houck2040/tees huggingface dataset:
while an undergraduate and graduate student at texas a&m university sekaran was introduced to hydrodynamic instabilities hydrodynamic instabilities – the study of fluids in motion and how their flow can be disrupted – look at how such instabilities can cause large-scale dynamic changes in systems (such as weather patterns) applying these concepts to ocean engineering early into her appointment in the department sekaran discovered that distinct flow patterns and instabilities could be simulated in the sea-surface microlayer opening a door for fundamental processes to be discoveredfocusing on the heat and mass transfer across the sea-surface microlayer sekaran and amini are looking to do just that: discover fundamental processes and understanding of the microlayer and how it impacts weather prediction and other systemsthe ocean engineering department is an exciting place to work in today sekaran said the experienced faculty is always willing to guide younger ones and we are all enthusiastic about the department growing in new directions ive also had the opportunity to work on some unique department initiatives such as the natural marine processes in engineering design program and am certain we will have an unparalleled group of aggie ocean engineers graduating soon
weve all shared the frustration software updates that are intended to make our applications run faster inadvertently end up doing just the opposite these bugs dubbed in the computer science field as performance regressions are time-consuming to fix since locating software errors normally requires substantial human intervention to overcome this obstacle researchers at texas a&m university in collaboration with computer scientists at intel labs have now developed a complete automated way of identifying the source of errors caused by software updates their algorithm based on a specialized form of machine learning called deep learning is not only turnkey but also quick finding performance bugs in a matter of a few hours instead of days updating software can sometimes turn on you when errors creep in and cause slowdowns this problem is even more exaggerated for companies that use large-scale software systems that are continuously evolving said dr abdullah muzahid assistant professor in the department of computer science and engineering we have designed a convenient tool for diagnosing performance regressions that is compatible with a whole range of software and programming languages expanding its usefulness tremendously the researchers described their findings in the 32nd edition of advances in neural information processing systems from the proceedings of the neural information processing systems conference in december to pinpoint the source of errors within a software debuggers often check the status of performance counters within the central processing unit these counters are lines of code that monitor how the program is being executed on the computers hardware in the memory for example so when the software runs counters keep track of the number of times it accesses certain memory locations the time it stays there and when it exits among other things hence when the softwares behavior goes awry counters are again used for diagnostics performance counters give an idea of the execution health of the program said muzahid so if some program is not running as it is supposed to these counters will usually have the telltale sign of anomalous behavior however newer desktops and servers have hundreds of performance counters making it virtually impossible to keep track of all of their statuses manually and then look for aberrant patterns that are indicative of a performance error that is where muzahids machine learning comes in
by using deep learning the researchers were able to monitor data coming from a large number of the counters simultaneously by reducing the size of the data which is similar to compressing a high-resolution image to a fraction of its original size by changing its format in the lower dimensional data their algorithm could then look for patterns that deviate from normal when their algorithm was ready the researchers tested if it could find and diagnose a performance bug in a commercially available data management software used by companies to keep track of their numbers and figures first they trained their algorithm to recognize normal counter data by running an older glitch-free version of the data management software next they ran their algorithm on an updated version of the software with the performance regression they found that their algorithm located and diagnosed the bug within a few hours muzahid said this type of analysis could take a considerable amount of time if done manually in addition to diagnosing performance regressions in software muzahid noted that their deep learning algorithm has potential uses in other areas of research as well such as developing the technology needed for autonomous driving the basic idea is once again the same that is being able to detect an anomalous pattern said muzahid self-driving cars must be able to detect whether a car or a human is in front of it and then act accordingly so its again a form of anomaly detection and the good news is that is what our algorithm is already designed to do other contributors to the research include dr mejbah alam dr justin gottschlich dr nesime tatbul dr javier turek and dr timothy mattson from intel labs this research is partly funded by the national science foundation career grant and intel
