College of Engineering
CYCLONE ENGINEERING RESEARCH F A L L
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Stronger when stressed: New smart, flexible material transforms to hard composite
FALL 2018 CONTENTS PHILANTHROPY JUMP-STARTS RESEARCH INNOVATION.............................................................................. 3 2018 NSF CAREER AWARD WINNERS................................... 4 STRONGER, CHEAPER, GREENER FOUNDATIONS FOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION................. 6 SMART MATERIAL GETS STRONGER WHEN STRESSED................................................................................... 8 ADVANCING BIORENEWABLES PROCESSING FOR A SUSTAINABLE, AGRICULTURAL-POWERED FUTURE....... 10 BOOSTING DIVERSITY IN ENGINEERING WITH EVIDENCE-BASED STRATEGIES........................................... 12 NEWS BITES............................................................................. 14
Sarah A. Rajala James L. and Katherine S. Melsa Dean of Engineering Arun K. Somani Associate Dean for Research Anson Marston Distinguished Professor Philip and Virginia Sproul Professor Editor: Breehan Gerleman Contributing Editor: Mike Krapfl Photography: Christopher Gannon and Bob Elbert Graphic Designer: William Beach collegerelations@iastate.edu www.engineering.iastate.edu/research On the cover: Cyclone Engineers have developed a new smart material that transforms itself into a hard composite when bent, twisted or squeezed. The new material could be used in medicine to support delicate tissue or in industry to protect valuable sensors. Story on page 8.
Copyright © 2018, Iowa State University of Science and Technology. All rights reserved. Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. veteran. Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to Office of Equal Opportunity, 3410 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, Ames, Iowa 50011, Tel. 515 294-7612, Hotline: 515-294-1222, email: eooffice@iastate.edu.
PHILANTHROPY JUMP-STARTS RESEARCH INNOVATION
More than 50 named professors and chair positions
“Philanthropy propels early-stage, innovative research at Iowa State, making discoveries possible that simply wouldn’t have happened without donors’ gifts,” said Sarah Rajala, James L. and Katherine S. Melsa Dean of Engineering. “The outstanding level of support from our donors also helps us attract the best faculty to work on groundbreaking research questions and train the next generation of researchers.” The College of Engineering has more than 50 named professors and chair positions, supporting faculty who are conducting research in life-improving areas from renewable energy to fighting disease to cybersecurity. “Donors to the College of Engineering are incredibly committed to making a difference, and they are making an investment in a better future for us all by supporting faculty at Iowa State,” said Rajala. In this issue, you can read more about the pioneering research conducted by faculty supported by philanthropy. Learn more on page 4 about our National Science Foundation CAREER winners, many of whom have been supported by Black & Veatch Building a World of Difference Faculty Fellowships in Engineering. And on page 10, see how Robert Brown, Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering, is leading the nation in biorenewables processing research.
– College of Engineering, Iowa State University
Frank Peters, third from left, an associate professor, was recently named to the C. G. “Turk” and Joyce A. Therkildsen Professorship in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering
2018 NSF CAREER Award Winners Shan Hu
Assistant professor of mechanical engineering “Scalable Manufacturing of Hierarchical Nanostructures by Acoustically Modulated Emulsion Technique for Next Generation Renewable Energy Applications” Hu will design techniques for self-assembly “nanomanufacturing” that will make the process more easily scalable, cheaper and faster to create 3-D nanostructures for next-generation clean energy technologies. She is also creating multidisciplinary research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and community college students from underrepresented minorities.
Alice Alipour
Assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering “Resiliency of Electric Power Networks Under Wind Loads and Aging Effects through Risk-Informed Design and Assessment Strategies” Alipour will use a systems approach to create new design methodologies for electric power networks that will increase power grid resiliency in hurricanes, blizzards and other severe storms. She will also develop interactive educational opportunities for high school students, curricula focused on interdisciplinary research, industry partnerships, and a mentoring program to interest and educate the next generation of natural hazard engineers.
