Michigan Engineering Forum

New Wireless Sensors Make Smart Bridges Smarter

2009-11-24T13:02:00.006-05:00

America's infrastructure is sick and getting sicker -- it's simply a matter of age and an inability to know when and where some doctoring is needed. But sensor technology can identify where problems lie.Unfortunately, the sensors that we currently have available to install on bridges are expensive, in great part because only complex wiring can transform individual sensors into a full functioning diagnostic web. The answer to that problem is wireless technology.

Jerry Lynch, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Michigan, is the lead researcher of a team that's pioneering wireless sensors such as Narada, a low-cost device designed for installation in civil structures. Lynch and his students are collaborating with researchers at KAIST to validate the performance of the sensors on bridges in Korea.

Lynch and his colleagues are also experimenting with a paint-like substance made of carbon nanotubes that can be applied to the surface of bridges to detect corrosion and cracks. Since carbon nanotubes conduct electricity by sending a current through the paint, he says, it's possible to detect structural weakness through changes in the electrical properties.

Lynch and his colleagues explained some of their work in the video "Nova Smart Bridges - Nanotech Skin." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwQVpZFfP18

Mark Twain – Author, Inventor and Entrepreneur

2009-11-13T16:40:00.029-05:00

When Mark Twain wasn’t writing, he was a dabbler in technology -- a novice inventor and entrepreneur. He once claimed that the name of the greatest inventor was "Accident." But he was very purposeful in finding time amid his prolific literary production to let his imagination lead him to a workshop and hours of tinkering. For his efforts he received several patents.

On December 19, 1871, the U.S. Patent Office granted Twain his first patent (#121,992) for an adjustable strap that could be used to tighten shirts at the waist – he intended to eliminate suspenders, which he thought were uncomfortable. Twain also received patents for a self-pasting scrapbook, which sold more than 25,000 copies, and a history trivia game. (If you have either of these items, contact "The Antiques Road Show"... you'll be very happy that you did.) The process of entrepreneurship excited him so much that it slipped into his work. In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, for example, one of his characters said that "a country without a patent office and good patent laws was just a crab, and couldn't travel any way but sideways or backways."

Twain's adjustable straps didn't catch on, the biggest reason being that he approached the problem all wrong. Mohammed Islam, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan, has specialized in the development of patents. He teaches "Patent Fundamentals for Engineers," a class in which he points out that entrepreneurs have to ask themselves, 'What's the pain? Does the problem hurt people enough so that they're willing to pay for the solution? Will the product have a sustainable advantage that's different from other solutions? There has to be a competitive advantage to get beyond the first sale." Twain didn't look beyond his own pain. He needed a broader audience.

Doug Neal, managing director for the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan, agreed, saying that it's "extremely important for entrepreneurs to honestly determine who they're providing what specific value. You have to put yourself in your target customers' shoes and find out if they really see the value your idea brings. Many false starts can be traced to a failure to do this successfully."

Despite his disappointments as an entrepreneur, new technology remained a passion for Twain. The early typewriter, a clumsy configuration of rollers and spindly arms at its inception, consumed him -- he couldn’t keep his hands off it -- and he became the first person to submit a typed manuscript to a publisher. The telephone fascinated and frustrated him -- he spent hours on the line. But service was particularly bad around his Connecticut home, so he spent a lot of time grumbling about the phone company and writing satirical letters of complaint. (Things haven't changed all that much.)

Unfortunately, his love of technology overcame his better judgment when he met James W. Paige, who was developing a machine that would become the Paige Typesetter. Between 1880 and 1894, Twain invested a fortune in it -- including his royalties from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The hapless Paige filed for a patent, only to see it sit as a pending document for eight years -- the first Patent Office examiner died before the process was complete; a second examiner went insane; and the patent attorney who originally prepared the case also went crazy and died in an insane asylum. Meanwhile, mechanical problems forced Paige to redesign the machine.

By 1894, Twain was nearly bankrupt. He closed his Hartford home and headed for Europe, in part because his unprofitable investment had taken a toll on his resources and his imagination. Without realizing it, Twain experienced what true entrepreneurs know is the key to eventual success: failure. Fortunately, he had a job he could fall back on… and he was pretty good at it.

Biomimicry – Friend of Technology, Ecology and the Entrepreneur

2009-11-10T15:21:00.014-05:00

Mother Nature's pretty smart. And we've been wise enough to steal some of her best ideas, such as taking inspiration from a leaf to create a solar cell. This biomimicry has helped us uncover products, processes and policies that are well-adapted to life on earth -- it draws on 3.8 billion years of "natural technologies" that evolution has given us to use as models. The results of biomimicry have been stunning, and its untapped potential is enough to make entrepreneurial heads spin.

As one well known story goes, the engineer George de Mestral went for a hike and noticed that burrs stuck to his dog. From that observation came Velco, which now has annual sales of $100 million annually. The blue mussel inspired biodegradable "glues" that surgeons can use in place of sutures. The natural ventilation of termite mounds led to the development of natural passive cooling structures such as hooded windows, variable-thickness walls and light colored paints that reduce heat absorption. The study of bumblebees recently sparked a new approach to wind turbines.

Wait... there's more. The plumage of owls and the beak of the kingfisher were models for the aerodynamics of bullet trains that tear through tunnels silently, without producing the rail version of sonic-booms. By observing sick chimpanzees' activity around trees from the Vernonia genus, researchers discovered chemicals with promising medical applications. The list of examples goes on and on.

Greg Keoleian, a University of Michigan engineering professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, teaches a course in industrial ecology, using a presentation (below) that exposes students to biomimicry and its role in creating sustainable systems.
Industrial Ecology and Bio Mimicry

Keoleian points out the genius in biomimicry. Technologies -- even those developed only to improve people's lives -- can sometimes be terribly harmful and enormously expensive. But technologies that emerge from biomimicry are based on mechanisms that have already been part of the natural order -- they belong, as will their technologic successors. There's no danger of patent infringement when stealing ideas from nature, which asks only that we give back to her what we've taken away. And, best of all, Mother Nature is a willing teacher, her classroom is all around us, the curricula are free and all we need to do is show up for class... and pay attention.

The Biomimicry Guild

The Biomimicry Institute

Biomimicry For Green Design (A How-To)

Using Nature as a Design Guide

The Solar Car Team -- Winners Before the Race Began

2009-10-25T08:00:00.002-04:00

Solar Car team members come from a University-wide range of disciplines, including the College of Engineering, the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. As many as 200 volunteer students throw themselves into the effort of designing, building and racing a solar car -- that includes all of the business and logistics involved in any large-scale operation.

Of those 200 students, 23 have traveled to Australia to compete in the 2009 World Solar Challenge. But they're all there in sprit and all winners before the follow team members set foot on Australian soil.

Steve Hechtman, the race manager for the 2009 team, graduated from U-M in May 2009 with BSE in electrical engineering. He's been a member of the team since his first semester, and the 2009 World Solar Challenge (WSC) is his trip to the contest. Hechtman was one of Continuum's drivers during WSC 2007 and the 2008 North American Solar Challenge (NASC). He's originally from the Washington, D.C., suburb of Vienna, Virginia, and has been interested in computers and cars since his childhood.

Alex Dowling joined the team's Strategy Division just weeks into his college career. During his three years on the team, he's served the team the interim strategy director during the 2007 WSC, head strategist during the 2008 NASC, strategy director for the Infinium project, and as head strategist for WSC 2009. Dowling is a senior in Chemical Engineering department and plans to pursue a PhD. Skilled at the keyboard, he writes simulations for the everyday needs of his teammates.

John Federspiel, the team's crew chief and director of the Engineering Division, is studying mechanical engineering and will graduate in the spring of 2011. Federspiel has been on the team since his first year in college and traveled to Australia for the World Solar Challenge in 2007. He helped develop the solar concentrator system used for Continuum in the 2007 WSC, and was a member of the NASC 2008 Race Crew.

Rachel Unger recently graduated with a BS in economics and environment and has been looking forward to the World Solar Challenge. Passionate about renewable energy and sustainable transportation, she joined the Solar Car Team about a year ago and has since been working with the Operations Division. Unger, originally from a Washington, D.C. suburb in Maryland, is also interested in politics and policy.

Aubrey da Cunha is a member of the Strategy Division, specializing in simulation and optimization. Originally from Cottonwood, Arizona, he joined the team in September, drawn by the complex problem of energy management. Despite being a newer member of the team, da Cunha is a valuable member of the Infinium project. When he's not writing software for the team, da Cunha is a graduate student in mathematics studying computational complexity theory.

Josh Feldman, a member of the team's Strategy Division, is in charge of data handling and communication between race vehicles. He's entering his third year as a computer-science student in the College of Engineering. Originally from Long Island, New York, Feldman raced with the team in the 2008 North American Solar Challenge. He's enthusiastic about the team's accomplishments and looks forward to helping propel the team to the world championship.

