Virginia Tech’s Linsey Marr named 2023 MacArthur Fellow

Linsey Marr, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor and a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, has been named a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, a highly prestigious award commonly called a “genius grant.” The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced Wednesday that Marr is one of 20 fellows who will receive an $800,000 award.

NYU Tandon School of Engineering Researchers Develop Hurricane Power Outage Prediction Model that Outperforms Traditional Methods

Conventional hurricane power-outage prediction models often produce incomplete or incorrect results, hampering companies’ abilities to prepare to restore power as quickly as possible, especially in cities that are susceptible to prolonged hurricane-induced power outages.

How University of Kentucky research team is proving human hair can be used to repair bridges, buildings

Did you know recycled human hair has many industry uses? As you might expect, beauty trends have fueled growth in the global hair business. But could those clippings — the ones often found on the floor of a hair salon — help repair dilapidated bridges and buildings across Kentucky and beyond? A research team in the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky is leading the charge to answer that very question.

Transportation deserts get a lift from collaboration between NYU Tandon and Dollaride

Millions of New Yorkers live in “transit deserts” – areas in which public transportation is not easily accessed – but a major grant from New York State means Dollaride, in collaboration with Tandon’s C2SMART Center (the Connected Cities for Smart Mobility Toward Accessible and Resilient Transportation), will help fill that gap with environmentally-friendly electric vehicles.

University Unveils Newly Renovated Nabholz Lab for Construction and Engineering Students

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has unveiled a newly renovated lab that will provide construction management and civil engineering students with an edge for their future careers in Arkansas’s growing construction industry. With generous support from Nabholz, the new Nabholz Construction High Bay Lab has been redesigned to provide an upgraded workspace for classes, student projects, and demonstrations for students, faculty, and industry members.

NYU Tandon’s IDC Innovation Hub awarded New Master Construction Innovation Contract with NYC Department of Design and Construction

A recently registered Master Applied Construction Innovation Research Services Contract between the New York City Department of Design and Construction/Town+Gown:NYC and the Institute of Design & Construction Innovation Hub (Innovation Hub) at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering will speed progress by providing all New York City construction agencies and authorities with efficient access to applied research services for innovation in construction, engineering design, and management.

Researchers Find Way to Make Traffic Models More Efficient

Models that predict traffic volume for specific times and places inform everything from traffic-light patterns to apps that tell you how to get from Point A to Point B. Researchers have now demonstrated a method that makes these models more efficient.

HARD-CORE BACTERIA

A new study by UD researcher Julie Maresca and her students found that even in a harsh concrete habitat, bacterial communities can survive, thrive and do what all living things do—change. Bacterial communities within concrete could provide early warning of alkali-silica reactions that degrade concrete but are difficult to detect. Typically, these reactions are only recognized when cracks are forming in the concrete. Bacteria may also have the potential to provide “biorepair” of concrete.

Water resources: Defusing conflict, promoting cooperation

Rivers are lifelines for many countries. They create valuable ecosystems, provide drinking water for people and raw water for agriculture and industry. In the Global South in particular, there is strong competition for access to freshwater resources. The increasing use…

World’s first 3D-printed steel footbridge unveiled by robot in Amsterdam

The bridge, which is over four years in the making and is led by Dutch company MX3D, will be a ‘living laboratory’ in Amsterdam’s city centre. Using its vast network of installed sensors, Imperial College London researchers will measure, monitor…

Methodical architectural design for ideal wind energy production

Systematic Architectural Design for Optimal Wind Energy Generation is an essential reference for students of architecture at all levels, professional architects, as well as readers interested in green building design, renewable energy, and sustainability studies that pave the way towards…

Sea-level rise may worsen existing Bay Area inequities

Rather than waiting for certainty in sea-level rise projections, policymakers can plan now for future coastal flooding by addressing existing inequities among the most vulnerable communities in flood zones, according to Stanford research. Using a methodology that incorporates socioeconomic data…

Autonomous excavators ready for around the clock real-world deployment

Researchers from Baidu Research and the University of Maryland have developed a robotic excavator system that integrates perception, planning, and control capabilities to enable material loading over a long duration with no human intervention

Johns Hopkins Expert Can Discuss Possible Cause of Florida Tower Collapse

In the wake of the devastating collapse of a Miami-area condominium tower, a Johns Hopkins University civil engineer can discuss the possibility that shifting soil beneath the building led to the massive structural failure. Ben Schafer is the Willard and Lillian…

Wind and waves: A step toward better control of heavy-lift crane vessels

Massive heavy-lift crane vessels, capable of hauling thousands of tons, navigate the rough waves and strong winds offshore to construct wind turbines and oil fields in the ocean. An international team of researchers has developed a new modeling system to…

World’s largest outdoor earthquake simulator undergoes major upgrade

A major upgrade to the world’s largest outdoor earthquake simulator reached a milestone mid-April when the facility’s floor–all 300,000 lbs of it–was put back into place. When completed this fall, the simulator will have the ability to reproduce multi-dimensional earthquake motions with unprecedented accuracy to make structures and their residents safer during strong shakes. Researchers lay out the details of the upgrade in a paper published recently in Frontiers in Built Environment.

Technique inspired by lace making could someday weave structures in space

Lauren Dreier was paging through a 19th century book by the German architect Gottfried Semper when she spotted some intriguing patterns inspired by lace. A professional artist and designer who often incorporates technology into her work, Dreier, who is also…