A new prosthetic hand system with a fully implanted, wirelessly controlled neurostimulator has restored “feeling” to a person with a hand amputation. The news announced at the recent annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience involves a multi-institutional research team that includes James Abbas, a Fulton Schools assistant professor of biomedical engineering. The team’s achievement has led to the first time a person has been fitted with a neural-enabled prosthetic hand system that can be used outside the laboratory in an everyday environment.

ASU researchers are exploring the use of the latest information technologies to develop a widespread real-time warning system to alert communities to the potential dangers of oncoming floods. Mikhail Chester, a Fulton Schools associate professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering, is leading a multi-university team for the project. Arizona will be used a test bed to determine if the warning system can be adapted for other states and regions — and if it can also be effective for hurricane and drought warning networks.

New and more effective technologies that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are needed to curb the detrimental impacts of climate change. That’s a conclusion from a panel that produced a report for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. One of the experts commenting on the report is Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner, director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions. Lackner says there are ways to make CO2 capture and removal technology economically feasible.

Liquid silk and gold nanoparticles are looking like the best combination of materials to produce a more effective way of closing up an injury or an incision to human body tissue. They could reduce the risk of damage or infection to tissues sometimes caused by use of conventional staples and stitches. Kaushal Rege, a Fulton Schools professor of chemical engineering, is leading research to fully develop two types of the laser-activated silk and gold nanosealants.

The Institute of Automated Mobility was recently launched with the promise of making Arizona a leader in innovation of autonomous vehicle technologies and systems. Fulton Schools Professor Sethuraman Panchanathan has been chosen as one the top advisers to the institute.  Panchanathan, who is also ASU’s chief research and innovations officer and the executive vice president of Knowledge Enterprise Development for the university, is the founder of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing. The center focuses on research that could be useful to the new automated mobility endeavor.

It’s estimated there are more than 140,000 tons of plastics spread out over an area that covers a million square miles of the Pacific Ocean that’s now being called the Great Pacific Garbage patch. Scientists and engineers working with various organizations are involved in cleanup projects that are making a dent in the problem. But more needs to done to stop more plastic from being dumped in the ocean in the first place, says Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, director of ASU’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering.

Artificial intelligence and athletic performance are becoming inextricably intertwined in the world of sports. Researchers such as Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Yezhou Yang are adapting emerging AI technologies to provide data analysis, computer vision and robotic visual learning that shows athletes how to enhance their abilities while reducing the risk of physical injuries. Yang, an affiliate faculty member in ASU’s Global Sport Institute, is also exploring how to make some AI athletics analytics tools accessible through a cell phone app.

There’s an abundance of territory to explore at the intersection of engineering and the arts. So say Professor Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools, and Professor Steven Tepper, dean of ASU’s Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts. “Collisions” between engineers and artists often produce a fertile breeding ground for creativity and innovation, Squires and Tepper agree. They suggest that might be demonstrated in an entertaining fashion if engineering, arts and design students competed in a zombie costume contest. But, seriously, they conclude, the mixing of the artistic spirit and the drive to engineer solutions to big challenges is a recipe for making a better world.

More than nine billion tons of plastics have been produced since the mid-20^th century and plastic waste has found its way not only into our much of natural environment but also into humans. Researchers say many tiny bits of the waste — called microplastics — are being ingested by a large percentage of the human population. Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, director of ASU’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering, says there seems to be no immediate cause for alarm, but the news should cause close examination of the potential for negative health impacts from the microplastics we are ingesting and even inhaling.

New super-strong copper-tantalum alloys have been developed by Army researchers in collaboration with a mechanical engineering and materials science research team led by Fulton Schools Professor Pedro Peralta and Associate Professor Kiran Solanki. With the alloy’s ability to withstand extreme temperatures and powerful impacts, it’s being compared to vibranium, a fictional material used in Captain America’s shield and the Black Panther’s super-hero outfit.  

Despite a slow start in the use of self-driving cars, experts say it is all but inevitable that autonomous vehicles will become a larger part of our transportation environment — especially in busy cities. Lina Karam, a Fulton Schools Professor of electrical and computer engineering who studies autonomous vehicles, says local governments and city planners need to start preparing for the ways a proliferation of self-driving vehicles will impact urban infrastructure needs.

Fulton Schools mechanical engineering graduate student Sudhanshu Biyani was part of the ASU student team that won the top prize at the recent PLuS Alliance Circular Economy ResourCE Hack. The competition was designed to inspire ideas for zero-waste alternatives to waste management challenges. Biyani and his teammates developed Farmer’s Friend, an app to connect farmers and end users of food waste.

ASU students are getting more opportunities to learn about one of the fastest-emerging and highest-paying software fields: blockchain engineering. Blockchain technology is a key driver of cryptocurrencies and the digital economy. ASU is becoming a leader in the field as home to the Blockchain Research Laboratory, directed by Fulton Schools Research Professor Dragan Boscovic, and the Blockchain Innovation Society, an international student-led group. Now the Fulton Schools Master of Computer Science degree program offers six courses focusing on various aspects of blockchain engineering and development.  

More than 500 students from 30 high schools came to the recent FIRST Robotics competition hosted by the Fulton Schools, ASU and the Sanghi Foundation. The event is designed to give young students opportunities to learn and apply basic engineering skills, to learn problem-solving methodology and spark interest in careers in engineering, science and technology.

Researchers in ASU’s College of Health Solutions are analyzing the “walkability” of neighborhoods as part of a study to assess the effect of specific neighborhoods’ characteristics in helping people stick to physical activity regimens — or discouraging them from continuing their aerobic exercise routines. To get accurate data for the study, the researchers turned to three Fulton Schools computer scientists, Associate Professor Ross Maciejewski, Assistant Professor Ariane Middel and graduate student Akshar Patel. They are developing a unique tool to reveal the correlation between certain neighborhood features and residents’ level of physical activity.

Floods, heat waves, storms, hurricanes, wildfires and other damaging natural events are becoming more intense with the growing effects of climate change. Associate Professor Mikhail Chester and Professor Brad Allenby, faculty members in the Fulton Schools’ civil, environmental and sustainable engineering program, warn that current infrastructure doesn’t have the resilience to withstand the onslaught of the extreme weather events likely to occur more frequently. They look at ways our infrastructure systems can be adapted to hold up against burgeoning climatic threats.

Fulton Schools faculty members will have leading roles in a new interdisciplinary graduate-level program for those aspiring to be future leaders of endeavors to design and develop “smart cities.” The Citizen-Centered Smart Cities and Smart Living program will train students to become the engineers, scientist, entrepreneurs and policymakers capable of shaping cities in human-center ways. Troy McDaniel, Fulton Schools assistant research professor and associate director of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing, says industry partners, nonprofits and community groups will be involved in the training program and smart cities research projects.

See Also: $3M grant supports education and training on smart cities, ASU NOW, September 21

ASU and Dignity Health, one of the largest health care facility corporations, are collaborating on an initiative to seek solutions for major medical challenges. A series of initial grants are funding research intended to achieve the goal. The funded projects include two that will be led by Vikram Kodibagkar and Brent Vernon, Fulton Schools associate professors of biomedical engineering. Kodibagkar will work on developing advances in magnetic resonance imaging of brain tumors. Vernon will lead a multi-institutional program to translate liquid embolics  to clinics.

Combining expertise in robotics, haptic technologies, biomedical engineering, 3D printing and polymer molding, Fulton Schools researchers are developing devices and techniques to improve neuromuscular rehabilitation. Assistant Professor Panagiotis Polygerinos and Assistant Research Professor Qiushi Fu are leading work that promises to provide customized therapies to help people to regain lost motor skills in their hands and legs caused by injuries or strokes.

Today’s imaging and voice technologies make it increasingly possible to manipulate photos and videos to give viewers false impressions of what they’re seeing and hearing. But there are experts who can use other technologies to verify the veracity of the content of pictures and video productions. Some of those experts work for Truepic, a tech company focused on image authenticity, which is teaming with ASU’s Weaponized Narrative Initiative to combat the purveyors of misleading manufactured news reports and images. Fulton Schools Professor Brad Allenby, the initiative’s co-founding director, hopes to see the effort counter some of the disinformation schemes attempting to influence the national midterm elections.

Despite regular news about malicious hackers successfully breaching the defenses meant to protect websites and other electronic repositories of personal or confidential data and other information, researchers are making strides in thwarting cybercriminals. In an ASU KEDtalk, Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Paulo Shakarian explained what he and others are doing to fend off impending cyberattacks. Shakarian is director of the Cyber-Socio Intelligent Systems Laboratory at ASU.

A venture to put Arizona at the forefront of research and development of self-driving automobiles was announced by the state’s governor, Doug Ducey. Much of the research for new Institute for Automated Mobility, formed in partnership with Intel Corp., will be conducted at Arizona’s state universities. Fulton Schools Professor Sethuraman Panchanathan was named the institute’s senior science adviser. Panchanathan, ASU’s executive vice president of Knowledge Enterprise Development and chief research and innovation officer, said the institute will become the central repository of knowledge to help industry provide reliable autonomous vehicles.

Read more news coverage:  East Valley Tribune, KTAR News, ABC15, Venture Beat, CNET, Arizona Daily Star, Automotive News, Arizona Capitol Times, Az Big Media, Havasu News, Yuma Sun, Pinal Central, Rose Law Group Reporter

Climate change and globalization are two factors leading to disease-carrying viruses finding their way to more places around the world. Scientists say more intensive environmental surveillance could help halt the spread of viruses. One way Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden wants to do that is through a global wastewater-monitoring initiative he has launched. He hopes to see more work related to the research he is leading in ASU’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering. Halden and his team are developing new and improved methods of monitoring and analyzing wastewater to reveal information about public health conditions. Such efforts could help pinpoint where viruses are moving.

The National Science Foundation is funding a project to develop a forecast, risk assessment and communications network to help Arizona communities protect themselves from the dangers of extreme flooding. The project involving infrastructure and sustainability researchers at each of Arizona’s three public universities will be led by Fulton Schools Associate Professor Mikhail Chester. The network he envisions will employ smart phones, webcams, data streams, crowdsourcing and social media to track the buildup of floods in real time.

See Also: What data teaches about flood forecasting: NAU researcher co-leading crowdsourced app to gauge flood water, NAU News, October 3

Crowdsourced app gauges flood waters, Michigan Tech News, October 3

Scientists aim to use crowdsourced data to improve flood predictions, University at Buffalo News Center, October 8

Mikhail Chester, Fulton Schools assistant professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering, wants to help the Phoenix metro area avoid some of the infrastructure problems being faced by major urban regions such as the Los Angeles area. Narayanan Neithalath, also an assistant professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering, is trying to find cost-effective ways of providing new materials to enable reduced use of conventional cement and its problematic environmental consequences. Jeffrey La Belle, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is leading research to produce wearable monitors that provide people vital — and possibly life-saving — real-time information about their physical conditions.

A commercial entitled “Ocean” featuring ASU graduate student Charles Rolsky and Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden has won a Rocky Mountain Emmy Award. The awards are bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence in television. The commercial focuses on Rolsky’s efforts to help find ways to protect oceans from environmental degradation. He conducts research in ASU’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering, which Halden directs. Rolsky likes that the commercial makes science “look really cool.”

The “afterlife” of plastics is much longer than this ubiquitous material’s useful lifespan, says Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden. And the longevity of plastics that don’t degrade poses growing problems for the health of the planet’s environment, wildlife and humans. Those problems can potentially have negative consequences for decades, centuries and millennia, says Halden, director of ASU’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering. He and other researchers — along with some businesses, citizens’ groups and recycling programs — are searching for solutions.

The Fulton Schools’ new student residential complex on ASU’s Tempe campus is described as a shining example of eco-friendly architecture. Its features include a wind-capture system for natural ventilation and permeable surfaces the allow storm water filtration, along with perforated aluminum louvers that are part of a larger shading systems — all of which helps to reduce heat gain the desert environment. And then there are the exposed “guts” of the building that give the resident engineering students a close look at the complex’s interior infrastructure and operating systems.

Working with the Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics, ASU researchers are trying to improve the survival rates of people with pancreatic cancer. A team led by Tony Wu, a Fulton Schools professor of biomedical engineering, is contributing to those efforts by developing new methods of detecting hypoxia in pancreatic cancer patients. Hypoxia is a condition that deprives tumor tissue of adequate oxygen. The higher the level of hypoxia, the more difficult it is to treat cancerous tumors.

A bit over a year ago, 1,500 ASU engineering students living in the Fulton Schools’ new Tooker House campus residential complex got Amazon Echo Dots, making them members of one of the first voice-technology-enabled learning-enhanced communities. Now the University Technology Office is helping other members of the ASU community learn about the benefits of the voice-controlled computing and information device. Engineering student Carter Kwon recently joined UTO leaders to provide some Echo Dot education and training to students, faculty and staff at ASU at Lake Havasu.

There is strong debate swirling around proposals to ease federal air-quality standards and other environmental regulations — including fuel efficiency requirements for automobiles. Arizona is among places where officials are raising concerns about the potential impacts of such changes. Fulton Schools Professor Ram Pendyala says such regulations have actually sparked innovation by encouraging manufacturers to develop more fuel-efficient cars and less polluting technologies.

See also, Proposed Trump Administration fuel efficiency standards causing concerns for public health, KJZZ news, September 26

A big step toward solutions to metals corrosion has been made by a research team led by Karl Sieradzki, a Fulton Schools professor of materials and science engineering. Catastrophic failures of metal structures such as large bridges have resulted from a phenomenon called stress corrosion cracking. It happens when corrosive environmental factors and tensile stress combine to damage metals. The work of Sieradzki’s team has pointed the way to formulating new designs for metal alloys that could help prevent stress corrosion-induced structural failures.

One of growing municipalities bordering Phoenix is embarking on a substantial environmental restoration project — removing a large amount of old landfill debris buried beneath ground surface running along and under a roadway. The cleanup effort is part of a larger street improvement project along a stretch of one of the city’s major thoroughfares. Fulton Schools Professor Edward Kavazanjian, director of a National Science Foundation geotechnical engineering research center at ASU, explains how the debris problem likely developed and persisted, and how such land can be restored and made viable for urban redevelopment.  

Six scientists and engineers envision what coming waves of technological advancement might mean for the future of the human body. Among the speculations are bodies enhanced by mechanical exoskeletons, body shops that provide people regular physical and physiological upgrades and the possibility of transforming into cyborgs. Fulton Schools Professor Brad Allenby, co-author of the book The Techno-Human Condition, sees an evolving fusion of humans and technology on the horizon that could alter basic human cognition and meld the natural world and the engineered world.

Researchers at ASU and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine are joining forces to ramp up the battle against tuberculosis. They’ll focus on development of new and more accurate and effective methods to diagnose the disease, which is a bacterial infection. It’s a challenging task, explains Jeffrey La Belle, a Fulton Schools assistant professor of biomedical engineering. The problem is that tuberculosis patients can often contract co-infections that results in some symptoms of a disease masking the symptoms of other infectious diseases, making it difficult to correctly diagnose patients’ conditions and prescribe the best treatment, La Belle says.

Fulton Schools chemical engineering students Roberta Candela and Amanda Smith are among the leaders of the new ASU Ocean Conservation Club. The group is raising awareness about the importance of protecting fragile marine life ecosystems. The club’s work will include trips to participate in beach cleanup projects to reduce the amount of trash that could harm fish and other sea creatures. They’ll undertake other efforts to advocate for related environmental conservation education and practices.

An onsite classroom and a large maker space for studying and working on class projects and research experiments. Architectural, design, construction and infrastructure features that can serve as a teaching tool for engineering students. Amazon Echo voice-controlled smart speakers for residents. Gold certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design from the U.S. Green Building Council. Pedestrian-friendly surrounding environment. All these factors led the national MultiFamily Executive group to make the new Fulton Schools campus residential complex the winner of its 2018 MFE Award for student housing.

A business pitch competition for aspiring student entrepreneurs is among the ways ASU and the Fulton Schools supports the aspirations of students to put their education to use by developing market solutions for society’s technological challenges. ASU partners with the global electronics company Avnet to organize the Innovation Open. Fulton Schools Dean Kyle Squires is looking forward to seeing the event attract more student startup teams each year.

Business forecasters are saying tech industries — including aviation companies like Boeing — are poised to continue expanding throughout the greater Phoenix metropolitan area and other locales in central and southern Arizona. One reason: the region’s supply chain of well-educated prospective employees — particularly the 21,000 thousand students enrolled in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

The Smithsonian, Waymo self-driving cars, the town of Gilbert and the Fulton Schools teamed up to bring middle school and high school students to ASU’s Polytechnic campus for a two-day competition called the SPARK App League. The event was designed not only to teach young students some coding but to give them a taste of what high education can offer through science, technology and engineering studies.

Using tiny pieces of gold intertwined with silk and activating a bonding process by heat from a laser, Kaushal Rege and his research team have developed a way to heal wounds with a new kind of bandage, thus eliminating the need for stitches to repair body tissue. Rege, a Fulton Schools professor of chemical engineering, says such laser-activated nanosealants are more effective in healing wounds and minimizing infection.

See also: Bandages laser-bonded to your skin may fix wounds better than stitches, New Scientist, September 13 (subscription required)

What transforms houses into family homes, and homes into communities? Key factors are domiciles and residential developments designed with climate and cultural traditions in mind. The ideas of “culturally relevant” housing and “design sovereignty” are guiding efforts by Wanda Dalla Costa and her students to help members of Arizona’s Native American Indian communities ensure their new housing projects will reflect those concepts and the traditional values of indigenous people. Dalla Costa is an Institute Professor of architecture in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment in the Fulton Schools and ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

It took Charlie Rolsky a while to get his academic pursuits on track toward a career, but the ASU doctoral student found motivation through his work in the university’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering directed by Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden. Halden says he foresees Rolsky making significant contributions to society through his studies — both in the research lab and in the field — of the growing threat of environmental contamination from the tons of plastic waste accumulating in the world’s oceans.

Designed to aid visually impaired humans, a dog-mimicking robot constructed by several Fulton Schools students for their capstone engineering design project uses artificial intelligence and a Go Pro camera to understand verbal commands, communicate directions and evaluate potential hazards for their users. The team’s mechanized canine earned a top prize at the Intel Cup Undergraduate Electronic Design Contest in Shanghai.

See also: Robot dog leads the pack, Science Node, September 12

Dorks Estate: ASU engineering team wins first place with robotic guide dog (podcast), The State Press, September 16

Robotic guide dog leads Arizona State University team to 1st prize at Intel Cup, Association for Computing Machinery Tech News, August 21 

Research led by Karl Sieradzki, Fulton Schools professor of materials science and engineering, has shown how new metal alloys can be designed to avoid stress corrosion-induced failure that leads to damage to bridges, power plants, aircraft and other engineered structures. Fellow researchers from ASU and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory participated in the project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

See also: Decoupling stress and corrosion to predict metal failure, Science Daily, September 10

Students coming to ASU from around the world to earn degrees in science, engineering and technology are also getting opportunities to learn business and entrepreneurship skills. ASU’s Global Launch program hosts educational sessions led by experts such Steve Cho, a lecturer in the Fulton Schools technological and entrepreneurship management program. Cho brings almost three decades of experience in industry to his efforts to prepare students for the technology-related business world.