Adarsh Krishnamurthy
Assistant professor of mechanical engineering “GPU-Accelerated Framework for Integrated Modeling and Biomechanics Simulations of Cardiac Systems” Krishnamurthy will integrate patient data with cardiovascular modeling to create simulation, analysis and visualization tools that enable personalized treatment of heart diseases. He is also developing educational and virtual reality tools that illustrate heart health concepts to both K-12 students and adults.
Neil Gong
Chinmay Hegde
Assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering
Assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering
“Graph-based Security Analytics: New Algorithms, Robustness Under Adversarial Settings, and Robustness Enhancements”
“Advances in Graph Learning and Inference”
Gong is developing graph-inference algorithms that quickly and reliably detect and combat cyberattacks. He will also integrate his findings into a graduate course on data-driven security and contribute to K-12 cybersecurity outreach and competitions.
Hegde is developing faster and more accurate graph-learning and inference algorithms that will improve decision-making in transportation networks, social networks and personalized learning systems. He will also create data science curricula and workforce development programs designed to increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in computational sciences.
Juan Ren
Zengyi Shao
“Modeling and Control of Cellular Response to Dynamic Mechanical Manipulation Using a Dual-Input Platform”
“Exploring nucleosome-depleted sequences for novel applications in synthetic biology”
Assistant professor of mechanical engineering
Ren is creating dynamics models and control algorithms for how cells change structure in response to external force, providing cell biologists with a new tool to control biochemical and mechanical cell changes. She will also develop a new undergraduate course in nanobiomechanics and an outreach program on using biomechanical methods in agriculture.
Assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering
Shao will study the influence of a subgroup of DNA that was recently discovered to be important to cell metabolism, opening a door to new biotechnology and improvements in human health. She is also developing unique undergraduate research programs, mentoring next-generation STEM teachers and promoting the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM.
/ NSF CAREER PROJECT IN PROGRESS /
STRONGER, CHEAPER, GREENER FOUNDATIONS FOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION “A challenge of foundation research is that you can’t see through soil, so you often can’t see exactly what’s happening in an experiment. We used a transparent soil – a gelatin that acts like soft clay – to make observations not possible any other way.” – Cassandra Rutherford, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering
Cassandra Rutherford is studying how Rutherford’s research team used smallto improve foundation design of tidal scale laboratory tests in transparent soil and current turbines – with an aim of helping centrifuge testing to evaluate the performance offshore renewable energy generation go of suction caissons to resist high lateral mainstream. Her project examining suction loads and resist the cyclic loading caused caissons as an economical and green option by the oscillating blades of the turbine. for tidal turbines is supported by an NSF The researchers, including international CAREER award. collaborators, are now creating 3-D numerical “Tidal current turbines have huge models that replicate experimental results and energy generation potential, and make more conclusions about caisson they overcome some challenges performance possible. of wind turbines: Tidal turbines “Right now, there’s a lot of room run continuously and are out of for growth in offshore renewable sight,” said Rutherford, assistant energy generation, and as we professor of civil, construction transition to these types of and environmental engineering. energy in the future, I’m hoping But research is limited on our research will make tidal how best to create tidal turbine Cassandra Rutherford, assistant current turbines a more and viable option,” said Rutherford. foundations. Suction caissons professor of civil, construction environmental engineering have been used for some time Rutherford is also working to to anchor large offshore oil and gas inspire kids’ interest in civil engineering and facilities, and they hold promise for use with renewable energy. As part of her CAREER tidal turbines. project, she did hands-on wind, solar and “Suction caissons offer the additional wave energy experiments with second and benefit of being easy to place – you simply fourth graders. And she did a week-long drop into position, pump out the extra water, camp with high school girls. and the pressure of the ocean pushes “I’m trying to expose kids to a broader the caisson the rest of the way in,” said picture of what civil engineering is, as well Rutherford. “When the life of the tidal turbine as introduce them to a more diverse picture is done, the suction caisson can be removed, of who works as a civil engineer, so more making it a green alternative that leaves no students can see themselves in this field,” waste behind in the ocean.” said Rutherford.
