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Fulton Schools In The News

November

2024
  • Rocket science: Students land opportunity to create inflatable lunar pad for NASA

    Rocket science: Students land opportunity to create inflatable lunar pad for NASA

    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 thirsty operation’: TSMC plant arrives amid water doubts, but Phoenix isn’t worried

    ‘A thirsty operation’: TSMC plant arrives amid water doubts, but Phoenix isn’t worried

    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.

  • Innovative, fast-moving ventures emerge from Mayo Clinic and ASU summer residency program

    Innovative, fast-moving ventures emerge from Mayo Clinic and ASU summer residency program

    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.

  • DEF CON Academy looks to serve, build community

    DEF CON Academy looks to serve, build community

    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.

October

2024
  • ASU Carbon Summit displays sustainability leadership, collaboration and … electric motorcycles

    ASU Carbon Summit displays sustainability leadership, collaboration and … electric motorcycles

    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.

  • Arizona State and EPIXC joint projects aimed at reducing CO2 emissions

    Arizona State and EPIXC joint projects aimed at reducing CO2 emissions

    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.

  • ASU develops software for device aimed at protecting cyclists

    ASU develops software for device aimed at protecting cyclists

    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 Cycle Safe 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 the Cycle Safe software. Cycle Safe is now preparing to bring its new safety devices to the market in the next year.

  • Barrett student Tatum McMillan traveled the world with support from Jaap Sustainability Scholarship

    Barrett student Tatum McMillan traveled the world with support from Jaap Sustainability Scholarship

    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.

  • This ASU professor is trying to get robots to do your laundry

    This ASU professor is trying to get robots to do your laundry

    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

  • The real reason billion-dollar disasters like Hurricane Helene are growing more common

    The real reason billion-dollar disasters like Hurricane Helene are growing more common

    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.)

  • Researchers make concerning findings about the way extreme heat impacts us: ‘This is a clear call for targeted policy interventions’

    Researchers make concerning findings about the way extreme heat impacts us: ‘This is a clear call for targeted policy interventions’

    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

  • Meet 3 ASU cybersecurity researchers advancing a more secure future

    Meet 3 ASU cybersecurity researchers advancing a more secure future

    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.

  • Wiley, Fulton Schools of Engineering collaborate to develop AI tutor

    Wiley, Fulton Schools of Engineering collaborate to develop AI tutor

    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.

     

  • Arizona companies building tech to reduce carbon emissions

    Arizona companies building tech to reduce carbon emissions

    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.)

  • California’s first carbon capture project gets OK from Kern County

    California’s first carbon capture project gets OK from Kern County

    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

  • Progress on biometric data privacy too slow, incomplete, say experts

    Progress on biometric data privacy too slow, incomplete, say experts

    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.

  • Professor awarded prestigious DOE Early Career Award

    Professor awarded prestigious DOE Early Career Award

    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.

  • Cybersecurity and Digitalization: A Cautionary Tale

    Cybersecurity and Digitalization: A Cautionary Tale

    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.

  • Stephanie Forrest’s unique integration of computation, biology and health

    Stephanie Forrest’s unique integration of computation, biology and health

    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.

  • Study shows impact of extreme heat on everyday lives

    Study shows impact of extreme heat on everyday lives

    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.

  • Hospital hit by Hurricane Milton gets system to grab water from air

    Hospital hit by Hurricane Milton gets system to grab water from air

    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.)

  • Findings from an ASU study show how extreme heat impacts daily lives

    Findings from an ASU study show how extreme heat impacts daily lives

    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.

  • ASU-developed SolarSPELL libraries deployed to help communities in Arizona

    ASU-developed SolarSPELL libraries deployed to help communities in Arizona

    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. 

  • Nearly every household in America has a car. Here’s how to break free.

    Nearly every household in America has a car. Here’s how to break free.

    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

  • ASU-led initiative announces first decarbonization projects for US industry

    ASU-led initiative announces first decarbonization projects for US industry

    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.

  • ASU researchers tap AI to help people see more clearly

    ASU researchers tap AI to help people see more clearly

    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

  • ASU expert: Why construction is a great career field

    ASU expert: Why construction is a great career field

    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

  • ASU study shows extreme heat’s impact on society

    ASU study shows extreme heat’s impact on society

    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

  • World War II, dry weather and Motorola positioned Arizona for semiconductor success

    World War II, dry weather and Motorola positioned Arizona for semiconductor success

    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 primed to welcome global semiconductor, AI firms: minister

    Vietnam primed to welcome global semiconductor, AI firms: minister

    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.

  • Honeywell Aerospace opens innovation hub at ASU’s Tempe campus

    Honeywell Aerospace opens innovation hub at ASU’s Tempe campus

    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

September

2024
  • Extreme heat impacts our daily routines and transportation

    Extreme heat impacts our daily routines and transportation

    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.

  • 32 weird ways to fight climate change that just might work

    32 weird ways to fight climate change that just might work

    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.

  • New ASU research shows swimwear is a surprising source of microplastics

    New ASU research shows swimwear is a surprising source of microplastics

    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.

  • Finding a Fix for Playgrounds That Are Too Hot to Touch

    Finding a Fix for Playgrounds That Are Too Hot to Touch

    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.

  • How an Arizona recycling plant is working to keep old solar panels out of landfills

    How an Arizona recycling plant is working to keep old solar panels out of landfills

    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 takes top spot in innovation for 10th year in a row

    ASU takes top spot in innovation for 10th year in a row

    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, 17th for industrial manufacturing, 18th for cybersecurity computer science education, 19th in the electronics and electronics communications engineering, as well as in artificial intelligence computer science in the engineering category and 35th 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.

  • Extreme heat impacts daily routines and travel patterns, study finds

    Extreme heat impacts daily routines and travel patterns, study finds

    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.

  • This company changed semiconductor manufacturing forever. And it’s about to open for business in Arizona

    This company changed semiconductor manufacturing forever. And it’s about to open for business in Arizona

    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.

  • Bottled water contains harmful contaminants, experts warn. Here are safer ways to hydrate.

    Bottled water contains harmful contaminants, experts warn. Here are safer ways to hydrate.

    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.

  • Bidstrup Foundation and Barrett Research Undergraduate Fellowship supports honors student research with faculty

    Bidstrup Foundation and Barrett Research Undergraduate Fellowship supports honors student research with faculty

    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.

  • Subbarao Kambhampati: AI Professor at Arizona State University

    Subbarao Kambhampati: AI Professor at Arizona State University

    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 Likes Breaking Things— and That Is Good for Photovoltaic Reliability

    Tim Silverman Likes Breaking Things— and That Is Good for Photovoltaic Reliability

    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.

  • OpenAI o1 Likely Uses RL over Chains of Thought to Build System 2 LLMs

    OpenAI o1 Likely Uses RL over Chains of Thought to Build System 2 LLMs

    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.

  • 5 microelectronics projects win nearly $30M in federal funding

    5 microelectronics projects win nearly $30M in federal funding

    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.)

  • Better Living Through Algae Biotechnology

    Better Living Through Algae Biotechnology

    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.

  • 3 ASU faculty named 2024 President’s Professors

    3 ASU faculty named 2024 President’s Professors

    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.

  • World’s Biggest Carbon Absorbing Plant Opens In Iceland

    World’s Biggest Carbon Absorbing Plant Opens In Iceland

    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.

  • After Software Engineers, LLMs Are Coming After AI Researchers

    After Software Engineers, LLMs Are Coming After AI Researchers

    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.

     

     

  • Major Science Building Project Tops Out at ASU

    Major Science Building Project Tops Out at ASU

    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.

  • 20 Years of Academic Excellence

    20 Years of Academic Excellence

    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.

  • Cybersecurity team including students, faculty from ASU wins $2 million in international contest

    Cybersecurity team including students, faculty from ASU wins $2 million in international contest

    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

  • Arizona State partners with semiconductor companies to boost job training

    Arizona State partners with semiconductor companies to boost job training

    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’s streak of over 100-degree temperatures reaches 100th day

    Phoenix’s streak of over 100-degree temperatures reaches 100th day

    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

  • Using AI to teach robots to do the jobs we don’t want

    Using AI to teach robots to do the jobs we don’t want

    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.

  • Navigating uncharted waters: ASU drives solutions for water resilience

    Navigating uncharted waters: ASU drives solutions for water resilience

    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.

August

2024
  • Something’s Poisoning America’s Land. Farmers Fear ‘Forever’ Chemicals.

    Something’s Poisoning America’s Land. Farmers Fear ‘Forever’ Chemicals.

    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.

  • ‘We’re going back:’ Undocumented youth face more barriers to reach their potential with DACA in limbo

    ‘We’re going back:’ Undocumented youth face more barriers to reach their potential with DACA in limbo

    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.

  • ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative adds three new pilot projects that will champion innovative concepts for societal impact

    ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative adds three new pilot projects that will champion innovative concepts for societal impact

    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.

  • What is Stopping Devs from Building an LLM?

    What is Stopping Devs from Building an LLM?

    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?”

  • Water main break leads to road closures, damage to homes in Tempe neighborhood

    Water main break leads to road closures, damage to homes in Tempe neighborhood

    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.

  • Rising heat is scorching Americans – and our infrastructure

    Rising heat is scorching Americans – and our infrastructure

    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.

  • 7 Arizona women competed against 41 teams from 18 countries in a robosub competition. They beat them all.

    7 Arizona women competed against 41 teams from 18 countries in a robosub competition. They beat them all.

    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.

     

  • Don’t believe what you hear: ASU professor weighs in on voice cloning technology

    Don’t believe what you hear: ASU professor weighs in on voice cloning technology

    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.

  • America Has a Hot-Steel Problem

    America Has a Hot-Steel Problem

    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.

  • ASU researchers help to control cancer-causing poison in corn

    ASU researchers help to control cancer-causing poison in corn

    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

  • Costa Rica newly buoyant on local microchips industry prospects

    Costa Rica newly buoyant on local microchips industry prospects

    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.

  • Advancing super materials: 2 ASU professors honored as Navrotsky Professors of Materials Research

    Advancing super materials: 2 ASU professors honored as Navrotsky Professors of Materials Research

    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.

  • ‘In the Phoenix area, we are in violation of ozone standards’: ASU studying ways to improve ozone in the Valley

    ‘In the Phoenix area, we are in violation of ozone standards’: ASU studying ways to improve ozone in the Valley

    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.

  • This ASU lab brings the energy

    This ASU lab brings the energy

    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.

  • Why Arizona has fewer blackouts than other hot states

    Why Arizona has fewer blackouts than other hot states

    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.

  • What Works in Taiwan Doesn’t Always in Arizona, a Chipmaking Giant Learns

    What Works in Taiwan Doesn’t Always in Arizona, a Chipmaking Giant Learns

    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.

  • ISTB12 project at ASU’s Polytechnic campus reaches topping out construction milestone

    ISTB12 project at ASU’s Polytechnic campus reaches topping out construction milestone

    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.

  • 2 ASU students awarded prestigious Department of Defense scholarship for STEM majors

    2 ASU students awarded prestigious Department of Defense scholarship for STEM majors

    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.

  • Wait … Did OpenAI Just Solve ‘Jagged Intelligence’?

    Wait … Did OpenAI Just Solve ‘Jagged Intelligence’?

    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.

  • Running Through Paris Heat

    Running Through Paris Heat

    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.)

  • Teaching AI about social intelligence through Minecraft

    Teaching AI about social intelligence through Minecraft

    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.

  • Video showing human-like tiger shows dangers in social media posts

    Video showing human-like tiger shows dangers in social media posts

    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.

