Category: News

PI Paul Sanders (MSE) has received $30,000 for a one-year research grant on “Helium-Enhanced Semi-Permanent Mold Aluminum Casting,” from the American Foundry Society, Inc.

From Tech Today.

Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) co-authored an article “Community Voices: Perspectives on Renewable Energy in Nunavut” in Arctic 66(1), pp.94-104 (2013). Renewable.

From Tech Today.

COMMUNITY VOICES: PERSPECTIVES ON RENEWABLE ENERGY IN NUNAVUT

Nunavut communities currently depend on imported diesel fuel for virtually all of their energy needs. This dependency not only hinders the ability of communities to be self-sufficient, but also has negative impacts on their environment, health, and social well-being.

Read more in Arctic.

Research by Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) is covered in a news brief from Engineering for Change about using the Internet and other ICTs as tools for sustainable development. Engineering for Change.

From Tech Today.

Research brief: The Internet and other ICTs as tools for sustainable development

“Not only does innovation through collaboration present a whole new paradigm shift for development, but in addition it requires establishment of a platform and tools necessary to facilitate such an enterprise. Luckily, both of these challenges are being broken down thanks to the Internet and in large part also to the success of the open source software movement,” the researchers write.

Read more at Engineering For Change.

The Internet and other ICTs as tools and catalysts for sustainable development: innovation for 21st century

Read more at Information Development.

An article about the solar photovoltaic thermal hybrid systems research done by Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) and his group was discussed in detail in the magazine Cogeneration.

From Tech Today.

Efficiency breakthrough in solar thermal cells

Earlier this year, Dr. Joshua Pearce and collaborators published the results of their groundbreaking research that holds out the promise of hybrid PV/T systems with significantly enhanced electrical efficiencies.

Conclusion: use thicker than normal a-Si i-layers in a PV/T system and you can get higher electrical efficiency. Bake the a-Si layers once a day and degradation under Staebler–Wronski is reversed by annealing. It would take 15 minutes to explain the temperature controls needed to do this, according to Dr. Pearce.

‘We also know intuitively that the higher the temperature of the solar thermal absorber, the higher the efficiencies for the solar thermal system,’ he adds. ‘With the electrical and thermal efficiency gains, we’re making two better mousetraps for the price of one.’

Read more in Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production.

Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) coauthored a paper on, “The Effect of Spectral Albedo on Amorphous Silicon and Crystalline Silicon Solar Photovoltaic Device Performance,” in Solar Energy.

From Tech Today.

CBS Detroit and its daily Technology Report published an article about Jaroslaw Drelich’s (MSE) research on using copper nanoparticles to protect food from food-borne bacteria such as e.Coli and salmonella. From Tech Today.

Food Production Daily, a European food production trade publication, published a news story featuring Professor Jaroslaw Drelich’s (MSE) research on the antibacterial properties of copper nanoparticles mixed with vermiculite. See FoodProduction daily.com. From Tech Today.

Research by Jaroslaw Drelich (MSE) into using copper nanoparticles mixed with vermiculite for protection against food-borne bacteria was reported in the Packaging Digest and the Food Quality News. From Tech Today.

News of Polish Science, a publication of the Polish Press Association, interviewed Professor Jaroslaw Drelech (MSE) and published a news story about his work onantibacterial vermiculite with copper nanonparticles. From Tech Today.

Patrick K. Bowen, PhD candidate, and Professor Jaroslaw Drelich (MSE) and Associate Professor Jeremy Goldman (Bio Med) have written “Zinc Exhibits Ideal Physiological Corrosion Behavior for Bioabsorbable Stents” in Advanced Materials, published online in Early View, to appear in a future in-print issue.

From Tech Today.

New Funding

PI Patrick Bowen (MSE) and Co-Pi Jaroslaw Drelich (MSE) have received $52,000 for a two-year research grant on “Development of Novel Zinc-Based Bioabsorbable Stents for the Treatment of Vascular Stenoses,” from the American Heart Association.

From Tech Today.