houck2040/tees huggingface dataset:
without electricity that the power grid supplies we wouldnt be able to work in the office or enjoy the comfort of our homes and in many ways this power is distributed and ultimately depleted with nothing in return qin yan a doctoral student in the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m university is studying the impact of electric vehicles on the power grid in hopes of bringing support back to the grid in a new way electric vehicles need power to charge their batteries which may put a burden on the power grid system yan is working to alleviate this impact and develop a solution that would be mutually beneficial to both the vehicle and the grid yan is also taking renewable energy resources such as solar generation into consideration for this study and examining how to coordinate each element to better support the power grid as part of her research yan proposed an integrated bidirectional electric vehicle charging station that includes the charging station for the electric vehicles solar generation and battery storage in a commercial building she also developed an optimization algorithm to minimize the operational cost we are integrating these elements – electric vehicles solar generation and also battery storage yan said this symbiotic relationship would bring even more reliability to the grid enhancing the support it could give in other areas
yan is also taking renewable energy resources such as solar generation into consideration for this study and examining how to coordinate each element to better support the power grid as part of her research yan proposed an integrated bidirectional electric vehicle charging station that includes the charging station for the electric vehicles solar generation and battery storage in a commercial building she also developed an optimization algorithm to minimize the operational cost we are integrating these elements – electric vehicles solar generation and also battery storage yan said this symbiotic relationship would bring even more reliability to the grid enhancing the support it could give in other areas i feel this research area of electric vehicles and solar generation is very promising and may be realized in the near future yan said with the growing development of distributed generation the traditional power system is facing new challenges and this study can help mitigate such impact on the current power system yan works alongside dr mladen kezunovic director of the smart grid center at texas a&m electrical vehicles are coming said kezunovic eugene e webb and regents professor "they are not deployed as widely as we expected them to be but in the future the expectation is to have more electrical vehicles around so the question is open on how the electrical vehicles can not only benefit the owners but also the electrical grid
while it isnt a hurricane labor trafficking is the perfect storm subtle and hard to track this type of involuntary servitude is often present in the recovery period following a natural disaster with rebuilding underway a team of researchers from texas a&m university and the university of texas at austin is taking a deeper look into post-harvey houston to find new ways to combat construction-related labor exploitation and trafficking
the project is funded by the national science foundations early-concept grant for exploratory research program (nsf eager) dr eleftherios iakovou director of manufacturing and logistics innovation initiatives at the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) and professor in the department of engineering technology and industrial distribution at texas a&m will be co-leading the study the team also includes dr yanling chang corrie and jim furber 64 faculty fellow and assistant professor in the department the ut austin team will be led by dr matt kammer-kerwick a research scientist at the universitys ic² institute labor trafficking is a form of human trafficking that occurs when a person is forced or coerced into a job with little or no compensation hidden in plain sight the most common victims are refugees impoverished people and immigrant workers in the construction manufacturing and mining industries a lack of visa portability withholding of passports and high recruitment fees are some of the risks contributing to the increased vulnerability of construction workers and the emergence of illicit supply chains in the sector iakovou said the industry is further characterized by informal part-time and temporary working relationships because these laborers are lacking financial security they can be easily intimidated and are more prone to exploitation and accepting dangerous working conditions the lingering chaos and need to rebuild after a natural disaster opens the door to the complicated illicit supply chains that lead to the trafficking of temporary workers with their two-year nsf eager grant iakovous team is finding new ways to break those chains using the post-harvey houston construction industry as a foundation of the study the researchers can better understand how trafficking networks function in and are affected by a post-catastrophe environment using information gathered while interviewing post-harvey cleanup laborers the researchers will model human trafficking and exploitation and identify interventions that can be used to cut down on the behaviors that lead to construction-related trafficking this exploration of the current systems used for disrupting exploitation will provide policymakers regulators and companies essential guidance about how to identify and fight trafficking in the future in addition to broadening research opportunities and involvement in ending harmful supply networks this project hopes to ensure that the suffering from a natural disaster ends with the storm this could assist in making the state of texas a fairer and more transparent place to live and work while addressing a pressing societal problem iakovou said