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Fou r mo re CAR EE R pro jects in pro g ress
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Kristin Rozier, aerospace engineering, “Theoretical Foundations of the UAS in the NAS Problem”
Jeramy Ashlock, civil, construction and environmental engineering, “A Framework for Integrated Computational and Physical Simulation of Dynamic SoilPile Group Interaction” Meng Lu, electrical and computer engineering, “Integration of Photonic Crystals and Paper-Based Microfluidics for Biosensing”
Anupam Sharma, aerospace engineering, “Ultra-Quiet Aircraft Propulsion Inspired by the Unique Plumage of the Owl”
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ACTIVE CAREER PROJECTS in the college of engineering
SMART MATERIAL GETS STRONGER WHEN STRESSED Cyclone Engineers have developed a new smart and responsive material that stiffens up like a worked-out muscle. Stress a muscle and it gets stronger. Mechanically stress the rubbery material – say with a twist or a bend – and the material automatically stiffens by up to 300 percent, the engineers said. In lab tests, mechanical stresses transformed a flexible strip of the material into a hard composite that can support 50 times its own weight. This new composite material doesn’t need outside energy sources, such as heat, light or electricity to change its properties. And it could be used in a variety of ways, including applications in medicine and industry. Lead researchers are Martin Thuo and Michael Bartlett, both assistant professors of materials science and engineering, who combined Thuo’s expertise in micro-sized, liquidmetal particles with Bartlett’s expertise in soft materials such as rubbers, plastics and gels. The researchers found a simple, low-cost way to produce particles of undercooled metal – that’s metal that remains liquid even below its melting temperature. The tiny particles (they’re just 1 to 20 millionths of a meter across) are created by exposing droplets of melted metal to
oxygen, creating an oxidation layer that coats the droplets and stops the liquid metal from turning solid. They also found ways to mix the liquid-metal particles with a rubbery elastomer material without breaking the particles. When this hybrid material is subject to mechanical stresses – pushing, twisting, bending, squeezing – the liquid-metal particles break open. The liquid-metal flows out of the oxide shell, fuses together and solidifies. “You can squeeze these particles just like a balloon,” Thuo said. “When they pop, that’s what makes the metal flow and solidify.” The result, Bartlett said, is a “metal mesh that forms inside the material.” Thuo and Bartlett said the popping point can be tuned to make the liquid metal flow after varying amounts of mechanical stress. Tuning could involve changing the metal used, changing the particle sizes or changing the soft material. In this case, the liquid-metal particles contain Field’s metal, an alloy of bismuth, indium and tin. But Thuo said other metals will work, too. “The idea is that no matter what metal you can get to undercool, you’ll get the same behavior,” he said.
The engineers say the new material could be used in medicine to support delicate tissues or in industry to protect valuable sensors. There could also be uses in soft and bioinspired robotics or reconfigurable and wearable electronics. “A device with this material can flex up to a certain amount of load,” Bartlett said. “But if you continue stressing it, the elastomer will stiffen and stop or slow down these forces.”
Examples of the new smart material, left to right: A flexible strip; a flexible strip that stiffened when twisted; a flexible strip transformed into a hard composite that can hold up a weight.
Left to right: Boyce Chang, Martin Thuo, Michael Bartlett and Ravi Tutika.
