Posted on April 7th, 2011 by Mary Lord
Ask most engineers what drew them to the discipline, and crunching equations in the classroom probably doesn’t top any list. Studying explosions, building things, saving the planet—that’s more like it. A growing number of programs now give undergraduates a crack at cutting-edge research—often on socially relevant projects. Want to save lives when tsunamis strike? How about landing a robot on Mars or designing bomb-proof embassies? Check out our continuing series of posts on the country’s coolest engineering classes, which demonstrate that the fundamentals can still be fun.
After Japan’s devastating tsunami, did you wonder about building safer shelters? Students at Oregon State University’s College of Engineering in Corvallis not only get to design such structures; they can test them against the forces of nature in the Tsunami Wave Basin, the world’s largest, most sophisticated facility for studying earthquake-generated monster swells.
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Filed under: Architectural, Civil, e-News, Environmental, Explore Engineering, Ocean | Comments Off on Sign Me Up: Tsunami Research Class at Oregon State
Tags: Architectural, Civil, Classes, Environmental, Ocean
Posted on February 4th, 2011 by jxh
So far, 2011 has been full of winter storms and a whole lot of snow. And as a massive blizzard that just slammed the Midwest U.S. moves eastward, Japan might have a cute and innovative solution for scooping up all the snow.
Not only can shoveling be too strenuous for some people, such as the sick or elderly, but it can also leave massive piles of snow in roads or sidewalks.
Instead, winter storm victims could enlist the help of the self-guided robot Yuki-taro, which eats up snow and then excretes little snow-bricks.
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Filed under: Computer, e-News, Electrical, Mechanical | 3 Comments »
Tags: Civil, Computer, Electrical, Environmental, Green Technology, Mechanical, renewable energy, Robotics
Posted on December 30th, 2010 by axb
This year was a busy one for engineers all over the world. From inventing bendable computer screens to unlocking a secret room in a 4,500-year-old pyramid, scientists and engineers broke new ground in numerous ways.
We at eGFI have also been busy chronicling the most awe-inspiring innovations and stories, so without further ado, we present:
The Most Popular, Interesting, Weird, or Just Plain Cool eGFI Blog Posts of 2010
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Filed under: Aerospace, Architectural, Biomedical, Civil, Computer, e-News, Electrical, Environmental, Materials, Mechanical, Ocean, Transportation | Comments Off on Best of 2010: Our Top Stories
Tags: Aerospace, Architectural, Aviation, Biomedical, Cars, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Environmental, Materials, Mechanical, Ocean, Transportation
Posted on December 9th, 2010 by axb
Brick roads, yellow or otherwise, tend to be very labor-intensive projects. But now, thanks to an ingenious Dutch machine, paving a new road with bricks could be just as easy as rolling out the red carpet.
The invention, called the Tiger Stone, can lay out an incredible 437 square yards (at 4 yards wide, that’s almost the length of an entire football field!) of road in a day. How is this possible? Well, it’s all about getting gravity on your side: First, a forklift places loads of bricks into the trough, which workers then place along an inclined plane (see below).
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Filed under: Civil, e-News, Industrial / Manufacturing, Mechanical | 4 Comments »
Tags: Civil, Industrial / Manufacturing, Mechanical
Posted on December 2nd, 2010 by jxh
In the future, you might be able to skip untangling those holiday lights
It might sound like something from the movie Avatar, but what if trees lit up at night, replacing the need for street lights?
This fantastical vision may become a reality thanks to the discovery that placing gold nanoparticles within the leaves of trees causes them to give off a luminous reddish glow.
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Filed under: Chemical, Civil, e-News, Environmental | 13 Comments »
Tags: Chemical, Civil, Environmental