Santosh Kumar joined the Strategy Division of the team in his junior year. Born and raised in Singapore, he's currently studying aerospace engineering and is using his talents in math and science to help Infinium run the WSC's Stuart Highway as fast as possible. Kumar contributes regularly to the team's Quote Wall and spends a lot of time building with Lego blocks, running down soccer balls and watching cherry blossoms.

Chris McMeeking is new to the team's Strategy Division this year. A junior majoring in Computer Science in the College of Engineering, he works specifically in the areas of meteorology and weather forecasting and is putting his talents to work for the team on its bid to win the World Solar Challenge. When not working on Solar Car, McMeeking enjoys watching the Detroit Red Wings, who (he claims) are on their way to another Stanley Cup Championship.

Julia Hawley joined the Solar Car Team as a member of the Business Division her sophomore year. She started out doing marketing and events for the team and was elected Business Director that January. She's found her solar car experience invaluable, describing it as the most challenging yet rewarding experience of her life. Excited about traveling with the team to Australia, she hopes that Infinium will bring the WSC championship back to the United States. Hawley isn't sure what she would like to do when she "grows up," but she hopes to run a marathon and live in Argentina or Spain at some point in her life.

Ethan Lardner joined the Operations Division of the team in the fall of his freshman year. Now a sophomore engineer, the Milan, Illinois, native typically logs more than 900 miles a week in his personal Ford truck. He played an integral part in Infinium's production. His official team duties make him responsible for outfitting the support vehicle and semi trailer, operations procurement and kangaroo wrangling. When he isn't driving his truck for solar car purposes, Lardner enjoys boating, hunting, camping and playing his cello.

Jeff Rogers has been on the team for about five years as a member of the Micro-Electrical Engineering Division. He's a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and is the most senior active member of the Solar Car team. As the lead micro-electrical engineer on the team, Rogers does his best to delegate work and transfer knowledge to less experienced team members. Outside of his solar car involvement, he spends time at Toyota Technical Center working on integrated vehicle systems. In his free time he tinkers with computers, cooks meals with friends and keeps his other teammates in check.

Jeremy Nash joined the Micro-Electrical Engineering Division of the team within his first weeks of transferring to the College of Engineering. He's a micro-electrical engineer entering his third year of studies in Computer Engineering. He's managed to find time to write a pop song that aired on the radio, act in a German film, learn Mandarin Chinese, rebuild homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and enter a jazz duel in concert with Geoffrey Keezer. He's also a biomedical device researcher at the WuMRC Laboratory in Ann Arbor, where he works on diagnosing vascular access failure in hemodialysis patients.

Sudeep Rohatgi joined the Power Electrical Division during his first semester at Michigan and is thrilled to be designing and racing Infinium. He's entering his third year of studies in electrical engineering. After spending a summer researching organic solar cells, Rohatgi became interested in energy conversion devices and started designing Infinium's solar array. Outside of his solar car work, he plays ultimate Frisbee, spends time with family and friends, listens to music and reads.

Ethan Stark joined the Power Electrical Engineering Division last fall at the first chance he got after arriving here from sunny California and has been on it ever since. Just finishing his first year at Michigan Engineering, he's very excited to be in Australia and even more excited to win. Outside of his team activities, Stark is a member of Theta Tau Professional Engineering fraternity and is an engineering-physics major.

Gerald Chang joined the solar car team in his freshman year as a member of the Mechanical Engineering Division. Now a second year student, he helped the 2008 race crew power the team to Michigan's fifth national championship. He also led mechanical engineers during the design phase and now makes sure he does everything he can to make Infinium a world-champion solar car. He says that the 2009 World Solar Challenge will be "the greatest event of my life."

Chris Hilger has been a member of the Mechanical Engineering Division of the team since the beginning of his freshman year. Currently studying chemical engineering, he's the head of sourcing for the team, a position in which he gets involved with both the engineering and the business aspects of the project. He's served as a mechanical engineer since production of Infinium was completed. After graduation, he hopes to launch an alternative energy company. In his free time, Hilger enjoys water sports, traveling and spending time with family and friends.

Dylan Reitzell joined the Aero Engineering Division of the team during his freshman year mainly to promote an environmental message but also because of his love to create new things and in hopes of using his Aerospace Engineering knowledge. After spending the last year and half helping to design the body of the car, Reitzell is very excited to have built and now to race Infinium in Australia.

Eric Relson joined the Mechanical Engineering Division within his first month at the University of Michigan. His work for the Solar Car Team is largely mechanical and hands-on. Ever since joining the team, he's "progressed from swallowing LEGOS to breathing carbon-fiber dust." Relson is a native of Ann Arbor and just finished his third year as an undergraduate studying nuclear engineering -- a discipline that, he said, his high school's robotics team sparked him to pursue.

Steve Durbin joined the team as a member of the Business Division in the fall of his sophomore year looking for something to do with his spare time. He's entering his senior year in pursuit of an aerospace-engineering degree. After a year on the team, Durbin was elected Interim Project Manager. While his fellow teammates are racing in Australia this fall, Durbin's leading the team in Ann Arbor. He enjoys playing sports and watching movies in his free time. He is also a devoted Detroit sports fan.

Tanya Das is on the Micro-Electrical Division of the Solar Car Team and is serving as the Interim Engineering Director while her teammates race Infinium in Australia. A team member since the beginning of her sophomore year, she's now a junior studying electrical engineering, with particular interest in the field of solid-state electronics. Das is originally from Rochester Hills, MI, and in her free time enjoys reading, camping and just building things in general.

Rachel Kramer joined the Strategy Division of the team in the fall of 2008. A sophomore in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, she knew little about computer programming before joining the team but she quickly became interested in the optimization work of the Strategy Division. Kramer has since learned a lot about programming and the workings of the team as a whole and now serves as the interim strategy director. Outside of the team and regular classes, Kramer is a proud member of the Michigan Squirrel Feeding Club. She's originally from Ludington, Michigan.

Emily Tischler joined the Business Division in her junior year at the in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business BBA program and is currently serving the team as Interim Business Director. Tischler is from Los Angeles, California, where her interest in cars began. She's interested in pursuing marketing, public relations and advertising. She also enjoys playing basketball, writing and ar, and is conducting research in organizational psychology with Prof. Lee and Melanie Henderson. Tischler hopes to go into a business career in the fashion industry.

Brian Pak is a junior in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. Joining the team his sophomore year, he spent most of his time working on sponsorship procurement for the Business Division and is now the Interim Operations Leader. Pak, a native of Denver, Colorado, loves hitting the slopes during his free time to snowboard. Some of his other interests include swimming, volleyball and tennis. In the future, Pak hopes to work in corporate finance.

The World Solar Challenge -- A Long Run Down the Stuart Highway

2009-10-20T15:02:00.008-04:00

The World Solar Challenge runs about 3,200 kilometers on Australia's Stuart Highway, north to south, Darwin to Adelaide -- through tropical rainforests, across the savannah country, through barren desert to the fertile coastal regions of the south. U-M's Infinium and its rivals will pass breathtaking natural formations such as the Devil's Marbles (below) in the Northern Outback, through offbeat towns like Alice Springs and Katherine, Woomera and Coober Pedy, and lands that support cultures rooted 60,000 years in the past. The Stuart is a legacy of World War II, named after explorer John McDouall Stuart, the most famous of all Australia's inland explorers. The Stuart is fully paved -- "sealed," as Australians say -- but it's still a rough haul for all comers.

According to the rules, solar car teams will stop for 30 minutes at various checkpoints along the route. (It's worth noting that for regular passenger cars, fatigue-related crashes are common on the Stuart, so Australia upgraded rest areas to encourage drivers to stop and take the necessary breaks to successfully manage this risk.) Only limited maintenance tasks (no repairs) are allowed during a car's compulsory stops. In order to select a suitable place for overnight stops alongside the highway, teams can extend their driving period for a maximum of 10 minutes; that extra driving time will be compensated by a starting time delay the next day. Because the Stuart is a public road, the cars have to adhere to the normal traffic regulations. But after midday, when the sun is in the west, it's advantageous to drive on the right side of the highway, provided, of course, there's no traffic coming from the opposite direction. So the drivers tend to take advantage of the Stuart's sunny side and a favorable road camber in order to capture the maximum amount of solar energy -- an infraction that officials seem to ignore.

In the inaugural competition in 1982, 23 teams competed, completing the run down the Stuart at an average speed of 67 kilometers per hour (42 miles per hour). In 2005, the Nuna 3 entry from Delft University of Technology touched speeds in excess of 100 km/hour.
The average speed has shot up to 103 kph (64 mph). This led to some major regulation changes concerning safety.

The somewhat eccentric towns along the Stuart are something that solar car teams aren't likely to forget anytime soon. Woomera’s major features are a supermarket, liquor store and library. Pimba’s main attraction is a water tank. At Glendambo, passersby can use an emergency phone and wash their clothes at a bore tap outside the Mobil station -- they can even take a dipper of water from the rain water in tanks, if they ask nicely. Erldunda, not known for being a friendly town, does have a shower that visitors can use for $4. You'll be reading more about small-town life along the Stuart in the days to come.

