoral program.

An essay by the author of “The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet,” bolsters his warning about the possibility of a heat-triggered climate catastrophe by citing scenarios described by Mikhail Chester, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Chester recounts factors that worsened the impact on cities and regions from prolonged extreme heat events. The damage was more devastating because of the lack of preparedness for such severe climate threats, says Chester, director of ASU’s Metis Center for Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering. Studies show large urban areas such as Phoenix can suffer more severe consequences in such situations.

See also: Hurricanes & Heat — It Isn’t Nice to Fool With Mother Nature! Clean Technica, June 3

A process that reduces waste while using sound to cut materials for solar photovoltaics technology was developed by the Defect Engineering for Energy Conversion Technologies lab at ASU, directed by Mariana Bertoni, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. The process became the basis for a venture by a Phoenix-based startup now called Crystal Sonic. The company worked with ASU to further develop the technology and obtain a patent for the process. Crystal Sonic’s target customers include semiconductor material suppliers, device manufacturers and equipment manufacturers.

OpenAI’s newest version of the popular ChatGPT chatbot has the ability to upload photos for the bot to analyze. Other than that, there’s not much significantly improved over the previous version, which was ChatGPT-4. After putting the new chatbot through some tests, Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says he sees no meaningful improvement in bot’s reasoning capabilities. The new version needs some help from human intelligence to fulfill its purpose. But that is contrary to how advanced artificial intelligence should be working, Kambhampati says.

A increase in easily produced fake images and sound recordings meant to deceive viewers and listeners are prompting more intensive efforts to develop defenses against the perpetrators of these manipulated visuals and sounds — many of them altered by the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology. Visar Berisha, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, leads a team that has created a tool to help solve the problem. The invention is microphone that authenticates human speech, making it easier to detect if voices are real or phony simulations. Named “OriginStory,” the device recently won the Federal Trade Commission’s Voice Cloning Challenge.

See also: New Techniques Emerge to Stop Audio Deepfakes, IEEE Spectrum, May 30
ChatGPT maker OpenAI’s ‘Sky” AI voice is similar to two more Hollywood stars, Times of India, June 3

Among growing threats to global health is the increasingly frequent extreme heat caused by climate change. That jump in temperatures is often exacerbated by the heat-island effect in urban areas. Three ASU associate professors and researchers are working on innovative ways to combat the rising heat problem. Ariane Middel (pictured) in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and the School for Computing and Augmented Intelligence, parts of the Fulton Schools, Konrad Rykaczewski in the School for the Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, one of the Fulton Schools, and Jennifer Vanos in the School of Sustainability are developing tools and methods to deploy in the battle against scorching temperatures.

ASU researchers’ studies of the human gut microbiome are revealing how the gut’s microorganisms help manage weight. One recent study was based at ASU’s Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes, directed by Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Krajmalnik-Brown also participated in the research, which could deepen knowledge about the link between the gut microbiome and the human metabolism, thereby helping to devise more effective strategies for managing obesity. One promising strategy involves a regimen of intermittent fasting and regular protein intake.

Brad Allenby’s research has included exploring the impacts of the modern world’s rapid rate of technological evolution and societal change, especially their effects on the use of military force, national security systems and geopolitics. Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is particularly interested in current conflicts and their ramifications. In this news report, Allenby comments on the Ukrainian War and what it reflects about deeper trends in international conflicts. (The article is in the Bosnian language and mistakenly identifies Allenby as a faculty member at the University of Arizona.)

For a third year, the Bakery Equipment Manufacturers and Allieds, or BEMA, organization, will partner with the Fulton Schools to bring together leading scholars in manufacturing education and members of  BEMA, an international not-for-profit trade association representing major bakery and food suppliers. Professor Binil Starly, director of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools, and Farhad Ameri, an associate professor in the school, will be sharing the latest research findings and other knowledge of interest to leaders of the bakery and food suppliers’ industry. Starly is among the 20 most influential professors in smart manufacturing named by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Ameri’s expertise is in Knowledge-based Engineering, or KBE, in design and manufacturing applications, digital supply chains and related fields.

ASU is recognized as one of the U.S. universities where researchers are making the most significant progress in endeavors to curb the carbon emissions that pose an environmental threat. Much of that work is being done through by research and development projects in the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, directed by Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The center is at the forefront of advances in carbon capture technologies, in particular an innovative carbon management cycle designed to capture carbon directly from the air. The center’s “mechanical tree” technology is much more effective than natural tress at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

A recently announced proposal by the head of the Federal Communications Commission would add a layer of transparency that many lawmakers and AI experts have requested to keep AI technology from being used to mislead voters and the general public. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and others say the legislative bill would aim to provide a piece of model legislation for the country to show how the dangers of AI and deep fakes in a political context can be addressed in a way that still respects the First Amendment.

Experts at ASU and the Salt River Project utility company are exploring the use of forest thinning to increase water supplies, as well as to reduce the risk of wildfires and protect critical infrastructure. The research is being conducted by the Center for Hydrologic Innovations, directed by Enrique Vivoni, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The endeavor is part of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative,  a statewide project led by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory in collaboration with the Fulton Schools. Vivoni says the project is critical to assuring both future forest health and water resilience.

See also: SRP, ASU collaboration gauges benefits of forest thinning, KJZZ News (NPR) News, May 21

SRP-ASU Collaboration Gauges Benefits of Forest Restoration, Energy Central, May 22

SRP and Arizona State University Gauges Benefits of Forest Restoration, T&DWorld, May 23

SRP Collaborates with University on Forest Restoration Project, American Public Power Association, May 29

ASU, SRP investigating if forest thinning could increase water supplies, ABC 15 Arizona, June 5

Four of the recent Arizona high school graduates to win the prestigious Flinn Scholarship to support their upcoming studies in ASU’s Barrett, The Honors College, will add to the number of Flinn Scholars already enrolled in Fulton Schools degree programs. Zahrah Ralph says her love for engineering and the engineering design process guided her decision to pursue a mechanical engineering degree. Her fellow new Flinn Scholarship winners are first-year students Vyktorianna Bowler in mechanical engineering, and Dominic Castagna and Edward Wang, both in electrical engineering. The Flinn Scholarship covers the cost of tuition, fees, housing, meals and at least two study abroad experiences.

Microsoft, HP, Dell and other computer technology companies have developed a laptop computer designed to work with artificial intelligence, or AI, technology. The computers will make it simpler to use AI to find websites users have browsed, emails they’ve read and documents and files they have worked on. The AI systems will also enable automating photo editing and language translation and speeding up video editing. The benefits of the new chip may still not be readily evident to consumers, says Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor and artificial intelligence researcher in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Most of the data processing for AI still has to be done on a company’s servers and not directly on the devices, Kambhampati says.

In his work for the Phoenix area’s Valley Metro light-rail system expansion, Barzin Mobasher, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, used a new fiber-reinforced concrete instead of concrete reinforced with traditional steel bars for the track slabs. In an article on the American Society of Civil Engineers, or ASCE, website, Mobasher provides details about how use of the new concrete helped in completing the  project at a lower cost and in less time than if convention rebar were used. Advances in alternative construction design processes and the use of reinforced-concrete track slabs were developed in Mobasher’s Structural Mechanics and Infrastructure Materials Laboratory. The article was first posted on ASCE’s website on April 12.

Advances in artificial intelligence, or AI, technology are sparking a new wave of medical research that is exploring how AI and machine learning can be used to improve diagnosis and treatment of diseases and other health problems. At ASU, faculty members in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering and the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, parts of the Fulton Schools, including Professors Teresa Wu, Thurmon Lockhart and Visar Berisha, Associate Professor Bradley Greger and Assistant Professor Christopher Plaisier, are among those helping to expand the capabilities of health care through evolving applications of AI.

Arizona legislators are trying to hinder use of deepfake technology by making the creation of fake images for harmful purposes a punishable felony infraction. Two bills advanced by the Arizona House of Representatives would make it illegal to use manufactured video or audio recordings with the intent to defraud, harass or exploit the victims or their friends and families. But enforcing laws against altering images and recordings or creating fake ones will be challenging, say experts such as Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. He says evolving artificial intelligence technology makes it easier to produce more realistic fake image and voices — and harder to control how they are used.

A high-tech news website that focuses on trends in machine learning, deep learning, neural networks and artificial intelligence, or AI, technologies and business, reports on a new research paper authored by Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, along with graduate student Kaya Stechly and graduate research associate Karthik Valmeekam in the same school. In the paper, they examine the popular AI “chain-of-thought” prompting technique that improves performance but also has some limitations. The authors write about how to avoid the hazards presented by the technique.

Among only 10 undergraduates selected for this year’s cohort of those awarded the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Information Technology Fellowship is Isa Cohen, a student in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. The program will provide support for two remaining years of undergraduate studies for Cohen, who is pursuing a degree in computer science. Through the fellowship, Cohen will aid the State Department’s efforts to ensure the security of digital environments. Ross Maciejewski, director of the  School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, says Cohen exemplifies Fulton Schools students who want to use their skills for the common good.

Along with recent promising advances in artificial intelligence, or AI, technology come warnings about how it could also be used as an instrument of deception. AI’s capability to imitate peoples’ voices is among the latest of those concerns. In response, a group ASU researchers, including, Visar Berisha, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, have developed a prototype of a microphone capable of authenticating voices as human speech, which could expose AI imitations. Berisha talks about the various positive uses of the voice verification technology.

See also: Cyberattacks are disrupting critical infrastructure. This expert says we can all fight back, KJZZ (NPR) News
Katina Michael, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, talks about the growing threat of cyber criminals targeting public services operations, health care and educational institutions.

Some of a growing number of industrial facilities equipped to capture carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that threatens human and environmental health are ramping up their carbon capturing capacities — and a new plant called “Mammoth” is many times larger than other such operations. Still, the capabilities of many plants fall short of what is needed to sufficiently decarbonize the atmosphere, says Klaus Lackner (pictured in an ASU photo), a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions. Lackner and other experts also express hope of finding ways to reduce the current high costs of decarbonization that remain a major hurdle. (Access to the Washington Post online requires a subscription.)

Among the most important strengths of a good leader are recognizing, supporting and leveraging the skills of people on your team, and putting them in positions to be successful, says Professor Kyle Squires. That approach is essential to effectively managing an organization as complex as one of the largest engineering schools in the U.S., says Squires, dean of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU and the university’s senior vice provost for engineering, computing and technology. Ongoing efforts to provide innovative education, research and productive industry partnerships present formidable challenges, he says. Squires provides insights into how the Fulton Schools is fulfilling its mission by meaningfully integrating itself into the various communities it serves.

New ASU graduate Hunter Mantle (pictured) will be applying what he learned while earning an electrical engineering degree in the Fulton Schools to his new job in avionics engineering with an aerospace industry company. Mantle, who aspires to contribute to a NASA mission through his employer, is among many recent ASU engineering students who have found employment in their fields before or soon after completing undergraduate studies. Kyles Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, says Mantle and other recent graduates are among those who are increasingly equipped to not only contribute to engineering businesses but also prepared to be leaders in their professions.

Even the mother of pop music star Katy Perry was fooled by a picture generated by artificial intelligence, or AI, technology that showed an image of Perry at the recent annual star-studded Met Gala Costume Institute Benefit in New York City — which Perry did not attend. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor of computer science and AI expert in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says growing public awareness of the current disinformation ecosystem and new technologies will soon be helping people to better discern if images are fake or real.

See also: Even Katy Perry’s mom was fooled by what appeared to be AI-generated Met Gala pics, NBC News, May 7
Subbarao Kambhampati is also quoted in this report.

Phones, computers, light switches and just about every other modern electronic device, machine or gadget we interact with are powered by advanced microelectronic devices and semiconductors. That’s one reason the Fulton Schools have been leading a transformation of ASU into a leader in semiconductor chip development, manufacturing and innovation, says Professor Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools. Aided by federal and state government investments and industry partnerships, ASU is at the forefront of efforts to turn the Phoenix area into leading center of microelectronic device production, innovation and the source of growing labor pool for microchip production companies. Squires sees potential for a global impact on the high-tech manufacturing market.

ASU NewSpace is combining academic and commercial enterprises to expand U.S. leadership in space-related enterprises and drawing on ASU’s strengths in space science, engineering and education to explore the potential for what NewSpace could achieve, including paving the way to a future powered by renewable energy. Nicholas Rolston (pictured), assistant professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and a partner on NASA research grants, is working on an Air Force proposal to use next-generation space power. He is also focusing on academic-commercial partnerships to give students opportunities for roles in space research and industry. Two of Rolston’s engineering undergraduate students have already been NASA Space Grant fellows sponsored by NewSpace.

Thirty Fulton Schools students are on their way to Ethiopia to begin a project to help the community in the country’s Simien Mountains National Park area overcome a problem with a large accumulation of plastics waste. Machines the student team has been prototyping for the past two years will be used to transform plastic bottles discarded by tourists and turn them into products that can be sold. The team’s goal is to both protect the local environment while also providing revenue for people living in the area. Students will also use locally sourced materials to build their plastics transformation machines.

At the recent annual meeting of the Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency, or CAOE, the director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate led the featured discussion on the potential for the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology in helping the department address challenges to its effectiveness. Joining in the discussion were Ross Maciejewski, director of the and the School of Computing and Augmented and Intelligence. part of the Fulton Schools, and the CAOE Global Security Initiative, along with Huan Liu (pictured), a professor in the school. Maciejewski focused on how AI could provide new approaches to solving problems. Liu gave a presentation on countering misinformation in the era of AI technology.

Research at ASU to advance semiconductor technology — particularly by Fulton Schools faculty members —has been a major contributing factor to putting Arizona at the forefront of the microelectronics industry’s emerging boom. Kyles Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, says the university has put itself in a position to help lead the revival through multiple efforts, especially the expansion of the Fulton Schools and re-inventing a facility as the MacroTechnology Works at the ASU research Park to focus on improving the performance of microelectronics. Another step is the opening of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks,  a part of the Fulton Schools, which will help increase ASU’s focus on growing the workforce for domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

Traffic safety experts say the statistics make it clear that it’s time to take a look at the underlying causes of increasing traffic deaths in Arizona and take action to reverse the trend. Former senior advisor to the U.S. Department of Transportation Steve Polzin, a research professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, points out how the public’s reaction to COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in safety features in newer automobile have been factors leading to more risky behavior by drivers.

See also: Planners Push Transit, But it’s A Hard Sell In Western Cities, Newgeography, April 25, Polzin notes factors that influence the public’s choices about using public transit versus driving their own vehicles.

A Fulton Schools computer science graduate student, along with a user experience graduate student and a clinical assistant professor are among those whose entrepreneurial ventures were recently awarded funding during ASU’s Demo Day to support individual or team projects. Almost 70 pitches were made as part of the Venture Devils program. The winners also included four early-stage student ventures that won support from the Fulton Schools eSeed Challenge Challenge project. More than $250,000 in all was awarded. Many of the awards also provide mentorship opportunities and access to working space for students and project teams.

 ASU’s new Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building on the university’s Polytechnic campus is generating expectations as a driver of substantial growth in the area’s economy. That anticipation revolves around the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, the newest of the eight Fulton Schools. With a combination of traditional academic instruction and hands-on training, the school is gearing up to provide next-generation engineers to supply the workforce for tech-based industry ventures expected to open or expand operations in the East Valley area. Professor Binil Starly, the school’s director, foresees a jump from about 250 current students to between 3,000 and 4,000 in the future.

