Thermo mechanical studies of cells with nano probes on Si Substrate

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Interpreting the role of mechanical forces and geometric constraints is crucial to understand cellular function and development. It has been seen that the type and direction of mechanical stimuli and alignment by topography can lead to significant differences in cell behavior but the mechanisms are …

Numerical Modeling of Moderate Magnitude Earthquakes

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The scope of the existing NSF award is to numerically model ground motions of moderate magnitude earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay, California, USA and Osaka Bay, Japan. The numerical modeling is to focus on the effects of local soil conditions on ground motions recorded in …

CAREER: The Role of Turbulence, Coherent Structures, and Intermittency for Controlling Transport in Multiphase Plumes in the Environment

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

John Bandas visited the Institute for Hydromechanics at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, between May and August 2008 to conduct research through the International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). This research consisted of …

NSEC: Center for Nano-Chemical-Electrical-Mechanical-Manufacturing Systems/Nano-CEMMS

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

As design requirements and machining capabilities advance, the demand for the development of improved methods for precision motion control (PMC) continues to increase. The goal of the work proposed for the IREE project was to combine the theory and analysis techniques from the Eindhoven University …

Interactions of the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium avium with amoebae

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Mycobacterium avium is an opportunistic bacterial pathogen that is known to survive in drinking water systems. It has been reported that M. avium is able to infect the amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii, but little is known about the environmental relevance of this interaction. The …

Self-Assembly and Crystallization in Nanoscale Confinement

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

This supplement has supported a graduate student from Dr. Guangzhao Mao's research group at Wayne State University, Ms. Jenifer Blacklock, to conduct research in Dr. Helmuth Möhwald’s research group at Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam Germany. Dr. Möhwald’s research …

International Research and Education in Engineering

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Liquid fluid drops tend to spherical shapes under equilibrium configurations. When perturbed, these fluid droplets oscillate, representing the competition between the inertia and capillary action of the fluid drop. The qualitative behavior of these drops is similar to the free …

Collaborative Research: Detailed Chemical Kinetic Modeling of the Homogeneous Chemical Nucleation of Multicomponent Nanoparticles

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The objective of this project was two-fold: (1) to build a bridge between the US and Belgium by way of collaborative research while enriching the education of one US PhD student and (2) to develop detailed kinetic models of silicon hydride nanoparticle chemistry with the aim of understanding the …

IREE: CAREER: Processing and Development of a New Ultra-Light High-Strength Material

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Composite metal foam (CMF) is a new, ultralight high strength material invented by Dr. Afsaneh Rabiei under the current NSF award and can be produced by casting and powder metallurgy techniques. Cast samples consist of an aluminum matrix surrounding hollow stainless steel or low carbon …

Mechanisms of Resonant Infrared Pulsed Laser Ablation and Deposition of Polymers

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Recent research results obtained from a visit to the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland are described. The deposition of silver nanoparticle films and subsequent optical and physical characterization is discussed. The experiences of the PI, postdoctoral fellow, and undergraduate student are …

Advancing Hydrological Management in the Mekong Delta through Technological Development and Educational Training

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The NSF IREE grant was used to support collaborative research between the Networked Control Systems Laboratory and two universities in Vietnam: Danang University of Technology and Can Tho University. PI Linda Bushnell was the main coordinator of the research efforts. PI Bushnell spent two weeks at …

CAREER: Disinfection Using Membranes: Optimizing Virus and Disinfection By-Product Control

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Membrane technologies such as nanofiltration and microfiltration have the ability to purify drinking water and wastewater to a high degree. Even though membranes are capable of achieving a very high quality of filtered water, to date the mechanisms by which they function are not well …

Fabrication of Three-Dimensional Chiral Photonic Circuits and Electro-Optical Devices in Silica Using Femtosecond Ultrafast Lasers

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: This report summarizes the international collaborative research under the IREE program carried out in the Optical Fiber Technology Center (OFTC) at the University of Sydney, Australia between June 1, 2008 to July 31, 2008. Recently, exciting advances have been made in photosensitivity …

A Choice Modeling Approach to Incorporating Heterogeneous Consumer Preferences into Enterprise-Driven Product Design

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The objective of this supplement request is to support the PI (Wei Chen) and one PhD student (Chris Hoyle) for a three-month summer (2008) visit to the Design Management Research Group as a part of the Industrial Engineering Laboratory at the Ecole Centrale Paris (ECP), France. The …