Zero Mass Water, a startup company founded by Cody Friesen, a Fulton Schools associate professor of materials science, has developed a system that use solar energy technology to produce drinking water from sunlight and air. It’s one of several similar systems being refined and applied to ventures to provide more water to the world’s growing population, as well as for agriculture and industrial operations.

See also: How to drink from enormous lakes in the air, BBC, September 7

Every year, an estimated 8 million to 12 million metric tons of plastics enter the ocean on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons already in our marine environments, according to the Ocean Conservancy. Incredibly, trash has reached the stomachs of some of the deepest fish in the ocean, with researchers estimating 73 percent of deepwater fish in the North Atlantic Ocean had eaten particles of plastic, known as microplastics. And it’s not just fish or marine life that’s affected says Rolf Halden, a professor of environmental health engineering at Arizona State University. Every human being in the developed world has traces of plastic constituents in his or her blood.

See also: Ocean Cleanup steams out to sea in test run to clean Great Pacific Garbage Patch, WHAS ABC News – San Francisco, September 7

The Arizona Bioindustry Association announced that NeoLight has won a 2018 AZBio Fast Lane Award in recognition of its success in moving from its initial development stage into commercialization. NeoLight is an Arizona-based medical device company that develops empathy-driven, best-in-class technologies for the newborn care market. The company began as an ASU spin-out with $7,000 in funding from the university after winning the Edson student entrepreneurship competition in 2014. The NeoLight team will be honored by Arizona’s bioscience and business communities at the 2018 AZBio Awards on October 3 at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Yale University researchers contend national government leaders are doing too little to reduce threat of climate change. While there are local and regional efforts to deal with the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, the scientists say international and nationwide actions are also needed. Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner, director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, comments that it’s time to confront the challenge of finding sources of energy that won’t contribute to the problem and to reduce existing carbon buildup in the atmosphere.

The global reach of modern communications networks and technologies and the effectiveness of well-honed psychologically sophisticated methods of influencing public perceptions are being combined in a new and growing political and cultural propaganda tool described as “weaponized narrative.” Fulton Schools Professor Brad Allenby and ASU Research Professor Joel Garreau, co-directors of the Weaponized Narrative Initiative, gave a primer on the subject to New York City radio talk show host Leonard Lopate.

Bruce Rittmann and Mark van Loosdrecht were awarded the 2018 Stockholm Water Prize in honor of their research that has contributed to the understanding of how microorganisms can transform organic pollutants to something of value to humans and the environment. This remarkable scientific achievement has led to the implementation across the globe of technologies which make it possible to remove harmful contaminants from water, cut wastewater treatment costs, reduce energy consumption, and even recover chemicals and nutrients for recycling.

Researchers at ASU’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering have been exploring the impacts of many common materials, chemicals and substances on humans and their environments. Among the more recent noteworthy revelations resulting from those endeavors led by the center’s director, Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, with help from doctoral student Charles Rolsky, is the damage being done by the disposal of contact lenses into sink drains and toilets. Those lenses — more than billion of them by Rolsky’s estimate — are adding significantly to pollution from the plastics in treated wastewater finding their way into rivers, streams and oceans. See the August 19 post below for a look at more of the many news media reports of these research findings.

See also: Tonnes of contact lenses flushed down the toilet, Insight magazine (Australia), September 11

ASU’s Blockchain Research Lab directed by Fulton Schools Research Professor Dragan Boscovic continues to produce studies and data that are influencing the outlook for cryptocurrencies and the development of the digital economy. His research team’s latest study looks at the challenges facing the Dash blockchain, as well as the opportunities that are arising.

See also: Battle of the privacy coins: Why Dash is not really that private, Bitcoin Magazine, September 6

Bitcoin should be an indispensable part of an investor’s portfolio, Decentral Post, August 30

Blood-based biomarkers could offer more effective medical aid for many of the nearly five million people worldwide living with Parkinson’s disease. Michael Sierks (at right in photo), a Fulton Schools professor of chemical engineering, is working with Mayo Clinic neurologist to identify the biomarkers to enable more accurate and earlier diagnosis of Parkinson’s, plus the ability to track its progression and target specific treatments. Sierks has already identified biomarkers that have enabled earlier diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease.

Fulton Schools ASU Foundation Professor Werner Dahm received the U.S. Air Force Distinguished Public Service Award, the most prestigious Air Force award given to civilians. Dahm, a professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, served on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board for more than a decade. He was chair of the board from 2014 to 2017. Among its duties, the board conducts reviews of the $4.3 billion Air Force science and technology portfolio and recommends innovative applications of technology to improve Air Force capabilities.

Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan is the new vice president of the National Academy of Inventors. In his new role the Fulton Schools professor and executive vice president of Knowledge Enterprise Development and chief research and innovation officer at ASU will help shape the future of the NAI, a coalition of more than 250 national and international universities and government and nonprofit research institutes. A prolific inventor, Panchanathan has been granted several patents and copyrights and published almost 450 papers in prominent research journals and research conference publications.

Today’s contact lenses are made of tough plastics — tough enough that they don’t fully break down even after going through wastewater treatment plants. That’s causing a growing problem for the environment. Research led by Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, director of the Center for Environmental Health Engineering, has found that tons of plastic disposable contacts are going down the drain and eventually ending up in rivers, lake and oceans, where fish, birds and other animals consume them — to the detriment of their health. Plus, all those contact lenses are adding to the mounting problem of microplastic pollution.

See Also: Flushing your contact lenses down the drain is adding plastic waste to oceans, USA Today, August 19

Here’s how your contact lenses may be polluting the ocean, Time magazine, August 20

Contact lenses are a surprising source of pollution, Scientific American, August 20

Contact lenses don’t belong in your toilet, Popular Science, August 20

Why are so many Americans flushing their contacts down the toilet, The Atlantic, August 19

Why you should not flush your contact lens down the toilet or sink, Forbes, August 19

Flushed contact lenses add to burden of plastic waste, The Times (UK), August 20

Flushed contact lenses are big source of microplastic pollution,  Daily Mail (UK), August 20

Plastic pollution: ‘Stop flushing contact lenses down the loo,’ BBC News, August 19

Old contact lenses add to microplastic pollution, Radio Canada International, August 20

How flushed contact lenses add to microplastic pollution in waterways, CBC News (Canada)

Researchers warn that flushed contact lenses are big source of microplastic pollution, The Hindu (India), August 22

Don’t throw those contact lenses down the drain, ASU NOW, August 19

Stop and read this before you wash your contact lenses down the drain, Science Alert, August 20

Flushing disposable contact lenses is adding to plastics pollution, Yahoo News, August 20

Do you flush your contact lenses? Here’s why you should stop, CNN/3TV & CBS 5 News – Phoenix

Why you probably shouldn’t flush away your contacts, Refinery 29, August 19

Contact lenses end up in the ocean endangering sealife, Euronews, August 19

Contact lenses down the drain may cause pollution, New China, August 20

Don’t flush contact lenses after use – bad for environment, News-Medical.Net., August 20

Contact lenses flushed down the drain adds plastic waste to oceans, Chicago Sun-Times, August 20

Flushing your contacts does terrible things to our land and oceans, Mother Jones, August 20

Stop washing your gross contact lenses down the drain, Gizmodo, August 21

Study: Stop flushing your contact lenses down the drain, Channel 12 News (Phoenix)

New study finds contact lenses contributing to pollution in oceans, KMOV4 News (St. Louis)

ASU study: Don’t throw your contact lenses down the drain, KYMA-NBC News (Yuma, Arizona), August 20

Study: Stop flushing your contact lenses down the drain, WLTX9 News (Columbia, South Carolina) August 21

Are you getting rid of your contact lenses the right way? 6ABC News – Philadelphia, August 20

Here’s why you shouldn’t flush your contact lenses down the drain, Insider, August 22

Flushed contact lenses are big source of microplastic pollution, Click Lancashire, August 23

Contact lenses are causing environmental pollution, The San Diego Union-Tribune/New York Daily News, August 23

Why you shouldn’t flush your contacts down the drain, Science Friday, National Public Radio, August 24

Flushing your contact lenses is killing the environment, The University Network, August 24

Contact lenses: A hidden plastic waste problem, Care2, August 24

ASU study: Flushing contact lenses can harm environment, KTAR News – Phoenix, August 26

Study finds contact lenses break into microplastics at wastewater plants, Water & Wastes Digest, August 29

The nervousness that hampered his performance on the golf course in high school competitions has led Fulton Schools bioengineering graduate student Nicholas Hool to explore ways for people to calm their nerves without the aid of medication. The “Hoolest” earbuds he is developing send painless electrical impulses to stimulate the nerves that control the body’s relaxation process. He thinks it can not only help people relax and sleep better but perhaps eventually be used to help people overcome symptoms of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

The disastrous collapse of a large bridge in Italy should prompt transportation officials everywhere to more closely inspect and monitor the structural conditions of roadways, bridges and other public infrastructure, says Barzin Mobasher, a Fulton Schools professor of civil and environmental engineering. Climate change, growing urban traffic volume and new kinds of vehicles will likely pose challenges to ensuring transportation structures can handle the added stress.  

ASU will be able to ramp up innovation in 3D printing technology and manufacturing with new support from NASA, says Ann McKenna, professor and director of The Polytechnic School, one of the Fulton Schools. The national space agency’s funding for research and technology transfer awarded to ASU and the Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies company will help accelerate the development of 3D-printed structures for spacecraft. The work will expand capabilities for mimicking biological structures to advance 3D-based additive manufacturing, says Fulton Schools Associate Professor Dhruv Bhate.

See also: Arizona State University and PADT receive grant to research biomimicry and 3D printing, 3DPrint.com, August 16

A robotic dog designed to assist blind people earned a team of Fulton Schools students a top prize at the international Intel Cup student technology competition. The team developed computer software and hardware that enabled their robot to interact with a small wheelchair. With a GoPro camera for “eyes,” the robotic dog can help the wheelchair navigate around obstacles. ASU teams have now won a first-place prize in at least one of the Intel Cup event categories for the third time in a row.

Through the U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Energy, known as USPCASE, researchers at ASU have been collaborating for the past four years with colleagues at two leading Pakistan universities to develop solutions to Pakistan’s energy challenges. A new USPCASE project is teaming ASU researchers with those at Pakistan’s University of Engineering and Technology in Peshawar to work on laying the foundation for the country to establish empirically based public policy to guide its management of energy projects. Fulton Schools Professor Sayfe Kiaei is the director of USPCASE.

The recent catastrophic collapse of a major urban bridge in Italy should provide a cautionary lesson for all overseers of roadway safety, says Barzin Mobasher, a Fulton Schools professor whose expertise is in structural engineering and building materials. Extending the use of aging bridges beyond their estimated lifespan may be economical, Mobasher says, but the downside is the potentially increased risk of structural instability. The report also aired on Tucson News Now.

ASU’s Tooker House residence for Fulton Schools students is being touted as one of the premier examples of a new generation of campus living complexes. With its distinctive sustainability-oriented architectural design and construction, multi-purpose interior spaces and high-tech amenities, Tooker House is defining the evolution of the traditional bare-bones college dormitory into an interactive learning community.

See also: US university puts electronic assistants in all student housing, Voice of America News, August 14

Kyle Williams isn’t letting the demands of being a standout player on the ASU Sun Devils football team curtail his ambition for a medical career. The Fulton Schools biomedical engineering student’s athletic talent might lead him to a job with a National Football League team after college. But Williams says that opportunity not detract from his determination to become a surgeon. Williams has already been gaining real-world medical experience as a research intern at the Mayo Clinic not far from ASU’s Tempe campus.

Personalized gesture passcodes are being explored as an alternative to typing passwords on keyboards for identity authentication to permit entry into computer networks and other electronic systems. Fulton Schools Associate Professor Dijiang Huang and graduate student Duo Lu are experimenting with use of finger and hand gestures as passcodes. They are employing machine learning to attempt to overcome challenges to making such biometric access controls reliable and secure.

Fulton Schools researchers are contributing to the evolution of solar energy technology. Assistant Professor Zachary Holman, Assistant Research Professor Zhengshan Yu and graduate student Joe V. Carpenter collaborated to develop a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell that boosts electrical power production efficiency over other solar cells. Equally as important, the new cells can be economically competitive in the energy marketplace. The technology is explained in a report authored by Holman, Yu and Carpenter in the research journal Nature Energy.

See also: Tandem photovoltaic modules, silicon-based can compete in the solar market, Spaceflight News, August 10

Tooker House, the new residential complex on ASU’s Tempe campus for engineering students, is spotlighted as one of the leading examples of innovative college housing in the United States. The project is lauded not only for its architectural and environmental design, construction and amenities, but for its role in fostering a collaborative educational culture among Fulton Schools students — “a culture that students can build on for their entire lives as engineers,” says Fulton Schools Dean Kyle Squires.

With the accelerating pace of technological advancement and the possibilities it presents for altering our world and ourselves, it seems all but inevitable that the definition of what it means to be human will fundamentally change. Fulton Schools Professor Brad Allenby and a biomedical engineer speculate what transformations are in store for our species. In addition to expertise in engineering, Allenby is an ethicist and the author of books on ethics and technology such as The Techno-Human Condition.

ASU’s newest student campus residential complex, Tooker House —  home to more than 1,500 Fulton Schools students — is highlighted as an important proving ground for how virtual-assistant devices can enhance college students’ educational and campus life experiences. Tooker House makes Amazon’s Echo Dot available to residents. Echo Dot connects to the Alexa Voice Service that provides information, entertainment, news, messaging and personalized updates to users. ASU and other universities are paying attention to the impacts the technology is having on students.

Physicians with the American Academy of Pediatrics are warning of the risk to children when eating food that has been microwaved in plastic containers. In 2016, Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, director of ASU’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering, had already been cautioning that even plastic containers labeled microwave-safe can pose health problems when chemicals used to make the containers migrate into food.

A multi-year ecological research project has revealed the importance of the annual summer monsoon rains to the supply of water in arid regions of the Southwest. Enrique Vivoni, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment in the Fulton Schools and ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, had a leading role in the endeavor. The National Science Foundation deemed the project’s findings critical to effective future water resource management as the Southwest faces a forecast of rapid environmental change.

Artificial intelligence technology has advanced to the point that smart robotic technologies able to perform conventional household tasks are conceivable — but still far from actually achievable. Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Siddharth Srivastava explains the many challenging computational, robotics and AI advances that would be necessary to develop an efficient, fully functional and reliably capable home assistant.

The goal of making renewable solar energy economically competitive with conventional electric power sources is looking closer on the horizon with results being achieved by Fulton Schools researchers. Work by Assistant Research Professor Zengshan Yu, Assistant Professor Zachary Holman and Joe V. Carpenter, a graduate student research assistant, has led to technology combining silicon with another photovoltaic material — perovskite. That kind of tandem solar cell promises to exceed the efficiency of current cells in converting sunlight into energy while still being cost-competitive in the energy marketplace.

Fulton Schools researchers continue to explore the potential of emerging digital currency and e-commerce networks. Using the resources of the Blockchain Research Lab directed by Research Professor Dragan Boscovic and the Center for Assured and Scalable Data Engineering (CASCADE), researchers are mapping out the feasibility of operating those networks at larger scales. The work has produced a new research paper reporting on what simulations of various scaling scenarios are revealing about the outlook for significant expansion of the digital economy. Dash, a digital currency and e-commerce enterprise, is supporting the research. Dash Core will soon have “a credible path to scaling further in the future,” says CEO Ryan Taylor.

See also: Arizona State University Blockchain Research Lab and DASH partner for scalability analysis effort, Bitcoin Exchange Guide, August 1

Dash & ASU Blockchain Research Lab discuss new research on scaling solutions, Crowd Insider, July 31

Arizona State University, Dash explore blockchain scalability issues in new research, EconoTimes, July 31

ASU’s Blockchain Research Lab explains Dash to general public, Dash Force News. July 27

Samira Kiani, a Fulton Schools assistant professor of biomedical engineering, leads an eye-opening discussion on the groundbreaking medical advances that could be on the horizon with gene editing. Kiani has extensive experience working with CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology and in employing it to develop synthetic gene circuits used to reprogram the behavior and functions of mammalian cells. The technology could allow researchers to repair or disable genes and more closely approximate nature, making it possible to potentially provide the correct template to a cell to repair mutations that are causing a particular genetic disease.

The Arizona Department of Transportation and ASU are among those leading efforts to bring more women into the construction industry. Forty percent of the participants in the ADOT-sponsored Construction Academy classes are women. At ASU, about 40 construction management and construction engineering students are active in the Advancing Women in Construction organization, which offers a mentorship program aimed at helping women pursue careers in construction professions.

Fulton Schools Associate Professor Daniel Bliss has a leading role in one of numerous new projects supported by the U.S. Department of Defense’s research agency to ignite progress toward the next generation of computer chips. The aim is to make computing more powerful and more energy efficient. New chips to speed up computer processing could spark a big wave of innovation in a wide range of technologies. Bliss will focus on advancing computer chip architecture, with an eye on improving the performance of communications technologies. Read more about his new research project, Designing the computational architecture of the future.

See also:  DARPA chooses teams for $1.5 billion electronics initiative, National Defense magazine, July 24

DARPA picks its first set of winners in Electronics Resurgence Initiative, IEEE Spectrum, July 24

DARPA selects teams for $1.5 billion eletronics effort, Signal magazine, July 25

DARPA selects teams to unleash power of specialized, reconfigurable computing hardware, Electronic Component News, July 25

ASU, UA awarded grants to expand computing technology, KJZZ (NPR), July 25

Chipmakers look past Moore’s law, and silicon, Science, July 27

News of the opening of a 2,000-year-old sarcophagus in Egypt sparked quick reactions on the internet, particularly a suggestion of a reason to imbibe the reddish liquid inside the container along with the human skeletal remains. Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, director of ASU’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering, had his own strong recommendation in response: Don’t do it. But he did offer to have his lab analyze a sample to help clear up any mystery about the nature of the liquid.   

Fulton Schools Research Professor Dragan Boscovic, director of the ASU Blockchain Research Lab, offers some clarity about the legal and financial implications for a new business venture based on a pay-or-tip app that is launching its own cryptocurrency as part of a global expansion effort.

A group of Arizona State University students have come up with an innovative way to make trash collection and disposal more efficient and economical. With their Hygiea sensing system, the amount of waste materials in a trash receptacle can be intensively monitored, providing information that enables users to practice effective small-scale waste management — saving time, money and resources. Surya Iyer, a graduate student in the Fulton Schools management of technology program, and Saiman Shetty, who earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering in the Fulton Schools, are involved in the Hygiea venture.

Through the Fulton Schools eProjects program that partners students with industry to work on real-world technology solutions, students at the Polytechnic School and a misting systems company found a way to keep boating enthusiasts comfortable during hot summers days. They developed a a solar energy-powered mechanism that draws water from lakes or other waterways, then purifies the water before spraying it in tiny droplets into the boat, keeping the occupants cool.

The hopes of more than 60 ASU and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University students are riding on a 10-foot-long, self-propelled, high-speed transport pod they have designed and built for an international competition sponsored by tech guru Elon Musk’s SpaceX company. Graduate and undergraduate students majoring in engineering, business, graphic design and other disciplines combined their skills for the AZLoop project.