  • Icy body bags and mobile coolers: Here’s what it takes now to survive outside in America’s hottest city

    Icy body bags and mobile coolers: Here’s what it takes now to survive outside in America’s hottest city

    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)

  • High school interns take on cybersecurity research at ASU

    High school interns take on cybersecurity research at ASU

    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.

July

2024
  • Saving lives from an invisible killer

    Saving lives from an invisible killer

    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. 

  • ASU scientists unveil MaRTy Weather Research Tool

    ASU scientists unveil MaRTy Weather Research Tool

    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.

  • Hackers race to win millions in contest to thwart cyberattacks with AI

    Hackers race to win millions in contest to thwart cyberattacks with AI

    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.

  • Professor recognized with prestigious award for mathematical excellence

    Professor recognized with prestigious award for mathematical excellence

    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

  • TEDI-London celebrates inaugural graduation

    TEDI-London celebrates inaugural graduation

    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.

  • ASU study on natural emissions impacting ozone pollution

    ASU study on natural emissions impacting ozone pollution

    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.

  • Reducing potable water use with greywater reuse in standalone handwashing stations

    Reducing potable water use with greywater reuse in standalone handwashing stations

    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.

  • How the West Valley evolved into hotbed for innovation and growth

    How the West Valley evolved into hotbed for innovation and growth

    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.

  • New Cold War: ‘Russia can target any target in Europe’

    New Cold War: ‘Russia can target any target in Europe’

    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.

  • These tried-and-true tips will help you stay cool on a hot day

    These tried-and-true tips will help you stay cool on a hot day

    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

  • As Phoenix Becomes a Semiconductor Boomtown, ASU Runs to Keep Up

    As Phoenix Becomes a Semiconductor Boomtown, ASU Runs to Keep Up

    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 part of federal plan to modernize the U.S. power grid before it can’t meet demand

    Arizona is part of federal plan to modernize the U.S. power grid before it can’t meet demand

    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.

  • ASU students redesign ‘Workstation on Wheels’ for HonorHealth nurses

    ASU students redesign ‘Workstation on Wheels’ for HonorHealth nurses

    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.

  • El Paso’s drinking water has small amounts of lithium. What does that mean?

    El Paso’s drinking water has small amounts of lithium. What does that mean?

    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.

  • How AI — and ASU — will advance the health care sector

    How AI — and ASU — will advance the health care sector

    The growing role of artificial intelligence, or AI, in healthcare is reshaping and advancing current practices. AI is theorised to have potential to analyze a patient’s scan and other data and predict risks for heart attacks or strokes. AI has been used in healthcare for over two decades and can accelerate diagnoses and treatment by processing information faster than humans. Bradley Greger, an associate professor in ASU’s School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, sees AI as an essential tool, enhancing but not replacing healthcare providers. Some experts believe that while AI’s impact will be significant, its integration into everyday healthcare will take time.

  • Strengthening our power grid through AI

    Strengthening our power grid through AI

    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. 

  • AI as teammate: The human systems approach

    AI as teammate: The human systems approach

    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

  • New research tools reveal the dynamics behind breaking a sweat

    New research tools reveal the dynamics behind breaking a sweat

    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.

  • See the Great Basin’s rapid groundwater loss from the sky

    See the Great Basin’s rapid groundwater loss from the sky

    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.

  • ASU’s AZNext Program aims to shore up IT, business workforces with free virtual developmental courses

    ASU’s AZNext Program aims to shore up IT, business workforces with free virtual developmental courses

    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 students seek to combat food waste, insecurity with innovative startup

    ASU students seek to combat food waste, insecurity with innovative startup

    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.

  • ASU researchers receive $2.8M grant to harness the power of AI for health

    ASU researchers receive $2.8M grant to harness the power of AI for health

    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.

  • Zero-emissions trucks alone won’t cut it: Study says early retirement of polluters key to California’s emission goals

    Zero-emissions trucks alone won’t cut it: Study says early retirement of polluters key to California’s emission goals

    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.

  • Blazing hot surfaces risk causing catastrophic burn injuries in the urban desert

    Blazing hot surfaces risk causing catastrophic burn injuries in the urban desert

    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.

  • 9 ASU faculty receive Fulbright US Scholar awards for 2024–25

    9 ASU faculty receive Fulbright US Scholar awards for 2024–25

    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.

June

2024
  • Student engineers travel to Ethiopia this summer to help protect local wildlife

    Student engineers travel to Ethiopia this summer to help protect local wildlife

    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

  • Hajj heat wave deaths underscore climate threat for most vulnerable

    Hajj heat wave deaths underscore climate threat for most vulnerable

    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

  • Cuba and nuclear tensions: One misjudgment leads to disaster

    Cuba and nuclear tensions: One misjudgment leads to disaster

    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.

  • Newly accredited ASU summer program opens up STEM opportunities for underrepresented students

    Newly accredited ASU summer program opens up STEM opportunities for underrepresented students

    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.

  • State and university collaboration to address innovative PFAS treatment options

    State and university collaboration to address innovative PFAS treatment options

    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.

  • Driverless cars are mostly safer than humans – but worse at turns

    Driverless cars are mostly safer than humans – but worse at turns

    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.

  • Forest-thinning simulations reveal benefits to water supplies

    Forest-thinning simulations reveal benefits to water supplies

    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

  • ACS Journal Validates HydroGraph Cement Performance

    ACS Journal Validates HydroGraph Cement Performance

    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).

  • Sweating test dummy being used in Arizona to determine how heat impacts the human body

    Sweating test dummy being used in Arizona to determine how heat impacts the human body

    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.

  • How Arizona is building the workforce to manufacture semiconductors in the U.S.

    How Arizona is building the workforce to manufacture semiconductors in the U.S.

    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.

  • Using AI to get people out of their cars and into HOVs

    Using AI to get people out of their cars and into HOVs

    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.

  • Tackling Phoenix’s ozone problem with natural emission research

    Tackling Phoenix’s ozone problem with natural emission research

    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.

  • The Heat Wave Scenario That Keeps Climate Scientists Up at Night

    The Heat Wave Scenario That Keeps Climate Scientists Up at Night

    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

     

May

2024
  • Crystal Sonic joins Valley research center to advance chip manufacturing

    Crystal Sonic joins Valley research center to advance chip manufacturing

    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.

  • The New ChatGPT Offers a Lesson in A.I. Hype

    The New ChatGPT Offers a Lesson in A.I. Hype

    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.

  • ASU researchers create microphone to authenticate human speech

    ASU researchers create microphone to authenticate human speech

    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

  • ASU scientists use new technologies to monitor, mitigate heat exposure risk

    ASU scientists use new technologies to monitor, mitigate heat exposure risk

    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.

  • Intermittent fasting shows promise in improving gut health, weight management

    Intermittent fasting shows promise in improving gut health, weight management

    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.

  • Does the West want Ukraine to win or Russia not to lose?

    Does the West want Ukraine to win or Russia not to lose?

    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.)

  • BEMA Continues Successful Partnership With Arizona State University for Convention 2024

    BEMA Continues Successful Partnership With Arizona State University for Convention 2024

    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.

  • How Top U.S. Universities Cut Their Carbon Emissions to Help Fight Climate Change

    How Top U.S. Universities Cut Their Carbon Emissions to Help Fight Climate Change

    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.

  • How AI is changing the political landscape ahead of elections

    How AI is changing the political landscape ahead of elections

    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.

  • Forest thinning may provide water benefits downstream

    Forest thinning may provide water benefits downstream

    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

  • 9 winners of prestigious Flinn Scholarship choose ASU

    9 winners of prestigious Flinn Scholarship choose ASU

    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.

  • Can Artificial Intelligence Make the PC Cool Again?

    Can Artificial Intelligence Make the PC Cool Again?

    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.

  • Fiber-reinforced concrete cuts time, cost on light-rail project

    Fiber-reinforced concrete cuts time, cost on light-rail project

    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.

  • Here’s how ASU researchers are using AI to improve health

    Here’s how ASU researchers are using AI to improve health

    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 House votes to regulate deepfakes

    Arizona House votes to regulate deepfakes

    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.

  • How far can you trust chain-of-thought prompting?

    How far can you trust chain-of-thought prompting?

    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.

  • ASU cybersecurity student selected for competitive US Department of State fellowship

    ASU cybersecurity student selected for competitive US Department of State fellowship

    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.

  • ASU researchers develop voice authentication to guard against AI

    ASU researchers develop voice authentication to guard against AI

    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.

  • The world’s largest carbon-capture plant just switched on

    The world’s largest carbon-capture plant just switched on

    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.)

  • Phoenix Business Journal’s Most Admired Leaders 2024: Kyle Squires, Arizona State University

    Phoenix Business Journal’s Most Admired Leaders 2024: Kyle Squires, Arizona State University

    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.

  • Meet recent grads beginning their careers right after commencement

    Meet recent grads beginning their careers right after commencement

    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.

  • Don’t Be Fooled by A.I. Katy Perry Didn’t Attend the Met.

    Don’t Be Fooled by A.I. Katy Perry Didn’t Attend the Met.

    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.

  • Phoenix, Arizona — the Silicon Valley of chip manufacturing in the West

    Phoenix, Arizona — the Silicon Valley of chip manufacturing in the West

    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.

  • Leading students toward a future of renewable energy

    Leading students toward a future of renewable energy

    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.

  • Students pitch in to help solve plastic problem in Ethiopian national park

    Students pitch in to help solve plastic problem in Ethiopian national park

    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.

April

2024
  • Unlocking the potential of AI for homeland security

    Unlocking the potential of AI for homeland security

    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.

  • ASU at the heart of the state’s revitalized microelectronics industry

    ASU at the heart of the state’s revitalized microelectronics industry

    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.

  • Here are the factors behind the rise in Arizona traffic fatalities

    Here are the factors behind the rise in Arizona traffic fatalities

    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.

  • ASU student entrepreneurs win cash investments for ventures at Demo Day

    ASU student entrepreneurs win cash investments for ventures at Demo Day

    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.

  • How the ASU Polytechnic campus will fuel the PHX East Valley economy

    How the ASU Polytechnic campus will fuel the PHX East Valley economy

     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.

  • Advanced packaging the next big thing in semiconductors — and no, we’re not talking about boxes

    Advanced packaging the next big thing in semiconductors — and no, we’re not talking about boxes

    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.

  • Arizona State University launches educational lab to promote learning through video games

    Arizona State University launches educational lab to promote learning through video games

    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.

  • UN report reveals less than a quarter of the world’s e-waste is being recycled

    UN report reveals less than a quarter of the world’s e-waste is being recycled

    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.

  • Arizona EV companies still confident amid signs of industry slowdown

    Arizona EV companies still confident amid signs of industry slowdown

    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.

  • From campus to community: ASU’s Devils in Disguise Week makes lasting impact through service

    From campus to community: ASU’s Devils in Disguise Week makes lasting impact through service

    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.

  • From solar energy to water quality to art, honors graduate fulfilled many interests at ASU

    From solar energy to water quality to art, honors graduate fulfilled many interests at ASU

    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.

  • EU delegation visits ASU with an eye toward collaboration on semiconductors

    EU delegation visits ASU with an eye toward collaboration on semiconductors

    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.

  • 2 ASU juniors awarded prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for excellence in STEM research

    2 ASU juniors awarded prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for excellence in STEM research

    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.

  • FAA clears futuristic ‘blended-wing’ JetZero aircraft for test flights

    FAA clears futuristic ‘blended-wing’ JetZero aircraft for test flights

    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.