Hierarchical simulation of quantum circuits

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The focus of the present project is to develop the fundamentals of quantum circuit modeling. Quantum circuit modeling will enable us to describe the integration of quantum nanodevices into circuits and the simulation of the circuit as a whole for novel applications. These models are …

IREE – International supplemental funds to NSF Career: From fish habitat to restoration: Understanding fish responses to turbulence (Grant number CTS 0447427)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Among many ecologically important aspects of fish locomotion, turbulence is thought to create large stability challenges for fishes. Turbulence is a ubiquitous, highly variable feature of aquatic habitats (Denny, 1988). Species that are more prevalent in “energetic water” …

Computational Intelligence for Intelligent Control of Machinery and Manufacturing Processes

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Computational intelligence for intelligent control of machinery is maturing with advances in technology becoming both feasible and practical in application including manufacturing. Cologne University of Applied Science (CUAS) in Cologne, Germany has an extensive education and research …

DDDAS-TMRP: Dynamic Data-Driven Brain-Machine Interfaces

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Our research group was in the process of developing a Cyber-Workstation (C-W) to provide vast, remote computing power with the additional capability to provide real-time feedback for a Brain Machine Interface (BMI) or neuroscience experiments. Our focus was BMI research; specifically, how …

A Microsystems Approach to Cellular Manipulation and Interaction

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The sense of touch is poorly understood, partly due to the difficulty in making combined mechanical and electrophysiological measurements on individual touch receptor neurons. In this work, we used micromachined silicon force sensors to measure the force sensitivity of the nematode Caenorhabditis …

Design and Development of Integrated Sensor for Chemical Agent Detection

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Recent advances in nanotechnology promise considerable and realistic potential for the development of innovative and high performance sensing and diagnostic approaches in biomedical field. In particular, the microcantilever detection paradigm based on direct transduction of molecular …

Superadiabatic Combustion with Counterflow Heat Exchange

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

In this project, two undergraduate students from the University of Texas conducted research with the Fire Safety Engineering Group at the University of Edinburgh. The students worked for two semesters in Dr. Janet Ellzey's laboratory at the University of Texas where they conducted research on the …

REU Site: SENSORS--Design to Implementation IREE project summary October 2007- October 2008

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Under an international partnership between Dr. Caroline L. Schauer of Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA and Dr. Sabine Szunerits of the Institut d'Electronique, de Microelectronic et Nanotechnologie in Lille, France, and through a grant from the National Science Foundation, Keith Fahnestock and …

IREE Trip Report: Selective Adsorption of Manganese onto Cobalt for Optimized Mn/Co/TiO2 Fischer-Tropsch Catalysts

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Systematic preparation of the Mn/Co/TiO2 catalyst was performed based on the theory of Strong Electrostatic Adsorption at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Through this process, a strong interaction between the manganese promoter and active cobalt metal can be achieved. Through a …

Network for Computational Nanotechnology

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

This report describes the activities of a student participant and his faculty advisor associated with a visit to the Jawarharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, India during the Spring 2008 semester. The visit was sponsored by the US National Science Foundation's …

Collaborative Research: A Polymer Synthesis/Membrane Characterization Program on Fouling-Resistant Membranes for Water Purification

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

A novel reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate treatment process was developed; the goals of the treatment process are to remove problematic sparingly soluble salts that precipitate on the membrane surfaces and to increase the overall recovery of the RO process. The concentrate treatment process …

Understanding Acute Microvessel Hyperpermeability

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Under the support of IREE, we extended our collaboration through a 3-month research in Prof. Si-Sheng Feng's lab in the National University of Singapore during the summer of 2008. We have accomplished three aims during the course of the summer research: 1) fabricated paclitaxel-loaded biodegradable …

NEESR-GC: Seismic Risk Mitigation for Port Systems

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: This IREE grant provided supplemental funding to the NEESR-GC: Seismic Risk Mitigation for Port Systems project for an associate professor, a Ph.D. candidate and an undergraduate student to travel to University of Tokyo for 6 months, 3 months, and 2 months, respectively. The research …

CAREER: Mixed-integer Nonlinear Programming Approaches for Hydrogen Production Systems

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

This supplemental proposal allowed the PI to travel to Germany in order to work with the group of Ulrich Nieken at the University of Stuttgart. This research group includes internationally known experts in the area of catalytic reforming and process reaction systems. The PI worked to apply advanced …