See also: ASU to showcase Hyperloop pod at international SpaceX competition, 3TV/CBS 5 News, July 13

Composites One helps Arizona State Hyperloop team prepare for SpaceX competition, Composites Manufacturing, July 9

Four recent Fulton Schools graduates impressed engineers at Raytheon, the major defense industry company, with their solution for repairing a massive robotic arm used in the company’s manufacturing operations. Recent graduates Rebecca Bell (robotics), Jesse Wittkowski (robotics and manufacturing), Aaron Dolgin (electrical engineering) and Riley Chicci (robotics) teamed up to fix the 13,000-pound robotic arm at the Innovation Hub on ASU’s Polytechnic campus.

The many children who are victims of drowning or near-drowning in home swimming pools each year motivated Fulton Schools software engineering student Kevin Hale and a business partner to develop the Halen Smart Lock. Their device designed to be placed on a pool gate contains a sensor that will send an alert to a phone when the gate has been opened or closed. The device enables users to deadbolt the gate so it cannot be opened. The venture has been supported by the Ashton Family Venture Challenge, which is part of ASU’s Startup Funding Network.

One way to improve the health of children with autism might be to alter the makeup of the mix of bacteria and other microbes that live in human intestines. Research by Fulton Schools Associate Professor Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown and colleagues at the ASU Biodesign Institute’s Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology indicates that introducing a more diverse mix into what’s called the gut microbiome helps alleviate digestive issues and behavioral symptoms associated with autism. Krajmalnik-Brown reported on a two-year study on the treatment at a recent Beneficial Microbes Conference.

Computer system hacking has grown increasingly complex, making cybersecurity an ever-evolving challenge, says Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Adam Doupé, who is associate director of ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics. With more and more valuable information online, Doupé warns that the financial incentives for cyber attacks are getting bigger and massive hacking can do more damage than ever.

See also: Arizona professor explains how hacking evolved to data theft, Claims Journal, July 13

Work that is contributing to the evolutionary advance toward reliable and affordable solar energy systems and technologies is being led at ASU by Fulton Schools Professor Christiana Honsberg in the Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies research center and by Fulton Schools Professor Vijay Vittal at the Power Systems Engineering Research Center and Assistant Professor Nathan Johnson at the Laboratory for Energy and Power Solutions.  

Fulton Schools mechanical and electrical engineering students are among leaders of the AZLoop team competing in the international Hyperloop challenge to design and build a prototype high-speed transportation system. Started by prominent SpaceX founder Elon Musk, the competition is bringing 18 teams of college students to California this month to vie for a place in the Hyperloop’s final round.

See also: Students from ASU, Embry-Riddle enter SpaceX competition, AZCentral.com, July 10

ASU students unveil pod in second try at SpaceX Hyperloop challenge, Phoenix Business Journal, July 10

Technologies that enhance human physical capabilities are the focus of many new endeavors by engineers. Among the more notable of these ventures are the exoskeleton devices being designed, built and tested by Fulton Schools Professor Tom Sugar and some of his students. A podcast that explores several examples of technologies that can bestow “superpowers” on their users featured a wearable jetpack produced by Sugar and Jason Kerestes, who earned a master’s degree from the Fulton Schools, that enables users to easily and significantly increase their running speed.

Ashley Bruner, a recent graduate of Xavier College Preparatory high school in Phoenix, is the first recipient of vCore Technology Partners’ “Women in Technology” scholarship. She will use the scholarship to support studies in the Fulton Schools’ computer systems engineering program in the fall. Within that field, Bruner plans to focus on information assurance. See related information at vCORE Women in Technology Scholarship.

See also: Ashley Bruner wins inaugural vCore scholarship for women in technology, Scottsdale Independent, July 11

Erik Von Burg, a teacher who for a decade has worked with the Arizona FIRST LEGO League — a robotics and STEM education program for young students managed by the Fulton Schools — was recently awarded the national Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The award is bestowed by the White House Office of Science and Technology and the National Science Foundation. Von Burg is a specialist for the Mesa Public Schools’ program for gifted students.

The Fulton Schools are being recognized as an innovator in developing productive partnerships between industry and academia to more comprehensively educate the next generation of engineers. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers reports on the efforts being led by Fulton Schools Dean Kyle Squires to give students opportunities to engage with real-world engineering pursuits early in their college years. Career Center Director Robin Hammond says industry is in turn engaging with students in educational and research endeavors. Some of the most prominent high-tech companies now have collaborative arrangements with the Fulton Schools.

A new California law enables people to see how companies are using individuals’ personal data online. In addition, people can ask for such information to be deleted from online content. The regulatory action could start a trend that brings such privacy protection to Arizona, says Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Adam Doupé, who directs ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics. Still, he thinks it will be difficult to completely deter the misuse of personal information that has been online at any time in the past.

About 100 Arizona high school students are getting a first-hand look at how engineering impacts everyday life through ASU’s Transportation Engineering Experience summer sessions. There are important lessons to be learned simply by examining all the transportation planning, technology and traffic management it takes to move people from one place to another in a busy urban area, says Professor Tirupalavanam Ganesh, the assistant dean of engineering education for the Fulton Schools, who helps to lead the program. More information at TEE@ASU.

Heat can lead to air travel hazards, says Fulton Schools faculty associate Michael Hampshire. The aviation instructor explains what pilots can do to reduce the risks of problems that extreme temperatures can create for aircraft. Using a flight simulator, he demonstrates some of the measures that can be taken to avoid emergency situations.

Engineers have been looking at structures created by nature for ideas to improve the design and manufacture of new products and technologies. Fulton Schools Associate Professor Dhruv Bhate explores potential nature-inspired technical solutions at ASU’s Biomimicry Center. Now he is using his skills to help a local tech company see if 3D printing can mimic natural structures. If it works, the process could help improve NASA’s fleet by enabling the manufacture of devices and components for spacecraft that are stronger and lighter.

Energy industry representatives and military and government leaders who gathered at conference on the Hawaiian island of Oahu got sobering news about continuing challenges hindering efforts to establish more resilient sources of energy on the island. Better news came from Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Nathan Johnson, director of ASU’s Laboratory for Energy And Power Solutions. Johnson described the Microgrid Boot Camp he helps to lead. The program is educating engineers, entrepreneurs and students — many of them military veterans — about working with new microgrid technologies and systems to provide communities with more reliable power.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if one day a computer writes a symphony that we enjoy,” says Fulton Schools Professor Subbarao Kambhampati in an extensive discussion about artificial intelligence and how it could shape the future. Kambhampati, whose expertise includes machine learning, says AI will definitely have bigger roles in more aspects of society, and human-machine interaction will become a more common part of our lives with advances in AI technology.

A report revealing the earning power of graduates from Arizona’s public universities, ranked by students’ major fields of study, finds that those in engineering and computer science are at the top. The study also found that all college graduates, regardless of their majors, are earning more money than people without college degrees, even when deducting payments for student loans. On average, engineering and computer science graduates are making almost twice as much as graduates in several nontechnical fields.

See also: Which degrees will get you the most money in Arizona? Arizona Daily Star, June 19

High-tech experts, business analysts and government leaders see the potential for India to become a major force in expanding the use of artificial intelligence. Fulton Schools Professor Subbarao Kambhampati, computer scientist and president of the international Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, says that although other countries are leading in AI advances and applications, India has all the pieces in place to make significant progress in big data, machine learning, automation and other AI-related technologies.

See also:

Infra to collect data is the tough part (Professor Kambhampati talks about India’s AI infrastructure challenges), The Economic Times, June 16

Imagine a massive network of machines scrubbing the Earth’s atmosphere to remove carbon dioxide from the sky. Such a scenario is seen as a possible solution for taking the environmentally threatening greenhouse gas out of the air we breathe. But the idea has been dismissed by some because of the enormous cost of the technique. But Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner, a leader in the new carbon-capture technologies, says the costs are coming down to a point where large-scale carbon dioxide removal can become a viable option.

Seven of 11 ASU researchers spending the summer in a Mayo Clinic and ASU Alliance for Health Care residency program are Fulton Schools faculty members. Through their expertise in computer science, electronics, artificial intelligence, medical diagnostic devices, bioengineering and biomarker technology, they’ll work to make progress on solving some of the biggest medical and health care challenges.

Fulbright Fellow David Azcona spent the past year working with Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Sharon Hsiao on research focused on educational data mining — delving into multimodal learning analytics in computer science education and the use of artificial intelligence in education. He also used his skills on a project with two ASU master’s degree students to develop computer software that analyzes data from a surveillance drone to detect wildfires. The project took fourth place at the recent U.S. Microsoft Imagine Cup, one of the leading student technology competitions, and will vie for an international grand prize in July.

A new online stock trading platform is under development that allows investors to buy and hold bitcoin. Along with the commodity exchanges that now offer investment in bitcoin futures, this signals that once highly mistrusted cryptocurrencies are edging closer to the mainstream in the financial industry. Dragan Boscovic, Fulton Schools research professor and Blockchain Research Lab director, talks about what this means for consumers, for Wall Street and for the economy’s evolution.

See also:

Cryptocurrencies to trade alongside precious metals in future, says director or Arizona’s blockchain lab, BTC Manager, June 16

Bitcoin is a valued investment opportunity according to an Arizona State University professor, Crypto Coin News Journal, June 15

ASU Blockchain Research Lab professor talks DLT & crypto to Wall Street, Bitcoin Exchange Guide, June 15

Bitcoin a ‘valued investment opportunity’ says Arizona State University professor, Inside Bitcoins, June 14

A tactic called digital spoofing is making people more vulnerable to devious phone scams. It’s estimated that the overall costs of losses to victims of such scams is in the billions of dollars. Flaws in current telephone systems are enabling digital spoofing to proliferate, says Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Adam Doupe, the associate director of the Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics, whose expertise includes telephony security.

There are sound reasons to use tap water over bottled water, explains Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, director of ASU’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering and co-founder of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Water and Health. The reasons include not only economics but also sustainability, resource conservation and ecosystem protection.

In a commentary exploring directions in which artificial intelligence technology might be taken in the future, Subbarao Kambhampati contends speculation that AI presents a threat to human society is overinflated. The Fulton Schools professor of computer science and engineering, and president of the international Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, points out that it is humans who will control the behavioral responses AI will exhibit. So, the real issue is what decisions people will make in shaping AI.

The perforated aluminum louvered façade of the Fulton Schools’ new Tooker House student residential complex is lauded equally for its design, aesthetics and functionality. Combined with a sandstone panel façade, insulated metal panels and perforated aluminum screens, the structure achieves a significant reduction in solar heat gain while still providing residents natural daylighting indoors and expansive views of the outdoors. Plus, the design emulates the natural patterns and textures of the Southwest’s desert environment.

Even with the many tech innovations achieved in computer science in the past few decades, the field still needs to make some significant progress to fulfill growing needs. Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Mohamed Sarwat points to the necessity for advances in computer hardware, new applications and the computing systems to handle them, personal data protection systems and data system support for the internet of things as big challenges computer scientists need to overcome.

The Canadian company Carbon Engineering is developing a liquid fuel that would be carbon-free — providing gasoline that could help reduce the detrimental impacts of climate change by not adding additional carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner has pioneered the concept of capturing carbon dioxide from the air, a process that would be employed by the company to make the new kind of fuel. Lackner says Carbon Engineering is proving the process can work and could also become cost-effective.

See also:

Sucking carbon dioxide from air is cheaper than scientists thought, Nature, June 7

Carbon dioxide extraction moves toward commercialisation, Greener Ideal, June 10

The potential pitfalls of sucking carbon from the atmosphere, Wired, June 13

Fulton Schools computer science doctoral student Vivin Paliath, an Arizona Army National Guard veteran, is one of two ASU graduate students to be named Tillman Scholars for the Class of 2018. He joins U.S. Air Force veteran Lindsay Lorson, a master’s student in ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, among only 60 recipients across the nation of this year’s Tillman scholarship awards. Pat Tillman was an ASU football star who later left the Arizona Cardinals NFL team to join the U.S. Army. He was killed while on duty in Afghanistan in 2004.

ASU Researchers will be looking at using composted “green waste” materials to replace traditional fertilizer for maintaining grass in public parks in Phoenix. An initial study indicates the compost could boost the water-retaining capacity of soils. If it works, the change could help conserve water, reduce parks maintenance costs and become an operational model program for other cities. Enrique Vivoni, a professor in the Fulton Schools and the School of Earth and Space Exploration, is leading the research team. Vivoni is a hydrologist whose work focuses on interactions between climate, ecosystems and landscapes.

From more than 300 nominations, Phoenix Magazine selected 40 greater Phoenix area residents 40 years old or younger for demonstrating “brilliant or precocious accomplishment in their field.” Among them is Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Erin Walker. She is developing educational technology to customize instruction for students with different needs. Walker is also using robots to improve teaching of middle school math and boost students’ confidence in their math skills and she has helped to create an app to enhance students’ reading comprehension.

Tempe is one of the first cities to employ advanced wastewater analysis to help combat drug abuse — particularly opioid abuse. The project uses resources in the Environmental Health Engineering Lab directed by Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden. The lab can test wastewater samples to estimate the number people using drugs in a specific area, the quantities of drugs consumed and the potential number of overdose incidents. Halden’s lab team includes Postdoctoral Research Associate Adam Gushgari, a recent graduate of the Fulton Schools Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering doctoral program, and two current doctoral students in the program, Ana Barrios and Erin Driver. Gushgari explained the research to Channel 12 News. Barrios, Driver and Halden did the same for the other news reports listed below.

See also:

Buscan en drenajes solución al problema de opioides (They are looking in drains for a solution to the problem of opioids), TeleMundo Arizona, May 30

ASU scientists turn to wastewater to determine drug presence in the city, The State Press, May 31

Can sewage provide clues on how to combat opioid crisis? The Fix, June 5

ASU, Tempe study wastewater for opioid content, Easy Valley Tribune, June 7

Because it kills bacteria, the chemical compound triclosan has been a popular additive for use in a large number of consumer products, including hand sanitizers, toothpastes, cookware, clothes and furniture. But studies found it can have adverse impacts on human health, particularly causing gut problems. Fulton Schools Professor and director of the Center for Environmental Health Engineering Rolf Halden, whose research helped to raise awareness of the risks related to triclosan, says further studies are strengthening the case for caution in the use of the potentially harmful antimicrobial.

In a podcast produced by the international Water Environment Federation, Fulton Schools Professor Bruce Rittmann talks about how he and his team at the Swette Center Environmental Biotechnology are using communities of microbes in processes that can convert water pollutants into valuable resources. Rittmann also describes work that is advancing an array of water treatment technologies and improving the engineering and management of water systems.

The Center for Environmental Health Engineering directed by Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden will work the city of Tempe to monitor the local wastewater system for the presence of health-threatening substances. Halden’s lab will analyze sewage samples to provide real-time data on the presence of opioids and other addictive substances. The partnership is aimed at providing the city information that can guide its efforts to mount resources to stem the tide of addictions. Tempe is now one of hundreds of cities using Halden’s wastewater monitoring system.

See also: Sewage is helping cities flush out the opioid crisis, Scientific American, May 25

Tempe partners with ASU to study city wastewater to monitor public health, ABC 15 News – Phoenix, May 25

Tempe. ASU to study wastewater for clues about opiod abuse, Cronkite News, May 24, and the Arizona Republic, May 31

Tempe partners with ASU to detect drugs in wastewater, KJZZ (NPR), May 23

ASU, Tempe testing for opioids in city’s sewage system, KTAR News, May 29

The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on the self-driving Uber vehicle that struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe. Lina Karam, a Fulton Schools professor of computer engineering, commented on what measures could be taken to help prevent such tragic mishaps. She recommended requiring stringent qualifications for operators to ensure their ability to safely control self-driving vehicles and incorporating into the vehicles a process that quickly alerts drivers to problems with autonomous systems.

Lithium-ion batteries commonly used in cell phones, laptop computers, cameras, power tools and electric cars are being linked to numerous fires breaking out in landfills where these electronic tools and devices are being dumped, as well as fires in garbage trucks. In a news report on the dangers of disposing of these electronics, Hanqing Jiang, a Fulton Schools professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, describes his research on using a layer of silicone inside lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries to reduce the threat of such fires.

Chi-En Lin’s research and development of multi-biomarker technology to diagnose diseases earned him the highly sought-after Metrohm USA’s Young Chemist Award earlier this year. In an interview with a major international health and medical news outlet, the Fulton Schools biomedical engineering doctoral student talks in detail about advances in biosensors and biomarkers and their growing role in detecting and managing complex diseases and in the development of personalized medicine. Lin is conducting his research under the guidance of Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Jeffrey La Belle.

A far-ranging exploration of the challenges posed by a world that artificial intelligence technology is increasingly reshaping taps into the perspective of Subbarao Kambhampati, a Fulton Schools professor of computer science and engineering, and president of the international Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. AI will definitely lead to “a reformulation of societies,” Kambhampati says, but much of what AI alters in our lives will amount to positive changes.

Six teams of Arizona State University students brought drones they had equipped with cameras and sensors to a campus gymnasium recently, where officials from the U.S. Department of Defense and the Federal Emergency Management Administration watched as teams launched their aerial vehicles into a simulated disaster response scenario. Plans are to make the competition an annual event to showcase aerial vehicle innovation at ASU and to motivate students to help develop the next generation of life-saving search and rescue technology.

Arizona State University’s newly established fashion program is already breaking into the innovation mode through creative partnerships pairing students in various disciplines. One in particular involves a collaborative fashion technology class project that tapped the talents of Fulton Schools students. Class member Jenna Forrey, a human systems engineering student, and computer science student Abhik Chowdhury are among those who joined fashion program students in delving into designs for clothing featuring wearable technology inspired by science and engineering. Forrey’s and Chowdhury’s contributions are noted in an earlier article, Moving the needle on fashion education, ASU NOW, March 28.

Authorship of numerous books on mathematics. Decades of research and teaching in the field. Directing Arizona State University’s PRIME Center to increase interest in STEM subjects among students from preschool to college. Editing the Arizona Association of Teachers of Mathematics semiannual journal OnCore and the monthly “MATHgazine Senior” and “MATHgazine Junior” online publications. Those are among accomplishments that have earned the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Lifetime Achievement Award for Carole Greenes, a Fulton Schools professor of math education.

Arizona State University’s EcoCar3 team is one of the groups of students from 16 universities embarking on the first leg the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Technology competition. Their challenge: Develop a car into an electric-gas fuel hybrid and put it to demanding road tests and a series of technical demonstrations and design reviews. Fulton Schools students make up most of ASU’s team. Abdel Ra’ouf Mayyas, a Fulton Schools assistant professor of automotive engineering is the team’s faculty adviser.

Ivana Ninkovic followed the achievement of becoming an Olympic athlete for her native Bosnia and Herzegovina by becoming the Fulton Schools Spring 2018 Outstanding Engineering Management Program Graduate. Ninkovic competed on the Arizona State University swim team throughout her undergraduate years. She says ASU and the Fulton Schools turned out to be the perfect choice to pursue both her academic and athletic goals.

Arizona — especially the Phoenix metro area — is expected to benefit significantly from a global upswing in the microelectronics industry. Companies already in the state are expanding operations while others are relocating to the region. Local business leaders say that is certain to send companies to Arizona State University and other Arizona colleges and universities looking for new engineering talent. Details are in a report by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.

Teaming with former ASU graduate student Rachel Yoho, Fulton Schools Professor Bruce Rittmann discovered that many introductory science textbooks give scant attention to some of today’s major environmental topics, particularly climate change and renewable energy technologies. Their findings are detailed in a paper recently published in the research journal Environmental Communication.

