Dec. 21, 2020
Spartan expertise featured in media
University Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering Ramani Narayan
• Compostable dog poop bags aren’t panning out. “Biodegradability is the most used and abused term,” said Ramani Narayan. The word carries little regulatory oversight and leaves customers thinking their purchase has a smaller impact on the environment than it does.
Discover Magazine
• CNN tapped the expertise of Ramani Narayan in a national news story on Sept. 10, 2020 – asking for his critical comments on plastic waste research at Stanford University. Narayan discussed the research findings and said the solution is in “harnessing the ecosystem to help you manage the waste.”
CNN
MSU Mobility
• Auto Beat Daily Senior Editor Steve Plumb provided national media coverage on MSU’s Nov. 19, 2020, webinar: Accelerating the first/last mile for autonomous mobility. The event included panelists from Ford, Bosch, the U.S. Army and MSU – sharing their views on autonomy, electrification, and education
AutoBeat Online
• MSU will assemble mobility experts from industry, government and its academic colleges and units to host an automotive industry virtual forum, “Accelerating the first/last mile for autonomous mobility,” at 1 p.m., Nov. 19. Among the speakers are MSU President Stanley, University Distinguished Professor Satish Udpa and Associate Dean John Verboncoeur.
MSUToday
State News
WLNS TV 6 Lansing
University Distinguished Professor Anil Jain
• Tracking individual bears, cows, lemurs and other animals is important in research and conservation of the species. Anil Jain, a computer science professor at MSU, knows this better than most: He and his colleagues studied how facial-recognition software could be used to identify lemurs, golden monkeys, and chimpanzees.
CNN
CBS TV 62 Detroit
KITV 4 Honolulu
WNEM TV5 Saginaw
WSMV TV 4 Nashville, TN
+ two dozen other media
• MSU biometrics researchers have proposed a way to remove the bias from facial recognition performance between demographic groups. A paper jointly written by PhD student Sixue Gong, and Professors Xiaoming Liu and Anil K. Jain, all of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, was presented at the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) 2020.
BioMetric Update
MSU researchers are testing liquid nanofoam as a way to make football helmets safer for athletes, even after taking big hits. Assistant Professor Weiyi Lu of civil and environmental engineering says when a normal football helmet withstands an impact that is bad enough to give the player a concussion, some of its safety features can be damaged, making it unsafe for future use.
dBusiness Detroit
EurekAlert
MSUToday
New Atlas
Phys.org
WLNS TV 6 Lansing
The Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering at MSU and Leica Microsystems, Inc., have combined efforts to establish the MSU IQ Leica Microsystems Center of Excellence.
Cadillac News
dBusiness Detroit
Novus Light Technologies
PR NewsWire
Science Advisory Board
Tech Century
Irene Xagoraraki, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, got a head start in detecting the COVID-19 virus in human sewage in the Detroit area. That research is now crucial in Michigan and why she is sharing $1.3 million in grant money.
City of Detroit
Detroit Free Press
Fox TV 47 Lansing
WILX TV 10 Lansing
WLNS TV 6 Lansing
Also: Holland Sentinel
Biomedical acoustics - Collaborative research including Robert McGough, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and student researcher Luke Wiseman is featured on the September cover of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Are PFAS a concern in solar panels? Annick Anctil in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering said: “PFAS is not customarily used in solar panels because safer, effective alternatives have already been developed and commercialized. Moreover, no studies have shown the presence of leaching of PFAS from PV panels – either while they are in active use or at the end of their life (e.g., in a landfill).”
Yankee Institute
MSU students put mechanical engineering expertise to work with a therapy car for McLaren’s new hospital in Lansing.
Lansing State Journal
When Narendra Das was at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, he spent over a decade researching and developing satellites that help measure soil moisture. Now, he will have the opportunity to teach the next generation of scientists about the applications of remote sensing tools in MSU’s departments of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) and Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE).
Pasadena Now
Professor Guowei Wei, of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and his research team are using machine learning to hunt for COVID-19 therapies.
HealthITAnalytics
MSUToday
Tim Gates, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, is quoted in the Detroit Free Press on traffic safety in the days of working remotely. He said there may be less traffic on the roads these days, but there’s more opportunity to travel at higher speeds - part of the reason why Michigan has recorded more deaths year-to-date than in 2019.