The Stuart Highway is an inhospitable scratch down Australia's back -- it tests not just machines but people, as does the World Solar Challenge. So when the U-M Solar Car Team comes home, ask them about the Stuart. You'll probably find that their world view is at least a little different than the one they took with them to Australia.

The World Solar Challenge -- Coming Up Fast

2009-10-13T17:02:00.005-04:00

In 1982, Australian Hans Tholstrup drove the first solar-powered car ("Quiet Achiever") almost 2,800 miles between Sydney and Perth in 20 days -- 10 days faster than the first gasoline-powered car to do so. Following his dusty "roll about," Tholstrup founded the World Solar Challenge, which has become the world championship of solar car racing. The event has also is one of many pivotal points in the history of solar energy.

You'll be reading more about the World Solar Challenge in the coming weeks (10/25 - 10/31) as I follow the University of Michigan Solar Car team, which turned 20 in 2009. The team has built 10 cars in that time. Five have won national championships; three placed third in world competition. And none of those races was inconsequential.

Crossing the Australian outback, from Darwin to Adelaide (north to south), on the Stuart Highway, powered only by sunlight, is a monumental undertaking. Here are some basics. If you compare a solar car with the cars that we drive daily, think of the battery as if it were the gas tank, and solar array as if it were the gas pump -- except the gas pump that sucks the money out of your wallet doesn't have an infinite supply of energy, as the sun does. An "optimizer" gets the energy from the array to the battery. You might think of an optimizer as an oil refinery that's small enough and light enough to have on board the car.

At some point in every race, the team must ask a question: Do you put the array power output directly into the motor, or do you put some of it in the battery? The weatherman figures mightily into the answer -- if it’s cloudy, then a solar car's dependent on its battery, and driving too fast in cloudy conditions can drain the battery quickly, leaving you with the aggravating task of punching up roadside assistance, which is never close by in the Outback. So the sophistication of the battery is critical.

However, as you might expect, the solar cells are the primary technology. In the University of Michigan's 2009 car, Infinium, the team has connected more than 40 individual cells to get the necessary voltage (140V) and power (5+ kilowatt hours). Previous cars had many more cells, but as photovoltaic technology advanced, the power density increased, enabling fewer cells to produce as much or more power than cells in earlier arrays.

The car also needs a mastermind in its circuitry. Here's another car analogy. Think of the solar cells as the number of gallons in your tank. Each battery cell has a small printed circuit that reports minimum and maximum voltage, temperature and current. An on-board system monitors all of the cells about every 100 milliseconds to control the function of the battery. So the car’s "brain" has to be at the top of its game.

Having said all of that, I must identify the most important element for each solar car in the event: its team. They take care of all logistics that get them from Point A to Point B. That includes feeding and housing everyone and keeping the caravan of accompanying vehicles gassed and on-the-move -- the Michigan team's convoy consists of a semi-trailer and its tractor, a weather van outfitted with high-tech instrumentation and students who know how to use it, the "lead" and "chase" vans with flashing yellow lights that protect the solar car from crazy or curious drivers, and a pickup with an array manipulator for media stops and after-race charging. Each of these vehicles has its own energy problems because of the need to operate computers, radios and cell phones.

The team also engineers PR, sponsorship, media relations, Internet support and business management.

If you want a look at what goes into a team's effort in the World Solar Challenge, check out "Continuum: Against All Odds," which won Best Short Documentary at the All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival, held July 10-11 in Hollywood. The documentary film is about the Continuum, the 2007 Michigan Solar Car and the team's dramatic showing in that year's World Solar Challenge. The movie chronicles the story of the team as it bounced back from a crippling crash. With its promising solar concentrator system, the team started off with high hopes. The car collided with a support vehicle and was sidelined just after the race began. The team worked through the night to get Continuum up and running again, and they managed to finish the 2007 World Solar Challenge in 7th place.

Read more about the University of Michigan Solar Car team at http://solarcar.engin.umich.edu.

Enough About Coal – Let’s Hear About Concrete!

2009-10-06T15:15:00.004-04:00

Where would we be without concrete? It's the most prevalent building material on the planet. Without it, we'd be a world of one- and two-floor structures. The Statue of Liberty would be elfin rather than the largest 19th-century concrete structure in the U.S. No Roman Coliseum or Pantheon. No theatre at Pompeii. No Pont du Gard Aqueduct in France. No Empire State building or Sears Tower. No… well, you get the idea. Without concrete the world would, indeed, be flat, so to speak.

But all of our building with concrete comes at an enormous environmental cost because about 5 to 8 percent of all human-generated atmospheric CO2 comes from the concrete industry.

Portland cement, the binding agent in concrete, is the bugaboo -- producing it takes massive amounts of energy which, in turn, generates an enormous amount of CO2 -- for every pound of cement we create, we pump about one pound CO2 into the air. You can grasp the weight of the problem when you understand that we turn out more than 2.6 billion tons of Portland cement every year.

So, in addition to developing clean energy sources, we need to do a bit of work on cementitious materials. One green alternative, inorganic polymer concrete (geopolymer), is emerging with others that substitute "fly ash" -- one of the planet's most abundant industrial by-products -- for Portland cement. Geopolymers can reduce CO2 emissions significantly and produce a durable infrastructure that could consistently last centuries rather than decades. And the use of fly ash would eliminate the need for hundreds of thousands of acres on which to dispose of coal combustion products. Geopolymer concrete resists corrosion better than concrete with Portland cement; it exhibits high compressive and tensile strengths, and less shrinkage.

But for me -- and don’t get me wrong, I’m a Portland cement-lover from way back -- geopolymer is the concrete of choice for all of the aforementioned reasons: its binding agent is fly ash, which is abundant, cheap and ready to use now; it would reduce greenhouse gases and enable us to build a more durable infrastructure… AND it would buy us more time to implement those green energy sources -- solar, wind, geothermal, tides and others -- that seem to be taking forever to put to use.

Let's hear some noise for geopolymer concrete, the eco-friendly building material that would mitigate the use of Portland cement and its enormous CO2 production.

Read about the University of Michigan’s Advanced Civil Engineering – Materials Research Lab, which is developing yet other ideas, such as bendable concrete, for a sustainable concrete future with an eye on durability and a reduced environmental impact.

Also, read about:

The University of Michigan Center for Concrete Performance

The Nano Entrepreneur -- Part III

2009-09-22T21:12:00.027-04:00

Nanotechnology and Green Energy

I have this feeling that the biggest obstacle to energy independence is apathy. Right now we have -- or could soon have -- the technology to power the world with wind, sun, water and geothermal applications. But we can't seem to push clean energy out of our labs and onto the landscape. Energy companies seem slow to create a new business model that'll generate profits as they transition from black to green. We should be clamoring for planet-friendly power. Writing congress. Carrying signs. Protesting the slow, sometimes indiscernible progress. Our survival rests in the balance -- and that's not an overly dramatic statement. We have big problems. Many of the solutions will come from the infinitesimal world of nanotechnology. And we're dependent on entrepreneurs to do what most of us can't -- they are by nature anything but apathetic.

Chances are they watched Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future -- particularly the scene in which he returns from his trip 30 years into the future, casually picks a banana peel out of the garbage and slips it into his Delorian's microbial fuel cell chamber, demonstrating that organic matter, such as that in agricultural and municipal waste, is a tremendously rich source of energy. In fact, as much as 80 percent of municipal waste is organic, and right now -- not 30 years ahead -- we can use microbial fuel cells to extract energy from biomass and produce electrical power. The problem is efficiency -- inefficient electron transfer yields low currents. However, by using semiconducting nanoparticles to amplify electron transfer, researchers can increase output significantly. Labs at the University of Michigan are creating a new generation of microbial fuel cells that integrate nanotechnology and optimized fuel-cell designs to increase power. Entrepreneurs are launching companies such as Trophos Energy on the bet that microbial fuel cell technology will be a hot item in the green revolution.

Applied Materials is another mover in the nano-energy field. They use a thin polymer film with nanoscale semiconductor materials and single-walled carbon nanotubes to produce a polymer solar cell that maximizes energy conversion. (It's worth noting that, although consumer demand for solar power has increased in the United States, it hasn't been significant enough for Applied Materials -- the world's biggest solar equipment manufacturer -- to build their cells in America. So, right now, according to The New York Times, "federal and state subsidies for installing solar systems are largely paying for the cost of importing solar panels made in China, by Chinese workers, using hi-tech manufacturing equipment invented in America.")

Nanosolar has been using a high-speed process to produce next-generation thin-film solar cells. The printing technique is two orders of magnitude more capital-efficient than a high-vacuum process. The new process works as well in production as it does in the lab.