See also: Very few pages devoted to climate change in introductory science textbooks, Science Daily, April 30

What Fulton Schools associate professor of materials science and engineering Candace Chan describes as a “very beautiful” metal oxide nanowire material may help produce the next generation of advanced battery technologies. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers reports that Chan’s research group has developed a new technique for making the material that improves the safety of lithium-ion batteries. A paper published in the research journal Applied Energy Materials reveals the science and engineering involved in the novel process.

The Salt River Project utility will be monitoring the environmental health of its 180 miles of canals in the Phoenix metro area with special drones developed by Fulton Schools faculty members and students, including Assistant Professors Wenlong Zhang and Panagiotis Polygerinos and graduate student Shatadal Mishra. Hexacopter drones will collect water samples from the canals that will be examined for contaminants.

See also: SRP teams with ASU to develop high-tech drones Fox 10 News Phoenix, May 1

A tumor seriously impaired Fulton School student Stefano Chang’s vision and threatened to end his quest for a master’s degree in software engineering. He found a way to keep from getting too far behind in his schoolwork while enduring long hours of medical treatment. During the same time, he did the groundwork for his own software consulting business. Chang will receive his degree at the end of the spring semester.

Motivated by a desire to find solutions to the drug-abuse crises afflicting countries throughout the world, Fulton Schools civil environmental and sustainable engineering doctoral student Adam Gushgari plans to work on establishing an environmental monitoring startup company soon after receiving his degree this semester. The idea for the venture is rooted in the research he conducted under Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden in the area of wastewater epidemiology.

Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden is among researchers expanding knowledge about human health through the emerging field of wastewater-based epidemiology. With their Human Health Observatory, a repository of samples from more than 300 water treatment plants around the world, Halden and his team at the Center for Environmental Health Engineering are compiling a large volume of valuable data that sheds light on the “metabolism” of large urban populations.

Several Fulton Schools students were among those to emerge from the ASU Venture Devils program’s competitive Demo Day event with funding for entrepreneurial efforts. Biomedical engineering doctoral student Nicholas Hool got support for earbud devices that help alleviate stress. Ann Grimes and Christian Coleman, who are receiving mechanical engineering degrees this spring, earned support for their flood irrigation control device. Chemical engineering student Alyssa Carlson and her Engineering Projects in Community Service team mates received funds to develop recreational and business opportunities in the small Shonto community in Navajo County, Arizona

With his degree from the Fulton Schools in information management technology — with a focus on entrepreneurship, Jay Patel plans to return to India and apply what he has learned in college to improving the quality of life in his homeland. Ventures to provide communities quality food at lower prices and a smart shopping app are on his agenda.

The winning team in the recent 2018 ASU Academic Bowl was captained by Fulton Schools aerospace engineering student Allan Garry. He helped lead his team to victory over another team of Fulton Schools students in the academic trivia competition’s championship round. Team members split more than $20,000 in scholarship money.

Zero Mass Water, an energy tech startup founded by Cody Friesen, a Fulton Schools associate professor of materials science and engineering, has developed technology that produces water by capturing moisture out of the air. Using a special system of hydropanels similar to panels used in solar energy systems, the technology can produce about 20 16-ounce bottled of water per day. The systems have already been used to help provide water in some of the places around the world suffering the most severe shortages.

Under the direction of Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Spring Berman, engineering students in ASU’s Autonomous Collective Systems Laboratory are looking at how “swarm intelligence” found in nature (think of how individual ants coordinate their labors within their colonies) can be mimicked to design and program robots in ways that could be applied to making advances in self-driving vehicle technologies.

Efforts by ASU and the Fulton Schools to support endeavors to bring clean, renewable and sustainable sources of energy to countries around the world is exemplified by USPCAS-E, the U.S-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy.  A recent exhibition at ASU showcased more than 40 research projects by USPCAS-E partners focusing on renewable energy, thermal energy, electrical energy, and energy policy. Fulton Schools Professor Sayfe Kiaei is the director of the USPCAS-E project.

With the deep pool of talent offered by its 20,000 students, ASU’s Fulton Schools are a major factor that is making the Phoenix metro area a more attractive environment for entrepreneurs, investors and existing businesses that want to establish new tech companies. Since 2010, more than 68 percent of ASU graduates have been staying in the area to find employment.

Robots are certain to have a growing impact on employment in the U.S. in the near future. Robotics technologies still have a long way to go to effectively perform many human skills, but more and more robots have the ability to work compatibly with humans in a variety of work environments, says Heni Ben Amor, a Fulton Schools assistant professor of computer science and robotics.

ASU’s service learning program Engineering Projects in Community Service, for middle schools and high schools — supported by the Fulton Schools — is giving young students experience in technical problem-solving, research, design and community involvement. Recent award-winning EPICS projects include a system that helps teachers locate students in an emergency, a redesign of an Audubon Society gift shop, a portable workplace that attaches to a wheelchair, and a monument and sign for a facility serving families in transition.

Fulton Schools faculty members Thomas Sugar, Panagiotis Polygerinos and Panagiotis Artemiadis are among researchers contributing to technological advances in wearable robotic devices. Among their projects are robotic exoskeletons designed to aid military and industrial operations, robotic systems to help stroke victims regain mobility, a “jetpack” to help people run faster and a robotic prosthetic ankle for amputees.

Ryan Nolan and Mitch McCoy, seniors in the Fulton Schools Aeronautical Management Technology program, were featured in a simulation of how pilots are trained to respond to emergencies during flight. The report also features Fulton Schools flight instructor and airline pilot Mike Edmonds, a graduate of the program. The simulation was based on a recent incident in which a major airline’s passenger jet had to make a dramatic emergency landing.

A team of Fulton Schools civil and environmental engineering students took on a challenge to purify wastewater to make it safe for human consumption. The project — conducted at a water treatment plant in the town of Fountain Hills, near Scottsdale — was part of the American Society of Civil Engineers Pacific Southwest Conference annual student competitions, which were held this year at Arizona State University. The water treatment competition required students to sufficiently remove contaminants so that the water met drinking standards.

The city of Tempe is being aided in its quest to convert to renewable energy sources by students in the Fulton Schools Solar Energy Engineering and Commercialization master’s degree program directed by Professor Ron Roedel. Those students worked with others from ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business to develop strategies for transitioning to renewables that Roedel presented to city leaders.

Close to 100 students are the first to receive Master of Science degrees in energy engineering through U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy, known as USPCAS-E. The USPCAS-E program is a partnership between Arizona State University, Oregon State University, the National University of Science and Technology in Pakistan and the University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar. Fulton Schools Professor Sayfe Kiaei is the director of the USPCAS-E project. Each semester a cohort of students and faculty from the two universities in Pakistan come to ASU to work with several Fulton Schools faculty in their labs.

Read also: Energy technology grads national asset, says minister, The Express Tribune (Pakistan), April 19

The annual American Society of Civil Engineers Pacific Southwest Conference student competitions recently came to Arizona State University for the first time in almost two decades. ASU and Northern Arizona University co-hosted about 1,500 students from 18 universities in California, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona for the event. Teams of Fulton Schools students and their peers at the other schools squared off in about a dozen different contests, including the popular concrete canoe competition held at Tempe Town Lake.

Fulton Schools students are among members of an Arizona State University team preparing for a national competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors to convert a standard gasoline-fueled car into a gas-electric hybrid vehicle. The final phases of the competition begin May 10 and involve seeing how the automobile performs on a drive from Yuma, Arizona to Fontana California.

Water quality in the greater Phoenix area depends heavily on the Salt River Project utility’s ability to maintain its 131 miles of canals. SRP is getting help with that chore from Fulton Schools researchers. Assistant Professors Wenlong Zhang, Panagiotis Polygerinos and Dan Aukes, along with doctoral student Mohammad Sharifzedah, are employing various robotic technologies they’ve developed in their labs — including quadcopters and nature-mimicking robotic fish — to aid in keeping water in the canals clean.

Fulton Schools students in an aerospace engineering club are taking the reins in preparing an Arizona State University team for a major annual national competition sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. They’ve spent many months designing, building and testing the small remote-control airplanes the team will take to the event.

The newest Fulton Schools campus student residential complex, the Tooker House, won multiple awards at a recent national student housing industry conference. The awards included Best Architecture and Design, Best Use of Green & Sustainable Construction or Development and Best Public-Private Partnership Development. The Tooker House also features high-tech amenities and work spaces where student can collaborate on projects and use tools such as 3D printers and laser cutters.

Fulton Schools Associate Professor Aviral Shrivastava’s expertise is in embedded computers, one of the technologies that make self-driving cars possible. He agrees that it’s prudent for the autonomous vehicle industry to cut back its testing of the cars on public streets until flaws that are raising concerns are remedied.

The Humble Homes project developed by Arizona State University engineering students may help the city of Tempe remedy its shortage of affordable housing. The students have mapped out the landscape for an urban “micro home” community. Some of them may get a chance to be involved in actually building the cluster of 600-square-foot domiciles.

Read also: Tiny homes aim to help tackle Tempe’s not-so-tiny housing problem, The State Press, April 10

Air Force veteran Christopher Ames considers the classic Ford Thunderbird “an icon of American automotive engineering.” But he discovered the one he acquired at an auto auction was plagued by a common problem of old Thunderbirds: rapid engine overheating. He went on a mission to solve the problem that led him to a Fulton Schools thermal and fluids engineering course taught by mechanical engineering instructor Mark Miner. The result: There is now a new redesigned auto part that corrects coolant flow problems in Thunderbirds being reviewed by the U.S. Patent Office.   

It may be time for an extensive re-engineering of U.S. national defense, writes Brad Allenby, an Arizona State University President’s Professor in the Fulton Schools. He proposes as the cornerstone of the project a universal national service requirement that would involve adults of all ages in protecting the country. Offering his views through the Future Tense partnership, Allenby says this approach could help the military and the country benefit from a broad range of skills — and may even foster a more cohesive American democracy.

Fulton Schools Professor Bruce Rittman is interviewed about the advances in environmental biotechnology that recently earned him the Stockholm Water Prize from the Stockholm International Water Institute. His lab uses the natural functions performed by microorganisms to remove pollutants from water. He is also exploring ways to put those contaminants to work for positive purposes.

Arizona State University’s new Center for Smart Cities and Regions is focusing on helping communities employ the internet of things and other new technologies to enhance their economic, social and cultural health. Among the center’s projects is building a “smart campus” that “makes the ASU community experience better.” That may involve using more of the voice-activated Amazon Echo devices that the Fulton Schools has already supplied to students in the new Tooker House campus residence complex.

Combining his expertise in chemical engineering and structural biology, Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Brent Nannenga is expanding what we know about the structures of proteins. With that knowledge he will use proteins to make inorganic nanomaterials that could be used to develop new pharmaceutical drugs to treat a variety of ailments from hypertension and asthma to acid reflux and allergies. The work will involve a novel electron crystallography technique that Nannega developed.

Virtual money systems known as cryptocurrency function through a vast network of databases called blockchain. As the technology evolves, cryptocurrencies will be used by growing numbers of businesses, industries and governments, say experts such as Fulton Schools Associate Research Professor Dragan Boscovic. He is the technical director for Arizona State University’s Center for Assured and Scalable Data Engineering, known as CASCADE, where researchers are working with the cryptocurrency company Dash to make blockchain more secure and more energy efficient in its use of the computing power it requires. Such progress will help make use of blockchain more mainstream, Boscovic says.

Development of advanced microbiology processes that could enable the conversion of pollutants and contaminants in wastewater into valuable resources helped win the prestigious international Stockholm Water Prize for Fulton Schools Professor Bruce Rittmann and Professor Mark van Loosdrecht at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. In an interview about their work, they explain how a new generation of water treatments could capture useful chemical and nutrients from wastewater. See page 18 of the digital magazine.

Advances appear to be on the horizon for what is being called urban aerial mobility technology — what some might also call flying cars and taxis. Fulton Schools Associate Professor Daniel Bliss is working on designs for navigation and positioning systems for these self-driving automobiles/aircraft. Bliss says the success of such vehicles will require a fusion of multiple technologies, including sensors, scanning lasers, and sophisticated ground-positioning systems and antennae systems.

See also: ASU professor develops technology for self-flying quadcopter, 3TV/CBS 5 News (Phoenix)

Robots that can be controlled by signals from the human brain have the potential to become an effective physical therapy tool, says Panagiotis Artemiadis, a Fulton Schools associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. His research includes using mind-controlled robotic systems to aid people in recovering mobility after suffering a stroke.

Professors are integrating aspects of arts studies into their teaching of science, technology, engineering and math. Associate Research Professor Tirupalavanam Ganesh, the assistant dean of engineering education for Fulton Schools, says engineering is a creative profession. So he focuses on teaching his students habits and methods for unlocking their imaginations and bringing an artful perspective to their engineering endeavors.

New tariffs that increase the costs for some countries of importing steel and metals into the United States could have ramifications for the U.S. military and defense industries. Some national leaders say the tariffs will help strengthen national security. Fulton Schools Professor Brad Allenby is among experts who say that is a disputable claim and that the tariffs might have negative impacts on the overall economy.

Many faculty members and their students in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering in the Fulton Schools are involved in research aimed at helping to protect the personal information stored on the electronic technologies we use every day. They’re applying expertise in computer science, cybersecurity, data mining, digital forensics and biosecurity to help prevent our “digital footprints” from making us vulnerable. The article also appears in the spring 2018 issue of ASU Thrive magazine.

Self-driving cars are mimicking the unsafe driving habits of humans, says Aviral Shrivastava, a Fulton Schools associate professor of computer science. He teaches embedded computing courses that challenge students to engineer self-navigating toy cars with sensing tools to enable the vehicles to avoid driving into obstacles around them. The priority for autonomous cars should be safety, he says, not designing them to provide a human-like driving experience. His research is looking at how to build a self-driving car that can apply its brakes within a millisecond of detecting obstacles.

Read also: Should autonomous car makers slow down testing, KJZZ (NPR), April 10

Tech industries in particular benefit from university researchers who have the freedom and the skills to explore big ideas and big questions and experiment with potential applications and solutions. Progress in five major areas of technological innovation contributing to economic growth in Greater Phoenix is a reflection of the wide range of engineering research strengths found among the Fulton Schools faculty.

“Traditionally, we have just thought of pollutants as something to get rid of, but now we’re beginning to see them as potential resources that are just in the wrong place.” That statement by Arizona State University Regents’ Professor Bruce Rittmann reflects the kinds of creative problem-solving approaches that have earned the Fulton Schools environmental engineer one of the most prestigious international awards in his field. Rittmann and a fellow environmental biotechnology researcher have been awarded the Stockholm Water Prize for the global impacts of their innovations in water treatment processes that are energy-efficient, cost-saving and exceedingly effective in removing contaminants and recycling valuable chemicals and nutrients.

Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden and his research team at Arizona State University’s Center for Environmental Health Engineering are at the forefront of advancing techniques for analyzing the contents of wastewater to assess public health risks. A new project focuses on detecting the presence of opioids in sewage. The real-time data such analyses can provide could help communities respond more effectively to rising use of the dangerous drug.

The first pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving car raises concerns that the industry is deploying the technology too fast, without first building all possible safety features into autonomous vehicles. Artificial intelligence expert Subbarao Kambhampati, a Fulton Schools professor of computer science, says the accident also raises questions about the capability of safety drivers to effectively monitor self-driving care systems.

Kambhampati is also quoted in “Uber Self-Driving Car Fatality Reveals the Technology’s Blind Spots” Scientific American March 21

Fulton Schools students applied their problem-solving talents in joining a local business owner to meld technological know-how and fashion sense in producing a stylish yet practical and comfortable new shoe. The student team used mechanical, electrical and manufacturing engineering skills in the project done in a capstone engineering design class taught by Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Micah Lande.

Fatalities and serious injuries resulting from the recent collapse of a newly constructed pedestrian bridge in Florida has sparked concerns about the safety of bridges in many other states. Pingbo Tang, an assistant professor in the Fulton Schools’ Del E. Web School of Construction, says Arizona’s more than 8,000 bridges are generally safe, but the state’s heavy summer monsoon rains can erode soil around the foundations of bridges. That raises safety concerns, Tang says. He adds that the Arizona Department of Transportation also monitors bridges for potential damage from earthquakes, geological conditions and related factors, and that highway load limits are posted on structurally deficient bridges as a safety warning. See related coverage KTAR News (Phoenix)

Courses on blockchain technology, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are seeing a surge of students eager to learn about the digital currency wave sweeping across the financial landscape. At Arizona State University, the Fulton Schools’ Blockchain Research Lab gives students access to blockchain technology and opportunities to be part of the cryptocurrency design process, says Fulton Schools’ Dean Kyle Squires.

Systems engineering doctoral student Samantha Janko and senior electrical systems engineering student Alexander Mobley are helping to develop microgrid technologies as part of a larger endeavor to provide underserved communities access to reliable sources of energy and other vital resources, such as water. They’re part of the research team at the Laboratory for Energy and Power Solutions directed by Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Nathan Johnson.

The head of the Arizona Technology Council says it’s looking like the state could become a leader in the emerging high-tech field of additive manufacturing. That optimism is driven in part to advances being achieved by researchers at Arizona’s state universities. Dhruv Bhate, a Fulton Schools associate professor, is doing research to improve 3D metal printing. Some of his work is aimed at making an array of metal components that are lighter but still strong enough to be used in aerospace and defense industry applications.

The carbon-capture technology being built and tested by Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner and his team at the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions could help reduce the impacts of climate change by pulling threatening concentrations of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. But even if the machinery is capable of making a big impact, there are economic and political hurdles to clear to put to the technology to work on a global scale.

A desert road trip provides a test site for a hydropanel designed to capture moisture from the atmosphere to produce water. The hydropanel is the technology developed by the Zero Mass Water company founded by Cody Friesen, a Fulton Schools Associate Professor of materials science and engineering. The nocturnal product testing out in the open Arizona desert was successful.

Electric-powered vehicles and many digital electronic devices could benefit from development of new mechanical engineering techniques that boost the energy storage capacity, life span and safety of lithium batteries. Fulton Schools Professor Hanqing Jiang and his research team have discovered methods for preventing uncontrolled lithium dendrite growth, which inhibits battery performance. Read more in Electronics 360, DesignNews, Mining.com, ChemEurope.com, V3. OilPrice.com

Arizona State University has joined four other leading universities in offering courses and degree programs through the online education platform Coursera. Studies in the Fulton Schools’ Master of Computer Science program will soon be available to online students — the first time ASU has hosted a degree program on a fully open scale platform. The online program aligns with ASU’s and Coursera’s efforts to make higher education more globally accessible. Read the Fulton Schools announcement.

Both threatening and hopeful depictions of advances in artificial intelligence technology continue to proliferate. AI is either a potential threat to society or a groundbreaking tool that will significantly improve our lives — depending on who’s making the predictions. Fulton Schools Professor Subbarao Kambhampati joins a fellow Arizona State University AI expert to provide perspectives on the debate.  

Wanda Dalla Costa will bring her perspectives on the construction of built environments that nurture our cultural connections to Arizona State University students as she teaches indigenous architecture as a newly named ASU Institute Professor. She has a cross-appointment in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and the School of Sustainable and the Built Environment in the Fulton Schools. Her expertise spans culturally responsive design, sustainable-affordable housing, climatic resiliency in architecture and using built environments as a teaching tool. 