  • TSMC, Intel funding shining bright light on Arizona

    TSMC, Intel funding shining bright light on Arizona

    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.)

  • ‘At the forefront of our country’s economic future’: Arizona leaders react to TSMC grant

    ‘At the forefront of our country’s economic future’: Arizona leaders react to TSMC grant

    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.

  • AI Chatbots Will Never Stop Hallucinating

    AI Chatbots Will Never Stop Hallucinating

    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.

  • Cyberattacks are disrupting critical infrastructure. This expert says we can all fight back

    Cyberattacks are disrupting critical infrastructure. This expert says we can all fight back

    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.

  • Major US bridges could be vulnerable to ship collisions, including one just downstream from Key Bridge

    Major US bridges could be vulnerable to ship collisions, including one just downstream from Key Bridge

    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.

  • Algae asphalt paves way for cleaner roads

    Algae asphalt paves way for cleaner roads

    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.

  • Clearing the air: How we can fix the CO2 problem and make our lives better

    Clearing the air: How we can fix the CO2 problem and make our lives better

    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.

  • ASU scientists investigate potential superconductor

    ASU scientists investigate potential superconductor

    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.

  • Sinking cities: How land subsidence is affecting Arizona

    Sinking cities: How land subsidence is affecting Arizona

    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.

  • Preventing falls for older adults

    Preventing falls for older adults

    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.

March

2024
  • ‘Absolutely a wake-up call’: Key Bridge tragedy has markings of 1980 Baltimore crash, but worse

    ‘Absolutely a wake-up call’: Key Bridge tragedy has markings of 1980 Baltimore crash, but worse

    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

  • ASU researcher uses AI to help address global challenges

    ASU researcher uses AI to help address global challenges

    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.

  • ASU researcher’s microscale tech is chipping away at cancer, organ failure and neurological disease

    ASU researcher’s microscale tech is chipping away at cancer, organ failure and neurological disease

    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.

  • Deepfake video of Kari Lake highlights potential problem in election season

    Deepfake video of Kari Lake highlights potential problem in election season

    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.

  • Yuma man is the first person to get the Neuralink brain implant device

    Yuma man is the first person to get the Neuralink brain implant device

    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.

     
  • Deepfakes: Experts Speak On The Future of Authenticity Online

    Deepfakes: Experts Speak On The Future of Authenticity Online

    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

  • Arizona State University helping prepare people for careers in growing semiconductor industry

    Arizona State University helping prepare people for careers in growing semiconductor industry

    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.

  • First Future of Learning Community Fest celebrates innovation at ASU

    First Future of Learning Community Fest celebrates innovation at ASU

    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, Deca Technologies partner on advanced packaging research and development

    ASU, Deca Technologies partner on advanced packaging research and development

    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

  • ASU honors student awarded fellowship for women, gender minorities interested in aerospace industry

    ASU honors student awarded fellowship for women, gender minorities interested in aerospace industry

    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.

  • In Latest A.I. War Escalation, Elon Musk Releases Chatbot Code

    In Latest A.I. War Escalation, Elon Musk Releases Chatbot Code

    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.

  • A Real Social Security Office Gave Me A Flyer With A Scam Phone Number On It

    A Real Social Security Office Gave Me A Flyer With A Scam Phone Number On It

    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.

  • Can An A.I. Make Plans?

    Can An A.I. Make Plans?

    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. 

  • 9 ASU students, alumni among finalists for Presidential Management Fellows program

    9 ASU students, alumni among finalists for Presidential Management Fellows program

    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.

  • Colorado’s I-70 Has America’s Most Notorious Ski Traffic. Is There a Solution?

    Colorado’s I-70 Has America’s Most Notorious Ski Traffic. Is There a Solution?

    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.

  • ASU index ranks 12 companies as ‘trailblazers’ for equality in the workplace

    ASU index ranks 12 companies as ‘trailblazers’ for equality in the workplace

    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.

  • Federal official visits ASU to build upon microelectronics partnership, address semiconductor goals

    Federal official visits ASU to build upon microelectronics partnership, address semiconductor goals

    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

  • Advancing Women In Construction Club At ASU Encourages Women To Break Barriers

    Advancing Women In Construction Club At ASU Encourages Women To Break Barriers

    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.

  • ASU ranked No. 9 among worldwide universities for US patents

    ASU ranked No. 9 among worldwide universities for US patents

    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.

  • MyACTome acquired by health care management organization

    MyACTome acquired by health care management organization

    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

  • Mechanical Trees Capture CO2

    Mechanical Trees Capture CO2

    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

  • New bill aims to restrict public safety use of drones in Arizona

    New bill aims to restrict public safety use of drones in Arizona

    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.

February

2024
  • GlobalResolve service-learning program expands students’ perspectives

    GlobalResolve service-learning program expands students’ perspectives

    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.

  • ASU introduces trailblazing ‘stackable microcredentials’ pilot

    ASU introduces trailblazing ‘stackable microcredentials’ pilot

    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.

  • Biden administration taps $366M to fund clean energy for Native American tribes and rural areas

    Biden administration taps $366M to fund clean energy for Native American tribes and rural areas

    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.

  • ASU summit calls for innovations in atmospheric water harvesting technology

    ASU summit calls for innovations in atmospheric water harvesting technology

    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.

  • What is carbon capture? And why is Hillsborough County looking into it?

    What is carbon capture? And why is Hillsborough County looking into it?

    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 Makes Emerging Tech More Accessible to Embedded Engineers

    Microchip Makes Emerging Tech More Accessible to Embedded Engineers

    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.

  • ASU faculty honored for contributions to extreme heat research

    ASU faculty honored for contributions to extreme heat research

    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.

  • Drive Time Show Podcast: Conscription & Ageing

    Drive Time Show Podcast: Conscription & Ageing

    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.

  • U.S. unveils new ITSI initiative to build resilient international microelectronics supply chain

    U.S. unveils new ITSI initiative to build resilient international microelectronics supply chain

    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.

  • Structural cascade: Broken rods were just a symptom of RI’s Washington Bridge crisis

    Structural cascade: Broken rods were just a symptom of RI’s Washington Bridge crisis

    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

  • Arizona State University to Help Lead Semiconductor Supply Chain Diversification Initiative

    Arizona State University to Help Lead Semiconductor Supply Chain Diversification Initiative

    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

  • Innovations In Light Rail Expansion: How Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Enters the Mix

    Innovations In Light Rail Expansion: How Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Enters the Mix

    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 ranked No. 9 worldwide for US patents in 2023

    ASU ranked No. 9 worldwide for US patents in 2023

    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.

  • ‘The problem was severe in July’: Expert analyzes Washington Bridge for NBC 10 I-Team

    ‘The problem was severe in July’: Expert analyzes Washington Bridge for NBC 10 I-Team

    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 startup to roll out EV charging around Valley after ASU pitch competition award

    Tempe startup to roll out EV charging around Valley after ASU pitch competition award

    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.

  • Black ASU researcher’s hydration backpack designed to better fit plus-sized community

    Black ASU researcher’s hydration backpack designed to better fit plus-sized community

    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

  • Welcome to Silicon Desert: How Biden helped boost an Arizona boomtown

    Welcome to Silicon Desert: How Biden helped boost an Arizona boomtown

    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.

  • Who Tests If Heat-Proof Clothing Actually Works? These Poor Sweating Mannequins

    Who Tests If Heat-Proof Clothing Actually Works? These Poor Sweating Mannequins

    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.)

  • AI Technology & The First Amendment

    AI Technology & The First Amendment

    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 Rebrands Its AI Chatbot as Gemini to Take On ChatGPT

    Google Rebrands Its AI Chatbot as Gemini to Take On ChatGPT

    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.)

  • Urban transit agencies fear ‘death spiral’ as fewer people ride public transportation after COVID

    Urban transit agencies fear ‘death spiral’ as fewer people ride public transportation after COVID

    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.

  • Los Angeles’s Floods Show Why Sewers Matter

    Los Angeles’s Floods Show Why Sewers Matter

    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.

  • New Direct Air Carbon Capture System Captures Water, Too

    New Direct Air Carbon Capture System Captures Water, Too

    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.

  • ASU’s online programs ranked among best in the nation

    ASU’s online programs ranked among best in the nation

    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.

  • How bad is Tesla’s hazardous waste problem in California?

    How bad is Tesla’s hazardous waste problem in California?

    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.

  • DoD officials convene at ASU to learn about university-led microelectronics hub

    DoD officials convene at ASU to learn about university-led microelectronics hub

    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.

  • ASU team awarded $1.9M grant from EPA to support wildfire preparedness across Arizona

    ASU team awarded $1.9M grant from EPA to support wildfire preparedness across Arizona

    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.  

  • How do you design clothes for children undergoing chemo?

    How do you design clothes for children undergoing chemo?

    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.  

  • How SRP uses lasers and AI to maintain aging Arizona dams

    How SRP uses lasers and AI to maintain aging Arizona dams

    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)

January

2024
  • ASU professor on Neuralink’s next steps as first human trial of brain implant begins

    ASU professor on Neuralink’s next steps as first human trial of brain implant begins

    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

  • A win for the environment and the economy in the Southwest

    A win for the environment and the economy in the Southwest

    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

  • LLM Search Engine Shamelessly Spins Fluff

    LLM Search Engine Shamelessly Spins Fluff

    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.

  • Theta Rau Offers A Brotherhood For Engineering Students While Developing Professionalism

    Theta Rau Offers A Brotherhood For Engineering Students While Developing Professionalism

    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.

  • Combatting Urban Heat: The Breakthrough Research of ASU’s SHaDE Lab

    Combatting Urban Heat: The Breakthrough Research of ASU’s SHaDE Lab

    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.

  • Preparing for the age of AI scams

    Preparing for the age of AI scams

    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

  • The Opioid Crisis Is Now Being Tracked with Wastewater

    The Opioid Crisis Is Now Being Tracked with Wastewater

    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.

  • The Libres Project: Interdisciplinary Approach to Ending Gendered Violence In El Salvador

    The Libres Project: Interdisciplinary Approach to Ending Gendered Violence In El Salvador

    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.

  • DOE program aims to enhance, protect America’s power grid

    DOE program aims to enhance, protect America’s power grid

    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.

  • Crafting Clean Water in the Navajo Nation

    Crafting Clean Water in the Navajo Nation

    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.

  • What Annoys Subbarao the Most?

    What Annoys Subbarao the Most?

    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

  • Sowing The Seeds Of Innovation: Flinn Foundation Grants Awarded to ASU Labs

    Sowing The Seeds Of Innovation: Flinn Foundation Grants Awarded to ASU Labs

    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.

  • Waymo’s Driverless Cars Aim to Revolutionize Freeway Travel

    Waymo’s Driverless Cars Aim to Revolutionize Freeway Travel

    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

  • Brain Bank Researcher Featured in Emmy-Winning Documentary on Nanoplastics

    Brain Bank Researcher Featured in Emmy-Winning Documentary on Nanoplastics

    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.

  • Facilities developments meet growing demand across ASU campuses

    Facilities developments meet growing demand across ASU campuses

    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.

  • A ‘living skin’ is protecting the Great Wall of China, scientists say

    A ‘living skin’ is protecting the Great Wall of China, scientists say

    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.

  • LLMs are just like Toothpaste

    LLMs are just like Toothpaste

    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.

  • Fixing the plastic problem

    Fixing the plastic problem

    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.