The number of nano-energy startups and research programs grows and grows, but we have yet to see a significant dent in the carbon-energy dependence that hangs over us like a cloud. It's time for me to stop living as a partner with my apathy. And if I can kick apathy out of the house, so can you. Time to make some noise. Ask hard questions. Write our representatives in Washington. Carry signs. Raise a little consciousness. And give a special helping hand to those green-eyed entrepreneurs who have the know-how but lack support

The Nano Entrepreneur -- Part II

2009-09-16T16:46:00.008-04:00

Nanotechnology and Data Storage

A computer-literate friend once told me, "You’ll never, ever need a hard drive bigger than 175 megs." Those were the days when hard drives were just beginning to replace those big, flexible floppy disks. My short-sighted friend didn’t see what was coming -- storage devices that hold gigabytes...terabytes...of information, and palm-sized devices that hold all of your word processing files, spreadsheets, pictures, music and movies.

Data storage is getting bigger and better. And we'll need more tomorrow.

Nanotechnology has had, and will continue to have, a revolutionary effect on data storage -- it might lead to high-density storage with life expectancy of a billion years. In 2004, revenues from data storage based on nanotechnology totaled $97 million. By 2011, that figure might reach $65.7 billion. And as each innovation occurs, opportunities will pop up for entrepreneurs who have the insight and passion to transform these new ideas into viable consumer products.

Following a pivotal breakthrough (an "atomic switch"), Colossal Storage Corporation, an R&D company that focuses on 2D Spintronic and 3D Holographic Optical Nanostorage, has patented a 100-terabyte, 3.5-inch disk. The company feels that's just the leading edge of where their technology will take them.

Researchers in Israel combined a natural protein with clusters of silicon nanoparticles to create arrays of stored bits of information as close as 11 nanometers apart.

A University of Michigan engineering researcher used self-assembling nanoparticles to fabricate negative index materials (NIM) with complex geometries and structures of higher order. A "superlens" made from NIM will likely have applications in the manufacture of smaller and faster chips, and data storage devices of multiple-terabyte capacity.

Nantero and Hewlett-Packard are leaders in nano data storage. Nantero has developed a carbon nanotube-based crossbar memory called Nano-RAM (a high-density nonvolatile RAM), and Hewlett-Packard is exploring the use of memristor material (a passive two-terminal circuit element that maintains a functional relationship between the time integrals of current and voltage), which the company sees as a future replacement of flash memory.

It's ironic that the infinitesimal world of nanotechnology is becoming the basis for vast quantities of data storage. And it's a testament to the power of technology and the insight of entrepreneurs that at one time, not so terribly long ago, I could buy only flexible floppy discs, and then a 175-meg hard drive ("more storage than I would ever need"), but now there's enough memory on one disc to hold five Libraries of Congress -- enough, I imagine, to render my nearsighted computer friend speechless.

Next, "The Nano Entrepreneur – Part III, Nanotechnology and Green Energy."

The Nano Entrepreneur -- Part I

2009-09-09T10:05:00.007-04:00

Thousands of today's best business opportunities fit on the point of a pin -- nanotechnology has given entrepreneurial minds the tools to solve problems and cure a world of pain with products that, even a decade ago, were beyond our capabilities to design, test and manufacture.

Doug Neal, managing director at the University of Michigan's Center for Entrepreneurship, said that the 'high rate of change occurring in the nanotechnology space and in broad industry applications creates unique challenges for entrepreneurs. Nanotechnology entrepreneurs need to be especially focused on both their own particular invention as well as monitoring the tremendous innovations happening around them."

In fact, many nano-entrepreneurs have already made -- and will continue to make -- a significant impact in three large areas: materials, data storage and green energy.

Part I – Nanotechnology and Materials

Nanotech has quite literally woven itself into the fabric of the marketplace. The textile and materials industry jumped on the nanowagon a number of years ago, creating products such as stain-resistant fabrics. Nano-Tex, one of the earliest spinoffs, is showing up in Brooks Brothers shirts, Nordstrom ties and Travelsmith sports jackets. Whereas normal fabric absorbs stains like grape juice, materials such as Nano-Tex have coatings with nano-engineered molecules that attach themselves to one another and then to a fabric, forming a nano shield against stains. And unlike like Scotch-Guard or traditional coatings, Nan-Tex doesn't change the texture of the fabric.

The applications of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in biomedical applications are the stuff of what formerly was science fiction. With a large part of the human body consisting of carbon, materials constructed with CNTs are biocompatible, making it possible to develop nano detectors that identify tumors as small as 100 cells; nano-scale, programmable antibodies that find and destroy bacteria, viruses and cancers without damaging healthy tissue; anti-microbial bandages that help prevent infection; and antibacterial coatings on hospital walls and aircraft interiors that "clean" the air. Entrepreneurs such as those at Carbon Design Innovations, Inc. are marketing two new neural probes types with CNT tips.

The military got very interested, weaving pure carbon nanotubes into ultra-strong body and vehicle armor. In particular, they envisioned nano-clothing with microscopic wires woven into the fabric, able to transform uniforms into communication devices that track vital signs, and heat up or cool down as weather changes. A "smart uniform" will eventually monitor a soldier's position and steer him through a battlefield. Sensatex, based in Bethesda, Maryland, is the result of that innovative material.

New materials similar to ceramics are resistant to chemical attack, conduct electricity and heat, yet can act as a thermal barrier.

Many researchers and corporations have already developed CNT-based air and water filtration devices. Nano-materials will impart interactive functions to windows and walls and appliances – they’ll set architects free, giving them the tools to create homes that communicate in real-time with their owners.

Nanocomposites are transforming packaging. Companies are already incorporating nanocomposite plastics into consumer and industrial packaging thats lighter and stronger. And we now have packaging with a high IQ -- "smart packaging" can sense if FOOD has spoiled or undergone tampering.

Nano materials in the hands of entrepreneurs are becoming the building blocks of billion-dollar industries. So bigger isn't always better, unless you're talking about well formed, entrepreneurial ideas.

Next, "The Nano Entrepreneur – Part II, Nanotechnology and Data Storage."

FUNdamentals -- If it ain't broke...

2009-09-04T13:50:00.001-04:00

The owner: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The mechanic: "If it ain't broke, I can still find something to fix." The engineer: "If it ain't broke, it don't have enough features yet."

Rethinking K-12 Education to Create Knowledge Workers

2009-08-21T11:52:00.018-04:00

By James Holloway

Arthur F Thurnau Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, Associate Dean, College of Engineering

The 21st century economy of the State of Michigan will be driven by knowledge work and technology. Michigan's previous governor John Engler and current Governor Jennifer Granholm both made the retention and development of a young and highly educated workforce a centerpiece of Michigan’s economic development (Beyond Sputnik, Homer Neal, Tobin Smith and Jennifer McCormick, 2008). Governor Granholm has said, "Retaining our talented workforce is critical to the growth of a knowledge-based and diversified economy." Through the Cherry Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth, the state has set a goal of making higher education universal. In support of this, the State Board of Education has increased math, science and language arts education requirements for high-school students.

Unfortunately the state's newest high-school standards did not explicitly include any recommendations around engineering curriculum for our students, and the state has not created programs to support the teaching of engineering in K-12 classrooms. Where engineering has been considered in our K-12 educational system, it has been presented as an add-on, such as in the unfunded proposal by Governor Granholm that the legislature be the first state in the nation to fund FIRST Robotics programs as a way for high school students to learn engineering (Office of the Governor press release, March 10, 2006).

But math and science are not engineering. Engineering is a creative pursuit, addressing problems through design and analysis. In this, science and math are necessary tools, but they are not synonyms for the creative process of engineering. By confusing engineering with "math and science" we place ourselves at risk; we can increase high school graduation rates and send more students to college yet still fail to create the technically educated knowledge workers who will drive the entrepreneurial and technological businesses of the 21st century. We must present to our K-12 students the engineering thought process and provide them with knowledge of design; we must put our students' math and science education in the context of its utility; we must provide our students with career counseling that allows them to see themselves as the engineers of the future. Fortunately, this is not an either-or proposition. Math and science education are uninteresting to many students. Lots of students who get A's in these classes still consider them merely tedious -- and those students include the majority who enter college every year. Simply passing math and science class does not build an interest in engineering or the social and economic impact that it creates. Putting engineering projects into math and science classrooms is a good way to make the science and mathematics content relevant to students, and is known to be a successful technique to improve student learning.

Several such curricula have been created, including A World in Motion, the Infinity Project, Project Lead the Way, and Ford PAS. The College of Engineering participates in a number of programs too, including a program that puts CoE graduate students into high school classrooms to help math and science teachers and students connect their subjects to applications in technology.

The focus on math and science in our state K-12 curriculum standards is indeed necessary for our future success, but it's not enough. We must also establish clear state-wide goals and expectations for our students to make clear the importance of engineering and technology in the 21st century. All of our students must graduate from high school with an understanding of what engineering is, and of its social impact and relevance.

