SYDNEY -- A swarm of shoe-box sized satellites is scheduled to begin the first stage of a historic journey into space on March 19, when an Atlas V rocket blasts off from Florida's Cape Canaveral space center with the tiny satellites on board, along with NASA equipment and supplies. All are destined for the International Space Station, a large, habitable spacecraft in orbit around Earth.

Marking Australia's re-entry into the space race after 15 years, Australian universities are sending three of these nano-satellites into space, each weighing about 2kg and costing about $1 million Australian dollars ($760,000) each, including transport to the space station. The tiny spacecraft will undertake research gauging atmospheric density for up to a year, before burning up on re-entry.

"It's amazing [that] you can put a piece of hardware in space for a million dollars," said Elias Aboutanios, deputy director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research and leader of a nano-sat project at the University of New South Wales. "In direct costs that we can account for, it has cost us about a quarter of a million [Australian] dollars in cash, and about three-quarters of a million dollars in kind... That includes everything."

L-R: Dr Joon Wayn Cheong, Cheryl Brown, John Lam, Ben Southwell, Prof Andrew Dempster and Tom Croston (Photo courtesy of UNSW)

L-R: Dr Joon Wayn Cheong, Cheryl Brown, John Lam, Ben Southwell, Prof Andrew Dempster and Tom Croston (Photo courtesy of UNSW)

As the first Australian spacecraft to make it into space since a scientific research satellite launched from Japan in 2002, these tiny satellites have already ignited a new burst of astronautical interest in Australia, where they are seen as the harbingers of a revolutionary and affordable thrust into orbit.

The launches are part of a cooperative effort by universities and research institutes in 23 nations involved in the European Union-led QB50 project, which planned to use 50 very small satellites to carry out coordinated atmospheric measurements in a string-of-pearls constellation. After they are released from the space station they will disperse and orbit Earth at roughly 7.5km a second, gathering valuable scientific data as they roam.

The first group of 28 QB50 nano-satellites -- known as CubeSats because they are made up of multiples of 10cm x 10cm x 11.35cm cuboid units -- will take soundings in the largely unmeasured lower thermosphere, between 200km and 380km above Earth. A second group of eight QB50 CubeSats is scheduled to be launched into space in April aboard the Indian PLSV Rocket, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, bringing the total to 36 -- the number of nano-sats ready for launch by the EU deadline.

Asian nations involved in the QB50 project include South Korea, Taiwan and, to a certain extent, China, although the two Chinese universities building QB50 CubeSats -- Harbin University of Technology and Nanjing University of Science and Technology -- have registered their spacecraft in Belgium.

Second chance

Space has long been dominated by superpowers with super budgets, enabling the push to the moon by the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, and the American and European Mars probes currently underway. More recently, billionaire space enthusiasts such as Elon Musk, founder of the Tesla car company, have joined the space race with their own rockets.

Apart from the QB50 project, miniaturized satellites herald a new age. India set a record on Feb. 15 when its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre with 104 satellites on board, nearly all CubeSats.

"Nano-sats in general and CubeSats in particular are giving Australia a second chance to enter this business," Aboutanios said. "Nano-sats are putting space within the reach of very small players." The University of NSW CubeSat team built a nano-satellite called ECO, and cooperated with other institutions on a second CubeSat.

"In the 50s, 60s and 70s, countries were working hard to build their space capabilities," Aboutanios told the Nikkei Asian Review. "But it was difficult. It was doable by first world powerful nations. Australia had space capabilities at that time, but gave up on the effort. We don't want to make that mistake again."

It is not only a question of furthering humanity's knowledge of space. It is also a matter of profit. "Globally, the space business is forecast to reach 400 billion ($500 billion) by 2030, Aboutanios said. "The U.K. is driving very hard to get a piece of that. And so should Australia."

The UNSW EC0 Cube Sat in its 3D printed yellow protective casing, ready for final shipment. (Photo courtesy of UNSW)

The UNSW EC0 Cube Sat in its 3D printed yellow protective casing, ready for final shipment. (Photo courtesy of UNSW)

The CubeSat design was proposed by a group of U.S. science professors in 1999 to allow graduate students to design, build, test and run spacecraft with roughly the same capabilities as the first spacecraft, the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1, launched in 1957. The first CubeSats were launched in 2003, and these days anyone can buy a CubeSat kit, which is marketed online by the San Francisco-based nano-satellite company, Pumpkin Inc.

The QB50 project was designed to capitalize on the size and cost advantages of CubeSats. "One of the main purposes of the QB50 project is to achieve sustained and affordable access to space for small scale research space missions and planetary exploration," the project's mission statement says.

Space researchers around the world have embraced CubeSats, and applauded their capabilities. "CubeSats, when you look at the trends, are exploding, they're mushrooming in number," Aboutanios said. "That's Australia's opportunity. We have no chance of competing with the likes of the U.S., Europe, China and Russia with the big satellites, satellites that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. But we can compete with nano-sats, and their share of the market is growing rapidly."

Most of the QB50 nano-sats will carry one of three devices, or sensors, specified by the QB50 project -- either a multi-needle Langmuir probe, an Ion-Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS), or a Flux-Probe experiment, all designed to gauge densities in Earth's lower thermosphere.

"We've chosen the Ion-Neutral Mass Spectrometer," Aboutanios said. "As the satellite is plowing through space, it collects particles in its path and measures their mass, and then we can tell what atoms exist up there. The thermosphere is very little understood, and that's why we're doing this. This will improve our understanding manyfold."

Each of these QB50 nano-sats will also carry one or more devices devised and manufactured by the university that built the tiny spacecraft. "Apart from the QB50 experiment, we're doing a number of experiments of our own," Aboutanios said.

"The structure of the satellite, the frame of the satellite, is usually made out of aluminum, and usually machined. "Instead, we have used a thermoplastic, and we've 3D-printed the frame of the satellite, and we coated it with nickel for conductivity. That gives us a lightweight, strong structure that we can rapidly make. We're sending it up into space and we're going to monitor how it behaves in the harsh environment of space."

The relatively low cost of these nano-satellites makes them ideal for small-to-medium nations such as Australia, with restricted funds for experiments in space. Regardless of whether they last in space for any length of time, the successful launch of these three tiny spacecraft will be an important step for the nascent Australian space industry.

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Nano-satellites thrust Australia back into space - Nikkei Asian Review

Assam Don Bosco University is much like the North Eastern states most famous tree, the Hollong, the iconic vegetation in the region. Perched atop the hills of Assam, the university not only stands out for being the first privately-run state university here but is now increasingly staking its claim as an emerging education ambassador of the state. In its relatively short tenure, ADBU has gone from strength to strength while notably improving its placement record. Although branching out to more niche disciplines like Tea technology, ADBU has perhaps excelled unquestionably in the area of Nanotechnology research. This is sure to make the scientific and student community look up and take notice.

ADBU, sponsored by the Salesians of Don Bosco (started by St. John Bosco), is today the largest Catholic congregation in the world.

Assam Don Bosco University is their 16th global university and the first in the English-speaking world. They operate a total of three campuses namely at Azara, Kharguli, and the picturesque 500-acres campus on the undulating hills, the Tapesia Gardenscatering to the educational needs of the ethnically and culturally rich diversity of India.

Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) is arguably one of the most experienced higher education promoters in the world, running 15 universities worldwide.Assam Don Bosco Universitys Whole Institution approachis intended to promote a higher education community that is improving efficiency, conserving resources and enhancing environmental quality for sustainability and creating healthy living and learning environments. Apart from the life cycle of buildings, grounds and infrastructure, the commitment to a Whole Institution approachencourages research, promotes advocacy efforts, develops curriculum and supports academic and mission-based goals which further sustainability on campus. The University campus is considered as a living laboratory and the endeavor includes students, academic staff, administrative staff as well as visitors to extend learning beyond the class room to develop responsible attitudes and commitment to continuous improvement on sustainability issues. The initiatives of agro forestry and conservation of biodiversity, alternate energy through solar and water and eco friendly waste disposal are critical in the University's plan ofreducing environmental risk and impact and achieving financial savings

Though ADBU has almost all core departments and in-demand courses, its flagship is the undergraduate engineering program with almost half of the on-campus students pursuing their BTech. Although ADBU comes across as the archetypal private self-financing university, it is unique in that its off-campus or distance-learning division - Don Bosco Global - is larger in student strength than its on-campus wing and attracts students from all over the world. Offering a variety of courses with a vibrant thrust on research and abundance of extension activities, ADBU currently has around 2000 students on campus and another 6000 pursuing its online courses.

Led by Fr.(Dr) Stephen Mavely, a leading educationalist with around 40 years of experience in the North East, ADBU is guided by a two-pronged principle that runs through its veins: the employability of their graduates in a knowledge based economy and a globalized world, and the formation of their graduates to become life-long learners capable of adapting to the changing demands of the world of work. In the highly competitive world of today, it is talent and adaptability that matter, not one's background, aptly summarized by the VC Fr. (Dr) Stephen Mavely. Notably, Fr. (Dr) Stephen Mavely was recently awarded with the coveted 100 Most Influential Vice-Chancellors award in Asia-Pacific region by World Education Congress.

In honoring its research commitments, ADBU signed an MoU with Centre of Plasma Physics Institute for Plasma Research (CPP-IPR), Nazirakhat, Sonapur. CPP-IPR is a research center of Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, which is an autonomous body under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India.

Both the institutions agreed to collaborate in scientific research, lend hands in setting up of laboratories, mechanical/electronics workshops and sharing of infrastructure. The immediate areas that open up for collaboration are in the areas of scientific research in nano-materials, thermal engineering, numerical simulation etc. In addition, the university students of science and technology will also be able to do their project works with CPP-IPR facilities under the guidance of CPP-IPR faculty.

This year, ADBU played host to The International Conference on Advances in Nanotechnology, iCAN 2017 in partnership with the School of Technology and Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization, USA. The main objective of the conference was to motivate young researchers from academic and research institutes in the north eastern part of India to explore the possibilities of using nanotechnology and to provide a platform to interact and exchange new ideas and also to explore possible collaborations with the researchers from across the globe working in diverse areas of Nano-science and Nanotechnology.

ADBU further solidified its growing contribution in the field of nanotechnology research by opening a Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology (CoEN). Widely touted to be the trending technological breakthrough of the 21stcentury, Nanotechnology has made a horizontal impact traversing across all types of vertical industrial sectors like computers, telecommunication, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, defense, construction, energy, to name a few.

The CoEN will focus on research in Nano-sciences and Nanotechnology leading to industry-ready technology/products, development of human resources for implementing nanotechnology through interdisciplinary research, initiate strong interactions leading to collaborations with leading academic institutions and industry for innovations, setting up of a state of the art nanotechnology characterization lab.

The CoEN will also advocate the concept ofPoor Mans Nanotechnologyand assist other institutions in setting up basic Nanotechnology research labs. The CoEN plans to set up a library (both printed and electronic) of nanotechnology related books and research publications, organize International and National Conferences, Symposiums, Workshops, etc. and support researchers in submitting research projects to funding agencies.

In another progressive development aimed at promotion of scientific reasearch, a workshop on Open Source Software for Library Automation was heldat ADBU. The workshop was jointly organized by collaboration of DRTC, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Bangalore and Assam Don Bosco University and was sponsored by ISI in Bangalore.

The workshop aimed at developing an expertise on Open Source Software known as KOHA by providing a thorough training, tutorial, demonstration and hands-on practice. It also aimed at updating the professionals and academic community about content management.

Its vast global network has also enabled the university to go in for several meaningful international tie ups with Salesian and non-Salesian Universities worldwide. Frequent academic and research exchanges between Salesian Institutions of Higher Education (IUS) have also helped in ADBUs adoption of best practices from all around the world.

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Assam Don Bosco University: Betting on Nano, But Dreaming Even Bigger - Seasonal Magazine

Tony Jackson/getty Images

Sheets of semiconducting oxide just a couple of atoms thick look set to revolutionise the electronics industry after researchers perfected a manufacturing process that works in real world conditions.

A team led by Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, from the School of Engineering at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, has developed a new technique that uses liquid metals to create ultra-thin integrated circuits. The results have been published in Nature Communications.

Although various methods of nano-printing have been successful in laboratory situations, they either require very high temperatures to operate, or defeat attempts to scale them up beyond proof of concept.

The key to the teams success lies in using the metals gallium and indium. Both have low melting points 30 C and 156 C respectively so they dont require specialist apparatus in order to be liquidised. When melted, they produce an atom-thin surface layer of oxide, and it is this that the researchers have been able to transfer onto a new substrate, creating an electronic wafer.

The wafers are just 1.5 nanometres thick, or 66,666 times thinner than a piece of paper.

The manufacturing process is scalable, so can be adapted to the production of computer chips which are big things compared to nano-scale objects.

Kalantar-zadeh says the invention will dramatically change the capabilities of electronic devices. Computers and smartphones, he notes, have gained little in processing power in the past half-decade because their circuits have reached the limits of complexity under current manufacturing protocols.

"That is why this new 2D printing technique is so important creating many layers of incredibly thin electronic chips on the same surface dramatically increases processing power and reduces costs, he says.

"It will allow for the next revolution in electronics."

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Nano-printing process could dramatically increase processing power - Cosmos

Mildred S. Dresselhaus, a celebrated and beloved MIT professor whose research helped unlock the mysteries of carbon, the most fundamental of organic elements earning her the nickname queen of carbon science died Monday at age 86.

Dresselhaus, a solid-state physicist who was Institute Professor Emerita of Physics and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was also nationally known for her work to develop wider opportunities for women in science and engineering. She died at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following a brief period of poor health.

Yesterday, we lost a giant an exceptionally creative scientist and engineer who was also a delightful human being, MIT President L. Rafael Reif wrote in an email today sharing the news of Dresselhauss death with the MIT community. Among her many firsts, in 1968, Millie became the first woman at MIT to attain the rank of full, tenured professor. She was the first solo recipient of a Kavli Prize and the first woman to win the National Medal of Science in Engineering.

Millie was also, to my great good fortune, the first to reveal to me the wonderful spirit of MIT, Reif added. In fact, her down-to-earth demeanor was a major reason I decided to join this community. Like dozens of young faculty and hundreds of MIT students over the years, I was lucky to count Millie as my mentor.

A winner of both the Presidential Medal of Freedom (from President Barack Obama, in 2014) and the National Medal of Science (from President George H.W. Bush, in 1990), Dresselhaus was a member of the MIT faculty for 50 years. Beyond campus, she held a variety of posts that placed her at the pinnacle of the nations scientific enterprise.

Dresselhauss research made fundamental discoveries in the electronic structure of semi-metals. She studied various aspects of graphite and authored a comprehensive book on fullerenes, also known as buckyballs. She was particularly well known for her work on nanomaterials and other nanostructural systems based on layered materials, like graphene, and more recently beyond graphene, like transition metal dichalcogenides and phosphorene. Her work on using quantum structures to improve thermoelectric energy conversion reignited this research field.

Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus recounted her career for an MIT oral history project in 2007.

Video: MIT Video Productions

A strong advocate for women in STEM

As notable as her research accomplishments was Dresselhauss longstanding commitment to promoting gender equity in science and engineering, and her dedication to mentorship and teaching.