     

  • Revolutionary Charging Station in Quartzite Paves the Way for a Sustainable Future

    Revolutionary Charging Station in Quartzite Paves the Way for a Sustainable Future

    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

December

2023
  • Arizona State University is building Science and Technology facility on Mesa campus

    Arizona State University is building Science and Technology facility on Mesa campus

    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.

  • To avoid solar graveyard, panel recycling is increasing in the United States

    To avoid solar graveyard, panel recycling is increasing in the United States

    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

  • AI breakthroughs at ASU: Speech restoration, cancer cell tracking, and fall prevention with wearables

    AI breakthroughs at ASU: Speech restoration, cancer cell tracking, and fall prevention with wearables

    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.

  • NXP Semiconductor partnership to boost manufacturing packaging in Arizona

    NXP Semiconductor partnership to boost manufacturing packaging in Arizona

    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.

  • ASU inaugurates US-ASEAN Center in partnership with Department of State

    ASU inaugurates US-ASEAN Center in partnership with Department of State

    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.

  • ASU staffer’s design for outdoor recreation gets national attention

    ASU staffer’s design for outdoor recreation gets national attention

    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.

  • Scholarship supports the Theory of Embedded Intelligence in students’ honors theses

    Scholarship supports the Theory of Embedded Intelligence in students’ honors theses

    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.

  • Arizona State Plans $185M Science and Technology Building

    Arizona State Plans $185M Science and Technology Building

    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

  • Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing medical research

    Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing medical research

    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.

  • Students collaborate on wearable tech for hospitalized children

    Students collaborate on wearable tech for hospitalized children

    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.

  • Students connect at Ignite storytelling event

    Students connect at Ignite storytelling event

    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.

  • How Arizona universities are dispelling fear, shifting the conversation surrounding AI

    How Arizona universities are dispelling fear, shifting the conversation surrounding AI

    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.

  • Dutch delegation visits ASU, tours lab and fabrication space

    Dutch delegation visits ASU, tours lab and fabrication space

    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.

  • New fishing technology ‘lighting the way’ to sustainable future

    New fishing technology ‘lighting the way’ to sustainable future

    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.

  • Entrepreneurial ventures win more than $100K in funding at ASU Demo Day

    Entrepreneurial ventures win more than $100K in funding at ASU Demo Day

    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.

  • Here’s what we know about ASU’s $185 million expansion at its Polytechnic campus in Mesa

    Here’s what we know about ASU’s $185 million expansion at its Polytechnic campus in Mesa

    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

  • 6 best jobs in the world that combine purpose, profit and planet

    6 best jobs in the world that combine purpose, profit and planet

    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.

November

2023
  • These Clues Hint at the True Nature of OpenAI’s Shadowy Q* Project

    These Clues Hint at the True Nature of OpenAI’s Shadowy Q* Project

    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.

  • Tech Hubs grant puts ASU at ground zero for medical device manufacturing

    Tech Hubs grant puts ASU at ground zero for medical device manufacturing

    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.

  • Four researchers recognized with 2023 Tim Oke Award

    Four researchers recognized with 2023 Tim Oke Award

    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.

  • SRP to work with ASU to assess condition of watershed through use of lidar

    SRP to work with ASU to assess condition of watershed through use of lidar

    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.

  • The secret web of life in our soil

    The secret web of life in our soil

    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 creates hub of coursework for careers in booming microelectronics industry

    ASU creates hub of coursework for careers in booming microelectronics industry

    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.

  • ASU center brings faculty together to research human-robot solutions

    ASU center brings faculty together to research human-robot solutions

    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. 

  • How Arizona’s roads could change to accommodate autonomous trucks

    How Arizona’s roads could change to accommodate autonomous trucks

    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.

  • No place in the US is safe from the climate crisis, but a new report shows where it’s most severe

    No place in the US is safe from the climate crisis, but a new report shows where it’s most severe

    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.

  • Inspiring stories of top 50 women in tech in the US by Wire19

    Inspiring stories of top 50 women in tech in the US by Wire19

    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.

  • EV chargers in Arizona: How hard is it to find them?

    EV chargers in Arizona: How hard is it to find them?

    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.

  • Fixing the Climate Crisis

    Fixing the Climate Crisis

    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.

  • Semiconductors are all over the news in Arizona, but what are they?

    Semiconductors are all over the news in Arizona, but what are they?

    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.

  • AI in the classroom: does it have a place?

    AI in the classroom: does it have a place?

    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.

  • An IPCC For AI Is A Failure Mode

    An IPCC For AI Is A Failure Mode

    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.

  • ASU researchers create new AI technology for air traffic controllers

    ASU researchers create new AI technology for air traffic controllers

    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.

  • AI voice phishing that gave this family a terrible nightmare

    AI voice phishing that gave this family a terrible nightmare

    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.

  • Taking semiconductor manufacturing to new heights

    Taking semiconductor manufacturing to new heights

    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.

October

2023
  • Using ChatGPT for accounting? You may want to think again

    Using ChatGPT for accounting? You may want to think again

    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.

  • ‘These levels are crazy’: Louisiana tap water sees huge spike in toxic chemicals

    ‘These levels are crazy’: Louisiana tap water sees huge spike in toxic chemicals

    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.

  • ASU’s new medical school will integrate engineering with medicine

    ASU’s new medical school will integrate engineering with medicine

    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.

  • ASU researchers find increasing concentrations of microplastics in Valley soil samples

    ASU researchers find increasing concentrations of microplastics in Valley soil samples

    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

  • Dauphin Island Sea Lab luncheon takes a deep dive into plastic pollution

    Dauphin Island Sea Lab luncheon takes a deep dive into plastic pollution

    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.

  • To save solar panels from landfills, US startup is smashing them instead

    To save solar panels from landfills, US startup is smashing them instead

    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.)

  • Cybersecurity threats that keep experts up at night

    Cybersecurity threats that keep experts up at night

    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.

  • ASU’s New Quantum Computing Pathway Looks To Break Binary With New Courses

    ASU’s New Quantum Computing Pathway Looks To Break Binary With New Courses

    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.

  • The government is calling on tech leaders for help in crafting AI legislation

    The government is calling on tech leaders for help in crafting AI legislation

    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.

  • ASU researchers work to save the rainforest by putting a new value on it

    ASU researchers work to save the rainforest by putting a new value on it

    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.

  • Older adults are vulnerable in a warming climate. Better buildings could help protect them

    Older adults are vulnerable in a warming climate. Better buildings could help protect them

    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.

  • Gilbert fares poorly in ‘green’ study

    Gilbert fares poorly in ‘green’ study

    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.

  • ASU Neuroscientists Weigh In On The ‘Link” Between Risk And Reward in Human Testing

    ASU Neuroscientists Weigh In On The ‘Link” Between Risk And Reward in Human Testing

    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.

  • TEDI-London Appoints Professor Lisa Brodie as its Executive Dean

    TEDI-London Appoints Professor Lisa Brodie as its Executive Dean

    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 ASUKing’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.

  • This MIT system can harness solar energy to produce green hydrogen

    This MIT system can harness solar energy to produce green hydrogen

    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

  • Robotaxies debuted in two U.S, Cities, Only S.F. has a problem with it

    Robotaxies debuted in two U.S, Cities, Only S.F. has a problem with it

    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

  • ASU student awarded prestigious Google fellowship for cybersecurity research

    ASU student awarded prestigious Google fellowship for cybersecurity research

    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.

  • Chip Industry Talent Shortage Drives Academic Partnerships

    Chip Industry Talent Shortage Drives Academic Partnerships

    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

  • Lakers legend Rick Fox built a house that can suck CO2 out of the atmosphere

    Lakers legend Rick Fox built a house that can suck CO2 out of the atmosphere

    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.

  • NMSU fueling cyber security, grid innovations

    NMSU fueling cyber security, grid innovations

    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.

  • ASU selected as Microeletronics Commons hub

    ASU selected as Microeletronics Commons hub

    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.

  • New Force Lab at ASU Features National Firsts In High-Pressure Research

    New Force Lab at ASU Features National Firsts In High-Pressure Research

    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.

  • Addressing low enrollment of Hispanic engineering students

    Addressing low enrollment of Hispanic engineering students

    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.

  • TSMC in the US: can Taiwan’s chip giant overcome a culture clash?

    TSMC in the US: can Taiwan’s chip giant overcome a culture clash?

    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.

  • 2023’s Greenest Cities in America

    2023’s Greenest Cities in America

    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

  • ASU launches project management bachelor’s degree

    ASU launches project management bachelor’s degree

    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.

September

2023
  • Experts explain if AI can help children learn

    Experts explain if AI can help children learn

    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.

  • ASU Space welcomes 2nd cohort of student ambassadors

    ASU Space welcomes 2nd cohort of student ambassadors

    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.

  • The race for semiconductor supremacy

    The race for semiconductor supremacy

    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.

  • Lifelong learning opportunities coming to Rio Verde

    Lifelong learning opportunities coming to Rio Verde

    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.

  • SRP invests $2.6 million in innovative research projects at Arizona universities

    SRP invests $2.6 million in innovative research projects at Arizona universities

    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.

  • Taiwan Should Aspire To Make Itself ‘Indigestible’ To China, Says Expert

    Taiwan Should Aspire To Make Itself ‘Indigestible’ To China, Says Expert

    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.

  • Crow: Universities must ‘up their game’ to embrace artificial intelligence

    Crow: Universities must ‘up their game’ to embrace artificial intelligence

    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.

  • New asphalt binder alternative is less toxic, more sustainable than conventional blend

    New asphalt binder alternative is less toxic, more sustainable than conventional blend

    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.

  • Students, faculty across ASU helping community with telehealth innovations

    Students, faculty across ASU helping community with telehealth innovations

    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

  • Little Luxuries Made With Captured Pollution Hint at Big Frontiers in Climate Science

    Little Luxuries Made With Captured Pollution Hint at Big Frontiers in Climate Science

    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.

  • Undergraduate Research: How ASU students can fast-track their careers

    Undergraduate Research: How ASU students can fast-track their careers

    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.

  • Research and development hub based at ASU gets nearly $40M in funding from CHIPS Act

    Research and development hub based at ASU gets nearly $40M in funding from CHIPS Act

    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

  • Why sewage may hold the key to tracking diseases far beyond COVID-19

    Why sewage may hold the key to tracking diseases far beyond COVID-19

    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.

  • Chip-Integrated Metasurface-Based Full-Stokes Polarimetric Imaging Sensors

    Chip-Integrated Metasurface-Based Full-Stokes Polarimetric Imaging Sensors

    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.

  • New global consortium to advance net zero hydrogen

    New global consortium to advance net zero hydrogen

    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

  • AZ Inno Under 25 2023: Meet 8 of Arizona’s young innovators

    AZ Inno Under 25 2023: Meet 8 of Arizona’s young innovators

    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.

  • SRP, Arizona State University collaborating on hydropower fleet maintenance

    SRP, Arizona State University collaborating on hydropower fleet maintenance

    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.

  • ASU researchers look to cut construction time and cost through concrete

    ASU researchers look to cut construction time and cost through concrete

    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

  • Phoenix-area AI expert says legislation on the evolving technology is essential

    Phoenix-area AI expert says legislation on the evolving technology is essential

    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.

  • How heat is inhibiting Arizona from generating more solar power

    How heat is inhibiting Arizona from generating more solar power

    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.

  • New Student Regent Representing ASU Will Be The First From A Rural Background In Years

    New Student Regent Representing ASU Will Be The First From A Rural Background In Years

    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.

  • ASU ranks No. 8 among US universities issued US utility patents in 2022

    ASU ranks No. 8 among US universities issued US utility patents in 2022

    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.

