Dear Research Review Subscribers:
In every corner of the UW-Madison College of Engineering campus, our faculty, staff and students are making exciting discoveries and conducting leading-edge research. We're pleased to share those advances with you in Research Review.
research advances
 Two fuels: The right recipe for cleaner, more efficient engines
A UW-Madison team has developed a novel technique in which an engine can, in real time, blend gasoline and diesel fuels to create an optimal mix. If all U.S. cars and trucks could achieve fuel-efficiency levels demonstrated in the research, transportation-based oil consumption would drop by one third. Read more.
 New approach to wound healing may be easy on skin, but hard on bacteria
An experimental approach to wound healing could take advantage of silver’s antibacterial properties, while sidestepping the damage silver can cause to cells needed for healing. Chemical and Biological Engineering postdoctoral researcher Ankit Agarwal crafted an ultra-thin material carrying a precise dose of silver. In tests in lab dishes, the low concentration of silver killed 99.9999 percent of the bacteria but did not damage cells called fibroblasts that are needed to repair a wound. Read more.
Five faculty garner NSF CAREER awards
The National Science Foundation will support early-career engineering research in such areas as cell fusion, data processing in digital communication, and breast cancer screening and diagnosis methods. Earning prestigious CAREER awards are Industrial and Systems Engineering Assistant Professor Oguzhan Alagoz, Electrical and Computer Engineering Assistant Professor Stark Draper, Biomedical Engineering Assistant Professor Brenda Ogle, Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professors Dan Negrut and Kevin Turner.
 Will a well-mixed, warmer lake doom invasive fish?
A team of scientists and engineers will begin an experiment that could demonstrate how to selectively evict unwanted fish from Wisconsin lakes. Using an apparatus that looks like a submerged trampoline, the researchers will warm the deeper waters of Crystal Lake in Vilas County by a few degrees to a temperature invasive fish are unable to tolerate. Read more.
Engineering faculty well represented in final discovery institute research selections
College of Engineering faculty and affiliated faculty are leading four out of the five proposals that will form the intellectual heart of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, a unique interdisciplinary venture that seeks to address problems relating to human health and welfare. Engineering-related research topics include tissue engineering scaffold research, health technology design in the living environments laboratory, mathematical optimization in biology and medicine, and systems biology. Read more.
New MRI technique could mean fewer breast biopsies in high-risk women
A University of Wisconsin-Madison biomedical engineer and colleagues have developed a method that, applied in MRI scans of the breast, could spare some women with increased breast cancer risk the pain and stress of having to endure a biopsy of a questionable lump or lesion. The universal technology will give radiologists greater confidence in visually classifying a lesion as malignant or benign. Read more.
 UW-Madison to play key role in nuclear energy comeback
As the climate warms, energy supplies shrink and oil imports continue to rise, nuclear energy is suddenly set for a resurgence. Nuclear, which now provides 20 percent of American electricity, may play a bigger role in long-term energy solutions. UW-Madison has deep expertise in many specialties needed to design safe, efficient nuclear-electric plants, including safety, materials and computer simulations. The university is also one of the rare U.S. campuses that operates its own research reactor. Read more.
 Storing the sun, in salt
At UW-Madison, researchers see potential for storing heat in a mineral found on kitchen counters and restaurant tables worldwide. Noted for their versatility, molten salts could gain a foothold in applications ranging from concentrating solar towers and nuclear reactors to oil recovery and biomass breakdown. Read more.
 In tough times, printing company uses UW-Madison methods to recover
Just a few months after Madison-based printing company Omnipress implemented quick-response manufacturing (QRM), it slashed the time staff took to prepare a conference-publications CD by 70 percent. Developed at UW-Madison, QRM is a set of principles and methods that can reduce product lead times from weeks to days. Read more.
 Software tool helps web developers identify seizure-inducing content
Researchers from the UW-Madison Trace Research & Development Center have released a software tool that could help prevent media-triggered seizures in children browsing the Internet or using computer programs. Read more.
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new funding
Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering and Pharmacology Assistant Professor Bill Murphy is PI or a collaborator on four grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation totaling more than $4 million. Among his collaborators is Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Padma Gopalan.
Biomedical Engineering Professor David Beebe and collaborators Oncology Associate Professor Elaine Alarid and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Professor Andreas Friedl received $1.4 million over three years from the National Institutes of Health for their project, “Microchannel cell-based assays to enable cancer research.”
Industrial and Systems Engineering Professor Leyuan Shi has received a four-year $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to conduct research into radiation treatment planning for cancer patients.
The Department of Energy has awarded Materials Science and Engineering Assistant Professor Dane Morgan more than $740,000 to study simulations to increase stability and catalytic activity of both low-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells and high-temperature solid oxide fuel cells.
new patents
Space-time microwave imaging for breast cancer detection: Materials Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering Professors Barry D. Van Veen and Susan C. Hagness, with Essex J. Bond, Xu Li. Read more.
Simple biological method and device for detecting a toxin or other chemical: Biomedical Engineering Professor David J. Beebe, Dongshin Kim. Read more.
Intersubband semiconductor lasers that operate reliably at room temperature and in the mid-infrared: Philip Dunham Reed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dan Botez, Ali R. Mirabedini, Dapeng Xu, Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Luke J. Mawst. Read more.
Self-regulating microsystem that integrates silicon- and polymer-based MEMS platforms: Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Hongrui Jiang, Biomedical Engineering Professor David J. Beebe, Abhishek K. Agarwal, Francisco J. Atencia-Fernandez. Read more.Variable-focus lens assembly: Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Hongrui Jiang, Abhishek K. Agarwal, Liang Dong, Biomedical Engineering Professor David J. Beebe. Read more.Decimal floating-point adder: Electrical and Computer Engineering Associate Professor Michael J. Schulte, John D. Thompson, Nandini Karra. Read more.Photocatalytic water treatment device: Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Marc A. Anderson, Gary L Hatch, Michael D Steinhardt, Michael J Kurth. Read more.Multi-mode liquid cooling system for electronics: Adam G. Pautsch, Mechanical Engineering Professor Timothy A. Shedd. Read more.Interface switch for distributed energy resources: Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Emeritus Robert H. Lasseter, Paolo Piagi. Read more.Temperature estimation based on a signal oscillation: Anusheel Nahar, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering Consolidated Papers Professor of Controls Engineering Robert D. Lorenz. Read more. |
