Engineers and scientists at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ will display their most engaging research and projects Friday and Saturday, April 25-26, during the annual Engineering Discovery Days, which is free and open to the public.


Engineers and scientists at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ will display their most engaging research and projects Friday and Saturday, April 25-26, during the annual Engineering Discovery Days, which is free and open to the public.

The Micro Phone Lens, developed by Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ mechanical engineering alumnus Thomas Larson (’13), can turn any smartphone or tablet computer into a handheld microscope.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ engineers have developed software that automatically generates images of a young child’s face as it ages through a lifetime. The technique is the first fully automated approach for aging babies to adults that works with variable lighting, expressions and poses.

A team of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ scientists and engineers working at the Applied Physics Laboratory is creating a control system for underwater remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs. Researchers will demonstrate the technology at the SmartAmerica Challenge in Washington, D.C. in June.

A national team jointly led by a Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ geotechnical engineer and an engineering geologist will investigate what caused the March 22 mudslide in Snohomish County and what effects the disaster had on the nearby residential communities.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ researchers have found that misinformation spread widely on Twitter after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing despite efforts by users to correct rumors that were inaccurate.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ scientists have built the thinnest-known LED that can be used as a source of light energy in electronics. The LED is based off of two-dimensional, flexible semiconductors, making it possible to stack or use in much smaller and more diverse applications than current technology allows.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ’s Center for Engineering Learning & Teaching has received a $4.4 million grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust to develop and promote teaching practices that help undergraduate engineering students reflect on their experiences. The award establishes the Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education that focuses on first- and second-year undergraduates who want to be engineers, especially those from underrepresented populations

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ computer scientists have built a low-cost gesture recognition system that runs without batteries and lets users control their electronic devices hidden from sight with simple hand movements. The prototype, called “AllSee,” uses existing TV signals as both a power source and the means for detecting a user’s gesture command.

Bobak Ferdowsi, a NASA flight engineer who became known as “Mohawk Guy” after sporting a mohawk hairstyle during the 2012 rover Curiosity’s landing on Mars, spoke to a class of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ aeronautics and astronautics engineering students on Feb. 19. Ferdowsi was a student in the department and graduated from the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ in 2001.

James Riley, a Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ professor of mechanical engineering, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Election to the academy is among the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ scientists and engineers are developing a low-cost device that could help pathologists diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier and faster. The prototype can perform the basic steps for processing a biopsy, relying on fluid transport instead of human hands to process the tissue.

New imaging technology from Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ engineers allows scientists to analyze what happens within the smallest blood vessels during a cosmetic facelift. This finding could be used to prevent accidents during procedures and help clinicians reverse the ill effects if an injection doesn’t go as planned.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ environmental engineers are launching a new study to try to understand how climate change will affect streamflow patterns in the Columbia River Basin. The team will look at the impact of glaciers on the river system, the range of possible streamflow changes and how much water will flow in the river at hundreds of locations in future years.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ engineers hope a new type of vaccine they have shown to work in mice will one day make it cheaper and easy to manufacture on-demand vaccines for humans. Immunizations could be administered within minutes where and when a disease is breaking out.

A new Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ institute to develop efficient, cost-effective solar power and better energy storage systems launched Dec. 12 with an event attended by Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ President Michael K. Young, Gov. Jay Inslee and researchers, industry experts and policy leaders in renewable energy.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ researchers have found that tree cover actually causes snow to melt more quickly in warm, Mediterranean-type climates. Alternatively, open, clear gaps in the forests tend to keep snow on the ground longer into the spring and summer. Their findings were published this fall in Water Resources Research.

A Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ surgical research robot appears in the sci-fi movie “Ender’s Game” starring Harrison Ford. Two Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ students operated the robot during the filming of the movie, which opens Nov. 1 in theaters across the country.

Based at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ, the Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing’s first public event on Oct. 30 will feature speakers from the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and industry, as well as breakout sessions that explore various aspects of science and engineering technologies.

Stephen Boyd of Stanford University is the speaker at this year’s Lytle Lecture Series hosted by the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ’s Department of Electrical Engineering. He will give a free public talk at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28.

A team of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ computer scientists has created a software program that watches a user’s movements and gives spoken feedback using a Microsoft Kinect on what to change to accurately complete a yoga pose.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ College of Engineering fall lecture series will feature faculty researchers and industry leaders who work to maintain and improve our region’s critical infrastructure. The lectures are at 7 p.m. on Oct. 23, Oct. 30 and Nov. 14.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ scientists have developed a new way of processing the signals in cochlear implants to help users hear music better. The technique lets users perceive differences between musical instruments, a significant improvement from what standard cochlear implants can offer.

Three Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ faculty members are among those honored with a grant from the National Institutes of Health’s High Risk-High Reward program.

A team led by the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ has developed a programming language for chemistry that it hopes will streamline efforts to design a network that can guide the behavior of chemical-reaction mixtures in the same way that embedded electronic controllers guide cars, robots and other devices.

Scientists at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ have developed a strategy to slow tumor growth and prolong survival in mice with cancer by targeting and destroying a type of cell that dampens the body’s immune response to cancer.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ engineers have received a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to design a better cookstove, which researchers say will use half as much fuel and cut emissions by 90 percent.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ researchers have performed what they believe is the first noninvasive human-to-human brain interface, with one researcher able to send a brain signal via the Internet to control the hand motions of a fellow researcher.

A team led by Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ engineers has created a patch with tiny, biodegradable needles that can penetrate the skin and precisely deliver a tuberculosis test. The researchers published their results online Aug. 26 in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.

Julie Kientz, a Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ assistant professor of human centered design & engineering, has been named one of the world’s top 35 innovators under age 35 by MIT Technology Review magazine.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ engineers have created a new wireless communication system that allows devices to interact with each other without relying on batteries or wires for power.

Researchers have developed a new method that can look at a specific segment of DNA and pinpoint a single mutation, which could help diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer and tuberculosis.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ engineers have developed a device that tracks how much a person’s limb swells and shrinks when inside a prosthetic socket. The data could help doctors and patients predict how and when their limbs will swell, which could be used to build smarter sockets.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ engineers found in a recent study that the user’s experience could be key to creating an authentication system that doesn’t rely on passwords.
Researchers hope to build a predictive model of the human microbiome to study what affects this massive biological system and to design ways to manipulate the microbiome to achieve desired clinical outcomes.

The Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ is the only program of its kind in the nation that offers a full quarter of academic credit to incoming college students or those who just finished their first year.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Formula Motorsports team took first place at the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers competition held June 19-22 in Lincoln, Neb.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ has received nearly $10 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to continue a project aimed at building a small, paper-based device that could test for infectious diseases on-demand in areas where diagnostic capabilities are limited.

Leading experts on water issues in the Western U.S. have come together to establish what is known about the future of Colorado River water, and to understand the wide range of estimates for future flows.

Researchers at the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ have created a material they say would make LEDs cheaper and greener to manufacture, driving down costs to consumers.