IREE: Light Scattering Studies of Organic Semiconductor Based Devices

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The primary goal of the IREE supplemental award was to establish an international collaboration with a world-class chemistry department, Department of Solid State and Structural Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc)-Bangalore, India (in Prof. Satish Patil’s group). The …

NER: Carbon Nanotube Coated with Nanoparticles - An Enabling Structure for Nanomanufacturing and Nanodevices

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

This IREE program entails a graduate student visiting the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) to study the growth of CuO nanowires. These nanowires are useful for the synthesis of 3-D hybrid nanotube/nanowire/nanoparticle architectures proposed in the NER project. During the IREE visit, the …

IREE: Center for Advanced Engineering Fibers and Films (CAEFF)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Through the IREE program, CAEFF enhanced its programs by building upon collaborations established by Clemson University with the University of Bradford (United Kingdom) and the University of Minho (Portugal). Both of these institutions have internationally recognized programs in polymer science and …

Center for Nanoscale Chemical Electrical Mechanical Manufacturing Systems (NanoCEMMS)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: This document reports on the international research experience funded by the IREE grant. This grant enbabled a research collaboration between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech). The proposed research …

Bioreactor organ cutures: in vitro models of valvular remodeling and biology; IREE Supplement (NSF 07-032) to NSF BES grant #0502342

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: A greater understanding of the chemical signaling between valvular endothelial cells (VECs) and valvular interstitial cells (VICs) is necessary for the aortic valve tissue engineering. Nitric oxide is an important biological signaling molecule in mammals.1 Specifically, nitric oxide is …

Seismic Performance of a Two-Story Two-Bay Reinforced Concrete Building

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Abstract: The National Science Foundation awarded the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas with the funding to complete research on a reinforced concrete building at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in Taipei, …

CAREER: Development of a Molecule-based Diagnostic Technique to Study Joule Heating and Micro-scale Heat Transfer Process in Electrokinetically-driven Microfluidics

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

With the NSF-IREE supplement to Dr. Hui Hu's ongoing NSF-CAREER project, an "ISU-TOKYO Research and Education Integrated International Collaboration Partnership" is being established to promote international research and education collaborations between Iowa State University (ISU) and the …

NSF IREE Report - E65-8356

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

International research cooperation was built with the sponsorship of the NSF IREE grant duing summer on 2007. Mr. Chen-Pey Huang from the school of Civil and Environmental engineering, Cornell University visited the Leichtweiss-Institute, Technical University Braunschweig, Germany. The main …

Inverted Colloidal Crystal Membranes

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

An IREE supplement was obtained to the main NSF grant titled Inverted Colloidal Crystal Membranes in order to provide international research experiences to two undergraduate students, one from Clemson University (CU) and one from Colorado State University (CSU). The primary rationale for this IREE …

SGER: Grid-to-grid neural networks for innovative pose invariant face recognition

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: This paper is a trip report for the 2008 IREE trip taken by The University of Memphis. For three months, Dr. Iftekharuddin and two of his students, Elizabeth Threlkeld and William White, studied at The University of Wollongong in Wollongong, NSW, Australia. They continued their work on …

IREE: Automated Vision Tracking of Project Related Entities

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The purpose of this supplemental project was to collect invaluable data from the large-scale construction sites of Egnatia Odos motorway needed to validate a novel automated vision-tracking method created under the parent grant. For this purpose, one US graduate and three US undergraduate students …

Fabrication and Characterization of Cu-WO3-Pt and Pt-WO3-Pt Switching Devices: An Undergraduate Research Experience at the Forshungszentrum Jülich (Germany)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Metal-Insulator-Metal structures with transistion metal oxide barriers were were investigated as a new from of semiconductor switching device, in a research project at the Forshungszentrum Jülich in Germany. The project included both fabrication of the structures and characterization of …

CAREER: The Role of Turbulence, Coherent Structures, and Intermittency for Controlling Transport in Multiphase Plumes in the Environment

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

John Bandas visited the Institute for Hydromechanics at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, between May and August 2008 to conduct research through the International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). This research consisted of …

CAREER: Fiber-based Optical Frequency Standards Characterized with Optical Frequency Combs

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The goal of this project is to create portable fiber-based optical freqeuency references based on acetylene-filled optical fibers. Reflections at the interfaces between hollow and solid fiber create interference that degrades performance of these references. Fetah Benabid's group at the …

High-Temperature Sorption Process for Oxygen Removal and Air Separation

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The IREE Travel Award supporting CTS-0513366 allowed Jay Kniep, a Ph.D. chemical engineering student at Arizona State University, to spend over five months during the summer and fall of 2007 researching at The Foundation for Industrial and Technological Research at the Norwegian Institute of …