ASU is poised to be at the forefront of progress in the design and manufacture of microchips and the advanced packaging techniques that boost chip performance. The university is partnering with NXP Semiconductors to improve packaging techniques and has Arizona Commerce Authority funding to increase semiconductor research, development and workforce training. It’s part of multiple efforts to make ASU an advanced packaging leader, says Professor Zachary Holman, Fulton Schools vice dean for research and innovation. Christopher Bailey, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, says students pursing degrees in various areas of engineering are being trained in advanced semiconductor packaging.

The Fulton Schools will be joining ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, along with its Media and Immersive eXperience Center, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and Thunderbird School of Global Management in bringing students into ASU’s new Endless Games and Learning Lab. Students will be introduced to a facility equipped to enable them to become creators through video game-based learning experiences. ASU President Michael Crow says activities in the lab will merge cutting-edge technology and engaging game environments to provide innovative education techniques that will open future career opportunities for students in many growing and emerging fields.

Only a small percentage of the electronics waste  produced around the world is being properly disposed of in ways that would not pose a major threat to the environment or could be made useful by recycling. Dwarak Ravikumar, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, says lack of recycling is hindering efforts to create a circular economy in which old materials are used to produce useful new materials. Some of those unrecycled materials can become toxic and damage the natural environment. Ravikumar says the trend needs to be reversed toward recycling and reusing materials, and redesigning products, in ways that can both provide economic opportunities and protect the environment.

Demand for electric vehicles has slowed, but the trend toward adoption of the vehicles remains promising, says Steve Polzin (misidentified as Paul Polzin in the article), a research professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Polzin and other experts says the outlook remains strong for electric vehicles to be the wave of the future. While there may be bumps along the way, including some layoffs in the electric vehicle industry, Polzin and others says there is no going backwards in the prospects for electric vehicles, as well as hybrid vehicles, to eventually become more significantly prevalent.

ASU’s charter and culture put a high value on volunteer efforts that contribute to communities where the university’s campuses are located. The annual Devils in Disguise Week, a part of ASU’s Changemaker Central program, enables students to apply their knowledge and expertise to developing innovative solutions to local, national and global challenges. Among the students participating as volunteers in recent public service efforts were Fulton Schools human systems engineering student Lizzy Cowgur, mechanical engineering student Blake Huffman and biomedical engineering student Evelyn Dellaripa, who view their efforts as opportunities to use their skills to provide a valuable service for the benefit of others.

Erin Burgard’s goal is a career in which she can apply what she’s learned in undergraduate studies that covered a diverse landscape of interests. She recently graduated with a minor in Spanish, a certificate in environmental humanities and a bachelor’s degree from the environmental engineering program in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. part of the Fulton Schools. Burgard, who was also a NASA Space Grant intern and an Engineering Futures mentor, now wants to work abroad in Spain, contribute to advances in solar energy and water quality, and perhaps fulfill an aspiration to tackle the problem of inequity in education.

A recent visit to ASU by two dozen European Union representatives focused in large part on discussion about the university’s involvement in efforts to realize the goals of U.S. CHIPS Act to advance the nation’s semiconductor industry. Calling the Phoenix metro area “ground zero for semiconductors,” Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, says he sees Arizona becoming one of the “globally relevant” locations to contribute to boosting semiconductor manufacturing and research. With students from around the country and the world coming to study at ASU, talented engineering graduates are already increasingly finding jobs with major semiconductor manufacturers and with companies in industries powered by semiconductor technology, such as aerospace, defense and energy.

Timothy Chase, a student in ASU’s Barrett, The Honors College who is majoring in chemical engineering in the School for the Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, is among recent winners of the Goldwater Scholarship, a prestigious award for undergraduate research in the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. Chase has been involved in research on durable plastics with Fulton Schools Professor David Nielsen and is studying the most effective polymers for use in 3D printing with Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Christopher Muhich. Chase says his experiences in the scholarship program have bolstered his passion for chemical engineering.

In this commercial travel industry blog, Timothy Takahashi, a professor of practice in the School for the Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, draws on his expertise in aircraft performance, aerodynamics, aerospace structures and materials to assess a touted next-generation aircraft. Called JetZero, it is described as a big leap forward in commercial aircraft architecture, featuring a creative design that reduces drag on the aircraft to enable more fuel efficiency than standard jets. Takahashi says JetZero has potential to be an evolutionary step forward but stresses that its capabilities and versatility need to be fully tested and refined before deploying it for military use or as a passenger aircraft.

Arizona, particularly the greater Phoenix area, looks poised to take a leading role as a center of technological advancement in the semiconductor industry. A recently announced multi-billion-dollar investment by the U.S. government will provide funding for the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to expand its facilties in the metro region. It’s one of many substantial investments in recent years resulting in dozens of tech companies opening or increasing operations in Arizona. The boom is also drawing more funding for research and development at ASU, says Associate Professor Zachary Holman, the Fulton Schools vice dean for research and innovation. Multiyear projects by ASU researchers will help create the future of semiconductors, Holman says. (The article is accessible only to subscribers.)

Arizona’s government, business and education leaders — including Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools — are hopeful of seeing the state become an international leader in the semiconductor industry after recent news of the U.S. Department of State’s announcement of a $6.6 billion grant for the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is already building a $40 billion complex in north Phoenix. With the new grant, the CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council says the greater Phoenix area is emerging as the heartbeat of U.S. advanced manufacturing capabilities. Squires says he anticipates an acceleration of ASU’s partnership with TSMC that will lead to breakthroughs in research, innovation and learning experiences and work opportunities for students.

See also: With $6.6B to Arizona hub, Biden touts big steps in US chipmaking, VOA (Voice of America News), April 8
Zachary Holman, Fulton Schools vice dean for research and innovation, is quoted.

Hallucination is a word that is being increasingly used to describe the tendency of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology to produce false or contradictory information. In response to the problem, some researchers say generative AI tools must be paired with fact-checking systems so that AI chatbots are supervised and any inaccuracies they generate can be readily revealed. The potential solution presents a formidable challenge, says artificial intelligence researcher Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, because there is yet no reliable way to always assure the accuracy of computer generated material.

Cyber crime is proliferating as cyber criminals become more skillful. They are targeting vital operations such as energy, water and sewer systems, as well as health care facilities and educational institutions. Experts say the dangers these ambitious hackers pose will likely worsen. Katina Michael, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, who researches the socioethical implications of emerging technologies with an emphasis on national security. Michael says the number cyber attacks are rising and becoming more threatening to society’s critical infrastructure, as well as to industries, businesses and organizations, in ways that are more disruptive to peoples’ lives.

Large concrete structures called Dolphins have been placed around piers that support bridges by deflecting ships that come too close to those bridges. Barzin Mobasher, a structural engineering professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and other experts comment on the extent to which these structures may or may not be adequate defenses for bridges like the Key Bridge in Baltimore recently destroyed by a large freight ship. Mobasher says Dolphins likely would not have prevented much of the damage, but could have given people enough time to react and possibly prevented the six deaths resulting from the incident.

Millions of tons of asphalt used each year on roads and roofs contributes significantly to the release of toxic airborne particles into the atmosphere that pose a major risk to human and environmental health. Researchers are developing biobased additives for asphalt as a way to construct and maintain roads without those negative impacts. Among the new pavement materials is AirDuo, developed by Elham Fini, an associate professor in School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Read more about Fini’s work.

Nick Rolston is among researchers working on ways to reduce the carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere to protect both the planet’s natural environment and its human inhabitants. Rolston, an assistant professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, says achieving the goal will require different solutions for almost every source of significant carbon emissions. Other Fulton Schools faculty members taking on the challenge include Matthew Green, an associate professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, and Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. Green and Lackner lead ASU’s  Center for Negative Carbon Emissions. The article was also posted by AZ Big Media.

Superconductors may become even more super if the aspirations of Alexandra Navrotsky and Seth Tongay to enhance superconductivity come to fruition. Both are faculty members in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools. Superconductivity enables transmission of electricity without power loss, but only when materials are cooled to extremely low temperatures. Navrotsky and Tongay are working to develop superconductors that will operate optimally at room temperatures, which would enable technical applications to help overcome some of the world’s biggest energy challenges, enhance computing speed, enable innovative memory-storage devices and create highly sensitive sensors, among many more possibilities.

The science journal Nature reports that land in the world’s coastal cities is subsiding while also losing ground to rising sea levels. But it’s been discovered that the trend is also impacting places without expansive shorelines and with largely dry terrain, including Arizona. Geological surveys show more than 3,000 square miles in the state experiencing subsidence, increasingly in urban areas. Subsidence can be stopped or slowed, but not reversed, says Edward Kavazanjian, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. The best remedy may be to quit pumping groundwater, Kavazanjian says, but that would mean facing a big challenge to find new sources of water,  including extensive water recycling.

More than 35 million older adults are seriously injured in falls each year and a large percentage of the victims die from their injuries, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number is expected to rise as the baby boomer generation grows older. Thurmon Lockhart, a professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, talks about the physical and mental factors that are leading to the increases in dangerous falls and the kinds of interventions that can be taken to help make people less prone to falling and to develop techniques that could help prevent falls.

The disastrous collapse that left six people presumed dead and took out one of the region’s key infrastructure links after a container ship, the Dali, slammed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge wasn’t the first such occurrence. Four decades ago, another container ship also lost power and hit the same bridge — but the bridge stood strong. Some experts doubt whether any feasible protective structure could have saved the bridge from a head-on strike from a ship as big as the Dali. But Barzin Mobasher, a structural engineering professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, says fact that the Key Bridge was hit twice by shipping vessels in 40 years should have led officials to take stronger safety precautions.

See also: The key factors that contributed to the Baltimore bridge collapse, KOAM News Now, CCN ESEuro and later edition update by CNN.

How to Understand the Baltimore Bridge Collapse, New York magazine, March 31

Amid warnings about the potential troubling impacts resulting from proliferating use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology in a growing number of areas such as social media and consumer products, there are also views that AI can be used for the greater good of society. Hannah Kerner, as assistant professor of computer science in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says AI and related machine learning tools could help confront challenges posed by climate change, poverty and food insecurity. Kerner and her colleagues are working on various ways to use AI as tool to benefit life on Earth.

Pioneering work in organ-on-a-chip technologies and related to contributions to engineering of biomimetic tissue-on-chip technologies and organoids for disease modeling and regenerative medicine are among accomplishments that have recently earned Mehdi Nikkah membership in the American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineering College of Fellows. The associate professor in the School of Biological Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, is currently expanding his work through efforts to make microchip technologies more accessible to the scientific and pharmaceutical communities for enhanced drug testing and accurate disease modeling.

The release of a deepfake video showing Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake is raising concerns over false images that can be easily manufactured through artificial intelligence, or AI, technology. A political consultant says the deepfake trend could seriously erode public trust. AI technology advances make it more difficult to discern if video images are real or have been manipulated, warns AI expert Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Kambhampati says the days of relying only on one’s eyes and ears to discern real from fake are gone, but there are clues that can indicate whether images have been manipulated.

A 29-year-old Arizonan who was paralyzed in 2016 is the first to have a Neuralink implant placed on his brain. The implant, a product from the company of the same name owned by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, is designed to enable users to perform some actions through their thoughts. The achievement is lauded by Bradley Greger (pictured), an associate professor of neural engineering in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. Greger says he believes the technology is safe and that its continuing development will produce insights into the functionality of the human brain. Greger was interviewed previously on KJZZ about how his research relates to this new technology.

See also: Breakthroughs in Brain Implants, IEEE Pulse, March 19
Greger outlines the range of neurological disorders that can be addressed by deep brain stimulation.

Advances in generative AI and other technologies used to create deepfake videos, photos and audio recordings are leading to increases in attempts to spread misinformation. The director of the News Co/Lab, an ASU Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication initiative, sees this as a threatening trend that will make it more difficult for people to distinguish truth from manufactured fiction. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Reality, part of the Fulton Schools, says developing technology to provide cryptographic authentication of information can be a solution, but until then caution and skepticism may be the best defenses against falling pretty to false images. Kambhampati is quoted on another AI-related issue in this report: In One Key A.I. Metric, China Pulls Ahead of the U.S.: Talent, The New York Times, March 22

With the federal government announcing a multibillion-dollar investment in the Intel company’s computer chip plants and ASU being awarded federal funding to help boost the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, Arizona looks poised to help ignite and benefit from a coming high-tech industry boom. ASU’s Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub is already drawing on the expertise of at least a dozen Fulton Schools faculty members, along with a number of students, to become a force in advanced semiconductor research, development and workforce education. The Hub will help put Arizona on the map as a part of a major manufacturing and electronics ecosystem bolstering U.S. economic interests, says Fulton Schools Professor Seth Tongay.

At a recent event showcasing how technology is being used to help ASU students be successful, Joy Griffin and Nicholas Lindquist gave examples of how Fulton Schools students are benefiting from the ingenuity of faculty and staff members. Griffin, an assistant teaching professor in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, talked about how she revamped a technology management course by putting less focus on textbook learning and lectures and more on engagement in active learning that included use of videos and podcasts. Nicholas Lindquist, a multimedia developer in the Fulton Schools Learning and Teaching Hub, helped Griffin create a “Meet the Faculty” video for students and 50-second video modules to clarify what students would be learning, why it mattered and how to be successful.

ASU is partnering with Deca Technologies, a leading provider of advanced wafer- and panel-level packaging technology, to develop North America’s first Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging research and development capability. The new Center for Advanced Wafer-Level Packaging Applications and Development will strive to significantly expand U.S. semiconductor manufacturing capabilities through advances in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, automotive electronics and high-performance computing. Zachary Holman, the Fulton Schools vice dean for research and innovation, says the venture will propel progress toward development of the next generation of microelectronics.

See also: ASU and Deca Technologies team up for first such microchip research in North America, Arizona Republic, March 19

ASU, Tempe’s Deca Technologies collaborate on new semiconductor advanced packaging research center, Phoenix Business Journal

ASU and Deca lead North America’s first advanced fan-out wafer-level packaging R&D center, R&D World, March 19

ASU and Deca team up to open research center, Evertig, March 20

Fulton Schools mechanical engineering student Ritisha Das, who is also majoring in mathematics, is among fewer than 50 students selected recently from more than 450 applicants for a 2024 Brooks Owens Fellowship. Das will do a three-month internship as a systems engineer working on satellites with Airbus U.S. Space & Defense in Arlington, Virginia. The fellowship program also provides students with one-on-one mentoring and meetings with congresswomen, astronauts, CEOs and company founders. Das intends to earn a doctoral degree in preparation for a career in rocket science. She hopes to become an astronaut who does research missions for NASA.

Battles are bubbling up to control the future of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology and being waged by prominent tech companies and wealthy entrepreneurs, especially Elon Musk (pictured). Much of the conflict revolves around debate over open sourcing, which reveals coding for all to use and view. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor of computer science in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, contends open sourcing today’s AI technology is the safest approach, even though prominent companies such as xAI and Meta are not necessarily open-sourcing the technology. Some engineers argue that AI must be guarded against interlopers while others say the benefits of transparency outweigh the harm.

