News
Archive:
12/9/2022
A new type of active pixel sensor that uses a novel two-dimensional material may both enable ultra-sharp cellphone photos and create a new class of extremely energy-efficient Internet of Things sensors, according to a team of Penn State researchers.
12/9/2022
The popularity of wearable electronics has induced demand for their parts, including power sources such as triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). Penn State researchers combined a porous 2D material known as MXene and laser-induced graphene foam nanocomposite to form a material system that enables a TENG to be stretchy and perform on dynamic surfaces.
12/8/2022
The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) named Justin Schwartz, Madhavan Swaminathan and Douglas Werner as fellows, the highest professional distinction awarded to academic inventors.
11/30/2022
If you are reading this article on your computer or phone, it is in part thanks to diodes. Diodes are used for a variety of critical electronic functions and are typically rigid. Electronic devices, such as robotics or medical devices, are becoming more flexible as technology advances, so Penn State researchers have developed a fully rubbery stretchable diode that maintains performance.
11/29/2022
Penn State researchers developed a method to manufacture soft, elastic semiconductors and circuits more efficiently.
11/21/2022
Seven Penn State materials researchers have received the 2022 Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award, including five in the College of Engineering.
11/21/2022
Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Evan Pugh University Professor and Charles G. Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics in the Penn State College of Engineering, has been recognized with two professional society awards.
11/15/2022
A Penn State-led multidisciplinary collaboration may have found a solution for antibiotic resistance in cholestyramine, an oral drug already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reduce cholesterol levels and remove bile acids associated with liver diseases.
10/24/2022
Penn State holds the honor of being one of two universities in the United States, along with Universidad de Puerto Rico, that is home to two UNESCO chairs. Osama Awadelkarim, professor of engineering science and mechanics and director of the Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization (CNEU) holds the title of UNESCO Chair on Building Innovation and Manufacturing Capacities Through Advanced Technology Education.
10/18/2022
Researchers at Penn State have successfully 3D bioprinted breast cancer tumors and treated them in a breakthrough study to better understand the disease that is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide.
10/6/2022
Twenty-eight new faculty members have joined the Penn State College of Engineering since the end of the spring semester. The 17 tenured or tenure-line members and 11 non-tenure-line members represent 12 units and departments and include two new department heads.
9/29/2022
Using the human brain as a model, Penn State engineering researchers developed a synaptic transistor, which uses artificial neurotransmitters to optimize functions. The transistor can be used to enhance the performance of wearable devices and robots.
9/22/2022
Saptarshi Das, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics, and Akhil Dodda, engineering science and mechanics doctoral student, discussed their research to develop a low-power smart chip that enhances data security in a Happy Valley Industry article.
9/21/2022
The Penn State Alumni Association will honor Charles Dages, who received a master’s degree in engineering science in 1977, and 13 other Penn Staters on Sept. 28 with the Alumni Fellow Award, the most prestigious award given by the Alumni Association.
9/19/2022
In the brain, neural activity usually is followed by increases in blood flow to the active region, a process known as neurovascular coupling. Scientists know that this process is important for brain health, as the breakdown of this process precedes many neurodegenerative diseases, according to Patrick Drew, Penn State professor of engineering science and mechanics and of biomedical engineering. What scientists don’t know is why neurovascular coupling exists at all. Drew proposed possible answers to this question in a review article, “Neurovascular coupling: Motive unknown,” published in Trends of Neuroscience.
9/16/2022
Yun Jing, associate professor of acoustics and of biomedical engineering, and Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, the James L. Henderson, Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, were featured in the January/Februrary issue Radiology Today.
9/14/2022
Penn State researchers collaborated with an international team to develop a flexible, implantable sensor capable of continuous nitric oxide monitoring, which can help identify early signs of osteoarthritis after joint damage.