Will a $2 million grant from the Maricopa County Industrial Development Authority, the Fulton Schools will lead a new workforce development project designed to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in the region. The effort will focus on preparing people to work in electronic technology in the medical field and in additive

Some states are considering allowing use of digital currency for payment of income taxes. Some critics contend it would bring risks and burdens to states’ tax-collection operations. But Fulton Schools Research Professor Dragan Boscovic, director of ASU’s Blockchain Research Lab, which focuses on the digital ledger system behind bitcoin, says the move could put states at the forefront of financial technology.

Hanging Jiang drew inspiration from the centuries-old art of paper folding — origami — to design a new mechanical structure that can unfold and lock to support large, heavy loads. The Fulton Schools professor says the new structure could be used to achieve more mechanical versatility in robotics, spacecraft and implantable medical devices, among many other potential applications. Jiang previously used the origami technique to develop stretchable batteries.

Three Fulton Schools alumni are among five women with the engineering consulting firm Terracon who are profiled in a feature story published in conjunction with National Engineers Week. Brittany Dalton, Kendra Clouse and Marissa Raleigh play key roles in providing the company’s environmental, geotechnical, facilities and materials services, and also contribute to the workforce diversity that employers say maximizes innovation, creativity and competitiveness.

Remote-controlled drones, robotics and artificial intelligence are some of the advanced technologies being deployed on the battlefield and in other military operations. The trend is creating “techno-human” squads of soldiers working side-by-side with networked machines to carry out their missions, says Fulton School Professor Brad Allenby.

Fulton Schools computer scientists Tathagata Chakraborti and Subbarao Kambhampati discuss effective collaboration between humans and artificial intelligence technologies in a recent paper, Algorithms for the Greater Good!. They point out that it’s not enough to make AI smart. AI developers must make sure the AI bot works well with human intelligence, in all its wild variety, including different cultural norms, if we are to avoid serious problems.

China is on the cusp of pursuing big advances in artificial intelligence technologies and capabilities. Fulton Schools Professor Subbarao Kambhampati, president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, is among AI experts who say that raises expectations for breakthroughs in the field but also stokes worries about how the country may use AI systems to increase public surveillance and censorship,  and boost its military power.

Proposed budget cuts to the Department of Energy and a trade tariff on the photovoltaic panels that produce solar energy could burden the solar power industry and reduce energy research funding. A funding rollback could impact graduate students involved in research projects to earn their degrees, says Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Zachary Holman. The tariff may mean some tough times for solar technology installers but the movement toward renewable energy sources will continue growing, says Ron Roedel, director of the Fulton Schools’ Solar Energy Engineering and Commercialization master’s degree program.

A partnership with the cryptocurrency enterprise Dash will enable ASU’s Blockchain Research Lab, directed by Fulton Schools Research Professor Dragan Boscovic, to expand research into digital currency, establish a graduate course on blockchain technology and fund scholarships for students.

It’s a cyberspace form of bank robbery. Called “jackpotting,” it’s perpetrated by computer system hackers who find ways to get bank ATM machines to dispense large sums of money. Paulo Shakarian, a Fulton Schools Entrepreneurial Professor and director of Cyber-Socio Intelligent Systems Laboratory, says combating the crime will require close surveillance of the “dark web” to uncover the schemes of potential jackpotting hackers.

Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner, director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, says merely reducing emissions of carbon dioxide won’t be nearly enough to reduce the rising environmental threat from the buildup of greenhouses gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s critical to also further develop and employ new carbon-capture technologies to remove significant amounts of the CO2 that’s already there.

Three Fulton Schools students won the grand prize of a $100,000 investment in their business venture idea at the ASU Innovation Open entrepreneurship competition. Nicholas Hool, Sami Mian and John Patterson make up the team behind Hoolest Performance Technologies. Their stress-relief product consists of earbuds that emit an electrical stimulation that activates the body’s relaxation response.

Read also:

Phoenix Business Journal: Meet the student startup that won$100,000in ASU/Avnet competition

AZBIO:  Hoolest wins top prize at ASU Open

KTAR Radio News: ASU student-led business wins $100K at Innovation Open

Fulton Schools materials science and engineering students Joshua Burchard, Bryan Ugaz and Sayquon Washington went up against 10 teams of more experienced undergraduate and graduate students in a national geodesic dome design competition. Their medal dome project, featuring an intricate 3-D printed design that incorporated 31 polygons, earned the three freshmen the top prize.

Fulton Schools electrical engineering graduate student Anik Jha, a native of India, is among international students at ASU who say that while they face challenges going to school in the United States, but that the university works to help them acclimate to the social environment and to succeed in their academic endeavors.

Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Ted Pavlic talks about the need for engineers and scientists developing artificial intelligence technologies to be more aware of the potential for unintended consequences in employing AI systems in ways that might have harmful impacts.  Computer science major Matthew Acosta says students should get more training on the ethical issues revolving around the uses of AI.

Robots are our best option for less risky and more effective space exploration, says Fulton Schools Associate Professor Panagiotis Artemiades, director of the Human-Oriented Robotics and Control Lab. Making robots our astronauts could free up time and funding for humans to focus on solving other technological challenges, as well as answering some big cosmological and philosophical questions about our world and the universe, says Forbes magazine’s technology, aerospace and astronomy writer.

A recent outbreak of cyberattacks targeting ATM machines has led to the theft of more than $1 million from banks in the United States. Fulton Schools Entrepreneurial Professor Paulo Shakarian, the CEO of a cybersecurity intelligence startup, said the company was able to track an uptick of communications on the dark web about new hacking hardware that’s been used in the ATM thefts, as well as the sale of a guidebook on such “jackpotting” schemes

The U.S. Department of Defense has developed a comprehensive new National Defense Strategy in response to the varied and complex technological challenges to ensuring the country’s security. Fulton Schools Professor of Practice Nadya Bliss, director of Arizona State University’s Global Security Initiative, talks about what university researchers are capable of doing to support the defense department’s goals.

Photovoltaic solar energy panels are among imports on which the United States recently placed significantly high trade tariffs. The action could have negative impacts on U.S. solar energy system installers, says Ron Roedel, a Fulton Schools professor emeritus who directs the Solar Energy Engineering and Commercialization graduate program.

The Southwest Robotics Symposium hosted by Arizona State University looked at how Artificial Intelligence technology applied to robotics systems can make the world a better place. Fulton Schools faculty members Panagiotis Artemiades, Thomas Sugar, Hamid Marvi and Heni Ben Amor describe AI as the mechanism that will enable robots to help humans in homes, work places, hospitals and almost everywhere else.

Fulton Schools student Surya Iyer’s idea to boost the efficiency of waste management won a spot in the finals of the ASU Innovation Open competition for a $100,000 grand prize. His prototype for a “smart” garbage container uses a sensor to detect how much trash is in a trash can and makes the information accessible remotely through internet-connected devices.

Ten Fulton Schools students make up two of the teams that earned a place in a technology competition involving the New Shepherd spacecraft and the rocket company Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. One team’s project will focus on measuring and collecting data on how space affects human sight, smell, taste tough and hearing. The other project will study how pollinating bees might react in space and what that would mean for efforts to establish agriculture away from Earth.

See also: Parabolic Arc

Arizona State University is expanding its role in sustainability education and research with the establishment of the New Global Futures Initiative. Its directive is to “take a broad look at the trajectory of our planet” and to help figure out ways that we can manage the world “in ways that achieve sustainable habitability.” At the helm of the new initiative is Peter Schlosser, who now has a joint appointment in the Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Fulton Schools Professor Morteza Abbaszedegan, director of the National Science Foundation Water and Environmental Technology Foundation, points out the health risks that the “raw water” movement would pose for its adherents.

Work led by Fulton Schools Research Professor Dragan Boscovic, director of ASU’s Blockchain Research Lab, has spurred formation of a partnership between the university and Dash, a leading blockchain-powered digital currency. In addition to research funding, the partnership will enable development of an online graduate Blockchain technology and application course and scholarships for undergraduate and graduate student research fellowships.

See more news coverage: CoinJournal, ASU Now, Bitcoinist, AZ Big Media, BlockTribune, Dash Force News, Phoenix Business Journal

Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Kristen Parrish and sustainable engineering doctoral student Neda Askari are helping the Basha’s grocery chain improve the energy efficiency and cost savings of its industrial-scale food freezer storage. Working with the Salt River Project power utility and the Viking Cold Solutions company, they will be assessing whether the thermal energy storage system model they’ve developed can be adapted for other industrial facilities.

Kyle Williams, wide receiver for the Arizona State University Sun Devils football team and Fulton Schools biomedical engineering student, has his sights sets on becoming an orthopedic surgeon. Professor Marco Santello, director of the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, explains how Williams and other students in the same degree program are preparing for medical school by learning about the latest in neuroscience, tissue engineering, synthetic biology, neurorehabilitation and related biomedical areas.

Billions of metric tons of discarded plastics are posing an environmental hazard around the world. Research by Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Taylor Weiss could help to diminish that threat. He’s designing a “symbiotic partnership” between two forms of bacteria to make bioplastics that would harmlessly biodegrade at a relatively rapid pace.

Fulton Schools Professor Subbarao Kambhampati is featured in the debut episode of the science and technology podcast miniseries “Questioning Artificial Intelligence.” He joins another leading AI research in exploring issues arising from the proliferation of AI technologies and their widely varying applications. Kambhampati is the president of the international Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.

Zero Mass Water, a startup company that grew out of research led by Cody Friesen, a Fulton Schools associate professor of materials science, is among purveyors of what is being called “live water,” “raw water” or “real water.” They’re part of the “water consciousness movement” that is sparking debates about the pros and cons of water treatment infrastructure and water purification processes, and the resulting health benefits or drawbacks of both treated and untreated water.

Gallium nitride is a promising new semiconductor material with properties that enable it to operate at higher voltages, frequencies and temperatures at higher efficiencies than silicon. With support from NASA, Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Yuji Zhao and his research team are working on ways to use the material to develop a high-temperature microprocessor for space mission applications. The article was also published by  Tech News n’ Gadgets,  Phys.org, and ECN (Electronics Component News) magazine.  Read more about Zhao’s gallium nitride research.

As much as alternative energy sources such and solar and wind power might help reduce the detrimental impacts of climate change, what would really help is technology that removes greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Fulton Schools professor Klaus Lackner, a pioneer of carbon-capture technology, thinks that cost-efficient systems to remove carbon dioxide are a surmountable challenge.

Ongoing global outreach efforts led by the Fulton Schools to help modernize higher education in Vietnam are bringing benefits to both research and education at Arizona State University. The signing of a new collaboration agreement between ASU and one of Vietnam’s leading universities will enable more long-term joint ventures, including student and faculty exchange programs and new research projects, as well as economic development and entrepreneurship opportunities. Read more.

Artificial intelligence technology that thinks, understands humans and acts accordingly? For now, you will see it only in fiction like the “Star Wars” movies, says computer scientist, robotics and AI expert Subbarao Kambhampati. Progress is being made in developing AI that can assist people, says the Fulton Schools professor, but we are still far, far away from seeing something with the intellectual capabilities and emotional intuition of the “Star Wars” droids R2-D2 and BB-8.

A soft robotic exosuit developed in a project led by Fulton Schools Assistant Professors Panagiotis Polygerinos and Wenlong Zhang is being tested by the Barrow Neurological Institute therapists for use in helping stroke victims regain mobility. Systems engineering doctoral students Saivimal Sridar and Zhi (George) Qiao are also involved in the research on the exosuit being conducted in Zhang’s Robotics and Intelligent Systems Lab and the Bio-inspired Mechatronics Lab directed by Polygerinos.

The popular international architecture and design website gave a big photo spread to the Fulton Schools’ new student residence complex, the Tooker House. The architects are lauded for a design theme that mimics the colors and textures of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert environment.

A team of engineering doctoral students led by Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Daniel Aukes is developing robotic fish as a potential tool for the Salt River Project power and water utility. The robo-fish could help reduce the overgrowth of pondweed and other underwater vegetation that is hindering water flow in SRP’s canal system in the Phoenix metro area.

The next big thing in technology designed to defend against hackers could come from Jae-sun Seo, a Fulton Schools professor of electrical engineering, and his research collaborators. They are developing security authentication based on the electrical activity of an individuals’ heartbeats. It may offer advantages over even the fingerprint, retinal-scan and facial-recognition technologies being used to protect systems and devices from getting hacked.

We should look at carbon dioxide in our atmosphere like we look at garbage and sewage: as a waste product to be disposed of to protect our human and environmental health, says Fulton Schools professor Klaus Lackner. Research directed by Lackner at the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions focuses on developing carbon-capture technology to help reduce the potentially dangerous buildup of carbon dioxide around the world.

Fulton Schools computer science doctoral student Mohammed Almukaynizi is one of the ASU researchers who have developed a machine-learning model to predict what software vulnerabilities are the most likely to lead to the next big headline news about a computer system hacking attack.

Fulton Schools Professor Subbarao Kambhampati responds to a call for a ban on autonomous robotic weapons with a warning about what negative unintended consequences might arise from such a drastic restriction. Kambhampati is president of the international Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.

Fulton Schools associate professor of materials science and engineering Cody Freisen used nanomaterials, physics and solar energy to create his startup venture, Zero Mass Water. The technology, which produces drinkable water by capturing moisture from the air, could help water-deprived regions throughout the world.

We could more quickly and effectively come to the rescue of the victims of natural disasters if some fundamental technological changes are made to way we build our wireless communications infrastructure, says Fulton Schools Associate Professor Daniel Bliss.

David Frakes, a Fulton Schools associate professor of biomedical engineering, is one of the founders of the Endovantage venture. The company has gotten approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new tool for preoperative planning. Called Surgical Preview, it is designed to enable physicians to use 3D modeling and visualization of surgical placement of endovascular devices in patients. The goal is to reduce the risks to patients and improve outcomes.

Fulton Schools Professor Brad Allenby is bringing his background in law, ethics studies and military issues to the Moral Injury Initiative project being undertaken by Arizona State University’s Center on the Future of War.

In the IDEAlab and the Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory on ASU Polytechnic campus, students work under the guidance of Fulton Schools assistant professors Daniel Aukes and Wenlong Zhang on applying robotics engineering to solve real challenges. Like using autonomous robotic fish to help a utility company control growth of vegetation in canals so that it doesn’t hinder water transport.  

Fulton Schools assistant professors Dan Aukes, Wenlong Zhang and Panagiotis Polygerinos talk about how their students are helping to overcome technological challenges “one robot at a time.” Working in the Robotics and Intelligent Systems Laboratory and the IDEAlab, students are using robotics to pursue solutions in a wide range of fields, including transportation, national defense, energy systems, environmental health, communications and earth and space exploration.

Amazon’s Alexa-enabled Echo Dot voice technology available to Arizona State University engineering students living in the spacious new Tooker House campus residential complex reflects the Fulton Schools mission to “merge the living environment with the learning environment,” says Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools. The idea is to help students to experience the emerging revolution in information technology science and engineering.

The collective behavior of birds and fish are among things that have guided Fulton Schools Associate Professor Panagiotis Artemiadis in developing “swarm paradigms” for drones that can be directed through brain-technology interface systems. He sees these systems being used to aid search-and-rescue missions, exploration, security, fighting of wildfires and even farming.

See Also:

MIND-CONTROLLED DRONE FLEETS ARE COMING, RESEARCHER SAYS, THE DRIVE, OCTOBER 20

Fulton Schools mechanical engineering student Mark Macluskie’s path to college was opened at an early age when home-schooling and behavioral therapies implemented by his mother helped him overcome the challenges of a diagnosis of autism as an infant. Years later his academic performance has helped him win a coveted Flinn Scholarship to support his undergraduate studies in engineering and mathematics at Arizona State University.

Research into the use of food as an electrical component is bringing Professor Hanqing Jiang and his lab team closer to developing food-based electronic materials as ingestible biomedical devices. For now, the work is focusing on their use as a non-invasive diagnostic and treatment tool for gastro-intestinal disorders.

Fulton Schools Professor Kamil Kaloush’s work on “smart” materials helped lead to development of the rubberized pavements and coatings that continue to be among the most effective materials for lessening the unwanted impacts of our expanding urban heat islands.

The technologies and climate conditions of the 20^th century aren’t reliable guides on which to base designs for new infrastructure, which will need to be more resilient to handle the impacts of climate change we’ll see in coming decades, say Fulton Schools Associate Professor Mikhail Chester and School for the Future of Innovation in Society Assistant Professor Thaddeus Miller.

Researchers are using a natural phenomenon called radiative sky cooling to develop roof panels that could reduce the energy needed to cool homes and other buildings. The technique might influence how buildings are constructed or retrofitted to be more energy efficient. It may also significantly help to advance a growing “zero-energy design” movement, says Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Nathan Johnson, who directs the Laboratory for Energy and Power Solutions.

The Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering is cited as one of the main sources of a “deep pool” of talent that is moving the Phoenix area toward becoming one of the next big growth centers for technology industries. Tech startups, small businesses and corporations are finding prospective employees and partners among graduates of the Fulton Schools and other schools in the region.

The Tooker House, the Fulton Schools’ new student residential complex, made especially for engineering students, continues to draw interest from those who follow trends and innovations in campus living. Equipped with features such as Bluetooth-enabled laundry rooms, work spaces with 3D printers, laser cutters and other tools, and Amazon’s Echo Dot voice-recognition technology, the project is seen as a leading example of how to design buildings to function as “learning communities.”   

Read More

NEW ASU DORM FEATURES TECH TO CREATE ‘ENGINEERING MINDSET,’ CRONKITE NEWS

Artificial trees developed by Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner can capture and remove carbon dioxide from the air, in part by harnessing the power of evaporation. That same principle is the basis for a method being proposed by other engineers and scientists for generating a renewable source of energy from the natural evaporation from lakes and reservoirs.

Read More

Energy Harvested from Evaporation Could Power Much of U.S., Laboratory Equipment

Evaporation Technology Could Effectively Harness Energy from Renewable Sources, AZO Clean Tech

Recent research by Fulton Schools Professor Michael Mamlouk is cited in an article looking at the evidence on the impact of roadway roundabouts (also called traffic circles) on traffic flow and safety. The report — like Mamlouk’s research results — points out that despite some resistance to roundabouts, in most cases they have a positive effect not only on safety but on traffic efficiency, the environment and wear and tear on vehicles.

A solar-powered digital device developed by Assistant Professor Laura Hosman is the core technology driving a project that has won support through an international education innovation award. Hosman’s team is partnering with the U.S. Peace Corps to bring access to a digital library through the device called SolarSPELL to remote communities where educational resources are scarce. Hosman has a joint appointment in the Fulton Schools of Engineering and ASU’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society.

AI is both terrifying and exciting. There is no doubt that as AI continues to improve it will radically change the way we live. That can provide improvements, like self-driving cars, and doing many jobs that could in principle release humans to pursue more fulfilling activities. Or it could produce massive unemployment, and provide new vulnerabilities to hacking. Sophisticated cyber-hacking could undermine the reliability of information we receive everyday on the internet, and weaken national and international infrastructures.

Nevertheless, fortune favors the prepared mind, so it is important to explore all the possibilities, both good and bad, now, to help us be better prepared for a future that will arrive whether we like it or not. — Lawrence Krauss, director, Origins Project and Fulton Engineering professor, ASU

One of major sources of news in the unmanned aerial vehicle field talked to Fulton Schools Associate Professor Panagiotis Artemiadis about the potential for advances in UAV technology to transform entire industries. Brain-machine interface and human systems integration are two of the areas that will be big game changers.

