January 2012
Thursday, 26 January 2012
Cockrell School of Engineering researchers have, for the first time, cloaked a three-dimensional object standing in free space, bringing the much-talked-about invisibility cloak one step closer to reality.
While previous studies have either been theoretical in nature or limited to the cloaking of two-dimensional objects, this study shows how ordinary objects can be cloaked in their natural environment in all directions and from all of an observer's positions.
Published Jan. 26 in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society's New Journal of Physics, the researchers used a method known as "plasmonic cloaking" to hide an 18-centimeter cylindrical tube from microwaves.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin's Department of Chemical Engineering are the first to show that mechanical property changes in cells may be responsible for cancer progression — a discovery that could pave the way for new approaches to predict, treat and prevent cancer.
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
A professor in The University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering has been awarded a highly coveted lifetime achievement award from the American Mathematical Society (AMS).
December 2011
Monday, 19 December 2011
The difference between an intersection controlled by flashing lights and one controlled by a stop sign can play a big role in accident prevention, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.
The presence of flashing lights increases the probability of an accident by more than threefold, and intersections on frontage roads are among the most crash-prone for motorists.
Wednesday, 07 December 2011
The Cockrell School of Engineering Faculty Excellence Awards will be presented to four distinguished faculty members at a luncheon Dec. 7. The awards recognize exemplary teaching and professional leadership.
Wednesday, 07 December 2011
A University of Texas at Austin engineering professor and a cardiologist from UT Medicine San Antonio have received a $300,000 award to develop a new imaging technique with the potential to predict, or even prevent, heart attacks.
Biomedical engineering Professor Thomas E. Milner of the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and his longstanding collaborator Dr. Marc D. Feldman will serve as investigators for the Houston-based Clayton Foundation for Research and receive its ongoing support.
Friday, 02 December 2011
Event: The first University of Texas at Austin Inventor of the Year Awards, honoring professors John Goodenough and Adam Heller. Their inventions in energy and healthcare have had societal and economic impact throughout the world.
When: 5:30-7 p.m., Dec. 6
Where: Ballroom, AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center, 1900 University Ave., Austin, Texas, 78705
Background: The University of Texas at Austin will honor two faculty members whose inventions have changed the world.
November 2011
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Bob Metcalfe, Internet pioneer and now professor of innovation at The University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering, has been recognized with an international award for his contributions to the development of the Internet.
Metcalfe, an icon of entrepreneurial engineering and inventor of today's local-area networking standard, Ethernet, was recognized Nov. 28 in Tokyo with the C&C Prize. The award, established in 1985, is the highest honor given by the NEC C&C Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Japan and established to foster growth in the electronics industry by supporting research and development and pioneering work related to the integration of computers and communications technologies. The C&C Prize carries with it a cash award of 10 million yen (about $130,000).
Monday, 28 November 2011
A University of Texas at Austin engineering professor and a cardiologist-inventor from UT Medicine San Antonio who are developing innovative technology with the potential to predict, or even prevent, heart attacks will become investigators for the Houston-based Clayton Foundation for Research.
Marc D. Feldman, M.D., and his longstanding collaborator, biomedical engineer Thomas E. Milner, Ph.D., of the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, are at the forefront of bringing the technique into the practice of cardiology.
Becoming Clayton investigators will allow them to refine the light-based technology so it can identify one more hallmark of a plaque vulnerable to rupturing within blood vessels. Ruptures of these fatty deposits are the most common cause of heart attacks and strokes, leading causes of death worldwide.
The UT Medicine San Antonio project is one of six new medical research programs being established by the Clayton Foundation in Texas in 2012. Each program initially will receive $300,000 per year not only to support investigators like Drs. Feldman and Milner, but also to add postdoctoral fellows and cover equipment and supplies. The Clayton Foundation and its supporting organization, the Clayton Foundation for Research, have supported medical research within The University of Texas System since 1933.
“The Clayton Foundation allows its investigators wider latitude in their research than traditional grant-funding agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health,” said Feldman, who sees patients through UT Medicine San Antonio, the practice group of the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. “As a result, rather than focusing on research that will lead to the next funded grant application, investigators can focus on what is most exciting and most likely to impact patient care.”
Drs. Feldman and Milner collaborate with other investigators, including chemical engineer Keith P. Johnston, Ph.D., from The University of Texas at Austin, and biochemist Reto Asmis, Ph.D., at the UT Health Science Center. Together, these four investigators have had great success in developing cardiovascular applications for the light-based technique, called Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT).
OCT harnesses light waves instead of the sound waves, magnetic fields and radiation now used to image cardiovascular disease. OCT has far greater sensitivity, specificity and resolution than any of those techniques, with none of the harmful effects of radiation.
The researchers’ previous work in OCT resulted in seven U.S. patents and a spin-off company in 2005. The intellectual property and all seven patents are managed through the office now called South Texas Technology Management, which assists in commercializing technologies developed at five Texas universities, including the UT Health Science Center.
The spin-off company, CardioSpectra, was financed in part by the Texas Emerging Technology Fund and remains the fund’s most profitable investment to date. When San Diego-based Volcano Corp. purchased CardioSpectra for $62 million in 2007, the state received cash and Volcano stock. The state will not fully realize its profit until the stock is sold, but at its 2011 peak, the fair market value of the state’s investment reflected a 260 percent gain.
