houck2040/tees huggingface dataset:
weather information has been used in electric grid planning and operations since the 1880s however no one has yet introduced the idea of incorporating this information into the power flow or load flow of the grid which is a system used to determine how the power flows from the generators through the transmission system to the distribution system (which is then used by consumers) this project funded by the power systems engineering research center introduces the inclusion of historical weather data in the power flow which will provide more context for power engineers and grid operators to effectively manage the electric grid during these extreme weather events and a chance for more informed decisions the power flow is one of the most common tools used to study and design large-scale high-voltage electric grids and includes several algorithms models data and the associated human-machine interface used by power engineers in order to include weather information in a power flow model there is a need for adequate weather data and models of how the weather impacts the grid components as well as the ability to map the weather information to relevant electric grid components overbyes approach to including weather data in the power flow is demonstrated on several electric grids ranging in size from 7 000 to 82 000 buses or nodes that connect several lines and components using weather data over several different years his findings conclude that with little changes to existing models the weather can be easily incorporated into the power flow algorithms to provide vast benefits to the power industry and energy consumers it is widely recognized that weather impacts human activity and subsequent power usage and operations further wind and solar generation continue to grow currently providing more than 14% of the united states electric energy in turn increasing the grids dependence on these sources overbye has been pursuing research related to the power flow for over 40 years but his interest in the integration of weather information began as a result of winter storm uri in order to prevent situations like what was experienced during winter storm uri you have to get a good feel for how likely these weather events are and if you know how likely they are then you can take that into account in your planning said overbye
in a state as vast as texas temperatures can be extreme from the daunting heat of long summer days to record-breaking cold snaps the drastic fluctuation has the potential to adversely affect infrastructure it is a combination of materials and landscape said dr anand puppala interim director for the center for infrastructure renewal (cir) at the texas a&m engineering experiment station and professor in the zachry department of civil and environmental engineering at texas a&m university whether it is underground piping providing water and electricity or roadway surfaces for commuters the environment and changing weather patterns play a significant role in the resiliency of materials traditionally used for infrastructure research underway at the cir located at the texas a&m-rellis campus encompasses all aspects of infrastructure from concrete and asphalt to plastics and polymer additives with a targeted outcome of developing sustainable options an interdisciplinary network of experts collaborates to form new methodologies improve longevity and initiate comprehensive test cases learning how to design materials that can withstand a broad range of change expansion contraction of soil or extreme hot and cold temperatures helps shape our research said puppala access to laboratories with specific testing capabilities like corrosion controlled temperature pods and more allows us to scale up our testing and expedites our ability to respond to industry and government needs
geotechnical and unbound materials research in june 2022 residents of odessa a city in west texas experienced firsthand the detrimental impact of degrading infrastructure when a water main failed leaving 165 000 homes and businesses without potable water for more than 24 hours in addition to the material composition of the water lines themselves the expansion and contraction of the soil plays a role in how long underground utility lines can last
from the geotechnical perspective we are exploring how additives may stabilize different soil types and compositions to reduce the stress placed on the lines underground said puppala we simulate the real-life fluctuation of soil conditions to see if and how the additives reduce the effects of soil shifting in seasons of drought and flooding like underground utilities residential home foundations are susceptible to the adverse effects of soil compound expansion and contraction puppala leads an industry-university cooperative research centers (iucrc) program initiated by the national science foundation (nsf) in 1973 to strategically integrate industry academia and government partners his area of focus is on the use of polymeric composite products to strengthen geo and civil infrastructure foundations shift and are exposed to differing temperatures both above and below the grounds surface said puppala through nsf iucrc-sponsored research we are scaling up a thermo-block insulation application that helps reduce heat absorbed by structures to help prevent cracking and foundation maintenance needed or at the very least prolong the life of the slab before repairs are necessary advancements like these can bring relief to both new and existing infrastructure through implementation at the design phase or retrofitting as needed
