engineering

Mar 24, 2011

What Happened In Japan? An Overview

In the wake of a recent earthquake and tsunami, there has been enormous interest in the problems facing Japanese nuclear power plants. These events have people asking a large number of questions. What happened? How dangerous is this? How do nuclear power plants work, anyway? On March 23, a panel of nuclear engineering experts held… 

Mar 22, 2011

Engineering Success

Brush up on your PowerPoint skills and hang on to your slide rule. Professors behind NC State's Engineering Entrepreneurs Program say it takes a multidisciplinary approach to launch a business or turn an idea into profit. 

Mar 21, 2011

NC State Program Fosters Entrepreneurship In Engineering Community

One lesson learned in North Carolina State University’s Engineering Entrepreneurs Program (EEP): technical knowledge is not enough, if you want to be successful. NC State researchers are laying out lessons they’ve learned running one of the nation’s first EEPs in a paper being published by IEEE’s Computer, as part of a special issue focused on entrepreneurship. 

Mar 17, 2011

Study Finds More Efficient Means Of Creating, Arranging Carbon Nanofibers

Carbon nanofibers hold promise for technologies ranging from medical imaging devices to precise scientific measurement tools, but the time and expense associated with uniformly creating nanofibers of the correct size has been an obstacle – until now. A new study from North Carolina State University demonstrates an improved method for creating carbon nanofibers of specific… 

Mar 16, 2011

Going Nuclear: Putting Some Media Coverage Into Perspective

Note: This is a guest piece written by Steve Skutnik, a Ph.D. candidate in nuclear engineering at NC State. Among other things, Skutnik is a regular contributor to the nuclear engineering blog The Neutron Economy, where a version of this post originally ran. In times of crisis, mainstream media can make mistakes – particularly when the… 

Mar 16, 2011

Fire It Up

The basketball is in your hands, the score is tied and time's running out. You're about 10 feet away from the basket on the right side of the court, just outside the free-throw lane. Before the clock hits 0:00, check out new research from NC State engineers that shows whether a direct shot or a bank shot has a better chance of scoring your team a postgame victory celebration. 

Mar 10, 2011

Money in the Bank: Using Backboard Can Pay Off for Basketball Shooters

The basketball is in your hands. The score is tied and there are only a few seconds left on the clock. You have the ball about 10 feet away from the basket on the right side of the court, just outside the free-throw lane. It’s decision time: Is it best to try a direct shot… 

Feb 28, 2011

Stretched Rubber Offers Simpler Method For Assembling Nanowires

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a cheap and easy method for assembling nanowires, controlling their alignment and density. The researchers hope the findings will foster additional research into a range of device applications using nanowires, from nanoelectronics to nanosensors, especially on unconventional substrates such as rubber, plastic and paper. 

Feb 22, 2011

Liquid Metal Key to Simpler Creation of Electrodes for Microfluidic Devices

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a faster, easier way to create microelectrodes, for use in microfluidic devices, by using liquid metal. Microfluidic devices manipulate small amounts of fluid and have a wide variety of applications, from testing minute blood samples to performing advanced chemical research. 

Feb 17, 2011

DeSimone Receives Top Science Mentor Award

Dr. Joseph M. DeSimone, North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher and innovator, has received the 2010 Mentor Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The award honors association members who have mentored significant numbers of underrepresented students – such as women, minorities and persons with… 

Feb 17, 2011

The French Connection

Like many prospective engineers, Quentin Vermont is here in part to broaden his job prospects. But unlike most other engineers on campus, Vermont is pursuing a degree from the France-based SKEMA Business School, which opened its first U.S. campus at NC State last month. 

Feb 2, 2011

New Technique Boosts High-Power Potential For Gallium Nitride Electronics

Gallium nitride (GaN) material holds promise for emerging high-power devices that are more energy efficient than existing technologies – but these GaN devices traditionally break down when exposed to high voltages. Now researchers at North Carolina State University have solved the problem, introducing a buffer that allows the GaN devices to handle 10 times greater… 

Feb 1, 2011

Raw Power: Buffers Boost GaN Device Capacity

Gallium nitride (GaN) devices are supposed to be the next big thing in power electronics (think electric cars or smart grid). Or they would be, if they didn’t keep breaking when exposed to high voltages. New research may have solved that problem by implanting buffers made of argon that allow the devices to handle ten… 

Jan 31, 2011

New Hardware Boosts Communication Speed On Multi-Core Chips

Computer engineers at North Carolina State University have developed hardware that allows programs to operate more efficiently by significantly boosting the speed at which the “cores” on a computer chip communicate with each other. 

Jan 27, 2011

Hacked? Go Back In Time To Protect Yourself

If a hacker gets control of your computer’s operating system (OS), you’re hosed. The OS basically gives them control over everything. But researchers have now come up with a nifty combo of hardware and software that effectively lets you go back in time if you’re hacked – re-setting the OS to its happier, pre-attack condition…