  • Safety of Autonomous Vehicles Will Partially Rely on the Public Embracement of its Technology

    Safety of Autonomous Vehicles Will Partially Rely on the Public Embracement of its Technology

    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.

  • Biodesign Institute receives $3M NSF grant to develop DNA-enabled nanoelectronics

    Biodesign Institute receives $3M NSF grant to develop DNA-enabled nanoelectronics

    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.

  • Engineering major brothers land internships at Los Alamos National Laboratory

    Engineering major brothers land internships at Los Alamos National Laboratory

    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 like a sweatbox:” Houston bus stops reach dangerous temperatures this summer

    “It’s like a sweatbox:” Houston bus stops reach dangerous temperatures this summer

    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

  • Valley researchers working to use AI to improve lives

    Valley researchers working to use AI to improve lives

    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.

  • A solid battery solution: ASU engineering team works to advance solid-state battery technology

    A solid battery solution: ASU engineering team works to advance solid-state battery technology

    As the world shifts toward electric drivetrains, demand increases for optimal electric vehicle (EV) battery solutions. Lithium-ion batteries, currently used in EVs, present challenges in terms of range, safety, weight, and infrastructure strain. Many researchers, such as Candace Chan, an associate professor of materials science for the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, are exploring solid-state batteries as a solution. These batteries utilize solid electrolytes, offering improved safety and potentially enabling the use of lithium metal in anodes, increasing charging capacity and EV range. Chan is also working on manufacturing methods for efficient solid-state batteries. While promising, commercialization is a long-term goal due to the complexities involved. 

August

2023
  • Gannett Pauses AI Written Articles

    Gannett Pauses AI Written Articles

    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.

  • Mass Transit releases 2023 40 Under 40 honorees

    Mass Transit releases 2023 40 Under 40 honorees

    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.

  • ASU launches students into NASA’s RockOn! program

    ASU launches students into NASA’s RockOn! program

    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.

  • Arizona could have opportunities to import, create more water in the future

    Arizona could have opportunities to import, create more water in the future

    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.

  • First-Year ASU Student Helps Close Engineering Gender Gap

    First-Year ASU Student Helps Close Engineering Gender Gap

    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

  • Deepfake scams have arrived: Fake videos spread on Facebook, TikTok and Youtube

    Deepfake scams have arrived: Fake videos spread on Facebook, TikTok and Youtube

    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 Wants To Develop A Military Metaverse To Maintain Edge In Battlefield Technology

    Japan Wants To Develop A Military Metaverse To Maintain Edge In Battlefield Technology

    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.

  • Microbes for the mind

    Microbes for the mind

    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.

  • 16 ASU students offered Fulbright US Student Program awards

    16 ASU students offered Fulbright US Student Program awards

    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.

  • U.S. needs to invest in training, recruiting to expand semiconductor workforce

    U.S. needs to invest in training, recruiting to expand semiconductor workforce

    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.

  • Can 3D Printing Make Retreaded Tires Greener?

    Can 3D Printing Make Retreaded Tires Greener?

    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.

  • Fiber-reinforced concrete saves time and money over rebar

    Fiber-reinforced concrete saves time and money over rebar

    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.

  • Arizona is a hub for driverless cars. Here’s why — and what’s next for autonomous vehicles

    Arizona is a hub for driverless cars. Here’s why — and what’s next for autonomous vehicles

    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.

  • A garden of innovation: Mayo Clinic, ASU seed grant to fund medical discoveries

    A garden of innovation: Mayo Clinic, ASU seed grant to fund medical discoveries

    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.

  • Quantum powers researchers to see the unseen

    Quantum powers researchers to see the unseen

    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 has sealed 100 miles of streets with cool pavement so far

    Phoenix has sealed 100 miles of streets with cool pavement so far

    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.

  • ASU honors student combines music, augmented reality in prestigious research program

    ASU honors student combines music, augmented reality in prestigious research program

    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.

  • San Francisco asks regulators to stop approval of robotaxi expansion after recent blunders

    San Francisco asks regulators to stop approval of robotaxi expansion after recent blunders

    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.

  • ASU experts explore national security risks of ChatGPT

    ASU experts explore national security risks of ChatGPT

    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.

  • ASU engineering, honors graduates land job at renowned Los Alamos National Laboratory

    ASU engineering, honors graduates land job at renowned Los Alamos National Laboratory

    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.

  • ASU Sets Out to Create Microelectronics Hub in the Southwest

    ASU Sets Out to Create Microelectronics Hub in the Southwest

    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.

  • Five U.S. universities to offer courses about sustainable plastics

    Five U.S. universities to offer courses about sustainable plastics

    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

  • Here’s how Arizona is fueling the semiconductor talent pipeline

    Here’s how Arizona is fueling the semiconductor talent pipeline

    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.

  • What is the potential for Arizona’s water? Expert weighs in

    What is the potential for Arizona’s water? Expert weighs in

    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.

  • Robots mimic human reactions to extreme heat

    Robots mimic human reactions to extreme heat

    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

  • Incoming student plans to build a future — and cars — with ASU

    Incoming student plans to build a future — and cars — with ASU

    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.

  • Making cybersecurity a national priority

    Making cybersecurity a national priority

    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.

  • Determination to Make a Difference

    Determination to Make a Difference

    “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.

  • New scholarship empowers students to take charge of environmental stewardship

    New scholarship empowers students to take charge of environmental stewardship

    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.

  • New technique to recover lead in end-of-life solar panels

    New technique to recover lead in end-of-life solar panels

    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.

  • ASU professor developing safety framework for autonomous vehicles

    ASU professor developing safety framework for autonomous vehicles

    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.

July

2023
  • TSMC, ASU form partnership to boost student recruitment, faculty research

    TSMC, ASU form partnership to boost student recruitment, faculty research

    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

  • ASU, Mexico advance CHIPS Act support

    ASU, Mexico advance CHIPS Act support

    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.

  • How your gut can tell you more about your relationships

    How your gut can tell you more about your relationships

    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.

  • Phoenix is Enduring its Hottest Month on Record, But Mitigations Could Make the City’s Heat Waves Less Unbearable

    Phoenix is Enduring its Hottest Month on Record, But Mitigations Could Make the City’s Heat Waves Less Unbearable

    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.

  • $270M Materials-to-Fab Center to be built at ASU’s MacroTechnology Works in Tempe

    $270M Materials-to-Fab Center to be built at ASU’s MacroTechnology Works in Tempe

    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

  • Shade is an essential solution for hotter cities

    Shade is an essential solution for hotter cities

    Urban planners should prioritize ridding cities and towns of “shade deserts” to give communities a stronger defense against the levels of heat that are exposing people to serious health risks. Ariane Middel, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, a part of the Fulton Schools, along with ASU research colleagues Jennifer Vanos and V. Kelly Turner, write that providing shade to shield people from the Sun is among the most effective and less costly ways to prevent harm from extreme temperatures, but those measures are frequently not a significant part of urban planning and climate-change mitigation strategies.

  • Shedding light on a dark problem

    Shedding light on a dark problem

    Bacterial biofilms are clusters of microorganisms that pose risks to water quality and engineered systems by causing corrosion, fouling, and clogging. Researchers are using LEDs connected to side-emitting optical fibers to effectively deliver UV-C light, reducing energy use by over 80%. Paul Westerhoff, a Regents Professor for the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, says that ultraviolet light has the ability to deactivate bacteria and microorganisms in water but that there are challenges in delivering light effectively to surfaces in pressurized water systems. The technique shows promise in improving the safety and efficiency of water treatment systems, including in challenging environments like the International Space Station. 

    See also: ‘Shedding light on a dark problem‘ Phys.Org, July 25

  • A sweaty robot may help humans understand impact of soaring heat

    A sweaty robot may help humans understand impact of soaring heat

    Amid the longest heatwave in Phoenix’s history, Arizona researchers have developed a humanoid robot called ANDI (Advanced Newton Dynamic Instrument) to study the effects of extreme heat on the human body. With an internal cooling system and sensors to assess heat distribution, ANDI simulates human responses without risking lives. The robot will enhance understanding of hyperthermia, a condition threatening more people due to global warming.  Konrad Rykaczewski, an associate professor of the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, says ANDI will shed light on how humans can adapt clothing and behaviors to cope with rising temperatures on a warming planet.

     

    See Also: ‘A sweaty robot may help humans understand impact of soaring heat’, Manila Times, July 22 

    ‘Sweaty robot might help humans as heat rises’, Taipei Times, July 23 

    ‘This sweating, breathing, and walking robot to unravel effect of heat on humans’, Social News XYZ,  July 24

    Scientists develop world’s 1st thermal robot to study heat stress in humans,’ Bizz Buzz, July 26

  • Automated car safety

    Automated car safety

    Advanced computer hardware and software, along with artificial intelligence, monitoring and data collection technologies, are being used by Yezhou Yang to develop ways to make autonomous automobiles safer. Yang , an associate professor of computer science and engineering in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, utilizes roadside cameras to closely record and examine a variety of traffic scenarios. Information and insights derived from analyzing those automotive travel environments provides information to guide the design of effective safety features that can be built into vehicle automation systems. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock 

  • Valley-based dating app uses AI to enhance user experience

    Valley-based dating app uses AI to enhance user experience

    An app designed to make matches between potential romantic partners through their similar tastes in music is one of the first dating apps to use artificial intelligence, or AI, technology. Named Vinylly, the app developed seven years ago now has a new AI feature — called a cocktail lounge feature. While the app may be an effective matchmaker, Subbarao Kambhampati, an AI expert and professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, says the type of personal information Vinylly provides could be misused with ill intent. The company’s founder says the information gathered by the app is communicated only in the best interests of its users.

  • The U.S. is about to open a new window into Earth’s mysterious insides

    The U.S. is about to open a new window into Earth’s mysterious insides

    Several ASU faculty members and researchers, as well as ASU laboratories and related facilities, are involved in endeavors to probe the deepest reaches of Earth. Among the scientists and engineers is Fulton Schools Professor Alexandra Navrotksy, director of the Navrotsky Eyring Center for Materials of the Universe at ASU. The aim of the work is to answer fundamental questions about the planet, including what makes Earth habitable, how life on the planet emerged and how geologic processes sustain life today. Researchers say their efforts could yield more information about the history of solar systems and the evolution of planets.

  • Grant to fund microfactories, technology transfer, economic development for Indigenous communities

    Grant to fund microfactories, technology transfer, economic development for Indigenous communities

    As part of a new pilot program called the Indigenous Innovation Network — Advancing Distributed Manufacturing Innovations in Tribal Communities, being funded by the National Science Foundation, Navajo Technical University will work with ASU’s Global Center for Technology Transfer to develop microfactories and technology centers in the Navajo Nation. To support the new program, the  School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks, part of the Fulton Schools, will help to equip the new network’s sites with state-of-the-art technology under the direction of the school’s director, Professor Binil Starly. The endeavor is designed to promote economic growth and provide pathways to careers in ways consistent with traditional Navajo values.

  • ASU summer program draws students from around the world to tackle global challenges

    ASU summer program draws students from around the world to tackle global challenges

    Students from India, Indonesia, Mexico, Montenegro and the Philippines recently gathered at ASU for the two-week Sustainability and Innovation Summer Experience to devise solutions to the challenges defined in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. The School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, was among the ASU schools and programs that supported the event designed to equip students with skills and knowledge to promote change to improve their communities. The event included a visit to the ASU Luminosity Lab, where many Fulton Schools students have gained research experience since the lab opened almost seven years ago.