manufacturing and materials research parallel to the impacts of geotechnical components identifying the resiliency of material types and their reaction to different elements found within the soil is important dr homero castaneda-lopez leads the national corrosion and materials reliability lab a cir facility that provides small- to full-scale testing for industry government and academic partners we help identify how different materials from metal piping and plastic casing to concrete and asphalt respond in corrosive and extreme environments said castaneda-lopez bringing together the data of geotechnical impacts and corrosion helps us see how materials and civil engineers can work in tandem to develop more resilient infrastructure materials
health monitoring of the infrastructure is an important aspect of quantifying and characterizing an assets reliability data from this proactive measure provides insight into the sustainability of current structures and directly influences the environmental impact of the degradation process this same interdisciplinary approach applies to testing concrete and asphalt for roadway surfaces and bridges research into the use of polymers is underway to see how different additives can preclude bleeding of asphalt pavements and provide pliability in concrete structures while maintaining their structural integrity ­during high temperatures a portion of a state highway in east texas began to ‘melt in june 2022 as a result of prolonged and extreme heat while this was actually the asphalt binder rising to the surface due to high temperatures it forced lane closures and delayed the traffic flow so crews could address the issue considering that the texas department of transportation has 80 444 centerline miles of highways and more than 35 000 bridges to maintain across the state with 540 million vehicle miles traveled annually there is a vested interest in reducing the need for maintenance through improved materials selection and engineering of materials combinations identifying materials that can withstand a volatile change in temperatures is a focus of the integrated network of researchers at the cir said dr zachary grasley department head and professor of the civil and environmental engineering department at texas a&m reducing the cost and carbon footprint of infrastructure materials also ties into the sustainability aspect of this infrastructure research dr petros sideris assistant professor in the civil and environmental engineering department is leading a us department of energy advanced research projects agency-energy study using hempcrete for residential and commercial construction designs hempcrete and other materials with a negative or low carbon footprint can lead to designs that combine sustainability and resilience for our structures and infrastructure said sideris this could provide a path to addressing the impacts of climate change on our infrastructure with an estimated cost of $259 trillion for current us infrastructure needs the cir provides a network of researchers and laboratories equipped to meet todays challenges by adapting for the needs of tomorrow
for years the nucleus within a cell was thought to be elastic like a rubber ball deforming and snapping back into shape as the cell navigated through pores and between fibers inside the human body researchers at texas a&m university and the university of florida have discovered that the nucleus is more complex than originally believed behaving more like a liquid drop than a rubber ball the discovery that the nucleus deforms like a liquid drop calls for a fresh look at how the nuclear shape becomes abnormal in diseases like cancer said dr tanmay lele unocal professor in the department of biomedical engineering lele a cancer prevention & research institute of texas (cprit) scholar is co-leading the team that uncovered the surprising mechanical behaviors of the nucleus their findings were published in advanced science in june 2022 the genetic material governing a cells function and behavior called the genome is safely stored in the nucleus nearly 150 years of looking through microscopes has taught pathologists and researchers that misshapen nuclei are warning signs of diseases like cancer cancer cells with such abnormal nuclei are able to migrate to other parts of the body in a process called cancer metastasis a spreading that can be lethal nuclear shape observations are used in cancer diagnosis even today but why nuclei become abnormal has remained unclear understanding how nuclei become misshapen may help uncover a way to aid cell nuclei in regaining their normal shapes leading to new approaches for treating cancer the findings from this study are critical to understanding how a protective layer surrounding the nucleus called the lamina helps preserve nuclear shape while cells crawl through the tortuous paths through pores and around tissue fibers
lele and his fellow researchers began their exploration of nuclear behaviors by placing fibroblasts the most common type of connective-tissue cells in animals into a miniature obstacle course of tiny flexible pillars 1/100th of the width of a human hair in order for the cells to crawl through this obstacle course their nuclei had to squeeze in between the pillars the researchers observed the movements with an advanced high-resolution microscope that could image the 3d shapes of the nuclei imaging revealed that the pillars created deep indentations into the nuclear surface yet the overall nuclear shape was preserved allowing the nucleus to successfully pass like a liquid drop and unlike a springy elastic rubber ball through the obstacles the research also revealed that a depletion of lamin a/c one of the normal protein components of lamina caused the nuclei to get entangled in the obstacles the discovery suggests that lamin a/c helps maintain the surface tension of the nuclear drop our work points to a fundamental mechanism by which the nucleus preserves its shape and protects its genome lele said our discovery also helps us better understand how misshapen nuclei arise in cancer and how to potentially make them normal again we are now studying the implications of the drop model for the abnormal nuclear shapes commonly observed in cancer the work is financially supported by a grant from the national cancer institutes physical sciences oncology network to lele along with additional support from the national science foundation to co-principal investigator dr richard b dickinson professor in the department of chemical engineering at the university of florida the research is also partially funded by a cprit established investigator award to lele facilitated through the texas a&m engineering experiment station aside from lele and dickinson principal investigators and researchers on this project include drs pushkar p lele cynthia a reinhart-king kyle j roux and nathan j sniadecki students include aditya katiyar (lead author on the paper) jian zhang jyot d antani yifan yu and kelsey l scott