In 1971, Dresselhaus and a colleague organized the first Womens Forum at MIT as a seminar exploring the roles of women in science and engineering. She received a Carnegie Foundation grant in 1973 to support her efforts to encourage women to enter traditionally male dominated fields of science and engineering. For a number of years, she led an MIT seminar in engineering for first-year students; designed to build the confidence of female students, it always drew a large audience of both men and women.

Just two weeks ago, General Electric released a 60-second video featuring Dresselhaus that imagined a world where female scientists like her were celebrities, to both celebrate her achievements as well as to encourage more women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Dresselhaus co-authored eight books and about 1,700 papers, and supervised more than 60 doctoral students.

Millies dedication to research was unparalleled, and her enthusiasm was infectious, says Anantha Chandrakasan, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and head of MITs Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). For the past half-century, students, faculty and researchers at MIT and around the world have been inspired by her caring advice. I was very fortunate to have had her as a mentor, and as an active member of the EECS faculty. She made such a huge impact on MIT, and her contributions will long be remembered.

Diverted from teaching to physics

Born on Nov. 11, 1930, in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx, Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus attended Hunter College, receiving her bachelors degree in 1951 and then winning a Fulbright Fellowship to study at Cambridge University.

While she had planned to become a teacher, Rosalyn Yalow who would go on to win the 1977 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine encouraged Dresselhaus to pursue physics instead. She ultimately earned her MA from Radcliffe College in 1953 and her PhD in 1958 from the University of Chicago, where she studied under Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi. From 1958 to 1960, Dresselhaus was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University.

Dresselhaus began her 57-year association with MIT in the Solid State Division of Lincoln Laboratory in 1960. In 1967, she joined what was then called the Department of Electrical Engineering as the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Visiting Professor, a chair reserved for appointments of distinguished female scholars. She became a permanent member of the electrical engineering faculty in 1968, and added an appointment in the Department of Physics in 1983.

In 1985, Dresselhaus became the first female Institute Professor, an honor bestowed by the MIT faculty and administration for distinguished accomplishments in scholarship, education, service, and leadership. There are usually no more than 12 active Institute Professors on the MIT faculty.

Scientific leadership and awards

In addition to her teaching and research, Dresselhaus served in numerous scientific leadership roles, including as the director of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy; as president of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; as chair of the governing board of the American Institute of Physics; as co-chair of the recent Decadal Study of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics; and as treasurer of theNational Academy of Sciences.

Aside from her Medal of Freedom the highest award bestowed by the U.S. government upon American civilians and her Medal of Science, given to the nations top scientists, Dresselhauss extensive honors included the IEEE Medal of Honor for leadership and contributions across many fields of science and engineering; the Enrico Fermi Award from the U.S. Department of Energy for her leadership in condensed matter physics, in energy and science policy, in service to the scientific community, and in mentoring women in the sciences; and the prestigious Kavli Prize for her pioneering contributions to the study of phonons, electron-phonon interactions, and thermal transport in nanostructures. She was also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

Active on campus

Always an active and vibrant presence at MIT, Dresselhaus remained a notable influence on campus until her death. She continued to publish scientific papers on topics such as the development of 2-D sheets of thin electronic materials, and played a role in shaping MIT.nano, a new 200,000-square-foot center for nanoscience and nanotechnology scheduled to open in 2018.

In 2015, Dresselhaus delivered the keynote address at Rising Stars in EECS, a three-day workshop for female graduate students and postdocs who are considering careers in academic research. Her remarks, on the importance of persistence, described her experience studying with Enrico Fermi. Three-quarters of the students in that program, she said, failed to pass rigorous exam requirements.

It was what you did that counted, Dresselhaus told the aspiring scientists, and that followed me through life.

Dresselhaus is survived by her husband, Gene, and by her four children and their families: Marianne and her husband, Geoffrey, of Palo Alto, California; Carl, of Arlington, Massachusetts; Paul and his wife, Maria, of Louisville, Colorado; and Eliot and his wife, Franoise, of France. She is also survived by her five grandchildren Elizabeth, Clara, Shoshi, Leora, and Simon and by her many students, whom she cared for very deeply.

Gifts in her memory may be made to MIT.nano.

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Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, a pioneer in the electronic properties of materials, dies at 86 - MIT News

February 20, 2017 DNA, the stuff of life, may very well also pack quite the jolt for engineers trying to advance the development of tiny, low-cost electronic devices. Credit: ASU

DNA, the stuff of life, may very well also pack quite the jolt for engineers trying to advance the development of tiny, low-cost electronic devices.

Much like flipping your light switch at home-only on a scale 1,000 times smaller than a human hair-an ASU-led team has now developed the first controllable DNA switch to regulate the flow of electricity within a single, atomic-sized molecule. The new study, led by ASU Biodesign Institute researcher Nongjian Tao, was published in the advanced online journal Nature Communications.

"It has been established that charge transport is possible in DNA, but for a useful device, one wants to be able to turn the charge transport on and off. We achieved this goal by chemically modifying DNA," said Tao, who directs the Biodesign Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors and is a professor in the Fulton Schools of Engineering. "Not only that, but we can also adapt the modified DNA as a probe to measure reactions at the single-molecule level. This provides a unique way for studying important reactions implicated in disease, or photosynthesis reactions for novel renewable energy applications."

Engineers often think of electricity like water, and the research team's new DNA switch acts to control the flow of electrons on and off, just like water coming out of a faucet.

Previously, Tao's research group had made several discoveries to understand and manipulate DNA to more finely tune the flow of electricity through it. They found they could make DNA behave in different waysand could cajole electrons to flow like waves according to quantum mechanics, or "hop" like rabbits in the way electricity in a copper wire works creating an exciting new avenue for DNA-based, nano-electronic applications.

Tao assembled a multidisciplinary team for the project, including ASU postdoctoral student Limin Xiang and Li Yueqi performing bench experiments, Julio Palma working on the theoretical framework, with further help and oversight from collaborators Vladimiro Mujica (ASU) and Mark Ratner (Northwestern University).

To accomplish their engineering feat, Tao's group, modified just one of DNA's iconic double helix chemical letters, abbreviated as A, C, T or G, with another chemical group, called anthraquinone (Aq). Anthraquinone is a three-ringed carbon structure that can be inserted in between DNA base pairs but contains what chemists call a redox group (short for reduction, or gaining electrons or oxidation, losing electrons).

These chemical groups are also the foundation for how our bodies' convert chemical energy through switches that send all of the electrical pulses in our brains, our hearts and communicate signals within every cell that may be implicated in the most prevalent diseases.

The modified Aq-DNA helix could now help it perform the switch, slipping comfortably in between the rungs that make up the ladder of the DNA helix, and bestowing it with a new found ability to reversibly gain or lose electrons.

Through their studies, when they sandwiched the DNA between a pair of electrodes, they careful controlled their electrical field and measured the ability of the modified DNA to conduct electricity. This was performed using a staple of nano-electronics, a scanning tunneling microscope, which acts like the tip of an electrode to complete a connection, being repeatedly pulled in and out of contact with the DNA molecules in the solution like a finger touching a water droplet.

"We found the electron transport mechanism in the present anthraquinone-DNA system favors electron "hopping" via anthraquinone and stacked DNA bases," said Tao. In addition, they found they could reversibly control the conductance states to make the DNA switch on (high-conductance) or switch-off (low conductance). When anthraquinone has gained the most electrons (its most-reduced state), it is far more conductive, and the team finely mapped out a 3-D picture to account for how anthraquinone controlled the electrical state of the DNA.

For their next project, they hope to extend their studies to get one step closer toward making DNA nano-devices a reality.

"We are particularly excited that the engineered DNA provides a nice tool to examine redox reaction kinetics, and thermodynamics the single molecule level," said Tao.