baby diapers contact lenses and gelatin dessert while seemingly unrelated these items have one thing in common theyre made of highly absorbent substances called hydrogels that have versatile applications recently a type of biodegradable hydrogel dubbed microporous annealed particle (map) hydrogel has gained much attention for its potential to deliver stem cells for body tissue repair but it is currently unclear how these jelly-like materials affect the growth of their precious cellular cargo thereby limiting its use in regenerative medicine in a new study published in the november issue of acta biomaterialia researchers at texas a&m university have shown that map hydrogels programmed to biodegrade at an optimum pace create a fertile environment for bone stem cells to thrive and proliferate vigorously they found the space created by the withering of map hydrogels creates room for the stem cells to grow spread and form intricate cellular networks our research now shows that stem cells flourish on degrading map hydrogels; they also remodel their local environment to better suit their needs said dr daniel alge assistant professor in the department of biomedical engineering these results have important implications for developing map hydrogel-based delivery systems particularly for regenerative medicine where we want to deliver cells that will replace damaged tissues with new and healthy ones map hydrogels are a newer breed of injectable hydrogels these soft materials are interconnected chains of extremely small beads made of polyethylene glycol a synthetic polymer although the microbeads cannot themselves cling to cells they can be engineered to present cell-binding proteins that can then attach to receptor molecules on the stem cells surface
once fastened onto the microbeads the stem cells use the space between the spheres to grow and transform into specialized cells like bone or skin cells and so when there is an injury map hydrogels can be used to deliver these new cells to help tissues regenerate however the health and behavior of stem cells within the map hydrogel environment has never been fully studied map hydrogels have superior mechanical and biocompatible properties so in principle they are a great platform to grow and maintain stem cells said alge but people in the field really dont have a good understanding of how stem cells behave in these materials to address this question the researchers studied the growth spread and function of bone stem cells in map hydrogels alge and his team used three samples of map hydrogels that differed only in the speed at which they degraded that is either slow fast or not at all first for the stem cells to attach onto the map hydrogels the researchers decorated the map hydrogels with a type of cell-binding protein they then tracked the stem cells as they grew using a high-resolution fluorescent microscope the researchers also repeated the same experiment using another cell-binding protein to investigate if cell-binding proteins also affected stem cell development within the hydrogels
to their surprise alges team found that for both types of cell-binding proteins the map hydrogels that degraded the fastest had the largest population of stem cells furthermore the cells were changing the shape of the map hydrogel as they spread and claimed more territory in the intact map hydrogel we could still see the spherical microbeads and the material was quite undamaged said alge by contrast the cells were making ridges and grooves in the degrading map hydrogels dynamically remodeling their environment the researchers also found that as the stem cells grew the quantity of bone proteins produced by the growing stem cells depended on which cell-binding protein was initially used in the map hydrogel alge noted that the insight gained through their study will greatly inform further research and development in map hydrogels for stem-cell therapies although map hydrogel degradability profoundly affects the growth of the stem cells we found that the interplay between the cell-binding proteins and the degradation is also important he said as we as a field make strides toward developing new map hydrogels for tissue engineering we must look at the effects of both degradability and cell-binding proteins to best utilize these materials for regenerative medicine other contributors to the research include dr shangjing xin from the department of biomedical engineering at texas a&m and dr carl a gregory from the institute for regenerative medicine at the texas a&m health science center this research was supported by funds from the national institute of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases of the national institutes of health
reaching for something on the top shelf at the grocery store or brushing one's teeth before bed are tasks many people can do without much thought but performing these same tasks as an upper limb amputee using a prosthetic device can require a lot more mental effort machine learning algorithms and computational models can provide insight into the mental demand placed on individuals using prosthetics dr maryam zahabi and her team are using these models to improve the current interface in prosthetic devices by studying prosthetics that use an electromyography-based human-machine interface
electromyography (emg) is a technique that records the electrical activity in muscles this electrical activity generates signals that trigger the interface which translates them into a unique pattern of commands these commands allow users to move their prosthetic devices there are over 100 000 people with upper limb amputations in the united states zahabi said currently there is very little guidance on which features in emg-based human-machine interfaces are helpful in reducing the cognitive load of patients while performing different tasks testing different interface prototypes through virtual reality and driving simulations will allow researchers to provide guidance to engineers creating these interfaces this will lead to better prosthetics for amputees and other technological advances using emg-based assistive human-machine interfaces this research is a collaboration between texas a&m north carolina state university and the university of florida and is supported by the national science foundation