Geoengineering -- Too Risky? Too Late?

2009-08-03T22:19:00.009-04:00

Our planet reminds us daily that we're just tenants -- and fairly messy ones at that. The American environmental movement hasn't put as big a dent in the problem as it would like, primarily due to special interest groups, government inaction, budget limitations and public apathy. Nevertheless, there's an ongoing debate that's getting loud enough for the general public to hear. The basic point of contention is: should we geoengineer the Earth's environment on a large scale to make sure that humans can continue to live here? The answers aren't easy.

Those in favor argue that we've already damaged the planet so badly, we should -- by design -- make an effort to restructure the shambles we've made of the only home we have. Among their many reasons for pursuing geoengineering, they point out that anthropogenic warming and increases in CO2 concentration present a twofold threat -- from climate changes and from elevated acidity in the oceans. Critics of geoengineering say that tampering with the natural order is too risky -- we might cause more damage than we already have -- and efforts to engineer our way out of today's adverse climate conditions are likely to distract from the hard work of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions. They say geoengineering could, among other catastrophes, slow down the global water cycle. So, is geoengineering irresponsible? Are the risks too great to pursue the potential benefits? Exactly what kinds of engineering projects would we undertake?

Earth absorbs about 70 percent of incoming sunlight and reflects the rest into space. If we could increase the amount of reflected light even the slightest bit, we could ameliorate the problems that result when gases trap heat and warm the planet. Most of the schemes for doing this have raised eyebrows but little interest. Edward Teller, the primary brain behind the hydrogen bomb, suggested that we put sunlight-scattering particles into the stratosphere to reflect more light. Others suggested that we put trillions of small lenses into Earth orbit to bend sunlight away from us. Yet another idea called for engineers to salt the seas with iron, generating plant life in such abundance that it would drink in tons of carbon dioxide and, as the plants died, drag the carbon with them to the ocean floor.

It's easy to see why geoengineering hasn't gotten much traction in the engineering community. But as environmental conditions worsen, respected minds are giving the idea new and reasonable consideration.

Michael MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs at the Climate Institute in Washington, DC, has revived debate about geoengineering. One thing seems to resonate with those on each side of the issue: If, indeed, geoengineering represents the most efficient and effective first step towards a solution of the global climate-change problem, the first task is to analyze how such a geoengineering effort might best be organized. The University of Michigan's Dimitrios Zekkos, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, is working with the University's geotechnical group as they develop an Industry Collaboration Program with leading private firms in the field of geoengineering. Analysis of proposed plans will be one of the main items on their agenda. The University's Student Council on Climate Change sent an appeal and supporting articles to President Barack Obama, hoping to put the issue on his radar. The 2008 death of Ralph Peck, one of the most influential engineers of the 20th Century and a pioneer in geoengineering, reenergized the movement.

People are talking -- their topics range from the identification of practical engineering solutions, to costs, legal hurdles, worldwide collaboration and who would undertake the projects -- nations or private industry. But while people talk, conditions deteriorate. Some say there's still time to act; pessimists disagree. And in a country that can't establish national healthcare or agree that its president is a natural-born citizen, it's unlikely we'll lead OR follow in an undertaking as complex as geoengineering.

Read more…

http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=1605&page=433

http://tinyurl.com/llt5bm

http://tinyurl.com/kjdv4m

http://www.springerlink.com/content/7267r2jp18021585/fulltext.pdf

http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/file-uploads/MacCracken-Gore-AP.pdf

http://www.geoengineer.org/?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=69

Space Exploration and Its Spinoffs

2009-07-17T10:47:00.006-04:00

Forty years after the moon landing, folks are still asking, "How has space exploration benefited ME? What did I get for MY money?" First of all, for every dollar the U.S. spends on R and D in the space program, it gets $7 back in the form of corporate and personal income taxes from increased jobs and economic growth. Second, space exploration spawned thousands of spinoffs, in dozens of categories, that have improved our lives. Here are just a few...

Health and Medicine -- digital-imaging breast-biopsy systems, arteriosclerosis detectors, ultrasound scanners, MRI, portable x-ray device implantable heart aids, cataract surgery tools… and more.

Environmental and Resource Management -- solar energy devices, weather forecasting aids, sensors for forest management, environmental control and pollution measurement and control, radioactive leak detectors, earthquake prediction systems, sewage treatment devices, energy-saving air conditioning and air purifiers… and more.

Public Safety -- radiation hazard detectors, pen-sized personal alarm systems, lightweight cutters for freeing accident victims from wreckage, lighter-weight firefighter's air tanks, Doppler radar, fire detectors, corrosion protection coatings, protective clothing and robotic hands…
and more.

Consumer/Home/Recreation -- water purification systems, the Dustbuster, shock-absorbing helmets, flat-panel televisions, high-density batteries, trash compactors, freeze-dried food packaging, sports bras, hair styling appliances, composite golf clubs and hang gliders... and more.

If you want a comprehensive accounting of the spinoffs that you've paid for, check them out yourself.

There's another way to look at the return on investment from space exploration. Tony England, a University of Michigan engineering professor, looks at the ROI by posing the question: Are NASA's programs still relevant? His response: "On the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing, it’s appropriate to assert an emphatic 'yes.' Human spaceflight will eventually answer the question, 'Do humans have a viable future beyond the Earth?' A great society needs to invest, at some effective level, in pushing back its boundaries -- both its knowledge boundaries and its physical boundaries. NASA's programs are one of the ways we do this."

To be or not to be? To explore or to not explore? Those are the questions. I choose to be and to explore. My outlay for cable TV exceeds what I pay for U.S. space exploration. If I had to give up one to have the other, I'd pitch my cable box. Then I'd go out and look at the sky -- just as I did 40 years ago -- except this time I'll be wearing polarized sunglasses, my cool running shoes and a pretty-good smelling shirt (even if I'd had it on all day). Oh… and I'll probably grab a glass of Tang.

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/home/spinoffs_feature_k_4.html

http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/spinoff.html

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/technologies/oven.html

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/greenspace/spinoffs.html

(For kids) http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/games/levelfour/KC_Spinoffs_Hidden_Pictures.html

FUNdamentals -- The Doctor, the Lawyer and the Engineer

2009-07-14T16:25:00.004-04:00

During the French Revolution, a doctor, a lawyer, and an engineer were arrested, put on trial and convicted of "crimes against the state." A hooded executioner led them up the stairs and left them to standing near the guillotine. The crowd roared -- they wanted blood.

The executioner grabbed the doctor and positioned his head in the guillotine. An official read the declaration of guilt: "You profited from the illness of others. Off with your head!" The executioner yanked the rope. The blade hissed downward -- then stuck just inches from the doctor's neck.

"Fate has saved this man for a reason!" said the official. "He is free!"

The crowd screamed, bitterly disappointed. The executioner pushed the lawyer's neck into place. The official read the declaration: "You persecuted the innocent and coddled the guilty. Off with your head!" The executioner pulled the rope. The blade plummeted through the wooden guides, gathering speed -- then stopped just inches from the lawyer's neck. Again, fate had intervened, and the official released the prisoner.

The crowd surged toward the platform, screaming, hurling rocks at the engineer who pulled the official aside and said, "You know, I can fix that."

What Happens After Hubble?

2009-07-10T11:48:00.011-04:00

This is the International Year of Astronomy -- 2009 marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo's use of a telescope to study the skies, and Kepler's publication of Astronomia Nova. It's also the year that NASA gave the Hubble telescope its fifth update, extending its life to about 2014, when the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a large, infrared-optimized instrument, will replace Hubble and start sending back images of the Universe.

Tom Griffin, a University of Michigan engineering alum, has been the Hubble Space Telescope Observatory Manager since 1997. Working at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Griffin was in charge of the Hubble spacecraft flight hardware installed during the space shuttle's recent servicing mission in May. He said that the most remarkable legacy of Hubble would be "its phenomenal discoveries that have rewritten astronomy textbooks. Hubble's lifespan has been extraordinary, too -- and it'll continue to be a productive scientific instrument for discovery through about 2014. This has all been achievable because Hubble's design facilitated in-orbit servicing -- the Space Shuttle and its crew could carry out their updating missions with a high degree of assurance that they'd be successful, as they were with the STS-125 mission in May, which left Hubble able to operate with peak efficiency and productivity. The crew installed two new state-of-the-art science instruments and repaired two others -- those, plus the spacecraft components they installed, such as the gyroscopes, batteries and fine guidance sensor, should allow continued operations."

JWST, the next generation space telescope, will be bigger than Hubble, but the real key to its "eyesight" will be a process that cools structures such as its multiple segmented hexagonal mirrors to 225 degrees below zero Centigrade and gives it the ability to detect light that's red-shifted into infrared from deep space. It's technology that'll enable JWST to eclipse Hubble'http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/images/content/175671main_jwst_artist.jpgs capabilities -- astronomers will be able to look at galaxies that formed in the very beginnings of the Universe and, in the process, connect the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy.