CAREER: Molecularly Directed Assembly of "Patchy" Particles

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The establishing of an exchange program between the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden, and the City College of New York is described. The CCNY part of the exchange program has been in existence since 2005 and hosts 2-4 Swedish senior chemical engineering undergraduate or …

NSF SBIR Phase II # 0646184: A Novel Microwave Technique for Rapid Thermal Processing of SiC Wide Bandgap Semiconductor

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: This report describes research experience, as well as cultural experience from an internship at Dalian University of Technology. During this collaboration, the participants learned and applied the experimental techniques of Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD), Photoluminescence (PL) …

Modeling of Oxide Bifilms in Aluminum Castings

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: This work describes the collaboration research carried out during this IREE experience, which deals with the formation of defects during solidification of cast alloys, particularly those known as confluence welds in Aluminum A356 alloys. During the casting process, the separation of …

Degradation at the Fiber-Matrix Interphase and Effects on Long-Term Performance of Composites

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The two investigators at Stony Brook University and Oklahoma State University collaborated with the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur to conduct research studies on carbon fiber reinforced composites. This cooperation lead to the exchange program with one undergraduate student …

Reformulating General Engineering and Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Several Virginia Tech investigators including engineering and education faculty have been working together since fall 2004 to reformulate freshman engineering and bioprocess engineering programs using a spiral curriculum theory. They have developed a process to implement the spiral curriculum in …

Collaborative Research: A novel approach to improve the interfacial strength of hydroxyapatite coated implants for orthopedic and dental applications

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The IREE award provided us with international experience in research and education. It greatly enhanced our collaboration with our foreign counterpart, Prof. Jeffrey Hubbell, at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédéralede Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. Under the support of IREE, a graduate student, Mr …

Dual Micro-contact Printing of Proteins to Control Neuronal Adhesion and Outgrowth: An Undergraduate Research Experience at the Forshungszentrum Jülich (Germany)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

A two layer microcontact printing scheme was used to prepare patterned protein arrays on surface to study the adhesion of neurons and the growth of neuronal networks. This research was conducted at the Forshungszentrum Julich by Ms. Alice MacQueen with support from the IREE program. This activity …

CAREER: Control of Acoustic Instabilities in Large Combustors

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

This report describes the synergistic interactions that took place in summer 2008 between a team of investigators led by J. Majdalani from the University of Tennessee and a team of researchers at Peking University (PKU). This technical exchange was focused in the areas of acoustic wave …

Thermal Transport at Nanoscale Point and Line Constrictions and Interfaces

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The objective of this project was to collaborate with the University of Central Paris Laboratory EM2C to foster technical expertise and expand current knowledge of numerical modeling and simulation of thermal transport across nanometer scale point and line constrictions and interfaces that are …

Deformation Based Design of Geotechnical Composite Foundation Systems Incorporating Columnar Support with or without Geosynthetic Reinforcement

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The IREE supplemental grant added an international component to the existing NSF award entitled "Deformation Based Design of Geotechnical Composite Foundation Systems Incorporating Columnar Support with or without Geosynthetic Reinforcement." This trip report summarizes the research collaboration …

Microbes and Phosphorus: integrating engineering principles, ecology, and student learning to study eutrophication of freshwater lakes

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The purpose of the international collaboration was to develop and adopt sensitive methods for microbial population detection and quantification in surface water ecosystems, through the knowledge transfer of two novel molecular techniques, fluorescence in situ hybridization combined with …

Collaborative Research: Compact Microwave Imaging System Based on Antenna Array of Dielectric Resonators for Breast Cancer Detection

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The University of Arkansas is collaborating with universities all over the world to devise a new method of breast cancer detection using microwave technology and advanced imaging. The possibility to use gold nanoparticles as an enhancement agent of the contrast between the tumor and the healthy …

CAREER: Improvisation in Response to Extreme Events

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

This report describes work conducted under an IREE supplement to the above-mentioned grant. Activities described here include field and laboratory study of emergency response personnel, with a focus on identifying and analyzing their thinking processes as they respond to non-routine events, both …

Optimization Methods for Enhancing Real-Time Voltage Stability Margin (VSM)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The research activities include faculty, graduate and undergraduate students at Howard University (HU) in partnership with University of Cape Town (UCT). The collaborative program involves research activity between the two schools as well as conference meetings and tutorials on special topics …