flexible electronics have enabled the design of sensors actuators microfluidics and electronics on flexible conformal and/or stretchable sublayers for wearable implantable or ingestible applications however these devices have very different mechanical and biological properties when compared to human tissue and thus cannot be integrated with the human body a team of researchers at texas a&m university has developed a new class of biomaterial inks that mimic native characteristics of highly conductive human tissue much like skin which are essential for the ink to be used in 3d printing this biomaterial ink leverages a new class of 2d nanomaterials known as molybdenum disulfide (mos2) the thin-layered structure of mos2 contains defect centers to make it chemically active and combined with modified gelatin to obtain a flexible hydrogel comparable to the structure of jell-o the impact of this work is far-reaching in 3d printing said dr akhilesh gaharwar associate professor in the department of biomedical engineering and presidential impact fellow this newly designed hydrogel ink is highly biocompatible and electrically conductive paving the way for the next generation of wearable and implantable bioelectronics this study was recently published in acs nano
the ink has shear-thinning properties that decrease in viscosity as force increases so it is solid inside the tube but flows more like a liquid when squeezed similar to ketchup or toothpaste the team incorporated these electrically conductive nanomaterials within a modified gelatin to make a hydrogel ink with characteristics that are essential for designing ink conducive to 3d printing these 3d-printed devices are extremely elastomeric and can be compressed bent or twisted without breaking said kaivalya deo graduate student in the biomedical engineering department and lead author of the paper in addition these devices are electronically active enabling them to monitor dynamic human motion and paving the way for continuous motion monitoring in order to 3d print the ink researchers in the gaharwar laboratory designed a cost-effective open-source multi-head 3d bioprinter that is fully functional and customizable running on open-source tools and freeware this also allows any researcher to build 3d bioprinters tailored to fit their own research needs the electrically conductive 3d-printed hydrogel ink can create complex 3d circuits and is not limited to planar designs allowing researchers to make customizable bioelectronics tailored to patient-specific requirements in utilizing these 3d printers deo was able to print electrically active and stretchable electronic devices these devices demonstrate extraordinary strain-sensing capabilities and can be used for engineering customizable monitoring systems this also opens up new possibilities for designing stretchable sensors with integrated microelectronic components one of the potential applications of the new ink is in 3d printing electronic tattoos for patients with parkinsons disease researchers envision that this printed e-tattoo can monitor a patients movement including tremors this project is in collaboration with dr anthony guiseppi-elie vice president of academic affairs and workforce development at tri-county technical college in south carolina and dr limei tian assistant professor of biomedical engineering at texas a&m this study was funded by the national institute of biomedical imaging and bioengineering the national institute of neurological disorders and stroke and the texas a&m university presidents excellence fund a provisional patent on this technology has been filed in association with the texas a&m engineering experiment station
the american society of mechanical engineers (asme) honored dr yassin hassan with the 2022 fluids engineering award at the fluids engineering division summer meeting (fedsm) in toronto for his outstanding contributions to the engineering profession and the field of fluids engineering hassan is a university distinguished professor regents professor and lf peterson 36 chair ii professor in the department of nuclear engineering and the j mike walker ‘66 department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m university he is also director of the center for advanced small modular and microreactors and a member of the national academy of engineering asme presented the award to hassan on aug 4 during the fedsms awards dinner at the intercontinental toronto centre in toronto canada he was also a plenary speaker for the meeting presenting high resolution experiments for modeling and simulation: from nuclear applications to covid-19 this award is a testament to dr hassans vital work in the field of fluids engineering said dr michael nastasi head of the nuclear engineering department we are proud the asme has chosen him for this distinguished recognition this is a well-deserved honor recognizing dr hassans valuable contributions to the fluids engineering field said dr guillermo aguilar head of the mechanical engineering department his work continues to make positive impacts within the engineering community the fluids engineering award was established by the fluids engineering division in 1968 and operated as a division award until 1978 when it was elevated to a society award it provides the recipient with $1 000 and a bronze medal hassan earned his bachelors degree from alexandria university in egypt in 1968 he earned his masters degree and doctoral degree in nuclear engineering from the university of illinois in 1975 and 1980 respectively his research is focused on computational and experimental thermal hydraulics reactor safety fluid mechanics two-phase flow turbulence and laser velocimetry and imaging techniques
