Mike Bailey Profile
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Modified, 3D-printable alloy shows promise for flexible electronics, soft robots
Researchers in Oregon State University’s College of Engineering have taken a key step toward the rapid manufacture of flexible computer screens and other stretchable electronic devices, including soft robots.
The advance by a team within the college’s Collaborative Robotics and Intelligent Systems Institute paves the way toward the 3D printing of tall, complicated structures with a highly conductive gallium alloy.
Beaver Overdrive kicks into gear
Front: Hunter Murga, Ayush Choudhury, Salma Alawwami, Shreyans Khunteta, Myat Khine, Genevieve Gaudin,and Joshua Gess. Middle: Alec Nordlund, Gordon Kitchener, Tyler Nguyen, David Ha, Rachel McAfee, Duncan O’Boyle, and Brian Cierone. Back: Jacob Hungerford, Jacob Collier, Ivan Chen, Alex Leach, Devin Oar, Kevin Chau, and Matthew Harrison.
This past fall, Joshua Gess, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and a group of his graduate students started Beaver Overdrive, a competitive computer overclocking team.
With longer flight times, a new hybrid drone engine could save lives
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly called drones, are quickly becoming part of everyday life. In the past few years, as prices have dropped and control systems have become easier to operate, use of small UAVs has extended from government agencies and niche hobbyists to industries like agriculture, insurance, journalism, and more.
Yet, until now, small UAVs have run solely on batteries — limiting their flight time to a matter of minutes. Chris Hagen, associate professor of energy systems engineering at OSU-Cascades, in Bend, set out to change that.
Warm-air blowers direct pathogens to surgical site, computer model shows
Warm-air blowers that keep patients at a safe temperature also interfere with operating room ventilation systems, potentially making it easier for microbial skin colonizers to cause infection at surgical sites.
The findings by collaborators at Oregon State University and the University of California, Irvine, shed new light on the most common type of HCA – healthcare-associated infection.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 30 percent of all HCAs among hospitalized patients are surgical site infections, or SSIs.
An update on Strategic Excellence Awards
In 2016, MIME launched a set of Strategic Excellence Awards in support of the College of Engineering’s four strategic goals:
Partnering to make timber harvesting safer
Listen to a podcast version of this story on Engineering Out Loud.
Researchers at Oregon State University are partnering with Blount International—a company that manufactures saw chains and other equipment for the forestry, agriculture, and construction industries—to help make timber harvesting safer.
On a pathway to success
Delphine LeBrun Colon, a senior in mechanical engineering, has been accepted into NASA’s prestigious Pathways Program.
For adventurous triplet Oregon is home but the world is her classroom
Last summer, Kylee Mockler Martens completed a 10-week internship with Unidad de Desarrollo Tecnolólgico (UDT) in Concepcion, Chile. The chemical engineering major learned how to scale up a pilot plastic pyrolysis plant, which converts waste plastic into fuel, to full-scale operation. She returned home to Oregon with a set of new technical skills, motivation to move toward a career in plastic pyrolysis or another green technology, and renewed determination to pursue her dream of working internationally.
Helping eagles coexist with wind energy deployment
A growing energy source in the U.S., wind power uses towers up to 300 feet tall typically equipped with three blades with wingspans double that of a Boeing 747. At their tips, the blades are moving close to 200 miles per hour.
Wind power is generally regarded as a green energy source, but one key concern about its development is its impact on wildlife like bats and birds – particularly bald and golden eagles, animals protected under federal law.