University
Environment Steers Females Away from Computer Science
December 21, 2009 3:08 am | Blogs | CommentsStereotypes could be what drive females away from the computer science fields according to a press release issued by the Univ. of Washington. Being a female, the first thing I think about computer scientists are men with beer bellies that stay up all night coding, have no social life, and play video games or watc Star Trek (and not the new movie, the old shows) religiously. According to a study done by researchers at the Univ. of Washington, these stereotypes are brought on by the appearance of the environment people work in.
The Science Stemming from Animals
December 3, 2009 7:38 am | Blogs | CommentsGrowing up I have heard all types of opinions on using animals for scientific research. There are the people who are purely against it, like one friend who would rather see prisoners be injected with experimental drugs than risk harming an animal. Or people who think testing on animals is a great starter. And, although conflicted in how I feel about this topic, I have begun to see the benefit animals bring to the world of science in general.
A desk we can count on
November 24, 2009 3:35 am | Blogs | CommentsThe one thing I enjoy after a day at work is a nice, long walk or jog. Once the endorphins kick in everything seems perfect. Anything that happened previously that may have stressed me out or affected me negatively gets wiped away, or at least decreases, and I get lost in the rhythm my feet make as they rush across the dark pavement of the road.
Physicists make new discovery in quantum mechanics
September 24, 2009 4:23 am | Product Releases | CommentsPhysicists at UC Santa Barbara have made an important advance in quantum mechanics using a superconducting electrical circuit. The researchers showed that they could detect the quantum correlations in the results of measurements of entangled quantum bits, using a superconducting electrical circuit. The correlations are stronger than can be obtained using classical (non-quantum mechanical) physics, and according to the physicists, this illustrates that the oddities of quantum mechanics clearly extend to macroscopic systems.
In the scanning probe world, large range is a good thing
October 10, 2008 8:05 am | Award WinnersThe XY HiPER-Nap: XY High Precision Extended Range Nano Positioning System from the Univ. of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Mich.) is the largest nanometric motion range positioning system now available.
Extreme UV lasers bring the nanoscale to the benchtop
October 2, 2008 2:14 pm | Award WinnersWhat constitutes the perfect microscope? Is it the resolution? Flexibility for examining a wide variety of samples? One that can be used quickly and often? The Extreme Ultraviolet Light Table-Top Microscope (EUVM-1) from the Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology, Colorado State Univ. appears to strive for all of these qualities and meets them efficiently.
Collaborative Research in the Heartland
June 18, 2008 6:06 am | by Tim Studt | Articles | CommentsIndiana University’s Simon Hall creates an environment for current and future research in a setting that maintains one of the strongest architectural heritages in academia.
Gripping development in paste
August 31, 2007 8:00 pm | Award WinnersCompanies looking for chip-interconnect solutions for high-volume electronic products can choose from two major types: solder alloys and conductive epoxies. For high-temperature applications, however, researchers at Virginia Tech and NBE Technologies LLC (both of Blacksburg, Va.) believe neither choice is optimal. Steering away from gold, tin, or lead mixtures, these researchers developed nanoTach, a smooth viscous semiconductive nanomaterial paste designed to significantly improve performance and reliability above 175°C.
Mitigating corrosion
August 31, 2007 8:00 pm | Award WinnersThere is a pressing need for environmentally friendly and benign methods and materials to mitigate corrosion on aluminum, especially aircraft. Until recently, chromates were the only corrosion inhibitors used on aluminum aircraft. Unfortunately, chromates are also human carcinogens, but replacing them has been exceedingly difficult. Enter Deft’s Benign, Corrosion Inhibiting Aircraft Primers 02GN083, 02GN084, and 44GN098, developed by Eric Morris and Richard Albers at Deft, Inc. (Irvine, Calif.) and James Stoffer and Thomas O’Keef at the Univ. of Missouri-Rolla (Rolla, MO).
Lighting up nano-scale materials
August 31, 2006 8:00 pm | Award WinnersAs nanotechnology-based research continues to boom, so do the challenges, among them effective imaging and characterization. Accomplishing these routines on materials of this scale requires extremely sophisticated, and often times, costly instrumentation such as scanning electron and transmission electron microscopes. Researchers at Auburn Univ. and Aetos Technologies, Inc. (both of Auburn, Ala.) have offered an alternative with the CytoViva.
MIST benefits foundry industries
August 31, 2006 8:00 pm | Award WinnersThe Metal Infusion Surface Treatment (MIST) is an advanced, low-cost infused coating technology that is applied to finished industrial components resulting in improvement in their life and performance. MIST has been proven applicable to reducing metal-casting die wear and checking, reducing friction coefficients on certain materials, and acting as a host for catalyst ions for high- temperature diesel engine exhaust emissions treatment.
System has no strings attached
August 31, 2006 8:00 pm | Award WinnersThe Explorer is a long-range-tetherless, self-powered robotic system for the live, visual inspection of natural gas and other pipelines. The system was created by researchers at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon Univ. (Pittsburgh, Pa.); Polytechnic Univ. (Brooklyn, N.Y.); NYSEARCH/Northeast Gas Association (New York, N.Y.); Strategic Center for Natural Gas and Oil, National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy (Morgantown, W.V.); Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, Calif.); and ULC Robotics Inc. (Deer Park, N.Y.).