on october 5 the center for nuclear security science and policy initiatives (nsspi) hosted a delegation from the nuclear security division of the international atomic energy agency (iaea) division director raja adul aziz bin raja adnan along with jason e tierney the divisions section head for program development and international cooperation and nassima i barrows the nuclear security attaché for the us mission to international organizations in vienna visited the center to discuss ways that nsspiand other entities across the texas a&m university system–could possibly support the iaeas nuclear security mission they were particularly interested in possible collaborations in the area of nuclear security human capacity development and training the delegation met with nsspi faculty and staff to discuss the centers capabilities and past training experiences they also toured the texas a&m engineering extension services disaster city and emergency operations training center to determine how these facilities could support the iaeas nuclear security training endeavors
preventing terrorists from smuggling nuclear and radiological material across our borders has been a priority for the department of homeland security (dhs) and us customs and border protection (cbp) since the beginning of this century radiation detection portal monitors are currently the primary means by which the cbp scans cargo and vehicles at ports of entry to detect radiation with approximately 1 300 deployed at the us borders ryan coogan a masters student at the center for nuclear security science and policy initiatives (nsspi) is working on studying the strategic analysis of radiation detection portal monitors and mobile detection systems in border monitoring essentially this work attempts to answer a very particular question: if we want to catch nuclear materials being smuggled into the country and we already have a border with static (but obvious) radiation detectors do we continue to invest in more of the same do we plug holes in the border or do we diversify into mobile detection that can discretely operate state-side accepting that an intelligent adversary may bypass our border detection
we looked at what kind of an adversary might pursue nuclear terrorism we also examined the uncertainties that plague network modeling and how we might avoid them we then created a network in shield a program created by jun lao at nsspi some years ago and ran a series of simulations said coogan coogans work builds on tools developed as part of a large multi-year multi-disciplinary project led by nsspi and funded by the dhss domestic nuclear detection office called the smuggled heu interdiction through enhanced analysis and detection (shield) as part of this project researchers from nsspi and the texas a&m university department of industrial and systems engineering developed an integrated systems analysis model and created a code to analyze the strategic problem of nuclear material smuggling coogan used this software to perform a comparative analysis of two networks: one that deploys more radiation detection portal monitors and another using mobile detection systems according to coogan the results point to using more mobile detection systems what we found is that were better served investing in mobile detection while a static system may be effective against opportunists its not very effective against the type of adversary which is going to engage in nuclear terrorism while his study did not examine the cost associated with the different systems coogans research suggests that mobile detection systems have a significantly higher payoff in terms of their ability to successfully detect a simulated adversary coogan earned a bachelor of science degree in physics from michigan state university and a bachelors degree in liberal arts from drew university he worked with his advisor dr craig marianno deputy director of nsspi and assistant professor of nuclear engineering on this project and he successfully defended his thesis on oct 3 he will be earning his masters degree in nuclear engineering in spring 2019 after graduation he aspires to work in government to better inform the public and decision makers about nuclear technology
access to affordable reliable and sustainable energy across the globe is one of the 2030 targets of the united nations wind plays a prominent role in the solution of increasing renewable energy in part through the use of wind turbines drs raktim bhattacharya and robert skelton in the department of aerospace engineering at texas a&m university are contributing to a solution by providing the means to build larger lighter blades for the turbines using tensegrity principles with a $375 000 grant from the national science foundation the goal of their research is to develop a suite of theoretical and computational tools for the design of high strength-to-weight wind turbine blades with custom aeroelastic properties that are critical for deploying large wind turbine blades
wind power is one of the fastest-growing sources of new electricity supply and the largest source of new renewable power generation the wind power industry is moving to offshore sites where larger wind turbines can be deployed as the rotors become larger the blades must become longer but remain lightweight strong and stiff currently fiber-reinforced polymer composites have been identified as the best material for rotor blades use of these composites poses some challenges including design analysis manufacturing vibration control structural health assessment and transportation the theoretical and computational tools the team is designing will significantly alleviate some of these challenges and provide a feasible path to address the proposed expansion to increase energy generation from 40 gigawatts in 2012 to 400 gigawatts in 2050 in the united states