RET Site for Polymer Engineering Research and Workforce Development

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The IREE: Research Exchange in Nanoengineered Polymeric Materials supplement supported two doctoral students in polymer engineering at The School of Polymers and High Performance Materials at The University of Southern Mississippi to complete three-month collaborative research programs …

Reducing Blackout Likelihood via Advances in Tripping, Reclosing, Load Shedding, and System Separation Strategies

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The NSF IREE award supported three semesters of research experience for undergraduate student Nils Stenvig, and one semester for MS student Adam Manty. The student’s goals were to advance personal levels of comprehension in the area of power systems, gain valuable research and …

International Training and Research on the Impact of Assistive Technologies for People with Disabilities in India

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: A team of two graduate research students from the University of Pittsburgh conducted three research studies at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC) in New Delhi, India. Two of the studies focused on the impact of assistive technology on quality of life for people with disabilities, …

IREE: A Synthetic Approach to Active Site Deconvolution in Supported Cr Catalysts for Olefin Polymerization

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: This research collaboration links an American group specializing in the synthesis of catalysts with uniform active sites to a European group expert in catalyst characterization techniques. Two early-career American researchers spent three months in Zürich, Switzerland, learning to use …

Supercritical Fluid Assisted Processing of SWNT/Polymer Composites

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Supercritical carbon dioxide assisted processing is being used to disperse and distribute single walled carbon nanotubes in polymers. As part of this scientific effort, nucleation of supercritical carbon dioxide was investigated using spherical silica nanofillers of uniform size. The effects of …

Adendum to "SBIR Phase II: Microchip Assay for Glycosylated Hemoglobin"

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Advanced MicroLabs (AML) received a Phase II SBIR award allowing them to develop a microfluidic-based disposable microchip for the determination of Glycated Hemoglobin concentrations in whole blood. For the product to be marketable, sample handling and pretreatment must take place on the chip …

Modeling and Analysis of Profiled Reliability Tests using Computation-Intensive Statistical Methods

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Supported by the IREE funding, three ASU researchers visited the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering of the National University of Singapore (NUS) during the summer of 2008. During the visit, we collaborated with Dr. Min Xie, Dr. L.C. Tang and their students on two main …

Living Radical Polymerization in Inverse Miniemulsions

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The research carried out under the supplemental IREE grant involved the suppression of branching using RAFT (reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer) in vinyl acetate miniemulsion polymerization at low monomer conversion. Monte Carlo models were used to study branching in the miniemulsion …

SGER: CARBON NANOMATERIAL TRANSLOCATION AND TRANSFER

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT This report documents the NSF-IREE research activities of Michelle Reid, an undergraduate student of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Marcus Allegood, a graduate student of Physics, and their advisor Dr. Pu-Chun Ke, conducted at Helsinki University of Technology (HUT), …

Development of AlGaN/GaN HEMT Technology For Highest Frequency Operation: An Undergraduate Research Experience at the Forshungszentrum Jülich (Germany)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The ever increasing demand for high power, high frequency, and high temperature devices has prompted much research into AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) because of their high breakdown voltage and excellent electron transit properties. Optimized AlGaN/GaN HEMTs promise to play a …

Decision Models for Bulk Energy Transportation Networks

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT:  The base award supports research into energy flow patterns that could improve the performance of the U.S. energy system, identify infrastructure enhancements to realize the most performance benefit, and predict the influence of electricity market design changes on the energy system …

IREE: Processing and Characterization of Functionally Graded Coatings for Bio-Medical Implants

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: This report summarizes an international research collaboration between North Carolina State University – Advanced Materials Research Laboratory and the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan. Using IREE funding, one Ph.D. student visited the Biometal …

NSF Award: CAREER: Impact Resistance and Structural Health Monitoring of Bistable Composite Structures

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT:In Summer 2008, the PI and two of her Ph.D. students had a very productive international research experience with the group of Dr. Göknur Bayram, associate professor of Chemical Engineering, Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey. The trip was sponsored by NSF IREE Program and …

CAREER: Modeling, Control and Design of Energy-Efficient Lighting Systems

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Professor Regan Zane and Ph.D. student Ryan Schnell from the University of Colorado traveled to Spain in order participate in a collaborative effort involving high intensity discharge lamps with Professors Francisco Azcondo, University of Cantabria, Spain and J. Marcos Alonso, University of Oviedo, …

Science and Technology Center of Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems (WaterCAMPWS) at UIUC

