“This new tool will help speed up transportation projects while beefing up environmental stewardship.”
Tag » Engineering
January 23, 2013
The Road to Ecosystem Safeguards
Unsnarling the regulatory tangle in transportation planning
January 23, 2013
The Glove Goes Wireless
Student team wins national award for innovative design
A student-designed “wireless hand sensor” may not only help reduce hand and wrist injuries associated with repetitive motion but may have applications in robotics, medicine and computer gaming.
October 10, 2012
Eco-roofs and Earthquakes
Research will guide new structural standards
Growing greenery on roofs brings many benefits. Buildings stay cooler, saving energy. Roofs last longer, saving money and materials. Birds and insects find new habitat, helping ecosystems. And green roofs make urban spaces more aesthetically and spiritually pleasing, as well as reducing heat-island effects for city dwellers. But there are some costs that need to [...]
October 8, 2012
Robots Learn to Walk
An era of walking robots that can help people with physical disabilities, take on dangerous missions or aid in disaster response is about to begin. One of the leaders in this emerging field, Oregon State University engineer Jonathan Hurst, was recognized in October by Popular Mechanics with one of its “Breakthrough Innovator” awards of 2012. [...]
September 27, 2012
Partners in Science
The Center for Sustainable Materials Chemistry has been created through a collaboration of state, federal and private sector partners.
September 10, 2012
Behind the Screens
OSU-UO partnership aims at greening the flat-panel display industry
Some of today’s flat-panel TV and computer screens are nearly as big as a living room wall. They bring us unimaginably sharp detail, from the spots on butterfly wings to the grimace on a linebacker’s face. Whether hooked up to your cable feed, DVD player or wi-fi, this technology is becoming integral to daily life. However, our love of flashy high-res has a dark side.
August 6, 2012
Space Dreams
Don Pettit talks about exploration, colonizing other planets and raising zucchini on the International Space Station
When he’s on Earth, Don Pettit dreams about space. But when he’s in space, he dreams about walking on Earth. “Dreams may have something to do with humans never being satisfied, which is why we go exploring in the first place,” he says. If there’s a gene for the urge to explore new worlds, Pettit [...]
June 5, 2012
Pumped Up
Zachary Dunn helps bring clean water to Kenyan farmers
How far would you go to help someone get a glass of clean water? Zachary Dunn knows exactly how far he’d go: 9,000 miles. And that’s just one trip, one way. By summer’s end, Dunn and fellow Oregon State University students had traveled almost 36,000 miles — greater than the Earth’s circumference — to help [...]
May 30, 2012
Sowing seeds for business
Startup companies and entrepreneurs work hand-in-hand with researchers
New startup companies are emerging from Oregon State research. Here are three young companies just getting their feet on the ground.
May 26, 2012
Data Driven
Chris Patton uses computer modeling to help build world-champion racecars
When Chris Patton was helping his Formula SAE team design a racecar for international competition, he made an unusual suggestion: angle the rear wheels outward in relation to the car. Common knowledge would warn against that move. Turning the rear tires outward makes the car less stable. But Patton, a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering [...]
December 21, 2011
New OSU spinoff company ships first product
Biosurfactant aims at pharmaceutical, cosmetic, environmental remediation and other global markets.
AGAE Technologies opened its doors in May 2011 on the basis of research by Xihou Yin, research scientist in the College of Pharmacy.
October 28, 2011
24/7 Checkup
Sensors could transmit vital signs around the clock
A new chapter in high-tech medicine is being written by electrical engineers at Oregon State University. A team led by Patrick Chiang has confirmed that an electronic technology called “ultrawideband” could lead to the development of sophisticated “body-area networks,” systems of wearable sensors and communication devices designed to track an individual’s health. Such networks would [...]
October 27, 2011
Testing Our Metal
Research sharpens manufacturing's competitive edge
Chain saws, baseball bats, truck bodies, jet engine parts and bridges. All from America’s industrial heartland, right? Or made in China? Wrong. Companies that produce these and other metal products — from kitchen knives and laboratory incubators to steel fabrication stock — employ thousands of Oregonians. One of the tools in their toolbox is a [...]
October 26, 2011
The Apparel Industry’s Higher-Ed Partner
OSU is tightly linked with the Portland area’s apparel community. Examples include: The OSU Design Network The network brings together professionals across the industry for informal gatherings and annual events in Portland, like last year’s Recycled Fashion Show — the longest-running fashion show of designs made from recycled materials in the country. OSU’s Apparel Research [...]
October 14, 2011
Willamette Innovators Night Spotlights Creative Economy
WiN is the Willamette Valley's largest gathering of businesses, researchers, inventors and policymakers focused on the creative economy.
