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Science & Engineering

British Universities Collaborate on Bio Sciences

10/10/2007

Earlier this year, three universities in the U.K. formed an alliance for collaborating on biological and biomedical sciences called the South West London Academic Network. Now the collaborative alliance is deploying technologies to deliver a series of courses that share resources between the three participating universities.

3 Laws of Robotics: Learn, Build, Compete

10/9/2007

Robotics has become the standard bearer in STEM education as high schools, colleges, and universities around the world focus their software and hardware engineering efforts on inventing better and better machines and ultimately plunge their creations into the underworld of robotics competitions. Now a new site has been launched to promote the educational value of robotics and robotics competitions and provide resources for students and educators.

UMass Amherst Research Advances RFID Security

10/8/2007

Three researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have come up with a way to improve security on RFID devices using existing technologies and without increasing the size of the small gadgets.

Duke Adopts Velos for Clinical Trials Informatics

10/8/2007

The Duke University Health System is adopting an Internet-based information management system from Velos called eResearch to support its new "enterprise-wide strategic business model for clinical trials informatics," according to Velos. The platform will be used to improve collaboration in research and support regulatory and financial compliance efforts.

U Glasgow Researchers Reflect on Asteroid Collisions

10/8/2007

Mirrors aren't just for motel room ceilings anymore. Among their many other consumer and industrial uses, ranging from the application of cosmetics to the checking of the evenness of one's sideburns, they might also be instrumental in defending the planet from collisions with apocalypse-class asteroids, according to researchers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

IUPUI Cells Out

10/5/2007

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) will be the site of IBM's first university-based Cell technology development facility--the Future Technology Solution Design Center. The 2,000-square-foot facility will be housed in IUPUI's Informatics and Communications Technology Complex and staffed by five IBM developers who will explore "new products and applications based on advanced Cell processor technology."

Houston, We Have a Gas Problem

10/2/2007

Seismic researchers at the University of Houston are hoping to solve problems locating oil and natural gas reserves using IBM Cell/B.E. technology. (All right. The headline might have been a little misleading.) The university's Mission-Oriented Seismic Research Program (M-OSRP) is looking into new algorithms for sub-salt and sub-basalt hydrocarbon exploration and production using systems based on Cell/B.E. processors.

Purdue NCN Nabs Nanotech Grant

10/1/2007

The Network for Computational Nanotechnology at Purdue University has been awarded an $18.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The five-year grant will focus on expanding "capabilities and services for computer simulations," according to the university.

Oxford Prof Nails Parallel Universe Theory ... Also Doesn't

10/1/2007

The Recording Industry Association of America may have a new fight on its hands: copyrighted music seeping into parallel universes. That's just one of the implications of research coming out of Oxford University proving mathematically that parallel universes do indeed exist. Could this mean a further decline in music sales?

Put a Fig Leaf on That Singularity!

10/1/2007

Do naked singularities make you blush? If so, you'll want to avert your eyes from the computer screens of two researchers from Duke University and the University of Cambridge who seek to disrobe some of the universe's most "censored" phenomena: black holes.

DoE UMass Dartmouth Grant Targets Math Education

9/28/2007

The United States Department of Education has awarded the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth $2 million for a research effort aimed at improving math education. The funds will be used by the university's recently dedicated James J. Kaput Center for Research and Innovation in Mathematics Education to "examine new strategies to excite students about learning math, and increase the number and diversity of students in the math, science, and engineering pipeline," the university reported.

Autodesk Launches Academic Certs

9/27/2007

Software developer Autodesk is expanding its certifications to secondary and post-secondary students through its new Autodesk academic certification program. The credential students earn is the same as the professional-level credential but is offered at an academic discount.

Folding@home Passes Petaflop Mark

9/25/2007

The distributed computing project known as Folding@home (FAH) last week passed one of its long-anticipated milestones: more than a petaflop of computational power, reached Sept. 16. The group, run out of Stanford University's Department of Chemistry, placed credit for the surge beyond its 1 Pflops goal on the Playstation 3 and the latest PS3 client app, which is designed to take greater advantage of the floating point power of the PS3's Cell B.E. processor.

Researchers Map Animal Behavior First, Human Next

9/17/2007

Three university researchers have won a nearly $1 million grant to chart the group dynamics of zebras electronically in an effort better understand techniques for conservation and eventually to study human consumer behaviors as well.

Michigan Prof Pushes Quantum Computing, Code Breaking

9/13/2007

University of Michigan researchers are working on new optical technology that could lead to the faster development of quantum computers and ultimately to tougher data security techniques and faster encryption cracking.

NTU, Rice To Tackle Computer Chip Power Problems

9/11/2007

Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Houston-based Rice University said they would form a research organization dedicated to resolving the power, heat, and current leakage issues that affect computer chips.

NSF Kicks in $634,000 for STEM Education Development at U Rochester

9/10/2007

The National Science Foundation has awarded the University of Rochester Warner School of Education $634,157 to "help encourage and train both talented undergraduate majors in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering and STEM professionals considering a career change to work as math and science teachers in high-need school districts," according to the university.

Computer Science Pioneer Wulf Returns to U Virginia

8/28/2007

William Wulf, who received the University of Virginia's first doctorate in computer science and who spent 11 years as president of the National Academy of Engineering, is returning to U.Va.'s Charlottesville campus to teach.

UNT Prof To Study Behavior of Student Software Teams

8/28/2007

The National Science Foundation has awarded a University of North Texas computer science professor a half-million dollar grant to study the performance and behaviors of student software development work groups, the university announced.

UMBC Supercomputing Center Eyes Socio-Econ Problems

8/27/2007

The University of Maryland-Baltimore County and IBM said they would collaborate to build a facility dedicated to research on aerospace, defense, financial services, medical imaging, and weather/climate change prediction.

Stanford Student Hones 'Gaze-Based' Computer System

8/27/2007

A Stanford University researcher has developed a system that advances "gaze-based" computing, enabling a person to use eye movements to interact with computers and surf the Web.

NSF Funds 'Blue Waters' Petaflop Computer at U Illinois

8/21/2007

The National Science Foundation approved $208 million in funding to build the world's most powerful supercomputer. The "Blue Waters" project, undertaken by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will build a machine capable of more than one quadrillion operations per second, or a "petaflop."

U Wisconsin Team Tinkers with 'NanoMechanical' Device

8/20/2007

A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers wants to fuse the technology of modern computers and the mechanical calculators of the past to produce a machine that could survive in the harsh environments such as outer space, car engines, battlefields, and children's toys.

Universities Pack List of DARA Robot Race Semifinalists

8/20/2007

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency named 36 semi-finalists in its renowned robot race, the DARPA Urban Challenge. The race pits self-driving vehicles designed by some of the country's top computer science students against each other along a grueling physical course.

Google Offers Researchers a 'Drink from the Fire Hose'

8/7/2007

Google Inc. announced it would make two new services available to the higher education research community--access to Web search and machine translations--as part of a new University Research Programs effort. The search firm made the announcement at its higher ed Faculty Summit held July 26 to 27 in Mountain View, CA.