the tensegrity-based design of wind turbine blades has several advantages including accurate modeling aeroelastic tailoring optimal sensing for structural health monitoring and the ability to contract to a smaller form for easy deployability the scientific problems that will be addressed in this research also present a new systems engineering perspective that is missing in current engineering typically these systems are first built and modeled then sensing and actuation architecture is decided in an ad hoc manner followed by the design of the estimation/control law that is constrained by this ad hoc sensing and control architecture the texas a&m team will use the grant to pursue an integrated approach for design of the structure the sensing/actuator architecture (for control and optimal health monitoring) and the control law to alleviate stress and maximize energy absorbed from the wind this will provide a new perspective with strong theoretical foundations bhattacharya (top right) is an associate professor in the aerospace engineering department skelton (bottom left) is a tees eminent professor and a member of the national academy of engineering
the national academy of inventors (nai) has named dr cynthia hipwell among its newly appointed class of fellows for 2018
hipwell a tees eminent professor in the j mike walker 66 department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m university worked 21 years as a technology and business process innovator developing industry-leading technologies as well as new tools and methods to accelerate the pace of technology development and increase business impact election to nai fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life economic development and the welfare of society she will officially be inducted into the academy in april at the eighth nai annual meeting at the space center houston hipwell who joined the mechanical engineering department in 2017 holds a wealth of experience in nanotechnology tribology sensors and actuators that she is putting to use through her innovation tools and entrepreneurial new technology (invent) laboratory even as new research propels technologies into new and exciting directions there is a crucial need for the development of tools and methods capable of delivering faster higher impact innovations and feasibility studies that indicate commercial viability it is a pursuit on which hipwell has her eyes firmly set "i am most excited about some of the new ideas that are emerging as we bring researchers from several disciplines together and see how we can really impact critical product areas with new technologies " she said hipwell is working on numerous projects through her invent lab alongside researchers well-versed in disciplines that include tribology materials cognitive ergonomics and human-machine interactions upcoming projects will include the pursuit of high-resolution flexible tactile sensors and actuators to be used for haptic feedback applications – such as a vibration motion or application of force to recreate the sense of touch – in a range of situations including communications hazardous work environments virtual reality and design as well as an improved understanding of the finger-device interface for the optimal performance of haptic devices hipwell has a particular interest in the process of developing a piece of technology from its early conceptual stages to a fully realized and functional product though she plans for her lab to mature several new technologies over the coming years - as well as a system for achieving better faster results - hipwell also wants to instill a passion for this pursuit in her students as well "often that process has to happen across multiple disciplines to address performance reliability and manufacturability " hipwell said "my hope is that by leading this type of multidisciplinary feasibility work that we can not only get more university developed technologies out the door but that we also train more students to be system thinkers and innovators as they leave the university and head out into the real world"
dr m katherine banks has been named winner of the 2019 pinnacle award presented by schlumberger for her dedication to future engineers banks is vice chancellor of engineering and national laboratories for the texas a&m university system and oversees coordination and collaboration among the engineering academic and research programs at seven universities and three state agencies in the a&m system she leads systemwide national laboratory engagement and serves as a board member and principal executive engaged with triad national security llc for the management and operation of los alamos national laboratory she is also the director of the texas a&m engineering experiment station where she oversees administration for $300 million in sponsored research she has made national security research a priority with $16 million in awards from the department of defense in 2018 and strategically focused on hypersonics cyberphysical security and materials in extreme environments as dean of engineering banks leads one of the largest engineering schools in the country at texas a&m university with more than 20 000 students and 675 faculty under her leadership the college of engineering initiated its 25 by 25 initiative to transform engineering education and increase access for qualified students to an enrollment to 25 000 students by 2025 she also oversaw construction of the largest and most technologically ambitious building on the texas a&m campus the zachry engineering education complex the building is dedicated to undergraduate engineering education and its student-focused design will revolutionize the way engineering education is delivered to students this dedication to expanding and transforming engineering education has positioned texas a&m engineering students at the forefront of todays industry banks is a university distinguished professor and holder of the harold j haynes deans chair in engineering and is a member of the national academy of engineering and a fellow of the american society of civil engineers banks along with the honorees of oil and gas investors 25 influential women in energy will be recognized at the second annual women in energy luncheon feb 12 2019 at the hilton americas houston the full list of honorees can be found here