Thomas Zurbuchen, an engineering professor in the University of Michigan departments of Aerospace and Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, said that JWST "is going to become the new Hubble -- a telescope that will change the way we look at the universe and a set very high standard for the entire field of astronomy. As compared to Hubble, JWST will be able to look much deeper into the infrared and thus be able to look much further into the past towards the very beginnings of Universe. With this new and improved capacity, we'll also be able to make new observations that'll provide measurements of the chemical properties of planetary systems and thus shed new light on the processes that are responsible for life."

Katherine Freese, another University of Michigan professor, is studying "dark stars," which she believes might have been the first stars to form in the early universe and which would have burned out by now or might have evolved into something unlike anything we currently know about. JWST will be able to detect these mysterious interstellar creatures.

"Guessing from the Hubble experience, we should expect that JWST will discover entirely new aspects of many fields in astronomy," Zurbuchen said. "The most affected will be questions that relate to the earliest stage of the Universe, galaxies, the birth of new stars and the search and analysis of planetary systems."

Existing instruments, such as Hubble, are unable to detect non-solar planetary systems (planets orbiting stars other than the Sun); however, detection of non-solar planetary systems would play a major part in determining the origin of our solar system and in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. JWST's infrared is ideal for this kind of exploration -- when you look at the ratio of power of radiation received from stars and planets, infrared offers an advantage of about 10⁵ over visible light.

NASA hopes to keep JWST operational for more than 10 years, but that'll depend not only on the amount of fuel needed to maintain the telescope's orbit but on the ability of the craft's instrumentation to keep functioning. JWST's distance from Earth -- about 1 million miles -- will make it impossible to service in the same way that NASA now services Hubble, which orbits about 375 miles above the Earth's surface.

Science will never forget Hubble but, come 2014, JWST will command everyone's attention. Who could resist a look at the infant Universe and objects that are now only matters of speculation?

Where Can You Go for Business Advice?

2009-07-08T16:47:00.003-04:00

Unless you've run a start-up, from the ground up, it's helpful to lean on others who've been down that road before. Where do you find these folks who can advise you and point you to the resources you'll need to start and manage your business?

PlanetEureka.org is a good place to start. The U.S. Department of Commerce / Manufacturing Extension Partnership operates the site, which lets you post and search for innovations, as well as put out requests for innovations. It's free and very slick, in the best sense of the word. State business licensing/registration divisions offer pretty good help. You can farm networks such as LinkedIn for information that's directly related to your business -- and it's likely that you'll find more than one person who's willing to talk. Here's an easy one: Go to Google and search for groups and associations related to your profession, then get involved -- you'll meet people with similar interests and objectives. Also, try SCORE, a nonprofit association that educates entrepreneurs and fosters the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. And you might spend a moment checking out Vistage International, which bills itself as "the world's foremost chief executive leadership organization."

HOWEVER… my suggestion is to take a close look at the University of Michigan's Center for Entrepreneurship(CFE). Primarily it aims to help the University's students, faculty and staff to pursue entrepreneurial achievements "that improve people's lives, drive the economy and help innovators bridge the gap between inventor and the business." But you'll find that the Center is receptive to anyone with an entrepreneurial bent but no one to set them straight.

Check out the CFE website. You'll find resources galore.

Engineers Getting Social

2009-06-26T15:51:00.011-04:00

Facebook, Myspace, Twitter. They once belonged to those who wanted to tell the world that they just had a cup of coffee or their dogs were eating kibble or they couldn't wait for Friday or… It seemed everyone had something to say, often not important, about every little thing going on in their lives. Social web services didn't appear to have any appeal for technical types like engineers. But that's changed.

Truth be known, engineers pioneered social media -- the ancestors of Twitter, Facebook and the like existed as part of ARPAnet before it became the Internet and then the web. Back then, before Mosaic (the first browser), only those who grokked Unix could talk to each other. They used a "Talk utility" to send short messages that immediately showed up on a screen at the other end of the Unix pipeline. Interestingly, the Unix-ARPAnet system limited each message to 80 characters. By comparison, Twitter's 140 characters are downright mouthy.

Engineers sent longer messages via Telnet, much as we send notes by instant messenger. But Telnet wasn't for the faint of heart. You really had to know your zeros and ones.

Age makes cowards of us all as we learn how much there is to be afraid of -- it's easy to fall into the trap of finding ways to elude rather than embrace technologies that have today's campus puppies all atwitter. Instead of Tweeting, there are those who'd rather punch up the phone, exchange pleasantries (Hey, how are you? Heard you had to get a new desk. By the way, how's that knee?) followed by a 140-WORD question followed by more pleasantries (So, I'll be talking to you. If you want the name of that chiropractor, let me know. Later.) Well-practiced Tweeters can do all of that and more in fewer than 140 characters.

Twittering promotes lean, precise messaging. It's efficient. It's now and it's the future. The message for techno-cowards: Change or die.

More engineers are seeing the twittering on the wall. They know it's good for them. So are Facebook, LinkedIn and Flickr. But of all of them, Twitter's getting deeper under Engineers' collective skin.

Michigan Engineering is already into it. We have this blog. (Chatty, I know. I’m working on it.) Our RSS feeds deliver regularly changing web content to followers. Our Facebook page is a getting to be a regular stopover for Michigan Engineering travelers -- it's a nice way to learn about the College. (The University’s Communicators' Forum has its own Facebook presence.)

When I check out LinkedIn, Michigan Engineering names popped up all over. The University recently kicked off Yammer. And now I'm waiting for BlackBoard to hit campus -- it's a web-based course-management system that "allows students and faculty to participate in classes delivered online or use online materials and activities to complement face-to-face teaching."

I love blogging and I've caught the Twitter bug. But my favorite web service around here might be the library's “Ask a Librarian” service -- it's a handy instant messaging tool you can use to (wait for it) ask a librarian a question. They'll respond to anyone, anywhere, not just University of Michigan folks (I checked). They're VERY helpful -- and they'll respond with more than 140 characters if necessary.

I'm done with this posting. You go tell someone about it. I'm going to tell a few folks about it, too… in 140 characters, at most.

Engineers -- Problem Solvers and Public Servants

2009-06-22T10:06:00.003-04:00

There might be no better ambition than to live as long and as well as possible, and leave the world a better place than we found it. A lot of us aspire to do that. Not many of us get around to it. But I've discovered a set of people who spend a lot of time making life better for others. I'm talking about engineers.

Their most basic talent is problem-solving. Cleaner air? They'll figure it out. Better water? Safer cars? Helping the hearing-impaired to hear? Delivering chemotherapeutic drugs to individual cells? Easier ways to find information? More efficient, safer, cleaner energy production? Engineers are on top of things. They're all about solving problems.

The history of engineers in public service goes way back. They built mastabas and then pyramids to entomb the dead in ancient Egypt. During the first millennium Roman engineers crisscrossed the Italian peninsula with 53,000 miles of interconnecting roads. In 1861, the 1st Michigan Engineers and Mechanics maintained the North's bridges, railroads and telegraph lines while the Civil War raged around them.

John Kennedy herded tens of thousands of young Americans into his Peace Corps. Many of them were and are engineers. Daniel Wright is a University of Michigan alum who put his civil engineering degree to work for the Peace Corps and Engineers without Borders. That's him in the photo, helping to drill a well at the Escuela Agrícola Muyurina (Mayurina agricultural school) outside of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. He considers himself "extremely lucky" to have had the opportunity to choose his own path in life. "It's not an option that many people have," he said. "People like me have a responsibility to try to provide the situations necessary for others to have the same opportunities. My work in the Peace Corps was a way of providing people with basic sanitation and water needs so that they could devote more time and energy to things such as education."

America’s Promise Alliance, founded by General Colin Powell, is the nation’s largest cross-sector partnership dedicated to improving the lives of America's children. An engineer is its chief strategy officer.

Food Gatherers is a program that collects unwanted food and distributes it to agencies that feed the hungry. Paul Saginaw, an engineer and co-founder of Zingermann’s Deli (a hot Detroit-area eatery), created Food Gatherers; whenever possible he also makes a point of hiring people from Dawn Farm, an organization that helps addicts and alcoholics with their long-term recovery. Saginaw is an engineer.

Andrea Messmer, a University of Michigan engineering alum, currently in Poi Pet, Cambodia, threw herself into a program that retrieves victims of child-trafficking from Thailand. She also runs a children's library and coordinates small-scale development projects around Poi Pet.

Claudette Juska, a research specialist for Greenpeace is an engineer who tackles issues associated with fuel efficiency policies, air quality, seafood purity and corporate "greenwashing" (improperly portraying oneself as green).

Engineers charge into positions as environmentalists, senators, kinder-care volunteers, teachers of the impoverished, high school mentors, soldiers, museum docents -- the list is sweeping, highly varied, startlingly impressive. I'm not saying that engineers who perform selfless acts live longer or better than everyone else, but I'm betting that, as a group with better than average problem-solving abilities, they're more well equipped than most to leave the world a better place than they found it.