Explore further: Scientists engineer tunable DNA for electronics applications

More information: Gate-controlled conductance switching in DNA, Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14471

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This study proves that our DNA can be very sensitive to small currents and voltages induced by RF or microwaves field at low levels, that are considered safe using smartphones. The safety or electromagnetic fields must be changed and the maximum levels must be strongly decreased below the heating level.

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Switched-on DNA: Sparking nano-electronic applications - Phys.Org

Engineers have developed a material that could reduce signal losses in photonic devices, an advance that could improve the efficiency of fibre optic communication systems, lasers and photovoltaics.

The discovery by engineers at the University of California San Diego is claimed to address one of the biggest challenges in the field of photonics, namely minimising loss of optical signals in plasmonic metamaterials.

Plasmonic metamaterials are materials engineered at the nanoscale to control light and can be used to develop devices ranging from invisibility cloaks to quantum computers. Metamaterials typically contain metals that absorb energy from light and convert it into heat. Consequently, part of the optical signal gets wasted, lowering the efficiency.

In a recent study published in Nature Communications, a team of photonics researchers led by electrical engineering professor Shaya Fainman at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering demonstrated a way to make up for these losses by incorporating a light emitting semiconductor material into the metamaterial.

Were offsetting the loss introduced by the metal with gain from the semiconductor. This combination theoretically could result in zero net absorption of the signal a lossless metamaterial, said Joseph Smalley, an electrical engineering postdoctoral scholar in Fainmans group and the first author of the study.

In their experiments, the researchers are said to have shined light from an infrared laser onto the metamaterial. They found that depending on which way the light is polarised the metamaterial either reflects or emits light.

This is the first material that behaves simultaneously as a metal and a semiconductor. If light is polarised one way, the metamaterial reflects light like a metal, and when light is polarised the other way, the metamaterial absorbs and emits light of a different colour like a semiconductor, Smalley said.

Researchers created the new metamaterial by first growing a crystal of the semiconductor material indium gallium arsenide phosphide on a substrate. They then used high-energy ions from plasma to etch narrow trenches into the semiconductor, creating 40nm rows of semiconductor spaced 40nm apart. Finally, they filled the trenches with silver to create a pattern of alternating nano-sized stripes of semiconductor and silver.

This is a unique way to fabricate this kind of metamaterial, Smalley said.

Nanostructures with different layers are often made by depositing each layer separately one on top of another, Smalley explained, but the semiconductor material used in this study cant be grown on top of any substrate like silver otherwise it will have defects.

Rather than creating a stack of alternating layers, we figured out a way to arrange the materials side by side, like folders in a filing cabinet, keeping the semiconductor material defect-free.

As a next step, the team plans to investigate how much this metamaterial and other versions of it could improve photonic applications that currently suffer from signal losses.

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Shine a light: material behaves simultaneously as metal and semiconductor - The Engineer

Thank you for visiting MNE 2016

The organizers would like to thank all participants, authors, exhibitors, and sponsors for making MNE 2016 such a success!

Participants are welcome to download photos of MNE 2016 (Photo: Marko Kovic).

Please make sure to save the date for MNE 2017 in Braga, Portugal: September 18-22, 2017

Open call for papers for four special issues in the Elsevier Journal of Microelectronic Engineering associated with the 42nd Micro- and NanoEngineering conference, MNE 2016:

Manuscript submission deadline: October 14, 2016 For more information, please click here.

MNE 2016 is the 42nd international conference on micro- and nanofabrication and manufacturing using lithography and related techniques with around 700 participants. The conference brings together engineers and scientists from all over the world to discuss recent progress and future trends in the fabrication and application of micro- and nanostructures and devices. Applications in electronics, photonics, electromechanics, environment, life sciences and biology are also discussed.

Electronic systems will continue to shape our future. Micro- and Nano-Engineering is at the heart of this development enabling micro- and nano-electronics, embedded, cyber-physical as well as integrated systems. It is indispensable for applications such as automated driving, internet of things, intelligent infrastructures as well as digital revolution in industry. At least ten percent of the gross domestic product throughout Europe depends on Micro- and Nano-Engineering.

This broad spectrum is also reflected in the selection of outstanding plenary speakers at MNE 2016. In addition, 17 world-Ieading invited speakers will reflect modern topics in the four MNE categories: micro- and nanopatterning, micro- and nanofabrication, micro/nano devices and systems, and micro- and nanotechnology/engineering for life sciences and biology.

Be involved in

This webpage contains the logos of Sponsors/Exhibitors whose support is indispensable for this conference.

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Micro and Nano Engineering 2016 - Vienna | 19-23 September ...

The Indian rocket takes off. (ISRO)

(ISRO)

For thefirst time, all Israeli universities will have access to data from an Israeli nano-satellite for research purposes.

Indias space agency said it successfully launched more than 100 nano-satellites into orbit Wednesday aboard a single rocket.

The Indian Space Research Organization said the nano-satellites weighing less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) were sent into orbit from southern India. It said the launching of the 104 satellites was a record, overtaking Russias feat of sending 37 satellites in a single launch in 2014.

All 104 satellites were successfully placed in orbit, the Press Trust of India news agency quoted ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar as saying.

The ISRO said in a statement that the other satellites were international customer satellites, including 96 from the United State, one each from the Netherlands and Switzerland, and two each fromIsrael, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.

The Israeli satellites were launched for civilian and research purposes.

One satellite belongs to the Israeli SpacePharma company, which designed it for medical experiments. SpacePharma is focused on using microgravity, or virtual weightlessness, for research and development.

The second Israeli satellite was built by Ben Gurion University in the Negev. It is the size of a milk carton and weighs only five kilograms. The satellite, called BGUSAT (Ben Gurion University of the Negev Satellite) is designed for climate research.

The BGUSAT research unit is outfitted with innovative new cameras that can detect climate phenomena and a guidance system that lets the operators choose the areas to shoot and research through a dedicated ground station at BGU.Despite its miniature size, the satellite will enable researchers involved in its outer space tasks to receive high-quality photographs from it, which until now were obtainable only from foreign satellites, at great cost.

It is the first time any Israeli university will have access to data from an Israeli nano-satellite for research purposes.

Prof. Dan Blumberg, BGUs VP and Dean for R&D, said nano-satellites enable space engineering and space research at costs that are affordable for academia. The reduced costs allow academia to assume a much more active role in the field, taking advantage of the innovation and initiative of researchers and students.

The satellites were developed with the help of the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space.

By: World Israel News Staff AP contributed to this report.

Ben Gurion UniversityIndiaNono satelliteSpacePharma

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Israeli nano-satellites launched into space - World Israel News

February 17, 2017

A new technique using liquid metals to create integrated circuits that are just atoms thick could lead to the next big advance for electronics.

The process opens the way for the production of large wafers around 1.5 nanometres in depth (a sheet of paper, by comparison, is 100,000nm thick).

Other techniques have proven unreliable in terms of quality, difficult to scale up and function only at very high temperatures550 degrees or more.

Distinguished Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, from the School of Engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, led the project, which also included colleagues from RMIT and researchers from CSIRO, Monash University, North Carolina State University and the University of California.

He said the electronics industry had hit a barrier.

"The fundamental technology of car engines has not progressed since 1920 and now the same is happening to electronics. Mobile phones and computers are no more powerful than five years ago.

"That is why this new 2D printing technique is so importantcreating many layers of incredibly thin electronic chips on the same surface dramatically increases processing power and reduces costs.

"It will allow for the next revolution in electronics."

Benjamin Carey, a researcher with RMIT and the CSIRO, said creating electronic wafers just atoms thick could overcome the limitations of current chip production.

It could also produce materials that were extremely bendable, paving the way for flexible electronics.