Fulton Schools Assistant Professor talks about how developing robots and artificial intelligence systems that can collaborate with humans on a variety of tasks may eliminate some jobs but also create new ones. Jobs involving application of knowledge in science, technology, engineering and math should be among those that will benefit from the human-technology interaction trend.

Recent restrictions imposed on the use of two chemicals that have been used for decades in antibacterial soaps and cosmetics still fail to stop their use in other products. Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, who led research that led to the restrictions, reveals where consumers will still face exposure to the troublesome chemicals.

Technology-related ventures are at the core of Arizona’s robust economic development and job-growth trends. Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton  Schools, tells the regional business news source that the engineering schools are serving as a major source of the new talent needed to fill the jobs in the state’s tech industries.  

The AZLoop team — led by Fulton Schools students — finished among the top eight teams at the international SpaceX Hyperloop competition, which challenged students to prototype technology for a futuristic high-speed terrestrial transportation system.

Also See:

Phoenix Business Journal  Cronkite News

The latest in voice-interface technology is the norm for Fulton Schools of Engineering students living in the new Tooker House residence complex. Free Amazon Echo Dots are programmed specifically for students.

Also See

Ed Surge  Nibletz  High-Tech Facts  KTAR News  ELearning News  College and University

Assistant professor of computer science and engineering Adam Doupé is working to find ways to protect people from so-called “phone call invasions,” phone scams and “robocalls.” He’s exploring potential solutions such as spoof-proof caller ID verification systems, among other ideas.

Visar Berisha, Fulton Schools assistant professor of electrical engineering, and speech and hearing scientist, helped to lead research that revealed a direct connection between boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s fights and the deterioration of his speaking ability at the end of his boxing career. The study found strong correlation between head trauma and impaired speaking, and will help in early detection of the condition.

Also See:

 Huffington Post  ESPN   ABC15 News  Seeker

The Fulton Schools’ Center for Assured and Scalable Data Engineering (CASCADE) will be working with one of the world’s most intriguing technologies used for creating digital currencies. Through a partnership with the Dash enterprise, CASCADE researchers will establish a “Block Chain Research Lab” to explore expanded applications for Dash technology in other industries beyond powering digital currency.

Also See:

Dash Force News Live Bitcoin News  BitNewsBot Coin Telegraph

The team being led by Fulton Schools students that has been designing and building a transport pod to take to the international SpaceX Hyperloop competition August 25-27 is in the final stages of testing the vehicle team members hope will someday be part of a system that will revolutionize transportation.

An app that Assistant Professor Adam Doupé and other computer science and engineering researchers in the Fulton Schools are working on could help us avoid bothersome telemarketing robocalls and block scam calls.

The latest in high-tech campus dormitories for engineering students —the Fulton Schools’ Tooker House — opens its doors. With capacity for 1,600 students, it’s designed and equipped to function as a learning space that “reflects the depth and breadth of the student experience at the largest engineering school in the nation,” says Kyle Squires, dean of the Fulton Schools.

Also See:

Arizona State University and American Campus Communities Unveil New ‘Residence Hall Built for Engineers’ Business Wire

ASU unveils $120M dorm built for engineers — complete with 3D printers, laser cutters and design tools, Phoenix Business Journal

A look inside ASU’s new innovative dorm house, Fox 10 News, Phoenix

ASU’s Largest Residence Hall Opens, Good Morning Arizona, Channel 3, Phoenix

Check out this new high-tech dorm at ASU, Channel 12 News, Phoenix

Dana Trompke, who earned her master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering at the Fulton Schools of Engineering in 2006, is the new manager of wastewater treatment operations for the growing town of Fountain Hills east of Phoenix. She will be in charge of a system that, on average, treats about two million gallons of water each day.

Our wastewater plants don’t filter out chemical compounds in many of the drugs and personal care products we use. Discoveries about the effects of these chemicals on aquatic wildlife raises concerns about other potentially harmful impacts. A study by Fulton Schools Professor Paul Westerhoff and Duke University Research Associate Jacelyn Rice calls attention to the troubling deficiencies of the country’s water treatment infrastructure.

There are hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines across the country, and many of them could pose risks to people, wildlife and water resources. Bruce Rittmann, Fulton Schools professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering, and director of ASU’s Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, explains how toxic materials can be leached from rocks in the mines by groundwater or rainfall and end up in nearby waterways. Click on the audio track posted with the report to hear Rittmann’s comments.

Traces of a contaminant high enough to violate federal drinking-water standards were found in a local municipal water system. But Paul Westerhoff, a Fulton Schools professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering, helped to allay concerns about the chemical posing a health risk.

Advances in neuroengineering are creating possibilities for enhancing human learning abilities and cognitive performance. Fulton Schools Associate Professors Stephen Helms Tillery and Chris Buneo explain the “targeted” neuroplasticity research they are conducting with other ASU faculty members to help the U.S. Department of Defense provide more effective training for the nation’s soldiers.

With the organic food market booming, consumers should be equipped with the facts about what organic actually means and doesn’t mean, and what benefits or risks may be involved in producing and consuming organic products. Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, director of the Center for Environmental Security, says even people adhering to strict organic food diets need broader knowledge about nutrition and health to make wiser food choices.

Growing cities must become more aware of the factors that create “urban heat islands” and causes them to intensify. Kamil Kaloush, Fulton Schools associate professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering, and director of the National Center of Excellence for SMART Innovations, says making smarter choices about what materials to use in the construction of buildings, roads, parking lots and other civic infrastructure is critical in preventing a rise in ambient heat that makes urban environments not only less comfortable but also less sustainable.

The School of Sustainable Engineering the Built Environment, one of the six Fulton Schools, teamed up with a major Southwest construction contracting company to give young students from the Gila River Indian Community hands-on lessons in construction and engineering skills, and critical thinking.

The massive wall that President Donald Trump proposes to build along the United State-Mexico border would entail more than a significant cost, but also big energy use, environmental safety and construction logistics challenges. Barzin Mobasher, Fulton Schools professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering, points to some of the difficulties that could be encountered in developing the infrastructure and obtaining the resources to support the project.

Also See:

Mobasher is quoted in a July 21 Cronkite News report ‘Structurally deficient’ bridge over I-17 repaired using new technology

One of the more promising systems to stem the negative impacts of climate change by capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is being developed by the research team of physicist Klaus Lackner, Fulton Schools professor of civil, environmental and sustainable engineering and director of ASU’s Center for Negative Carbon Emissions. Lacker tells Ensia, a magazine focusing on solutions to environmental challenges, that such a system theoretically could remove CO2 from the air many times more efficiently than plants.

Fulton Schools faculty members Mariana Bertoni, Stuart Bowden, Owen Hildreth, Govindasamy Tamizhmani  and Meng Tao are among researchers whose projects to develop innovative and affordable solar power technologies won support from the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative program — giving ASU more of these research awards than any other university.

Fulton Schools Professor Subbarao Kambhampati, president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, joined other experts in the field who say prominent inventor and entrepreneur Elon Musk is spreading an overly alarmist message about supposed threats that could someday be posed by advanced AI technology.

Also See:

AI Researchers Disagree With Elon Musk’s Warnings About Artificial Intelligence, Futurism, July 19

Artificial Intelligence Experts Rebut Elon Musk’s Warning and Call for Regulation, The Christian Post, July 20

Elon Musk SLAMMED by top researchers for scaremongering over dangers of AI, Express (United Kingdom), July 20

Michael Mamlouk’s research has revealed that Arizona’s more than 80 roundabouts mostly increase traffic safety, but the two-lane versions of the circular installations are proving problematic. The Fulton Schools professor of civil engineering recommends how drivers can reduce roundabout risks.

Also See:

Roundabouts on Arizona roads: Helpful or horrible?, Arizona Republic, July 12

What’s flowing into wastewater treatments plants can reveal a treasure trove of information about our health and the health of our environment, says Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden. Those findings could help us prevent diseases, pinpoint environmental hazards and track our exposure to chemicals that might be harmful.

Also See:

Studying Wastewater Could Be Messy, But it May Improve Public Health, KJZZ (NPR), July 19

The start-up Zero Mass Water, led by Cody Friesen, a Fulton Schools associate professor of materials science and engineering, is selling a solar-based system that doesn’t need to be hooked up to an electric grid or an existing water system to produce water from the atmosphere. The system looks promising for bringing clean water to places that lack it.

Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden is a co-author of a statement signed by more than 200 scientists, researchers and medical experts warning about the potential environmental dangers posed by two antibacterial chemicals now used in consumer products around the world. Halden directs the ASU Biodesign Institute’s Center for Environmental Security.

Also See:

Warning: Your Favorite Antibiotic Soap Could Be Dangerous to Use, Readers Digest, July 7

Scientists Urge Tighter Scrutiny of Germ-Fighting Chemicals, Fair Warning, June 20

Scientists trash antibacterial products, saying they do more harm than good, Consumer Affairs, June 20

Fulton Schools computer and science engineering student Scott Fitsimones and ASU physics and economics major Jonathon Barkl have developed a startup venture that connects homeowners who have extra spaces for parking available on their properties with people who will pay to park there. AirGarage is getting off the ground in the Phoenix area, but the students have aspirations of going national.

Fulton Schools Professor Samuel Ariaratnam was interviewed on a popular weekly podcast that probes into the intertwined subjects of emerging technologies, the Internet of Things and other facets of “the digital life.” Ariaratnam, chair of the construction engineering program, talked about what today’s “smart” cities must do to get even smarter about the use of advanced technologies for rehabilitating their urban infrastructures.

One of the latest and most inventive efforts springing for Heni Ben Amor’s expertise in robot-learning algorithms are small machines whose design is based on sea turtle anatomy and mobility style. The Fulton Schools assistant professor’s “turtle bots,” made from motors, computer chips and cardboard folded in origami style, are being tested on Arizona’s desert terrain to see how they would perform as battlefield landmine detectors.

Also See:

ASU Robotics turns to nature for inspiration, CBS 5 News Phoenix, June 5

An Army of these odd-looking robotics ‘turtles’ might help rid the world of landmines, Digital Trends, May 27

These flat-pack turtlebots will crawl across minefields for safety’s sake, TechCrunch, May 25

These robotic turtles could save your life, New York Post, May 25

A senior-year engineering capstone design project led four recent Fulton Schools graduates to a collaboration with the Arizona Department of Transportation Research Center. The result is a prototype for a new kind of cattle guard using ultrasonic sensors and decoy predator sounds to prevent the grazing animals from stepping into the path of vehicles. Project team members Kevin Davidson and Marissa Rubio recently received degrees in mechanical engineering systems. Hanqing Chen graduated with an electrical systems engineering degree. Zhemin Ne earned a degree in auto systems engineering.

Also See:
ADOT enlists ASU engineering majors to help create new cattle guard concept, ADOT Blog, May 11

A multi-university team led by Fulton Schools students is preparing to move from the design stage to prototype testing this summer as it develops a high-speed terrestrial transport pod for the international SpaceX Hyperloop challenge. The team is one of 24 that has made it to the final round of the competition. Mechanical engineering grad student Lynne Nethken (pictured) was interviewed about the AZLoop project.

Engineering Smiles, a student endeavor that began several years ago in a Fulton Schools Engineering Projects in Community Service course, is realizing its goal of providing a mobile dental clinic to underserved communities. Among the project’s leaders (pictured at right) are Sara Mantlik , who just received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and Nick Kemme, who is pursuing a similar degree.

Fulton Schools Professor Brad Allenby comments about the hacking attack on one of the candidates in the French presidential election, speculating on the identity of the perpetrators of the hacking and their political motives. Allenby co-directs ASU’s Weaponized Narrative Initiative, which focuses on examining the uses of technology in misinformation campaigns calculated to influence public perception. Public Radio International’s “The World” is broadcast on more than 300 stations across North America. Read more about the study of weaponized narrative.

When people exercise, their bodies sweat and their clothes get wet. And that means their clothes, like their bodies, can smell.

Paul Westerhoff is a professor of Environmental Engineering at Arizona State University. He researched the effectiveness of silver in clothes to kill bacteria and how it impacts the environment. The study was published in Environmental Science & Technology last year.

Heni Ben Amor, an assistance professor who specializes in advanced robotics and artificial intelligence at ASU, says that having robots learn from watching humans interact won’t just make them better collaborators, it will help humans feel more at ease around robots too. “There’s a high demand for robots that are socially aware,” he says.

If robots can learn the basics of social interaction, like knowing how fast to move their arms or how close to stand to a person without making them feel uncomfortable, then humans are much more likely to accept robots in their home or workplace, he says.

Fulton Schools Professor Ram Pendyala, whose expertise is in transportation systems engineering and planning, comments on the potential benefits of public transportation systems and on the costs-versus-benefits aspect of the debate over government funding of mass transit projects.

Fulton Schools Associate Professor Stephen Helms Tillery is leading a research group that has a key role in a Department of Defense agency’s project to expand human learning capability. His team will develop techniques to stimulate specific nerve complexes in the brain with the goal of enhancing its neuroplasticity to improve mental abilities. Read more about the overall project on the Gizmodo technology and science news site.

Also See:

• DARPA and ASU Electrical brain stimulation could boost learning memory by 30 percent, NextBigFuture, April 28
• DARPA Wants to Hack Your Brain to Make You Learn Faster, Gizmodo, April 26

The most coveted jobs are in Silicon Valley, and most selective US universities are members of the Ivy League. So it stands to reason that tech giants like Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook would scoop up best and brightest from those bastions of power and privilege.

Arizona State University ranks among the top 10 schools with the most undergraduate and graduate alumni hired by the 25 biggest Silicon Valley employers in the last year, ranking ahead of Cornell, Purdue and MIT.

Starbucks’ relationship with Arizona State University, where Starbucks’ employees can earn their bachelor’s degree through ASU’s online program, is an example of bringing students to the curriculum rather than the campus.

Last year, Ford Motor Co. designated ASU as a premier school and a top-tier Ford recruiting and hiring institution, which means Ford considers ASU a go-to place to recruit graduates.

“Ford is a perfect example of a greater relationship that we have with a lot of organizations,” said Cindy Parnell, executive director at ASU’s Career and Professional Development Services.

Another program is the Startup Center in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, which offers classes, workshops, mentoring, investment and extracurricular activities that expose students to the concepts of entrepreneurship and technology innovation.

ASU Engineering Professor Tom Sugar has developed a robotic suit meant to help people walk faster and avoid workplace injuries.  The suit propels users forward 10 to 15 percent faster than normal, supporting legs to move faster and more smoothly.

The exoskeleton was one of the many devices demonstrate during WeRACon 17 in Phoenix last month. 

According to the World Health Organization, 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired. Thirty-nine million are blind, while 246 million have low vision. 

Bradley Greger, an associate professor at ASU, is partnering with a California-based company called Second Sight on technology that can be placed on the retina to provide a limited amount of vision to blind people. He’s also working on a brain implant that will provide some vision for the blind. He’s with me to talk about it.

Fulton Schools Associate Professor James Abbas is collaborating with researchers at Florida International University to make advances in bioelectronics medicine and prosthetics technologies that could restore a sense of touch for amputees.

Many valuable questions about public health can be answered by analyzing samples from sewage sludge, says Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden, director of the Center for Environmental Security. His lab stores a large collection of the revealing material.

Fulton Schools computer systems engineering student Autumn Conner has an idea for sending a small capsule containing a kind of bacteria to the moon, where it could create photosynthesis. A startup venture based in India has selected her idea for funding.

Fulton Schools of Engineering Dean Kyle Squires and a group of faculty members talked to industry leaders about the wide range of research and technology development the schools’ are pursuing, and how ASU engineers are prepared to partner with businesses to foster economic development.

Researchers in the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions led by Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner are developing technologies that promise to enable removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In an interview on Australian national radio, Lackner said carbon-capture systems may be the most effective option for keeping the buildup of this greenhouse gas from rising to levels at which it would pose a critical threat to the health of Earth’s environment.  

A group of ASU materials science engineers, Jason Enriquez, Tayler Fulton, Nicholas Lauer and Brian Zucker, dedicated its Capstone project to improving existing 3D printing open source designs. By connecting through their professors with local companies in the additive manufacturing field, the students are identifying better materials and how to 3D print with them for this purpose. The end goal is to improve on current open-source transhumeral (upper arm) prostheses; additional guidance is being offered by Justin Ryan, the lead research scientist at the Cardiac 3D Print Lab, Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Arizona’s Hyperloop team, led by ASU engineering master’s student Lynne Nethken and senior Josh Kosar, say the Space X competition is just a first step to bringing high speed, mass transportation to Arizona and beyond.

If chosen to continue in the competition, the team will get to launch its prototype pod in the one-mile test track this summer in Hawthorne, California.

The Hyperloop is a proposed form of high-speed mass transportation that can achieve speeds of up to 750 miles per hour.

Computer scientists are often left out of public debate on issues that involve computer science, and that’s a potentially serious mistake when the goal is to improve cybersecurity, says Fulton Schools Professor of Practice Nayda Bliss, director of Arizona State University’s Global Security Initiative. For the sake of making cyberspace safer for all of us, computer geeks must no longer let themselves be ignored, she says.

“University and industry are like darlings, always praising each other, but we need to ‘get married’ already, and be fully committed to helping each other, compensating for each other’s weaknesses,” said Nguyen Thanh Nam, former CEO of FPT and founder of online university FUNIX, at a conference on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and in the workforce.

The conference, held this year in Hanoi, was organized by the ASU’s Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP).

Angelica Hernandez, 2011 ASU Distinguished Grad in Mechanical Engineering, is featured in “Dream Big: Our Engineering World,” a documentary created to promote education in STEM. Hernandez, who went on to earn her master’s at Stanford, was a member of the Phoenix high school team that beat 2004 MIT in 2004.

The documentary is airing at the Arizona Science Center’s Irene P. Flinn Theater as follows:

March 3-12

• 9:30 a.m.
• 10:30 a.m. (except Saturday, March 11)
• 12:30 p.m.
• 2:30 p.m.
• 4:30pm (except March 3-9)

March 13-31:

• 9:30 a.m.
• 4:30 p.m. 

The future may be a world in which we live with artificial intelligence “agents” that speak to us in human voices and understand our thoughts and feelings on a deep level. Futurists foresee people partnering with lifelong “digital assistants” or “virtual companions” that guide us through life, and which might eventually take the form of brain implants. Experts such as Fulton Schools Professor Subbarao Kambhampati, president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, comment on some of the benefits and possible risks of such potential developments.

Miao He’s work with enhancing the efficiency of wind turbine farms in the face of disruptive weather has earned him a prestigious grant from the National Science Foundation that recognizes the work of up-and-coming faculty.  

He, an assistant professor in the Texas Tech University Whitacre College of Engineering, has been selected to receive an award from the Faculty Early Career Development Program.  He received his MS in Physics in 2010 and his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering in 2013, both from ASU.

The wave of artificial intelligence technology coming at us carries with it the upside of enhancing our lives with things like self-driving cars, as well as the potential downside of threats posed by malicious hacking of the computerized devices and systems we rely on. The situation is discussed by three AI experts, including Subbarao Kamhampati, a Fulton Schools professor of computer science and engineering and president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. Each of them participated in a three-day Challenges of Artificial Intelligence Workshop at Arizona State University. Illustration: Shutterstock

DNA, the stuff of life, may very well also pack quite the jolt for engineers trying to advance the development of tiny, low-cost electronic devices.

