Sustainability, Page 2

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Mizzou Engineer part of Dept. of Energy project to cut greenhouse gas emissions at wastewater treatment plants

A Mizzou Engineer is part of a multi-disciplinary team working to improve wastewater treatment processes to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half without increasing costs to plants.

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Team devising methods to make computer chips more energy efficient, sustainable

A Mizzou Engineering team is devising a method to make computer chips designed to run deep neural networks (DNNs) not only reliable, but also energy efficient and sustainable.

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Driving innovative solutions for advancing use of ‘plastic’ roads

In partnership with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), researchers from the Mizzou Asphalt Pavement and Innovation Lab (MAPIL) recently created a real-world test road using recycled materials like scrap tires and plastic waste along a portion of Interstate 155 in the Missouri Bootheel.

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Jin works to advance technology to solve climate challenges, meet energy demands

Yue Jin has been interested in nuclear power as a clean energy source since his undergraduate studies at a top-ranked university in China. So, after completing a PhD from Pennsylvania State University and working as a post-doctoral fellow at MIT, he saw Mizzou as an obvious next step.

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Graduate student to use environmental engineering, data analysis skills at NASA

He grew up in a water-strapped village in Afghanistan, worked as a water engineer who helped similar communities and wants to continue to conduct research around environmental problems while teaching future generations. In the meantime, Jaweed Nazary will spend his summer working at NASA.

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Pioneer in degradation of ‘forever chemicals’ brings research to Mizzou

Before most of his peers knew them as “forever chemicals,” Feng “Frank” Xiao knew they were a problem. It was the early 2010s, and he was reviewing Centers for Disease Control data when he noticed a disturbing trend. Pre- and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS) — compounds mass marketed since the 1940s — were showing up in more than 95% of blood samples, and they appeared to be wreaking havoc on human health.

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Krishnaswamy shares solutions for a zero hunger world at AAAS Conference

More than 2 billion people in the world face hidden hunger and malnutrition, even as 1.3 billion tons of edible food is either lost or wasted every year. Meanwhile, it’s estimated that the global human population will increase to 9-10 billion over the next 50 years, putting even more strain on food production. These are overwhelmingly complex problems. Assistant Professor Kiruba Krishnaswamy has a way of making solutions sound simple.

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Mizzou Engineering researcher helps turn food wastes into biodegradable plastics

A Mizzou Engineer is helping researchers at Virginia Tech develop a process to convert food wastes into biodegradable plastics. Caixia “Ellen” Wan is an associate professor of chemical and biomedical Engineering and a bioprocess engineer. She’s part of a team that received a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to upscale bioplastic production with the goal of replacing petroleum-based plastics while also keeping leftovers out of landfills.

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Mizzou Engineer lends protein prediction expertise to climate change studies at Danforth Plant Science Center

An inter-institutional research team is using the power of computational analysis to pinpoint which plant genes confer resilience against rising temperatures that threaten global food supplies in the coming decades. Mizzou Engineering Professor Jianlin “Jack” Cheng — one of the first scientists in the world to use deep learning, a powerful artificial intelligence technique, to predict protein structures — adds a unique perspective to the work. Since 2018, he’s been collaborating with Dr. Ru Zhang, a plant scientist at the Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, to leverage computational tools in the study of plant genes.

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Researcher working toward safer, more energy efficient LED lighting technology

A Mizzou Engineer has found a way to improve light-emitting diodes (LEDs), reducing the harsh blue hue associated with LED light fixtures.