FUNdamentals -- From the Engineering Phrase Book

2009-06-15T09:00:00.001-04:00

To understand engineers you have to realize that they speak a different language...

DEVELOPED AFTER YEARS OF INTENSIVE RESEARCH - Discovered it by accident.

PROJECT SLIGHTLY BEHIND ORIGINAL SCHEDULE DUE TO UNFORSEEN DIFFICULTIES - We decided to work on something else.

THE DESIGNS ARE WELL WITHIN ALLOWABLE LIMITS - I hope they don't check our figures.

OUR CUSTOMERS WILL BE VERY SATISFIED - We're so far behind schedule that they'll be happy to get anything at all.

CLOSE PROJECT COORDINATION - This project's a mess... Let's spread the responsibility around.

WE'LL FINALIZE THE DESIGN IN THE COMING WEEK - We haven't started the job yet.

WE'RE TRYING A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT APPROACHES - We don't have a clue about how to do this.

TEST RESULTS WERE EXTREMELY GRATIFYING - Someone leaned on the right button.

WE'RE TAKING A FRESH APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM - We just hired three new guys; maybe they can figure it out.

PRELIMINARY OPERATIONAL TESTS ARE INCONCLUSIVE - It never occurred to us that it might blow up.

DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL, WE HAVE TO ABANDON THE PROJECT - The only guy who understood the thing quit.

MODIFICATIONS ARE UNDERWAY TO CORRECT CERTAIN MINOR DIFFICULTIES - We subcontracted the project.

The Smart Grid -- Part II: Implementing a National Clean-energy Smart Grid

2009-06-08T14:38:00.015-04:00

There are four keys in the construction of a twenty-first century smart grid:

Good strategic planning -- Currently, the process of planning the grid is too fragmented and decentralized. There needs to be a coordinated and large-scale effort to establish new policies and mechanisms for upgrading technology and dramatically improving reliability, security and efficiency.
Positioning new power transmission lines -- A national smart grid will, by its very nature, cross state lines. So the national plan will require the coordinated efforts of individual states. That by itself is a major undertaking which will require the establishment of a "siting authority" that's comprised of states but independent of the federal government.
Funding the national smart grid -- Depending on who’s talking, a smart grid will cost as much a $2 trillion and as "little" as $100 billion. Most would come from power companies and private investors, but consumers will eventually foot the bill by paying more for electricity. But it's likely that the smart grid will lower the cost of energy. Over time and after a bit of pain, consumers will recover their investment.
Making the smart grid secure and reliable -- Today's electric grids make good targets for malicious individuals and groups. Smart grids, which will be highly complex and interconnected from coast to coast, will be particularly attractive to troublemakers, large and small. So, improving the security of control systems must be one of the prime considerations in creating a new energy infrastructure.

Read more about the challenges facing the development of a smart grid:

Industry working to address smart grid security threats

The National Clean Energy Smart Grid: An Economic, Environmental, and National Security Imperative

FERC proposes policy and action plan to accelerate smart grid development in U.S.

Wired for Progress 2.0: Building a National Clean-Energy Smart Grid

This is Part II of III related posts:

Part I: The Smart Grid -- Electricity with a Brain
Part III: The Smart Grid -- Electric Cars Need Intelligent Power (to come…)

The Smart Grid -- Part I: Electricity with a Brain

2009-06-03T10:41:00.019-04:00

Electricity is pretty stupid. It can’t do anything by itself -- we have to tell it what to do, when to do it, where to go and how. We haven't done that very well. Today’s electricity comes from a grid with central generating stations and electromechanical power delivery systems operated from control centers that Thomas Edison and other nineteenth century electrical pioneers would find pretty familiar and unimpressive.

Their eyes might light up if we distributed electricity not from a "dumb system" but a smart grid -- a grid that relies on computer intelligence and automated networking, with components that would be able to talk and listen to each other. Right now, that's not the case. And it's costing us dearly -- the economic impact alone is significant.

Ian Hiskens, University of Michigan Vennema Professor of Engineering, has written that, according to various reports, "smart grid technology will save consumers $49 billion per year, create 280,000 jobs."

So building a smart grid is critical to economic recovery. To that end, the Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus contains $11 billion for smart grid technology -- the single largest investment in the entire stimulus package. In a recent speech at George Mason University, US President Barack Obama said he wanted to build a "smart" electric grid that would deliver "clean, alternative forms of energy to every corner of our nation."

Money aside, a smart grid would also keep customers happy, homes cool or warm, and businesses humming. The stupid grid? Not so much. For example, there are areas where a customer has to call about a power outage in order for a power company to be aware of the problem. A smart grid, however, would know immediately that something had interrupted service – the smart grid might have "smart meters" that "listen" to the flow of electricity and begin to "talk" to the company when the cables go quiet. If components of an electrical grid were to have IP addresses and could listen and talk, it would be smart enough to help companies distribute electricity efficiently. They could respond quickly to outages and other problems. And they could maintain the grid more easily because it could tell them where all of its aches and pains were.

Without a smart grid, any electricity we might produce from renewable sources -- wind farms and solar plants, for instance -- would flow into our long outdated grid system, which might be like pouring champagne into an old boot.

We’re already wasting our wind and solar electrical production because our grid can't move it where it's needed. Right now, wind, solar and other non-hydro renewable sources generate only two percent of the nation's electricity, so we’re not really seeing how our aging grid is wasting what we produce. But if our renewable energy sources begin to produce energy that, if used to its full potential, would account for 15 percent to 20 percent of our total electric energy, then we'd need a smart grid to make that possible. A grid of that sort would also require a "transmission backbone" -- a high-voltage cross-country pipeline -- to move solar and wind power from the Midwest and Southwest (the best sites for wind production) to highly populated areas.

According to the United Stated Department of Energy, four types of technology will drive the advancement of smart grids:

Integrated grid components that are automated and communicate with each other
Advanced sensors
Automated controls for distribution and repairs
Improved management dashboards and decision support software

Those are just a a few of the challenges that engineers must overcome -- within a handful or years, not decades -- if we are to succeed in not only generating electricity from renewable sources but also using it to its full potential.

This is Part I of III related posts.

Part ii: The Smart Grid -- Implementing a National Clean-energy Smart Grid

Part III: The Smart Grid -- Electric Cars Need Intelligent Power

The Smart Grid: An Introduction (PDF, 4.4MB)

20% Wind Energy by 2030 (PDF, 9MB)

Stimulus Bill Has Billions for Smart Grids

The Smart Grid – Part III: Electric Cars Need Intelligent Power

2009-06-10T09:45:00.072-04:00

Buckminster Fuller wisely said, “The best way to predict the future is to design it.” Creating a worldwide smart grid poses multiple design problems but a bright future in which everything that consumes electricity talks to each other -- energy providers, smart buildings, home appliances, aircraft, solar panels, batteries... and, notably, electric cars and an infrastructure to support them.

Currently, the United States alone supports 234 million vehicles that, each year, swallow roughly 140 trillion gallons of fuel and expel about 1.4 trillion tons of CO2. There are more than 600 million vehicles in the world; do the math and you'll see what kind of trouble we're in.

Building electric cars and a smart grid to support them can cut those numbers significantly, but it'll require new ways of looking at things -- we tend to shoehorn new ideas into old models and end up with inferior results. Case in point: our approach to electrifying vehicles. Cars have gas tanks; when the gauge nears empty, we stop and fill them up. So we've designed electric cars with the idea that when we get low on juice, we’ll simply stop and recharge the batteries. The problems with this model are overwhelming. Filling up a gas tank can take ten minutes; recharging a battery could take hours. There's no infrastructure of plug-in spots to support electrical vehicles.Today's power grid can't deliver electricity over long distances, and the grid isn't sophisticated enough to distribute varying amounts of electricity as needs change in real time in different areas.

There's another model that's getting traction. In this scenario a smart grid will not only power vehicles efficiently but turn them into storage units. Drivers will plug into smart charging stations, homes, offices, malls, parks -- there'll be an outlet wherever and whenever you need one. Drivers who can't take the time to "top off their tanks" will stop at swap spots -- think of them as gas stations where, in just a few minutes, automated attendants remove a spent battery and put in one with a full charge. It's not a completely foreign idea; engineering students at the University of Michigan are working on an autonomous device that'll extend the flight time of model helicopters by removing depleted batteries and replacing them with new ones. The battery swapper, a rudimentary but functional device, will allow one of their model helicopters to operate indefinitely. Smart electric vehicles will accept and store electricity that they get from the grid, which will include home generation from solar panels and small wind-capture devices. The electricity that these vehicles don't use will flow back into the grid, and the vehicles owners will receive rebates on their energy bills or discounts applied to the cost of battery swapping.