9/7/2022
Michael Lanagan, professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, is part of an academic-enterprise partnership that has developed a new dielectric material for use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. The material is designed to deliver higher image resolutions and enable shorter scan times, which may reduce MRI operating costs for the hospital and lessen the MRI-related anxiety suffered by some patients.
8/29/2022
The Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State is one of the recipients of a four-year $4.6 million multi-institution grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will fund microelectronics and nanomanufacturing training for military service members and veterans in ongoing efforts to create a robust nanomanufacturing workforce establish the U.S.
8/25/2022
Sahin Ozdemir, professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, was featured in a New Scientist story about a maze of mirrors and lenses that turns any material into a highly efficient light absorber.
8/24/2022
Parisa Shokouhi, Penn State professor of engineering science and mechanics, was recently awarded a $360,000, three-year mid-career advancement grant from the National Science Foundation.
8/17/2022
Larry Cheng received a Scialog grant for a multidisciplinary research projects called "Transforming Imaging Collection in the Brain."
8/16/2022
Peripheral nerves are responsible for moving muscles, sensing temperatures and even inhaling and exhaling; yet they comprise fragile fibers vulnerable to disease and injury. To maximize healing for the easily damaged nerves, Penn State researchers are using a five-year, $2.14 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s Nation Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to develop a biodegradable nerve scaffold that aims to employ folate and citrate in novel ways.
8/12/2022
Osama Awadelkarim, professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, is an expert on semiconductor fabrication and microelectronics workforce development. He testified before Congress regarding the CHIPS Act and the need to strengthen the pipeline from education to industry.
8/9/2022
Smart bandages that can sense skin conditions and administer medication at wound sites may be on the horizon as a healing remedy, according to Penn State researchers. They recently reviewed the field’s latest developments in Bioactive Materials.
8/1/2022
Accurate, continuous monitoring of nitrogen dioxide and other gases in humid environments is now possible, thanks to a new water-resistant gas sensor developed by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, the James L. Henderson Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and his team.
7/25/2022
Nature creates layered materials like bone and mother-of-pearl that become less sensitive to defects as they grow. Now researchers have created — using biomimetic proteins patterned on squid ring teeth, circular appendages on the tentacles of squid that are used to grasp prey — composite layered 2D materials that are resistant to breaking and extremely stretchable.
7/19/2022
A study led by Larry Cheng, James L. Henderson, Jr. Memorial Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics in the Penn State College of Engineering, examined the ways to decouple input signals for multimodal sensors, which is important for avoiding complicated signal processing steps and allowing for high accuracy with the multimodal sensors.
7/19/2022
An interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers developed a low-power, all-in-one device that can sense, store, compute and communicate information among connected devices, while keeping data encrypted and secure.
7/5/2022
Cunjiang Yu, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics and associate professor of biomedical engineering, recently was featured in a Happy Valley Industry Q&A
6/30/2022
Vincent Meunier, professor of physics and materials science engineering and head of the Department of Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was named head of the Penn State College of Engineering’s Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics. He will start on July 1.
6/30/2022
Sensors are a step closer to sniffing out various gases that could indicate disease or pollution, thanks to a Penn State collaboration. Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics in the College of Engineering, and Lauren Zarzar, assistant professor of chemistry in Eberly College of Science, and their teams combined laser writing and responsive sensor technologies to fabricate the first highly customizable microscale gas sensing devices.
6/17/2022
A Penn State-led team created a standalone 3D antenna system that wirelessly harvests radio frequency energy and converts it to electrical energy to power itself and on-board sensors.
6/17/2022
Laura Cabrera, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics and Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Career Chair in Neuroethics, discussed the neuroethical implications of the first reference charts for the human brain.
6/15/2022
The Penn State College of Engineering community is mourning the loss of Andrew Michael “Mike” Erdman, retired professor of practice, who died on May 29 at the age of 74. He earned an undergraduate degree in engineering science from the college in 1969, and his enduring dedication to Penn State and engineering was recognized with the college’s highest honor, the Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award, in March.
