New on Full Circle
The Concrete Canoe Competition: It’s a challenge
Building a concrete canoe might seem counterintuitive. But the Concrete Canoe Competition between college engineering teams is a time-honored test of design, technique and creativity, using construction’s most ubiquitous material. ASU’s team from the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, is in the midst of building this year’s canoe for the April 3-5 competition in San Diego. Read on Full Circle
ASU continuing effort to modernize engineering education in Vietnam
The partners of the Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP) and Arizona State University brought together government, industry and education leaders from around the world to explore ideas and solutions to challenges in engineering and technical education programs on March 25 and 26, 2014, at the Rex Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Read on Full Circle
ASU leads new national research network to study impacts of nanomaterials
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a grant of $5 million over the next four years to support the LCnano Network as part of the Life Cycle of Nanomaterials project, which will focus on helping to ensure the safety of nanomaterials throughout their life cycles — from the manufacture to the use and disposal of the products that contain these engineered materials. Paul Westerhoff, associate dean of research for Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, is the LCnano Network director. Read on Full Circle
In the news
2 startups by ASU students aim to improve availability of clean water (Arizona Republic)
SafeSIPP, social entrepreneurship startup which emerged in part from the Engineering Project in Community Service (EPICS) program, is featured in this article in the Republic’s Business section. Jared Schoepf is a doctoral student in the SEMTE chemical engineering program. ASU student startup, Hydrogene, is also featured in the article. Biomedical engineering major Hyder Hussain is a member of the Hydrogene team. Faculty advsors include Karmella Haynes, assistant professor, Vincent Pizziconi, associate professor, and Xiao Wang, assistant professor. All three faculty advisors on the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering faculty.
West Nile virus may have met its match: tobacco (The Verge)
Some people think of tobacco as a drug, whereas others think of it as a therapy — or both. But for the most part, it’s hard to find people who think of the tobacco plant in terms of its medical applications. Qiang Chen, an infectious disease researcher at Arizona State University and associate professor of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, is one such person. His team of scientists conducted an experiment, published today in PLOS ONE, that demonstrates how a drug produced in tobacco plants can be used to prevent death in mice infected with a lethal dose of West Nile virus.
Researchers receive NSF grant to lead Frankenstein Bicentennial Workshop (ASU News)
Three Arizona State University researchers have received a grant from the National Science Foundation to lead a workshop to build a global, multi-institutional network of collaborators to celebrate the bicentennial of the publication of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus.” Stephen Helms Tillery, an associate professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering and a Fellow of Ethics and Bioengineering at the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, and David Guston, co-director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, the director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society and a professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies are the co-principal investigators on the award. Ed Finn, principal investigator, is the director of the Center for Science and the Imagination and an assistant professor in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and the Department of English. Learn more about the workshop at frankenstein.asu.edu.
ASU grabs gold medal for sustainable fitness facility (ASU News)
The Polytechnic Campus Sun Devil Fitness Complex earned a gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the 23rd building to receive a gold certification at ASU. Passive cooling techniques and solar panels were a hallmark of the new design. The 61,000-square-foot facility was completed in January 2013.