in november dr craig marianno and dr jeremy osborn from the center for nuclear security science and policy initiatives along with fred marcussen from oak ridge national laboratory traveled to cape town south africa to conduct a nuclear security workshop at eskom the south african electricity utility that operates the koeberg nuclear power station workshop participants included 26 members of the eskom workforce spanning all sectors from security personnel to corporate management eskom attendees were enthusiastic about the training and were really involved said marianno i could tell that the eskom upper management is promoting a strong inclusive security culture lectures and activities for the workshop were centered on nuclear security culture insider threat mitigation and nuclear security systems the workshop concluded with a pathway analysis and insider threat tabletop exercise at first i was apprehensive about who signed me up for this i was thinking of all the paperwork that would pile up on my desk remarked one of the participants he noted however it was worth it i learned a lot during this workshop the workshop was sponsored by the us department of states partnership for nuclear treat reduction
in september dr chaitanyamoy ganguly professor of nuclear engineering and abhinav kapadia chief financial officer from pandit deendayal petroleum university (pdpu) in gandhinagar india visited texas a&m university to sign a memorandum of agreement (moa) between pdpu the department of nuclear engineering at texas a&m the center for nuclear security science and policy initiatives (nsspi) and the nuclear power institute at a ceremony on sept 28 ganguly and kapadia signed the agreement on behalf of pdpu and dr sunil chirayath nsspi director and associate professor of nuclear engineering signed on behalf of texas a&m maria alvez director of the halliburton engineering global programs represented the texas a&m college of engineering at the ceremony the agreement was finalized in november and follows a letter of intent that nsspi signed with pdpu in 2011 the moa formalizes collaborations between nsspi and pdpu in the areas of nuclear security research and development education policy and technical analysis and service as a resource for knowledge and skills to reduce nuclear threats the renewed moa for the next five years will allow us to continue the ongoing collaborations between texas a&m and pdpu and to explore new possibilities of student and faculty exchanges as well as hosting study abroad programs said chirayath nsspi currently works with pdpu to deliver training workshops on nuclear security topics for indian students and faculty
akron biotechnology has partnered with the national institute for innovation in manufacturing biopharmaceuticals (niimbl) and the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) to pursue an exciting workforce development initiative tees leads the grant which combines online and in-person modules to train technicians on processes required in biotherapeutics manufacturing developed and delivered by tees national center for therapeutics manufacturing (nctm) the curriculum includes upstream bioreactor operation downstream processing and analytical testing as part of its commitment to professional development akron has enrolled two manufacturing team members in the training we are honored by niimbls sponsorship and proud to collaborate with akron through this rigorous educational program that will immerse participants in more than 100 hours of cgmp bioprocess training said dr zivko nikolov director of nctm upon completion of the program more than 40 technically skilled graduates will be ready for immediate employment with niimbl partner companies akron biotechnology is dedicated to continuing education and workforce development said claudia zylberberg ceo of akron biotechnology the biopharmaceutical industry is rapidly evolving and it is critical that training be aligned with industry needs we are excited to partner with niimbl as well as the academic and industry team members on these initiatives niimbl invests in projects that will strengthen the pipeline of skilled workers for the biopharmaceutical industry this project promises a robust curriculum that will serve industrial needs said john balchunas niimbl workforce director
when it comes to walking with a transfemoral prosthetic its a lot harder than it looks traditional transfemoral (above the knee) prosthetics are passive or semi-active meaning they are made up of a single metal rod that is able to bend a little bit but does not give the wearer a full range of motion or the ability to change their walking pattern without either of those features walking can become a tedious job when it comes to dealing with various terrains going downhill or walking up and down a set of stairs to help make daily life easier for amputee patients dr pilwon hur assistant professor in the j mike walker 66 department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m university has developed a robotic transfemoral prosthesis hur became interested in the topic of rehabilitation robotics when he was studying biomechanics and neuromechanics for his phd with a degree in mechanical engineering and a personal interest in mechatronics (a hybrid of mechanical electrical and computer engineering) and robotics he already had an extensive knowledge in the technical side of the issue however it was not until he was in the midst of completing his dissertation that he was inspired to take his research a step further