Detroit Free Press
How much damage do heavy trucks do to our roads? Professor Karim Chatti, of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, helps answer that question for Inside Science. “The damage due to cars, for practical purposes when we are designing pavements, is basically zero."
Inside Science
MSU has partnered with four other universities in the Midwest to develop a national model for undergraduate curriculum in quantum technologies, an emerging field. Andrew Christlieb, MSU Foundation Professor and CMSE chair, is one of the technology leaders for the project.
dBusiness Detroit
MSUToday
With a nearly $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, MSU researchers are using nanoscopic particles to turn the body’s own cells into weapons that cancer won’t see coming. “We are developing a precision ‘Trojan Horse’ nanotherapy that treats breast cancer without the typical side effects,” said Bryan Smith, associate professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Translational NanoImmunoEngineering Lab.
dBusiness Detroit
DE24 News
MSUToday
News Medical.net
New Zealand Online News
Discouraging cell phone use by drivers – A current state study is using new strategies to combat dangers during driving. “Distracted driving, and cell phone use specifically, continue to be significant traffic safety concerns nationwide,” said Peter Savolainen, MSU Foundation Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Cedar Springs Post
Leader Publications (Cassopolis)
Michigan.gov
WLNS TV 6 Lansing
WXYZ TV 7 Detroit
Retired MSU Vice President and Professor Emeritus Percy Pierre will serve in yet another national leadership role — as chair of the National Academy of Engineering Racial Justice and Equity Committee.
MSUToday
New video demonstrates mask effectiveness. The video project was a collaboration between WKAR Public Media and the College of Engineering. “It is important for the public to understand the personal protection provided by wearing face masks,” said James Klausner, chairperson of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
MSUToday
PBS WKAR
Fire season is once again in full swing, with over 37,000 wildfires already burning in 2020. Early detection is the key to battling these blazes. A prototype currently being perfected by a team at MSU uses wind for power and includes two sensors that measure carbon monoxide and temperature. Study leader and mechanical engineer Changyong Cao says the device will “generate electricity from the slightest swinging of tree branches.”
Yahoo News
Lamp Endowed Chair John Dorgan and his research team are developing new styrene-free bio renewable resins with broad applicability in the construction of countertops, bathroom fixtures, windmill blades, and boats. Harshal Bambhania, a PhD student in chemical engineering, is helping advance the “Drop-in-bowl” prototype to modernize vanity and kitchen counters.
dBusiness Detroit
CHEMS Research Professor Ray Boeman, director of the IACMI Vehicles Scale-Up Facility (SURF) in Detroit’s Corktown, is featured in “Composites Manufacturing Magazine” - the flagship media for the world’s largest composites industry trade group. See: “The Technology Behind Bigger Innovation.”
Composites Manufacturing Magazine
Engineers from MSU have secured $3.4 million in grants to develop diamond implants that could let doctors diagnose and treat Parkinson's disease earlier. Erin Purcell (electrical engineering and biomedical engineering) and Wen Li (electrical engineering) have secured $3.4 million in grants to develop diamond implants that could let doctors diagnose and treat Parkinson’s disease earlier.
dBusiness Detroit
Eurek Alert!
Grainger Institute, U-Wisconsin-Madison
MSUToday
News-Medical.net
Parkinson's News Today
Students
Mechanical engineering senior and Spartan football player Dominique Long has been named a national semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy – known as the Academic Heisman. A three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, he maintains a 3.61 GPA.
Detroit Free Press
Sports Illustrated
The State News
Ryan Koschay, a junior in mechanical engineering, helped answer the call for personal protective equipment for health care workers during the health crisis. He spent 15 weeks 3D printing 1,200 face shields and masks. It was something he could do to better our community.
MSU video
Alumni
Alumni update – Thomas B. Okray will become the executive vice president and chief financial officer for the power management company Eaton Corp., effective April 1, 2021. He is a 1985 graduate in chemical engineering.
BusinessWire
Damon L. Garrett was promoted to president at Metro Consulting Associates in Plymouth. A founding member of MCA, he has 20 years of experience in civil engineering, executive leadership, and project management. He received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1997.
dBusiness Detroit