Even though a recent scam attempt meant to fool potential victims that they were communicating with a real U.S. Social Security Administration Office was detected and revealed, the incident still raises warning signs about scammers impersonating officials at government agencies. Recent experimental studies have also demonstrated that a significant percentage of people gave information to those impersonating scammers. Adam Doupé, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations comments on how even unsophisticated scammers can be successful.

There is significant controversy in the field of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology about whether large language models like the popular ChatGPT — which has demonstrated its capabilities in such things as writing essays and Shakespearean poetry — are also capable of actual reasoning and planning. The article focuses on recent work by Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor on the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and three of his colleagues whose research paper shows AI’s reasoning limitations, but notes AI can still function as an effective idea generator as part of a larger architecture that includes external verifiers. 

For a third straight year, ASU is among the U.S. universities with the most finalists for the Presidential Management Fellows program. Dhrasti Dalal, a Fulton Schools biomedical engineering graduate student, is among the nine finalists selected to apply for two-year appointments that will prepare them for leadership roles in the U.S. government. Dalal is currently a graduate teaching assistant in the School of Biomedical and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. ASU’s Office of National Scholarships Advisement provides preparation and advisement for students interested in applying for participation the Presidential Management Fellowship program.

Heavy motor vehicle traffic along one of the most scenic mountain corridors in the U.S. results in enough congestion to create traffic jams that make what could be a one-hour drive take most of the day. The snowy, icy conditions often result in vehicles spinning and sliding on the stretch of the Interstate 70 highway. Steven Polzin, research professor at ASU’s School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, explains why coming up with a solution to the problem can be complicated. For instance, widening the road would speed up traffic but also raise concerns about negative impacts on the environment, Polzin says.

At the recent ASU Difference Engine organization’s launch of the Women’s Power and Influence Index, several U.S. corporations were recognized as gender equality trailblazers. The index, established to address gender inequality in the workplace, was created by ASU’s California Center Broadway in Los Angeles. The center is a partnership of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, the W. P. Carey School of Business. the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ASU. The index’s founding executive director says the organization aims to solve problems by developing solutions to social, political and economic inequality.

The assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs Ramin Toloui (pictured) came to Arizona recently to promote plans to open access for U.S. companies to the international semiconductor industry talent pipeline. The effort will be supported through a collaboration of the state department and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering to diversify the global semiconductor ecosystem. Toloui toured ASU’s MacroTechnology Works, where Fulton Schools researchers are seeking to advance semiconductor development. The government agency wants to leverage ASU’s technical expertise and international industry relationships to help overcome constraints hampering progress by U.S. semiconductor manufacturing companies.

See also: How ASU is helping the State Department secure microchip supply chains, Arizona Republic, March 8

Top State Department official visits ASU to kick off international semiconductor supply chain initiative, ASU News, March 7

The relatively small number of females in the building professions has kept many women from pursuing or remaining in careers in the construction industry. At ASU, the student Advancing Women In Construction club, which is associated with the National Association of Women in Construction, is working to reverse the trend. Commenting on the challenges facing women in their fields are club members Abby Noel, a civil engineering undergrad, Megan Mehas, a construction management and technology undergrad, and doctoral student Monica Perrin, an assistant teaching professor and construction management graduate student in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Fulton Schools, which includes the Del E. Web School of Construction.

For the third time in the past decade ASU has been ranked by the National Academy of Inventors in the top 10 among patent-producing universities in the U.S., having most recently placed seventh among the top U.S. patent-producing universities and ninth worldwide. Fulton Schools faculty members helping ASU attain the high ranking include Associate Professor Elham Fini (pictured) and Assistant Professor Christian Hoover in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. ASU research produced 107 patents last year. Fini’s work includes developing novel low-carbon materials for use in construction. Hoover’s research interests includes multi-scale material characterization, materials and structural testing.

Seeking to help loved ones cope with debilitating mobility and cognitive challenges, Thurmon Lockhart, a biomedical engineering professor in the School of Biological and Heath Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, years ago developed technology that provides smartphone-based fall risk detection. The venture became the basis for a startup that has recently been acquired by Phoenix-based Healthcare Outcomes Performance Co., one of the biggest musculoskeletal health care management companies in the U.S. The company plans to integrate the Lockhart Monitor into its digital patient outcome tracking platform that will provide real-time information to clinicians.

See also: Public-Private Investments Leads ‘Fall Risk Technology’ to Major Acquisition, inBusiness-Greater Phoenix, March 18

Despite an urgent need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere to avert harmful environmental impacts, CO2 emissions continue to rise. Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Fulton Schools, is among the leading innovators in carbon capture technology that can remove CO2 from the air. The mechanical trees he has led the way in developing through work in ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions could significantly reduce the CO2, but it will take a vast deployment of Lackner’s technology to adequately reduce the growing threat to Earth and its inhabitants.

See also:‘Once-Unthinkable’ Ways We Can Cool the Planet, Newser, March 10

A new bill recently introduced in the Arizona’s Senate would put tighter regulations on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, mainly drones. The move is prompted by concerns about unrestricted drone use becoming a security threat. If the bill becomes law, it could affect acquisition of drones from state agencies, including police and fire departments, along with private companies who subcontract drones from state agencies. Drone expert Timothy Takahashi, a professor of practice in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, says drones could contain malware that could be activated by a hostile actor.

Fulton Schools aerospace engineering honors student Taryn Wilson is among ASU students who have spent time contributing to work in Barbados to help communities with a regenerative agroforestry project. Other groups of ASU students are working on a water accessibility and affordability project in Mexico. The endeavors are part of GlobalResolve, a program in ASU’s Barrett, The Honors College, that aims to enhance students’ education through participation in real-world community improvement programs in other countries. Wilson, who is in her third semester with Global Resolve, says the program provides students rewarding opportunities to help find solutions in conservation, biodiversity, environmental sustainability, human rights and other critical areas.

Professors Lenore Dai and Subbarao Kambhampati (pictured) are among ASU faculty members involved in enabling students to interact with leaders and other professionals in the microelectronics industry. Those efforts make students aware of the skills and education required for careers in the semiconductor and related high-tech industries. Kambhampati is a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Professor Dai is the Fulton Schools vice dean of faculty administration. Part of these efforts is a new stackable microcredentials pilot program designed to give students opportunities to upskill in areas of the tech industry in which demand for new skills and expertise is on the rise.

Native American reservations and communities in other rural areas, including some tribal lands in Arizona, will get access to renewable energy through 17 projects to be funded by the U.S. government. The projects are to be done in 20 states and involve 30 tribes. A $9 million project will partner ASU and the Hopi tribe in building solar energy panels and battery storage. It will provide a reliable source of power as well as cleaner energy for the tribe’s members, says Kristen Parrish, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The article has also been published by U.S News & World Report, The Washington Post, ABC News and more than 20 additional news outlets.

Experts in a wide array of science, engineering and related technological fields gathered to explore targeting the Earth’s atmosphere to meet the challenge of providing adequate water for the needs of the planet’s inhabitants into the future. Paul Westerhoff, an ASU Regents Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of the Fulton Schools Global Center for Water Technology, moderated the Atmospheric Water Harvesting Summit. The idea has already attracted interest from industries, including from the semiconductor manufacturing, health care and home appliance sectors, as well as from the military and data centers, Westerhoff noted.

Looking to take steps in response to the threat of climate change, Florida’s state government leaders are proposing the use of carbon capture systems. Among carbon capture technologies that have drawn the most attention is a “mechanical tree” that extracts carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The system was developed through research in the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, directed by Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Florida legislators, other government officials, researchers and industry representatives are now debating the pros and cons of using carbon capture technology. Read more: First ‘MechanicalTree’ installed on ASU’s Tempe campus

Microchip Technology Inc. reports it is expanding opportunities for innovation and making emergency technology more available to engineers with its new user-friendly development kit for embedding processing and computing acceleration. The company says the kit enables rapid testing of application concepts, developing firmware applications, programming, and a debugging user code. Steve Osburn, a Fulton Schools assistant teaching professor in computer science and related areas, says students are already using the new technology to get valuable hands-on experience in developing solutions to real-world engineering challenges.

For their work to help prepare the world to take on the challenges presented by the rise in excessive extreme heat as one of the planet’s most critical environmental challenges, five ASU researchers have been recognized with a 2024 Media Achievement Award from the American Association of Geographers. The team includes Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. The team’s efforts have helped educate the public about the threat of extreme heat and prompted heat-mitigation efforts by government agencies, including changes in public policy in Arizona. Numerous major media outlets have reported on the team’s efforts.

Conscription into military service had been a long-standing practice throughout history that today has been almost universally replaced by all-volunteer armies. Conscription provided a mechanism by which people in societies that are fragmenting into tribal communities could work with others, thereby fostering social cohesion, says Brad Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and founding chair of the Consortium for Emerging Technologies, Military Operations, and National Security. On this podcast, Allenby discusses the societal ramifications of a waning sense of national duty reflected by a lack of conscription today, when all branches of the U.S. military have fallen short of their enlistment goals.

The Fulton Schools will have a major role in ASU’s involvement in a new cooperative venture being initiated under the International Technology Security and Innovation Fund created by the U.S. CHIPS Act of 2022. U.S. semiconductor manufacturers will be part of an effort to strengthen an international supply chain for their industry. As part of the effort, the U.S. Department of State has awarded ASU a multimillion-dollar cooperative agreement to help establish the agreement. The plan involves a multi-regional initiative to be led by the Fulton Schools to support the State Department’s effort to develop and diversify a global semiconductor ecosystem.

In engineering, the term “necking” is used to describe how a steel rod fails under tension. There’s evidence that necking contributed to the recent structural failure of a major bridge in Rhode Island. But Barzin Mobasher, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, stresses that other factors were involved in causing the threatening deterioration of the Washington Bridge. Mobasher and another engineering professor talked to Rhode Island news media about what public officials everywhere can do to be aware of signs of such infrastructure erosion and to prevent the occurrence of similar threats to public safety in the future.

See a follow-up article in which Barzin Mobasher is also quoted: Was their ‘necking’ on bridge rods and should it have been caught? RIDOT backpedals on answer, Providence Journal, February 29

The U.S. State Department will be supported by the Fulton Schools in leading a new initiative aimed at boosting  semiconductor assembly, testing and packaging capabilities in International Technology Security and Innovation partner countries in the Americas and Indo-Pacific region. The State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs has awarded ASU a cooperative agreement that includes funding for the project. The goal of the initiative is to equip workforce development programs to assist partner nations in building workforce skills to advance technology and spur economic growth.

See also: ASU, federal officials launch initiative to boost microelectronics supply chain, workforce, Phoenix Business Journal, February 21

An innovative concrete mix that is more environmentally friendly and economical than convention mixes is being used in the Phoenix area, thanks in part to Barzin Mobasher, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Mobasher has overseen use of the advanced fiber-reinforced concrete in the expansion of the Valley Metro light rail line. The new material is bolstering the sustainability of the rail system’s infrastructure, improving cost efficiency and reducing time needed for the labor to boost the system’s resiliency. Research led by Mobasher has also helped to reduce emission of greenhouse gases in the production of cement for the new form of concrete.

ASU has moved up two places to reach 9th place on the National Academy of Inventors rankings of the Top 100 Worldwide Universities fueling innovation through research and development advances that earned U.S. utility patents. Among the recent ASU patent winners are Assistant Professor Christian Hoover and Associate Professor Elham Fini, faculty members in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, and Associate Professor Jennifer Blain Christen, a faculty member in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. Both schools are part of the Fulton Schools. ASU joins Harvard, Stanford and MIT among the universities currently ranked in the academy’s top 10.

A news team looking for an expert in the durability and weakness of various construction materials came to Barzin Mobasher to assess the cause-and-effect factors that led to dangerous cracking on a major bridge in Rhode Island. Mobasher, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, looked at inspection records and photos of the damage to the bridge to assess structural stress conditions that likely caused the cracks on the large bridge. He explained that more than simply a cosmetic repair will be needed to make the bridge safe and prevent future problems. Officials are now waiting for a full structural analysis of the bridge’s support systems to determine if it can be adequately repaired or instead needs to be replaced.

Tempe-based electric vehicle charging startup BreatheEV won funding at the recent ASU Innovation Open business pitch competition. The company will use the funding to expand its sites in the Phoenix area. BreathEV was one of eight teams that won a combined $400,000 in funding from among the 27 student-led startups from around the world to compete. Breathe EV co-founder Max Bregman said the event also gave student teams valuable opportunities for business networking. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools of Engineering, said the Innovation Open is providing student startups both a way to bring news ideas to the marketplace and to make an impact with what they are learning about engineering. The article was also published on the Arizona Technology Council website.

A new outdoor gear brand, Conscious Gear, developed through research by ASU’s Charlotte Bowens, features a hydration backpack designed to comfortably fit larger people. The idea for Vestapak arose from Bowen taking on the challenge of getting physical fit and losing weight while being borderline diabetic. The backpack makes it easier for people to move and to stay hydrated during exercise. Bowen, administrative director of the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, was aided by Local First Arizona, a business accelerator for Black Entrepreneurs in Arizona.

Read more: ASU staffer’s design for outdoor recreation gets national attention, ASU News

Phoenix and the surrounding area are among the locales where the U.S. Chips and Science Act is sparking large investments into manufacturing sites for the components that are powering modern electronics. Dozens of companies have been coming to the region to supply the vast new high-tech factories. In addition, ASU is taking steps to help meet the demand for engineers for these industrial facilities. Two of ASU’s newest Fulton Schools, the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks and the new School of Integrated Engineering, focus on education and research in areas geared to developing an engineering workforce pipeline for the expanding semiconductor chips manufacturing sectors.

Among new technologies used to find ways humans can cope with a warming climate is a mannequin that sweats. Wired with sensors, with cables and pipework under its surface, and pores that open and excrete liquid when it gets warm, ANDI was developed for a team of ASU researchers, including Konrad Rykaczewski an associate professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, and Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence. Both schools are part of the Fulton Schools. Beyond revealing the impacts of heat on humans, ANDI enables researchers to test cooling strategies to help people persevere in hot environments. (Full access to WIRED articles is limited to subscribers. Others can view a limited number of articles over a designated time period.)

Arizona lawmakers want to regulate use of artificial intelligence, or AI, in producing video images and other recordings, making it a felony to distribute fake visual and sound-recording material. Under the proposal, violations could result in a prison term. Lawmakers in other states are also considering ways to stop these “deep fakes,” but civil rights activists contend regulating AI-generated images and speech would violate free-speech rights. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor and AI expert in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, comments on the growth in the use of deep fakes. He sees the issue continuing to challenge the legal system.

Google is unveiling its new Gemini Advanced chatbot to improve its share of the artificial intelligence, or AI, market against OpenAI’s successful subscription service ChatGPT Plus. Google is consolidating many of its AI products through its new Gemini AI model, which it heralds as the new foundation for its AI services. Google will offer access to the most powerful version of its chatbot and to OpenAI’s new GPT store, which offers custom chatbot functions. AI expert Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says it will be interesting to see how Google demonstrates it has made meaningful improvements. (Full access to WIRED articles is limited to subscribers. Others other can view a limited number of articles over a designated period of time.)

The growing work-from-home trend, continuing concern about the spread of the COVID-19 disease and fear of urban crime are among reasons public transit systems in cities are in a downward spiral. Urban transportation agencies are concerned the drop in ridership will lead to decreases in bus and rail service, worsening the hardship on commuters and transit operations. Steven Polzin, a professor and transportation researcher in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Build Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, says the situation is creating the most widespread mass transit crisis in the U.S. in the past half-century. Even government subsidies and fare hikes are unlikely to provide a solution, Polzin says.