i was trying to understand how humans move and why we move this way and how i could use this information to help people who are disabled said hur since i was interested in walking and balance i figured i should work in that area for rehabilitation so when i was doing my post doctorate i mostly worked with stroke patients and learned a lot about rehabilitation robotics at that time his design is focused on addressing the weight of the prosthesis because one of the main reasons many amputee patients dislike robotic prosthetics is because they are too heavy to maintain any sort of natural movement his design uses series elastic actuators which is a spring that can be added to the motor of a robotic device used to control force and increase shock tolerance and compliance with the surrounding environment it is an existing technology but hur took a different perspective to use a rotary spring that will help reduce the devices weight as well as control the system more effectively making it easier for the wearer to handle and walk were optimizing the design of the structure so that we can minimize the weight and so that we can cut off some parts which based on our analysis are not necessary so that we can make it lighter said hur we can lower the specs of the motor allowing us to use a much lighter motor to achieve the same goal the spring saves energy and that energy can be used to control the system so the use of battery power is minimized in addition to the device as a whole hur is working to develop a new design for the foot one that will replicate the rolling behavior of the foot joints and allow the foot to bend like a regular one it will help give patients a more natural feel he is in the process of conducting tests in the lab to see if this tool will enhance the bioperformance of the prosthesis hur is currently searching for a commercial partner to license this technology manufacture it conduct the necessary testing and get it to the market for consumers the texas a&m engineering experiment stations commercialization and entrepreneurship office is ready to offer licensing terms for the intellectual property corresponding to the technology while the market for the device may not be huge hur believes that it will help amputees navigate their world without being weighed down by a prosthetic what i hope to achieve with this technology is for amputee patients to walk without any worry or hesitation and just live their lives without any difficulties said hur
between media and international pressure to reduce controversial cost overruns and production delays lockheed martin partnered with a team from texas a&m university to analyze and streamline the companys final assembly process for f-35 fighter jets global security and aerospace company lockheed martin is a leader in engineering innovation from cutting-edge military aircrafts such as the f-35 lightning ii fighter jet to advanced spacecraft systems their influence can be seen throughout the world and beyond unfortunately when their inventions cause expenses to soar their troubles are also broadcast around the globe in order to help resolve some of these troubles researchers from the department of industrial and systems engineering investigated how lockheed martin could increase their production rate from assembling one plane every six days to one plane every day and a half the team consisted of dr lewis ntaimo professor and marilyn and l david black faculty fellow and a trio of students dr amarnath andy banerjee professor and corrie and jim furber 64 faculty fellow led the project innovations in the air with production partners and customers in more than 10 countries around the world the f-35 joint strike fighter program relies on a global network of manufacturers to create each aircraft lockheed martin is responsible for the final assembly of three variations of f-35 military aircrafts these versions designated as types a b and c are nearly indistinguishable from one another on looks alone along with internal components the main differentiating feature of each is their landing and takeoff capabilities type a the most common and basic version of the f-35 is designed to operate on conventional runways in contrast type b requires a shorter takeoff and landing distance finally type c is crafted explicitly for aircraft carriers and is able to take off and land vertically due to a rotatable engine
as banerjee described the assembly is not only dependent upon the delivery of necessary materials and manufactured pieces from company partners but also must adhere to each countrys specifications and codes and specified production steps this in addition to each category of f-35 needing to be configured differently to achieve their distinctive landing and takeoff functions means that parts cannot simply be switched out if a shipment is delayed such factors added to late delivery dates and drove up costs increasing criticism and controversy simulating solutions with pressures rising to reduce production setbacks and widespread negative media coverage on cost overruns the texas a&m team searched for solutions using a statistical distribution-based simulation model of the assembly process it was an interesting experience to take the things we do as industrial engineers like developing simulation models analyzing data and doing future projections and then getting to see how our result directly compares with whats actually happening in the production facility said banerjee using their model which has been given to lockheed martin as an ongoing resource the researchers ran what-if analyses that detailed how potential changes such as adding workers combining tasks or modifying task precedencies might affect production time the what-if scenarios were further bolstered by elaborate scripts written in r a statistical analysis freeware banerjee explained that the model and r together estimated the likelihood of a task to be behind or on schedule and produced an interactive visual that allows the company to infer the cause of task-related setbacks this new insight was used to predict how prospective changes will positively and negatively impact the assembly process and create a list of suggested steps to gradually and smoothly increase production rate in doing so the team not only helped solve the problems that lockheed martin faces in the present but also set them up for a more efficient and cost-effective future