Although seemingly science fiction, a rudimentary system of this sort is already in the works in Israel. The project grew from an idea in which an entire "automotive ecosystem" would blanket the country with a network of smart charge spots so that drivers could plug in anywhere, anytime. Just as we might buy minutes in a mobile phone plan, drivers would purchase a plan for unlimited miles, a maximum number of miles each month or pay as they go -- all for less than the equivalent cost for gas. Carrying the analogy further, drivers would pay relatively little from their cars because dealers, in partnership with power companies would make their money by selling electricity, the equivalent of phone companies selling minutes.

If all goes according to plan, a smart grid in Boulder, Colorado, will begin to function in 2010, powering plug-in hybrid vehicles that will extract power from the grid and feed it back or serve as back-up power sources for homes.

That's the future that we can design. It won't be easy, it won't be cheap, but it's a beautiful idea -- one that will enable us to leave the world a better than we found it.

Engineering -- New Magic for Women’s Health Care

2009-05-21T16:33:00.020-04:00

Just about the time Alexander Winchell, a professor of physics and civil engineering, stepped into a classroom and taught the first engineering class at the University of Michigan, a middle-aged woman by the name of Lydia E. Pinkham was 1,000 miles to the east, throwing herbs and alcohol into a pot on her kitchen stove. The year was 1854. For the University of Michigan, it was the beginning of a new chapter in education and research. For Pinkham, a pioneer in the pursuit of women's health and social rights, it was the start of a new phase in women's health care, because she was brewing an elixir that would become the most successful patent medicine of the century, and would have profound effects on women and women's health care. She didn't have an inkling that engineering would do more for her cause than her home brew ever would.

She never could've envisioned engineering professor Mohamed El-Sayed developing "smart particles" that enter cancer cells to deliver therapeutic drugs, killing the diseased cells without damaging the healthy cells nearby. Nor could she have foreseen the work of biomedical engineering professor Shu Takayama, who's investigating technology to reduce the burden on women during in vitro fertilization procedures. "We hope that better pregnancy rates will reduce the burden on women and improve the health of embryos, which will lead to healthier babies," Takayama said. Turning to another topic, he asked, "Why do women die from breast cancer? In most cases, it's because the tumor metastasizes to other parts of the body -- that's when the tumor really becomes deadly. If we could understand how tumor cells move through the blood stream to other organs and develop methods to stop the process, we could prevent metastasis and help cure breast cancer. We developed a microfluidic model of breast cancer metastasis. Now we can watch cancer cells flow through an engineered blood vessel to sites of metastasis. The model has allowed identification of new targets for anti-metastasis drugs."

Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound was as unsophisticated as the doctors of her day -- they believed that almost all of women's sicknesses arose from their reproductive organs. Surgeons removed healthy ovaries for little or no reason -- a practice that had a mortality rate as high as 40 percent. So despite Pinkham's naiveté and the artless nature of her potion, when it burst on to the scene, offering an alternative to those barbaric practices, it flew off the shelves.

One hundred and fifty years ago, women pinned their hopes for better health care on an elixir that resembled a witch's brew more than it did medicine. Today their hopes lie with technology so complex and so incomprehensible to the average Joe and Jane that it too appears to be magic.

Read more about engineering and women’s health care:

Biomechanical analyses of anterior vaginal wall prolapse: MRI and computer modeling studies

Effect of Ultrasound on Penetration of Nanoparticles into Breast Cancer Spheroids

Experimental and Computational Analysis of Cancer Signaling Networks

Development of a Surgical Thermal Management System for the Elimination of Collateral Tissue Damage

Innovation for Women's Health -- the new MRI breast scanner

Platform Technology to Develop a Topical Cream to Treat Breast Pain

FDA Critical Path Initiative Can Advance Women's Health Through Modern Research and Analysis Methods

The Energy-Water-Technology Triangle - Part III

2009-05-12T16:59:00.009-04:00

Developing Clean Technologies -- the Motivation
Means, motive, opportunity. Sherlock Holmes used them to deduce a suspect's guilt or innocence. If we were use them in a similar way to evaluate the development of clean technologies, we'd find that everyone has the opportunity, and a number of folks are developing the means. But we'd see that motivation is a problem -- it's a sad statement about the human condition, but we don't seem to do much until we find ourselves in crisis.

So, what's the motivation for investing in the development of technologies that'll be friendly to the environment and still produce enough energy to keep things humming along? I count three. One is government mandate (do it or else). Another is entrepreneurship (there’s good money to be had). The third is a combination of the two; I'll get to that in a moment. Unfortunately, creating clean technology and clean energy just for the sake of preserving a viable planet doesn't seem to motivate enough people to get the job done -- we've been talking about a sustainable environment for decades but haven't made a worthwhile effort.

In the "money to be had" category of motivation, there are numerous examples of incentives in which money was the key motivator. For example, the U.S. wouldn’t have jumped into the pursuit of wind technology if it weren't for the production tax credit; a $7,500 tax deduction boosted the adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles, and the driving factor behind investment in wind, solar, biomethane, etc. is the fact that 24 states and the District of Columbia have renewable portfolio standards California's rooftop initiative and financial entrepreneurs propelled the rise of solar. The fact is, many of the solutions to dealing with climate change exist but, for the most part, U.S. government policies are running a few lengths behind -- plus, it isn't government's role to pick technologies to develop because government tends to be short-sighted, focusing more on legislation than on promoting the creation of smart solutions that'll thrive because the marketplace wants them.

As a result, the U.S. CleanTech industry gave us bioethanol, which has advantages and disadvantages. The latter far outweigh the former -- the production of bioethanol using corn requires 29 percent more fossil energy than the ethanol fuel produced, it's highly corrosive and consumes 20 or more times as much water for every mile traveled than the production of gasoline. When scaling up to the 2.7 trillion miles that U.S. passenger vehicles travel a year, water could well become a limiting factor. An increase in the production of bioethanol reduces the volume of of available food -- we might be fueling hunger more efficiently that we would our cars and trucks. All I can say about ethanol as fuel is, "No way."

In the "do it or else" category, government mandates will force companies to change their ways. Yale law professor Daniel Esty thinks this "top-down" approach will take us where we want to go -- private business will create clean-tech solutions but only if government applies pressure, such as price caps or penalties that, directly or indirectly, force companies to pay for the carbon dioxide they emit, and those penalties would be high enough to encourage firms to find inexpensive, green solutions.

In contrast, Vinod Khosla is a venture capitalist who believes government mandates produce uneconomical solutions that, due to high costs, aren’t widely adopted. He favors the idea of entrepreneurs using private capital (in some cases with some short-term government assistance) to provide solutions cheap enough to use in the most desolate backwater sites in the nation -- and even in developing countries, which is necessary because climate change is a global problem. Minimal government regulation would be required.

According to Peter Adriaens, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan, Esty's and Khosla's views are less in opposition as they appear. "The policy argument and the entrepreneurship argument are extensions of one another," he said. "The perspective is also colored by the fact that Esty has written extensively about -- and has worked on -- greening the supply chain and climate change, whereas Khosla -- his brilliance notwithstanding -- is an IT person who has recently moved into the Cleantech space and is still trying to figure out how to make money there." (and that China and Europe have strong policy mandates, and thus market opportunities).

Policy mandates and entrepreneurial ventures do, indeed, drive CleanTech investment and the adoption of scalable technology. But the investment required to develop cheap, clean technologies is huge -- orders of magnitude larger than that of IT innovations, and the time from the beginning of development to implementation is considerable because working out the bugs takes time and money, both of which are in short supply.

Policy makers and investors aren't considering the whole picture. “Cheap” doesn’t have to an operative word in developing CleanTech solutions. Over time, new technology has a tendency – as do other products – to become indistinguishable from others that eventually develop to solve the same problems. When that happens, consumers select technology on price alone, a happenstance that drives prices down. Profits will follow.

"Technology adoption cycles start with small market slices at high margins," Adriaens said. "Early adopter markets are less price sensitive. We can achieve the results Khosla is looking for once the technology becomes commoditized, standards are adopted, and policies -- taxes, for example -- foster wider adoption of a suite of solutions. In the IT space, you can compare this with policy decisions by companies to only support PCs or Blackberrys or their equivalents (i.e., not Mac or iPhone) -- and this becomes the de facto business standard, which increases adoption, drives down prices and promotes competition.

"I firmly believe in the bottom up approach for investment in entrepreneurial solutions," Adriaens said, "however, the entrepreneur's business environment is dictated -- at least for renewable energy -- by policy and price signals. The market success of an entrepreneur's solution will always be dependent on competition, based on cost and complexity, with current alternative solutions."

The third method of motivation that I mentioned is a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches -- call it the middle-method -- in which both government and corporations become major investors in entrepreneurial ventures, and entrepreneurs are subject to deadlines and possible penalties, as corporations are. In confronting the energy-water-technology crisis, everyone should have the means, motive and opportunity; everyone should be accountable.