the department of industrial and systems engineering at texas a&m university installed a new driving simulator to use in research pertaining to driving autonomous vehicles and innovative research like zahabis it is a one-of-a-kind feature on campus that can be driven manually or autonomously with a 270-degree field of vision due to the many different types of research that might require a driving simulator interdisciplinary teamwork is almost inherent in any project that incorporates this technology
with a touch of inspiration from macgyver texas a&m university researchers have developed a way to make medical protective gear from readily available materials to construct desperately needed personal protection masks for medical personnel who have seen a depletion of resources as the number of covid-19 cases increases dr john criscione a texas a&m professor in the department of biomedical engineering and a johns hopkins-educated medical doctor said he and his colleagues are investigating a low-technology solution to a growing problem and have figured out a way to build medical masks with materials such as air-conditioning filters sheer curtains staples and stretchable cords if the gap between supply and demand continues to worsen and particularly our emergency medical colleagues are forced to use do-it-yourself masks we want them to have technical guidance as they make their choices of materials and construction criscione said we see this as our selfless service responsibility to the general public as aggies and we are here to help
the project began after emergency room physicians asked criscione to explore potential solutions in case masks became unavailable the prototype never was intended to join the supply chain of approved personal protective equipment or personal protective equipment criscione said rather the aggie masks should be reserved for worst-case scenarios where overwhelmed hospitals have no protective masks to use for life-saving procedures
criscione and his team will be quantitatively testing do-it-yourself masks in the coming days and will continue their efforts to create a mask that has features similar to the n95 respirator which is capable of filtering 95% of airborne particles including viruses (surgical masks cannot block as much) another group at texas a&ms college of engineering is working on options to produce similar personal protective masks using 3d printers
objects around us from everyday utensils to touch screens are made of a blend of ingredients that can include a variety of metals and nonmetals although these synthetic materials have been engineered for strength and durability with time they can gradually weaken and in extreme cases crack particularly if subjected to constant physical stress levi mcclenny a doctoral candidate in the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m university and a recipient of the data-enabled discovery and design of energy materials (d3em) fellowship is training artificial intelligence to accurately predict which man-made materials are more likely to develop cracks or break over time having an automated way to determine if and when materials will break is one of mcclennys doctoral goals when his computer algorithm is fully developed mcclenny's software will identify applications in designing more sophisticated smart vehicles these futuristic automobiles he says will be able to work out their overall states of deterioration in real-time by constantly monitoring the atomic structure and composition of their different vehicular components
mcclenny who incidentally is also a blackhawk pilot in the united states army reserves explained that his research has important uses within the military like all vehicles those used by the army such as tanks and planes are also composed of many parts each made up of a different mix of elements consequently different components are at different stages of deterioration a vehicle-installed software that can predict when breakages will occur can alert drivers or pilots to take preemptive steps to avoid future damage by gaining a deeper knowledge of which materials are more prone to breakage and why mcclenny hopes eventually to design new materials whose microscopic properties have been slightly tweaked to have desirable qualities like higher strength better electrical conductivity and superior flexibility
the texas a&m university systems george h w bush combat development complex (bcdc) under construction at the rellis campus is the result of a partnership with the army futures command the bcdc will bring together academic researchers the military and the private sector for collaboration demonstrations and high-tech testing of various national security initiatives
with the millions of bacteria that naturally exit in the environment and the many more that can be engineered for biological warfare the need to recognize whether a bacterium is potentially harmful is ever-increasing to rapidly identify different bacteria that exist in a given sample dr arum han professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m university is developing a microfluidic device a type of microchip that can classify microorganisms as safe or unsafe within a span of minutes which could otherwise take days or even longer with current methods for this ambitious project han and his collaborators at the texas a&m college of medicine have received a $15 million defense advanced research projects agency grant to determine the virulence of bacteria hans device will screen the microbes for five-10 criteria that include toxin production skin penetrability and resistance to antibiotics furthermore his device is small and portable making it handy for on-site measurements of bacteria present in soil or water thinking ahead han is also partnering with dr arun jayaraman the ray b nesbitt professor of chemical engineering at texas a&m to find ways to grow bacteria in a laboratory particularly for those microbes that are novel or too few in number in a sample in this way information about these unfamiliar bacteria can be incorporated into the microfluidic technology so that the device can rapidly identify these bacterial strains if encountered again han notes that his tiny bacteria identification system will benefit both military personnel who often find themselves in unknown foreign environments and the general population who are exposed to a myriad of existing and emerging infectious diseases