like reading and sorting through lecture notes to better understand the topics covered in a class computers use machine learning to decipher categorize and respond to information machine learning a branch of artificial intelligence explores the ability of computer systems to learn from data identify patterns and make decisions without much need for human interaction and guidance
to optimize this learning process dr shahin shahrampour assistant professor in the department of industrial and systems engineering at texas a&m university partnered with dr vahid tarokh professor in the electrical and computer engineering department at duke university to revamp the fundamental pattern analysis algorithms called kernel methods kernel methods are used for pattern recognition in machine learning to make them more adept and applicable to the constantly changing world of technology while kernel methods are sufficient when dealing with small to moderate datasets shahrampour explained that they are not scalable to a large enough degree to be effectively applied to more advanced systems the boost in core efficiency that shahrampours and tarokhs updated algorithms propose will enhance the cornerstone kernel methods that program and train computer systems to recognize patterns and apply them to future variables this will help machine learning keep up with the rapid innovations in computer technology even though there has been a lot of advancements in hardware technology that allow computers to process data faster and faster its always good to have methods that are computationally efficient said shahrampour shahrampour further explained that having a better understanding of kernel methods may also help overcome the limitations that hinder the expansion and integration of machine learning into deep learning research heavily reliant upon efficient and accurate machine learning the ultimate goal of deep learning is to emulate the human mind through a neural network of computational models and codes in order to anticipate activity behavior and trends deep learning has been tremendously successful in many applications such as natural language processing and image pattern recognition many researchers in academia and companies like google and microsoft have been working on understanding the reason behind this success said shahrampour and i think there is a way to understand deep learning by going back and rethinking some of the classic results from kernel methods their research was published at the 2018 conference on neural information processing systems in montréal québec in a paper titled learning bounds for greedy approximation with explicit feature maps from multiple kernels
dr ali mostafavi an assistant professor in the zachry department of civil engineering recently received the faculty early career development (career) award from the national science foundation (nsf) one of the most prestigious awards for up-and-coming researchers the award provides funding to support promising integrated research and education mostafavi will use the career award to study the impact of infrastructure failures during natural disasters on people his research recognizes that disasters do not impact people equally due to the variance in vulnerability among a regions population he hypothesizes that there is a disparity in the impact of risk and his research aims to increase the theoretical and empirical foundations in the interdisciplinary area of urban resilience research his nsf career project will use machine learning social sensing and complex networks simulation to analyze peoples responses to infrastructure disruptions following disasters such as hurricane harvey newly developed computational simulations models will allow researchers to assess the predicted societal impacts alongside existing system failure models which will advance fundamental knowledge of urban resilience to inform policy decisions the computer models will even be applicable to engineers and infrastructure managers prioritizing resilience investments in preparation for different types of disasters such as flooding wildfires and earthquakes mostafavis research will have a positive impact on future engineers as well he currently teaches his students the human-centered approach which emphasizes the need to consider human dimensions when designing and updating civil engineering systems student participants in his newly developed service learning project will engage with households from harris county and learn how to prioritize the reduction of human suffering in vulnerable populations through community engagement learning modules will be shared with faculty across the nation to magnify the impact of these new frameworks the knowledge will also be shared with organizations tasked with both disaster resilience and optimizing the prevention of future failures both at the state and the national level we are trying to advance convergence research in the interdisciplinary field of disaster resilience in my lab and this project reflects the novel convergence of different interdisciplinary methods data and theoretical elements to uncover social inequalities in risks due to the interplay between physical infrastructure and household social networks in disasters he said read his nsf abstract
corrosion is the natural deterioration that occurs with all materials and it affects nearly every industrial sector and government agency along with having a direct impact on the economy health safety infrastructure environment and national security so its not surprising that industry professionals from toyota motor north america inc and pinnacleart traveled to college station to learn more about the degradation process and how to deal with its destructiveness in their own fields the national corrosion and materials science reliability lab at texas a&m universityin partnership with tees edge the professional and continuing education division of the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees)now offers a course that introduces industry professionals to the fundamentals of corrosion and the multiscale-level materials performance for corrosion engineering applications tees edge collaborates with tees researchers to meet current