  • How extreme heat takes a toll on the mind and body, according to experts

    How extreme heat takes a toll on the mind and body, according to experts

    With the metro Phoenix area experiencing a summer that might break records for the number of days of excessive heat, health officials and others are warning about the consequences of exposure to the high temperatures. Among those experts are ASU faculty members who have been doing extensive research into the impacts of heat on the human body. Jennifer Vanos, an associate professor in ASU’s School of Sustainability, has been working with Fulton Schools faculty members to expand knowledge about the serious health risks posed by heat and high humidity. Many of the dangers — and how to avoid them — are detailed in this Fox10 News report. Read more about the ASU research.

    See Also: In Phoenix, The Robot Andi Assesses The Consequences Of The Heat Wave On The Human Body, Globe Echo World News, July 13

  • Q&AZ: Is it safe to bake cookies inside your car in Phoenix?

    Q&AZ: Is it safe to bake cookies inside your car in Phoenix?

    As temperatures rise in the desert, Arizonans are once again engaging in the summer tradition of baking cookies in their cars. While sustainable and entertaining, the thermodynamics behind the process brings up a conversation about food safety practices. Ariane Middel, an assistant professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, calculated that on a 100-degree day, the dashboard of a car parked in the sun spiked to 157 degrees Fahrenheit in 60 minutes. Middel says it may take over four hours for cookies to become safe to eat and also advises not to try this with poultry or anything else requiring thorough cooking, just to be safe.

  • ASU, Applied Materials establishing semiconductor research and development center in Tempe

    ASU, Applied Materials establishing semiconductor research and development center in Tempe

    Students will get hands-on experience in computer chip production at the Materials-to-Fab Center scheduled to open in 2025 in ASU’s MacroTechnology Works facility at the ASU Research Park in Tempe. The center, a collaboration of ASU and Applied Materials Inc., a global supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, will provide resources to accelerate materials engineering innovation and conduct research, development and prototyping to support the greater Phoenix area’s growing semiconductor industry. The company also plans to launch an endowment fund to provide scholarships to first-generation and underrepresented minority students in the Fulton Schools and create a fund to provide grants to women pursuing undergraduate degrees in engineering at ASU.

    See Also: ‘Innovation and job-creation engine’: ASU, Applied Materials to create research center in Tempe, Arizona Republic, July 11

    Arizona State University and Applied Materials, Inc. to Create Materials-to-Fab Center, MarketScreener, July 11

    ASU, Applied Materials to create Materials-to-Fab Center at ASU Research Park, ASU News, July 11

    ASU and Applied Materials create Materials-to-Fab Center at ASU Research Park, AZ Big Media, July 11

    More news coverage: Printed Electronics Now, Power Electronics News, KJZZ (NPR) News, Arizona Today, AXIOS, Semiconductor Digest, Arizona Foothills Magazine, Campus Technology, Manufacturing Dive, Arizona Technology Council News, Asia Electronics Industry, ASM International

  • 5 ASU faculty receive NSF CAREER awards

    5 ASU faculty receive NSF CAREER awards

    The National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program funds work by those considered to be the nation’s most promising young faculty members to pursue progress in research, teaching and integration of education and research in science and engineering fields. Among five ASU faculty members to recently be awarded funding from the program, three are assistant professors in the Fulton Schools. Ayan Mallik, an electrical engineer, works to improve electrical systems’ performance and reliability. Ruijie Zeng focuses on reengineering agricultural drainage infrastructure to advance water resource management and conservation. Houlong Zhuang combines alloy design and quantum computing to create quantum algorithms to help develop new materials.

  • How ASU And Its Faculty Are Cracking Down On Dishonest Uses of AI

    How ASU And Its Faculty Are Cracking Down On Dishonest Uses of AI

    Artificially intelligent “ghostwriters” are a go-to technology for today’s college students prone to taking an easy path to completing writing assignments. Use of popular and easily accessible generative AI technologies like CHATGPT for schoolwork is a violation of ASU’s academic integrity policy, and university leaders are trying to crack down on violators. But Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, is among faculty members who want to actively discourage the use of AI when it amounts to cheating, but at the same time not suppress the creative ways AI could be used to enhance teaching and learning.

  • Improving Solar Cell

    Improving Solar Cell

    Kausar Khawaja talks about his transcontinental journey to further pursue advanced education in engineering at ASU. Born in Budga, India, Khawaja earned a bachelor’s degree from Aligarh Muslim University in India, a master’s degree from Dong-A University in South Korea, and is now pursuing a doctoral degree in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, part of the Fulton Schools. His research focuses on developing cost-effective and sustainable alternative materials for use in solar cells. Khawaja says he has gained an appreciation for the importance of research-based learning and hopes to contribute to research and development in his field for the benefit of his community in India.

  • America Is Wrapped In Miles Of Toxic Lead Cables

    America Is Wrapped In Miles Of Toxic Lead Cables

    Thousands of cables containing lead installed throughout the U.S. by telecom companies decades ago are still in places where they can be significant environmental and public health hazards through exposure to toxic materials, primarily lead. Braden Allenby, a professor in the School of Sustainability and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is a former environmental health and safety official for American Telephone and Telegraph, which installed many of these cables from the late 1800s to the 1960s. He says many of the old lead-containing cables were left in the ground even after the industry began using safer plastic sheathing and fiber optics instead of lead.

  • Transfer student turns interest in electrical engineering into career with MyPath2ASU

    Transfer student turns interest in electrical engineering into career with MyPath2ASU

    Jared Gale graduated from the Fulton Schools with a degree in electrical engineering after getting help transferring from Central Arizona College through the MyPath2ASU program. Support from the program enabled Gale to make the transfer while minimizing the loss of academic credit and saving time and money. He also credits his success to campus organizations and programs that provided opportunities to enhance his education and work as a teaching assistant, and professors who gave him time to care for his daughter, and to his work in an undergraduate teaching program. He now has a job in environmental testing. Gale is pictured (at right) in the photo with Professor Stephen Phillips, director of the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools.

  • Modifying algae to make rare antioxidants in extreme environments

    Modifying algae to make rare antioxidants in extreme environments

    Genetically engineering algae has produced a pigment that can be used in medicine and textiles and for making seafood healthier. Those are among results of a collaboration between researchers at ASU’s Arizona Center for Algae Technology & Innovation and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST. The research shows algae also has the potential for use as a sustainable solution for challenges in the food and health industries, says Kyle J. Lauerson, a KAUST assistant professor of bioengineering. Peter Lammers, a research professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, says these algae also show promise for innovative industrial applications.

  • Scientists found a solution to recycle solar panels in your kitchen

    Scientists found a solution to recycle solar panels in your kitchen

    Growing use of solar power is a good thing, but a drawback is that recycling of old solar panels remains difficult and expensive. That could lead to the panels piling up in landfills, and environmental harm coming from the small amounts of toxic metals in the panels. Researchers are working on solutions. One may be using microwave technology — the kind used to heat food — to heat up parts of solar panels, making it easier to take them apart and recover materials. Meng Tao, a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and founder of a Tucson-based solar panel recycling company, talks about the challenges of recycling panels and some steps toward progress. The article is also published in The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington).

  • Alum, academic associate prepares engineering graduates for workforce

    Alum, academic associate prepares engineering graduates for workforce

    Facebook’s director of engineering, who has extensive experience in data security, privacy and governance, is now an academic associate in the Fulton Schools, with the goal of better preparing ASU engineering graduates for the challenges of the workplace in his areas of expertise. An ASU alumnus who earned a degree in computer science, Nishant Bhajaria went on to work for Uber, Google, Netflix, Intel and Nike. He will now apply what he has learned in industry to helping engineering faculty members enhance academic instruction and establishing corporate partnerships to provide more internship opportunities for students.

  • Experts give advice on selecting sunscreens

    Experts give advice on selecting sunscreens

    Frequently and thoroughly applied sunscreen lotion is critical to protecting people spending time outdoors in the hot, dry, sun-drenched Southwest. Among experts advocating for sunscreen use is Paul Westerhoff, a Fulton Schools professor of environmental engineering. He says it’s especially important to keep lathering on the lotion that protects against the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight, especially if you’re in a pool, river, lake, ocean or other places where sunscreen can dissolve or be washed off. Westerhoff and a dermatologist  emphasize that some sunblock products don’t have a high percentage of actual sunblocking ingredients, like zinc oxide. So, it’s important to reapply heavily and often.

June

2023

May

2023
  • Should we know where our friends are at all times?

    Should we know where our friends are at all times?

    Advances in location-finding technology is making it look as if the capability to find and track the movement of almost anyone, anywhere might become a reality. That possibility is raising questions about not only the potential for violation of peoples’ privacy but also for becoming a threat to their safety. Location sharing was introduced about six years ago by Google on its Map function. Since then, Snapchat launched Snap Map, allowing users to see where their contacts are at any time. Apple later merged the Find My iPhone and Find My Friends apps into the “Find My”app. Katina Michael, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, raises concerns about the use of such systems leading to “uberveillance,” widespread surveillance of people by other people, companies and governments.

  • $70M Grant to ASU to Bolster Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute

    $70M Grant to ASU to Bolster Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute

    Fulton Schools researchers will be involved in a new U.S. Department of Energy Clean Energy Manufacturing Institute, helping ASU to oversee a coalition working with the Electrified Processes for Industry Without Carbon, or EPIXC, program. The goal is to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in various industry sectors using cost-effective methods. EPIXC director Sridhar Seetharaman, the Fulton Schools vice dean of research and innovation, says the work is part of larger U.S. transition to a clean energy future. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, foresees the program producing new generations of engineering leaders prepared to make major strides in technological progress.

  • ASU researchers team with HyperX to predict gamer performance under pressure

    ASU researchers team with HyperX to predict gamer performance under pressure

    Research by the adidas-ASU Center for Engagement Science focuses on understanding human behavior and perception to improve athletic performance. But the research can apply to other endeavors in which people must perform well in high-pressure situations. A recent project involved a collaboration with a company that develops products for gamers to see if biometric data can predict drops in performance of both gamers and people in jobs that require working under pressure. The research team included Karthikeyan Manikandan and Justin Irby, who recently earned master’s degrees in biomedical engineering from the Fulton Schools, and current biomedical engineering graduate student Krishna Suketh Madduri.

  • What if generative AI destroys biometric security?

    What if generative AI destroys biometric security?

    Use of advanced biometric security systems is on the rise. The emerging technology can identify people based on individual physical and behavioral characteristics. While its accuracy can strengthen security operations, technologists and researchers are concerned about the serious repercussions that could result if these systems are hacked. In this podcast, experts discuss how artificial intelligence technology could enable such hacking and what cybersecurity solutions could be developed to prevent it. Katina Michael, a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, joins the conversation. (Access to the full content of The Economist online is available only to subscribers.)

  • Promises and Lies of ChatGPT — Understanding How It Works

    Promises and Lies of ChatGPT — Understanding How It Works

    Insights into the workings of the increasingly popular artificial intelligence, or AI, technology ChatGPT are provided by AI expert Subbarao Kambhampati (pictured), a professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Kambhampati, director of the Yochan lab, where research focuses in part on human-aware AI systems, discusses the potential of ChatGPT and similar systems to be productive, educational and otherwise helpful in positive ways. But he also stresses the limitations and problematic aspects of such AI technology that can result in negative consequences, including the proliferation of superficial and untrustworthy communications.

