News

Arcot Ramachandran (MSME '47, PhD '49) passed away on May 19, 2018. He was a former director of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, frequent advisor to the government of India, and Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements.

There's still a lot we don't know about the safety, performance, and life of lithium-ion batteries. Partha Mukherjee's expertise was quoted for the recent WIRED article, "Batteries Still Suck, But Researchers Are Working On It."

In his early life, Baratunde Cola (Ph.D. '08) combined his love of football with his love of science and engineering. He succeeded at both, becoming the starting fullback at Vanderbilt, and also the first graduate student to work at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center (the largest academic cleanroom in the world). Now a professor at Georgia Tech, he has harnessed his expertise of nanotechnology into a startup business: Carbice, which builds heat-dissipating materials out of carbon nanotubes for the space and semiconductor industries.

What's life *really* like on the International Space Station? Find out from Scott Tingle (MSME '88), as he writes a weekly blog about the adventures of spacewalks, going to the bathroom in space, and getting along with an international team 250 miles above the earth.

Purdue University researchers, including Euiwon Bae, have developed detection technology that allows a typical smartphone to analyze produce for foodborne pathogens such as E. coli, which has been linked to a deadly outbreak in romaine lettuce.

An open-wheel race car designed and built by a team of Purdue students drove to a top-11 finish at Formula SAE Michigan, an intercollegiate event consisting of 120 schools from around the world. Organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the event took place at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, MI.

Heat produces sound waves in fluids -- but Carlo Scalo and Fabio Semperlotti have discovered that these sound waves also occur in solids. This could lead to new thermoacoustic engines, and even power future spacecraft and satellites.

Purdue alums Scott Tingle and Drew Feustel spoke live from the International Space Station to Purdue's commencement on Friday, May 11. Scott bestowed an honorary doctorate on Drew, after which they floated out of sight. This is the 10th space mission to feature at least two Purdue University astronauts.

A Purdue University team has just published research that examines the relationship between the active and inactive elements of lithium-ion batteries, and how the micro- and nano-structure of their respective ingredients reflects on the performance and safety of the batteries.

ZeroUI, a wireless hand-controlled robot developed at Purdue University, has received a tech startup award at the TiE50 conference in Silicon Valley.