Sep. 21, 2022

Mizzou Engineer using machine learning to solve space debris problem

Companies are launching satellites into orbit at a dizzying pace with no plans to clean them up once they’ve completed their missions. That means dead satellites are floating in space with no one controlling them, leaving them vulnerable to collisions. “Space is becoming more and more crowded,” said Ming Xin, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, “and solutions are becoming more and more urgent.” While studies are underway on best practices to remove space debris, right now there’s no good method to know exactly what’s out there. That’s because once a satellite is no longer in use, it…

Sep. 8, 2022

Team develops new method to determine lifespan of lithium-ion batteries

A Mizzou Engineering team has devised a new way to determine how many times you can recharge a lithium-ion battery before it needs to be replaced. Lithium-ion batteries are common in electronics such as laptops, and they’re a key component to getting electric vehicles on the roads. They can be recharged hundreds of times, but at some point, they’ll run out of charging cycles. That could be bad news if, say, you’re traveling, and your electric vehicle can no longer be recharged. Kangwon Seo “Lithium-ion battery capacity decreases whenever we use it, and at some point in time, we’re…

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. 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…

Aug. 8, 2022

Mizzou Engineers develop new method to design semiconductors

A new way to make semiconductors:Topology (A) and phase (B) imagery of the functionalized zone after zinc oxide atomic layer deposition. Mizzou Engineers have come up with a novel new technique to design semiconductors, the chips that make your phones, laptops and other devices not only smart, but also compact. Matthias Young and Matt Maschmann outlined a proof of concept for their technique in a recent issue of Nano Select and worked with the Technology Advancement Office to file an application to patent the work. Now, they’re hoping to scale up and optimize the process to make…

Aug. 4, 2022

Research at Mizzou could help reduce cost to build particle accelerators

If Mizzou Engineers are successful, that price tag of particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider could drop drastically.

June 28, 2022

Engineers develop robot to automatically inspect heat exchangers

A Mizzou Engineering team is designing a robot that can automatically inspect heat exchangers, which are critical to generating electricity.

June 27, 2022

Personal health trackers may include smart face mask, other wearables

Zheng Yan, an assistant professor of biomedical, biological and chemical engineering recently published two studies demonstrating different ways to improve wearable bioelectronic devices.

May 5, 2022

Using AI to analyze large amounts of biological data

Researchers at the University of Missouri are applying a form of artificial intelligence (AI) — previously used to analyze how National Basketball Association (NBA) players move their bodies — to now help scientists develop new drug therapies for medical treatments targeting cancers and other diseases.