  • Abu Dhabi University concludes 4th ADU-ASU Research Forum 2023

    Abu Dhabi University concludes 4th ADU-ASU Research Forum 2023

    Progress in advancing sustainability in the use of one of the world’s most widely used construction materials — concrete— was the focus of the recent Abu Dhabi University and Arizona State University Research Forum. The event was presented in collaboration with the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The theme was significant contributions to new construction technologies and methods, particularly the production of 3D printing of sustainable concrete that withstands extreme environmental conditions. Fulton Schools Professor Narayanan Neithalath said the event spotlighted international partnerships and other collective efforts that are producing innovative solutions leading to more effective construction and infrastructure resilience.

  • The man behind the Memorial for the Fallen

    The man behind the Memorial for the Fallen

    Scottsdale city officials and members of the local American Legion Post 44 held a special Memorial Day commemoration of U.S. Marine Corps veteran Jim Geiser, a 1977 ASU graduate who in 2018 was presented the university’ Outstanding Civil Engineering Alumni Award. After 29 years in the military, Geiser had a decades-long engineering career while being active in the community by supporting the Junior Achievement program, Valley Big Brother program and Scottsdale Bible Church. His civic endeavors also included years helping to lead a committee to raise funds for the Scottsdale Memorial for the Fallen to honor U.S. armed forces veterans.

  • Here are the winners of the 2023 Champions of Change Awards

    Here are the winners of the 2023 Champions of Change Awards

    ASU alumnus Rumpa Dey (third from left in photo) is among winners of Arizona Business Magazine’s 2023 Champions of Change Awards. Dey earned a master’s degree in the civil, environmental and sustainable engineering, with a focus on transportation systems, in the School of School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. The Champions of Change Awards recognize innovators who are changing Arizona’s business landscape through leadership and visionary thinking. Dey won the Business Leader of the Year Award for small and medium-sized companies. Dey works for the AECOM company, which plans, designs, engineers and manages infrastructure projects.

  • Glowing Squirrels And The Search For ‘Why’

    Glowing Squirrels And The Search For ‘Why’

    It was only several years ago a college forestry professor got the first known look at a biofluorescent mammal, a glowing flying squirrel. On the “Points North” podcast, Jon Martin talks about his discovery, which has led to years of research into what other animals have this characteristic and what causes it. Thomas Seager, an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, delves into the roots and rigors of scientific inquiry in discussing the challenge of explaining the “why” of such phenomena. But one thing is certain, the number of mammals and marine creatures that we now know can glow has been growing.

  • Meet the world’s 1st outdoor sweating, breathing and walking manikin

    Meet the world’s 1st outdoor sweating, breathing and walking manikin

    A specially designed thermal manikin that can walk, breathe, sweat and generate heat is helping ASU researchers to better understand the impacts of environmental heat on the human body — and to find ways to help people cope with the world’s rising temperatures.  Fulton Schools Associate Professor Konrad Rykaczewski is the principal investigator for research funded by the National Science Foundation that will use the manikin named ANDI to find ways people can deal more effectively with heat stress and avoid experiencing heat-related illness. ANDI is being teamed with MaRTy, a biometeorological heat robot used by Ariane Middel, an urban climatologist and an assistant professor affiliated with the Fulton Schools.

    See Also: Meet ANDI: A ‘manikin’ at ASU that can breathe, sweat and shiver like a human, 3TV/CBS 5 News-Phoenix, June 7

    ASU studying heat in a unique way, ABC15 News-Arizona, June 5

    ANDI the manikin can take the heat. ASU hopes it can also help people weather hotter days, Arizona Republic, June 3

    This mannequin sweats, and it’s helping ASU researchers understand heat stress, Fronteras (KJZZ-NPR), June 1

  • AI Robots Are Here. Are We Ready?

    AI Robots Are Here. Are We Ready?

    Are humans ready to cope with robots that are getting smarter and more intuitive? As advances in artificial intelligence combine with the expanding dexterity of robotic technologies, experts foresee new interconnections between people and robots. Nancy Cooke, a professor in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, and director of the Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence, and Robot Teaming says there are still many areas in which AI algorithms can’t match human thinking and learning capabilities. But Cooke still sees robots having increasingly significant roles in society, many involving direct human-robot interaction. She and other experts advise taking a cautious approach in developing and managing those relationships.

  • Listening for neurological symptoms

    Listening for neurological symptoms

    Unusual vocal patterns and small, subtle changes in human speech have been found to be clues that people have disabling conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Two ASU faculty members whose research focuses in part on detecting symptoms of neurological problems and helping health professionals effectively diagnose and treat the maladies have teamed up to expand their efforts. Visar Berisha, a Fulton Schools electrical engineering professor and Julie Liss, a speech pathologist in ASU’s College of Health Solutions, have co-founded Aural Analytics to provide tools to identify hidden signs of speech pathology related to neurological diseases or injuries.

  • Public and private support for applied research drives innovation in Arizona

    Public and private support for applied research drives innovation in Arizona

    Arizona could move up in the ranks of leaders in technological innovation and contributors to strengthening the global economy by expanding efforts to boost applied research endeavors. Thomas Sugar, professor and graduate program chair for engineering and manufacturing engineering in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, says applied research is geared to developing innovative products that could give Arizona an edge in the worldwide market. A commentary coauthored by Sugar, Empire Southwest executive Chris Zaharis and GoX Labs CEO Joe Hitt, says Arizona could open new opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses, create new industries and jobs, attract new investment and spur commercialization of new technologies — all of which would combine to improve the quality of life for more Arizonans.

  • Applied Materials to set up academia-industry R&D center

    Applied Materials to set up academia-industry R&D center

    Applied Materials, a leading materials engineering company, is setting up a major research center for industry and academia to collaborate on advancing semiconductor process technology and manufacturing equipment. The venture is designed to expand the company’s relationships with top engineering schools by developing the Equipment and Process Innovation and Commercialization, or EPIC, Center. The effort will build on materials science and semiconductor technology research the company is already doing with Fulton Schools faculty and students. Applied Materials expects the university partnerships to be a catalyst for accelerating commercialization of what academic research produces and for strengthening the pipeline of future semiconductor industry talent. A company news release details the scope and goals of plan.  

    See Also: Applied Materials to build $4 billion R&D center in Silicon Valley, eenews (Europe)

    Applied Materials to Invest $4B in EPIC Center for Semiconductor R&D, Display Daily

  • Medical AI’s weaponization

    Medical AI’s weaponization

    Some of the most interesting and promising artificial intelligence innovation is beginning to be used in the health care field. But there is also deep concern that along with making medical diagnoses more accurate or pointing the way to cures, machine learning technology might also generate misleading or inaccurate information that could do serious harm. As the use of these technologies increases in medical care, the World Health Organization and other groups are warning about the potential risks of bias, misinformation and privacy violations that may result from use of smart technologies in health care.

    See Also: AI in Medicine Is Overhyped, Scientific American
    Visar Berisha and Julie Liss write that AI models for health care that predict disease are not as accurate as reports might suggest.

    Berisha is an associate professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and in ASU’s College of Health Solutions. Liss is a professor and associate dean of the College of Health Solutions.

  • Start students early to build semiconductor talent pipeline

    Start students early to build semiconductor talent pipeline

    States hoping to benefit economically from the predicted boom in semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. could lose that opportunity if they don’t have enough workers trained to fill new jobs. That’s why it’s crucial to educate more students about the prospects for career success in the semiconductor and microelectronics industries, says Michel Kinsy, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Kinsy is director of ASU’s Secure, Trusted and Assured Microelectronics, or STAM, Center, which has undergraduate and postgraduate studies in its six research laboratories and summer programs to help students develop skills needed to get into the semiconductor employment pipeline.

  • ASU-designed fiber-reinforced concrete speeds up Phoenix rapid transit construction

    ASU-designed fiber-reinforced concrete speeds up Phoenix rapid transit construction

    Recent construction of Metro Phoenix light rail transportation system extensions took less time and funding than is typical, boosted the system’s sustainability and kept workers safer. All of that is largely the result of a proposal from Barzin Mobasher, a professor of structural engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Mobasher recommended using fiber-reinforced concrete instead of rebar-supported slabs for the system upgrade. That approach resulted in parts of the process that typically take weeks to instead be completed in hours rather than days. Overall, the project required fewer expenses for construction equipment, concrete shipping and production and building site security, as well as fewer traffic delays.

    See Also: Using Fiber-Reinforced Concrete for Phoenix Rapid Transit Construction Reduces Costs and Improves Worker Safety, AZO Materials, May 24

    Fiber-reinforced Concrete Speeds Construction, Reduces Costs, Modern Contractors Solutions, 2019 ASU News article reposted on May 25

    Rebar is out, fiber is in: Valley Metro finishes light rail slabs for the latest extension, Fronteras (KJZZ), May 25

    The article is also posted on Highways Today: Fibre-reinforced Concrete speeds up Metro Phoenix Light Rail Extension Construction, May 26, and AZ Big Media: How ASU-designed fiber-reinforced concrete speeds up construction, May 26

  • Arizona State University picked to establish clean energy institute

    Arizona State University picked to establish clean energy institute

    A planned multi-institution research coalition, Electrified Processes for Industry Without Carbon, or EPIXC, will be led by ASU as part of the Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute being developed by the university. Sridhar Seetharaman, the Fulton Schools vice dean for research and innovation and director of EPIXC, says the new coalition and institute are expected be play a significant role in the nation’s transition to clean energy. The effort to reduce emissions from manufacturing facilities by transitioning to electrified and low-carbon fuel and energy sources will especially benefit communities that have seen negative health consequences because of their proximity to industrial operations such as petrochemical plants.

    See Also: Arizona State University Chosen to Head New DOE Institute: Driving Industrial Decarbonization and Electrification Forward, Energy Capital, May 22

    Eliminating CO2 Emissions From Manufacturing is Goal of Major Research Alliance, UT News (University of Texas), May 22

    Arizona State University selected to lead clean energy manufacturing institute, Manufacturing Dive, May 23

    ASU to lead new DOE Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute, ASU News, May 16

  • Restrictions, emerging contaminants add to challenges of AZ water treatment

    Restrictions, emerging contaminants add to challenges of AZ water treatment

    The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality faces a big challenge in ensuring the state’s water sources are monitored, tested and treated for contaminants in a timely and adequately comprehensive fashion. Various factors are combining to dampen the possibility of effectively improving on the current operations, says Treavor Boyer, program chair for the environmental emerging degree program in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. Boyer and other experts are concerned that it could take years to effectively grasp the levels of contaminants in Arizona’s water infrastructure and implement actions to remedy threats to public health and environmental degradation.

  • Gilbert grad grateful for his education at ASU

    Gilbert grad grateful for his education at ASU

    Kwam Kassim passed up a college football scholarship after deciding the sport was not his passion. Fortunately, it wasn’t long before curiosity about computer coding motivated him to take a leap into studying software engineering in the Fulton Schools’ online program. That step was made possible by his mother, an Uber driver, who took advantage of the company’s tuition-coverage program for qualifying drivers and their family members. Kassim’s studies introduced him to possibilities the field presents to help solve real-world problems. He credits Fulton Schools Faculty Associate Diego del Blanco for teaching him to persevere through difficult times during his studies. Now, with a degree in software engineering, Kassim is an engineer for Starbucks.