"However, none of the current technologies are able to create homogenous surfaces of atomically thin semiconductors on large surface areas that are useful for the industrial scale fabrication of chips.

"Our solution is to use the metals gallium and indium, which have a low melting point.

"These metals produce an atomically thin layer of oxide on their surface that naturally protects them. It is this thin oxide which we use in our fabrication method.

"By rolling the liquid metal, the oxide layer can be transferred on to an electronic wafer, which is then sulphurised. The surface of the wafer can be pre-treated to form individual transistors.

"We have used this novel method to create transistors and photo-detectors of very high gain and very high fabrication reliability in large scale."

Explore further: Towards the T-1000: Liquid metals propel future electronics

More information: "Wafer Scale Two Dimensional Semiconductors from Printed Oxide Skin of Liquid Metals", Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS14482

Science fiction is inching closer to reality with the development of revolutionary self-propelling liquid metalsa critical step towards future elastic electronics.

Researchers at RMIT and CSIRO plan to revolutionise the manufacture of smartphones, tablets, solar cells, and LED lights.

High-performance electronic circuits made entirely from transparent materials could have countless applications, from head-up displays on car windscreens to transparent TV sets and smart windows in homes and offices. Researchers ...

Electronic components that can be elongated or twisted known as "stretchable" electronics could soon be used to power electronic gadgets, the onboard systems of vehicles, medical devices and other products. And a ...

In an advance that helps pave the way for next-generation electronics and computing technologiesand possibly paper-thin gadgets scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley ...

Breakthrough research at RMIT University is advancing transparent bendable electronics, bringing science fiction gadgets such as unbreakable rubber-like phones, rollable tablets and even functional clothing closer ...

The precise control of electron transport in microelectronics makes complex logic circuits possible that are in daily use in smartphones and laptops. Heat transport is of similar fundamental importance and its control is ...

A new technique using liquid metals to create integrated circuits that are just atoms thick could lead to the next big advance for electronics.

The ability of small intestine cells to absorb nutrients and act as a barrier to pathogens is "significantly decreased" after chronic exposure to nanoparticles of titanium dioxide, a common food additive found in everything ...

Gadgets are set to become flexible, highly efficient and much smaller, following a breakthrough in measuring two-dimensional 'wonder' materials by the University of Warwick.

Finding practical solutions to detect proteins, cancer biomarkers, viruses and other small objects has been a key challenge for researchers worldwide for decades. These solutions hold promise for saving lives through more ...

Lithium-ion batteries have become essential in everyday technology. But these power sources can explode under certain circumstances and are not ideal for grid-scale energy storage. Sodium-ion batteries are potentially a safer ...

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Liquid metal nano printing set to revolutionize electronics - Phys.Org

AHMEDABAD: Of the 104 satellites launched, there were two indigenous nano satellites or CubeSAT by Isro, christened INS-1A and INS-1B. These weighed barely 8.4 kg and 9.7 kg respectively and were about 304x670x510mm in dimension, but are an important milestone in miniaturisation and use of high technology in India's space programme. Space Applications Centre director Tapan Misra says these nano satellites were especially given plasma microthrusters to help them to position themselves. "Nano satellites are part of a growing technology that is transforming space exploration. Today's nano satellites at built at very low costs and have the potential to conduct important space science investigations like testing a material or electronics in space or simply seeing how certain bacteria or soil sample transform when exposed to space environments. That's the potential of nano satellites," said Misra. He adds that the nano satellites also open doors for engineering colleges across the country to a new array of space science. "Aboard these two satellites were a camera on INS-1A which measures target illumination properties at different sun illumination angles. The other was the origami camera in INS-1B, which folds light beams multiple times between two surfaces, thereby achieving a large focal length in a smaller space," says Misra.

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Nano satellites open up new horizons - Times of India

The Chemical Engineering Program offers graduate instruction leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering. The nanotechnology concentration signifies that four elective courses are chosen from the approved courses in this area.

Admission is in accordance with the general requirements of the graduate division, which requires at least a B.S. in some branch of engineering, sciences, or mathematics; an overall GPA of 3.0, and three letters of recommendation from individuals who can attest to the academic or professional competence and to the depth of their interest in pursuing graduate study.

In addition, all applicants are required to submit GRE General Test Scores. A minimum score of 550 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required of all international applicants whose native language is not English. Students who score below 600 on the TOEFL are strongly encouraged to enroll in an English as a second language program before beginning graduate work. UC San Diego Extension offers an excellent English language program during the summers as well as the academic year.

Applicants are judged competitively. Based on the candidates background, qualifications, and goals, admission to the program is in one of three categories: M.S. only, M.S., or Ph.D. Admission to the M.S. only category is reserved for students for whom the M.S. degree is likely to be the terminal graduate degree. The M.S. designation is reserved for students currently interested in obtaining an M.S. degree but who at a later time may wish to continue in the doctoral degree program. Admission to the Ph.D. Program is reserved for qualified students whose final aim is a doctoral degree.

Non-matriculated students are welcome to seek enrollment in graduate-level courses via UC Extensions concurrent registration program, but an extension students enrollment in a graduate course must be approved by the instructor.

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Chemical Engineering | NanoEngineering

A chunk of conductive graphene foam reinforced by carbon nanotubes can support more than 3,000 times its own weight and easily bounce back to its original height, according to Rice University scientists.

A microscope image of rebar graphene shows carbon shells, multiwalled carbon nanotubes and two-dimensional graphene. Courtesy of the Tour Group

Better yet, it can be made in just about any shape and size, they reported, demonstrating a screw-shaped piece of the highly conductive foam.

The Rice lab of chemist James Tour tested its new rebar graphene as a highly porous, conductive electrode in lithium ion capacitors and found it to be mechanically and chemically stable.

Carbon in the form of atom-thin graphene is among the strongest materials known and is highly conductive; multiwalled carbon nanotubes are widely used as conductive reinforcements in metals, polymers and carbon matrix composites. The Tour lab had already used nanotubes to reinforce two-dimensional sheets of graphene. Extending the concept to macroscale materials made sense, Tour said.

We developed graphene foam, but it wasnt tough enough for the kind of applications we had in mind, so using carbon nanotubes to reinforce it was a natural next step, Tour said.

The three-dimensional structures were created from a powdered nickel catalyst, surfactant-wrapped multiwall nanotubes and sugar as a carbon source. The materials were mixed and the water evaporated; the resulting pellets were pressed into a steel die and then heated in a chemical vapor deposition furnace, which turned the available carbon into graphene. After further processing to remove remnants of nickel, the result was an all-carbon foam in the shape of the die, in this case a screw. Tour said the method will be easy to scale up.

Electron microscope images of the foam showed partially unzipped outer layers of the nanotubes had bonded to the graphene, which accounted for its strength and resilience. Graphene foam produced without the rebar could support only about 150 times its own weight while retaining the ability to rapidly return to its full height. But rebar graphene irreversibly deformed by about 25 percent when loaded with more than 8,500 times its weight.

Junwei Sha, a visiting graduate student at Rice and a graduate student at Tianjin University, China, is lead author of the paper. Co-authors from Rice are postdoctoral researchers Rodrigo Salvatierra, Pei Dong and Yongsung Ji; graduate students Yilun Li, Tuo Wang, Chenhao Zhang and Jibo Zhang; former postdoctoral researcher Seoung-Ki Lee; Pulickel Ajayan, chair of the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering and a professor of chemistry; and Jun Lou, a professor of materials science and nanoengineering. Naiqin Zhao, a professor at Tianjin University and a researcher at the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, is also a co-author. Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and its Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative supported the research.

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Graphene Foam Gets Big and Tough - I-Connect007 :: Article - I-Connect007

India recently launched a record-breaking rocket with a massive payload containing 104 satellites.