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

An increase in demand for fresh water and the simultaneous depletion of groundwater resources has forced mankind to look for non-traditional water sources such as recycled and reclaimed water. One emerging challenge for the use of these water sources is the presence of pathogenic viruses. The …

Particle Effects in Microfluidics, IREE Supplement

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: As part of this IREE award, Prof. Sharp worked in the Laboratory for Aero- and Hydro-dynamics at the Technical University of Delft, Delft, Netherlands from May through August, 2008. Prof. Jerry Westerweel heads the laboratory, with several Assistant and Associate Professors including …

Nanomechanical Approach to Biomolecular Recognition

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Recent advances in nanotechnology promise considerable and realistic potential for the development of innovative and high performance sensing and diagnostic approaches in biomedical field. In particular, the microcantilever detection paradigm based on direct transduction of molecular binding …

ERC: Engineering Research Center for Structured Organic Particulates

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

We visited the Eidgenösische Technische Hochshule (Swiss Federal Technical University) in Zürich, Switzerland under the sponsorship of the NSF IREE program. We describe our accomplishments and the connections we made for future international collaborations. We werehosted during our stay by Prof. …

Rational Design of Biodegradable Polymer Particles Using Carbon Dioxide

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Through a collaboration between the University of Delaware Chemical Engineering Department and the University of Nottingham Schools of Chemistry and Pharmacy, the viscosities of biodegradable polymers saturated with high pressure carbon dioxide were measured experimentally. At comparable levels of …

Collaborative Research: Compact Microwave Imaging System Based on Antenna Array of Dielectric Resonators for Breast Cancer Detection

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The University of Arkansas is collaborating with universities all over the world to devise a new method of breast cancer detection using microwave technology and advanced imaging. The possibility to use gold nanoparticles as an enhancement agent of the contrast between the tumor and the healthy …

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN ENGINEERING (IREE)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

During months of June, July and August of 2008, the research team from Virginia Tech visited the country of Australia. The purpose of this visit was to obtain current practices from several water utilities and gather information at the government based CSIRO research center in Melbourne, …

Collaborative Research: Visualizing the aging process in granular matter using experiment and simulation

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

We describe an international collaboration between Dr. Martin Van Hecke's group at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and Dr. Wolfgang Losert's group at the University of Maryland: College Park in the United States. Specifically, we combine our effort in order to carry out three …

Mechanistic laboratory and field evaluation of sustainable point-of-use water treatment technologies to remove turbidity and deactivate coliform bacteria

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

A recent field study has demonstrated silver-impregnated ceramic filters (manufactured according to the design criteria of the non-governmental organization Potters for Peace) can effectively remove E.coli and reduce turbidity in untreated tap water. Ceramic filters were locally produced in San …

An Ultrasensitive Biosensor Integrating Semiconductor Nanowires with Plasmonic Resonators.

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

With the support of an IREE supplemental grant, one graduate student from the University of Cincinnati and one undergraduate student Miami University were able to participate in a collaborative research project with the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Over a three month …

UH-HIT Joint Research in Smart Materials - an IREE Supplement Award to Collaborative Research: Hysteresis Compensation Using Linear Parameter Varying Control Methods

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The classical definition of job qualifications for engineers is changing as U.S. economy becomes more global. In addition to technical qualifications, there is a great need for multi-national, interdisciplinary, and multi-cultural competence for engineers. In this project, three U.S. engineering …

Collaborative Research: Development of Multifunctional Nanocomposites with Engineered Carbon Nanopaper

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: As U.S. economy becomes more global, the classical definition of job qualifications for engineers is changing. In addition to technical qualifications, there is a great need for multi-national, interdisciplinary, and multi-cultural competence for engineers. In this project, two U.S. …

IREE: Integration of International Collaboration into a PreNEESR Project to Advance a Prefabricated Structural System for Seismic Design

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Over the past two decades, experimental and analytical research has demonstrated the performance of precast structural wall systems using unbonded post-tensioning for seismic applications. However, these wall systems are not as economically viable as monolithic reinforced concrete structural walls …

Bioceramic nanoparticle/collagen nanofiber composites: A nanoindentation study

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The IREE supplement to current NSF award CMS-0555778 (PI: Stanishevsky) has been focused on the expansion of the current research program through the international collaboration with the partners at the Technical University of Lodz, Poland, and Technical University of Liberec, Czech …

Collaborative Research: Evaluating Long-Term Impacts on Final Covers - Exhumation of the ACAP Test Sections