    See Also: Former student-athlete finds passion and purpose in engineering, ASU News, April 19

  • Empowering the Pacific: ASU chosen to lead clean energy project in Fiji

    Empowering the Pacific: ASU chosen to lead clean energy project in Fiji

    To aid development of an important international partner in the South Pacific, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency is launching a project to help the island of Fiji bring electricity to its rural areas and to generate power from renewable energy sources by 2030. The initial work to be done in the Accelerating Solar Mini-Grid Deployment project in Fiji will be led by the Laboratory for Energy And Power Solutions, or LEAPS, directed by Nathan Johnson (second from right in photo), an assistant professor in The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools. LEAPS has conducted more than 100 mini-energy grid and micro-grid assessments in various countries, developing innovative approaches to engineering the grids and ensuring their long-term sustainability. A version of the article is also published in the Queen Creek Sun Times.

  • Biden Administration to support workforce in Phoenix, Tempe as ASU is selected to lead clean energy project

    Biden Administration to support workforce in Phoenix, Tempe as ASU is selected to lead clean energy project

    The strategy of President Biden’s Administration to fill jobs created by the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act include investments to boost the U.S. economy through supporting workforce growth in Phoenix and Tempe. The plan involves establishing a partnership with the National League of Cities to develop solutions to upskill and reskill workers for high-demand jobs. Those efforts include establishing a Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute at Arizona State University and launching an ASU-led Electrified Processes for Industry Without Carbon project. Sridhar Seetharaman, Fulton Schools vice dean for research and innovation, will direct the new institute’s work to transition to clean electricity for operations that prepare materials and manufactured goods.

  • ASU hosts first-ever tri-nation North America Semiconductor Conference

    ASU hosts first-ever tri-nation North America Semiconductor Conference

    Government officials from the U.S., Mexico and Canada joined business and academic leaders in Washington, D.C., to discuss strategies to keep North America at the forefront of the global semiconductor industry. As part of the event, Jose Quiroga, director of global development for the Office of Global Outreach and Extended Education in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, helped to lead discussion during the Future of North America’s Semiconductor Workforce session. Arizona is expected to have a major role in efforts to boost the semiconductor manufacturing sector in the U.S., due in part to the many new engineers being produced by the Fulton Schools and two large semiconductor chip manufacturing centers being built in Phoenix that are expected to create 4,500 jobs.

  • Colorado prepares to manage carbon dioxide sequestration, geothermal and change oil regulator

    Colorado prepares to manage carbon dioxide sequestration, geothermal and change oil regulator

    Colorado’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is changing its name and its mission. As the new Energy and Carbon Management Commission, the agency will regulate underground carbon sequestration and geothermal wells used as a source of emissions-free energy. The change is in response to the emergence of a new industry focusing on managing carbon dioxide sequestration. The agency (director Jeff Robbins is pictured) will oversee permitting and regulation of carbon sequestration wells where captured carbon dioxide will be injected underground for permanent storage. A growing global industry will emerge from advances in carbon management in coming years, says Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner, director of the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions at ASU, adding that more needs to be done to ensure effective environmental management of the sequestration process. (Access to the Business Journal content is available only to subscribers.)

  • A Groundbreaking PFAS Treatment Permanently Destroys Forever Chemicals in Drinking Water

    A Groundbreaking PFAS Treatment Permanently Destroys Forever Chemicals in Drinking Water

    Significant progress in water purification is being made by researchers at universities in the U.S. and Canada, including advances emerging from work led by Fulton Schools Professor Bruce Rittmann, director of the Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology at ASU’s Biodesign Institute. His team has deployed groups of microorganisms that rid water of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. These toxic chemicals, which have seeped into water supplies far and wide, pose health risks to humans and threaten the environment. The microorganisms being used in the ASU research are acting like “PFAS assassins,” raising hope that a surefire solution has been found to the water contamination caused by these chemicals.

  • Educating and inspiring students about print and graphics industry trends

    Educating and inspiring students about print and graphics industry trends

    A subsidiary of Canon U.S.A, a leader in providing of consumer, business-to-business and industrial digital imaging solutions, is expanding its support of higher education. That includes making ASU a partner in its Canon Solutions America University Inkjet Program, which is designed to support the next generation of content creators and leaders in the print and graphics communications industries. Fulton Schools Professor of Practice Penny Ann Dolin and Faculty Associate Patricia Perigo in the graphic information technology program at The Polytechnic School, part of the Fulton Schools, foresee the partnership giving students opportunities to be part of efforts to produce real-world design and print solutions. The article also appears in Yahoo Finance

  • EPA’s crackdown on power plant emissions is a big first step – but without strong certification, it will be hard to ensure captured carbon stays put

    EPA’s crackdown on power plant emissions is a big first step – but without strong certification, it will be hard to ensure captured carbon stays put

    Significant sums of money are going to be spent on technologies that capture carbon dioxide as the U.S. government’s efforts to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from power plants kick into high gear. Reducing those emissions is critical to diminishing the detrimental impacts of greenhouse gases on the planet’s climate. Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner, director or ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, and Stephanie Arcusa, a postdoctoral carbon sequestration researcher, say if the plan is to work as intended it must ensure carbon capture and storage are closely monitored and adequately certified. They propose a framework for designing effective carbon dioxide storage and sequestration — and for ensuring regulation of these processes is strictly enforced. 

  • New model for predicting adsorption of PFAS by microplastics

    New model for predicting adsorption of PFAS by microplastics

    Trillions of small pieces of plastic pollution are in oceans, rivers and lakes throughout the world, including types of plastics that can adsorb and transport toxic substances called “forever chemicals,” which can find their way into humans and animals. François Perreault, an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, is collaborating with other environmental engineers at the University of Maine on a project using a new type of model for predicting whether any given kind of microplastic would adsorb any specific type of these chemicals and at what concentration. It’s part of a broader effort by researchers at the two universities to more deeply explore the interactions between microplastics and various chemicals. The article is also published in BusinessNews.

  • Strategic partnerships help fuel workforce readiness for ASU students

    Strategic partnerships help fuel workforce readiness for ASU students

    ASU’s partnerships with leading technology companies are paying off for students by providing them valuable learning experiences beyond the classroom. While studying to become a software engineer, Fulton Schools graduate student Sushmitha Reddy joined the ASU Smart City Cloud Innovation Center. That enabled her to work with the Amazon Web Services company. She contributed to work in the company’s Cloud Innovation Center and used advanced smart technologies like machine learning in a project for the Phoenix Police Department. Reddy recently graduated with a degree information technology, a resume filled with job experience and two job offers.

  • 10 examples of how artificial intelligence is improving education

    10 examples of how artificial intelligence is improving education

    Engineering is among fields in which many foresee artificial intelligence, or AI, technology becoming a major educational tool. AI’s applications in personalized and adaptive learning methods and analytics, as well as intelligent tutoring systems, seem designed to be especially effective in enhancing engineering education. Other facets of the practice of engineering that seem to align with AI capabilities include predictive modeling and immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality. Those technologies have been used, for instance, to create immersive learning experiences for a course taught by Robert LiKamWa, an associate professor in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering.

  • Rethinking Engineering Education in The U.S.

    Rethinking Engineering Education in The U.S.

    With the high-tech world experiencing an especially rapid evolution, industry and education leaders see a need to quickly ramp up efforts to prepare the next generation of STEM professionals for what will be demanded of those who want to be part of the future tech workforce. Some say this could require a developing a new blueprint for engineering education. Some university engineering programs are already restructuring curriculum in reaction to changing industry needs. One way ASU is responding is establishment of the Fulton Schools’ new Secure, Trusted, and Assured Microelectronics Center, directed by Michel Kinsy, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools. Image courtesy of Pixabay

  • New algorithm uses smart meter data to improve power grid reliability

    New algorithm uses smart meter data to improve power grid reliability

    A step toward more resilient electrical power grids has been made through the results of research by Mojdeh Khorsand Hedman (pictured at right), an assistant professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, part of the Fulton Schools, and doctoral student Zahra Soltani, (at left) a graduate research associate in the school. They have developed an algorithm that can reduce the impact of power outages and malfunction damage to devices connected to power grids. Their solution could significantly improve electric power service for customers by reducing the duration of outages and making the voltage sent to customers more stable.

  • 18 ASU undergraduates selected for German research fellowship

    18 ASU undergraduates selected for German research fellowship

    Fulton Schools students make most up of a group of ASU undergraduates who this summer will be involved in a highly selective international research fellowship program that will send them to Germany. The students will do internships relevant to their academic and professional interests under the mentorship of doctoral students and experienced researchers in Germany. The Fulton Schools is providing additional funding for the German Academic Exchange Service to help enhance the experience for ASU students. A manager and advisor for the program says the internship helps students be more competitive in gaining admission to graduate programs and in finding jobs. Image courtesy of Pixabay

  • Green light or red light? Traffic impact studied for Tempe-Coyotes development

    Green light or red light? Traffic impact studied for Tempe-Coyotes development

    Public concern has emerged about potential disruptive impacts of a proposed arena complex for the Arizona Coyotes National Hockey League team on adjacent and nearby Tempe neighborhoods. Residents in the area fear traffic congestion, parking space shortages and interference with local business and community activities will result from the expansive arena development. Such worries are understandable, says Professor Ram Pendyala, a transportation engineer and director of School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools. But Pendyala points out that there are standard practices public officials and arena developers can follow to effectively prevent or considerably diminish the kinds of impacts distressing the local populace.

  • What Exactly Are the Dangers Posed by A.I.?

    What Exactly Are the Dangers Posed by A.I.?

    A significant number of high-tech leaders, researchers and others who work with artificial intelligence, or AI, technologies are joining in on a warning about the workings of AI that could put humans at risk. Fulton Schools Professor Subbarao Kambhampati, a computer scientist and AI expert, points to one particular threat. While there is no way to guarantee AI systems will be correct or accurate on any information they compile and disseminate, AI can deliver such information in ways that make it seem credible. There is a big concern about such systems being used to spread disinformation, and to do it persuasively — especially the AI systems that can interact with people in natural-sounding language.

    See Also: When A.I. Chatbots Hallucinate, The New York Times, May 1
    Kambhampati advises against questioning AI unless you already know the answer to  the question.

    ‘The Godfather of A.I.’ Leaves Google and Warns of Danger Ahead, The New York Times, May 1
    The article links to statement Kambhampati helped to draft along with 19 current and former presidents of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence warning about risks AI poses.

April

2023
  • The Realities & Myths of Self-Driving Vehicles

    The Realities & Myths of Self-Driving Vehicles

    In an interview about the outlook for the future of autonomous vehicles, Professor Ram Pendyala (pictured at right), a transportation engineer and director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, part of the Fulton Schools, gives his assessment of progress in the development and use of self-driving automobiles. None of the most ambitious forecasts for a widespread embrace of these vehicles have come to fruition, Pendyala says, but he foresees their use  likely to increase over a span of decades. How expansive that increase becomes, he says, will depend on the price, capabilities, safety features and transportation infrastructure upgrades that enable consumers to see clear benefits in driving these vehicles.

  • Are ASU students using AI to help with school work? Most say no. Here’s why

    Are ASU students using AI to help with school work? Most say no. Here’s why

    Debates on the potential benefits and pitfalls of using artificial, or AI, technology in the classroom, and for doing homework assignments, are intensifying, especially with the emergence of ChatGPT, which is adept at writing on almost any subject — but with some downsides. AI specialist Subbarao Kambhampati, a professor in School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Fulton Schools, looks at what some students and professors are saying about the pros and cons of the use of AI. There’s debate about the possibility of the use of AI like ChatGPT being considered an act of plagiarism and the risk that what it writes can be factually flawed.

    See Also: All technologies disrupt employment”: ASU professor on introducing AI to the workplace
    Professor Kambhampati discusses concerns that new artificial intelligent technologies like ChatGPT will take away some peoples’ jobs, KJZZ News (NPR), April 27