News

Makela twice recognized for outstanding research for...
Jonathan Makela , an assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering, was recently honored with two prestigious, international awards for young scientists. The awards recognize his outstanding research of the ionosphere. "Both awards are designed for young scientists, so they...

Sanders named to lead CSL
William H. Sanders, director of the Information Trust Institute, has been named acting director of the Coordinated Science Laboratory (CSL) at Illinois. He replaces Ravi K. Iyer, who was recently appointed the university's Interim Vice Chancellor for Research. "Professor Sanders has...

Phillips chosen as an inaugural NSF-ACI Fellow
Physics Professor Phillip Phillips has been named one of twelve "American Competitiveness Initiative" Fellows by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Materials Research. A Bliss Faculty Scholar in the Department of Physics, Phillips was recognized "for his creative...

Beyond Cold: How the World Works at Minus 459 Degrees
Graduate student David McKay describes how atoms are cooled to near absolute zero for research using an approach called quantum simulation. McKay also describes his role as a graduate student in the research laboratory . Most of us would agree that 32 F, the temperature at which water...

Adve Honored for Work on Memory Consistency Models
Computer science professor Sarita Adve has been honored with the Maurice Wilkes Award from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for her work on memory consistency models. The award is given annually by the ACM special interest group SIGARCH to honor outstanding contribution in field of...

Stretchable Silicon Camera Next Step to Artificial Retina
By combining stretchable optoelectronics and biologically inspired design, scientists have created a remarkable imaging device, with a layout based on the human eye. As reported in the Aug. 7 issue of the journal Nature, researchers at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University...

Shannon Testifies Before House Subcommittee on Energy...
On July 23, 2008, U of I researcher and director of the Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of Water with Systems (Water CAMPWS) , Mark Shannon testified before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment about the role of technology in addressing our nation's increasing demands...

Engineering in the News August 2008
Excerpts from Illinois in the News, a daily service provided by the University of Illinois News Bureau . This collection of July excerpts focuses on engineering topics and faculty contacted for their expertise by print and broadcast reporters around the world. CONSTRUCTION MANAGER NAMED FOR...

Thinking Small...Nanotechnology Workshop 2008 features MNTL...
"Illinois has been at the forefront of nanotechnology research covering a wide array of topics and applications that are likely to have profound impact on virtually all aspects of our lives in the future," stated Irfan Ahmad, associate director of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology...

Tracy named Associate Dean for Advancement
Molly M. Tracy has been named Associate Dean for Advancement for the College of Engineering, pending approval of the Board of Trustees. "Molly has been serving as Interim Associate Dean since March, and has done a tremendous job," stated Ilesanmi Adesida, dean of the College of Engineering....

Illinois partners to research Internet-scale cloud...
Building on a long history of innovation in large-scale systems and parallel computing, the Illinois department of computer science today announced a joint research endeavor to investigate Internet-scale cloud computing systems. In collaboration with Hewlett-Packard (HP), Intel, and Yahoo!,...

Student receives best paper award for research on bipedal...
Robert Gregg, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering (ECE) recently received the award for best student paper at the 2008 American Control Conference. The paper, "Reduction-Based Control with Application to Three-Dimensional Bipedal Walking Robots," was co-authored by ECE...

Homecoming '08...Feel the 'Nois!
Campus is bustling with new buildings, new initiatives, and the energy that comes from a new semester and a championship football team. Toast the past, check out what's happening on campus now, and "Feel the 'Nois" at this year's Homecoming celebration. There's lots to see and fun for family...

Students "chilling" design should save $2 million a year in...
When it comes online in 2011, the Blue Waters petascale supercomputer at the University of Illinois is expected to be the most powerful computer dedicated to scientific research. It will also require lots of cooling power, as its many processors generate vast amounts of heat. A student design...

'Nanonet' circuits closer to making flexible electronics...
Together, researchers at Illinois and Purdue have overcome a major obstacle in producing transistors from networks of carbon nanotubes, a technology that could make it possible to print circuits on plastic sheets for applications including flexible displays and an electronic skin to cover an entire...

Articulograph International Steering Committee calls on...
Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , recently became a member of the Articulograph International Steering Committee (AISC), a group of volunteers trying to provide standard human subjects safety information for new users of the...

Illinois Receives DoD Research Award for Secure Sharing of...
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is part of a six-university collaborative cyber security initiative that has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense to receive a projected 7-year, $7.4 million grant. The initiative, entitled "A Framework for Managing the Assured...

Researchers catch ion channels in their opening act
Each thought or action sends a million electrical signals pulsing through your body. At the heart of the process of generating these electrical impulses is the ion channel. A new study by researchers at Illinois measures movements smaller than one-billionth of a meter in ion channels. This...

U of I leading electric machine design effort
Professor Philip Krein and Associate Professor Patrick Chapman, in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, recently received funding from the Office of Naval Research to further investigations dedicated to improving electric machine design. As a result, the University of...

Brainstorms and Sound Waves: Two CSL Students Win NSF...
Cyrus Omar and Andrea Trevino have a lot in common. For starters, they are both working on technologies that could bring new capabilities to disabled people. Omar is working on brain-computer interfaces to help people communicate even if they do not have any muscle movement in their bodies; and...

Making it personal...
Imagine receiving an email from a friend or colleague that does not include any text. Instead, when you open the letter, a synthetic talking face appears on the screen and delivers the message, complete with facial expression and emotion. While it may seem far-fetched, Thomas Huang, the William...

Krein receives IEEE distinguished service award
Philip Krein, the Grainger Endowed Director’s Chair Professor in Electric Machinery and Electromechanics, has received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Power Electronics Society's 2008 Distinguished Service Award. "It's an important recognition of volunteer work in...

IDOT Pledges $15 Million the Illinois Center for...
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) plans to invest more than $15 million over the next three years to continue the innovative transportation research conducted by the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This new agreement comes...

Shannon addresses UNESCO Water Forum
"Newer technologies can leapfrog current practices in the developed world to deliver appropriate solutions for specific problems in different regions in Africa, without having to first duplicate technologies in industrial countries such as the United States," said Mark Shannon, director of the ...

"Aye, Captain. Activating the cloaking device..."
Now you see it, soon you might not, say researchers at the University of Illinois. In computer simulations, the researchers have demonstrated an approximate cloaking effect created by concentric rings of silicon photonic crystals. The mathematical proof brings scientists a step closer to a...

Engineering in the News July 2008
Excerpts from Illinois in the News, a daily service provided by the University of Illinois News Bureau . This collection of July excerpts focuses on engineering topics and faculty contacted for their expertise by print and broadcast reporters around the world. ILLINOIS HOSTS "CLOUD" COMPUTING...

Engineering at Illinois leads campus gender equity effort
"The search process plays a vital role in shaping our faculty and thus provides the best opportunity for diversifying our workforce," stated Ilesanmi Adesida, dean of the College of Engineering. "The college is committed to removing barriers to gender-equitable recruiting practices and to directly...

Tucker’s theory employed by Herschel and ALMA telescopes
Ever wonder how stars, galaxies, or even the universe were formed? Within the next few years, you may no longer have to speculate. By 2012, astonishing advances in astronomy will be achieved due to the recent development of two powerful telescopes. While the Herschel Space Observatory will...