Kim earns NSF CAREER Award: Energy savings through approximation
Battery life is a big problem for our small handheld devices.
It’s not just phones and wearables that greedily gobble power. Gadgets like medical implants, factory controllers and the antilock brakes in our cars all operate on limited energy budgets. All are examples of embedded systems, which, unlike general purpose computers, are designed to perform specific tasks.
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Privacy-protecting cameras earn prize in smart cities competition
Smart cameras help us care for our homes, pets and loved ones, but what’s looking out for our privacy beneath the gaze of so many artificial eyes?
It’s an increasingly important question, especially as advances in cloud computing and machine learning make it easier than ever for people—possibly with ill intentions—to track our every move.
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Papailiopoulos earns NSF CAREER Award: What can cellphone clarity teach machine learning?
Among a growing list of everyday uses, machine learning powers the silicon brains behind digital assistants like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa, and allows intelligent control systems to steer self-driving cars.
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The future looks bright for custom-tuned energy emitting materials
A new review paper in the research journal Nature Materials helps lay the groundwork for advanced energy harvesting, new lighting technologies, improved radiative cooling and thermal camouflage. The paper describes ongoing efforts to custom-engineer the process called thermal emission, which is what causes hot objects to radiate energy—for example, as seen in the red glow of heating coils in a toaster oven.
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Velten earns NSF CAREER Award to develop better cameras for capturing fluorescence
Invisible to human eyes, light emanating from everyday objects reveals a treasure trove of information.
Andreas Velten, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has a plan to create specialized cameras that can selectively capture unseen signals without becoming overwhelmed by a massive abundance of data.
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How smart ID bracelets could improve healthcare
With a bit of an upgrade, the barcoded ID wristbands that identify patients throughout their hospital stays could become powerful tools for improving their treatment outcomes—while at the same time, slashing healthcare costs.
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