while han develops the microchip dr james samuel (pi) and dr paul de figueiredo (co-pi) from the department of microbial pathogenesis and immunology in the texas a&m college of medicine will look at the microbial pathogens to determine what aspects of their harmfulness to humans or animals can be tested rapidly using about five to 10 different criteria
electrical power outages commonly are caused by falling trees that tear down lines or failures of devices such as clamps switches conductors and connectors the devices can deteriorate over weeks or months impacting electrical currents in small ways before actual failures perhaps triggered by adverse weather conditions like high winds utilities representatives have long recognized that something new is needed given the nations aging infrastructure distribution fault anticipation (dfa) a new technology developed at texas a&m university by a research team led by dr b don russell and dr carl benner answers this need dfa can help electric utilities keep the lights on and prevent horrific wildfires from spreading across the globe this one-of-a-kind hardware and software system can diagnose problems on utility lines before outages darken neighborhoods or power failures spark wildfires
utility systems today operate like my 1950s chevy russell said they have some fuses and breakers and things but they really dont have anything diagnostic they dont have that computer under the hood telling them whats about to go wrong dfa interprets variations in electrical currents on utility circuits caused by deteriorating equipment it continuously monitors currents and applies its algorithms to detect and report abnormalities for investigation and repair before they cause outages or fires electric power companies have nothing else like it not only does dfa improve reliability and help prevent fires it could potentially give california utilities a tool to limit preemptive power outages such as those endured by millions of californians last fall the utilities turned off the lights based only on dry conditions and weather forecasts utilities needed a crystal ball something telling them which circuit is going to start a fire tomorrow because it is already unhealthy said russell who has also testified before the us senate energy and natural resources committee to explain this technologys advantages dfa is that crystal ball
engineers at texas a&m developed dfa over 20 years of research and testing at more than a dozen utilities across the nation including texas utilities such as pedernales electric cooperative mid-south synergy and bluebonnet electric cooperative dfa is now being tested by two of californias biggest utilities pacific gas & electric and southern california edison where utilities have been linked to some of the most destructive wildfires ever texas a&m researchers also are working on tests with utilities in new zealand the united kingdom and australia
major hospitals in the houston area reached out to the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) and texas a&m university to determine if researchers and staff could use their rapid manufacturing expertise to assist with the shortage of medical devices and personal protective equipment (ppe) as the nation responds to the unprecedented emergency that is the covid-19 pandemic texas a&m engineering has 21 000 students but now that theyre not on campus weve converted some of our spaces like the susu and mark a fischer 72 engineering design center into manufacturing facilities said dr yossef elabd associate dean for research and chemical engineering professor elabd who is leading texas a&ms covid-19 rapid response team added we now have a system in place to produce face shields and diffusers for metered dose inhalers and were continually producing ppe every day and delivering to hospitals
as an america makes satellite center tees boasts one of the largest concentrations of core manufacturing subject matter experts in the country the knowledge base is multidisciplinary comprised of representatives from various colleges within texas a&m and the texas a&m university system we have advanced manufacturing and additive manufacturing capabilities to support us in our learning objectives and to help us in productivity and in reducing costs said rob gorham executive director of manufacturing initiatives at tees gorham elaborated that it is tees and texas a&ms unique approach placing service above self that sets them apart from their peers and enables them to rapidly deploy solutions across the state and nation in order to solve some of the worlds hardest problems
manufacturing anything requires diversity in approach gorham continued we have to focus not just on making a functional solution but a functional solution that works and is safe to use by the many people depending on our answers texas a&m as a tier one university has all of that in-house ordinarily a university campus where the tees headquarters is located would not be manufacturing medical devices and delivering them directly to hospitals but these unusual times have called for a new way of doing things internal staff and legal teams are executing agreements in a matter of hours or daysinstead of monthsin order to meet urgent demands from medical professionals this situation highlighted a lot of discussions that we probably were not having between physicians at hospitals and a lot of engineers at texas a&m said elabd once the nation overcomes covid-19 i look forward to new directions for research informed by our recently developed working relationship with texas hospitals