Much like flipping a light switch at home—only on a scale 1,000 times smaller than a human hair—a team of researchers has now developed the first controllable DNA switch to regulate the flow of electricity within a single, atomic-sized molecule. The new study, led by  Fulton Schools ECEE professor and director of the Biodesign Institute’s Bioelectronics and Biosensors Nongjian Tao, is published in the online journal Nature Communications.

Fulton School of Biological Health Systems Engineering Assistant Professor Tony Hu and rand his team at the Biodesign Institute are working on a new test to catch pancreatic cancer in its earliest stages.

If caught early enough, pancreatic cancer can be controlled, but the sneaky disease develops aggressively and doesn’t usually show any obvious signs in the early stages.

Because pancreatic cancer is usually caught in the late stages, an estimated 80 percent die within a year of diagnosis, according to the American Cancer Society.

But Hu’s team has discovered a new method to identify pancreatic cancer in its early development.

Engineers and scientists have long been mimicking nature to find solutions, but some are now making technological advances by improving on nature. Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Ted Pavlic, whose work combines engineering with knowledge of insect behavior, comments on news of the recent achievement of scientists who made a robot that improves on an insect mobility method.

President Trump has said he wants to “unlock the mysteries of space” and “focus on stretching the envelope of space exploration.”

Dr. Scott Parazynski, a retired astronaut and a professor of practice at both ASU’s Schools of Biological Health and Systems Engineering and Earth and Space Exploration called the crewed mission idea an “audacious challenge.”

“If you have a crew on board, the complexity of the mission increases substantially,” he told NBC News. “You are committing to making it a perfect round trip. You need to have the life support systems, the launch abort system and the recovery systems built into the vehicle the first time around.”

Arizona State University has designed its engineering schools to not only teach engineering, but also to develop entrepreneurs. In addition to the traditional classroom education, students are given the space and the skills to invent, design, produce, and market what their minds conceive. 

“The entrepreneurial mindset has become more prevalent in today’s students than ever before,” says Richard Martorano, director of facilities and space renovations for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU. “They see the engineers and inventors who have become household names and want to emulate them.”

ASU’s Panagiotis Artemiadis says “no.”

Artemiadis has been trying to get more bandwidth using a 128-electrode EEG cap to allow a human to control a swarm of flying robots with their brain. “We can already decode basic concepts like closing a hand or moving an elbow, but we can’t decode more complex behaviors,” he said.

He has created a system that allows for a single person to control the collaborative movement of multiple drones, for example making the flock move closer together so that it can fit through a narrow pass.

“We are building these machines to serve humans,” he said.

A project supported by students at Arizona State University is working in underdeveloped countries to improve their access to clean drinking water.

Five ASU students — Pankti Shah, Paul Strong, Varendra Silva, Mark Huerta and Connor Wiegand — have joined the project, 33 Buckets, in the hopes of making a positive impact and addressing water crises around the globe.

It should be no surprise that a team of girls from an arts schools earned top awards at the recent Arizona FIRST LEGO League championship tournament, says the head of the Arizona School for the Arts. The competition managed by Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering focuses on robotics and research. The school’s CEO says the team’s success goes to show how arts education fosters creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that translate into talent in taking on the challenges of engineering and science.

A team of seven Fifth through Eighth grade robotics students was recently named one of two winning teams selected to head to the FIRST LEGO League World Festival in Houston, Texas on April 19.

The all-girls team of arts students from downtown Phoenix charter school Arizona School for the Arts (ASA) competed against 96 teams in the Arizona State FIRST LEGO League Challenge hosted by the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering on Jan. 14-15. The competition encourages youth to think like scientists and engineers through problem-solving and teamwork.

The Southwest’s largest 3D printing research facility has opened at the Polytechnic School at Arizona State University’s Additive Manufacturing Research Center in Mesa.

The 15,000-square-foot addition, holding $2.5 million of plastic, polymer and 3D metal printing equipment, will be used for a variety of research and development activities with students.

Also see:  Arizona State University, businesses team up for Manufacturing Research and Innovation Hub, Arizona Business Daily, Jan. 30

Scientists and engineers are trying inventions such as artificial trees to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere

An excerpt from David Biello’s book, The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth’s Newest Age, features the work of Klaus Lackner and his team at Arizona State University’s Fulton Schools of Engineering. 

An artificial tree on the Tempe campus — thin strips of beige, wavy plastic stacked one atop another in a clear box hidden from the desert sun by a piece of plywood covered in a black cloth — can suck CO2 out of the air.

Getting to the guts of the matter for autism is exactly what a group of investigators, led by scientists at Arizona State University (ASU), hopes to accomplish with its novel approach to effective autism treatments by focusing on improving the gut microbiome through fecal microbial transplants. While initial results from a small human study are promising, additional testing will be necessary before an FDA-approved therapy would be available or recommended to the public. The research team was led by ASU’s James Adams, a professor of materials science and engineering. The study results were published in the journal Microbiome.

Also see:  

• Researchers Are Studying Fecal Transplant as a Potential Treatment for Autism, Huffington Post, Jan. 31
• Fecal transplant shows early promise against autism, Chicago Tribune, Jan. 30
• Fecal Microbial Transplant Shows Potential for Treating Autism Symptoms
• Autism symptoms improve after fecal transplant, small study finds
• Fecal transplant reduces autism symptoms in children in small study

Mechanical engineering grad David Richardson has received funding for ASU spinout company bioSyntagma, developed while he was a research engineer at the Biodesign Institute. The company’s Light Stream FloCell™ allows researchers to understand how disease-causing cells interact with each other and may be able to answer questions relating to why cancers metastasize, which drugs are most effective for a patient at a given point in time, and what disease mechanisms are active in arthritis, diabetes, and dementia.

Arizona State University has been named the lead institution for a new U.S. Department of Transportation Tier 1 University Transportation Center and will work with the U.S. Department of Transportation on improving regional and local transportation systems. The Center for Teaching Old Models New Tricks, or TOMNET, will work to improve data models and analytical tools used to plan transportation infrastructure, said SEBE Professor Ram Pendyala, the center’s director.

“If we can find ways to successfully integrate these kinds of behavioral variables into our analytics, then I think we can make a quantum leap in our ability to predict future travel needs and desires,” Pendyala said

One of the ‘outstanding’ facilities is the Manufacturing Research and Innovation Hub, a 15,000-square-foot center containing a lab with over $2 million worth of polymer and plastic materials and 3D metal printing equipment. The university recently formed a partnership with Honeywell Aerospace, Phoenix Analysis & Design Technologies, Inc. (PADT), and Concept Laser to help build and make the new facility a reality.

“If you go to school in Arizona and hope to pursue a manufacturing engineering undergraduate degree, the only place you can get one is ASU’s Polytechnic School.”

A recent special issue of the Zygote Journal, which focuses on biologically inspired science and design, features interviews with speakers at the first Biomimicry Summit and Education Forum for Aerospace. Among the them is Konrad Rykaczewski, Fulton Schools assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering.

In his interview, he talks about how the abilities of a poisonous dart frog led him to an idea for a de-icing method that could make flight safer, and how mimicking the natural mechanisms involved in the way water interacts with prickly pear cactus could provide a basis for some useful technological developments. He also has found a particularly effective way to wash pesky insects off of vegetables.

Rykaczewski’s interview begins on page 96 of the digital magazine.You can download the issue, or enlarge it on your computer screen. Read more about Rykaczewski’s recent research at: http://intheloop.engineering.asu.edu/2017/01/30/turning-to-nano-engineering-to-fight-off-troublesome-frost-and-ice/

Intel Products Vietnam plans to expand its factory in Ho Chi Minh City in 2017.

According to Sherry Boger, CEO of IPV, the expanded factory will prepare large area for cleanrooms class 10. Intel has joined forces with VNPT Technology to set up a lab reserved for IoT research. 

The Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program, a project initiated by Intel and supported by ASU and USAID, has trained over 5,000 lecturers and high-ranking managers for eight schools throughout the country in accordance with ABET standards. HEEAP will be a source of supply for the workforce at Intel and the IoT market as a whole.

Intel Products Vietnam plans to expand its factory in Ho Chi Minh City in 2017.

According to Sherry Boger, CEO of IPV, the expanded factory will prepare large area for cleanrooms class 10. Intel has joined forces with VNPT Technology to set up a lab reserved for IoT research. 

The Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program, a project initiated by Intel and supported by ASU and USAID, has trained over 5,000 lecturers and high-ranking managers for eight schools throughout the country in accordance with ABET standards. HEEAP will be a source of supply for the workforce at Intel and the IoT market as a whole.

Scientists are investigating a range of technologies they hope can capture lots of carbon without a lot of cost, but ASU’s Klaus Lackner, director of the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, doubts one of the technologies can be sustained due to scale.

The Del E. Webb Foundation Altitude Chamber on the ASU Polytechnic Campus, has been used by two Mercury Seven astronauts, U-2 spy pilots, the world-record parachutist who jumped from the edge of space and recently the SpaceX program. The heavy-duty altitude chambers simulate extreme conditions and help save lives.

Mechanical engineer Liping Wang, an assistant professor at Arizona State University, imagines an energy sector enhanced by greater control over thermal radiation. To work toward this objective, he is designing and constructing a host of custom electromagnetic materials. Wang’s endeavor is supported by a Young Investigator Program research grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, totaling $360,000 over three years. The program received more than 230 proposals, awarding grants to only 25 percent of applicants.

Among the researchers at ASU’s Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing — or CUbiC — is one who doesn’t have a high school diploma. Yet.

Shreya Venkatesh, a high school senior at BASIS Scottsdale, is helping program the device’s vibration patterns. That “vibrotactile feedback,” as CUbiC calls it, is designed to alert Parkinson’s patients that a freezing episode may be ahead and help them avoid it.    

For the first time, researchers have synthesized semiconducting gallium telluride (GaTe) in the monoclinic phase as a pseudo-one-dimensional (pseudo-1D) material. This new class of materials is characterized by quasi-1D chains of atoms running in a particular direction along a 2D surface. 

The researchers, led by Sefaattin Tongay, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Arizona State University, have published a paper on the first synthesis of the pseudo-1D GaTe material in a recent issue of Advanced Materials.

Paulo Shakarian, a 2016 Fulton Entrepreneurial Professor and director of the Cyber-Socio Intelligent Systems Lab, has taken on the role of team leader for area veterans through the Armory Incubator. Shakarian, a West Point grad who served as a military intelligence officer, launched Cyr3con last year. The company focuses on cyber reconnaissance.

A Sensors & Systems blog about the mind-controlled drones of ASU’s Panagiotis Artemiadis, director of the Human-Oriented Robotics and Control Lab, was named one of the year’s top stories by Spatial Source.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship program wants STEM students to make a positive impact on science in the world today. This year, the NSF is focused on engineering students at ASU who show promise — three current graduate students pursuing doctorates at ASU’s Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering received the NSF Fellowship this year. 

Ziming Zhao, an assistant research professor in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University, has been named a member of the iSign International Advisory Committee. Zhao’s focus is on security and privacy related problems in computer and communications systems.

Commenting on the news, Gerard E. Munera , the Chairman of iSign, said, “Dr Zhao’s background, experience and intellectual capacities represent, without any doubt, a huge asset for our company.” Zhao joins ASU’s Gail-Joon Ahn on the iSign team.

A paradigm shift in our car-centric approach to urban development is what it will take to keep traffic congestion from clogging the roadways in our growing metropolitan areas. In this Op-Ed article, Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Mikhail Chester and civil engineering postdoctoral research associate Andrew Fraser help to propose ways to make that shift. They and Fulton Schools Professor Ram Pendyala are also among co-authors of articles on the same topic in ACCESS magazine and the Journal of the American Planning Association.

Scott Parazynski, M.D., former NASA Astronaut and Physiologist with expertise in human adaptation to extreme environments, CEO of Fluidity Technologies and prolific product developer, joins VeritasGenetics as a scientific advisory board member.

Parazynski, an SBHSE professor, is one of three new advisory board members chosen for their complementary perspectives and expertise in the fields of biomedical informatics, physiology and molecular genetics.

Vice Staff Writer Mike Pearl had a conversation about what would happen if the EPA were disbanded with Brad Allenby, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Arizona State University and former senior environmental attorney for AT&T. Allenby said environmental protection is a whole lot more than just regulating of CO2 emissions, and that even hardcore capitalists can love some of what it does.

Fulton Schools Professor Meng Tao is working on ways to help society switch to more sustainable sources of energy through his research aimed at producing advances in solar energy technologies. He’s focusing on moving toward large-scale implementation of solar technology that could shift our energy dependence away from fossil fuels.

The Fulton Schools Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program is being adapted by Tirupalavanam Ganesh and Jennifer Velez to introduce middle school students to engineering careers. Ganesh is the Fulton Schools assistant dean of engineering education and an associate research professor. Velez is a senior coordinator for K-12 engineering education outreach.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s most recent Data Breach Report, Arizona ranks 20th overall in terms of susceptibility to crimes ranging from “identity-theft complaints per capita” to “average loss amount due to fraud.” Gail-Joon Ahn, director of ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics, answers some questions about how to guard against identity theft.

In his latest article for a leading construction management and engineering industry magazine, retired Fulton Schools research professor Thomas C. Schleifer provides building contractors with a formula for assessing the potential financial risks and rewards of taking on projects outside of their specific areas of expertise and experience.

Surgeons at Phoenix Children’s Hospital are using 3D-printed hearts to plan complicated procedures. And the man who makes them, Justin Ryan, was an ASU art student who went on to earn a doctorate in biomedical engineering. Ryan now runs the Cardiac 3D Print Lab at PCH. 

Motherboard’s Daniel Oberhaus loses 3-1 in a game of hoops against SunDevil RX, the self-learning, basketball shooting robot from Assistant Professor Heni Ben Amor’s Interactive Robotics Lab at ASU. Ben Amor reinforcement learning algorithm, called sparse latent space policy search, allows it to “learn by doing” and accurately shoot a basketball into a hoop. The machine learning algorithms developed for SunDevil RX will have value in manufacturing environments where speedy recalibration of tasks is required.

The 13th Annual Arizona Pavements/Materials Conference began Tuesday on Arizona State University’s Campus with demonstrations of six different types of sustainable pavement.

The demonstrations took place on Orange Street and McAllister Avenue where folks from ASU, the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration showcased the sustainable pavement types.  The conference, which has more than 400 attendees, continues through Thursday, Nov. 17 and includes exhibitors from the construction and supply industries.

“What if, in response to crises, augmented and alternate reality games like Pokémon Go Switch into a mode that rewarded players for donating blood? Delivering water bottles? Filling sandbags? Offering temporary housing? Or evacuating areas threatened by storm, wildfires, floods, tornadoes, or other hazards?”

The future of civic disaster response using gamification is the subject of an article by Thomas P. Seager, associate professor and Susan Spierre Clark, research assistant professor, both from the Fulton School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, originally written for Zocalo Public Square.

Elevated pressure inside the skull can be deadly if it is not identified and relieved quickly, leading to a shortage of oxygen and glucose to the rest of the body. Most solutions for monitoring are invasive and inaccurate.

A collaborative team from ASU’s School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering and the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, led by ECEE’s Jennifer Blain Christen, is working on a low-cost sensor that could be easily and cost-effectively used to help scientists and doctors understand epilepsy and detect seizure zones in the brain area that might lead to surgical treatment of the disease.

After completing an extensive self-study and hosting a site visit by a three-member team of industry and education experts, the Graphic Information Technology program at Arizona State University was awarded national accreditation beginning September 1, 2016.  

The Arizona State University program is among 13, associate and baccalaureate level, graphic communications related programs nationwide currently holding this distinction.

Robotics researchers at Arizona State University, led by Heni Ben Amor, assistant professor of computer science, have a invented a robot that taught itself to shoot hoops — just in time for the beginning of basketball season.

In an interview on the nationally broadcast “Science Friday” radio program, Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Karmella Haynes talks about what her lab team discovered that could have a big impact on use of the new CRISPR cell-engineering technology. 

In an interview of the PBS-affiliate TV station Channel 8 in Phoenix, Micah Lande, a Fulton Schools assistant professor of manufacturing engineering, talks about what he and other ASU faculty members are doing to bring more people into Citizen Scientist endeavors.

While the new CBS drama featured a 3D printed heart as cutting edge technology, the  Cardiac 3D Print Lab at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, a collaboration with Arizona State University, can be traced to 2010 when art majors undergrad Justin Ryan was recruited for the team at the Image Processing Applications Lab. Ryan earned his doctorate in the biomedical engineering graduate program, and now runs the PCH lab.

John Hughes, a Fulton Schools mechanical engineering student who transferred from Estrella Mountain Community College, used 3D printing to create a series of prosthetic hands for a growing eight-year-old Noah Muns as a project in his Physics II class. Hughes finished his coursework at EMCC in the spring, but even after classes ended for the summer he was still hard at work perfecting Noah’s prosthetic. He continues to mentor current EMCC engineering students so they can build new prosthetics as Noah grows. 

A new kind of solar panel is being tested in water-scarce regions of Ecuador, Jordan, and Mexico where the device, called Source, pulls moisture from the atmosphere to provide clean drinking water. Developed by ASU Associate Professor Cody Friesen’s Arizona-based startup Zero Mass Water, the setup uses solar energy to produce potable water for a family of four or an entire hospital, depending on how many panels are in use. Last year, the company raised $7 million to back a series of pilot programs to prove how simple and cost-effective access to clean water can be.

Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner weighs in on debate about the potential impacts of using emerging carbon-capture technologies to keep the harmful effects of climate change in check. Lacker directs the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions.

Kyle Squires, dean of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU, and Sethuraman Panchanathan, executive vice president of Knowledge Enterprise Development, participated in an Education Writers Association panel discussion last month on Innovation and the Future of Higher Education.  Their insights on entrepreneurship and inclusion were cited by The Atlantic.

Over the past 50 years, Fulton Schools Professor of Engineering Emerita Mary Anderson-Rowland has led efforts to boost diversity among Arizona State University engineering students. Even in retirement she continues to aid the cause of bringing women, underrepresented minorities and transfer students into ASU’s engineering programs.

A “synthetic tree” created by Fulton Schools Professor Klaus Lackner and his team at the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions is capable of absorbing carbon dioxide. The technology could help reduce the accumulation of this troublesome greenhouse gas in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, IBM and other major players in the realm of artificial intelligence technologies are teaming up to address ethical issues arising with the rapid proliferation of AI devices — and to address misperceptions about them. Subbarao Kambhampati, Fulton Schools professor of computer science and the president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, offers some perspective on the many issues revolving around the uses of AI.

Phoenix-based technology distributor Avnet Inc. and the Arizona State University Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering have teamed up to accept applications for the next class of entrepreneurs for the Avnet Innovation Lab. Through the lab, entrepreneurs have access to the expertise of one of the largest technology distributors in the world – Avnet –  and Arizona State University.

ASU’s President Michael Crow and Leonardo Beltrán Rodriguez, deputy secretary for energy planning and transition for Mexico’s Ministry of Energy, authored an opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News.  The article references Fulton Engineering’s collaboration with the Binational Laboratory on Smart Sustainable Energy Management and Technology Training at the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City.