Sewers and drainage systems are among things that rarely come to mind when people think about what is essential to the safety of their communities. Two atmospheric river storms that have battered a large swath of Southern California should provide a lesson about the danger and damage that can result from inadequate sewer and drainage infrastructure, says Mikhail Chester, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Metis Center for Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering. A state of emergency was declared in the Los Angeles area as people evacuated some places in the region. Chester and others note that climate change could cause more frequent atmospheric rivers.

A U.S. startup company has attracted funding to move its new carbon capture and water recovery system to the market. A carbon capture study coauthored by Professor Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and founding director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, helped to generate support for the carbon capture technology industry (Lackner is misidentified in the article as a University of Arizona researcher). He affirms the moisture capture function of the new technology as a being a novel advance in the field.

Three ASU online graduate degree programs rank among best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. Among them, three Fulton Schools graduate programs were ranked among the top 10. The Fulton Schools master’s in engineering programs overall rank No. 7 for U.S. military veterans. The school ranked No. 7 in online graduate programs in industrial engineering, No. 5 in online engineering management graduate programs and No. 4 for online electrical engineering programs. In 2023, ASU Online had  more than 88,000 degree-seeking, online students, and more the 90,000 graduates of online programs.

At least 25 California counties have sued the automaker Tesla, claiming the company’s hazardous waste disposal violated state health and safety codes. Used lubricating oils, brake fluids, lead acid batteries, aerosols, antifreeze, waste solvents, paint and e-waste are among the contaminants listed in the allegations. It’s possible Tesla simply had a breakdown in its hazardous waste management plan, says Treavor Boyer, a professor and chair of the environmental engineering program in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Fulton Schools. Nevertheless, Boyer says, the situation appears to be a violation of California mandates that are more stringent than federal regulations.

The leader of U.S. Department of Defense microelectronics and engineering efforts recently met with ASU officials and faculty members at Skysong, The ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, to discuss progress being made by the new ASU Southwest Accelerated Prototyping Hub. Established to jump-start microelectronics research and development projects funded by the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, the hub now has 130 partners from corporations, startup companies, national laboratories and academic institutions. Among other things, the hub will provide small businesses the means to prototype lab-to-fab technologies, says Krishnendu Chakrabarty, Fulton Professor of Microelectronics in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and the hub’s chief technology officer.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant will fund research at ASU aimed at giving Arizona communities effective defenses against the harmful impacts of wildfire smoke. Wildfires in the state and elsewhere across the U.S. are increasing due to climate change and other factors, resulting in releases of dangerous pollutants and gases, says Jean Andino, an associate professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, who will lead the research project. Andino will work with Megan Jehn, a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and Melissa Guarardo, an assistant research professor in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation.  

A cross-disciplinary project is teaming ASU engineering and fashion students to design clothes to meet the needs of children undergoing chemotherapy. The project is being by supervised by Associate Professor Shawn Jordan, interim director of the School of Integrated Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and ASU School of Art Associate Professor Galina Mihaleva. Jordan and Mihaleva say students are collaborating effectively to design clothes that reflect fashion aesthetics while also incorporating technology such as sensors and microcomputers to monitor the health conditions of the youngsters. Art and engineering students have had different ideas about what to do, the professors say, but are finding common ground to best serve the children.  

Salt River Project, or SRP, the utility operation that provides water and power to the Phoenix metro area and much of central Arizona, is working with ASU researchers to use new technologies to maintain efficient operation of its facilities. SRP will use Light Detection and Ranging, or LIDAR, to assess the conditions of turbines at its dams and Digital Twin technology to assess the need for maintenance of dams. Ricardo Eiris, an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, says the technologies will enable more precise evaluation of wear and tear on SRP facilities. The ASU/SRP collaboration will also provide education to ASU engineering students. (Access may require subscribing or signing up for access.)

Eiris was also interviewed in news video reports about the project on local TV news programs. See ABC15 News, 3TV/CBS 5 News, KPHO-PHX (CBS 5 News)

Recent research aimed at enabling advances in medical technology is raising hope that a device now undergoing testing could make it possible for people with paralysis to control external devices with their thoughts. Bradley Greger, an associate professor of neural engineering in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, talks about progress being made in neural engineering and the development of this type of control device by entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Neurolink company. Greger says more rigorous research and testing will be required, but he thinks the technology could be available by prescription from physicians and surgeons in several years.

See more coverage: KJZZ News (NPR), News Medical-Life Sciences, Medriva, The Associated Press, BBC, Australian Broadcast Co., Ma Clinique, Pravda, Gadget , Futuro Prossimo, Morning Wave in Busan

Climate solutions that will also provide economic opportunities is a major motivating feature of a new ASU-led initiative funded by the National Science Foundation, or NSF. The Southwest Sustainability Innovation Engine, or SWSIE, is among proposals the NSF selected to establish a Regional Innovation Engine to develop research and technology transfer hubs. SWSIE will combine expertise from more than 50 partners from academia, industry, nonprofit and entrepreneurial organizations, and local and regional governments. ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory  is leading efforts for SWSIE, supported by ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. The project will also draw insight from faculty members in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools.

See also: ASU launches water and climate-focused ‘Regional Innovation Engine’, AZ Big Media, January 30

ASU to lead first-of-its-kind regional innovation engine to confront climate change, KJZZ (NPR), February 1

Artificial intelligence, or AI, based search engines and large language models, or LLMs, can offer valuable capabilities. But there are also risks of significant shortcomings when combining the use of LLMs and AI-based search engines in particular ways, says Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor and AI expert in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. LLMs essentially search by imagination and are prone to “hallucinate” when used with AI-based search engines, Kambhampati says. In addition, a recent legal battle between The New York Times and OpenAI, shows how language model makers could face lawsuits for diverting traffic from the original websites from which search engines are drawing information.

The photo shows members of ASU’s chapter of Theta Tau participating in the co-ed fraternity’s game night. But most of the national student organization’s activities aim to provide its members career development pursuits to prepare them for productive careers in engineering. Theta Tau members are getting opportunities to improve their resumes, network and build relationships with fellow students and engineering professionals, develop organizational and communication skills, and find internships. A leader of the fraternity says the group is always looking for new members who are passionate about developing professional skills and participating in community service projects.

Researchers in ASU’s Sensible Heatscapes and Digital Environments, or SHaDe, Lab are continuing to draw on expertise in engineering, computer science, geography, environmental science, sustainability and related fields in their quest to discover more effective climate control strategies to mitigate heat in urban environs like those of Phoenix and its neighboring desert cities and towns. Lab director Ariane Middel (pictured), an associate professor in the  School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, has been overseeing an expansion of the lab’s efforts that includes a steady increase in international partners. The growing scope and scale of research endeavors promise to produce significant solutions to climate challenges.

Advances in artificial intelligence, or AI, technology make it easy to replicate peoples’ voices and to then manipulate them to perpetuate scams. Only several seconds of an AI recording is enough to clone and reproduce individuals’ voices in ways that infuse them with emotional tone, says Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor and AI expert in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, one of the Fulton Schools. On this podcast, Kambhampati and others talk about the proliferating use of AI to propagate fakery on the internet and by telephone. He says the trend is unfortunately casting a bad light on AI, a technology that otherwise has the potential for socially beneficial uses.

See a separate post of the podcast here: Preparing For The Age of AI Scams, NPR, January 25

Advances in wastewater epidemiology have made it possible to detect opioids and other drugs in sewage systems, enabling public health agencies to discover signs of the spread of disease and increases in drug use in various areas. Such wastewater testing techniques helped to detect the presence and spread of the virus that causes COVID when the disease first erupted and became a pandemic. As such wastewater monitoring improves it’s more likely it will be used to also test for other chemicals and substances that are indicators of a variety of health threats, says Erin Driver, an environmental engineer in ASU’s Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, directed by Rolf Halden, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Fulton Schools.

Intimate partner violence, femicide and sexual violence that disproportionately affects women and girls are among the forms of gender-based violence a team of ASU researchers is working to help stop in El Salvador. Professor Ram Pendyala, director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is the co-principal investigator assigned to coordinate the public transportation aspects of the project. The goal is to improve the safety of people using public transportation and in public places, especially women and LGBTQ+ community members. The team plans to implement strategies and interventions and then assess how well those efforts are helping to reduce gender-based violence.

ASU will take the lead on one of 12 recently announced major projects aimed at providing the U.S. a more secure and resilient power grid. The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded ASU more than $4 million to fund grid modernization work to be supervised by Samuel Ariaratnam, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Fulton Schools. An expert in trenchless technology, Ariaratnam will oversee development of a water-jet underground construction tool to deploy electrical cables and conduits underground as part of a system that will reduce the risk of damaging existing utilities by eliminating the need for a hard drill bit while also reducing costs and construction times.

A cross-cultural collaboration is teaming environmental engineers, scientists and artisans in developing a water filtration system for the Navajo Nation, which extends across parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. Pollutants in the region have long made it necessary for residents to transport water themselves or have it delivered from distant sources. The project entails providing water in ways that accommodate Navajo culture, such as water filtration systems that serve the needs of makers of the Navajo Nation’s prized handcrafted pottery. Environmental engineer Otakuye Conroy-Ben, an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Fulton Schools, and a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, comments on challenges the project presents in achieving culturally centered technological advances.

From the viewpoint of his decades of experience as a computer science teacher and researcher, Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, sees things he likes and does not like about paths the field is taking, particularly in regard to the rapidly emerging use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology and Large Language Models, or LLMs. First of all, AI and LLMs are not actually intelligent or knowledgeable in the basic human sense. AI and LLMs are instead merely retrievers of information, although very prolific retrievers, Kambhampati says. LLMs can only guess about what is correct, and cannot verify information they gather, only accumulate it, he adds. One of  his current focuses in the field is finding ways to develop and encourage better human-AI interaction that might actually aid human reasoning.

See Also, LLMs are just like Toothpaste, Analytics India Magazine/AI Origins & Evolution, January 3

Pursuits by ASU researchers to help people with autism are among  efforts that have earned them Flinn Foundation seed grants to advance their work. Among the grant recipients are Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes and James Adams, President’s Professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, also part of the Fulton schools, and the undergraduate program chair for material science and engineering. They will use the new funds to explore expanding the use of microbiota transplantation to help control some of the more severe impacts of autism.

The pioneering autonomous vehicle technology company Waymo plans to bring driverless cars to Phoenix freeways for testing. The company’s leaders envision a future in which driverless cars substantially reduce travel times, skillfully navigate highway traffic and produce more streamlined and efficient transportation systems. Aviral Shrivastava, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, has been studying and advancing driverless automobile technology for about a decade. His work currently focuses on developing algorithms designed to enable automobiles to replicate the behavior of human drivers while prioritizing safety.

See also: What to know about Waymo’s plan to drive on freeways, ABC 15 News Arizona, January 10

New research reveals the potential for plastics to have impacts on the brain and its cognitive functions. Details are reported in the recent PBS documentary “We’re All Plastic People Now,” which won an Emmy Award. Among those featured in the documentary are David Davis, a University of Miami research professor and associate director of the Brain Endowment Bank, and Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, director of the Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering at ASU. In the film, Halden presents tests results showing individuals can have 80 or more plastic-related compounds circulating in their blood. More findings are to be published later this year. The documentary’s director is pictured with his Emmy Award.

ASU’s major investments to expand educational resources for students are reflected in a substantial list of new buildings and facilities to be constructed on the university’s campuses. One of the most extensive projects is Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 12 on the Polytechnic campus, scheduled to open in 2025. It will be the new home of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, one of the Fulton Schools, which will include office, meeting, instructional, research and collaboration spaces. In addition, renovations at the Bateman Physical Science Center on the Tempe campus will provide more classrooms and labs for undergraduate engineering and natural sciences education.

Tiny, rootless plants and microorganisms known as biocrusts are helping to protect some landmark sites and other valuable lands by forming miniature ecosystems that are preserving culturally and historically important environments. Among those places is the Great Wall of China, which is in an area where two-thirds of the land is extensively stabilized by biocrusts. Emmanuel Salifu, an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, who studies nature-based sustainable engineering solutions, explains how biocrusts could be used in efforts to address structural conservation challenges around the world through their capacity to improve the structural integrity, longevity and durability of earthen structures.

Increasingly versatile artificial intelligence, or AI, technology is prompting urgent legal questions about what constitutes plagiarism and the parameters of copyright ownership. With the expanding abilities of Open AI, ChatGPT and large language models, or LLMs, debate is heating up about the broad ramifications of these unrestrained information retrieval tools. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, at Arizona State University and the director of the Yochan Lab, leads research on decision-making and planning in the context of human-aware AI systems. He comments on the challenges and complexities involved in trying to navigate a path through the quandaries revolving around such issues.

Fulton Schools faculty researchers, students and alumni are among those leading the way in efforts to find solutions to the growing problems caused by plastic pollution. That is one of the major thrusts of research at the Biodesign Center for Health Engineering directed by Rolf Halden, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Fulton Schools. Charles Rolsky, a Fulton Schools graduate who has collaborated with Halden, is carrying on the work as science director of the nonprofit Plastic Oceans International. In addition, Fulton Schools mechanical engineering doctoral student Garvit Nayyar (pictured) is working on making a less harmful plastic with materials that decompose rather than pollute.

Nxu, a company based in Tempe and Mesa, Arizona, is opening a megawatt plus charging station in the town of Quartzsite, between Phoenix and Los Angeles, that will be equipped primarily to serve electric powered semi-trucks. The company’s management foresees a growing need for services for commercial freight trucks that run on electricity and expanding business opportunities across the U.S. and internationally. Steven Polzin, a professor and transportation researcher in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Build Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, agrees with that outlook, but says today’s charging stations will need to be prepared to adapt as electric vehicle technology begins to evolve.

See Also: Nxu working to create megawatt plus charging for commercial EV trucks in Quartzsite, Fox 10 News Phoenix, December 29

The Future of Electric Commercial Vehicles: Introducing the Next Generation of Charging Solutions, Motor Mouth, January 1

A major construction project on ASU’s Polytechnic campus to be completed next year will provide facilities for the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, one of the Fulton Schools. The Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 12 will be part of the new Polytechnic Innovation Zone within a newly established Innovation Research District. With labs for research in additive manufacturing, robotics for smart manufacturing and industry automation, cyber manufacturing and operations research, semiconductor manufacturing, and manufacturing systems for the energy sector, the Fulton Schools will expand efforts to prepare students to provide engineering solutions for major societal challenges. Read more from the East Valley Tribune and the Arizona Republic in posts below dated December 15 and December 5.

A touted benefit of moving away from using fossil fuels has been that it would help reduce harmful pollutants in the atmosphere. But one of the growing energy sources that was to provide clean energy now poses an emerging pollution challenge that could hinder the battle against climate change. The disposal of an increasing number of old solar energy panels that have reached their retirement age is today contributing to the problem. The situation makes it crucial to step up efforts to recycle solar panels, which will prevent them from becoming a pollutant, says Meng Tao, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, one of the Fulton Schools. While solar panel recycling is increasing somewhat, Tao notes there are logistical and policy obstacles to be overcome to pave the way for adequately expanding these operations.