dr siegfried hecker and dr farheen naqvi join the faculty in the department of nuclear engineering at texas a&m university effective aug16 where they will contribute their robust knowledge of and experience in nuclear security hecker will serve as a professor of practice and naqvi will serve as a research assistant professor both will work closely with the center for nuclear security science and policy initiatives (nsspi) at texas a&m as nsspi faculty fellows to advance the departments commitment to nuclear safety and nonproliferation hecker brings international nuclear security expertise hecker is an internationally recognized expert in plutonium science global threat reduction and nuclear security he joins the department after a tenure at stanford university where he served as a professor emeritus in the department of management science and engineering and a senior fellow emeritus at the freeman spogli institute for international studies (fsi) he previously served as the fifth director of los alamos national laboratory and co-director of the fsis center for international security and cooperation heckers current research interests include nuclear nonproliferation and arms control nuclear weapons policy nuclear security the safe and secure expansion of nuclear energy and plutonium science he will guest lecture in the department and other areas across campus such as the institute for science technology and public policy at the bush school of government and public service at texas a&m i will focus on the importance of the interplay of technology and policy on all things nuclear from nuclear energy to nuclear weapons hecker said i also plan to work with students and postdoctoral fellows on projects of nuclear technology and their implications for nuclear policy naqvi brings wealth of radiation detection and detector development naqvi joins the department after serving in the massachusetts institute of technologys department of nuclear science and engineering as a research scientist during her term she applied her knowledge of radiation measurement detector development and computational analysis to focus on building technologies to mitigate nuclear terrorism and weapons by mitigating the dangers of nuclear smuggling or nuclear weapons we are making an effort to make the world more secure naqvi said she will teach nuclear security policy courses in collaboration with dr sunil chirayath professor of nuclear engineering and nsspi director i am very interested in and looking forward to teaching nuclear policy courses naqvi said i am also excited to learn from some of the great faculty at this stage in my career with their combined experience naqvi and hecker bring expertise to support the college of engineerings mission to serve texas the nation and global communities by preparing graduates to meet the complex technical challenges of society my overriding career objective has been to make the world a safer and more peaceful place getting nuclear right is crucial to that objective hecker said
a research team led by dr nitesh saxena professor in the department of computer science and engineering at texas a&m university received part of a $12 million grant from the national science foundations secure and trustworthy cyberspace program to investigate the robustness and security of election systems that read hand-marked paper ballots saxena is working on the project in conjunction with dr dan wallach professor in the departments of computer science and electrical and computer engineering at rice university and dr chengcui zhang professor in the department of computer science at the university of alabama at birmingham the texas a&m team received nearly $400 000 across the country nonpartisan election officials face a demand to produce the results of local and state elections quickly and accurately and sometimes accuracy can suffer because of this while modern machine-learning and deep-learning techniques have revolutionized how computers see the world even the most sophisticated systems used to scan and process hand-marked ballots primarily look at the average darkness across bubble targets on a sheet as a result traditional paper ballot scanners can miss partially filled-in marks or misclassify stray marks and scanner noise as filled-in bubbles depending on how theyre configured in addition existing systems are not inherently designed to identify potentially fraudulent voting cases where a single voter has filled out multiple ballots the proposed research aims to respond to these issues by building an artificial-intelligence system called bubble aid by training on data from millions of actual ballots the system will use modern computer vision and learning techniques to recognize hand-marked bubble targets more effectively than existing systems our research could lead to significant efficiency and improved security helping election officials focus their attention on the ambiguous ballots that require the most manual attention as opposed to the majority of ballots that were tabulated correctly said saxena we also anticipate that our work on hand-marked ballots could be applied to other hand-marked forms such as the ones used in standardized testing this research is funded through the texas a&m engineering experiment station a state agency that solves problems through applied research and development and collaboration with industry government and academic partners