ADVANCING BIORENEWABLES PROCESSING FOR A SUSTAINABLE, AGRICULTURE-POWERED FUTURE Cyclone Engineer Robert Brown is pioneering in chemical and biological engineering and the use of thermochemical processes agricultural and biosystems engineering. to efficiently and inexpensively Brown’s colleague Mark Mba-Wright, turn biomass into biofuels associate professor of mechanical and biobased chemicals. engineering, takes data from laboratory and Brown, Anson Marston pilot plant experiments and determines costs Distinguished Professor to scale up to industrial production and how in Engineering, has built much the products will cost consumers. a nation-leading research “The engineer in me is always program in scaling biomass thinking ‘OK, contributing to new knowledge in processing discoveries the thermochemical sciences is Robert Brown, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor from the bench to pilot gratifying, but how do we use these in Engineering and demonstration scales. findings?’ Getting scale up and He directs Iowa State’s Bioeconomy Institute, economics right is key to transitioning which researches processes that use heat, technology out of the lab and into the market,” pressure and catalysts to produce significant said Brown. advantages in yields, require less inputs, reduce Brown’s research has drawn the interest capital costs and makes simpler, modular reactor of major players in the energy industry. designs possible. ConocoPhillips established an $18.5 million “Our program’s uniqueness is the depth research program at Iowa State that made and breadth of experience in the major critical advancements in thermochemical thermochemical processes applied to biomass conversion of biomass, especially pyrolysis. pyrolysis, gasification and solvent liquefaction Later, Chevron partnered with Brown’s research – and our support of commercialization team on solvent liquefaction research. of these processes through scale-up and “Chevron valued our expertise in technoeconomic analysis,” said Brown, who thermochemical processing and, most is also the Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in importantly, our capability to conduct research Mechanical Engineering and a professor at pilot plant scale,” said Brown.
The processing facility is now located at Iowa State’s first-in-the-nation BioCentury Research Farm, which integrates biomass production and processing. Brown is now lending his expertise to the Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Institute, a Manufacturing USA project funded by the Department of Energy and led by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. RAPID aims to improve the productivity of chemical manufacturing. “Iowa State is co-leading RAPID’s renewable bioproducts efforts on the strength of our past contributions in bioenergy and biobased products. The institute is supporting our efforts to scale autothermal pyrolysis into modular energy production systems, a collaboration with our commercialization partner Easy Energy Systems,” said Brown. “We want to build subsystems the size of standard shipping containers, allowing these modular systems to be easily moved to biomass resources.”
Robert Brown (right), Anson Marston Distinguished ProfessorNorthrop in Julie Dickerson, Grumman Professor in honor of Engineering, is a nationwide leader in developing thermochemical Fred W. O’Green in electrical and computer engineering processes to turn biomass into biofuels and biobased chemicals.
BOOSTING DIVERSITY IN ENGINEERING WITH EVIDENCE-BASED STRATEGIES
Diane Rover, University Professor of electrical and computer engineering, is alliance director for the $5 million Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority IowaIllinois-Nebraska STEM Partnership for Research and Education and co-principal investigator for the Reinventing the Instructional and Departmental Enterprise project, both of which seek to boost diversity in STEM fields.
IINSPIRE LSAMP: THRIVING IN STEM DISCIPLINES
RIDE: COLLABORATIVE, INCLUSIVE INSTRUCTIONAL MODELS
An interdisciplinary team of Iowa State Iowa State leads the $5 million Louis Stokes researchers are developing new instructional Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) models for course design in electrical Iowa-Illinois-Nebraska STEM Partnership for and computer engineering, with a goal Research and Education (IINSPIRE) project of better preparing the next generation that aims to increase the number and improve of engineers for working in ever complex the experience of underrepresented students systems and broadening the participation of completing STEM degrees in the Midwest. underrepresented students, especially IINSPIRE offers students evidencewomen. based academic, professional and The Reinventing the Instructional and social support, including mentoring, Departmental Enterprise (RIDE) project hands-on research experiences, is funded by $2 million from the NSF to transfer partnerships between develop new approaches to teaching two- and four-year institutions, and and learning in electrical and computer other programming. engineering, especially in relation to Researchers, guided by social design and systems thinking, cognitive career theory, are Jonathan Wickert, Iowa State senior vice professional skills, such as leadership studying both micro- and macro and inclusion, contextual concepts level influences to understand how president and provost and creative technologies. Researchers are IINSPIRE students thrive and persist in STEM developing and evaluating human-centered, disciplines. Sixteen public and private colleges collaborative and interactive teaching practices and universities and community colleges across in new courses each semester, continually three states are participating in IINSPIRE, evaluating and improving strategies. providing a rich collaboration to study shared RIDE co-principal investigators are Diane challenges alliance-wide. Rover, University Professor of electrical and IINSPIRE is led by principal investigator computer engineering, and Joe Zambreno, Jonathan Wickert, Iowa State senior vice professor of electrical and computer president and provost and professor of engineering. mechanical engineering, and alliance director Diane Rover, University Professor of electrical and computer engineering. IINSPIRE is funded by the National Science Foundation.