See Also: Entrepreneur Recycles Metal and Other Parts of Old Solar Panels, VOA (Voice of America News), December 28

Urban mining: Solar panel recycling is on the rise in the United States, Nation World News, December 26

‘Urban Mining’ offers green solution to old solar panels, The News International, December 24, KPVI news, Pocatello, Idaho, December 23, and The Jakarta Post, Indonesia, December 23

Research by faculty members in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, is exploring the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology to help provide solutions to health threats. Professor Bradley Greger is using AI to assist patients in communicating their thoughts by using a non-invasive technique to help gain an understanding of language processing in the brain. Patients will be able to speak mentally, and an AI tool can interpret their thoughts into clear language. Assistant Professor Christopher Plaisier is experimenting with using AI to track cancer cell life cycles to help treat and manage certain cancers. Professor Thurmon Lockhart is designing wearable devices to track data like body posture and blood pressure to make near-accurate fall predictions.

MacroTechnology Works, ASU’s flagship microelectronics research and development facility, continues to expand the scope of its engineering related endeavors. A partnership of the Arizona Commerce Authority and the NXP Semiconductors company will enhance the capabilities of MacroTechnology Works in microelectronics packaging. The collaboration will provide more opportunities to train students, particularly Fulton Schools engineering students, in the production of semiconductors and advanced manufacturing systems. Sally Morton, the executive vice president of ASU’s Knowledge Enterprise, says the partnership represents a step toward “the future of university research” that will prepare students to become leaders in many facets of advanced manufacturing enterprises and processes.

The goal of the new United States and Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or U.S.-ASEAN, Center in Washington, D.C., is to strengthen cultural and economic relationships between the U.S. and those associated Asian nations. The center’s recent opening was celebrated by officials from the U.S. Department of State and ASU, which will have a leading role in the center’s government, industry and academic partnerships through the new U.S.-ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Program to develop work-ready engineers and scientists. Jeffrey Goss, executive director of the office of Global Outreach and Extended Education, part of the Fulton Schools, says ASU and the new center will work to build economic opportunity for decades to come.

Charlotte Bowens’ ultralight hydration vest, designed to help larger people more easily drink water while exercising, was chosen by readers of the national newspaper USA Today as one of the best gifts for outdoor enthusiasts. She later won $10,000 for the vest developed by her startup company, Conscious Gear, in a Demo Day pitch competition held by ASU’s J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute, followed by an equal amount in ASU’s Global Sport Institute Venture Challenge  pitch competition. Bowens, administrative director for the Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, now  plans to offer more Conscious Gear products.

ASU’s Mensch Prize provides six $1,000 awards each year to students in ASU’s Barrett, The Honor College, who complete their thesis work on a project that focuses on applications of the Theory of Embedded Intelligence in engineering and applied sciences, social sciences, humanities, physical sciences, biological sciences or fine and performing arts. The winners of the 2023 awards include Ashley Tse, now a Fulton Schools biomedical engineering graduate student, and Erin Burgard, a senior environmental engineering student. Applications to compete for 2024 Mensch Prizes are now available through January 12. Students who apply are advised to connect what they learn from the theory to ideas and endeavors that would have beneficial effects on society.

Through one of the largest investments on any of ASU’s campuses, work is underway on the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 12, or ISTB12, on the university’s Polytechnic campus in Mesa. The university is pursuing partnerships with private industry for the work to be done in an area being called the Polytechnic Innovation Zone, which will include the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, one of the Fulton Schools. The goal is to work with industry partners to make advances in aviation, renewable energy, human-technology integration, digital manufacturing and other related areas, with a strong focus on project-based learning and interdisciplinary research laboratories.

See Also: ASU makes massive Polytechnic investment, Ahwatukee Foothills News, Dececmber 15

Advances in the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology to restore people’s language abilities after they have suffered brain damage, to expand knowledge about the growth of cancer cells and to develop tools to prevent injuries from falls are among the notable steps being made in separate efforts by Professor Thurmon Lockhart, Associate Professor Bradley Greger (pictured) and Assistant Professor Christopher Plaisier in the School of Biological Health Systems and Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. While warnings continue to be voiced about potential drawbacks of using AI in many engineering applications, researchers are also touting the ability of AI to gather and process information as an effective aid to progress in medical research.

ASU engineering and fashion students collaborated on designing and fabricating clothing that featured integrated technology to help youngsters undergoing chemotherapy. Students in an Embedded Systems Design course created clothing to help calm the children and monitor their health conditions. Students in a Fashion Design and Wearable Technology course designed garments that are soft, warming and adaptable to the administering of medical treatment. Shawn Jordan, an associate professor in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, had co-taught the design course a year ago with Galina Mihaleva, an associate professor at the fashion design school. Their collaboration led to the recent project for the young patients.

ASU’s Changemaker Central, an organization of students interested in leading social change, recently presented its storytelling event Ignite. Each semester, it gives speakers opportunities to talk about their ideas, passions and personal experiences. Opening the most recent Ignite session was Fulton Schools undergraduate biomedical engineering student Cohen Jefferies, whose studies focus on biomedical devices. His talk at this event focused on his experiences in discovering personal strengths. His fellow students talked about their experiences as an international student, practicing mindfulness, and the college freshman experience, among other subjects.

The abilities of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology to write and create images has teachers wary of students using AI to do class assignments. ASU has developed guidelines teachers can use to dictate how students can or can’t use AI. Teachers say they want students to be educated about AI use but not as a tool for cheating. Fulton Schools computer engineering doctoral student Frank Liu leads an ASU student committee that wants to participate in ASU’s decision making regarding AI. Liu says AI can be used in positive ways, for instance by helping teach students how to write well instead of writing for them.

Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, (at far left in photo) recently joined dozens of representatives of the semiconductor and manufacturing industries in the Netherlands and Belgium on a tour of ASU’s MacroTechnology Works facility. The group included Netherland’s prime minister and the minister-president of Flanders, a part of Belgium. There was also a panel discussion and other conversations about the goals, challenges and values shared by the three countries and the potential for all to work closely together to foster innovation that will provide a path to a productive future. Fulton Schools of Engineering Vice Dean of Research and Innovation Zachary Holman also participated in the day’s activities.

Development of a solar-powered light that doubles as a buoy to reduce bycatch of endangered sea turtles, sharks and marine mammals while maintaining fish catches has earned the Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prize for Jesse Senko, an assistant research professor in ASU’s College of Global Futures. The innovation, which is lifesaving for the marine animals it protects, was aided by Jennifer Blain Christen, an associate professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. Christen led an engineering team that developed the illuminated buoy that is crucial to the overall effectiveness of the bycatch reduction system.

A neurofeedback device designed to help people with ADHD — Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder — earned a team of Fulton Schools biomedical engineering students recognition from entrepreneurs who judged projects presented at the recent ASU Demo Day event. Biomedical engineering graduate student Michael Li is the chief operating officer and co-founder of the venture called Captavate. The project evolved from the personal experience of another biomedical engineering graduate student, Abyssinia Bizuneh, who was diagnosed with ADHD. Bizuneh is now chief executive officer of Captavate, which won $20,000 to advance its project. Fulton Schools students are involved in two other startup ventures that were awarded funding based on their Demo Day presentations.

Construction is underway on a major expansion of ASU’s Polytechnic campus, including a more than 173,000 square foot, three-story building that will be the largest investment in the history of the campus. The new facility — ASU’s 12th Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building — will house the newest of the Fulton Schools, the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks. The expansion coincides with recent U.S. congressional actions providing billions of dollars to boost semiconductor production. The school’s new facility will include classrooms and research labs for robotics for smart manufacturing and industry automation, cyber manufacturing and operations research, semiconductor manufacturing and manufacturing systems for the energy sector.

See also: ISTB12 to be major economic boost in region, ASU News, December 5

A study shows a large majority of people would take a new job if it gave them not only a better paycheck but also opportunities offering work-life balance and professional and personal fulfillment. For Valeria Amaya Espinosa De Los Monteros, that job would be environmental engineering. She’s working toward that goal through studies in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Her passion is to gain skills enabling her to help provide communities the technology, infrastructure and related resources they need to thrive. She sees an engineer’s role as the “perfect combination of science and social work,” and goes into detail about her choice to be an engineer in a related article on the Kaplan International Pathways website.

Reports and rumors are swirling around the creation of a computing program named Q* that can supposedly solve complex mathematical problems through advanced computing capabilities that some experts are worried will lead to more powerful artificial intelligence models, stoking fear the new program could erode safety in the use of AI technology. Many are now conjecturing about the potentially troubling ramifications of such developments. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton schools, speculates on how the way Q* works might present serious threats by enabling the program to evade human control, but he does not predict that this can or will happen.

ASU expects to be stepping to the forefront in the vibrant medical device manufacturing field. The Tech Hubs program, authorized by the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, is investing in various regions across the country to transform them into globally competitive innovation centers. The Medical Device Manufacturing Multiplier Strategy Development Consortium, or MDM2, led by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, has been awarded one of the Tech Hubs grants by U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. Marco Santello, a professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, will have a leadership position in the MDM2 consortium.

Among recent recipients of the International Association for Urban Climate’s Tim Oke Award for exceptional contributions to climatology and related environmental and ecological fields is the organization’s president, Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Middel’s pioneering roles in developing innovative sensing methods to assess the impacts of heat exposure, furthering knowledge of thermal landscapes in urban environments, establishing the field of urban climate informatics, and leadership within the community of urban climate experts are among outstanding achievements that earned Middel the honor. Zhihua Wang, an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, another of the Fulton Schools, is one of the award winners. Read more details on page 60 of the association’s newsletter.

The Salt River Project, or SRP, company is employing the capabilities of the latest lidar laser technology, which can use laser light to detect structural or operational problems with turbines at the dams essential to maintaining the utility’s hydropower resources and services. The work is being aided by student researchers in the School Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. They are conducting a hydropower-related study that will help SRP assess the lifecycle of its systems and determine if maintenance is needed. It’s one of 24 projects ASU is now doing with SRP.

Farming, construction and similar land-altering human activity disturbs the native layer of biocrust on the surface of Arizona’s desert soil. Once that biocrust is gone, conditions are ripe for the intense dust storms that afflict large areas throughout much of the state. It can require decades for the biocrust to grow back sufficiently to prevent those storms. ASU researchers are working on ways to help remedy the problem through devising methods to suppress airborne dust. The research team includes faculty members Emmanuel Salifu, Edward Kavazanjian and Matthew Fraser in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Salifu and Fraser are featured in a video about the project.

ASU has created a website specifically to serve people interested in being trained for jobs and careers in Arizona’s growing microelectronics industry. The website provides information about the newly formed Microelectronics Workforce Development Hub designed to help map a road to employment for not only for people who aspire to earn an engineering degree but also for those who want to retrain for a new career. The effort will be supported by multiple online education opportunities. The Hub, however, is also expected to offer hands-on training in operations critical to the microlectronics industy, says Professor Binil Starly, director of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools. The school already has a short introductory course for people with a high school diploma to get an introduction to the use of robots in microelectronics manufacturing.

Fulton Schools faculty members and researchers are leading efforts to advance human-robot collaboration. Through ASU’s Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence, and Robot Teaming, led by Fulton Schools Professor Nancy Cooke, Wenlong Zhang, an associate professor in the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, is enabling robots to work with researchers to improve artificial intelligence. Rakibul Hasan, an assistant professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, is exploring how to strengthen data privacy. Pooyan Fazli, an assistant professor in the School of Arts Media and Engineering, is working to facilitate teamwork between robots and humans. Heather Lum, an assistant in The Polytechnic School, is researching how to use robots to improve communication and cooperation between humans and dogs in search and rescue operations. 

It’s looking like large vehicles equipped with autonomous technology, powered by a variety of energy sources and sometimes connected to each other, are soon to become a part of trucking industry operations. This has engineers trying to accurately forecast how these trucks might impact roads on which they will travel. Hasan Ozer, (at left in photo) an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, will be applying his expertise in pavement materials, design and analysis to help determine what can be done to fortify pavement against the wear and tear these large and heavy vehicles could inflict on roads.

While efforts have expanded in recent years to stave of global warming and other detrimental impacts of climate change related to human activity, there is still a critical need to ramp up these endeavors. The work required to adequately reduce the threat is far from complete, says Margaret Garcia, an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Continued warming means that reversing the trend will require more intensive actions to achieve the level of climate resiliency necessary to avoid increasingly dire environmental consequences, Garcia says.

As the U.S. has continued to solidify its place among the world’s leading producers of technological progress, the nation has seen a particularly notable surge of contributions by women. Their research and development achievements are driving advances in STEM fields and providing innovations important to many industries. Among them is Celeste Fralick, who earned a doctoral degree in computer science, with a concentration on predictive analytics and neuroscience, in the Fulton Schools. Fralick is now a former senior principal engineer and chief data scientist for the McAfee tech company who previously held a similar position with Intel. Her book about infusing analytics into the Internet of Things is scheduled for publication soon.

Electric vehicles, or EVs, are being touted as a wave of the future in automotive transportation and the U.S. government is investing in stimulating EV production and ownership. In Arizona, as in many places, EV charging stations are few and far between, but  some entrepreneurs and companies are planing to open or expand recharging operations in anticipation of growing demand. Steven Polzin, a professor and transportation researcher in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Build Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, says there are both challenges to significantly increasing EV use and potential incentives that could boost their desirability and thereby increase the availability of charging stations.

Excessive levels of greenhouse gases, specifically carbon dioxide, or CO2, is a growing threat to Earth’s climate and inhabitants. Experts say any feasible solution requires extensive ventures by the world’s major governments. Success hinges on development and deployment of advanced technology designed to combat the growing crisis. One of the emerging CO2 removal tools is the “mechanical tree” developed at ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, led by “the intellectual godfather of carbon removal,” Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner. He says the big question isn’t whether the technology will work, but how much governments around the world are willing to invest in it. The article looks at endeavors to push forward with atmospheric greenhouse gas removal endeavors and the challenges those efforts face.

Tens of billions of dollars are being invested in semiconductor industry ventures in Arizona, making the state one of the hotspots for the establishment and expansion of operations that produce the devices being described as the brain of modern electronics. Researchers whose work is driving innovation in semiconductors include Krishnendu Chakrabarty, a professor of microelectronics in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. Chakrabarty has a leading role in ASU’s contributions to the Center for Hetergenous Integration of Micro Electronics Systems, which involves 14 universities funded by the Semiconductor Research Corporation and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency.

While some teachers accept students’ use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology, others are spurning its use in their classrooms. Subbarao Kamhampati, a professor of computer science in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, explains the various capabilities and limitations of AI software, including the popular ChatGPT program, and how their differences could help educators decide what versions of AI are acceptable for students to use in performing coursework. Several Arizona teachers talk about their experiences with students’ use of these technologies. A curriculum and instruction professional compares today’s challenges with AI to concerns that arose with the emergence of the internet.

At a recent international AI Safety Summit, leading experts in areas ranging from government, geopolitics and public policy to economics, technology, environmental issues and artificial intelligence, or AI, technology, explored ideas for how to ensure AI’s increasing powers will be used for productive endeavors rather than as a tool to launch efforts that would threaten societal cohesion and stability. Brad Allenby, a professor of engineering and ethics in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, examines the potential for progress and the dangerous pitfalls that could result from such an approach to dealing with the complex challenges of managing AI.