tees has partnered with america makes the national additive manufacturing innovation institute to establish an america makes satellite center on the campus of texas a&m in college station america makes is the countrys leading collaborative partner in additive manufacturing and 3d-printing technology research commercialization and education partnering with america makes positions tees to become a national leader in advanced manufacturing and also facilitates tees relationship with the department of defense department of energy and department of commerce three federal entities that are critical to aiding in the security of americas manufacturing ecosystem
the texas a&m new ventures competition (tnvc) is hosting its annual competition completely online this year to protect competitors judges and staff during the covid-19 pandemic sixteen semifinalists and eight alternates for the 2020 competition will compete may 14 for hundreds of thousands in startup funds during online rounds of pitch competitions and judging these are unprecedented times for the nation and its important for us to not only focus on the health and safety of our participants and judges but also to support the economic health of texas during this time said chris scotti entrepreneur-in-residence for the texas a&m engineering experiment station and chair of the competition these startups are not only providing the opportunity to support the local and state economies but their ideas have the potential to improve the health and well-being of our citizens and the environment it was important to us and to them to hold this years event since most of the pre-event judging takes place virtually anyway it was a logical progression to host all of it online scotti said aimed at promoting the commercialization of emerging technology to the marketplace tnvc recognizes engineering- and science-based technology companies with high-growth potential and provides seed funding to help them take their ideas to market this years competitors come from a wide spectrum of fields including health care it/software digital health transportation and clean energy technology these semifinalists have undergone a rigorous screening due diligence and a coaching process that identified them as top prospects from a pool of 87 applicants the awards will allow the deep technology startups that receive them to create economic impact and job growth see the complete list of semifinalists and alternates as well as their home cities at the tnvc website
the texas a&m engineering experiment station and the texas a&m university system along with a growing number of sponsors are working with the entrepreneurial ecosystem throughout the state to ensure todays innovative ideas become a reality through the texas a&m new ventures competition
as texas a&m engineering finds innovative ways to help the community deal with the covid-19 pandemic the team at the susu and mark a fischer '72 engineering design center (fedc) in the zachry engineering education complex is working around the clock to make those solutions a reality the fedcs skeleton crew of essential research members kicked off a project last week to provide baylor college of medicine in houston with 3 000 face shields to help protect its medical workers while they treat sick patients starting with a face shield design made publicly available by the georgia institute of technology the fedc team modified the design to work with the materials they had available the main challenge for completing the face shield designessentially a resizable headband with a curved plastic sheet covering the users full facewas in finding a way to use a thicker plastic than is typically utilized
dr david staack director of engineering laboratory instruction said due to supply shortages staff technicians had to find a way to make the design work with the materials they had on-handincluding supplies he had available in his research lab as well as those able to be sourced from the college of architecture typically during this time of year the design center would be operating at full capacity helping students complete their senior design projects with all classes going online in march due to covid-19 jim wilson general manager of the fedc said he and his team are glad to have found another way to be of service during these trying times we miss the students but what were doing right now we know is helping a lot of people wilson said the covid-19 projects are our top priority right now
the fedc team also includes technical laboratory coordinators adam farmer and todd williams as well as nathan panak cody ricther brey caraway richard mccalley iran ramirez and tobias gualandri you see all kinds of stuff online and on tv of people trying to help farmer said for us to be able to do something and know that what were doing is going to people who are doing more good than we are to help them is a happy feeling the fedc staffs collective effort to bring these impactful projects to fruition is part of a wider texas a&m community coming togetherfrom loading dock attendants to members of the legal teamto make sure these critical pieces of equipment make it to those in need
the susu and mark a fischer '72 engineering design center is an exclusive academic makerspace and design center that focuses on learning designing and building through partnerships with industry and non-profit sponsors the center is an environment where concepts become solutions to real-world problems and student teams come together to build new prototypes acquire new skills and develop new relationships it is supported with differential tuition funds and it is open to engineering undergraduate students