Indias space agency is lightingup the skies again with another record-breaking rocket. On its thirty-ninth flight, the PSLV-C37 carried 103 nano-satellitesinto space along with themuch larger Cartosat-2 series satellite. The mission beat Russias previous record of 37 satellites back in 2014. Although it is not a competition, the mission instilled the competence of the ISROs space technological capabilities.

[Image Source:ISRO]

The satellites onboard the record-breaking mission originate from many countries including Kazakhstan, Israel, the Netherlands, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a majority of96 from United States of America (USA), as well as two Nano-satellites from India. The satellites will remain in high-orbit 505 km above the Earth. Altogether, the payload weighed in at about1377 kg.Although, about714 kg of the load was theCartosat-2 satellitealone.

The primaryand heaviest satellite aboard the PSLV-C37 rocket is the Cartosat-2. The satellitewill monitor the earth using its high-tech Panchromatic and Multispectral cameras. The images takenwill be useful in monitoringroad networks, water distribution, creation of land use maps, and many other applications. Over a five-year period, the satellite will continuously monitor Earth and will provide various information about the planet.

Also onboard the rocket were many other satellites, the majority of which are nano-satellites.

[Image Source:ISRO]

Although the ISRO may not have the highest budget, it is perhaps the most cost-efficient space program. With a late entrance into the space race and considerably less funding, the ISRO did not have a favorable beginning. What they do maintain, however, is a resourceful engineering team unphased by the disadvantageous recourse. The ISROs space budget ofjust over 2 billion USDcompares significantlyless than NASAs lucrative budget of $18.5 billion.However, regardless of any shortcomings, the ISRO iscontinuouslyadvancing in space technology, exemplifiedby the recent record-breaking rocket.

Back in 2013, the ISRO launched the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) which sent a probe into space that would later become the fourth ever space agency to reach Mars; right behind the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency. In 2014 and after nearly 300 days in space, the probe successfully reached Mars orbit.

The primary objective of the mission is to develop the technologies to enable future manned interplanetary missions. At the same time, the MOM orbiter monitoredthe surface features of Marsby studying the morphology, topography,and mineralogy. The mission also investigated the dynamics of the upper atmosphere of Mars includingsolar wind and radiation levels. The team successfullycompleted the mission with an impeccably small budget.

Indias Mars mission, with a budget of $73 million, is far cheaper than comparable missions including NASAs $671 million Maven satellite that is expected to set off for Mars later in November, reports The Wall Street Journal.

More recently, in 2016, the team successfully launched a model Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV-TD). Since the termination of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, government and private companies have been racing to develop the next reusable shuttle. The ISRO is making some advancements with a recent test investigating a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV). The test involved launching a 1.75-tonne unmanned spacecraft to an altitude of nearly 70 kmatop of a single-use rocket.

[Image Source:IDRW NEWS NETWORK]

The entire duration of the flight lasted just 770 seconds. While the shuttle was not expected to survive the landing, ISRO engineers reported the autonomous landing system managed to slow the decent down enough to land the craft into the Bay of Bengal without causing much damage.

Of course, the RLV is just a model of a prototypical vehicle. However, over a five-year development, the model cost just1bn rupees ($14m; 9.6m). By using a reusable shuttle, the ISRO hopes to bring the cost of sending 1 kg into space down from $5000 US to just $500 US. A fully functional model is expected to reach completion within the next 10 years.

After the successful mission to Mars, ISRO also hopes to send spacecraft to investigate both Venus and Jupiter. Although, the program is still a long way off from any long distance voyage any time soon.

Unlike the Mars mission wherein we were able to successfully send a spacecraft for a mission costing just Rs 450 crore, to Jupiter it would have to be elaborate. There is no point sending a spacecraft so far after planning with minimal payload, reportsa senior space scientist. For that, the spacecraft propulsion systems have to be planned, besides first successfully getting out GSLV Mark-III launcher ready, he said.

Over the years, the ISRO continues to prove its capabilities in keeping up with the ongoing space race. But it is not a race to be won. Rather it is a challenge for humanity to collaborateand engineer spacecraft which will take people back to the moon and beyond. Although ISRO may not be the most advanced program, they stand behind a greater cause advancing the technologies of the future which will propel humanity into the next era: the Space Age.

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India Breaks Record After Launching 104 Satellites on One Rocket - Interesting Engineering

By optimising titanium dioxide nanoparticles, researchers aim to improve the efficiency of catalysts used for cleaning off-gases from engines, industry, and power plants by 30%. This will significantly enhance companies ability to meet strict environmental regulations.

Haldor Topsoe is part of ProNOx a new four-year, US$4 million research program to improve selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts by designing an optimal nanomaterial.

Currently, the most effective catalyst for removing toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx) consist of titanium oxide crystals covered with highly dispersed vanadium oxides. ProNOx researchers aim to identify an industrially viable nano-design of the vanadium covered titanium oxides that will improve the catalysts performance by 30%.

Clean air is increasingly important to people in megacities across the globe, and companies need to stay in compliance with increasingly strict environmental regulations. The ProNOx programme brings together three world-leading research teams to further optimise the best solution, we have available today and I believe that we can improve catalytic emissions control significantly, said Kurt Agerbk Christensen, Senior General Manager, Haldor Topsoe.

SCR catalysts remove NOx from flue gases from engines, boilers and other industrial combustion. NOx causes smog, acid rain, and forms a wide variety of toxic products when it is released into the atmosphere.

The programme will use the most recent research on how to control materials synthesis at the atomic scale by closely integrating synthesis, characterisation, modelling and tests. The end-goal is to identify the optimal SCR catalysts and how to produce it in a controlled way.

The ProNOx programme is a collaboration between Haldor Topsoe and two research teams at Aarhus University, one team from the chemistry department led by Professor Bo Brummerstedt Iversen and the other team from the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO) led by Associate Professor Jeppe V. Lauritsen. Innovation Fund Denmark invests approximately US$2.8 million in the project.

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/the-environment/14022017/nano-design-will-reduce-smog/

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Posted on 14 February 2017.

BGUSAT

BEER-SHEVA, Israel(Press Release) BGUSAT, the first nanosatellite for Israeli academic research, is being launched Wednesday, February 15 as part of a collaboration between Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the Israel Ministry of Science, Technology and Space. It will provide researchers with data on climate change, agricultural developments and other scientific phenomena.

The nanosatellite is slightly larger than a milk carton (4x4x12 inches) and weighs only 11 pounds.

BGUSAT is an important and affordable new tool to facilitate space engineering and research, says Prof. Dan Blumberg, BGU vice president and dean for research and development. The reduced costs allow academia to assume a much more active role in the field, taking advantage of the innovation and initiative of researchers and students.

BGUSAT is outfitted with visual and short wavelength infrared cameras. Hovering at 300 miles above the surface of the earth, the nanosatellites orbital path will enable BGU researchers to study a broad range of environmental phenomena. For example, they will be able to track atmospheric gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and study Earths airglow layer, which provides crucial information about climate change.

BGUSAT can change its angle and obtain views from multiple orbits and positions. Larger satellites orbit too high to accomplish this, while observation planes and balloons fly too low.

Seed funding to build the BGU satellite and its ground receiving station was provided by AABGU Boca Raton, Florida donors Max and Rachel Javit. Were so pleased to have helped Israel soar to new horizons by providing eyes in the sky, says Rachel. BGUSAT will provide valuable data for BGU and other Israeli academics that will benefit the scientific research community worldwide.

BGU partnered with IAI and the Israel Space Agency within the Science Ministry five years ago. Construction of the satellite began two years ago at IAIs space division. Only a collaboration with government backing can preserve the Israeli space industrys global standing, promote research, create new jobs, and safeguard the essential interests of Israel, says Science Minister Ofir Akunis.