Much recent news about advances in artificial intelligence, or AI, technologies has focused on warnings about the potential for its use in less than socially beneficial ouruits. But one research project led by Yongming Lui, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, promises to make air traffic control operations safer and more effective. With funding from NASA, Liu is using AI to automate air traffic control systems to help controllers and pilots anticipate and avoid situations that would pose dangers to air travelers.

On a Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company, or JTBC, news program in South Korea, Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, is interviewed about the expanding abilities of rapidly advancing technologies to create images and sounds that make the unreal look real. Increasingly more capable tools and technologies continue to enable making video images and sounds — including those replicating human voices — that are all but indistinguishable from video and sound of actual events and human speech. Experts like Kamhampti are warning of the growing potential for such misleading fakery to result in provoking reactions that could threaten harm to society.

See Also: Analyst says ‘nothing surprising’ about Musk’s ‘Grok‘ Reuters, November 7
Kambhampati says Elon Musk’s new artificial intelligence model — a bot called Grok — is not an especially groundbreaking advance in smart technology as some reports are describing it.

Manufacturing microelectronics in space could eliminate long, painstaking and costly steps involved in making semiconductors. A research team funded by the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act and NASA’s Space Production Application program is working to make that possible. The project has enlisted Ying-Chen “Daphne” Chen, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, as a co-primary investigator in a collaborative effort with government agencies and industry experts to produce the blueprint to achieve the project’s goal. The article was originally published in Full Circle, the news section of the Fulton Schools website.

The AI-enabled language model technology ChatGPT has shown its abilities to do some things as well or better than people can do them. But many things might be better left to human intelligence — like accounting. That’s because some experts are finding ChatCGT is not always good at math. Paulo Shakarian, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says accounting requires capabilities in logic that the technology does not possess. Shakarian’s tests have shown ChatGPT to be less than acceptably accurate for things like accounting, which requires translating words into mathematical equations.

Drought and rising sea levels have are combining to bring salty water from the ocean up the Mississippi River, making much of the region’s water undrinkable. Public health experts say the saltwater intrusion could eventually corrode the region’s aging water infrastructure, leach heavy metals into the drinking water and create other problems. Water systems engineer Treavor Boyer, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, says that one technique being used to ease the problem — mixing fresh water with seawater — is instead creating ideal conditions for increasing levels of disinfection byproducts.

By focusing on an integration of engineering and medicine, ASU’s new medical school expects to redefine the roles of physicians and reshape the way the school’s graduates think about healthcare. The idea is to teach doctors how to be problem solvers like engineers, says Heather Clark, director of the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. Students will be encouraged to consider how medical instrumentation they are learning to use could be improved by developing more advanced technology, Clark says. Graduates will earn MD degrees along with master’s degrees in engineering.

Accumulations of microplastics in soils aren’t typically described with the same sense of alarm as proliferations of harmful substances and materials elsewhere, such as in the oceans. But high concentrations of microplastics in and on the ground can pose the same severity of toxicological risks to the environment. The Phoenix urban area is facing that problem. Alarming findings by Professor Matt Fraser, associate director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, Professor Pierre Herckes in ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences and doctoral student Kanchana Chandrakanthan are reported in the research journal Science of the Total Environment.

See Also: A look at the hidden threat lurking in Phoenix soil, AZ Big Media, October 31

Charlie Rolsky earned a doctoral degree at ASU, where he did groundbreaking research at the ASU Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, focusing on marine and aquatic plastic pollution, a major threat to ecosystems and environments around the world. Rolsky was the keynote speaker at the recent Dauphin Island Sea Lab Foundation’s annual Marine Environmental Awards. He is now director of science for Plastic Oceans International and director of research for the Shaw Institute in Maine, where he does contaminant monitoring, marine mammals health surveys and plastics pollution research. He has collaborated with Fulton Schools researchers on several  microplastics pollution projects.

An industrial plant in the desert near Yuma, Arizona, is home to We Recycle Solar, a company at the forefront of a growing business sector. The plant smashes old solar energy panels, extracting bits of valuable materials in the process. It is helping to keep landfills from getting overloaded with used solar panels, while also setting the stage to benefit from a growing market for recycled materials. Meng Tao, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, foresees a coming flood of materials from old solar panels being used to meet an exploding demand for recycled materials in a multibillion dollar market.  

See Also: To Save Solar Panels From Landfills, Startup Is Smashing Them Instead, Bloomberg, October 24 (Access to article is available only to subscribers.)

Even as a teenager, Adam Doupé (pictured) found it easy to send his high school friends email informing them the messages came from Santa Claus. It was, of course, all in fun. But it soon dawned on Doupé how that capability could be used for nefarious purposes. Today, the associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and leader of ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations works to find ways to overcome the vulnerabilities of the today’s internet, in the hope of helping to protect people from the “monsters” of cybersecurity — each of which he has given appropriately sinister names.

Taking a pioneering step toward the future of electrical engineering education, ASU is establishing a formal quantum computing pathway for students preparing for electrical engineering careers. Christian Arenz, assistant professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, helped to open the pathway this semester with a class he taught called quantum mechanics for quantum information science. The class is designed to establish the basic language of quantum mechanics before students progress to more specific quantum computing studies. The emerging field is seen as having the potential to revolutionize entire industries and reshape the technological landscape.

With rapidly proliferating use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology in an expanding array of areas from business, economics and corporate strategy to media, education, entertainment and more, the U.S. Senate is holding hearings about potential regulation of AI. There are serious concerns about AI eroding privacy, public trust, legal accountability and even weakening national security. Paulo Shakarian, an associate professor, an AI and machine learning expert in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and in ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations Affiliates, discusses the delicate balances that need to made to produce regulations that reduce threats AI can pose without limiting innovation and restricting vital information.

A group of six ASU researchers is among finalist teams in the $10 million XPRIZE Foundation competition to find effective ways to measure the worth of rainforests and their biodiversity. Drawing on knowledge of indigenous people and artificial intelligence, or AI, analysis, the teams will go to the Amazon rainforest in Brazil to develop viable sustainability strategies for the land. Among the ASU team members is Pavan Turaga, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of the School of Arts, Media and Engineering. The teams hope to provide a model communities can use as a roadmap to successful environmental preservation.

Amir Baniassadi, who earned a doctoral degree in the Fulton Schools’ civil, environmental and sustainable engineering program, is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Harvard Medical School and a consultant at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He’s collaborating works with doctors, architects and fellow engineers to assess heat vulnerability and how buildings could be constructed to reducing health risks from rising global temperatures. Baniassadi has been named a  a 2023 STAT Wunderkind for his commitment to expand knowledge to reveal how built environments affect the well-being of older adults.

WalletHub, a financial website, recently looked at the 100 largest U.S. municipalities, comparing them in several important areas – environment, transportation, energy sources and lifestyle and policy. For the second year in a row, the town of Gilbert, east of the Phoenix metro area, ranked among the least green among its peer cities and towns. Brad Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, provides some perspective on how cities can most effectively boost and manage projects aimed at going green and reap benefits from those endeavors.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink company is beginning tests on a human brain implant designed to assist people with paralysis and other neurological disorders. Past testing of such technology has experienced failures that raise concern about the risks of human trials for Neuralink’s device. Some medical researchers caution that using brain-computer interface devices could cause severe health problems if not performed correctly. Bradley Greger, an associate professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, sees potential for new treatments for neurological disorders, including for spinal cord injuries, paralysis and nervous system disorders. But he also stresses the need for especially careful testing, analysis and clinical trials.

The Engineering and Design Institute in London, or TEDI-London, a Fulton Schools partner, will soon have new executive dean. Lisa Brodie will play a key role in TEDI’s ongoing ventures with the school’s founding partners, which include ASU, King’s College London, and UNSW Sydney. Brodie has extensive experience in educational leadership and school administration, and has directed the design, development and introduction of a problem-based learning approach to engineering education. TEDI has a focus on project-driven degree programs in global design engineering and combines resources with its partners to address pressing global engineering-related challenges.

Technology that uses heat from the Sun to split water and hydrogen is the basis for a proposal by researchers to produce completely green, carbon-free hydrogen fuel. Engineers are working on the architecture for a system powered by renewable solar energy that would produce emission-free solar thermochemical hydrogen. Such a system could dramatically change much of the world’s energy future, says Christopher Muhich, an assistant professor of chemical engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools.

See Also: MIT engineers to generate clean hydrogen using 40% of sun’s heat, DPA Magazine (design products & applications), October 16

New System can Efficiently Harness the Sun’s Heat to Split Water and Generate Hydrogen, AZO CleanTech, October 17

San Francisco’s rollout of robotaxies revealed public tensions about the use of autonomous automobiles. The California city has, along with Phoenix, been a laboratory for how people react to riding in the self-driving vehicles or sharing the road with them in heavily trafficked urban areas. Phoenix has experienced various reactions, including some hostility, but overall reacted somewhat less negatively than San Francisco’s drivers. Acceptance has been a slow and cautious evolution, says Professor Ram Pendyala, the director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, whose research includes transportation systems engineering and travel behavior analysis, but he foresees these vehicles someday being almost as commonly used as cell phones. (Access to the complete article is limited to subscribers.)

See Also: Feds asking if robotaxis pose a risk to pedestrians after several crashes, WHIO TV7, October 20

Kyle Zeng is the first ASU student to earn a Google Phd Fellowship. A doctoral student in the  School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, Zeng will have a research mentor at Google as he pursues work to reveal and find solutions to today’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities.  Tiffany Bao, associate director of research acceleration at ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations, says Zeng’s success reflects the resources the Fulton Schools provide to students  and the positive societal impacts ASU’s engineering research is achieving. Zeng will now join other accomplished doctor students from around the world to conduct cutting-edge research.

Facing a growing challenge to produce innovations in semiconductor chips, high-tech manufacturing companies are competing for workers amid a shortage of potential employees with skills to meet market demand for the quantity and quality of their products. The situation is spawning partnerships of chip makers, government institutions and universities. One such collaboration involves a new college course developed by ASU and the Advantest and NXP companies on radio frequency testing to train engineers to work in the chips testing industry. Professor Kyle Squires, dean of ASU’s Fulton Schools, comments on the potential of such partnerships to boost the careers of new engineers and strengthen U.S. technology leadership. Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Former pro basketball star turned actor, Rick Fox, is turning his attention to leading a search for methods of cleaning up the Earth’s climate. After a hurricane in the Bahamas, Fox’s native country, severely damaged most of the homes and displaced thousands of people, Fox worked with an architect and materials scientists on ways to make concrete without using the carbon-intensive cement that can trigger climate change. Dwarak Ravikumar, an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Fulton Schools, says robust analysis of the new manufacturing method is essential to understanding its climate impact and assessing its scalability.

Since earning a doctoral degree in computer science from the Fulton Schools in 2009, Satyajayant Misra has become a professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering and an associate dean of research in New Mexico State University’s College of Engineering, as well as a Los Alamos National Laboratory affiliated scientist. Misra now leads the university’s Cybersecurity Resilience Research Group, which is working to make electrical grids more reliable, efficient and less vulnerable to cyberattacks. Other efforts include developing microgrids integrating renewable energy sources and greener technologies, and helping to transition from coal and diesel fuel to cleaner and more energy-efficient wind and solar power and to all-electric and hybrid vehicles.

Along with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the University of Southern California, the Research Foundation for the State University of New York and other leading research institutions, ASU has been chosen as one of eight regional hubs for a new U.S. Department of Defense program to accelerate the prototyping and “lab-to-fab” transition of semiconductor technologies. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, gives details about progress in microelectronics ASU engineering researchers and other hub members will pursue as part of efforts to ensure the nation’s military forces will have a reliable supply of the most advanced microchips for technologies critical to their missions.

Alexandra Navrotsky, a professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, and the School of Molecular Sciences, is one of the principal investigators in ASU’s new Facilities for Open Research in a Compressed Environment Lab. The lab is expected to enable significant advances in knowledge of how materials behave under extreme conditions. Experts in materials throughout the world will be invited to collaborate in work at the facility furnished with state-of-the-art equipment. Work at the lab could help expand knowledge of how Earth and many exoplanets formed and evolved, Navrotsky says.

The American Society for Engineering Education reports that an extremely low percentage of Hispanic college engineering students earn master’s degrees or doctoral degrees in their fields. David Flores Prieto (pictured at right), a biomedical engineering doctoral student and graduate research associate in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, is among those advocating for more Hispanic and Latino students at ASU to pursue careers and higher-level degrees in STEM fields. Prieto discusses his ideas for getting more of these students interested in STEM and advanced degrees in those professions. An ASU undergraduate biomedical engineering student tells how Prieto’s efforts have aided her academic success.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC — which leads the semiconductor industry in using the most state-of-the-art chip production technology — is moving machinery into its new fabrication plant in Arizona, the company’s first large manufacturing base in America. The company is also trying to develop talent for its workforce by supporting several local engineering schools. One big challenge for TSMC may be overcoming different cultural perspectives on conducting business and managing relationships with employees, government and other industries. Michael Kozicki, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, says TSMC also faces a very different job fluidity environment in Arizona than in Taiwan.

What does it mean to be green from an urban environmental point of view? In this special feature by the WalletHub’s financial writer, Professor Brad Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, provides some pertinent perspectives and keen insights on why and how cities should invest in “going green.” What are the benchmarks that define green cities and how can individuals support such efforts without big costs and overwhelming efforts? How can municipalities attract green businesses and renewable energy companies? What kinds of government policies and investment strategies would work best for developing sustainable eco-friendly urbanization? See the “Ask the Experts” section of this report.

See Also: San Diego Ranked ‘Greenest’ City in the U.S. Thanks to Clean Energy, Environment Policies, Times of San Diego, October 9

What are the ‘greenest: US Cities?, Smart Cities Dive, October 6

With some of the largest industries creating a growing need for project management professionals — including aerospace and defense, manufacturing bioscience and health care — ASU has seen a recent jump in students enrolling in its project management master’s degree program. The program is based in the university’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts in the School of Applied Professional Studies, but program leaders hope to form partnerships to offer the degree in other ASU schools, particularly the Fulton Schools and the W.P. Carey School of Business. A labor market analytics group says the degree program provides students skills to that can lead to careers in the high-demand project management industry. The article has also been published by AZ Big Media.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, technology is showing a capacity to be an effective teacher. Reports of AI successfully helping some students become proficient at solving complex problems in mathematics has sparked suggestions it could be incorporated into other areas of education. But AI expert Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor of in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, one of the Fulton Schools, says college students who have developed critical thinking skills may benefit from AI. But he cautions that AI might not be suited to help young students whose brains are still developing and who need human interaction and emotional support in their early learning years.

Fulton Schools students make up more than half of the undergraduates in the newest cohort of ASU Space Student Ambassador program. The competitive leadership and professional development program’s student ambassadors help represent and bring attention to ASU Space among fellow ASU students, faculty and staff, as well as external organizations and ASU industry partners. The new ambassadors will have opportunities to build professional relationships, attend conferences, volunteer at community events, network with space industry professionals and explore how their academic focus areas can contribute to the space industry.