ECSEL: ECOSYSTEMS OF SUPPORT Cyclone Engineers, together with colleagues at two community colleges, are examining the entire process of earning electrical, computer and software engineering degrees to help improve diversity and inclusion in the fields. The Electrical, Computer and Software Engineers as Leaders (ECSEL) project research team, led by professor of electrical and computer engineering Joe Zambreno, is adapting, implementing and studying an evidence-based student experience model that forms an entire ecosystem of supports, ranging from scholarships for low-income, high-potential students, to Joe Zambreno, professor of electrical and professional development computer engineering activities and study abroad opportunities – all with a goal of doubling the number of women enrolled in the degree programs. Research questions address how women and other diverse students develop and sustain their engineering identities and what motivates underrepresented students to persist and thrive in electrical, computer and software engineering degree programs. ECSEL is funded by the NSF.
TOUGH CANCER NANOSIZED TREATMENT Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering Balaji Narasimhan is developing nanovaccines to fight the difficult-to-treat pancreatic cancer. The idea is to load fragments of certain proteins associated with pancreatic cancer into nanoparticles that can be introduced into the body. The proteins would arm a patient’s immune system to target and kill cancer cells.
NEW LEADER FOR DEPT. OF CIVIL, CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
DATA-DRIVEN PLANT BREEDING Associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering Guiping Hu is harnessing the power of big data to improve plant breeding and production. Hu, an Iowa State Plant Sciences Institute Faculty Scholar, is working with agronomists, economists and plant scientists to develop predictive models that optimize plant genomic selection, experimental field design and farm management.
David Sanders has been named the Greenwood Department Chair in Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering. Sanders comes to Iowa State from the University of Nevada, Reno, and he is a fellow of the American Concrete Institute, the Structural Engineering Institute and the American Society of Civil Engineers. His research has centered on the behavior and design of structural concrete with an emphasis in the seismic design of bridges.
TODAY’S KIDS TOMORROW’S ENGINEERS
BUILDING TO REBUILD LIVES Cristina Poleacovschi, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, is part of an interdisciplinary team working to answer the question of how the built environment of refugee camps affects community resilience. Researchers will use the concept of human-centered design, which addresses the needs, rights and perspectives of vulnerable communities, throughout the entire design process.
Suzanne Leonard, a Ph.D. student in agricultural and biosystems engineering, was a “resident engineer” in elementary school classrooms, helping encourage kids to apply critical thinking skills and creativity to STEM concepts. Leonard’s work was supported by a Trinect Fellowship, an National Science Foundation program that pairs teachers with engineering graduate students to develop and deliver experiential STEM activities.
CATALYTIC PROMISE UNEXPECTED MATERIAL Yue Wu, Herbert L. Stiles Professor of Chemical Engineering, developed a chemical process that improved the catalytic potential in two-dimensional metal carbide materials, opening the door for watergas shift reactions. The process, known as reactive metal-support interaction, used an unconventional nanostructured carbide-based support to design and obtain functional bimetallic catalysts.
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Building Collaboration and Innovation Iowa State is building an $84-million, 140,000 square foot Student Innovation Center designed to inspire experimentation, interdisciplinary collaboration and free exchange of ideas in an inclusive environment. Scheduled to open in 2020, the facility reflects Iowa State’s brand of hands-on, experiential learning and will feature unique fabrication equipment ranging from electronics to textiles, flexible meeting areas for project-based learning, and retail space to pilot entrepreneurial ideas.