The existing technology is nearing approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and was approved for sale in Europe in December 2010.
The OCT technique created by the University of Texas System collaborators currently can detect two of three classic features of a plaque that is vulnerable to rupture: thinning of the tissue layer – or “fibrous cap” – that covers the plaque’s core, and an especially large collection of lipids beneath that cap.
The Clayton Foundation’s investment will allow researchers to tackle the third and final key characteristic of vulnerable plaques: an increase in the number of “macrophages,” or scavenger cells that digest pathogens and cellular debris. Macrophages have been shown to weaken the fibrous cap.
The OCT technique developed by the UT System team involves guiding a catheter through blood vessels – similar to intravascular ultrasound, which is already used in cardiac catheterization laboratories. While ultrasound can image plaques that are not visible through other methods, images are not detailed enough to identify those features of a plaque that predict heart attacks.
Because light vibrations are so much finer than sound, OCT produces images of far higher resolution than ultrasound, capturing details previously seen only at autopsy. OCT is in its infancy and, as the technology matures, will be an important tool for studying the biology of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, in patients for the first time.
“OCT is one of the most promising and exciting medical imaging technologies available today,” Milner said. “The detail of information OCT can provide is simply astonishing and will continue to impact not only cardiology but other medical disciplines, such as ophthalmology.”
Although the ability to predict heart attacks is still a ways off, a more imminent use for OCT might be determining whether the cells lining the walls of blood vessels have sufficiently repaired themselves after a drug-eluting stent is inserted. When this does not happen, patients are thought to be at risk for clots that obstruct the flow of blood and ultimately cause heart attacks. OCT can see this; ultrasound cannot.
Monday, 28 November 2011
Event: 1 Semester Startup Demo Day at The University of Texas at Austin
When: Thursday, Dec. 1, 5-9 p.m., open to the public
Where: Red McCombs End Zone Club, Gate 16, Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium
Background: Twenty undergraduate student startups from The University of Texas at Austin will present five-minute investor pitches to the Austin entrepreneurial community Thursday, Dec. 1. The startups are part of 1 Semester Startup (1SS), a class at the university that supports undergraduates who are starting companies.
Monday, 21 November 2011
Not one error but a series of miscommunications and mismanagement from all parties at all levels caused the Deepwater Horizon disaster, aggravated by the world's relentless demand for energy, according to a new book released by Tad Patzek, chair of the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and co-author Joseph A. Tainter, a professor in the Department of Environment and Society at Utah State University.
The book, "Drilling Down: The Gulf Oil Debacle and Our Energy Dilemma," explains the factors leading up to the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history and uses the spill as a backdrop to explain the energy-complexity spiral that governs modern life.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Event: The Cockrell School of Engineering's Technology Entrepreneurship Society (TES) presents "Talking Startups With Michael Dell, founder of Dell Inc."
When: 6-9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, doors open at 5:15 p.m.
Where: The Auditorium, Student Activities Center (SAC) at The University of Texas at Austin.
Background: Join the Cockrell School of Engineering's Professor of Innovation and Chair of Free Enterprise Dr. Bob Metcalfe as he interviews Michael Dell about his experiences with the early life of Dell Inc., as well as innovation within the technology industry. A question and answer session follows.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, UT Chapter at SHPE National Conference.
The Cockrell School of Engineer's Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) student chapter attended the SHPE National Conference in Anaheim, Calif. Oct. 26-30, and was presented with numerous national and regional awards, including:
Friday, 04 November 2011
Two research groups at The University of Texas at Austin have been awarded grants to develop technologies that could dramatically improve energy storage capacity on the electric grid.
The grants, which were awarded to scientists at the Center for Electromechanics (CEM) and the Center for Electrochemistry further solidify the university's standing as a leader in utility scale energy storage technology. The field has been transformed thanks to research breakthroughs led by university faculty who are internationally renowned in battery storage and fuel cell research, among other areas of expertise.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Pictured left to right are: Brian Korgel, David Allen and Roger Bonnecaze.
Five engineering faculty members and a professor emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin were recognized with prestigious awards during the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting this week in Minneapolis, Minn.
Monday, 17 October 2011
George Georgiou, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin whose technology developments in the engineering, medical, biochemical and cellular fields could help treat tens of thousands of patients with diseases such as cancer and osteoporosis, has been elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
Friday, 14 October 2011
Christine Schmidt, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, will be one of six featured professors presented with a commemorative gift from ING during an on-field presentation as the Longhorns host the Cowboys of Oklahoma State at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Saturday October 15.
"ING is committed to recognizing and honoring excellence in education," said David Linney, executive vice president and head of Public Markets, ING. "The ING Professor of Excellence Award is just one of the ways we can express our appreciation for educators who are dedicated to helping students reach their full potential, preparing them to compete in the global society."
Schmidt is a leader in the field of nerve regeneration and is forging a path to revolutionize treatment for spinal cord injuries. Her research has already had a major clinical impact for cancer patients, car accident victims and injured soldiers. She is also a winner of the Outstanding Engineering Teaching Award.
Friday, 14 October 2011
Lydia Contreras-Martin, an assistant professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Austin, has been selected as one of 65 of the nation's most innovative, young engineering educators to participate in the National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) third Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium.