In a documentary exploring efforts the by the U.S. to regain its role as a leader in semiconductor chip manufacturing and providing an overview of the current global semiconductor manufacturing industry, Professor Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, comments on the fast pace of today’s engineering advances and the engineering students who are eager to contribute to developing the new technological capabilities that such progress will make possible. Fulton Schools materials science and engineering graduate student Mark Li from Kazakhstan comments on his goal to work in the semiconductor industry, saying he was attracted to the U.S. and ASU because of the entrepreneurial opportunities they offer to aspiring inventors like himself.

ASU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is partnering with the Rio Verde Community Association to bring  the institute’s program that provides learning experiences to communities of adults age 50 and older  to the Rio Verde community in near the Phoenix area. Among the first offerings of the educational outreach program will be the presentation “Will Artificial Intelligence Destroy Our Economic, Social, and Political Systems?” led by Brad Allenby (standing in photo), a professor of engineering and ethics in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools.

As part of research and development efforts to upgrade electrical power systems in the greater Phoenix metro area, the Salt River Project utility company is investing $2.6 million in more than  30 projects with several of Arizona’s universities. Projects involving ASU faculty researchers include those using recent technology advances to maintain SRP hydropower resources. Ricardo Eiris, an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, leads the project. Another team led by Eiris is using new technology to model SRP hydropower assets that will set a new standard for proactive maintenance and modernization or SRP’s hydropower fleet.

Hoping to bolster its defenses to guard against a potential Chinese military incursion, Taiwan is studying tactics Ukraine is using to push back against Russia’s aggression. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense is exploring tactics that would exploit China’s vulnerabilities in case of an invasion. Braden Allenby, a professor  in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and author of “The Applied Ethics of Emerging Military and Security Technologies,” says it’s an especially complicated strategic challenge. Allenby advises Taiwan to take steps to make an invasion of the country an unpalatable and burdensome proposition for China.

Amid ethical issues and related concerns about the proliferating use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology, ASU President Michael Crow says higher education must move forward in adapting to AI and promote its use in positive ways that enhance learning. AI expert Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, likens the reactions to the rise of AI to concerns in the past that the invention of the calculator would keep young students from learning math. Crow and Kambhampati both see AI posing some threats to academic integrity but also see its possibilities for helping to make education more accessible and personalized.

A new asphalt-binding material called AirDuo developed by Ellie Fini, an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, diminishes emissions of toxic fumes while also increasing the materials overall sustainability. That especially helps to reduce health hazards to workers installing the material. The binding mixture is made from low-carbon, bio-based materials that offer an alternative to more toxic petroleum products. More testing of the material at ASU and possibly in Tucson and Flagstaff will aim to increase the effectiveness of AirDuo paving. The article previously appeared on the ASU News website.

Through its Luminosity Lab, the Fulton Schools is contributing to efforts to provide more and better medical services to the greater ASU community. One of the lab’s endeavors is participation in a project to aid Phoenix Children’s hospital in offering more accessible telehealth experiences for children at the hospital and their parents. It’s part of other efforts through which the lab is joining ASU’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Zoom Innovation Lab and The Design School in helping the ASU Health, Counseling and Wellness program increase access to health care services for various groups that are underserved.

More recent Luminosity Lab news: Primer: ASU helping to develop personalized AI tool, Fox 10 News-Phoenix

Ways in which carbon capture techniques are used today to create popular consumer products might help build support for efforts to remove the harmful carbon dioxide that has been accumulating in the Earth’s atmosphere for many decades. Those techniques could be the basis for developing more effective and sustainable ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuels that cause much of the unhealthy carbon dioxide accumulations. Direct-air capture systems like those pioneered by Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner, founding director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, and others, present the possibility of atmospheric carbon dioxide extraction without the need to radically rebuild modern infrastructure.

ASU students, graduates and faculty members attest to the benefits of research done in their undergraduate’ years that has proved beneficial to their higher education and careers. Fulton Schools electrical engineering student Yibo Chen talks about how his work under the mentorship of Shahnawaz Sinha, an associate research professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, helping him do rewarding work in the Fulton Schools Grand Challenges Scholars Research Stipend program. The Fulton Undergraduate Research Initiative program has also provided students a path into productive research pursuits.

The Fulton Schools will lead ASU’s Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub as one of eight research and development hubs that are getting $238 million in the first official allocation from the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act. As part of the Microelectronics Commons program established under the CHIPS Act, work by the hubs will focus on speeding up the transition from research labs to development and manufacture of advanced microelectronics. The hub at ASU will be the first major national security-oriented research and development laboratory built in Arizona, according to ASU President Michael Crow.

See Also: ASU receives $39.8M federal grant to create microelectronics innovation hub, ABC 15 News Arizona

Read more in the Phoenix Business Journal (access available only to subscribers) and the Department of Defense News

Science and engineering advances have enabled a growing number of the disease-causing organisms called pathogens to be detectable in wastewater. That capability is making sewage a potential major source of the signs of several viral maladies and other serious health threats, including COVID-19. It has enabled Erin Driver, an assistant research scientist at ASU’s Biodesign Center for Environmental Health Engineering, to engage in effective wastewater surveillance efforts that have provided valuable information about the source, emergence and spread of disease. Driver, who earned a doctoral degree in civil, environmental and sustainable engineering from the Fulton Schools, says a growing number of scientists and engineers are now using these testing techniques that ASU researchers have helped to develop and put into practice.

A research group led by Yu Yao, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and her collaborators developed a chip-integrated metasurface-based Full-Stokes polarimetric imaging sensors that surpass conventional imaging sensing technologies. Traditional polarimetric imaging systems have required complicated optical components and moving parts to achieve comparably sharp and accurate imaging. Researchers say applications of advanced imaging sensors could improve autonomous vision, industrial inspection, space exploration,  biomedical imaging and other sensing and imaging capabilities valuable to society.

An international research project will seek to set the stage for a hydrogen economy through the work of the Global Hydrogen Production Technologies Center, which will bring together experts from 20 universities, including ASU, to make hydrogen a major affordable and accessible source of energy. Meng Tao, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, will lead the project’s water catalysis efforts to use electricity to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The project’s team intends to not only advance cutting-edge hydrogen technologies, but also address economic and policy dimensions essential to developing a global hydrogen economy.

See Also: Cranfield leads UK collaboration in global hydrogen initiative, Business Weekly (United Kingdom), September 19

Some promising new products and problem-solving ideas are coming from Arizona’s startups and other business ventures in a wide range of industries. The new company creators include some entrepreneurs under the age of 25. Among them is Fulton Schools third-year biomedical engineering student Theodore Cavender (at bottom left in photo). Cavender co-founded Vulcreate, which helps fellow entrepreneurs develop their products using advanced 3D visualization and modeling. His company team has grown to six people who are developing product prototypes for companies around the world. Cavender hopes to expand Vulcreate’s services to help fellow entrepreneurs also patent and market new products.

Students of Thomas Czerniawski are helping to maintain and preserve the hydropower assets on Salt River Project’s watershed of the two SRP grant-funded studies focused on preserving and maintaining the value of the hydropower assets on SRP’s watershed. Students will use lidar technology to assess wear and tear on the hydropower turbines at two large SRP sites. Another student team will use digital technology to hydropower assets with the goal setting a new standard for proactive maintenance and modernization across SRP’s hydropower fleet. Czerniawski is an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools.

Switching from traditional steel rebar framework to an innovative mix of smaller steel fibers promises to make heavy construction projects less expensive and require less time. Experiments in the lab of Barzin Mobasher, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, shows the new method can work in a wide variety of building endeavors. The new steel fibers were recently used successfully for a project to enhance the Phoenix area’s Valley Metro Light Rail system. An ASU workshop is bringing researchers from across the work to examine the benefits of this alternative concrete mixing and and reinforcement process.

See Also: ASU Concrete Lab Tour, Fox 10 News-Phoenix

Sixty U.S. senators had the first of a planned series of meetings to explore establishing regulations to control the use of today’s artificial intelligence, or AI, technology. Prominent figures in the technology industry participated in the discussion. Government leaders voiced concern about the potential for AI to be used to threaten national security, election integrity and the economy through spreading misinformation. AI expert Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, comments that such concerns should be taken seriously. He agrees there is the potential for severe harm resulting from the use of AI’s ability for deceitful and menacing purposes.

Arizona is among places in the world that get the most sunlight. Surprisingly, however, the hotter than average heat from sunlight experienced in the state’s desert regions — like Phoenix — creates conditions that keep those areas from generating comparable amounts of solar power than what would be produced by sunlight in cooler environments. Nick Rolston, an assistant professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, talks about research he and colleagues are doing to develop the next generation of energy materials and devices that might help generate more solar power from sunlight in hotter locales.

Fulton Schools electrical engineering student David Zaragoza has begun his two-year team as member of the Arizona Board of Regents. Raised in Yuma, Zaragoza became the first student board member who grew up outside a metropolitan area to serve on the board in the past several years. He says his rural upbringing will factor into his decision making as a Regents board member. Zaragoza intends to “elevate those voices” of students from outlying communities to help ensure the governing body of Arizona’s state universities recognizes their needs. He is the first student regent to be selected by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs.

Recent rankings of U.S. universities earning U.S. utility patents in 2022 place ASU at number eight nationally. The list highlights American innovation and showcases universities that are leaders in advancing the country’s innovation ecosystem. Among those inventions is a flexible wearable robotic device to treat a painful physical condition called plantar flexion contractures and technology for developing highly efficient power electronics using a novel semiconductor material. The first project involved Fulton Schools faculty member Thomas Sugar in the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks. The second involved Fulton Schools faculty member Houqiang Fu in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering.

Many experts say our ground transportation environment could be made more accessible, affordable and safer by the use of autonomous vehicles. But there are potential complications that make widespread acceptance and deployment of self-driving automobiles challenging. Professor Ram Pendyala, director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Build Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, provides his perspective on integrating autonomous modes of transportation into our complex urban landscapes. In an extensive talk, he looks at the technical, economic, environmental and educational questions and issues that will factor into influencing the general public’s outlook on the use of autonomous vehicles.

A new generation of electronic applications at the molecular scale would provide the increase in computing power needed to expand the horizons of the semiconductor industry. A $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an advanced manufacturing process to help attain that goal has been awarded to Josh Hihath, a professor in the  School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors. His team of researchers will develop a new manufacturing process using DNA to create ultrahigh-density nanoelectronic systems, combining DNA nanotechnology and synthetic biology. The project will also give students opportunities to learn about emerging technologies.

Brothers Carlos and Miguel Chacon got the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned as ASU engineering students in recent internships in their home state. Graduates of Los Alamos High School in New Mexico, they returned to the town this summer to work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, famous for the work done there as part of the World War II-era Manhattan Project. Carlos and Miguel, whose studies have focused on robotics, say learning experiences they’ve had as engineering students in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, and ASU’s Barrett, The Honors College, helped them prepare for their endeavors at the national research lab.

It’s not just the heat, it’s the humidity, say urban climate experts such as Ariane Middell, an assistant professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. And what is intensifying the effects of heat and humidity in urban environments is often infrastructure that exposes people rather that protects them from unhealthy extreme heat and humidity. That situation inhibits the body’s ability to cool itself, Middel says. For defense against such debilitating situations, she and other researchers in the field say there is a relatively affordable way to help people in cities beat the heat: plenty of shade cover provided by built structures, leafy trees and other large sheltering vegetation.

See Also: Midnight runners: the athletes up late to beat the scorching heat, The Guardian, August 30

Research team with UCLA associate professor, ASU faculty examines shade deserts, Daily Bruin (UCLA), September 5

Amid frequent warnings about the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology in problematic and harmful ways, there are also reminders about how its abilities could aid society. Among the more promising potential for productive AI applications are in health care, says Hasti Seifi, an assistant professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Seifi, whose expertise includes human-computer interaction, is on an ASU research team funded by the National Institutes of Health to find ways to help people who are blind or have limited vision. Seifi and fellow researchers foresee AI playing a key role in helping those who face the challenges of visual impairment.

News media operations are taking advantage of the abilities of artificial intelligence, or AI, technology by using it to write some of the simpler news articles, typically reports on sporting events. But even in such a rudimentary role, problems are arising. Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says AI use could become even more problematic if it’s used for more serious subject matter that requires detailed, nuanced reporting on events that have important public impacts. For ethical reasons, he adds, news media should also inform readers when news articles are produced by AI instead of reporters.

Two transportation experts who earned degrees in their fields in the Fulton Schools civil, environmental and sustainable engineering program have been spotlighted by Mass Transit magazine as significant contributors to the transit industry’s advancement. Rumpa Dey is an accomplished transportation engineer who has helped to make strides in transportation accessibility, mobility and safety using innovative technologies. Sanjay Paul is recognized as an outstanding business leader in the industry and has provided creative transportation solutions for both government programs and private companies. Dey and Paul have also been recognized by Engineering News Record as part of 2023’s new cohort of 20 transportation professionals under age 40 who are among the industry’s top achievers and leaders.

Arizona State University is fostering accessible avenues for student engagement in space exploration. Aerospace engineering undergraduate students, Sadie Cullings and Noelle Geddis, participated in NASA’s RockOn! program, thanks to support from ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative and other departments. During the program, they designed a Geiger counter, which was launched into suborbital space to study radiation beyond Earth’s atmosphere. The experience expanded their passion for the space industry. Eric Stribling, a faculty member in ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative, emphasized that RockOn! not only imparts technical skills but also promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, fostering inclusivity in space exploration. Cullings now has clear post-graduate plans in the space industry, highlighting the program’s impact on career choices.

With drought and other challenges facing Arizona leaders in ensuring the state’s future will include adequate and dependable sources of water, a variety of potential options are being explored. Paul Westerhoff, chair of ASU’s environmental engineering program and a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, describes strategies being considered. Those include importing water from major rivers and the Gulf of California and atmospheric water capture. Westerhoff emphasizes that any option will require adequate funding sources, new, complex and extensive infrastructure systems, upgraded purification processes and possibly investment in a revolutionary hydrogen energy economy.

New Fulton Schools student Claire Gunderson isn’t letting the fact that there is a comparatively low percentage of women among mechanical engineers deter her from pursuing career aspirations in the field. Her interest in that branch of engineering sprung from working with her father on his cars as she grew up. This semester, Gunderson, a National Indigenous Recognition Scholar, has begun studies optimistically and with an extracurricular goal to join a Society of Automotive Engineers Formula SAE Club competition that challenges students to design and build high-performing racecars.

See Also: Incoming student plans to build a future — and cars — with ASU, ASU News

Deceptive deepfake images are becoming prevalent on major social media platforms — especially computer-manipulated images of celebrities and other widely known people, particularly those in the entertainment business. New technological capabilities enable making more realistic fake images of people that also mimic their real voices. Many videos using those images are designed to scam viewers into investing money in various phony ventures. Subbarao Kambhampati, an expert in computer science and artificial intelligence technology, and professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Reality, part of the Fulton Schools, says deepfake images can today be made by almost anyone with a smartphone and a computer.

Japan is fortifying its military defenses through applying the latest technological advances, including more effective cyber defense, satellite and drone technologies. Braden Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and author of “The Applied Ethics of Emerging Military and Security Technologies,” says the buildup of new defense systems has been prompted by growing weaponization of new technologies for military defense by some of Japan’s potential military adversaries, specifically technologies that can deceptively create false scenarios to mislead and neutralize opponents’ defense operations, part of new strategies being called cognitive warfare.