Air Legs, an exoskeleton that enables soldiers to run a four-minute mile, was developed in ASU Engineering Professor Tom Sugar’s Human Machine Integration Lab on the Polytechnic Campus, was featured in an article about new technologies that help make U.S. troops faster, smarter and more resilient. 

ASU and other universities have teamed with private industry to create a water filter that should be easier to use and less expensive than reverse osmosis to reduce exposure to chromium-6 at home. 

Fulton Schools Professor Rolf Halden explains how his research center’s work to analyze sewage sludge collected at wastewater treatments plants is providing information that could guide us in efforts to protect human health. Listen to the audio of his interview that accompanies the text of the report.

Fulton Schools Assistant Professor Paulo Shakarian talks about the work being done in his Cyber-Socio Intelligent Systems Lab to find ways to defend against cyber attacks.

Channel 8’s “Horizon” program turned to Fulton Schools Professor Paul Westerhoff, an environmental engineer, to discuss health concerns sparked by a form of the metal chromium that has shown up in some Arizona water-supply systems.

Paulo Shakarian, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, talks with KJZZ’s Steve Goldstein about how his team’s ‘machine learning system’ is finding out what’s going on in the deep — especially if they’re possible starting points for cyber attacks.

The innovative work with imitation learning by Heni Ben Amor, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at ASU,  is featured in a round of some of the more significant advancements in machine learning.  

Researchers reveal how ants organize themselves into complex living structures to overcome obstacles — and how such acts can provide valuable insights for engineers and robot designers. Ted Pavlic, a Fulton Schools assistant professor whose expertise includes robotics and autonomous systems, helps explain what lessons ants’ collective intelligence can teach us.

Joshua Steele, a postdoctoral civil engineering student in the Human Health Observatory (H2O) Lab, explains how biomarkers in waste that can measure human habits and behaviors on an aggregate basis without invading privacy. “At a community level, we can gauge a measure, we can feel the heartbeat of a community and track these different signals.”

Rolf Halden, a School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment professor and director of the Biodesign Center for Environmental Security at ASU’s Biodesign Institute, has been tracking the detrimental effects of sanitizing soaps and wipes for years. The FDA agrees.

Assistant professor Jennifer Blain Christen from ASU’s School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering is working with a team to develop a patch that will diagnose anything from the flu to more serious diseases using sweat. The non-invasive, convenient and cheap tool is expected to be available in the next couple of years.

Assistant professor Jennifer Blain Christen from ASU’s School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering is working with a team to develop a patch that will diagnose anything from the flu to more serious diseases using sweat. The non-invasive, convenient and cheap tool is expected to be available in the next couple of years.

Sonoran Biosciences, an early stage pharmaceutical company spun out of Arizona State University, has received a $1.48 million research grant for its antibiotic gel to treat prosthetic joint infections.

Sonoran Biosciences was founded by a team led by Derek Overstreet, who worked in Associate Professor Brent Vernon’s Biomaterials Lab while earning his doctoral degree in biomedical engineering at ASU.  Overstreet remains an adjunct professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering.

It’s still unknown who recently broke through the cybersecurity defenses of the U.S. National Security Agency, and it has experts speculating that hackers may now have a new arsenal of weapons to breach computer systems’ firewalls. Paulo Shakarian, Fulton Schools assistant professor and director of the Cyber-Socio Intelligent Systems Laboratory, comments on how the NSA is likely to respond to the threat.

ASU’s EcoCAR3 team is revving up for year three of the four-year, GM-sponsored competition.

Chemical Engineering Professor Gregory Raupp, director of MacroTechnology Works for the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development at ASU, is teaming up with the Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Greg Worrell to help people who suffer from seizures with new brain-mapping technology.

A team at Arizona State University’s  CySIS Lab,offers a different approach to stopping unknown software vulnerabilities with a machine learning system that monitors darknet and deepnet traffic for information about zero-day exploits before the exploits are let loose in the wild.

A key goal for cybersecurity experts is to identify zero day exploits before they can be turned into malware. And for computer engineer Eric Nunes and team at Arizona State University’s CySIS Lab, the case of the Dyre Banking Trojan has provided important inspiration for an entirely new approach to this kind of cybersecurity

Also see:

• Automated data mining system finds 300 threats a week, say researchers, IT World Canada, Aug. 10 
• Automated systems crawl the Dark web to find Zero-Days, Security Affairs, Aug. 9
• Why you need to be concerned about zero-day exploits, Kim Komando, Aug. 8

ASU electrical engineering grad Ajay Karpur and computer science grad Shantanu Bala have teamed up to create Moment, a wearable device that offers GPS navigation, caller ID, notifications, alerts and time augmentation through silent, vibrotactile shapes drawn on your wrist. 

Also see: 

• Young Tech Startup looking to break into wearable world, Inside Tucson Business, Aug. 4
• This wristband Can Trace GPS Directions on Your Skin, MIT Technology Review, Aug. 16

ASU Engineering grad Shawn Goddeyne has received the Young Engineer of the Year award from the South Carolina Society of Professional Engineers. The award was presented to Goddeyne at the annual state Engineering Conference and Trade Show banquet.

 USPCAS-E to fulfill pressing national needs for exposure to new technology and collaboration with experts

The launch of US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Energy at National University of Sciences and Technology (USPCAS-E) by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Arizona State University (ASU), is an effort to address the chronic energy shortage in Pakistan. This partnership builds on existing talent in Pakistan by providing university faculty with exposure to new technology and an opportunity to collaborate with other experts in their fields.

Arizona technology companies are finding ASU engineering graduates with the skills to strengthen their workforce. One reason: Courses focus on providing students experiences they need to prepare for meeting the engineering challenges industry will face in coming decades.

ASU Associate Professor Bradley Greger and researchers from the Fulton Schools’ Neural Engineering Lab demonstrate new research being conducted using Oculus Rift headsets. The findings will help amputees develop enhanced motor movement with prosthetic limbs.

For the past year the Girl Scouts have partnered with ASU Assistant Professor Ashish Amresh to host multiple “Girls Design Video Games” workshops at the ASU Polytechnic campus. Amresh directs the ASU Interactive Lab and is an Assistant Professor in Software Engineering and is leading the Computer Gaming curriculum initiatives at Arizona State University, where he founded the Computer Gaming Certificate, Camp Game and UTBC summer programs. This was their first overnight camp, and first camp at NAU.

In a 3D printing breakthrough, Fulton Schools assistant professor Owen Hildreth and collaborators at Penn State have developed a technique to print dissolvable metal supports through a new process that can replace expensive machining operations with simple low-cost chemical baths. See also a report at the science and tech new website Phys.org and the research paper in the journal 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing.

CIDSE Professor Subbarao Kambhamti, who served as program chair for the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, talked about inventing the future during a news conference at the event. 

Self-described geek, engineer and technologist Nadya Bliss, Professor of Practice in CIDSE and Director of the Global Security Initiative, weighs in on embracing “messy, interconnected” wicked problems. 

ASU mechanical engineer Panagiotis Artemiadis is using electrodes that detect brainwaves to expand the possibilities of controlling technology through our thoughts.

ASU’s Center for Global Security Initiative Director Nadya Bliss and Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics Director Gail-Jun Ahn are working with leading faculty in law, business, engineering, psychology, public service, social sciences and criminology — to define the frontiers of cyber defense technology and examine the impact of laws, policy and society.

ASU Bioengineer Jeffrey La Belle and his team in the La Belle Lab have developed a sensor that measures the sugar in tears, paving the way for pain-free glucose testing.

Engineering doctoral student Jiachuan Yang walked CBS5 through the various methods he and other researchers are working on to combat the urban heat island effect. 

The Ben & Catherine Ivy Foundation is providing a scholarship for John Heffernan, an Achievement Rewards for College Scientists scholar, pursuing a PhD in bioengineering at Arizona State University. He plans to focus on glioblastoma multiforme brain cancer research.

Kathy Wigal, associate director of Curricular Innovation, GOEE, who will administer the BUILD-IT Program in Vietnam, served as a panelist at the Phoenix Business Journal Global Markets Asia Experience roundtable, which rolled out a road map from Phoenix to trade in 49 different Asian countries.

A creative “marriage of technologies” enabled Fulton Schools of Engineering research teams to develop a new kind a solar cell that promises to be more efficient at generating electrical energy from sunlight.

Fulton Schools of Engineering Professor Brad Allenby explains why millennials and senior citizens could be sold on the idea of driverless cars by different twists on the “technology of freedom” advertising pitch.

Allstate has pledged $1.5 M to ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics over the next three years. “This partnership fits perfectly with the center’s mission, bringing together expertise from private industry and academia, and giving students an opportunity to get hands-on experience,” said CIDSE Professor of Practice Nadya Bliss, director of the Global Security Initiative, which houses CDF.

Fulton Schools’ Assist Dean of Engineering Education Tirupalavanum Ganesh and Gabriel Escontrias, Manager of ASU’s Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology, take part in a discussion about how and why to encourage girls’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math.

Professor Nancy Cooke, chair of the human systems engineering program, led a national committee that looked at ways to ensure success in team research endeavors. Cooke and Nadya Bliss, director of ASU’s Global Security Initiative, talk about what it takes to make collaborative science and engineering click. (See page 16 of the online issue of the magazine.)

Professor Nancy Cooke, chair of the human systems engineering program, led a national committee that looked at ways to ensure success in team research endeavors. Cooke and Nadya Bliss, director of ASU’s Global Security Initiative, talk about what it takes to make collaborative science and engineering click. (See page 16 of the online issue of the magazine.)

Carbon-capture technology developed by the Fulton Schools’ Center for Negative Carbon Emissions is seen as a potential tool for reducing the threatening buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Fulton Schools’ faculty and students participated in a project to introduce Autodesk® Fusion 360TM software into the Introduction to Engineering Curriculum. The team is now working to establish a Fusion 360 certification program on campus in the 2016-17 academic year.

As the Phoenix Metro area was beset with its second day of high pollution advisory due to ozone levels, Albert Brown, a senior lecturer in the Polytechnic School weighs in on the different types of air pollution. 

NeoLight LLC, an ASU med-tech start-up that launched a device to treat newborn jaundice, has raised $1.4 million and expanded its product line. Working out of an office at ASU’s SkySong and the Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation business incubator on the GateWay Community College Campus, NeoLight now employs 14 engineers. 

Environmental Engineering Professor Bruce Rittman, co-director of the Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation (AzCATI) with Professor Klaus Lacker, is cited on the benefits of converting waste to energy (WTE). 

Doctoral student Peter Firth is featured speaking about the novel nanoparticle window coating technology developed in partnership with Assistant Professor Zachary Holman. It’s estimated the coating could save families up to $100 a year in energy costs.

Research Professor Tom Dempster from ASU’s Arizona Center for Algae Technology and Innovation (AzCATI) is collaborating with the Salt River Project (SRP) to find new ways to utilize algae in the desert.

Arizona State University’s engineering team created a supercapacitor that’s edible. Basically, it is a combination of egg, water, carbon pellets, gold foil, gelatin, cheddar cheese, seaweed and an energy drink.

During a press briefing in Ho Chi Minh City Tuesday, prior to the formal launch of Fulbright University Vietnam, Secretary of State John Kerry included Arizona State University among U.S. academic institutions having an impact in Vietnam’s academic arena.  

“We’re also working together, excitingly, in the academic arena.  And I can’t emphasize how key that is in terms of transformational long-term impact of a relationship.  The Institute of International Education, Arizona State University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Hawaii all have partnerships with institutions in Vietnam, several involving participation by the private sector.  And tomorrow, I will have the privilege of launching the formal launch of Fulbright University Vietnam, which will be a full-fledged, non-profit and totally academically free institution.”

A study on in vitro biomass meat cultivation co-authored by SEMTE President’s Professor Braden Allenby was cited in an article about lab-grown meat as a mechanism to address the environmental and animal welfare ethics of traditional meat production.

Fluidic Energy, ASU Associate Professor Cody Friesen’s ASU start-up, adds Madagascar to its growing list of off-grid villages that will count on sustainable, low-cost power thanks to lithium-ion batteries.

“American academic and technological leaders, including Intel, Oracle, Arizona State University and others, will help Vietnamese universities boost training and science and technology, engineering and math.”

ASU’s Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP) trains Vietnamese professors from eight universities on engineering topics.

Physicist Klaus Lackner has been pioneering technology to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to combat climate change. As CO2 emissions continue to soar, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering professor says such “air capture” approaches may be our last best hope.

Mehulkumar Gandhi, a math teacher at San Luis Middle School in Yuma led his CISCO-Supported Arizona FIRST ® LEGO® League team, the Scorpiotics, to win the Champion’s Award. Arizona FIRST ® LEGO® League is an Ira A. Fulton Schools K-12 Engineering Education and Outreach program designed to ignite an enthusiasm for the basic principles of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in children ages nine to 14.

Two Fulton Schools Electrical Computer and Energy Engineering solar energy research teams, inspired by students and led by Professors Yong-Hang Zhang and Zachary Holman, collaborated to enhance efficiency and affordability of solar panels.

ASU President Michael Crow asserts we must do better when it comes to recruiting women engineering students.

ASU President Michael Crow participated in the Keynote Panel at the U.S. News STEM Solutions Conference in Baltimore this week. Crow describes how ASU Engineering grew from 8,500 students with a 68 percent freshman retention rate in 2008 to 17,000 engineering students with a 90 percent freshman retention rate today. (President Crow joins the panel discussion at about the one-hour mark in the video.)

David Benson, the academic director of ASU’s Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP), works with visiting professors from Vietnamese universities to learn new ways to teach and explain material to their students.

Harindra Joseph Fernando, former Fulton Engineering professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and founding director of the Arizona Board of Regent’s Center for Environmental Fluid Dynamics. has been selected to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Dundee, a preeminent public research university in the United Kingdom.

Phoenix-based Avnet, Inc. and Arizona State have partnered to create a new innovation incubator for technology startups.

The first four companies are: Pit Rho, which will design and test a smart retail bag that enhances the shopping experience; XL Hybrids Inc., which is building an auto and truck fleet electrification business; The Youngbull Lab at ASU is working to create an early-warning system that monitors for microbes and other biological agents, and Zero Mass Labs, which is removing volatile organic compounds from the polymers industry.

Lifelong Somerton resident Gerardo Anaya, an ASU Engineering alumni, is becoming an interim mayor of Somerton during a pivotal moment in the city’s development. Work has begun on the construction of a city hall. The hope is this will spur redevelopment downtown. Anaya will be overseeing these measures. 

Former Fulton School of Engineering Dean (1995-2006) Peter Crouch is a candidate for engineering dean at the University of Texas, Arlington. Crouch has shared a plan for the the future of the engineering school that stresses the need for student growth and research programs.

James Anderson, professor emeritus at the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University, who has studied air quality in Arizona extensively for years, is cited in an Arizona Republic article about children vulnerable to asthma.

Fulton Engineering School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering Capstone projects were recently showcased on Fox10. 

Professor Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan was interviewed on the “Horizon” news and public affairs program about the Fulton Schools of Engineering’s Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC), where researchers are using machine learning, pattern recognition, haptics and human-computer interaction technologies to aid people living with physical disability challenges. Panchanathan founded and directs the center.

Anaya, a recent participant of our Wednesday’s Child and K-12 Outreach program, was part of a private session with one of Ira A. Fulton’s own Evelyn Holguin, a sophomore at Arizona State University. It was at this private session that Anaya realized that her passion for legos could segway into an engineering career. 

Assistant Professor Shane Underwood, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering School of Sustainability and the Built Environment and Shane Bycott, Coordinator Sr. K-12 Engineering Education and Outreach, were guests on the April 14 “Business for Breakfast” talk show on MoneyRadio1015.

The “two Shanes,” as they were introduced by hosts  Ken Morgan and Mark Asher, outlined some of the many summer camp programs offered through Fulton Engineering this summer. You can listen to their interview at 27:15 mark in the program. 

Longtime engineering executive John Thornquist, an ASU mechanical engineering grad, has been chosen to head up Washington state’s Office of Aerospace, just as the state’s $70 billion-plus industry sector is heading into a time of transition.

After weeks of competition, a group of Arizona State University students, including two from Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, beat teams from across the country to secure a spot in the final four of a tournament called Heroes of the Dorm.

Brady Falk, biomedical engineering major, is one of 170 Barrett, the Honors College students presenting at the Celebrating Honors symposium on the Tempe campus. He has always been interested in healthy lifestyles and wearable technology. His project is a workout shirt with integrated sensors to predict fatigue in military personnel.

ASU alumnus Sabah Randhawa was unanimously chosen to become the next president of Western Washington University. Randhawa earned his doctorate degree in industrial engineering at ASU.

Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE) brought some of its startups to Germany’s Hannover Messe Technology and Trade show, including ASU’s very own Fluidic Energy, an ASU spin out that is partnering with Caterpillar Inc. and PLN, Indonesia’s state-owned electricity company. Together they will provide power to 500 remote villages and 1.7 million people. 

Researchers at Arizona State University and engineers at Salt River Project are conducting joint research studies to find new ways to use algae in the desert, specifically in the operation of power plants.

The 2016 Horizontal Directional Drilling Academy was hosted by the Arizona State University Del E. Webb School of Construction and Benjamin Media Inc., February 11-12. ASU Engineering Professor Samuel Ariaratnam and Academy sponsors worked to put on the second annual conference where more than 120 drillers from across North America gathered to discuss new HDD technologies.

William “Jamie” Tyler, ASU Assoc. Professor, SBHSE, co-founder of ASU spin-off Thync, addresses the wearable tech device and the future of stimulating key regions of the brain — with currents or magnetic fields — to affect emotions and physical well-being. 

Scott Shrake, Ph.D., director of the EPICS program, was featured by Shardul Golwalkar, a Fulton Electrical Engineering grad, on the Techstar Blog.

ASU Engineering Professor Samuel Ariaratnam was consulted about Omaha’s underground utility congestion. There is currently a 35-million mile collection of pipes that run under the area making it difficult for contractors to build without causing damage to existing systems underground. 

A former federal agent who started an organization called “Find Me” in 2002, has teamed up with ASU’s CySIS Lab to come up with a computer software that helps find missing persons.

When an NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit discovered that the BART extension from East Bay to San Jose had installed cast iron pipe instead of PCV pipe, ASU’s Professor Samuel Ariaratnam, chair of SSEBE’s construction engineering program, was consulted about the significance of the mistake. (Video no longer available.)

The Piedmont chapter of the South Carolina Society of Professional Engineers (SCSPE) has named Tindall’s Shawn Goddeyne, P.E. Young Engineer of the Year (YEOY). This award honors engineers who make outstanding contributions to the engineering profession and the community during the early years of their career. Goddeyne graduated from Arizona State University in 2006 with a Bachelors in Civil Engineering and again in 2008 with a Masters of Science in Structural Engineering.

As a preview to Night of the Open Door events on the Tempe campus on Feb. 27, KPNX 12News featured the Daedalus Astronautics rocket awareness activities. Daedalus, a student-run organization dedicated to the design, manufacture, and launching of sounding rockets, sponsored hands-on water bottle and air compressor rocket launch activities. 

ABC15s Morning Anchor Dan Spindle previewed Night of the Open Door on ASU’s Polytechnic by taking a of the aviation program on the Polytechnic campus.  

ASU Bioengineer Thurmon Lockhart, Ph.D.,  draws on his career studying human locomotion to provide insight for Men’s Health Magazine on how to fall safely.