New on Full Circle
A ‘smart’ device for stroke rehabilitation
Pamela Robles-Franco is among the first class of Mexican students who traveled to the U.S. this year as part of the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative to participate in intensive research experiences. Read the article.
Technology advances earn state innovation awards
Biomedical and electrical engineering endeavors bring statewide awards to an ASU professor and an undergraduate student. Read the article.
In the news
ASU researchers develop jetpack technology to help ground troop mobility
(KJZZ radio news/National Public Radio)
Thomas Sugar and Jason Kerestes are developing wearable robotics technology that is piquing the interest of U.S. defense officials. Their prototype jetpack promises to help soldiers in the field increase their mobility even while bearing the weight of the gear that ground troops must carry on combat missions. Sugar is a professor of engineering and robotics in the Polytechnic School. Kerestes is an engineering graduate student in the school. Read the article and listen to audio of the story.
The true story of the kids who beat MIT’s best robots (WIRED magazine)
Oscar Vazquez was one of four members of a team of Phoenix high school students who won a national underwater robot student competition sponsored by NASA, besting a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the top prize. Vazquez went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, graduating in 2009. His team’s surprising victory in the competition is recounted in WIRED in advance of the release of a new movie and a book about that achievement. Read the article.
Factories of the future (ASU Magazine)
Ronald Askin, Srabanti Chowdhury and Micah Lande help tell the story of how ASU is contributing to an emerging manufacturing industry renaissance in the United States. Through emphasizing innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship, the university is producing a new breed of engineers who are prepared to take manufacturing technologies and processes to higher levels of creativity and efficiency. Askin is a professor and director of the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering. Chowdhury is an assistant professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. Lande is an assistant professor is the Polytechnic School’s engineering and manufacturing program. Read the article.
Website live streaming unsecured webcams (Arizona Republic/USA Today)
Thousands of webcams throughout the United States are unsecured, which is leaving surveillance cameras and monitoring systems open to public access and unwanted intrusions on privacy via a popular website. Gail-Joon Ahn says the situation should prompt owners of surveillance cameras and monitors to be proactive about security. Ahn is a professor of computer science and engineering in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering. Read the article.
Transit-oriented development helps cities ease off the gas (ASU News)
In one of a series of articles looking at how to make cities sustainable, Mikhail Chester weighs in on the need to develop diverse modes of transportation. Alternative forms of travel are critical to producing transit systems that are economical, efficient and help protect human and environmental health, he says. Chester is an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. Read the article.
UNO names John W. Nicklow as new provost (The Times-Picayune, New Orleans)
John W. Nicklow, who received his doctoral degree in civil engineering from Arizona State University in 1995, was recently named provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of New Orleans. Nicklow’s doctoral studies adviser was Larry Mays, a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. Read the article.