in light of the emergence and spread of covid-19 researchers across many disciplines are using their expertise to address these and future pandemics and texas a&m university urban resilience lab researchers are joining the global effortdr ali mostafavi assistant professor in the zachry department of civil and environmental engineering recently received a grant from the national science foundation (nsf) to better understand predict and effectively respond to the risk of infectious disease outbreaks in urban areasmy urban resilience lab has been investigating the robustness and resilience of urban systems in the face of different disruptions such as floods earthquakes and wildfires urban resilience to pandemics is a relatively under-studied dimension for us and other researchers in the field " mostafavi said "we are honored to receive this award from the nsf to advance the fundamental understanding and methods in this area in this project we will harness urban-scale big data and create novel artificial intelligence (ai) and data-driven network science models to help better monitor and predict hidden pandemic spread riskscovid-19 outbreaks have had dire societal and economic impacts across the globe and its spread has become a major societal threat in the united states the majority of epidemic spread models however do not adequately consider the tremendous uncertainty associated with human response behaviors (both populations and individual actors) and anxiety in urban system supply chains during an epidemic outbreakmostafavi and his team will analyze the data through spatial modeling network analysis and machine learning techniques to reveal hidden pandemic spread risks in urban areas the outcomes will suggest new ways for better prediction of pandemics and offer new insights on ways to conduct urban-scale surveillance of epidemic spread risks the findings will inform strategies and possible data-driven tools and methods to prevent help contain and mitigate the effects of future epidemics and pandemics
the urban resilience networks and informatics lab focuses on creating transformative solutions for addressing the grand challenges pertaining to the nexus of humans disasters and infrastructure systems our urban resilience lab at texas a&m is uniquely positioned to undertake this work in addition to our expertise in ai and complex urban networks we also have close collaboration with multiple local and state agencies and technology companies mostafavi said in the initial stage our goal is to disseminate data and findings to help agencies contain the pandemic and its impacts in the next stage we will make our computational data-centric models available as open-source tools to help predict and mitigate future epidemic outbreaks more proactively and effectively
the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) edge program is known for providing professional education reflective of the ever-changing needs of the world and there has never been a more ever-changing time than now to meet the needs of those searching for professional education opportunities tees edge has several fully online options available we know there are some who are looking for professional education while working from home said dr cindy lawley assistant vice chancellor for academic and outreach programs we also anticipate that as organizations recover from the pandemics economic impact over the next several months their line items for business travel may also be impacted when taking any of our online offerings participants will get the same high-quality experience they have come to expect from texas a&m engineering while eliminating the costs associated with traveling some online offerings are independent and self-paced while others are instructor-led in real-time courses specifically for the pharmaceutical and nuclear industries are available now registration is also open for lean six sigma yellow belt short courses and collegiate test preparation more courses are currently under development for an online launch including cyber-leader security and cyber-leader network enterprise basics project controls and project management all fully online offerings are available on the tees edge website
texas a&m university through its unique engineering medicine (enmed) partnership with houston methodist hospital is stepping up to help the health care system keep up with the demand for medical supplies brought on by the increasing number of confirmed and suspected covid-19 cases a team led by dr michael r moreno has already delivered 200 3d-printed diffusers for metered dose inhalers (mdi) to the houston hospital and stands ready to produce more if needed one of the most powerful aspects of the project is that it came from direct communication with doctors who at the forefront of this crisis are identifying emerging unanticipated needs
the spacer or diffuser that we created will allow the doctors to use metered dose inhalers to treat diagnosed and suspected covid-19 patients who are not yet in need of ventilator therapy without using nebulizers that may aerosolize the virus moreno said and this is important because if this early stage intervention is effective then it is possible that these patients may recover before reaching that critical point where ventilator therapy is required inhalers are the preferred method of delivery for bronchodilator drugs with confirmed and potential covid-19 patients the inhaler devices require precise timing of inhalation for proper delivery to the lungs which is something moreno said even experienced users like himself can find challenging with the help of a diffuser patients are better able to get more of the medication into their lungs
these spacers work like diffusers and allow the patient more time to draw the entire dose of medication into their lungs moreno said and when you're suffering from respiratory illness this may be very important dan metzen system director of pharmacy services at houston methodist said diffusers are currently in short supply due to the increased use of inhalers for both confirmed and suspected covid-19 patients leaving the hospital itself with a limited supply