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

This report summarizes the research performed by two US-based researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the Universidad Nacional Autònoma de Mèxico (UNAM) during the summer of 2008 as part of the NSF's IREE program. Professor Dante Fratta and Alex Summitt traveled to the Soil …

Statistical Elastodynamic Inversion For Pavement Nondestructive Evaluation

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: As an awardee institution of the NSF award CMMI-0408390, the Catholic University of America was granted the supplementary award of this NSF-IREE program to support international travel of U.S. researchers. The work being carried out under current NSF award is to establish a rigorous and …

DDDAS -SMTP: A Framework for the Dynamic Data Driven Fault Diagnosis of Wind Turbine Systems

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The overall goal of this NSF research is to develop a dynamic data driven fault diagnosis framework for wind turbine systems. An important component of the research is the development of wireless sensor nodes that will be deployed inside a wind turbine to collect vibration and acoustic signals. …

Service-Learning Integrated throughout a College of Engineering: Implementation

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Three months were spent traveling to 44 villages in rural Ancash, Peru, to evaluate the impact of an ongoing service-learning program for international development, the Village Empowerment Project, which has been designing and installing systems in medical clinics and villages for 11 …

Center for e-Design: IT Enabled Design and Realization of Products and Systems – Supplement for International Collaboration with South Korea

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The Center for e-Design has ongoing research efforts in planning modular family and platform approaches to product development. Our goal with this supplement to the existing NSF center grant was to extend and enrich our experience in developing and testing methods for planning modular …

Career: Rapid Production of Plastic Microstructures

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The main objectives of this NSF sponsored CAREER project are to develop novel processing methods for rapid production of plastic microstructures and to advance fundamental understanding of polymer microfabrication. The IREE supplement funded a collaborative effort in hot embossing between …

A novel microwave technique for rapid thermal processing of silicon carbide wide bandgap semiconductor

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The NSF SBIR Phase II grant 0646184 was awarded to LT Technologies LLC. I am the PI of the project. The objective of the project is to develop a novel microwave technique for high temperature, rapid thermal processing (RTP) of wide bandgap semiconductors such as SiC and GaN. The technology may …

Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymeric Biomedical Devices (CANPBD)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: This project brings together research teams of A/Prof. Fariba Dehghani of the University of Sydney and Prof. David Tomasko of The Ohio State University to develop a new non-destructive technique for the sterilization, surface modification and coating of ultra-high molecular weight …

Engineering Research Center for Collaborative and Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: A research collaboration between CASA and the J.S. Marshall Radar Observatory (MRO) is part of the NSF International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) proposal, where Mr. Jorge Trabal, a PhD student at the University of UMass Amherst performed research at MRO under the …

Chemical Microsystem based on Vertical Integration of Sensor Array and CMOS Circuit

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Results of a 6-month IREE research trip to ETH Zurich in Switzerland are presented. During the trip, the researcher performed gas phase experiments with a chemical microsensor platform to explore and optimize its sensitivity and limit of detection. The results are to be presented at the …

Collaborative Research: Development of Multifunctional Nanocomposites with Engineered Carbon Nanopaper

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: As U.S. economy becomes more global, the classical definition of job qualifications for engineers is changing. In addition to technical qualifications, there is a great need for multi-national, interdisciplinary, and multi-cultural competence for engineers. In this project, two U.S. …

Novel Memory Devices Based on Silicon Nanocrystal Pyramid-Dot Complexes

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The process of the design and manufacture of hi-tech products currently involves a global effort and multinational teams. In this environment, US engineering students should be proficient in the technical subjects, technological trends and business practices that are exist in different …

In-Situ Detection Of Cryptosporidium Using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: In the United States and elsewhere in the developed world, there is great interest in trying to detect and quantify viruses in water supplies and treated drinking water. To achieve this goal, we examined the feasibility of using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for the …

Synthesis and Chaarctezation for Titanium Magnesium Oxynitride via PLD and RBS methods

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: During the summer of 2008 pulsed laser deposition (PLD) experiments were performed at Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT). Traditionally Chromium Magnesium Oxynitride thin films have successfully been synthesized and characterized by PLD and electrostatic accelerator for Rutherford …

Experimental and Computational Investigation of Fracture Patterns in Thin Films and Multilayers

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Two undergraduate students and one graduate student from the University of South Florida Department of Mechanical Engineering visited Dr. Meyers’s group at Technical University of Dresden Germany, Department of Structural Physics in the summer of 2008 as a part of the NSF IREE supplemental …