three high school students from around the state of texas spent this summer participating in a high-impact research experience at texas a&m university through the us army educational outreach program (aeop) high school apprenticeship program neha adusumilli sabrina hu and richa kalari had the opportunity to work in the nanobio systems laboratory which is directed by dr arum han texas instruments professorship ii in the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m being able to meet and interact with many of the phd students around the lab opened up my mind to ideas and concepts that i didn't even think were possible adusumilli said kalari said that the most rewarding aspect of this summer program for her was being able to see her own ideas transformed into physical working devices with real-world applications
the aeop high school apprenticeship program connects high school students to a university or us army research laboratories and centers to spend the summer conducting cutting-edge research in state-of-the-art laboratory facilities as part of this authentic science and engineering research apprenticeship program high school students work one-on-one with a university researcher or us department of defense scientist mentor with this summer program i felt a stronger connection to my love for science adusumilli said i not only gained knowledge about microfluidics but also about the out-of-the-box thinking required for research this summer program inspired me to want to work in lab research in my future career being able to provide hands-on experiences is one of the best ways to get students excited about science and engineering han said these students are the future of our society advancing the forefront of technology it was also very exciting for me to see them experiencing the fascinating world of microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip without the support from the us army these activities would have not been possible and i deeply appreciate their support the aeop program is funded by a grant from the us army research office awarded through the texas a&m engineering experiment station a state agency that solves problems through applied research and development and collaboration with industry government and academic partners
though the light-squeezing device can be adopted for other spectroscopic measurements like raman scattering yakovlev and agarwal are enhancing the capabilities of brillouin microscopy to identify the viscous or elastic materials in biological systems these systems control the physical properties of cells and cell structures and define everything from cell development to cancer progression seeing details clearly makes a huge difference in biomedical breakthroughs each time you get a new telescope or something like gravitational-wave astronomy you discover new things you can't possibly see without it said yakovlev the same thing works in biology before the invention of the microscope we didn't know that we consist of individual cells so far only the contrast of spectroscopy images has been improved but yakovlev and agarwal are already working on agarwals theory to enhance spatial resolution or the smallest details possible and if the task leads to creating another complex device that pushes the limits of current technology the researchers are ready and willing to make that happen i love those types of projects where people tell you something will never work and it works said yakovlev i love challenges the project was primarily supported by funding awarded to the texas a&m engineering experiment station from the air force office of scientific research with yakovlev agarwal and scully listed as principal investigators
dr emily pentzer associate professor in the department of materials science and engineering and the department of chemistry at texas a&m university is making 3d-printed polymers more environmentally friendly through a process that allows the polymers to naturally degrade over time pentzers research is a collaborative effort that includes researchers from the texas a&m college of engineering the texas a&m engineering experiment station the texas a&m department of chemistry and the university of kashmirthe research was published in the journal angewandte chemieour goal was to create sustainable degradable polymeric structures pentzer said we did this by leveraging the microstructures afforded by chemistry in conjunction with the macrostructures afforded by 3d printingmost commercial synthetic polymers consist of large molecules that do not break apart under normal conditions when left in the environment manufactured items such as foam cups or plastic containers break down into small pieces that are unseen by the naked eye but the long polymer molecules remain present foreverits not just the plastic bottle being kicked down the road pentzer said these materials break down into microplastics that stay in the environment we dont fully understand the impact of microplastics but theyve been shown to carry diseases heavy metals and fecal bacteriato make the degradable polymers pentzer collaborated with dr don darensbourg distinguished professor in the department of chemistry at texas a&m to use carbon dioxide and table salt to create the ink that was used in the 3d printing process after printing the structures are washed with water to dissolve the salt and solidify the structure while the outside of the structure continues to look smooth the process creates thousands of small pores which allow the chemical compounds to degrade at a quicker rateunder the right conditions the polymers weve created