industry needs by developing opportunities for professionals to explore in a hands-on environment applications resulting from our cutting-edge engineering research said melissa walden tees edge director dr homero castaneda-lopez and the center for infrastructure renewal worked closely with leaders at toyota and tees edge to launch this high-quality short course with immediate benefits across the automotive and energy industriesbenefits we hope extend beyond those enrolled in the course on dec 11-13 the center presented the short course basic corrosion: an introduction to thermodynamics and kinetic fundamentals at the center for infrastructure renewal the course was led by castaneda-lopez interim director of the lab and associate professor in the department of materials science and engineering at texas a&m the course is about corrosion basics why corrosion because theyre industry empirically they know that the phenomenon exists but they dont know some fundamentals some basics of why its happening so the intention of the course is to first explain what is happening then the fundamentals and then how to apply it to their fields during the course participants attended lectures and hands-on demonstrations on modern engineering tools necessary to understand the basic principles of materials electrochemistry and corrosion its definitely been a great experience weve been able to get into a lot of the details and background on some of the theory said kory koran a toyota engineer weve been able to discuss some of the real-world applications of those theories and got hands on experience working with some of the tools used to calculate corrosion mechanisms
from jan 29 through feb 1 the center for nuclear security science and policy initiatives (nsspi) of the texas a&m engineering experiment station at texas a&m university collaborated with amity university in india oak ridge national laboratory (ornl) and the us defense threat reduction agency to conduct a nuclear security workshop on the topic of nuclear security design vulnerability assessments and battle board table top exercise for indian academics the workshop was hosted by amity university at their campus in noida which is in the uttar pradesh region near new delhi fifty-five students technical staff and faculty members from nine different universities and academic institutions one non-governmental organization and two governmental institutes across india participated in the workshop nsspi and ornl developed the instructional materials and provided the instructors which included dr sunil chirayath nsspi director and associate professor in the department of nuclear engineering and dr evans kitcher nsspi assistant research engineer the objective of the workshop was to provide training to indian university faculty students and nuclear professionals in the area of comprehensive nuclear security system design as well as how to perform vulnerability assessments and do hands-on tabletop exercises after familiarizing the participants with the basic concepts involved in physical protection systems nuclear security design vulnerability assessment and the calculation of nuclear security risk the instructors led two different interactive tabletop exercises the first exercise focused on vulnerability assessment including the creation of an adversary sequence diagram to compute the probability of interruption and probability of neutralization for a typical nuclear research reactor the second a battle board exercise demonstrated physical protection system operations through a turn-based simulation similar to a combat-oriented board game both exercises gave the participants practical experience with applying nuclear security vulnerability assessment in a realistic situation
the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) has signed a new research agreement with kathaleen wall 90 co-owner of texas thorium llc on the new thorium research initiative (tri) wall along with co-owner holly frost donated $5 million to support research geared toward advancing thorium-based nuclear technology the research initiative will be led by principal investigator dr yassin hassan from the department of nuclear engineering at texas a&m university along with dr sean mcdeavitt and dr lin shao the research in this initial project will focus on molten salt thorium systems the tri will perform studies to enable the design of a small modular reactor and a 10 to 30 mw test reactor fueled with thorium we are excited to have the backing of someone like kathaleen wall and her belief in our expertise in the field of nuclear engineering said texas a&m university system chancellor john sharp with ms walls generous donation our researchers have the support they need to further their work in this emerging technology thorium power has the promise of simpler safer cleaner and cheaper power than any other power source said wall thats the reason were doing this
three faculty members from the texas a&m university college of engineering are among 66 academic inventors named to the inaugural class of senior members by the national academy of inventors (nai) members include drs jaime grunlan linda & ralph schmidt 68 professor in the j mike walker ‘66 department of mechanical engineering; duncan j maitland associate department head and stewart & stevenson professor i in the department of biomedical engineering; and richard miles tees eminent professor in the department of aerospace engineering nai senior members are active faculty scientists and administrators from nai with success in patents licensing and commercialization they have produced technologies that have brought or aspire to bring real impact on the welfare of society congratulations to our faculty members who have been elected to this first class of nai senior members mark a barteau vice president for research and nai fellow said this recognition pays tribute to their knowledge skill and talent as well as to the role that texas a&m plays in encouraging and nurturing research and innovations from start to finish together