“Made in Oregon” means more than lumber, hazelnuts and pears. At the annual Willamette Innovators Night (WiN) on Nov. 10, established manufacturers from Oregon Iron Works to startups such as Trillium FiberFuels and the AirShip Technologies Group will discuss how research and industry partnerships are changing the state’s economic landscape. “WiN provides a seedbed for [...]
September 23, 2011
On Call in Earthquake Country
Learning from devastation takes rapid response
When a severe earthquake strikes a distant community, Scott Ashford gets on a plane. He travels light but packs enough to be self-sufficient. He is, after all, going into a disaster zone where emergency personnel don’t need another mouth to feed. The head of the Oregon State University School of Civil and Construction Engineering is [...]
June 8, 2011
Biotech Partnership
Focus on flowering genes
Research into tree biotechnology has gotten a boost through a new agreement between Dow AgroSciences LLC and Oregon State University. The wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company will make its EXZACT™ Precision Technology available to Steve Strauss, distinguished professor of forest biotechnology in the College of Forestry. EXZACT™ provides a versatile and comprehensive [...]
May 31, 2011
The Gamma and the Beta
Nuclear detection improves monitoring
Fast, accurate, affordable detection of radiation — whether it’s from Japan’s damaged Fukushima plant, long-buried waste at Hanford’s WWII weapons site, or secret underground testing by rogue nations — is a pressing need internationally. Now, detection technology has taken a notable leap forward. A newly patented invention from Oregon State University uses “phoswich” technology (short [...]
April 26, 2011
Optimizing Energy
Simulations and modeling help to boost a fuel cell's energy output
Imagine a black box with knobs on the outside that you can turn. If you add fuel, the box produces electricity. By adjusting the knobs, you can change the power output, but there’s a catch — you’re not sure how far to turn the knobs to produce the most power. For researchers at Oregon State [...]
March 22, 2011
Cradle of Innovation
With a $275 million portfolio, OSU researchers work with entrepreneurs to nurture economic development.
November 20, 2010
The Greening of Wood Products
Wood composites offer resilience, efficiency and strength.
November 20, 2010
Spin-Offs Boost Oregon’s Economy
Young companies based on research at OSU are attracting investment capital and creating job.
October 30, 2010
Power Wave
Thanks to a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy, Oregon State University and the private sector, wave energy is moving out of the lab and into the ocean. And none too soon. In the race for carbon-free sources of electricity, this one may make a real difference for Oregon and the nation. There are [...]
October 26, 2010
OSU’s Next Gen Nuclear on Green Science Oregon
There are a lot of ways to boil water. Nuclear energy does it without emitting as much carbon as coal, oil or gas. In the search for safer and more efficient nuclear technology, Oregon State University operates one of the few nuclear reactors on a college campus in the United States. A new production by [...]
September 9, 2010
Broken Beams
Engineers like to break things. In my years reporting on university research, I’ve seen them bend reinforced wood beams as wide as my front door until they shatter. They’ll pummel stud walls repeatedly until the nails cry uncle. Bunker-sized concrete bridge beams will crack from one end to the other as they are stressed with [...]
July 23, 2010
Uncharted Waters
Communities, engineers and scientists prepare for the next tsunami
It may come like it did the last time, in the middle of a cold and blustery January night. Suddenly the ground will begin to shake, windows will shatter, bridges collapse, the electricity will go out and parents will frantically try to find a flashlight and dig sleepy kids out of bed, ignore everything else [...]
July 17, 2010
On Track
OSU undergraduate accepted into summer biomedical program in Switzerland
By Nick Houtman and Darryl Lai Marsha Lampi runs for distance – 5,000 or 10,000 meters in track, 5,000 or 6,000 meters in cross-country. The former Lincoln High School student from Portland enjoys pacing herself but is always looking to improve. “I usually think, if only I had done this or that differently, I could [...]
May 10, 2010
Tsunami safe?
We’re overdue. If the Cascadia subduction zone behaves as it has in the past, an 8.0 to 8.5 earthquake and a resulting tsunami have a good chance of striking the Pacific Northwest in the next 50 years. That’s the take-home message from OSU marine geologist Chris Goldfinger’s studies of offshore debris flows. He has identified [...]
April 24, 2010
Preview of Coming Attractions
After Chile, Oregon prepares for Big One
March 15, 2010: “The Bridge Team’s goal for today was to determine the geographical extent of bridge damage from the Chilean earthquakes. We did this by driving nearly 450 miles south along Route 5 (the Pan American Highway) from Santiago to Temuco, keeping along the outer edge of the zone of strong shaking (about 50 [...]