will actually degrade quickly pentzer said ideally theyll break apart into small molecules that are not toxic these smaller molecules wont be able to carry things like heavy metals or bacteriaas the research progresses pentzer hopes to use this process to create packaging materials so that things like boxes and tape can degrade quickly rather than sitting in a landfill for years she also sees a bright future for 3d-printed polymers in the biomedical fieldthese materials can be used for diverse biomedical applications pentzer said things like scaffolds for implants that will degrade over time so your body can heal but you wont have that piece of plastic in you foreverthrough her interdisciplinary research pentzer is seeking to solve a worldwide problem that could have implications on the environment human health biomedicine and almost every aspect of human existenceits kind of like marrying the science with the engineering pentzer said working together we can create synergy and achieve much morethis research was supported by grants from the texas a&m triads for transformation program the welch foundation and the national science foundation
an eight-person team from texas a&m university competed at the 2022 southeastern conference (sec) machining competition in knoxville tennessee the competition is sponsored by the department of defense and the industrial base analysis and sustainment (ibas) in conjunction with projectmfg through the secureamerica institute (sai) which is powered by the texas a&m engineering experiment station the competition allows university teams to display their machining abilities and problem-solving skills learn more about computer numerical control machining and promote state-of-the-art manufacturing education and training the aggie team included six undergraduates from the department of engineering technology and industrial distribution colton lee liam fortier alyssa bryd tobias gualandri david nemec and benjamin smith as well as two other engineering undergraduates nathan panak from the wm michael barnes 64 department of industrial and systems engineering and madeline sellards from the zachry department of civil and environmental engineering the aggies competed against other university teams made up of undergraduates and graduate students from auburn university mississippi state university and the university of tennessee
"for the 2022 competition the sec logo was split digitally into four quadrants and each team had to machine its section from an aluminum plate " fortier said "our objective was to manufacture the upper right quadrant of the sec logo""the event was both a collaborative effort and a competition between all the sec schools " lee said "the major components that judges looked at were speed dimensional accuracy smoothness and surface finish we practiced perfecting similar tasks on the equipment provided to us by sai and we went into the competition prepared and confident thanks to sai's support"headquartered at texas a&m-rellis sai is a private-public research collaboration converging industry government and academia to combine advancements in us manufacturing resilience its members provide world-class leadership through applied research scaled education and workforce deployment economic analysis and policy recommendations and market-driven technology transitionsai seeks to support and develop the united states manufacturing and defense industrial base from regional to national levels and strives to counter global marketplace supply chain disruptions maintain leadership in developing and deploying innovative manufacturing technologies and products and fully employ their people through comprehensive education and training in new and emerging advanced manufacturing technologies and processeson behalf of sai i congratulate the aggie group of students for an outstanding accomplishment said dr dean schneider acting director of sai we are proud to have been a part of their success and we wish the team all the best as it moves forward to the next competition"the aggies had a strong start but quickly realized their machining fixture had been improperly installed after fixing the issue they finished with the competitions best time of 74 minutes and 57 seconds " said dr darrell wallace the aggie team advisor and professor of practice in the department of engineering technology and industrial distribution "though the tennessee team's time was longer their careful use of fewer tools and their proficiency in achieving excellent surface finish gave them enough of an advantage to claim the inaugural title"
these events show the significance and excitement of modern manufacturing and allow professionals from industry and scholars from various universities to mentor and engage with their peers in similar programs the competition sparks new friendships and opportunities and introduces students to the career possibilities in manufacturing"one of the speakers who impacted me was adele ratcliff the director of the ibas " said byrd "during the competition ratcliff talked to sellards and me about how happy she was to see us competing in this space as women it made me feel like she saw herself in us women fostering the next generation of women in the industry and that inspired me""we do some incredible things as engineers however it can sometimes be challenging to connect with other engineers so to come together and do amazing things as a community is great " lee said "i am thankful for all the support from dr wallace and justin carter who helped with the logistics of our trip also i am grateful to dr tony schmitz from the university of tennessee knoxville the originator of this competition for helping make this event happen"the competition allowed us to bring people from the industry national research and academia together into one place and learn from each other said panak it was an awesome experience and the team is eager to go back next year and win it