Creative nanotechnology
August 31, 2005 8:00 pm | Award WinnersNanoFoil is a nanoengineered heat source that enables lead-free soldering and brazing of materials at room temperature. Developed by Reactive NanoTechnologies (RNT) in Hunt Valley, Md., with support from researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Calif., and Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, Md., the NanoFoils are manufactured by vapor depositing hundreds of nanoscale layers that alternate between elements, such as aluminum and nickel.
Nanosponges speed semiconductor devices
August 31, 2005 8:00 pm | Award WinnersThe semiconductor device industry is continually driven to improve performance. In order to achieve increasing speeds and decreasing costs, manufacturers have introduced new materials such as ultra-low k dielectrics. These dielectrics, however, are soft, fragile, and can be easily scratched and delaminated during chemical mechanical planarization. Researchers from Sinmat Inc., in a joint effort with the Univ. of Florida, have developed Soft, Elastic Nanosponge Materials that have significant advantages over to state-of-the-art slurries based on conventional particles.
Cost-effective oxygen sensors
August 31, 2005 8:00 pm | Award WinnersThe High-Temperature Potentiometric Oxygen Sensor with Internal Reference, developed by teams at Ohio State Univ., Columbus and Argonne National Laboratory, Ill., can withstand temperature up to 1600° C and eliminates the need for costly and bulky high temperature resistant external plumbing for a reference air system.
Improving gas turbine engines
August 31, 2005 8:00 pm | Award WinnersAmes Laboratory, Iowa State Univ., Iowa, developed Novel High-Temperature Coatings with Pt-Modified Ni and Ni3Al Alloy Compositions.
Avoiding false alarms
August 31, 2005 8:00 pm | Award WinnersAirline fire detectors have historically produced as high as a 200 to 1 rate of false alarms. For this reason, researchers from NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, in a joint effort with Makel Engineering, Inc., Chico, Calif., Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, Ohio, and Ohio State Univ., Columbus, have developed the Multi-Parameter, MicroSensor-Based Low False Alarm Fire Detection System (MMFDS).
Take this tiny motor for a spin
August 31, 2004 8:00 pm | Award WinnersMicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is the current buzzword when it comes to small machines. But while MEMS motors can fit on the head of a pin, NEMS (nanoelectromechanical systems) motors can fit on a virus. The overall size of this nanomotor is ~300 nm, three orders of magnitude smaller than existing MEMS motors, making Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Synthetic Rotational Nanomotor the smallest synthetic motor ever made.
Line up for this ruler
August 31, 2004 8:00 pm | Award WinnersWhile it may sound like a measuring device for Lilliputians, the Nanoruler is actually a tool used for patterning large gratings with very high accuracy. Created by a team led by Mark Schattenburg at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, the device uses scanning-beam interference lithography (SBIL) to pattern gratings with distortions that are 10 to 100 times smaller than previously available.
Battle-worthy membrane
August 31, 2004 8:00 pm | Award WinnersIn a joint effort, researchers from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, and Battelle, Columbus, Ohio, have developed a low-cost, high-temperature polymer membrane dubbed Battellion for use in Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells.
The oil hunt
August 31, 2004 8:00 pm | Award WinnersResearch conducted by the Dept. of Energy states that nearly two-thirds of the oil discovered in the U.S. remains unharvested even after numerous recovery operations. This scenario is exacerbated by the lack of detailed information regarding oil reservoir conditions and well integrity. As a response to this need, Anbo Wang and his colleagues at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, devised the Miniature Laser-Bonded Self-Calibrating Interferometric Fiber Optic Sensor Technology for Oil Down-Hole Applications.
Internal breaches reach a block
August 31, 2003 8:00 pm | Award WinnersA break in internal security can have dire consequences on an organization, especially when speaking of financial service institutions and hospitals. To prevent such breaches and close the security holes present, Palisade Systems Inc., and Iowa State Univ., both from Ames, Iowa, created the FireBlock Security Appliance. Designed to protect crucial assets from internal attacks at the network level, this novel device proactively blocks and records unauthorized access, without limiting network performance.
Cost-effective micro-nano actuator
August 31, 2003 8:00 pm | Award WinnersActuators have expanded from humble single-axis linear systems into extravagant configurations with the rise of increasingly intricate applications. As these applications demand more sensitivity and multi-directional movement, the cost of the product accrues. The HexFlex Nano-manipulator, developed by MIT researchers, provides a low-cost alternative.
Coating extends seals’ durability
August 31, 2003 8:00 pm | Award WinnersA group of scientists at Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, Pa., Argonne National Laboratory, Ill., and the Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, has produced a novel coating for seals called the Nanostructured Carbide Derived Carbon (CDC). This film can be used in an array of rotating or sliding machines, promising to minimize energy consumption and improve a pump’s reliability.
Revolutionary engine components
August 31, 2003 8:00 pm | Award WinnersCreated by NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, Univ. of Toledo, Ohio, and Texas A&M Univ., College Station, Texas, the High Temperature, High Load Radial Magnetic Bearing system enables high speed as well as high temperature operation of large diameter shaft systems.