6/13/2022
A Penn State-led collaboration has created artificial skin that mimics both the elasticity and neurologic functions of cephalopod skin. Made entirely of rubber, this material has potential applications for neurorobotics, skin prosthetics, artificial organs and more.
6/9/2022
Wearable sensors — an important tool for health monitoring and for training artificial intelligence — can be waterproof or can measure more than one stimuli, but combining these factors while maintaining a high level of precision in the measurements is difficult. Researchers co-led by Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, has created sensors that are waterproof — an important trait for exercise monitoring and for withstanding perspiration and all weather conditions — can measure temperature and motion on both small and large scales and can be attached to distal arteries such as the eyebrow or toe.
6/3/2022
The Penn State College of Engineering will recognize 11 early career alumni for their achievements and demonstrated commitment to their professions, communities and Penn State at a ceremony on June 17 at University Park.
5/25/2022
The College of Engineering recently awarded six Multidisciplinary Research Seed Grants to faculty members, including one in partnership with the College of Health and Human Development and another with the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.
5/25/2022
Newly developed flexible, porous and highly sensitive nitrogen dioxide sensors that can be applied to skin and clothing have potential applications in health care, environmental health monitoring and military use, according to researchers.
5/25/2022
A new take on a technique for studying defects in semiconductor materials could lead to improved speed, power and performance of electronic devices by revealing the atomic-level limitations of advanced materials.
5/23/2022
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine have named Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Evan Pugh University Professor and Charles Godfrey Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State, as one of 14 members of the 2022-23 Jefferson Science Fellows class.
5/19/2022
Ibrahim Ozbolat, professor of engineering science and mechanics in the Penn State College of Engineering, was featured in an article by the National Science Foundation discussing his research to bioprint bone with encoding genes that enhance healing and regeneration.
4/22/2022
A new stretchable wideband dipole antenna can improve the performance of wearable technology by changing its physical shape to adapt to body movements and pressure, according to Penn State researchers.
4/20/2022
Lauren Katch, doctoral candidate in engineering science and mechanics, won first place in the student paper contest at the Acoustical Society of America annual meeting in December 2021.
4/20/2022
Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Penn State Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, recently received a Humboldt Research Fellowship, where he will complete a research program in Germany over the course of two years.
4/20/2022
The Penn State Materials Research Institute has announced the 2022 recipients of seed grants that will enable University faculty to establish new collaborations with partners outside their own units for the exploration of transformative ideas for high-impact materials science and engineering.
4/20/2022
To better predict and mitigate radiation-induced damage of wide bandgap semiconductors, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded a Penn State-led team a five-year, $7.5 million Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Award.
4/18/2022
Jeremy Keirn has been named the spring 2022 student marshal for engineering science.
4/12/2022
An international Penn State-led team is bioprinting bone, along with two growth factor-encoding genes that help incorporate cells and heal defects, in the skulls of rats.
4/8/2022
An international team, co-led by researchers at The University of Manchester’s National Graphene Institute (NGI) in the U.K. and the Penn State College of Engineering in the U.S., has developed a tunable graphene-based platform that allows for fine control over the interaction between light and matter in the terahertz (THz) spectrum to reveal rare phenomena known as exceptional points. The team published their results today (April 8) in Science.
4/4/2022
With a $300,000 National Science Foundation grant, Penn State and the University of Dayton will lead two advanced studies institutes in Taiwan on display technologies for engineering and science graduate students.
3/30/2022
The Penn State College of Engineering has added 15 faculty members this semester, with 11 tenured or tenure-line members and four non-tenure-line members.
3/30/2022
Osama O. Awadelkarim, professor of engineering science and mechanics and the UNESCO Chair on Building Innovation and Manufacturing Capacities through Advanced Technology Education at Penn State, testified before the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee on Research and Technology on Feb. 15. The hearing was titled “Strengthening the U.S. Microelectronics Workforce.”