researchers at texas a&m university are working to develop an all-electric propulsion system for single-aisle 150-200 passenger commercial aircraft such as the boeing 737 that will significantly decrease the amount of greenhouse gas emissions affecting the environment through commercial air travel it is estimated that single-aisle aircraft are responsible for nearly half of aviation-related greenhouse gas emissions in 2017 domestic air travel consumed nearly 35 quadrillion british thermal units of jet fuel accounting for about 35% of primary energy consumption and about 26% of greenhouse gas emissions in the united states dr hamid toliyat raytheon professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering received funding to continue with phase two of the $5 million us department of energys advanced research projects agency-energy (arpa-e) aviation-class synergistically cooled electric-motors with integrated drives (ascend) project the program aims to address the greenhouse gas issue by creating innovative lightweight and ultra-efficient electric motors drives and associated thermal management systems (collectively referred to as the all-electric powertrain) by using carbon-neutral liquid fuels such as ethanol or green ammonia an all-electric propulsion system would have net-zero emissions and be much quieter for passengers and those in the vicinity of airports the goal with the completion of the second and final phase of the ascend program is a fully integrated all-electric powertrain system at a power density of 12 kilowatts per kilogram or greater with an efficiency of 93% or greater these targets are beyond the capability of current advanced technologies but toliyat and his team are working to push the boundaries to make this achievement possible
during phase one of the project the design and model were developed during phase two the development and implementation stages will begin during phase one we were able to show that the full power train is manufacturable by using cutting-edge technology including 3d printing and metal additive manufacturing said dorsa talebi a doctoral student working with toliyat the project is funded by arpa-e through the texas a&m engineering experiment station led by toliyat this project includes many collaborators across the college of engineering including nine faculty and their respective graduate and doctoral students from the department of electrical and computer engineering the department of aerospace engineering the department of materials science and engineering and the j mike walker 66 department of mechanical engineering dr matthew gardner assistant professor at the university of texas at dallas and former doctoral student of toliyats is serving as co-principal investigator for this project texas a&m technology commercialization which is an office on campus connecting industry to the texas a&m university system is also involved with the project
an international team of researchers is applying artificial intelligence techniques to design energy-efficient district heat pump systems that better serve human needs and behaviors while reducing the carbon footprint of buildings the $15-million project is funded by the national science foundations (nsf) partnerships for international research and education (pire) program and led by dr zheng oneill of the j mike walker 66 department of mechanical engineering at texas a&m university the pire program funds only an estimated 10-15 projects nationwide at a time according to nsf the research is also supported by the texas a&m engineering experiment stations energy systems laboratory of which oneill is an associate director the project focuses on the technology of district heat pump systems which distribute energy to buildings through a system of heat pumps and insulated networked pipes since many people spend most of their time indoors oneill said researchers are implementing climate resilience planning as they address heating and cooling needs in a comfortable and sustainable way one of the most pressing and widely agreed-upon methods of decarbonizing heating and cooling systems is shifting to electric energy sources to replace higher-emission power sources like natural gas researchers are working to build human-interactive artificial intelligence tools to equip building managers and owners with the occupancy and behavior modeling information they need to make timely heating and cooling decisions faster and ideally to incentivize a broader adoption of building decarbonization techniques in an increasingly urbanized world there is a pressing need to address the critical challenges of climate change through the built environment because the building sector accounts for nearly 40% of the primary energy use in the us and associated greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions with about 50% of that energy dedicated to heating cooling ventilation and lighting oneill said carbon emissions reduction through building electrification and decarbonization will help human being fight again climate changes