metzen said nebulizers could also be used to administer the medication but metered dose inhalers are preferred due to a concern that nebulizers used by patients with covid-19 in the hospital could spread the virus although the concept being utilized for the diffusers is not new this is among the first times it has been locally 3d printed and delivered on this scale anticipating that this shortage is likely not unique to houston methodist moreno and his team are making the stereolithography (stl) file for the 3d-printable design publicly available at no cost additionally the team has designed an alternate smaller 3d-printable device designed for areas that may be more resource limited this device is essentially an inhaler interface that allows one to use a common plastic water bottle as the diffuser chamber
houston methodist has a partnership with the texas a&m college of medicine and college of engineering through the enmed program an integrated educational and research medical program with a focus on innovation dr roderic pettigrew executive dean of enmed said this rapid response by moreno and his team to develop a use-inspired solution in the 3d printed diffuser serves as a perfect example of the programs concept in action engineers are great at solving problems that benefit society and the health care delivery system right now is very much in need of help with problem solving as we struggle with this pandemic and all of its associated challenges pettigrew said enmed has risen to the occasion right here in houston to serve people in need were working with our colleagues at houston methodist hospital in order to devise practical solutions to real problems on the front lines of treating covid-19 patients
today the texas a&m university system announced the name of its landmark five-acre campus in houston texas at the prominent intersection of holcombe blvd and main st near the texas medical center setting a new standard for collaboration in engineering medicine research and education is the first all-new mixed-use campus for the texas a&m system in houston: texas a&m innovation plaza the texas a&m system initiated the new campus by acquiring and renovating an 18-story office building at 1020 holcombe to be the home for enmed a unique two-degree program that provides students the chance to earn a masters degree in engineering from texas a&m university and a medical degree from the texas a&m college of medicine the enmed building will open later this year complementing the academic research discovery and innovation missions of the enmed program texas a&m innovation plaza will provide a welcoming secure and vibrant experience to the campus population and visitors alike with generous green spaces and lifestyle amenities not commonly found in the texas medical center area with the groundbreaking scheduled in late 2020 the a&m systems public-private partnership (p3) developer is bringing an additional investment of $401 million to fulfill unmet needs with two complementary towers totaling an additional 19 million square feet enmed is just the first example of innovation that the texas a&m system intends to bring to the texas a&m innovation plaza said chancellor john sharp we are excited to have such a visible location in the texas medical center scheduled to be delivered in june 2022 is a 19-story 714-bed student housing tower that will overlook a scenic plaza flanked by a large garage with retail and dining as well as convenient affordable parking for 2 800 vehicles texas a&m medical students and prairie view a&m university nursing students will be given priority for housing but students from other institutions could fill open slots if available scheduled to be delivered in january 2024 is a 17-story 515 000-square-foot integrated medical building that will be built atop the 13-story parking structure with generous efficient floorplates and robust building technologies this integrated medical building will be ideally suited for medical clinical biomedical tech and office use accessible via main st holcombe blvd and fannin st texas a&m innovation plaza is also adjacent to the metro texas medical center station providing convenient connectivity via bus and light rail service to the texas medical center museum district and downtown houston the developer for the p3 projects is medistar corporation american triple i partners founded by texas a&m alum henry cisneros is part of the financing team
innovation was on full display this week at the sixth annual texas a&m new ventures competition (tnvc) hosted by the texas a&m engineering experiment station (tees) due to safety concerns amid the covid-19 pandemic organizers shifted the event to a virtual platform dr albert huangs company allotrope medical took home the top $50 000 prize for the stimsite technology which is a smooth muscle stimulation technology that allows surgeons to rapidly and safely identify critical tissue structures like the ureter during surgery winning this years tnvc competition is truly the highlight of 2020 for us not only will the award allow us to continue our rapid advancements and commercialization but it has increased our visibility within the startup ecosystem in texas and beyond huang said certainly this years competition was different by necessity but thanks to the hard work of tnvc the connections interactivity and overall flow of the event over the course of two days were seamless during these uncertain times this competition was one of the rare moments where the startup community can join together from afar to support one another and see the amazing things we are all doing even though many of us are working from home innovation doesnt stop we just all have to adapt he said despite having to move everything pretty quickly over to a fully online format this year we had a tremendous group of startups competing it was important to us and to them to hold this years event said chris scotti entrepreneur-in-residence for tees and chair of the competition these startups are not only providing the opportunity to support the local and state economies but