Category: News

New UW-Pacific NW National Lab computing-research institute holds first public workshop | UW News

Posted on by Renske Dyedov
  • Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing Day
  • Wednesday, Oct. 30, 9 a.m. 5 p.m.
  • Husky Union Building, room 145
  • Free; registration required

 

New UW-Pacific NW National Lab computing-research institute holds first public workshop

October 25, 2013
Michelle Ma

The University of Washington and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on Oct. 30 will hold their first public workshop spearheaded by the institute they formed last January to foster collaborative computing research.

Based at the UW, the Northwest Institute for Advanced Computing"˜s first public event will feature speakers from the two institutions and industry, as well as breakout sessions that explore various aspects of science and engineering technologies. Read More

Clean Energy Institute announces new graduate fellowships for 2014

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

The UW Clean Energy Institute (CEI) announces two new graduate fellowship opportunities. The mission of the CEI Fellowship program is to catalyze clean energy research that is related to solar energy conversion (Sun-to-Electricity and Sun-to-Chemicals), electrical energy storage (Electricity-to-Chemicals/Materials/Other), and electrical systems and the grid (Electricity Distribution).

Some specific goals of the program are to:

1. Seed new exploratory research activity that addresses the core CEI mission areas
2. Attract the best new graduate students to work at UW on projects in core CEI mission areas
3. Read More

Seelig/Klavins team develops programming language to build synthetic DNA

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

 

From UW Today: UW engineers invent programming language to build synthetic DNA

 

Similar to using Python or Java to write code for a computer, chemists soon could be able to use a structured set of instructions to "program" how DNA molecules interact in a test tube or cell.

A team led by the University of Washington has developed a programming language for chemistry that it hopes will streamline efforts to design a network that can guide the behavior of chemical-reaction mixtures in the same way that embedded electronic controllers guide cars, robots and other devices. Read More

Klavins, Seelig Receive NSF Expeditions in Computing Award

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

Georg Seelig

Eric Klavins

MolES faculty Georg Seelig (Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering) and Eric Klavins (Electrical Engineering) were awarded $2 million as part of a multi-investigator team investigating "Molecular Programming Architectures, Abstractions, Algorithms and Applications" as part of the National Science Foundation’s Expeditions in Computing program. The team, led by by Professor Erik Winfree of the California Institute of Technology, also includes investigators from Harvard University and the University of California at San Francisco. The project explores how to systematically program the behaviors of a wide array of complex information-based molecular systems, from decision-making circuitry and molecular-scale manufacturing to biomedical diagnosis and smart therapeutics in living cells. Read More

Six MolES Faculty Named to State Academy of Sciences

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

Six distinguished faculty members from the Molecular Engineering & Sciences Institute, including its director, Patrick Stayton, were named to the Washington State Academy of Sciences. This group includes:

  • Charles Campbell (Chemistry)
  • David Castner (Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering)
  • Samson Jenekhe (Chemical Engineering)
  • Patrick Stayton (Bioengineering)
  • Minoru Taya (Mechanical Engineering)
  • Paul Yager (Bioengineering)

Membership in the Washington State Academy of Sciences is by invitation and members are selected from academic research, government, and industry, and represent a broad range of scientific, technical, and engineering fields. Read More

Posner, UW Engineers Receive US Department of Energy Grant to Design Clean, Fuel-Efficient Cookstoves

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

From UW Today: September 11, 2013

UW engineers get grant to make cookstoves 10 times cleaner for developing world

Nearly 500 million households roughly 3 billion people, or 42 percent of the world's population rely on burning materials such as wood, animal dung or coal in stoves for cooking and heating their homes. Often these stoves are crudely designed, and poor ventilation and damp wood can create a smoky, hazardous indoor environment day after day.

A recent study published in The Lancet estimates that 3.5 million people die each year as a result of indoor air pollution from open fires or rudimentary stoves in their homes. Read More

NME Undergraduate Track Program Grows to 120 Students in 2013

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

Rene Overney - NME CourseIt was a banner year for the Nanoscience and Molecular Engineering (NME) program. The undergraduate track program started by Molecular Engineering & Sciences Associate Director for Education René Overney now has more than 120 students from across the College of Engineering in its ranks. This June, 27 of those students, having completed the NME curricular and research requirements, received degrees in engineering with a specialization in Nanoscience and Molecular Engineering. This was the largest class to graduate since the first NME cohort of 3 students graduated just 2 years ago. Read More

David Ginger’s synthetic polymer for solar cell applications

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

Regulating electron "˜spin' may be key to making organic solar cells competitive

Organic solar cells that convert light to electricity using carbon-based molecules have shown promise as a versatile energy source but have not been able to match the efficiency of their silicon-based counterparts.

Now, researchers have discovered a synthetic, high-performance polymer that behaves differently from other tested materials and could make inexpensive, highly efficient organic solar panels a reality.

A vial holds a solution that contains the UW-developed polymer "ink" that can be printed to make the solar cells.

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The polymer, created at the University of Washington and tested at the University of Cambridge in England, appears to improve efficiency by wringing electrical current from pathways that, in other materials, cause a loss of electrical charge. Read More

NME students showcase findings at UW Undergraduate Research Symposium

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

Each year, nearly 1,000 undergraduates pack Mary Gates Hall to present research talks and posters at the Annual UW Undergraduate Research Symposium. This year several rooms were dedicated to nanotechnology research, where 27 seniors in the Nanoscience and Molecular Engineering undergraduate option program showcased projects completed in UW research labs over the previous year.

F2013 Undergraduate Research Symposiumrom tailoring the surface properties of nanoparticles for biomedical applications to controlling nanowire morphology to improve the efficiency of organic photovoltaic devices, NME students made real contributions to challenging technical problems in UW research groups, while gaining valuable research experience to prepare them for future careers in industry and academia. Read More

Luscombe undergrad researcher David Coven receives Washington State Opportunity Scholarship, featured on King 5

Posted on by Renske Dyedov

This month the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship Program awarded scholarships to 800 freshman and sophomores who declared majors in science and engineering. Sponsored through a public-private partnership between Boeing, Microsoft, and the State of Washington, the scholarships are intended to encourage more students to enter the STEM fields and help fill the more than 25,000 technical jobs that remain unfilled in Washington State. UW freshman David Coven was interviewed by King 5 News on May 22 in the Molecular Engineering & Sciences lab of his research advisor Christine Luscombe. Read More