Sep. 6, 2022

Mizzou Engineering team using explainable machine learning to combat cybersickness

Nausea, headaches, dizziness. Just as motion sickness can ruin an otherwise pleasant road trip, cybersickness can make virtual reality unbearable for some users. That’s a problem as even the federal government has prioritized spending to incorporate immersive technology in educational, medical and commercial settings. In hopes of mitigating the effects of cybersickness, a Mizzou Engineering team has come up with TruVR, a framework for developing a cybersickness detection method based on explainable machine learning. Khaza Anuarul Hoque In other words, they’re developing a system that could predict and explain cybersickness which can ultimately aid in preventing cybersickness in…

Sep. 1, 2022

Building a better bulb: New faculty member brings NSF-funded research to Mizzou

Assistant Professor Peifen Zhu is on a quest to build a better light bulb, and now, she’s looking for Mizzou Engineering students who want to help. Zhu is a new faculty member in electrical engineering and computer science. She brings to Mizzou research around development of safer, more energy efficient lights, work that is supported with a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation. Peifen Zhu “For my research, I am developing materials for lighting technology that has a lot of advantages over conventional lighting technology,” she said. “The two main technologies now are…

Aug. 31, 2022

Engineering team evaluates evacuation in event of earthquake near St. Louis

While minor earthquakes along the New Madrid Fault occur regularly without incident, there’s a small chance another large quake could rattle Missouri and surrounding states. That’s why Mizzou Engineering has teamed up with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to begin to understand how residents in St. Louis could best evacuate the area. Praveen Edara, professor and chair of civil and environmental engineering, received funding from MoDOT to see how roads, bridges and other infrastructure might be impacted by a major earthquake. The St. Louis region has two seismic zones, including the New Madrid Fault line, which last caused…

Aug. 30, 2022

Civil Engineering research looks at concrete under sustained loads

For the most part, buildings held up with reinforced concrete columns have the capacity to withstand the test of time. In a few cases, however, construction errors, material deterioration and misuse can lead to overloading, and at some point, that overloading can cause buildings to collapse. Sarah Orton, an associate professor of civil engineering, has spent the past year working with colleagues to understand why. In a recent series of papers, she and collaborators released findings from physical testing and computational modeling of reinforced concrete behavior subjected to sustained loads. These so-called gravity loads are mostly…

Aug. 25, 2022

Building polymers one molecule at a time

A Mizzou Engineering researcher has demonstrated a new method of controlling material behavior by building polymers molecule-by-molecule. Polymers are made of long, repeating chains of single molecules known as monomers. In this study, Matthias Young — an assistant professor of biomedical, biological and chemical engineering — focused on monomers that exhibit high electrochemical capabilities, making them good candidates to serve as electrode materials for energy storage. Young and others have previously demonstrated that they could grow inorganic films onto carbon electrodes to make fast-charging batteries and supercapacitors, through a process known as atomic layer deposition. However, scaling up…

Aug. 22, 2022

Interdisciplinary team uses light as an innovative treatment to prevent tongue weakness in ALS

An interdisciplinary research team at Mizzou is investigating a novel treatment to prevent tongue muscle degeneration and preserve swallowing function in patients suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

Aug. 19, 2022

Midwest IAC earns Department of Energy 2022 Center of the Year Award

The Midwest Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) at Mizzou Engineering was honored with the 2022 Center of the Year Award by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Aug. 18, 2022

Manufacturers gather at Mizzou to learn about engineering resources

The MU Manufacturer Connection Event showed manufacturers that Mizzou Engineering has a lot to offer in terms of research and training.

Aug. 12, 2022

Mizzou becomes part of Center to Stream Healthcare in Place, an NSF consortium

Mizzou has become the fifth university to join the Center to Stream Healthcare in Place (C2SHIP), a National Science Foundation (NSF) consortium focused on helping patients monitor and manage their health at home.

Aug. 9, 2022

Blockchain could be key to connecting patients with clinical trials

Blockchain technology could help connect patients to clinical trials. Before a prescription drug or device can become available to the general public, it has to go through clinical trials to determine its safety and effectiveness. The problem is that most people don’t even know these trials exist, let alone how to participate in them. Chi-Ren Shyu, Shumaker Professor in electrical engineering and computer science, believes blockchain is the key to connecting patients to the companies developing potentially life-saving treatments. Shyu is also director of the MU Institute for Data Science and Informatics. Chi-Ren Shyu Blockchain is a…