their ideas have the potential to improve the health and well-being of our citizens and the environment the prize pool for this years competition was nearly $400 000 in cash and in-kind services the full list of winners includes: 1st – $50 000 – allotrope medical 2nd – $35 000 – sensytec 3rd – $25 000 – polyvascular 4th – $15 000 – bezoar laboratories llc 5th – $10 000 – bondwell technologies 6th – $5 000 – intelligent nanofiber elevator pitch competition: 1st - $5 000 – veradermics 2nd - $4 000 – novothelium 3rd - $3 000 – allosense inc 4th - $2 000 – feel the color 5th - $1 000 – hipr innovation inc additional prizes: southwest pediatric device prize – hipr and veradermics aggie angel network investment prize – allotrope medical innovators legal – endpoint security inc and polyvascular paragon innovations prize – allosense inc thomas | horstemeyer ip legal services – sensytec and xebec inc amerra visualization services prize – em device lab inc schwegman lundberg and woessner ip legal services prize – texpower hollinden marketing and strategists services prize – novothelium and polyvascular biotex investment prize – em device lab inc axle-box services prize – bezoar laboratories llc and sensytec brazos valley economic development corporation launch prize – bezoar laboratories llc
simple toys to custom prosthetic parts are made from plastic which is also a popular 3d printing material however these printed parts are mechanically weak a flaw caused by the imperfect bonding between the individual printed layers that make up 3d-printed parts researchers at texas a&m university in collaboration with scientists from essentium inc have now developed the technology needed to overcome 3d printings weak spot by integrating plasma science and carbon nanotube technology into standard 3d printing the researchers welded adjacent printed layers more effectively increasing the overall reliability of the final part finding a way to remedy the inadequate bonding between printed layers has been an ongoing quest in the 3d-printing field said dr micah green associate professor in the artie mcferrin department of chemical engineering we have now developed a sophisticated technology that can bolster welding between these layers all while printing the 3d part a full description of their findings is described in the february issue of the journal nano letters plastics are commonly used for extrusion 3d printing known technically as fused-deposition modeling in this technique molten plastic is squeezed out of a nozzle that prints parts layer by layer as the printed layers cool they fuse to one another to create the final 3d part however studies show that these layers join imperfectly; printed parts are weaker than identical parts made by injection molding where melted plastics simply assume the shape of a preset mold upon cooling to join these interfaces more thoroughly additional heating is required but heating printed parts using something akin to an oven has a major drawback if you put something in an oven it's going to heat everything so a 3d-printed part can warp and melt losing its shape green said what we really needed was some way to heat only the interfaces between printed layers and not the whole part to promote inter-layer bonding the team turned to carbon nanotubes since these carbon particles heat in response to electrical currents the researchers coated the surface of each printed layer with these nanomaterials similar to the heating effect of microwaves on food the team found that these carbon nanotube coatings can be heated using electric currents allowing the printed layers to bond together when the researchers tested the strength of 3d-printed parts using their new technology they found that their strength was comparable to injection-molded parts this work is supported by funds from the national science foundation
the primary author of this research is dr c brandon sweeney a former texas a&m materials science and engineering student in greens laboratory he is the head of research and development and co-founder at essentium inc the research team also collaborated with dr david staack associate professor in the j mike walker ‘66 department of mechanical engineering to generate a beam of charged air particles or plasma that could carry an electrical charge to the surface of 3d printed parts to allow electric currents to pass through printed parts heating the nanotubes and welding the layers together
spoiling foods souring wine and worsening wounds have a common culprit a process called oxidation although the ill effects of these chemical reactions can be curtailed by the action of antioxidants creating a sturdy platform capable of providing prolonged antioxidant activity is an ongoing challenge researchers at texas a&m university might have solved this problem with their new antioxidant mats made from an intertwined network of ultra-fine strands of a polymer and an antioxidant found in red wine the researchers said these mats are strong stable and capable of delivering antioxidant activity for prolonged periods of time our innovation is that we have fine-tuned the steps needed to spin defect-free ultra-microscopic fibers for making high-performing antioxidant mats said adwait gaikwad a graduate student in dr svetlana sukhishvilis laboratory in the college of engineering each fiber is intermolecularly linked to several antioxidant molecules and so the final mat which is made of millions and millions of such fibers has enhanced antioxidant functionality a description of their study is in the february issue of the journal acs applied materials & interfaces although oxidation is a common natural phenomenon left unchecked this chemical reaction can be detrimental for example in alcoholic beverages too much oxidation leads to the formation of acetaldehyde from alcohol altering the drinks taste color and aroma in the body oxidative stress causes a buildup of free radicals that can harm healthy cells and body tissue