in addition to using artificial intelligence techniques the project includes pilot sites in denmark sweden and the us the pilot sites were specifically designed through a community-informed approach to ensure resilience efficiency and socially justified operation collaborators on this project include dr jin wen at drexel university drs teresa wu and selcuk candan from arizona state university and dr christina rosan from temple university the international partner institutions include kth royal institute of technology and blekinge institute of technology in sweden and aalborg university in denmark this project will bring an interdisciplinary and international team of engineers data scientists economists social and behavioral scientists to reduce carbon footprint improve climate resilience and energy equity oneill said a climate change-driven and community-engaged approach will be used to guide the integration of research education outreach broadening participation and knowledge transfer which can be used in other applications the us-based researchers will work closely with their european counterparts from sweden and denmark where district heat pumps have been more widely adopted and implemented in comparison to the us to collaborate and facilitate an exchange of data in the hopes of promoting exploring and refining sustainable methodologies of using district heat pump systems to better decarbonize buildings in addition to the research the project will also provide opportunities to provide students with two cross-institutional education programs the summer international graduate bootcamp and exchange program and the smart built environment certification program and train a diverse and convergent workforce well-equipped to address the multifaceted global climate change challenges
corrosion is a significant issue causing safety issues for critical infrastructure including the oil and gas industry according to nace international the global economic cost of corrosion is estimated to be $25 trillion the devastating impact of corrosion not only affects the environment and economy but also significantly impacts the us military dr arum han from the department of electrical and computer engineering is leading a team of researchers from texas a&m university tufts university and the university of oklahoma on a project focused on combating microbiologically induced corrosion especially corrosion affecting the united states air force fuel tanks the project titled "microbes achieve resistance to microorganism-influenced rust (μarmor): an integrated platform for defeating corrosion " recently received an $1161 million grant from the department of defense's defense advanced research projects agency (darpa) corrosion has been a longstanding issue that many have tried to resolve through various mitigation and coating strategies yet it remains unsolved further mitigating microbiologically induced corrosion which is specifically caused by microorganisms in nature is no exception to this microorganisms exist everywhere in soil water air animals plants and even inside of the human body because of this ubiquitous nature along with the fact that so many different microbes exist in these environments microbiologically induced corrosion is exceptionally difficult to prevent the goal of the μarmor project is to reduce the negative effects of this type of corrosion by developing a new anti-corrosion coating material that is a biofilm composed of microorganisms by modifying the natural corrosion-associated microbial biofilms found in corrosion sites such as fuel tanks to be non-corrosive the living microbial coating will have the innate ability to survive in the natural environment while also maintaining resistance to invasion by corrosion-associated microorganisms in this strategy the developed corrosion-resistant biofilm will not be genetically modified but rather will be a modified biofilm composed of existing microorganisms from this environment making this strategy much more acceptable in broad ranges of applications during the first phase of this multidisciplinary project the research team will develop anti-corrosion technology during the second phase they will demonstrate that the technology works in a realistic environment a feat not easily accomplished with an opponent as transformative and adaptive as microorganisms
a combination of highly innovative technologies will enable this strategy to begin the researchers will conduct computational modeling of how the corrosion-causing biofilms as well as the developed corrosion-resistant biofilms will behave under a variety of different conditions in parallel a large number of microfluidic testbeds that will provide a realistic simulated environment while allowing the biofilm behaviors to be monitored with high accuracy over time will be developed and utilized to generate the necessary data for the computational models to be highly predictive "our microfluidic testbeds each of which will include an array of sensors that can monitor both corrosion and microbial behaviors can be utilized to conduct a large number of tests in a short period of time greatly accelerating the development of the anti-corrosion strategy " said han texas instruments professor the project is funded by darpa through the texas a&m engineering experiment station han has pioneered the area of high-throughput microfluidics for microbiology applications and will use his expertise to combat these corrosion issues along with a large team of collaborators contributing to different aspects of this technology development and demonstration dr arul jayaraman professor in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering and executive associate dean of the texas a&m college of engineering will lead efforts in studying microbial corrosion genomics and metabolomics dr paul de figueiredo professor at the texas a&m school of medicine will lead the efforts in bacteriology han jayaraman and de figueiredo have collaborated closely for many years and conceived this transformative idea together joining the team are dr xiaoning qian electrical and computer engineering professor who will lead efforts for the computational-scale modeling required for this project; dr jason gill associate professor from the texas a&m department of animal science and the center for phage technology (cpt); and dr mei liu program director of the cpt dr kyongbum lee professor of chemical and biological engineering and dean of engineering at tufts university and dr jizhong zhou director of the institute for environmental genomics at the university of oklahoma are also part of the team