New treatments developed by ASU researchers are brightening the outlook for treating people with autism and children with the rare disorder called Pitt-Hopkins syndrome. It’s the result of decades of work to find such treatments. Progress has been aided by the work of Fulton Schools Professors James Adams and Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown. Adams, director of ASU’s Autism/Asperger’s Research Program, and Brown, director of the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes, first hypothesized that microbiotic transplant therapy could improve the conditions of people with autism. Such microbiome treatments are now among the more promising of the advances raising hopes of better treatments for health disorders that cause physical, mental and developmental problems.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program awards more than 2,000 grants each year to support college students to do research, independent studies, graduate studies, teaching or artistic projects in other countries. Winners for the 2023-2024 academic year include Fulton Schools student Isabella Werner, who graduated in May, earning a bachelor’s degree computer systems engineering with a specialization in cybersecurity. The Fulbright Award will enable her to go to the Slovak Republic to be a teaching assistant in English at a high school in the town of Sečovce. Werner’s goals are to cultivate leadership skills and broaden her experience before pursuing a master’s degree in business administration.

While there are extensive efforts to grow the semiconductor supply chains in the U.S., the industry is still facing an outlook for significant worker shortages in coming years, particularly positions for engineers and computer scientists. Companies will need to find future employees not only at universities but also at community colleges, says Trevor Thornton, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools. Thornton is partnering with the Maricopa Community Colleges in the greater Phoenix metro area to provide lectures and other instruction on semiconductor technology and manufacturing at the system’s schools. Students can then come to ASU for advanced studies and lab experience in microelectronics.

Professor Timothy E. Long recently joined the Fulton Schools but isn’t leaving behind an innovative endeavor he’s been involved in at Virginia Tech. He is continuing to provide expertise in polymers for a project that promises to produce a significant environmental benefit — developing techniques and materials for tire retreading that produces less waste. The project calls for combining skills in mechanical and materials engineering and advances in 3D scanning and printing. Long is certain to bring lessons from the project to his classes in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, and as director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing.

In his work to advance the use of new and improved materials in construction engineering, Barzin Mobasher, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, has been overseeing the application of fiber-reinforced concrete in the repair and extension of the Phoenix light rail system. While the overall costs of using the reinforced concrete can be high, the material enables significant savings over time in several ways, including by eliminating the need for conventional rebar material. Mobasher says the use of the fibers in concrete has made the construction process easier and faster, exceeding his initial expectations of its advantages.

Driverless taxis from the Waymo company’s fleet of autonomous automobiles are now operating in a 180-square-mile area within the greater Phoenix, Scottsdale and Chandler metro areas, making the company the world’s largest fully autonomous, paid ride-hailing service. Self-driving vehicle technologies and systems have evolved over more than a decade, but there are still challenges to overcome in building public trust in driverless cars. Junfeng Zhao, an assistant professor in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, and founder of the Battery ELectric and Intelligent Vehicle Lab, joins a conversation about Arizona’s growing role as a testing ground for autonomous vehicles.

ASU researchers will team with Mayo Clinic physicians to seek solutions to complex medical challenges with support from the Mayo Clinic and ASU Alliance for Health Care Seed Grant Program. The recently announced 2023 grant projects will fund efforts involving several Fulton Schools faculty members, including Professor Chitta Baral, Assistant Professor Ashif Iqubal and Assistant Professor Yingzhen Yang in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Assistant Professor Julianne Holloway and Associate Professor Hamidreza Marvin in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Associate Professor Mehdi Nikkhah, Associate Professor Rosalind Sadleir and Assistant Professor Jessica Weaver in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering and Assistant Professor Xiangfan Chen in the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks.

Applying discoveries in quantum mechanics, researchers can now do ultrasensitive thermal imaging at room temperatures. The advance expands what infrared detectors can sense. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is now providing Virginia Tech funding to increase sensing capabilities through the work of a research team that includes Yu Yao, an associate professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, whose expertise includes optoelectronic devices. The project aims to enhance infrared detectors so they can monitor body temperature, spot forest fires, track rockets, missiles and airplanes, and possibly do early disease detection.

Phoenix recently marked the 100th mile of the city’s streets coated with cool pavement, a light gray or blue shade material that reflects sunlight, thereby lowering road temperatures. Since 2020, multiple neighborhoods in the city have received this treatment, which will extend to 118 miles by the end of the year. By reflecting more sunlight than blacktop, cool pavement reduces surface temperatures by up to 12 degrees Fahrenheit. Ariane Middel (pictured), an urban climatologist and associate professor in the School for Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says the project is a significant step forward toward combating urban heat.

Movinya Gunatilaka’s journey along the way to her goal of earning a degree through the Fulton Schools’ computer systems engineering program took an enlightening extracurricular turn this summer. Gunatilaka’s interest in the field of augmented reality and her love of music drew her to the Fulbright-MITACS Globallink Research Internship program at McGill University in Canada, which brings together students from universities throughout the world to do research in science, engineering, social sciences and the humanities. Gunatilaka, a student in ASU’s Barrett, The Honors College, worked on a project to create a musical immersion experience using augmented reality. She says the experience reinforced her decision to pursue a master’s degree in computer engineering.

California’s public utilities commission recently granted permits to taxi services using autonomous vehicles in San Francisco. But soon, city officials and residents voiced concerns about the safety of the vehicles and a city attorney submitted a court motion asking regulators to reconsider allowing driverless taxis in the city, citing the vehicles’ potential interference with public safety forces, public transportation systems, construction and traffic flow. But transportation engineer and researcher Professor Ram Pendyala, director of the School of Sustainable Engineer and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, says advances in technology are making the vehicles much safer than in the past and he is confident they can perform well.

ChatGPT is showing the potential for artificial intelligence technology, or AI, to both benefit and threaten society. So, ASU tech experts are exploring how to erect safeguards against nefarious uses of ChatGPT. Nadya Bliss, executive director of ASU’s Global Security Initiative, and professor of practice in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says strong defenses are needed against the many kinds of security risks CHATGPT can pose. Nancy Cooke, a professor in The Polytechnic School, another of the Fulton Schools, directs the Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence, and Robot Teaming, which is exploring legal and ethical issues that could arise as robots and AI become more autonomous.

Only a few months after his studies in the Fulton Schools helped him earn a bachelor’s degree in manufacturing engineering from ASU, Connor Morse is a research and development engineer at the historic Los Alamos National Laboratory. There he joins fellow recent ASU honors graduate Bryan Carlton, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees through studies in the Fulton Schools focusing on robotics and autonomous systems. Morse was drawn to the job at the laboratory — known for its role in the outcome of World War II — by the opportunity to have a positive impact on humanity. Carlton looks forward to contributing to advances in ways will that will help strengthen national security.

Fulton Schools leaders are spearheading a proposal for the Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub, or SWAP, recently submitted to the National Security Technology Accelerator as part of the Microelectronics Commons, a U.S. Department of Defense program funded by the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The SWAP Hub’s purpose would be development of artificial intelligence hardware and other technologies for defense applications. Associate Professor Zachary Holman, SWAP Hub program director and vice dean of the Fulton Schools Office of Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, says work is already underway with funding partners to implement the vision of the new program. The photo was taken at the recent the Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub workshop.

ASU is among the five universities recently awarded one of several $500,000 grants from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The funds are designated for use in creating seven curriculum modules designed to prepare students to be part of the next generation of sustainability leaders in the nation’s workforce. The project at ASU will involve a team of researchers in the Fulton Schools and the W.P. Carey School of Business that will develop the curriculum for this project.

See Also: U.S. universities funded to provide plastics recycling programs, Waste & Recycling magazine, August 14

Kickstart: A circular plastics education, Plastics News, August 11

Arizona is emerging as a leader in semiconductor talent and production. With more than $60 billion in investments since 2020, the state is at the forefront of the industry. Arizona’s workforce growth is driven by training programs, universities and partnerships. Collaborative efforts with Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company led to a successful Semiconductor Technician Quick Start program, benefiting a diverse group of students. Professor Sally Morton, executive vice president of ASU’s Knowledge Enterprise, says Arizona’s economic growth is also supported by its construction workforce and by programs like those in the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools, which is providing impactful research and development to help grow the state’s technology industries.

Water levels in the Colorado River are declining, raising concern in Arizona and other western states about the outlook for future water supplies. But water experts like Paul Westerhoff, a professor in the School of Environmental Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, say there are water-use strategies that can help ensure lower river water levels won’t always have severe consequences. The key is using various qualities of water from various sources for different applications, Westerhoff says. Untreated wastewater, for example, can be used for some purposes without being purified, while advances in atmospheric water capture could provide high-quality water suitable for many uses.

Engineers and scientists are developing diverse new methods to study the impacts of rising global temperatures. In Arizona, an epicenter of heat warnings this summer, one venture by ASU researchers involves a robot that simulates human sweating as a way to reveal precisely how people can be affected — and endangered — by exposure to extreme heat. The robot named ANDI (pictured) is an outdoor thermal manikin designed to provide a deeper understanding of hyperthermia, which is threatening growing numbers of people around the world due to global warming. The research team leaders are Konrad Rykaczewski, an associate professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools, Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School for Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, and the School of Arts, Media and Engineering, and Jennifer Vanos, an associate professor in the School of Sustainability.

See Also: How extreme summer weather can increase risks of strokes, heart attacks and car crashes, Daily Mail (United Kingdom), August 5

Sweating, shivering mannequin aids research on how bodies respond to extreme temperature, FOX Weather, August 1

Sweating, shivering, breathing robots teach humans how extreme temperatures affect the body, WBUR-Boston (NPR), June 27

ANDI the “manikin” helps researchers better understand heat and the human body, Arizona PBS (Horizon), July 26

New Fulton Schools mechanical engineering student Claire Gunderson, a National Indigenous Recognition Scholar, comes to ASU with skills as in art, photography, welding and automobiles. She chose ASU for the “boundless opportunities” it offers, including the Fulton Schools Sun Devil Motorsports Formula SAE program, which she plans to join. In addition to gaining advances technical skills and getting hands-on experience in engineering, Gunderson also plans to get experience as a community leader through the ASU Next Generation Service. Corp.

Major federal government efforts to strengthen U.S. security now include a new National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy to help meet the country’s needs for robust cyber workplaces and taking the lead in developing a digital economy. The School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, already has a curriculum to produce well-trained cyber professionals that has been adopted by higher education organizations throughout the world. One of the school’s leading cybersecurity experts, Assistant Professor Yan Shoshitaishvili, director of ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations, talks about the new government strategy and ASU’s ability to support it.

“Reasons for Hope,” a new documentary film by Jane Goodall, one of the world’s leading conservationists, highlights projects that are protecting and enhancing the Earth’s environment. Among endeavors Goodall reports on are those led by Klaus Lackner, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, and founding director of  the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions. The documentary focuses on Lackner’s pioneering technology to remove carbon dioxide from air to help clean up the atmosphere and to store carbon underground to be used to support plant growth in greenhouses.

Fulton Schools civil, environmental and sustainable engineering doctoral student Taylor Fisher is one of three ASU students recently awarded an ASU Canon Solutions America Environmental Equity Scholarship. The scholarship awards established by Canon Solutions America, Inc., and ASU’s African and African American Faculty and Staff Association support work by students demonstrating an strong interest in environmental protection. Fisher is working on using nanomaterials to remove biological contaminants from drinking water. She has done field work through a research exchange program with the University of South Africa and plans to continue her work in a postdoctoral position in Africa before pursuing a university career in the U.S.

Effective recycling of materials from solar energy panels has been a continuing challenge, especially because of the toxic lead materials in the panels’ photovoltaic modules. Now research led in part by Meng Tao, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, shows promise for enabling development of a method for recovery of the lead materials from the panels as part of the recycling process. The process is designed to allow recovery of lead after being converted to it metallic form, which will enable the material to sold back to the solar energy industry for safe reuse.

Autonomous automobiles are likely going to increasingly be a part of our transportation options in the not too distant future. But along with the navigating systems and other control features being developed to get these vehicles ready for wide use, engineers are also working to ensure these cars have adequate and dependable safety systems. Junfeng Zhao, a mechanical engineer and assistant professor in The Polytechnic School, one of the Fulton Schools, is developing ways to test such new safety systems thoroughly and responsibly. He hopes his research will help lead to advances that will encourage government regulatory agencies and drivers to gain confidence in self-driving cars.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, known as TSMC, and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering have formed a partnership to enhance student support, training, and recruitment, as well as faculty research. The collaboration aims to strengthen ASU’s relationship with the leading semiconductor chip manufacturer, TSMC, and deepen ties between the university and the Phoenix community. ASU will provide a skilled workforce to support TSMC’s advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology in the US. The partnership includes educational commitments, talent pipeline expansion, non-degree professional education, student support, and faculty engagement. The collaboration seeks to benefit the industry and community, fostering stable employment and boosting the local economy. (Access to the full content of Phoenix Business Journal online is available only to subscribers.)

See also: ‘New Prototyping Facility to Grant Semiconductor Space Access to Students and Startups’, BollyInside, July 28 

‘ASU, TSMC announce partnership for workforce and research innovation’, ASU News, Jul 28

Fulton Schools faculty members led a workshop to help kickoff ASU’s effort to bring the semiconductor industry into Mexico in support of the objectives of the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen manufacturing, supply chains and national security. Professors Michael Kozicki and Terry Alford offered the workshop to a large group of faculty members from more than 25 institutions of higher education throughout Mexico. The country’s ambassador to the U.S. addressed workshop participants, saying the event helped set the stage for pursuing the larger goal of positioning North America to be more globally competitive in the high-tech marketplace.

Research is revealing connections between our brains and our guts that can have impacts on our communications skills and the quality of our relationships. Fulton Schools Professor Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, director of ASU’s Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes, talks about results of her recent studies with a health expert that indicate interactions between the human gut and brain correlate with couples’ satisfaction with their relationships. People with less diversity among the microbiomes in their guts tend to have less successful relationships. Listen to a podcast discussion about the research and related studies.

As urban centers like Phoenix grow, they tend to significantly increase the number of buildings and other infrastructure with the kinds of surfaces that reflect and radiate heat into the environment. More paved roads and parking lots add to the plethora of “heat sponges” that store heat in the day and reflect it back into the surrounding atmosphere at night, preventing areas from cooling down, says Ariane Middel, an urban climatologist and an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. More shade-producing trees, reflective pavements, smaller parking lots and lighter roofs would make the metro area less prone to overheating in the future, Middel says.

Arizona State University and Applied Materials Inc. are collaborating on a $270 million Materials-to-Fab Center, which aims to accelerate the transformation of lab innovations into real-life solutions. The cutting-edge prototyping facility will provide ASU students with hands-on experience and training in microelectronics, meeting the demand for skilled workers in the industry. Kyle Squires, vice provost of engineering, computing and technology at ASU, said that Applied Materials’ equipment is world-class and will advance the research skills of ASU faculty and students. The university plans to continue building a strong research community and enhancing its ecosystem for turning ideas into prototypes.

See also: ‘$270M Materials-to-Fab Center to be built at ASU’s MacroTechnology Works in Tempe’, Fagen Wasanni Technologies, July 28

‘New Prototyping Facility to Grant Semiconductor Space Access to Students and Startups’, BollyInside, July 28 

‘TSMC, ASU form partnership to boost student recruitment, faculty research’, Phoenix Business Journal, Jul 28