these faculty members and texas a&m are making the world a better place for all of us senior members also foster a spirit of innovation within their communities through enhancing an inventive atmosphere at their institutions while educating and mentoring the next generation of inventors this inaugural class of nai senior members represents 37 research universities and government and non-profit research institutes they are named inventors on over 1 100 issued us patents we are truly excited about each of our nai awardees this year whose research and inventions range across novel multifunctional surfaces and coatings (grunlan) advanced shape memory polymers for implantable medical devices (maitland) and microwave lasers and magnetohydrodynamic technologies (miles) said dr bala haridas executive director for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship for the texas a&m engineering experiment station this technological diversity world-class research and translation to practical application truly represents the exciting work by researchers in texas a&m engineering a full list of nai senior members is available on the nai website
as nasa and private companies race to send humans to mars and beyond the need for a program providing sustainable life for long periods in space becomes apparent dr robert skelton has proposed a growable habitat with 1 g of gravitational force to solve this need skelton a tees eminent professor in the department of aerospace engineering at texas a&m university is wrapping up phase ii of his space habitat project funded through nasas innovative advanced concepts program skelton aims to answer four yet-unsolved needs for maintaining long-term life in space: gravity radiation protection agricultural space for food production and a growable technology for expanding the habitat as economic conditions allow while humans have been traveling to space for over 50 years each of the stays has been relatively short in part because outer space is not a friendly long-term environment for humans the human body is used to a 1 g gravity environment as found on earth when astronauts spend a significant amount of time in zero gravity different bodily systems are affected including bone density loss impaired vision muscle atrophy cardiovascular deconditioning and immune system changes for example on earth the fluid pressure in your eye is less than the pressure in your feet because gravity is pulling everything down when someone is in space the pressure is the same throughout the body which is too much for the eye the pressure change causes changes to the eye that are noticeable upon return to earth
skelton argues that the only way to sustain life in space long term is to provide a habitat for humans that provides a gravity environment similar to what they experience on earth the habitat he envisions is a settlement in space with research capabilities to determine what level of gravity is required for human health before launching long-term space travel to mars and farther he proposes to start the habitat at the size of 20 meters radius enough to sustain about 20 people with the final structure being built over time out to 225 meters housing 8 000 people with 300 square meters of agricultural space per person the initial habitat would be small and built from materials launched from earth because material resources are costly in space skelton suggests using tensegrity systems for the design of the growth adaptable space structure these minimal mass structures make the habitat easy to change in shape and its very strong and lightweight subsequent growth stages of the habitat would rely on tensegrity robots mining materials from the moon and asteroids with the overall shape of the habitat designed in concentric cylinders the outer shell would be a thick-wall of regolith for radiation protection that would rotate slowly to enhance stability regolith is a layer of loose heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock found on earth the moon and asteroids the habitat inside would spin at a faster rate to provide artificial gravity (due to the centrifugal forces) for the inhabitants inside the habitat would provide all levels of gravity from 0 g to 1 g where the lower g-level space is reserved for agriculture and the people occupy higher g-levels up to 1 g the outer shell would consist of 5 meter thick panels which would allow light in but are thick enough for radiation protection included in the outer shell are shutters that can open and close to simulate night and day large mirrors on either side of the structure will be used to bounce light into the structure
inside the habitat along the outer walls in the lower gravity range are shelves that are used for growing varied crops positioned where light can easily get to them in the center of the habitat skelton envisions green space including parks with plants and rivers running through it bringing some of the loved features from earth including 10 000 trees and lakes the finished habitat at 225 meters would include five residence floors housing people offices shops and work spaces the initial orbit skelton has chosen for the habitat is called a lunar resonance orbit its a stable orbit that goes from the earth to the moon and back again in a somewhat figure eight pattern in the orbit the habitat would visit the earth and the moon once every 10 days while near the moon the inhabitants could be doing operations such as mining the moon and other commercial chores when orbiting near the earth the proximity makes it easier to get resupplies to the habitat as the project wraps up skelton believes that the space habitat is the next step in building our space program answering the question of how we safely and perhaps permanently occupy space for extended periods of time team members that contributed to the project include drs manoranjan majji raktim bhattacharya and bonnie j dunbar from the department of aerospace engineering at texas a&m as well as anthony longman from skyframe research and joel sercel from transastra inc