CAREER: Biomechanics and Energetics of Human Locomotion with Powered Exoskeletons

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Previous studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that the choice of control algorithm greatly affects how a human adapts to a robotic lower limb exoskeleton. We have shown that proportional myoelectric controllers have distinct advantages over kinematic based controllers in healthy …

NIRT: Tuning the Electronic and Molecular Structures of Catalytic Active Sites with Oxide Nanoligands (#0609018)

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The following report describes the NSF IREE experience of Charles A. Roberts in conjunction with the current NSF NIRT award(#0609018; PI: Israel E. Wachs of Lehigh University). The host laboratories for this project were in the cities of Caen and Lille in France. The research goal of …

Surrogate-Based Modeling of Joint Contact Mechanics

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: Musculoskeletal modeling is an advancing research tool that enables many professions to have a detailed analysis of human movement. Lack of validation and complexity of models however has led to many difficulties. An international collaboration has been forged between the University of …

Ecophysiology of Nitrifying and Denitrifying Microbial Communities and their Interactions in Microbial Flocs

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The research described in the current NSF project is applying a multidisciplinary approach to characterize the factors that control microbial community structure and function in nitrogen-transforming flocs in activated sludge wastewater treatment plants. The international research represents the …

CAREER: The Role of Turbulence, Coherent Structures, and Intermittency for Controlling Transport in Multiphase Plumes in the Environment

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

John Bandas visited the Institute for Hydromechanics at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, between May and August 2008 to conduct research through the International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). This research consisted of …

Three-dimensional Magnetoacoustic Tomographic Imaging

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

This report summarizes the activities carried out under the IREE supplement to NSF BES-0602957. Under this award, two students – Christopher Wilke, a doctoral student and Alex Doud, an undergraduate student – both in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, were …

A novel microwave technique for rapid thermal processing of silicon carbide wide bandgap semiconductor

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The NSF SBIR Phase II grant 0646184 was awarded to LT Technologies LLC. I am the PI of the project. The objective of the project is to develop a novel microwave technique for high temperature, rapid thermal processing (RTP) of wide bandgap semiconductors such as SiC and GaN. The technology may …

International collaboration on material failure simulation between Vanderbilt University and Politecnico di Milano

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

Under NSF IREE support, Vanderbilt University had a successful international collaboration project with its partner Italian Institute: Politecnico di Milano. Mainly, cohesive elements were used to model the failure of interface in bonded polymers and metals. They were necessary due to the loads …

Energy-Efficient and Reconfigurable Network-on-Chips for IP Integration in Complex SoC Systems - IREE Program

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The supplement IREE award to our NSF project award entitled "Energy-Efficient and Reconfigurable Network-on-Chips for IP Integration in Complex SoC Systems" provides the fund to support the training and research plan of the participating researchers at UNLV and Nankai University. With the …

Collaborative research: Large numerical simulations of turbulence and Reynolds, Schmidt and Rossby number scalings

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

An IREE supplement allowed the PI's PhD student (a US citizen) to visit and work with a senior foreign host mentor in Australia for three summer months in 2008. Significant progress in research on turbulent dispersion of multi-particle clusters was made, and the new results were subsequently …

Nanodevices and NanoEngineering Laboratory at Univeristy of Pittsburgh

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

This report describes the international research experience of one graduate and three undergraduate students under the aupices of an NSF IREE grant. The students spent twelve weeks engaged in various types of semiconductor research in South Korea - two students at Sungkyunkwan University and two …

ITR: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NHS, ASE: dmc, int, soc: A Wireless Local Positioning System for Mobile Remote Monitoring

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

A collaborative research is conducted to implement a software defined radio. The collaboration is maintained across Michigan Technological University (MTU), USA, and, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia. This software defined radio is the main component of a wireless local …

CAREER: Computer modeling of short pulse laser interaction with metals

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

The supplementaryIREE award, CBET # 0738159, supports a collaboration and student exchange between the University of Virginia (UVa) and ISAS - Institute for Analytical Sciences, Dortmund, Germany. An undergraduate student from UVa, Mr. Derek Thomas, and the PI, Prof. Leonid Zhigilei, spent a part …

Vibration-Based Structural Damage Detection: Theory and Applications

09 Jun 2009 | Publications

ABSTRACT: The International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) supplement to the above- titled main award supports the visit of a Ph.D. student and the PI to the UK for about three months and one week, respectively. The main purpose of the visit for the graduate student was to conduct …