While developing BGUSAT, BGU students and researchers were challenged to conceive new methods of constructing a miniaturized satellite, working together to integrate knowledge from the software and electrical engineering, planetary sciences and industrial management fields.

This is the first project to showcase the enhanced space engineering capability we are developing at BGU, Blumberg says.

BGUs Earth and Planetary Image Facility in the Department of Geography and Environmental Development is one of just five NASA Regional Planetary Image Facilities outside the U.S.

According to Avi Blasberger, director of the Israel Space Agency, This is the first time Israeli researchers will have the opportunity to receive information directly from a blue and white [Israeli] satellite without having to go through other countries or research agencies.

We are proud to be part of this innovative, technological project, which opens up the world of nanosatellites to new and varied scientific missions, says Col. (res.) Ofer Doron, head of IAIs MBT Space Division. For the first time, the space division developed a dedicated computer specifically for nanosatellites that has computing power similar to that of larger satellites. This computer has already been integrated into the SpaceIL spacecraft and the three Samson satellites.

The BGUSAT nanosatellite will be launched from the Satish Dhawan launching pad in India.

* Preceding provided by Ben-Gurion University

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Ben Gurion University to launch nano- satellite - San Diego Jewish World

Ian A. Waitz will step down as MITs dean of engineering at the end of this academic year, concluding over six years of service.

Provost Martin Schmidt announced the news today in an email to the MIT community, praising Waitz's collaborative vision that has both bolstered local departments and encouraged the school and the Institute to reach beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries to expand the ways that engineering can address our most challenging problems.

MIT President L. Rafael Reif adds, Under Ians leadership, the School of Engineering has never been a stronger magnet for talent. With characteristic energy, optimism, and persistence, he has cultivated a dynamic community that unites the schools many departments and links engineering to disciplines across MIT. And from the Sandbox Fund to the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, he spearheaded new initiatives that will have a lasting impact on our ability to develop our students ingenuity, tackle important problems for humanity, and deliver our best ideas to the world. We are deeply grateful to Ian for his collaborative leadership and his distinguished service.

As dean of the School of Engineering (SoE), Waitz developed and implemented the schools strategic plan, focusing on people, education, and innovation. He made a concerted effort to support faculty while refining the schools primary academic departments and programs by increasingdata-based decision-making, bolstering funding for teaching, addressing research underrecovery, and enabling more local control of resources and strategic direction.

Without a doubt, the greatest thrill of the position has been the opportunity to live vicariously through the accomplishments of our exceptional students, staff, and faculty members, Waitz said in a letter sent today to SoE colleagues. It is a truly humbling experience when one understands the full breadth, depth, and impact of the School of Engineering at MIT. In partnership with our sister schools at MIT we are building a better world.

Waitz, also the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and former head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (from 2008 until his appointment as dean in 2011), has no immediate plans other than taking a year-long sabbatical.

I am not sure what I will do next (the job does not leave a lot of free time for contemplating such things!), but I very much look forward to recharging, redirecting, and exploring new opportunities, he conveyed in his letter to the SoE community. Thank you for allowing me to serve you and the greatest engineering school on the planet.

Of particular note during Waitzs tenure has been the launch of two new Institute-encompassing endeavors: the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). He has also worked to support and strengthen all of the schools academic departments, including a renewal of civil and environmental engineering and growth in nuclear science and engineering.

Novel opportunities in residential education were also priorities for Waitz as dean. He co-launched the MIT Beaver Works Center, which supports collaborative efforts between Lincoln Laboratory and the MIT campus, and was a supporter and early participant in MITx and edX. He worked to strengthen several key MIT-wide educational programs, including the Gordon Engineering Leadership Program, the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program, and activities within the Office of Engineering Outreach Programs. Waitz worked with department heads to create ways for undergraduate students to pursue more flexible degrees and take courses remotely, and is currently championing a novel school-wide undergraduate degree option. Under his leadership, financial support for teaching in the school grew by over 30 percent.

In parallel, Waitz helped spark new programs and spaces for innovation and entrepreneurship, including the creation of the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund, which provides all MIT students with an opportunity to move innovative ideas forward. He was a key part of a process that catalyzed the MIT Innovation Initiative, and he successfully articulated the need for expanded makerspaces on campus. Waitz also lobbied on behalf of the School of Engineering for the creation of MIT.nano, a new 200,000-square-foot center for nanoscience and nanotechnology, due to open in 2018.

Waitz established resource development personnel in all departments, which has led to a nearly threefold increase in yearly giving to the SoE during his tenure. He also strengthened partnerships with alumni, industry, and donors by highlighting the benefits of engaging with MIT broadly.

Waitz joined the MIT faculty in 1991, after earning his BS in 1986 from Penn State University, his MS in 1988 from George Washington University, and his PhD in 1991 from Caltech. In addition to scholarly publications, Waitz has contributed to several influential policy documents and scientific assessments, including a report to Congress on aviation and the environment. He holds three patents and has consulted for many organizations. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering and the American Society of Engineering Education. A dedicated teacher, he was honored with the 2002 MIT Class of 1960 Innovation in Education Award and an appointment as an MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellow in 2003.

Schmidt plans to appoint a faculty committee to advise him on the selection of the next dean of engineering. Members of the MIT community are welcome to send suggestions and ideas to engineering-search@mit.edu.

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Ian Waitz to step down as dean of engineering - MIT News

February 14, 2017 by David Ruth Graphene foam invented at Rice University is reinforced with carbon nanotubes. It can hold thousands of times its own weight and still bounce back to its full height. Credit: Tour Group

A chunk of conductive graphene foam reinforced by carbon nanotubes can support more than 3,000 times its own weight and easily bounce back to its original height, according to Rice University scientists.

Better yet, it can be made in just about any shape and size, they reported, demonstrating a screw-shaped piece of the highly conductive foam.

The Rice lab of chemist James Tour tested its new "rebar graphene" as a highly porous, conductive electrode in lithium ion capacitors and found it to be mechanically and chemically stable.

The research appears in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

Carbon in the form of atom-thin graphene is among the strongest materials known and is highly conductive; multiwalled carbon nanotubes are widely used as conductive reinforcements in metals, polymers and carbon matrix composites. The Tour lab had already used nanotubes to reinforce two-dimensional sheets of graphene. Extending the concept to macroscale materials made sense, Tour said.

"We developed graphene foam, but it wasn't tough enough for the kind of applications we had in mind, so using carbon nanotubes to reinforce it was a natural next step," Tour said.

The three-dimensional structures were created from a powdered nickel catalyst, surfactant-wrapped multiwall nanotubes and sugar as a carbon source. The materials were mixed and the water evaporated; the resulting pellets were pressed into a steel die and then heated in a chemical vapor deposition furnace, which turned the available carbon into graphene. After further processing to remove remnants of nickel, the result was an all-carbon foam in the shape of the die, in this case a screw. Tour said the method will be easy to scale up.

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Electron microscope images of the foam showed partially unzipped outer layers of the nanotubes had bonded to the graphene, which accounted for its strength and resilience. Graphene foam produced without the rebar could support only about 150 times its own weight while retaining the ability to rapidly return to its full height. But rebar graphene irreversibly deformed by about 25 percent when loaded with more than 8,500 times its weight.

Junwei Sha, a visiting graduate student at Rice and a graduate student at Tianjin University, China, is lead author of the paper. Co-authors from Rice are postdoctoral researchers Rodrigo Salvatierra, Pei Dong and Yongsung Ji; graduate students Yilun Li, Tuo Wang, Chenhao Zhang and Jibo Zhang; former postdoctoral researcher Seoung-Ki Lee; Pulickel Ajayan, chair of the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering and a professor of chemistry; and Jun Lou, a professor of materials science and nanoengineering. Naiqin Zhao, a professor at Tianjin University and a researcher at the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, is also a co-author. Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice.