3/30/2022
Researchers at Penn State are at the leading edge of the field now known as additive manufacturing, working to advance the capabilities of 3D printing with a goal of addressing pressing problems in human health, housing and transportation, among other areas.
3/25/2022
Mike Erdman, retired Penn State professor of practice, has been named one of 11 recipients of the 2022 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award by the Penn State College of Engineering.
3/25/2022
Cunjiang Yu joined the Penn State College of Engineering as the Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering on Jan. 1. Yu received his doctorate in mechanical engineering at Arizona State University and completed a three-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
3/17/2022
A company spawned from Penn State research on a composite fiber from the proteins in squid ring teeth is a winner of the Microfiber Innovation Challenge. Tandem Repeat Technologies was named as one of five companies to win the contest.
3/3/2022
Penn State researchers have developed a set of tools and methods to better monitor and analyze sleep-related signals and fidgeting in rodent brain studies.
2/28/2022
Yang Yang, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, earned a five-year, $550,000 NSF CAREER Award for a project titled “Characterization and understanding of point defect evolution during corrosion-induced grain boundary migration.” Yang is also affiliated with the Penn State Materials Research Institute.
2/28/2022
Pennsylvania saw a 38% increase in the rate of gun violence during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was higher than the national average. This observation is based on the recent peer-reviewed study that enabled Penn State researchers to assess the rates of gun violence before the pandemic and compare them with the rates during the first year of the pandemic.
2/28/2022
Nine faculty members in Penn State’s College of Engineering earned National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Awards. Each project funded ranges in duration from three and a half to five years, with grants from roughly $500,000 to more than $800,000.
2/25/2022
Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State, was named to the 2021 MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 China list.
2/22/2022
The College of Engineering Bernard M. Gordon Learning Factory showcases for the fall 2021 semester took place virtually from Dec. 10 – 17 and in-person on Dec. 7. Students in the senior capstone design courses presented the culmination of their semester-long projects at the events.
2/18/2022
Parisa Shokouhi, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics and acoustics at Penn State, recently received the Institute for Materials Science Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
2/17/2022
The Federal Highway Administration recently honored a student and two faculty members for their paper, “A State Based Markov Model Approach to Impact Echo Signal Classification,” which was selected as the first-place winner in the bridge category of the 2020-21 Long-Term Infrastructure Performance Student Data Analysis Contest.
2/9/2022
Fingerprints left at a crime scene are typically collected and stored as photographs — but do they have to be? Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Evan Pugh University Professor and Charles G. Binder Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, received a $300,000 grant from the Criminal Investigations and Analysis Center to develop a technique for creating 3D holograms from fingerprints.
2/7/2022
Flexible electronics could lead to advancements in medical technology, smart devices and more, but their manufacturing must balance electric performance and stretchability, according to Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State.
2/3/2022
Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, is working to improve health monitoring by creating self-powered, environmentally-friendly, wearable sensors that collect data for clinicians while limiting discomfort for patients.
2/1/2022
By demonstrating exceptional control of an open optical system, an international research team has provided a path to experimentally measure and test exotic phenomena and gain insights into new physics with exquisite sensitivity.
1/19/2022
Huanyu "Larry" Cheng, Dorothy Quiggle Career Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State, and his research team recently published a review paper that was featured on the cover of a special issue of the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing.
1/10/2022
Important optimization algorithms that are designed to solve large-scale problems such as airline schedules and supply chain logistics may soon get a boost from 2D materials that will enable the algorithms to better solve the problems and use less energy, according to Penn State researchers.
1/6/2022
A new software tool can accelerate materials science research by cutting out tedious background research on material properties.
1/5/2022
Sahin K. Ozdemir, associate professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State, was elected a 2022 fellow of Optica, the international professional society formerly known as OSA.
1/5/2022
Rapid, accessible and highly accurate detection of addictive substances such as opiates and cocaine is vital to reducing the adverse personal and societal impacts of addiction, something current drug detection systems can take too long to provide.