Explore further: 'Rivet graphene' proves its mettle: Toughened material is easier to handle, useful for electronics

More information: Junwei Sha et al. Three-Dimensional Rebar Graphene, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b12503

Nanoscale "rivets" give graphene qualities that may speed the wonder material's adoption in products like flexible, transparent electronics, according to researchers at Rice University.

(Phys.org) Carbon nanotubes are reinforcing bars that make two-dimensional graphene much easier to handle in a new hybrid material grown by researchers at Rice University.

A few nanoscale adjustments may be all that is required to make graphene-nanotube junctions excel at transferring heat, according to Rice University scientists.

(Phys.org)A seamless graphene/nanotube hybrid created at Rice University may be the best electrode interface material possible for many energy storage and electronics applications.

In a new computational study published in the Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, University of Arkansas engineering researchers found that nanocomposites composed of layers of nickel and graphenea promising ...

(Phys.org)A team of researchers at Tsinghua University in China has found that adding graphene or carbon nanotubes to the food eaten by silkworms causes them to produce silk that is stronger than normal. In their paper ...

A chunk of conductive graphene foam reinforced by carbon nanotubes can support more than 3,000 times its own weight and easily bounce back to its original height, according to Rice University scientists.

(Phys.org)A team of researchers with IBM Research in Switzerland and the University of Warwick in the U.K. has successfully created a triangulene molecule by manipulating a precursor molecule physically using a scanning ...

A tiny, transparent device that can fit into a contact lens has a bright future, potentially helping a range of scientific endeavors from biomedicine to geology.

Tiny carbon dots have, for the first time, been applied to intracellular imaging and tracking of drug delivery involving various optical and vibrational spectroscopic-based techniques such as fluorescence, Raman, and hyperspectral ...

Imagine patterning and visualizing silicon at the atomic level, something which, if done successfully, will revolutionize the quantum and classical computing industry. A team of scientists in Edmonton, Canada has done just ...

An organic-inorganic hybrid material may be the future for more efficient technologies that can generate electricity from either light or heat or devices that emit light from electricity.

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Graphene foam gets big and tough: Nanotube-reinforced material can be shaped, is highly conductive - Phys.Org

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), which is ubiquitously used as a solid lubricant, has recently been shown to have a two-dimensional (2D) form that is similar to graphene. But, when thinned down to less than a nanometer thick, MoS2 demonstrates properties with great promise as a functional material for electronic devices and surface coatings.

Image shows how controlled and dynamic surface architecturing/roughening of atomically thin MoS2 affects wettability.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a new approach to dynamically tune the micro- and nano-scale roughness of atomically thin MoS2, and consequently the appropriate degree of hydrophobicity for various potential MoS2-based applications.

The knowledge of how new materials interact with water is a fundamental, explained SungWoo Nam, an assistant professor of mechanical science and engineering at Illinois. Whereas the wettability of its more famous cousin, graphene, has been substantially investigated, that of atomically thin MoS2in particular atomically thin MoS2 with micro- and nano-scale roughnesshas remained relatively unexplored despite its strong potential for fundamental research and device applications. Notably, systematic study of how hierarchical microscale and nanoscale roughness of MoS2 influence its wettability has been lacking in the scientific community.

This work will provide a new approach to dynamically tune the micro- and nano-scale roughness of atomically thin MoS2 and consequently the appropriate degree of hydrophobicity for various potential MoS2-based applications, stated Jonghyun Choi, a mechanical engineering graduate student and first author of the article, Hierarchical, Dual-Scale Structures of Atomically Thin MoS2 for Tunable Wetting, appearing in the journal, Nano Letters. These include waterproof electronic devices with superhydrophobicity with water contact angle greater than 150 degrees. It may also be useful for medical applications with reduced hydrophobicity (WCA less than 100 degrees) for effective contact with biological substances."

According to the authors, this study, expands the toolkit to allow tunable wettability of 2D materials, many of which are just beginning to be discovered.

When deformed and patterned to produce micro- and nano-scale structures, MoS2 shows promise as a functional material for hydrogen evolution catalysis systems, electrodes for alkali metal-ion batteries, and field-emission arrays, Nam added. The results should also contribute to future MoS2-based applications, such as tunable wettability coatings for desalination and hydrogen evolution.

In addition to Nam and Choi, co-authors of the paper include graduate students Michael Cai Wang and Ali Ashraf (Illinois), Jihun Mun and Sang-Woo Kang (Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Korea). Experiments were carried out in part in the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, the Micro + Nano Technology Laboratory, and the Beckman Institute Imaging Technology Group at Illinois.

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Nano-Level Lubricant Tuning Improves Material for Electronic Devices and Surface Coatings - I-Connect007

February 13, 2017 A nano-CT scan of "thubber," showing the liquid metal microdroplets inside the rubber material. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University

Carmel Majidi and Jonathan Malen of Carnegie Mellon University have developed a thermally conductive rubber material that represents a breakthrough for creating soft, stretchable machines and electronics. The findings were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

The new material, nicknamed "thubber," is an electrically insulating composite that exhibits an unprecedented combination of metal-like thermal conductivity, elasticity similar to soft, biological tissue, and can stretch over six times its initial length.

"Our combination of high thermal conductivity and elasticity is especially critical for rapid heat dissipation in applications such as wearable computing and soft robotics, which require mechanical compliance and stretchable functionality," said Majidi, an associate professor of mechanical engineering.

Applications could extend to industries like athletic wear and sports medicinethink of lighted clothing for runners and heated garments for injury therapy. Advanced manufacturing, energy, and transportation are other areas where stretchable electronic material could have an impact.

"Until now, high power devices have had to be affixed to rigid, inflexible mounts that were the only technology able to dissipate heat efficiently," said Malen, an associate professor of mechanical engineering. "Now, we can create stretchable mounts for LED lights or computer processors that enable high performance without overheating in applications that demand flexibility, such as light-up fabrics and iPads that fold into your wallet."

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The key ingredient in "thubber" is a suspension of non-toxic, liquid metal microdroplets. The liquid state allows the metal to deform with the surrounding rubber at room temperature. When the rubber is pre-stretched, the droplets form elongated pathways that are efficient for heat travel. Despite the amount of metal, the material is also electrically insulating.

To demonstrate these findings, the team mounted an LED light onto a strip of the material to create a safety lamp worn around a jogger's leg. The "thubber" dissipated the heat from the LED, which would have otherwise burned the jogger. The researchers also created a soft robotic fish that swims with a "thubber" tail, without using conventional motors or gears.

"As the field of flexible electronics grows, there will be a greater need for materials like ours," said Majidi. "We can also see it used for artificial muscles that power bio-inspired robots."

Majidi and Malen acknowledge the efforts of lead authors Michael Bartlett, Navid Kazem, and Matthew Powell-Palm in performing this multidisciplinary work. They also acknowledge funding from the Air Force, NASA, and the Army Research Office.

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More information: High thermal conductivity in soft elastomers with elongated liquid metal inclusions, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1616377114

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Researchers engineer 'thubber,' a stretchable rubber that packs a thermal conductive punch - Phys.Org

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Nano-level lubricant tuning improves material for electronic devices and surface coatings Science Daily ... mechanical science and engineering at Illinois. "Whereas the wettability of its more famous cousin, graphene, has been substantially investigated, that of atomically thin MoS2 -- in particular atomically thin MoS2 with micro- and nano-scale ... and more »

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Nano-level lubricant tuning improves material for electronic devices and surface coatings - Science Daily